Latest news with #IES
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
How massive US Education Department cuts are threatening the Nation's Report Card and core federal programs
US Education Department layoffs leave key student testing and research functions at risk. (The New York Times) The US Supreme Court has allowed the Department of Education to move forward with laying off more than 1,300 employees, a decision that is already affecting key federal education functions. The move is part of President Donald Trump's broader plan to dismantle the department, an effort long supported by some conservatives. The cuts reduce the department's total workforce by nearly half, following the resignation or separation of an additional 600 employees earlier this year. Among the most severely impacted areas is the Nation's Report Card — officially known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — which is a congressionally mandated program used to assess student performance across states. According to the Washington Post, nearly all staff in the division overseeing NAEP were laid off, leaving only three employees to manage the work that was previously handled by approximately 30. Impact on student testing and national data collection NAEP, administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), is the only federal assessment that provides comparable data on student achievement across states. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Discover Why These Off-Plan Dubai Apartments Sell Fast? Binghatti Developers FZE Read More Undo It is one of the key responsibilities of the Department of Education. The significant staff reductions are already impacting operations. According to the Washington Post, the department missed its deadline for releasing the 2024 science test results and preparations for the 2026 assessment are now at risk due to insufficient staffing. The National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees NAEP, approved a reduced testing schedule in April. The revised plan preserves only the congressionally mandated math and reading tests and eliminates 19 other assessments that were scheduled for 2028 to 2032. The board reportedly tried to retain the most essential exams while signaling which ones should be protected from future cuts, according to a source cited by the Washington Post. Other federal education offices affected The layoffs have also heavily impacted the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Office of English Language Acquisition, and the Federal Student Aid office. The IES, the department's main research and data division, lost around 90 percent of its staff. Mark Schneider, who led the IES from 2018 to 2024, told the Washington Post that the department has yet to provide a clear plan for continuing its responsibilities, stating, "We have so many more questions than we have answers. " A summary of key impacts from the layoffs, as reported by the Washington Post, is shown below: Impact of US Education Department layoffs Category Details Total layoffs approved 1,300 employees Additional separations ~600 (via separation packages) Overall workforce reduction Nearly 50% Effective separation date August 1 (as reported by the Washington Post) NAEP staff reduction From ~30 to 3 employees IES staff reduction ~90% cut NAEP missed deadline 2024 science test results (not released on time) Planned testing cuts (2028–2032) 19 assessments eliminated Programs/agencies affected NAEP, IES, NCES, OCR, Office of English Language Acquisition, Student Aid Budget cut to NAEP $48 million reduction (as reported by the Washington Post) Estimated NAEP savings (5 years) $185 million (according to Education Dept., per Washington Post) Governing Board action Prioritized mandated math and reading assessments; cut optional subjects Key quote (Mark Schneider) "We have so many more questions than we have answers." (via Washington Post) Trump statement "Major Victory to Parents and Students..." (via Truth Social, quoted by WP) According to the Washington Post, department spokesperson Madi Biedermann stated that the agency is working with Congress and state leaders to ensure all required functions continue and that the Trump administration is committed to "sunsetting" the department responsibly. Supreme Court decision and ongoing legal challenge The Supreme Court's decision allowed the layoffs to proceed while litigation continues in a lower court. The American Federation of Government Employees Local 252 said the affected staff had remained on paid leave since a federal court issued a preliminary injunction in May. After the Supreme Court ruling, the department notified employees that their official separation date is August 1, as reported by the Washington Post. President Trump described the court's decision as a victory for families, stating on Truth Social that the ruling was a "Major Victory to Parents and Students across the Country," according to the Washington Post. Critics, however, argue the cuts have left the future of several core federal education functions uncertain. TOI Education is on WhatsApp now. Follow us here . Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
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Business Standard
08-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
India's ambitious energy stack takes shape, but faces legacy hurdles
The core of the India Energy Stack is to make energy pay for itself by a constant exchange of data between governments, the private sector, and consumers, but chronic problems of bad pricing remain Subhomoy Bhattacharjee New Delhi Listen to This Article India's power sector has not taken kindly to innovation, in so far as it relates to enforcing efficiency and reducing costs. Despite an impressive national grid, a growing renewable energy (RE) footprint, and plans to make India a hub for cross border electricity supply, chronic old problems of badly-set electricity prices leading to financial weakness in the power distribution companies refuse to go away. This makes the power ministry's latest plan unveiled last week to set up an India Energy Stack (IES) an interesting proposition. At the heart of this ambitious plan is to make energy pay for itself by
Time of India
07-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
All you need to know about India Energy Stack - India's UPI moment for power sector
New Delhi: India's ambition to become a $30 trillion economy by 2047, coupled with its net-zero commitment by 2070, will dramatically increase its per capita energy consumption. The complexity of managing a grid with a rising share of renewable generation — including rooftop solar and distributed energy — necessitates a fundamental shift in how data, systems, and decision-making are managed across the power sector. Current systems remain fragmented. Distribution companies ( DISCOMs ), transmission entities (TRANSCOs), and generation companies (GENCOs) operate in digital silos, leading to inefficiencies and limiting innovation. The India Energy Stack (IES) is proposed as a national Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to address this. What are the key challenges in India's current power sector? The sector faces four structural digital issues: lack of a unique identifier for consumers and assets, high dependency on proprietary systems, limited interoperability across utilities, and asymmetry in data availability. Despite the presence of smart meters and SCADA systems, there is no unified architecture to bring all stakeholders together on a real-time, secure, and standardised digital platform. What is the India Energy Stack (IES)? Envisioned by the Ministry of Power with REC as nodal agency and FSR Global as knowledge partner, IES is a modular, standardised, and secure DPI for the power sector. It draws inspiration from Aadhaar and UPI in the financial sector and aims to provide digital IDs for energy consumers and assets, promote interoperability via open APIs, standardise data formats, and enable new services like peer-to-peer energy trading, virtual power plants, and green tariffs. What does the IES architecture look like? IES is structured in three layers: 1. Core infrastructure foundation – Defines uniform data protocols and open registries. 2. Core services – Enables interoperability and consent-based data access across utilities. 3. Applications and innovation platform – Supports solutions such as dynamic pricing, real-time grid analytics, demand response, and smart tariffs. A key application layer is the Utility Intelligence Platform (UIP) which builds on IES and helps integrate operational systems, provides analytics, and supports innovation using shared data. How does IES benefit stakeholders like DISCOMs, consumers, and startups? DISCOMs get real-time grid visibility and tools to optimise distributed generation. Consumers gain access to dynamic pricing, better grievance redressal, and portability across DISCOMs. Startups and innovators get a standardised sandbox environment with open APIs, enabling innovation without needing to build from scratch for each utility. What are the next steps in implementation? A 12-month Proof of Concept (PoC) is planned by the Ministry of Power. It will be tested across pilot utilities in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, focusing on both market-facing and utility-facing applications. The outcome will help develop a national blueprint for full-scale deployment. A parallel capacity-building programme will prepare the workforce to implement and operate IES. How does it relate to past DPIs like Aadhaar and UPI? Aadhaar provided unique identity, and UPI enabled interoperable payments. Similarly, IES aims to provide unique digital energy IDs and facilitate verifiable energy transactions. Just as Aadhaar and UPI unlocked new services in banking and government transfers, IES is expected to do the same for energy fintech and decentralised energy markets . What is the long-term vision? The India Energy Stack, once rolled out, is expected to improve transparency, boost policy formulation through real-time data, and enhance energy access and reliability. It promotes a federated, decentralised system that builds on existing digital assets, avoids duplication, and unlocks the full value of machine-to-machine data exchange.
Indian Express
01-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
How India Energy Stack could be a UPI moment for India's power sector
Picture this: Solar panels on your rooftop generate excess power, which you store in a battery at your neighbour's home — and draw back in the evening. In return, a payment for renting the battery is instantly transferred from your bank account to your neighbour's, enabled by a digital public infrastructure (DPI) as seamless as UPI. Now, with the government setting up a task force led by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, a digitally integrated future for India's power sector is beginning to take shape. The proposed India Energy Stack (IES) aims to do for the power sector what Aadhaar did for identity, and UPI for finance. By digitally integrating India's fragmented power ecosystem — from producers and grid operators to consumers, exchanges, and regulators — the IES will enable peer-to-peer energy trading, support aggregated demand-response programmes amid rising renewable integration, and facilitate smoother compliance with carbon offsetting. The 17-member task force, constituted by the Ministry of Power on June 27, has Nilekani as its chief mentor and is charged with designing and charting a roadmap for the nationwide rollout of the IES — a process expected to take several years. Why is a DPI-style intervention needed? In India, electricity is a concurrent subject, meaning both the Union and state governments share responsibility for its governance, which has contributed to a highly fragmented sector, leading to 'isolated digital islands rather than an integrated national platform'. This fragmentation, according to a concept brief by New Delhi-based FSR Global — knowledge partner for the IES initiative – 'creates significant operational challenges that impede the energy sector's ability to meet India's growing energy demands efficiently'. The brief identified four key challenges facing the power sector that the IES could help address. First, there is no unique identifier for consumers, assets, or stakeholders. Second, decision-making is hampered by the lack of access to harmonised, real-time data. Third, those seeking to offer solutions in this space struggle to scale, as they depend on various proprietary digital platforms. And fourth, there is no interoperability between these digital systems, which prevents cross-regional data sharing and cross-discom transactions. 'In other words, the challenges faced by India's energy sector resemble those faced by the identity and financial sectors prior to the introduction of Aadhaar and UPI. And, just as these DPIs transformed their respective domains, a similar approach can revolutionise the energy sector,' the brief said. What are the possibilities with the IES? Beyond enabling unique identification, full integration, and interoperability, the IES can help unlock an entirely new ecosystem — one where energy fintech, virtual power plants, and peer-to-peer trading can thrive on a standardised, interoperable digital infrastructure. The possibilities are many. Consumers – and producer-consumers, or prosumers – could instantly buy surplus energy to store in batteries or sell rooftop solar output at peak prices. The IES would deepen the decentralisation of electricity and allow prosumers to manage their assets more actively and efficiently. Grid operators could make far more precise load-balancing and dispatch decisions, while energy producers could reduce curtailment or track carbon offsets using transparent performance data. The utility of IES is based on its ability to maintain the integrity of data, processes, and settlements across the board. A key component of this architecture is the Utility Intelligence Platform (UIP) – a primary application layer built on the IES foundation that would enable all of these services. Who's leading the task force, and what's next? The government is positioning the IES as a natural extension of its successful DPI projects like Aadhaar and UPI, evident by the selection of individuals included in the task force. Nilekani, the founding chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), will serve as chief mentor. Ram Sevak Sharma, the first director general of UIDAI, will chair the task force, and Pramod Verma, the chief architect of Aadhaar, returns in the same capacity for this initiative. REC Ltd, a central public sector undertaking, will serve as the programme nodal agency for the IES initiative. The 17-member task force will be supported by five expert working groups — on technology, distribution, system operations, generation, policy and regulation, and markets — comprising 35 members in total. 'The Ministry of Power will undertake a 12-month proof of concept (PoC) to validate the India Energy Stack by implementing its foundational building blocks and demonstrating its value through real-world use cases,' the concept brief said. The IES 'will be deployed over the coming years', it added. While concept-proofing may be swift, given India's prior experience with DPIs, the timely rollout of the IES will hinge on several factors — including cooperation from state utilities, rapid adoption of smart meters and other digital enablers, and the success of trial runs. Aggam Walia is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, reporting on power, renewables, and mining. His work unpacks intricate ties between corporations, government, and policy, often relying on documents sourced via the RTI Act. Off the beat, he enjoys running through Delhi's parks and forests, walking to places, and cooking pasta. ... Read More
Time of India
29-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Power Ministry unveils task force to conceive India Energy Stack
New Delhi: The Ministry of Power on Saturday announced the launch of a task force to conceive the India Energy Stack (IES), an initiative aimed at creating a unified, secure, and interoperable digital public infrastructure (DPI) for the energy sector. The IES will play a vital role in integrating renewable energy, enhancing DISCOM efficiency , and delivering transparent, reliable, and future-ready power services, an official statement quoted Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar as saying. "There is an urgent need for developing robust DPI in the power sector to manage the country's rising demand, ensure grid stability, and empower consumers. What Aadhaar did for identity and UPI achieved for digital payments, the India Energy Stack will accomplish for the power sector - unlocking seamless, secure, and consumer-centric energy services for every citizen," he added. As India charts its path to becoming a USD 5 trillion economy and advances towards its net-zero commitments, the power sector faces both unprecedented opportunities and complex challenges, the statement said. Rapid growth in renewable energy, electric vehicles, and consumer participation in energy markets is transforming the sector, but fragmented systems and a lack of seamless digital integration remain key barriers, it pointed out. To address these issues, the ministry is reimagining the sector's digital foundation through the IES - a DPI that will provide a standardised, secure, and open platform to manage, monitor, and innovate across the electricity value chain. The IES will offer unique IDs for consumers, assets, and transactions; real-time, consent-based data sharing; open APIs(Application Programming Interface) for seamless system integration; and tools for consumer empowerment, market access, and innovation. Apart from conceiving the IES, the ministry will undertake a 12-month Proof of Concept (PoC) to demonstrate IES through real-world use cases in partnership with selected utilities. This includes piloting the Utility Intelligence Platform (UIP), a modular, analytics-driven application built on IES to support utilities, policymakers, and consumers with real-time insights and smarter energy management. To guide these initiatives, the ministry has constituted a dedicated task force comprising experts from the technology, power sector, and regulatory domains, which will steer the development, pilot implementation, and nationwide scale-up of the IES.
