ET NEWS

By all appearances, US President Donald Trump wants to be remembered not just as a former US president, but as a global peacemaker, a man whose handshakes stopped wars and whose name belongs beside the likes of Mandela and Carter in Nobel history. But Trump’s latest maneuver, positioning himself as the driving force behind peace between Russia and Ukraine, is quickly unraveling. What began with a red carpet in Alaska and bold declarations is now mired in diplomatic limbo, military escalation and strategic deadlock.Despite the showmanship, there is little substance behind Trump’s claim that peace is imminent. His effort to present himself as the indispensable broker of global ceasefires has always relied more on headlines than on hard results. Nowhere is this clearer than in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the most brutal and geopolitically significant war in Europe since World War II. Neither Russian President Vladimir Putin nor Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has shown serious interest in compromise, much less a Trump-led resolution.A red carpet, a photo op but no peaceThe Alaska summit between Trump and Putin ten days ago was billed as a breakthrough. Trump claimed it would set the stage for a trilateral meeting with Zelensky, portraying himself as the only leader capable of bringing the two warring sides together. The message from the summit was that Trump is the man who can stop the killing, force diplomacy and end the war.But just days later, that illusion has collapsed. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has openly said there is no agreed-upon agenda for a summit with Zelensky. He bluntly accused the Ukrainian president of rejecting talks outright. Meanwhile, Zelensky countered by accusing the Kremlin of deliberately preventing such a meeting, insisting that Russia continues to act in bad faith. Both sides remain entrenched, and Trump’s envisioned summit between the two is nowhere in sight.At the same time, Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities have intensified, including a direct hit on a US-owned electronics plant, further straining any narrative of peace. The war rages on, and Trump’s optimistic timeline has been blown apart by hard realities on the ground.Trump's inflated peace claims and the hard realityTrump’s tendency to overstate, or even outright fabricate, peace achievements is not new. He claimed he brokered peace between India and Pakistan and prevented a nuclear war during India's Operation Sindoor. India has refuted this claim, saying it was Pakistan's military which requested for a ceasefire after India pounded nearly a dozen of its air bases with missiles. .His supporters often cite the Abraham Accords from his previous term - the normalization deals between Israel and a handful of Arab states - as a diplomatic win. But those agreements were mostly built on already warming relations and had little to do with resolving active wars or deep-rooted conflicts. Now, Trump is applying the same formula to the Russia-Ukraine war. He asserts his role, stages a spectacle, and claims the credit. But this time, the conflict is not only ongoing, but existential for both Kyiv and Moscow. Unlike in previous cases, this war cannot be glossed over with vague declarations or handshake diplomacy. And unlike the US’s traditional allies in the case of Abraham Accords, neither Putin nor Zelensky is willing to grant Trump a symbolic victory for nothing.Putin’s demands for peace are not compromises but only demands. According to reports, he wants Ukraine to surrender the entire Donbas region, abandon its NATO aspirations, and agree to neutrality enforced by keeping Western troops out. In return, Russia may offer to halt its military campaign and return a few smaller occupied territories. For Zelensky, these are not terms of peace but the seeds of future aggression. European leaders have warned that granting Russia concessions now would only embolden it to strike again later in Kyiv. Zelensky, for his part, has flatly refused to “gift” any Ukrainian territory to Russia. He continues to call for increased sanctions and weapons, not concessions. The gap between the two sides is vast and Trump’s peace narrative, built on the illusion of consensus, has no place to stand.The Nobel remains out of reachTrump has made no secret of his desire for the Nobel Peace Prize. He has frequently compared himself to past laureates and lamented the fact that he has not been awarded the honor. His Alaska summit might have made for compelling theater, but the follow-up, which is crucial in diplomacy, has been a failure. Instead of substantive de-escalation, Russia has intensified its bombing while Ukraine has dug in. The war is escalating, not ending.Even Trump’s own actions raise doubts about his seriousness. By imposing an artificial August 8 deadline for Putin to agree to peace and then walking it back in favour of a summit, he showed more concern for optics than outcomes. And by failing to secure even a basic agreement between the two sides before flying to Alaska, he revealed how shallow his diplomatic effort truly was.Trump’s campaign to brand himself as a global peace broker is running into the one thing he can’t spin, the hard reality. The Russia-Ukraine war is not a stage where leaders make dramatic deals in front of cameras. It is a grinding, bloody conflict rooted in deep political, territorial and historical divides. Neither side is looking for a quick fix, and certainly not on Trump’s terms.Until there is genuine progress beyond just summits and statements Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize will remain what it has always been, a fantasy built on wishful thinking, tall claims and diplomatic shortcuts.

President Droupadi Murmu on Friday gave her assent to The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, that was passed by Parliament this week.The Bill was brought in to encourage e-sports and online social games while prohibiting harmful online money gaming services, advertisements, and financial transactions related to them. The Bill seeks to completely ban offering, operating, or facilitating online money games, irrespective of whether based on skill, chance, or both.The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on Wednesday and in Rajya Sabha a day after. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, aims to promote e-sports and online social games, while outlawing online money gaming.There will be no punishment for those playing online money games; it is only the service providers, advertisers, promoters, and those who financially support such games who will face the consequences, said sources earlier.Through this legislation, the government aims to promote e-sports and give them legal recognition.This bill will help provide legal support to e-sports. Earlier, there was no legal backing for e-sports, sources said.For the promotion of e-sports, which has been recognised as a legitimate form of competitive sport in India, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports will establish a dedicated framework. The government will also promote online social games.The government believes that the harms of addiction, financial losses, and even extreme consequences such as suicides associated with online money gaming can be prevented by the prohibition of such activities.There were reports of money laundering and terror financing, the sources added.Failing to fulfil the law, can attract imprisonment up to three years and/or a fine of up to Rs one crore for offering or facilitating online money gaming. For advertising money games, imprisonment up to two years and/or a fine up to Rs 50 lakh may be attracted. For financial transactions related to money games, imprisonment up to three years and/or a fine up to Rs one crore is being provided.Any repeat offences may attract enhanced penalties, including imprisonment of three to five years and fines up to Rs two crore. Offences under key sections to be cognizable and non-bailable.The Central government may authorise officers to investigate, search, and seize digital or physical property linked to offences. Officers would be empowered to enter, search, and arrest without a warrant in some instances of suspected offences. Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT S Krishnan had earlier this morning told that once the President gives assent to the Bill, a notification will follow to announce the date on which the Bill will come into effect. "We also have to draft the rules under the bill, and issue the rules which are required to be drafted. As the bill is structured, even without rules, because the rules govern certain aspects, there are certain provisions in the bill which can come into force without the rules, but that is a decision we will take," Krishnan said. The secretary has acknowledged that the new legislation is expected to result in some loss in GST collections. Going by estimates, the annual losses to the exchequer are expected to be around Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 crore.The MeitY secretary stressed that the legislation has been brought in with the larger objective of safeguarding social interests and ensuring responsible regulation of the online gaming sector."I think when the government has a larger social objective in mind, I think revenue loss is not the primary consideration. In any case, the bill had the approval and the consent of the Finance Ministry as well," the secretary said. Asked when the new legislation would come into effect, the secretary, without getting into specifics, said, "We are working on it, should get it done quickly."

ISRO on Friday unveiled a model of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) module during the two-day National Space Day celebrations that began here. India plans to launch the first module of the BAS, its own home-built space station, by 2028, marking its entry into the group of a handful of nations that operate orbital laboratories. Presently, there are two orbital laboratories -- the International Space Station operated by five space agencies, and the Tiangong space station of China. India plans to have five modules of the Bhartiya Antariksh Station in place by 2035 as part of its ambitious plans for the space sector. The BAS-01 module is expected to weigh 10 tonnes and will be placed in a low earth orbit at 450 km above the earth. Salient features of the BAS include, indigenously developed Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), Bharat Docking System, Bharat Berthing Mechanism, automated hatch system, platform for microgravity research and technology demonstration, viewports for scientific imaging and crew recreation. The BAS will also have provision for refilling of propulsion and ECLSS fluids, radiation, thermal and Micro Meteoroid Orbital Debris (MMOD) protection, space suits, airlocks to support extra vehicular activity and plug and play integrated avionics. The BAS is expected to serve as a research platform for studying various aspects of space, life sciences, medicine, and interplanetary exploration. It will provide an opportunity to study the effects of microgravity on human health and test essential technologies needed for long-term human presence in space. The space station will support space tourism, with India entering the commercial space sector by leveraging the orbital lab's resources. The BAS will contribute to ongoing international collaborations and serve as a hub for scientific research and also inspire younger generations to consider careers in space science and technology. The massive 3.8 meter x 8 meter BAS-01 model was the center of attraction among those attending the National Space Day celebrations at the Bharat Mandapam here.

In a move that could reshape how Indians engage with AI, OpenAI has announced the launch of ChatGPT Go. With a monthly price of just Rs 399, the service promises greater accessibility to cutting-edge AI features than previously possible. This announcement will undoubtedly mark a significant shift in the way AI is used in India, not only because it makes advanced features affordable for users, but also because it makes OpenAI a more formidable rival that could jeopardize the growth of domestic LLMs.The oligopoly like structure of the LLM market not only makes it difficult for India to make its mark, but the accompanying environmental and supply side constraints will make it even tougher for domestic market to prosper and enter into the global market. Difficult entry barriers, lack of qualified talent, possible environmental hazards and rare earth scarcity are the four main factors affecting India's AI market. The first two are urgent and immediate. A small number of powerful companies already control a large portion of the global LLM market, and many of India's top graduates are still moving to Silicon Valley.This imbalance is emphasized by the numbers. According to a recent survey conducted by the venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, only four companies -- Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta -- control nearly 89% of the enterprise LLM usage market, with the remaining 11% going to the other companies. As of May 2025, the ChatGPT ecosystem (which includes its web and app versions as well as Microsoft Copilot) serves roughly 501 million monthly users globally, according to a report by website hosting company Hostinger. With 462 million users on ChatGPT alone, it commands a dominant 74.2% share of the LLM market.With over three times as many users as its closest competitors (Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude), who together account for roughly 23% of the user base, ChatGPT's dominance is clear. In light of this, the market is already well-established, with strong incumbents actively gaining market share. Therefore, there isn't much to celebrate for Indian startups, even though services like ChatGPT Go, which costs Rs 399 a month, or Perplexity's collaboration with Airtel may increase access for Indians. The two other issues facing India are supply-side and environmental limitations, both of which are less urgent but equally important. These are frequently ignored, but they will probably make a strong comeback in the upcoming years and demand policy attention.To understand why, consider that supporting domestic LLMs necessitates data centers located in India. These facilities, the majority of which are run by cloud providers, are the foundation of large-scale AI deployments. However, data centres have a significant negative impact on the environment. The UN Environment Programme estimates that 800 kg of raw materials are needed to produce a single 2-kg computer. AI-powered microchips rely on rare earth elements, which are frequently extracted using extremely damaging methods.Additionally, data centers produce massive amounts of hazardous electronic waste. Both during construction and after they are in use, they use a lot of water for cooling. And to power their infrastructure, they draw on vast amounts of electricity, which in most countries still relies heavily on fossil fuels.According to the International Energy Agency, one ChatGPT request uses about ten times as much electricity as a Google search. For India, these pressures are especially severe. The nation relies mostly on fossil fuels for its energy, has limited rare earth reserves, already faces water shortages, and lacks a formalised system for disposing of e-waste.Some would contend that these issues are neither urgent nor specific to India. Nonetheless, policymakers cannot afford to ignore the long-term environmental effects of expanding domestic AI infrastructure, especially in light of the nation's continuous problems with pollution and resource management.Thus, India's local AI development faces two challenges: first, the market is hard to break into, and second, even a breakthrough could reveal serious flaws. India's AI aspirations run the risk of collapsing at their weakest points, which are the delicate rare earth metal supply chain and the growing environmental strains of massive data infrastructure. If things continue as they are, India runs the risk of becoming more of a consumer than a producer of AI services. Even if it escapes that fate, the nation will probably continue to rely on imports for processor chips and rare earth metals, which leaves its AI ecosystem vulnerable right away.Even though there are some initiatives in place to close these gaps, the rate at which AI is developing and the potential wealth that foreign players stand to gain from India's reliance on outside LLMs pose a serious threat. If India wants to achieve true AI independence, specific actions will be required.Building a solid domestic talent pool that can create competitive LLMs is the top priority. Although Sarvam AI has demonstrated the potential of a domestic model, its uptake has been limited thus far due to the competition from multinational giants. The government must encourage capital funding, provide incentives for domestic startups, and assist in the establishment of data centers in India if the goal is AI self-reliance.Second, we need to address the issue of rare earth dependency. To reduce its dependency on foreign countries and environmental damage, India must formalize its e-waste disposal system and guarantee that rare earths that enter its borders are thoroughly recycled.Since using fossil fuels to power AI data centers only makes the sustainability problem worse, increasing the production of renewable energy is equally urgent. Perhaps the most difficult problem to solve is the use of water to cool AI infrastructure; this will require long-term planning and creativity (e.g., immersion cooling for data centers).India is just beginning its AI journey, and it will not be an easy one. With the right policies, the nation has the potential to shift from a passive consumer to a defining force in the AI landscape. (Amit Kapoor is chair and Mohammad Saad is researcher at Institute for Competitiveness).