Market Mogul

April 12, 2025 - A widespread outage of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has severely disrupted digital payment services across India today. Starting around 11:30 AM IST, a large number of users began reporting failures in transaction processing on various UPI-based platforms, including popular apps like Paytm, PhonePe, and Google Pay. According to Downdetector, a service that monitors online outages, reports of UPI issues spiked significantly around 11:41 AM IST, with over a thousand users logging complaints. The primary issues reported include the inability to make payments and difficulties in transferring funds. Social media platforms are flooded with user complaints expressing frustration over the disruption. Many users highlighted the inconvenience caused by the outage, especially for day-to-day transactions that heavily rely on UPI. One user on X (formerly Twitter) remarked, "UPI is down again today, all payments are getting failed. At least there should be prior intimat...

In recent weeks, Nepal has found itself at the center of an unfolding political drama that threatens to reshape its national identity. A surge of pro-monarchy protests has rocked this ancient Himalayan kingdom, as citizens, disillusioned by decades of political instability and economic hardship, call for a return to the era of royal rule. What began as a cry for stability has morphed into a complex battle between tradition and modern democratic aspirations—a struggle that holds profound implications not only for Nepal but also for its neighbors and the broader geopolitical landscape. A Fragile Republic in Crisis Since the abolition of the monarchy in 2008, Nepal has wrestled with the challenges of building a stable, democratic state. With thirteen different administrations in just over seventeen years, the country’s political scene has been a revolving door of fleeting coalitions, corruption, and unfulfilled promises. This relentless turnover has eroded public trust in the system,...