Early intervention systems for youth; Inside Tamil Nadu’s climate playbook
As the country grapples with rising adolescent distress, 2026 could be a year when we shift from crisis response to proactive, early intervention. Supriya Sahu reflects on how technology, data, and community participation are reshaping environmental governance.
Hello,
2025—a year of significant macroeconomic pressures. But also, the year of IPOs.
It wasn’t just the number of initial public offerings that was remarkable, but the sheer volume of capital involved: $22 billion, the highest annual total ever. And according to bankers, another record year may be on the horizon.
However, in a seemingly contradictory phenomenon, this rush towards capital markets has coincided with a relatively gloomy year for stock exchanges. Here’s a deep dive into why companies and investors alike have been drawn to India’s bourses, regardless.
Meanwhile, the rupee continued its decline for a third straight session as corporate dollar demand via private banks pressured the currency. The rupee closed at 89.9750 per U.S. dollar, softer than Friday's 89.85 finish, but did not cross the 90-mark.
Even amid all these pressures, the banking sector report card for the country remains favourable.
India's banking sector remained resilient, marked by strong balance sheet growth, while bad loans have declined to a multi-decade low, an RBI report showed on Monday.
Lastly, in Kolkata, there’s a different conflict at play—one between modernisation and tradition.
The city’s iconic tram system stands to grind to a halt, as the West Bengal government plans to shut down the 152-year-old system, keeping only a short heritage route.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Early intervention systems for youth
- Inside Tamil Nadu’s climate playbook
Here’s your trivia for today: In which country would you find the world's lowest elevation airport?
Mental Health
Early intervention systems for youth
Youth mental health in India has been largely reactive. Only after underlying socio-cultural and economic factors escalate distress, families and systems scramble to respond. However, over the past few years, this has been shifting.
An emerging ecosystem linking national government programmes, state initiatives and community-embedded psychosocial learning has signalled a fundamental shift in how India approaches youth mental health. Instead of waiting for needs to escalate, India’s education and health frameworks are now focusing on early identification, peer support, capacity building and emotional skills development.
Crisis response:
- Recognising that adolescents often turn first to peers when in distress, in July 2025, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched ‘I Support My Friends’, an adolescent peer support module which trains teens to recognise signs of emotional distress in peers.
- Beyond government action, civil society groups are embedding social-emotional learning (SEL) within education as an active preventive strategy. NIMHANS, for instance, collaborates with government and civil society partners to strengthen youth mental health.
- In the coming year, India can be expected to build further on its preventive, proactive architecture, deepening integration of social‑emotional learning (SEL) into curricula, scaling peer support training, investing in capacity building for educators and community practitioners, and leveraging new data streams to guide policy more precisely.
Environment
Inside Tamil Nadu’s climate playbook
This month, Supriya Sahu, Tamil Nadu’s Additional Chief Secretary for Environment Climate Change and Forests, was honoured with the Champions of the Earth award, the United Nations’ highest recognition for environmental leadership, instituted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Speaking to SocialStory, Sahu reflected on deploying AI to reduce human–wildlife conflict, embedding data-led governance in environmental conservation, the evolution of Trek Tamil Nadu, and more.
Sustainability strategy:
- AI has a significant role in the state’s conservation efforts. Tamil Nadu has launched AI on the railway tracks in Madukkarai and introduced thermal cameras in Gudalur to monitor and alert elephants straying into human habitation in real-time.
- In a climate programme, data is necessary be able to reap the benefits, according to Sahu. Apart from these, other co-benefits of using data include transparency, credibility, better planning and policy-making.
- The state is also bringing in industries into the initiative through measures like the Green Rating of Industries. This is a rating where the pollution control board and government issue a certificate providing a number and a rating for following sustainability practices or circularity in respective industries.
News & updates
- Deal close: Nvidia has purchased Intel shares worth $5 billion, the American semiconductor firm said in a filing on Monday, carrying out a transaction announced in September. The AI chip designer said in September it would pay $23.28 per share for Intel common stock.
- AI push: SoftBank Group will acquire digital infrastructure investor DigitalBridge Group in a deal valued at $4 billion, the companies said on Monday, as the Japanese investment firm looks to deepen its AI-related portfolio.
In which country would you find the world's lowest elevation airport?
Answer: Bar Yehuda Airfield in Israel.
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