分类： society

For decades, philanthropy in India has been overwhelmingly oriented toward faith-based initiatives, with nearly half of all private donations flowing to religious organizations and temples rather than secular, long-term public good initiatives. Today, that long-standing pattern is shifting dramatically, as a new cohort of the nation’s billionaires and business leaders are directing hundreds of millions of dollars into foundational scientific research, academic infrastructure, and talent development — marking a pivotal turning point for India’s innovation ecosystem.

The trend kicked off into the public eye earlier this year, when Indian-American theoretical physicist Jainendra Jain, a 2025 Wolf Prize co-recipient renowned for his revolutionary work in quantum physics, got an unexpected outreach from Abhishek Lodha, CEO of Mumbai-based real estate giant Lodha Group. Lodha, the developer behind Mumbai’s iconic gold-hued Trump Tower that overlooks the Arabian Sea, offered Jain the position of founding director for a new theoretical physics institute to be built in Mumbai. Jain, a professor at Penn State University, said he was shocked by the offer. “I was pleasantly surprised someone building skyscrapers would suddenly be interested in putting money into fundamental sciences. It’s a common thing to do for very rich people in the US, but not so much in India,” Jain told the BBC at the institute’s glitzy launch event in late May. Lodha has committed $100 million to launch and sustain the institute over the next eight to 10 years, with a mission to let researchers spend years pursuing high-quality foundational work without pressure for immediate commercial outcomes, with the long-term goal of fostering homegrown innovation, commercialization, and domestic technology development.

Lodha’s initiative is far from an isolated case. Just weeks after the institute’s launch, Rajiv Bajaj, heir to one of India’s oldest industrial dynasties, launched the nation’s largest engineering scholarship program for women, offering up to 800,000 rupees (nearly $9,000) per recipient to cover education costs at top-tier Indian universities. Other leading Indian business leaders have made similar commitments in recent years: Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan has dedicated funding to advanced brain research; pharmaceutical billionaire Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw launched a cutting-edge frontier biology laboratory in 2022 to advance bioscience innovation; and at least six additional tech billionaires based in Bengaluru — India’s equivalent of Silicon Valley — have pledged major sums to research projects ranging from robotic astronomy to multi-specialty medical research.

Experts frame this growing wave of giving as a reflection of a new consensus among India’s wealthy: a nation’s long-term global competitiveness is inextricably tied to its strength in foundational science. “No great nation has thrived without a deep scientific base. And we believe India produces great minds. So it’s not for a shortage of talent that this has not yet taken off, but a shortage of infrastructure,” Lodha explained.

This shift comes at a critical juncture for India’s development trajectory. For years, analysts have raised concerns that India has fallen behind global peers in cutting-edge frontier innovation, from artificial intelligence to advanced robotics. The nation’s gross spending on research and development hovers at just 0.6% to 0.7% of GDP, far lower than major economies like China, South Korea, and the United States. Critically, the private sector contributes only 36% of India’s total R&D spending, compared to over 70% in most major developed economies. Mazumdar-Shaw, who has supported scientific initiatives across India and globally, notes that for decades, India relied almost exclusively on limited government funding for academic and scientific institutions, leaving many under-resourced. “All great academic institutions in the world from Harvard to MIT and Stanford have been built with philanthropic support. In India the whole approach so far has been that this is the government’s job,” she said. That long-held assumption is now being overturned.

While early 20th century business dynasties like the Tatas did pioneer American-style philanthropic investment in science — establishing landmark institutions such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru — there was a decades-long gap in large-scale private science giving after that early wave. Today’s resurgence is being driven by two distinct groups of modern givers: the current generation of leaders from long-established business families, and first-generation tech wealth creators, according to Neera Nundy, co-founder of Dasra, a nonprofit that advises organizations on philanthropic strategy. “This cohort is more tech-driven, data-oriented, and outcomes-focused, which naturally aligns with investments in science, innovation, and research-led solutions,” Nundy explained.

Even with the high-profile new commitments, however, philanthropic funding for science and innovation still lags far behind more traditional popular causes like education and healthcare, which continue to capture the majority of private giving in India. Given India’s low per-capita income and competing urgent development priorities, this imbalance is not surprising, Nundy notes. India’s research ecosystem also faces structural barriers, including weak collaboration between industry and academia, and a growing gap between the skills graduates produce and the needs of cutting-edge research and industry. Still, the long-term potential for growth in science-focused philanthropy is substantial. Nundy estimates that Indian family philanthropists alone have the capacity to give an additional $14 to 15 billion by fiscal year 2030. How much of that will flow to science will depend on building a robust, trusted ecosystem that can support large-scale, long-term scientific investment, she says.

Mazumdar-Shaw argues that sectors with natural alignments between scientific research and business growth, such as pharmaceuticals, should lead this shift. “India’s pharma companies are not doing cutting-edge research. But the next value-creation opportunity for them lies in innovative drugs, for which a lot more funding needs to come into research institutions,” she explained.

For Lodha, this shift in giving is a natural evolution of India’s development. “This is an evolution. A society in need of upliftment was met with philanthropy of service and now naturally you’ll see the trend shift to philanthropy of excellence,” he says.

In a devastating outbreak of severe weather across two major Chinese regions, at least 15 people are confirmed dead and more than 300 are injured, following rare tornadoes in central China’s Hubei province and record-breaking flooding in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region linked to the remnants of Tropical Storm Maysak. Official Chinese state media Xinhua released updated casualty and damage figures on Tuesday, detailing the widespread destruction left by the extreme weather event that unfolded Monday night.

The unusual tornado activity hit multiple eastern districts of Hubei, with an EF2-class tornado — a rare occurrence for the inland province — cutting a destructive path through Huanggang city. Meteorological data classifies EF2 tornadoes as having wind speeds between 113 and 157 miles per hour, capable of tearing apart frame homes, lifting heavy vehicles, and snapping large trees. In Huanggang, a major logistics facility and an under-construction warehouse suffered catastrophic damage: witness reports and official accounts confirm strong winds lifted and tossed multiple heavy transport trucks up to 30 meters, or 98 feet, from their original parking positions. More than 20 buildings fully collapsed across the affected areas of Hubei, while at least 4,800 additional structures suffered varying degrees of damage. As of Tuesday’s official update, 11 people were confirmed killed in Hubei’s tornado outbreak, more than 330 were treated for storm-related injuries, and one resident remained unaccounted for. In total, roughly 14,600 local residents have been impacted by the severe weather.

Footage shared by Shanghai Daily on the social platform X captured the chaos of the tornado as it struck populated areas: in one clip filmed from inside a multi-story building, people on the ground floor can be seen screaming as powerful winds forced open locked glass entry doors, shattering one panel into large, dangerous shards.

Meteorological experts explain that this tornado outbreak in Hubei is an outlier. China Weather News, operated by the China Meteorological Administration, notes that tornadoes in China are most commonly documented in southern and coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Jiangsu, making inland Hubei an unusual location for such an event. Speaking with local outlet Hubei Daily, meteorologist Wang Xiaoling explained that a rare combination of atmospheric conditions — including lingering moisture and unstable air currents left behind by Tropical Storm Maysak — created the perfect environment for the formation of multiple tornadoes across eastern Hubei.

The impact of Tropical Storm Maysak extended far beyond Hubei, triggering catastrophic flooding hundreds of kilometers to the south in Guangxi. In the city of Hengzhou, Guangxi, four people were killed and eight others remained missing as of Tuesday after record-breaking rainfall pushed river systems far past flood limits. Local authorities have already evacuated more than 53,000 residents from high-risk flood zones in Hengzhou, with an additional 8,000 residents evacuated from neighboring Binyang County. On Tuesday, regional emergency management agencies issued a red alert — the highest possible warning level for flooding — after multiple river gauges recorded water levels up to 7.5 meters, or 24 feet, above official danger thresholds.

CANBERRA, Australia — At a high-stakes Australian government inquiry examining the proliferation of antisemitic content across digital platforms, a top Google executive has confirmed the company will not remove a YouTube video that pushes dangerous falsehoods about a survivor of December’s deadly Sydney antisemitic shooting attack.

The tragedy, which unfolded at a Sydney Hanukkah gathering carried out by Islamic State-inspired father-son gunmen Sajid and Naveed Akram, left 15 people dead and multiple others wounded, including survivor Arsen Ostrovsky, who suffered a minor gunshot wound to the head. Within hours of the attack, an image of Ostrovsky bleeding from his injury spread across social media, and conspiracists quickly fabricated a baseless claim that he was a “crisis actor” paid to stage the massacre for political gain.

During testimony Tuesday, Google Australia’s managing director Rachel Lord faced intense questioning over the platform’s handling of a complaint Ostrovsky filed against the conspiratorial YouTube video. The footage features four speakers who falsely claim Ostrovsky’s visible injury was created with stage makeup, label him a “Zionist intelligence asset” with a theater degree, and frame the deadly massacre as a coordinated “false flag operation.”

Lord told the inquiry that the decision to leave the video accessible to the public had undergone review at senior leadership levels within the company. “We have invested significant time and care into refining our boundaries on harmful content, and we continuously re-evaluate where those lines should be drawn,” she said, adding that in the company’s assessment, the content did not violate YouTube’s existing community standards.

The inquiry’s lead evidence counsel Richard Lancaster pushed back sharply on the ruling, arguing that the video’s presence on the platform exposes a critical gap in YouTube’s hate speech and misinformation policies. “This demonstrates a really serious deficiency,” Lancaster told Lord during questioning.

Lord responded that she welcomed the criticism and feedback on the platform’s approach. She also noted that just three days after the December attack, YouTube had reassured Australia’s national online safety regulator that it was prioritizing removing harmful content and ensuring users had access to accurate information about the tragedy.

The inquiry previously heard testimony from Ostrovsky last month, where he detailed the ongoing campaign of online harassment, hate speech, vilification and artificial intelligence-fueled manipulation he has endured since the attack. During Tuesday’s proceedings, commissioners were also shown an AI-generated deepfake image that falsely depicts Ostrovsky laughing while fake blood is applied to his head, a fabricated image that has been shared widely among conspiracy circles online to prop up the false crisis actor narrative.

The ongoing inquiry, launched in response to rising antisemitic violence and hate speech across Australia, is examining how major digital platforms are failing to curb the spread of harmful content targeting Jewish communities, in the wake of the December Sydney attack.

A violent confrontation inside a Sri Lankan correctional facility has ended in one of the deadliest prison incidents in the country’s recent history, with the official death toll rising to 26 by Tuesday, according to government updates. The tragedy unfolded at the Negombo Prison, located roughly 35 kilometers north of the island nation’s capital, Colombo, and has left authorities grappling to uncover what triggered the widespread unrest.

The chaos first began on Sunday as a dispute between rival groups of incarcerated people, before escalating into full-scale violence on Monday when inmates turned on responding prison guards, Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara confirmed to parliament. During the height of the unrest, inmates attempted to breach the prison’s main entrance to escape, but security personnel successfully blocked the breakthrough attempt, officials added.

By Tuesday’s update, 19 inmates and seven correctional officers were confirmed dead, while another 77 people — 23 prison staff and 54 incarcerated individuals — remain hospitalized for injuries sustained during the clashes. Nanayakkara labeled the event an unambiguous “tragic incident,” though he declined to share detailed specifics on the causes of death or the nature of the wounds suffered by those impacted.

Officials have since confirmed that the initial conflict broke out between two rival gangs tied to the illegal drug trade operating inside the prison. By Monday evening, order had been partially restored, and the inmates identified as leaders of the violence were transferred to other correctional facilities across the country to prevent further unrest.

In response to the deadly incident, the Sri Lankan government has launched three parallel independent investigations to get to the root of the clash. Alongside an internal administrative review by the national prison department and a formal criminal probe led by national police, a special independent committee headed by a retired judge will also conduct a separate inquiry. Nanayakkara told lawmakers that the probes will examine a range of potential contributing factors, including possible security failures, the role of severe overcrowding that has plagued Sri Lanka’s prison system for years, and systemic gaps that allowed the violence to escalate to such a deadly scale. The overarching goal of the investigations, he added, is to implement reforms that will prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

Footage and on-the-ground reporting from Tuesday showed hundreds of distraught family members gathering outside both the Negombo Prison and local hospitals, crying and pleading with officials for updated information on the status of their incarcerated loved ones. Many have been left waiting for hours with no clear updates, amplifying grief and anxiety among the affected community.

In the wake of the clash, security around the Negombo Prison has been significantly bolstered. Authorities have deployed additional army troops to the site, along with armored vehicles, to secure the facility and prevent any further outbreaks of violence.

Longstanding systemic overcrowding has been a well-documented crisis in Sri Lanka’s prison system for decades. Current official data shows the system holds more than 39,000 incarcerated people, despite having a designed maximum capacity of just 10,000. Correctional reform advocates have repeatedly warned that this severe overcrowding elevates the risk of gang violence, the spread of contraband including illegal drugs, and violent clashes between inmates and security staff.

A devastating landslide in northwestern China has claimed five lives and left a dozen people still missing and buried under debris, state media confirmed Tuesday. The disaster unfolded shortly before 7 a.m. local time in Nanhe township, located in Longnan city of Gansu province, burying a total of 33 people under fallen earth and rock, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.

As of Tuesday’s official update, investigators have not yet determined the root cause that triggered the landslide. Visual footage and photographs shared online by state-owned broadcaster China Central Television show a large-scale rescue operation underway, with three heavy excavators working alongside dozens of emergency responders on massive piles of displaced earth. The incident site is situated in a largely forested, lush green mountainous area, with footage recording clear, sunny weather at the time of rescue efforts.

Local authorities have already completed relocation of nearby residents to safe temporary locations to avoid the risk of secondary disasters, as search and recovery operations continue around the clock to reach the 12 trapped people.