Good Morning. A newly elected Governor in New Jersey is shaking up American politics with bold promises—from freezing electricity prices to banning cellphones in classrooms and waging war on addictive social media algorithms. These headline-grabbing reforms aren’t just sparking debate in the US, they’re echoing urgent questions for Indian parents, teachers, and policymakers. But are we ready?

In other news, twelve Indian states will spend Rs 1.68 lakh crore on cash transfer schemes for women, in FY26, up from just two states three years ago.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Bill C-12 proposes mass visa cancellations amid rising Indian asylum claims.

THE TAKE

Restrict Phones, Save Young Minds: Can India Learn From American Politicians?

By Govindraj Ethiraj

The state of New Jersey in the United States which houses a fair number of Indian immigrants, legal and sub-legal, elected a democrat governor yesterday.

At the same time Indian origin Zohran Mamdani won his election as New York city mayor.

But today’s focus is on neighbouring New Jersey.

53-year old Mikie Sherrill, is also a helicopter pilot who graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1994. She flew missions as a Sea King helicopter pilot in Europe and Middle East.

After serving in the navy for around a decade, the mother of four children studied law at Georgetown University and subsequently joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey.

So what could someone from such a background promise to work on being elected?

Admittedly, it is a rhetorical question since we are far away but here are some of her promises.

Freeze the state’s high electricity costs by declaring a state of emergency on her first day in office in January.

Get cellphones out of classrooms and hire more mental health counselors for schools.

Using data gathered through a new “social media addiction observatory,” she said her administration will take on digital platforms that use algorithms to lure in children and teenagers.

Could these promises be relevant to a regional or national politician in India ?

The answer could be no because our issues are different and our politicians could rightly be focused on livelihoods, jobs and the other big trend of late, cash transfers to women voters.

But could these be additional issues?

Lets skip electricity, though it is a burning issue in many parts of the United States. Tariffs are rising sharply, also due to the proliferation of energy hungry data centres. Retail power prices in New Jersey were up 19% in August from a year earlier, a Wall Street Journal article said.

But admittedly, high power costs do not surface so much as an election issue in India also because of subsidy responses.

Let's examine the other two issues, getting phones out of classrooms and the fight against algorithms.

The fight against algorithms is a larger one and may appear more distant so lets put that aside too.

In the last week, several prominent voices, including Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York and owner of Bloomberg news made a strong case against children using Artificial Intelligence as a tool or aid in their education.

Bloomberg starts off by saying elected officials are finally waking up to the educational harms of mobile phones in public schools. As more districts ban them, the reports are highly encouraging—though hardly surprising, given the positive results we saw in New York City when we removed them from schools nearly 20 years ago, he says.

Yet, he laments, that even as phone bans spread, elected officials and Silicon Valley executives are trying to open classrooms to a technology that could set students back even further than mobile phones have: artificial intelligence (AI).

An NYT article by Anastasia Berg who teaches philosophy at the University of California, Irvine says higher education aims to create cognitively mature adults, which in turn requires us to ensure students learn to read, think and write all on their own.

But she says, “Our students are about to turn subcognitive.” At stake are not just specialized academic skills or refined habits of mind but also the most basic form of cognitive fluency.

Her argument: To leave our students to their own devices — which is to say, to the devices of A.I. companies — is to deprive them of indispensable opportunities to develop their linguistic mastery, and with it their most elementary powers of thought.

This means they will lack the means to understand the world they live in or navigate it effectively.

Now, arguing against AI is not the same as arguing against cellphones in class but there is obviously a link since cellphones or devices to extend Dr Berg’s and Bloomberg’s analogy are the primary gateway.

In many Indian households, the smartphone is also the only computer in the house as was evident during Covid when many children attended classes via their parents’ cellphones.

This is a much longer discussion but there is little doubt that overuse of cellphones are now causing damage to a host of neural and cognitive abilities.

There is also little doubt that you can’t educate your way out of this problem if you are to think of today’s youth as a harbinger of tomorrow’s bright future.

China offers some insights into tackling this challenge worth looking at. While replicating China may not be the best recourse, given that this does come with some caveats, there are threads worth picking up.

A report in the Information Technology and Information Foundation, a Washington DC based non-profit, quotes the Cyberspace Administration of China’s (CAC) “minor mode initiative,” a series of requirements for mobile device settings that give parents more control over their children’s online experience.

The report says that while China’s overall approach to digital policy is known for being authoritarian, censorial, and privacy invasive—an approach democratic nations should avoid—this customizable, device-level solution to children’s online safety can serve as an inspiration.

The proposed plan included daily usage limits, blocking non-essential applications between the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM and reminders to take a break from the device every 30 minutes among other things. Parents can customize these settings, and all settings require parental verification to change or remove.

It is clear that parents and educational institutions have to work today to ensure there is moderation in use and exposure to social media.

India has over 750 million smartphones and for many youth, the smartphone is as much a means to connectivity, commerce and of course content.

The smartphones are also the gateway to slick apps to buy now and pay later for daily expenditure or trade derivatives in the stock market on the run and until recently, gamble on cricket scores.

You can’t stop a 25-year old from gambling their income, savings and maybe their parents as well by swiping away at their smartphones. But you can surely control their exposure in their teens when they are surely more vulnerable.

Parents and schools across India are already embarking on banning cellphones in classrooms. We may or may not follow the China model, given the logistical challenges of implementing it but there should be a midway between full and self regulation.

More importantly, while New Jersey may be far away from India, the issues that matter to us as a generation are coming closer.

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CORE NUMBER

1.68 lakh crore

That’s the total amount 12 Indian States will spend on unconditional cash transfer (UCT) schemes for women in 2025-26, up from just two States three years ago, according to a report by PRS Legislative Research.

Why It Matters: Women-focused UCT schemes have become a defining welfare trend across States — but the rapid expansion is straining State finances.

By The Numbers:

Rs 1.68 lakh crore → total UCT outlay in FY26 across 12 States

2 States (2022-23) → 12 States (2025-26) are now running such schemes

6 of these 12 States are projected to run revenue deficits this year

Assam’s UCT allocation up by 31% year-on-year; West Bengal up by 15%

Flashpoint: If UCT spending were excluded, Karnataka’s revenue balance would swing from a 0.6% deficit to a 0.3% surplus; Madhya Pradesh’s surplus would improve from 0.4% to 1.1% of GSDP. The RBI has warned that rising subsidies and cash transfers could squeeze States’ fiscal space for capital and development spending.

The Big Picture: Major schemes include Tamil Nadu’s Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai Thittam, Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna Yojana, and Karnataka’s Gruha Lakshmi — each offering Rs 1,000–Rs 1,500 a month to women in eligible households.

FROM THE PERIPHERY

US-China Tariff Thaw?

China will suspend its additional 24% tariffs on US goods from 10th November while retaining a 10% base duty, in a move signalling a modest thaw after Donald Trump and Xi Jinping’s meeting in South Korea. US soybeans will still face a 13% tariff, keeping them less competitive against Brazilian imports.

The Lead: For India, which continues to face average US tariffs of about 50% on exports like steel, auto parts, and textiles, the easing of US-China trade tensions highlights its relatively tougher position. 

Critical Moment: These sectors, as well as those that don’t face tariffs saw export declines, as Ajay Srivastava of GTRI told The Core Report. Meanwhile, bilateral talks with the US toward a comprehensive trade deal remain stalled with no new agreement announced.

Canada Visa Crackdown!

The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) are advancing legislation under Bill C-12 that would permit mass cancellation of temporary visas, rather than solely individual revocations. Internal documents flag India and Bangladesh as “country-specific visa holder” challenges and note asylum claims from Indian nationals rose from fewer than 500 per month in mid-2023 to about 2,000 per month by July 2024.

Overview: Meanwhile, India remains a top source of international students in Canada. But, the study permit rejection rate for Indian applicants jumped to roughly 74% in August 2025, from about 32% in August 2023.

What This Means Going Forward: For Indian applicants, the prospect of cohort-based cancellations heightens risk. Expert advisers suggest that thorough application documentation, early submission and consideration of alternate countries remain essential. In other news, the United States Department of Labor has resumed processing applications for the H‑1B visa and other employment-related certifications via the FLAG portal after a nearly month-long suspension caused by a federal shutdown.

Housing Prices Surge.

India’s top eight housing markets saw home prices rise between 7–19% in the July–September quarter, driven by strong demand and a growing preference for premium homes, PTI reported citing data from PropTiger, now part of Aurum PropTech Ltd. Delhi-NCR led the gains with a 19% year-on-year jump to ₹8,900 per sq ft, boosted by luxury housing demand and infrastructure upgrades.

Setting: Bengaluru and Hyderabad followed with 15% and 13% growth, respectively, while Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region recorded steady gains between 7–9%, signalling broad-based growth across cities.

Overview: Experts said the price surge reflects strong end-user and investor confidence. CREDAI-Bengaluru’s Zyad Noaman noted that Bengaluru’s performance underscores its resilience, while Central Park’s Ankush Kaul and Roots Developers’ Sumit Ranjan attributed Delhi-NCR’s rise to premiumisation and improved connectivity, particularly along the Dwarka Expressway.

PODCASTS

Valuation Concerns Are Hanging Over Global Markets

On Episode 719 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks you through the big business stories of the day. We also feature an excerpt from The Core’s How India’s Economy Works, hosted by economic journalist and author Puja Mehra and featuring Dr. Nisha Taneja, Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

• Valuation concerns are hanging over global markets

• There are more private equity firms than McDonald’s restaurants in North America

• What Indian exporters need to become more competitive, learnings from China

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