An interesting sector which is promising is animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC). It is growing at 9 per cent and is expected to reach about Rs.3 trillion ($43.93 billion) by 2024. It has a CAGR of 13.5 per cent. It has immense potential to employ youth. India has half the number of gaming tech startups that China has. India lags behind the US and the UK too. The lagging is both in the number of startups and funding.

India has 64 startups, whereas China has 137 startups, double the number of India. The UK has 139 startups. The US has 7 times more startups.

The US boasts of Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite and Niantric Labs, the makers of PokemonGo.

The US and China account for nearly half of the global gaming market. India’s share is negligible 1 per cent. India has to monetise its content. It has a long way to go.

India has introduced electronic voucher-based payments called e-Rupi in July 2021. The purpose was to reach the targeted benefits to the citizens in a leak-proof way. The vouchers or coupons electronically were delivered to feature phones. These vouchers had associated value and purpose. These could not be encashed for anything else. The benefits were to be availed of at a service provider or a merchant who was enabled to accept them.

Sometimes instead of a message on feature phones, the vouchers were delivered as QR codes. It was not necessary for a beneficiary to hold a bank account.

These vouchers were used to distribute medical aid and for PDS. Apart from government, the corporates can also give such vouchers to their employees.

To begin with, e-Rupee vouchers had constraints. There was a ceiling on the maximum value — Rs.10000. Secondly, they were for a single use, and lapsed even when partially redeemed. Recently these conditions have been relaxed. The ceiling on value has been increased to Rs.1 lac, and they could be used multiple times till the entire value gets exhausted or till their validity. It thus becomes a pre-paid instrument. It is more economical than prepaid cards.

Banks could be the authorised issuers of these vouchers. Government too can issue such vouchers.

South Indian film makers are great storytellers and have their fingers on the pulse of their audience. Hindi film producers having pan-India audience were making remakes of these successful South Indian films so far. These days South Indian film maker have started seeking pan-Indian audiences. They are making film with a star cast of South Indian artistes and Hindi film artistes. In the 1980s and 1990s, in order to watch a good South Indian film, you will have to watch it in original without subtitles or dubbing. However, after OTT took over in 2016, films from various languages were released. An Amazon Prime Video movie in vernacular medium is watched outside the home state too — it contributes 50 per cent of the total audience. Since a decade, even TV channels show dubbed regional movies. Together, these made the audiences receptive to pan-India films.

Pushpa, a Telugu film’s dubbed version in Hindi is a massive hit. It is the biggest pan-Indian hit after Bahubali. In the line, we have RRR. It will be released on Netflix sixty days after its release in theatres. This is the best time to do pan-Indian film. The more a movie reaches out, the more it is good for business.

India proposes to bring a ‘battery swapping policy’ in consultation with NITI Ayog providing an option to EV owners not to own the battery. Such EVs without batteries will be economical, as batteries contribute nearly 50 per cent of the vehicle cost. EV adoption then becomes easier. There could be battery-as-a-service (Baas) model. The vehicle owners can swap batteries at swap stations within minutes. These could be charged at home. This will give EV ecosystem a boost. There should be flexibility for the customer — either he can own the battery or can use battery swapping. Initially, this will be done for light vehicles, two- and three-wheelers.

Money or currency has been made out of a variety of materials, depending on the environment, available technology and resources. Leather, shells, precious metals, paper and most recently plastic or polymer have all been used to make money. Marco Polo in the 13th century after return to Europe from his travels recommended the use of paper rather than coins. The earliest paper bank notes were issued by the Bank of Stockholm in 1661.

These days the world has realised the disadvantages of paper notes. These notes are not environment friendly. Besides, they get spoiled and mulilated fast, and involves replacement cost. Many countries are switching to polymer notes. Australia was the first country to issue polymer notes in 1988. However, Haiti developed the first polymer bank note in 1980. The Bank of Canada issued polymer notes in 2011. The Bank of England too issued Series G notes between 2016 and 2021. Polymer notes are difficult to counterfeit. In September 2022, the UK will not have paper notes which continued for a period of 300 years.

The UAE too has issued 50-dirham polymer bank notes. Philippines and Pakistan too have issued polymer notes. Trinidad and Tobago have also issued polymer notes. Of the 195 countries in the world, 76 countries are using polymer notes.

Some suggest hybrid notes of polymer and paper.

IT professionals well-versed in new technologies — full-stack engineering, data engineering or data analytics, site reliability engineering or DevOps are very much in demand , and are paid handsomely for these skills. There is high attrition too in this sector. The remunerations have touched peaks.

An employee receives an offer, and serves the notice period. During the notice period, he goes through the selection process of one or two more companies, and collects offers from them. Then he starts doing offer trading. He leverages the offers on hand to negotiate the next order. The idea is to maximise the returns from the multiple offers.

The negotiations are in terms of CTC or cost to company per annum and the joining bonus amount. There is a premium on higher skills. The skill premiums are more on full stack developer, data science and Business Intelligence–BI and cloud computing roles.

Job switches are proving profitable to the employees. The avearge hike is 70-120 per cent. Even annual increments have gone up, say they are 28-35 per cent now.

Till the time the additional manpower is hired and trained in new age technology, employers will continue to pay digital talent in new technologies above-average CTCs.

In fact, what we call metaverse is an online replica of the real world in a 3D digital environment. The access is through AR and VR. People live online as digital avatars. It is this digital personality that complements the physical personality.

In metaverse, there world be hosting of events. It is a new way to plan conferences. It will be no-person events. Online public meetings have been facilitated by technology. In conferences, the virtual avatars will participate.

The quality of the virtual event will be decided by the ease with which the participants will be able to interact as in the real world. The events portfolio will be developed while minimising the operational costs. Some experiences which so far were accessible by the wealthy can well become affordable for the common lot. Metaverse would prove to be huge boon. Metaverse is still a new concept. People are accustomed to social media events. Metaverse events could be expensive to begin with. Special equipment are necessary for interactions. It is a big limitation. There are issues of data security and privacy.

Brands can make use of the events. Events can have prime spaces for branding. It will attract the eye balls. These brands thus can be monetised. Brand managers will become proactive. At present, they are reactive. With AI/ML, one can be sure about the RoI on brand investments.

Minnie Mouse is a popular female mouse. Minnie used a red Polka dot dress. The British designer Stella McCartney gave her a new look with an outfit with no dots. She swapped out of her traditional dress into a smart blue pantsuit. She retains her conic bow. This coincides with the 30th anniversary of the theme park Disneyland in Paris.

In 2019, Minnie wore a white pair of sailor trousers as captain Minnie. Later she had a red polka dress. That was changed to a dark pantsuit with black polka. There was a matching bow, black shoes and white gloves.

Minnie personifies happiness and optimism. She is expressive and authentic. She now wears blue tuxedo in Disney’s Paris resort in March 2022. It is a symbol of progress for the new generation. It is a gender neutral dress. She has been introduced as the love interest of Mickey Mouse almost 100 years ago. In 1942, it was revealed that her full name is Minerva.

Film makers in India too would like to create an immersive experience for the audience. Movie goers will experience this in Bade Miyan-Chhote Miyan, a movie starring Akshay and Tiger Shroff. Even promotional events for the movie will be held in metaverse.

Movie viewing in metaverse is still a work-in-progress. It calls for uninterrupted internet and VR goggles, a costly investment .

Even concerts can be held in metaverse. Artists can perform in a studio wearing a VR headset.

There are dating apps in the metaverse. During ordinary virtual dates, many women are reluctant to switch on videos due to safety concerns. A date in metaverse allows users to engage with people, using their avatars. It gives them an immersive experience.

There could be metaverse weddings. One can get married on a beach. Wedding receptions can be held in metaverse.

Entry to the concerts could be free and could be through non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

There are security concerns too, as the metaverse concept gets wider adoption.

It is necessary to master discrete mathematics to understand courses such as data structures, algorithms, digital design, AI/ML, data science, coding theory and cryptography. Discrete Math constitudes a major part of Computer Science theory.

Discrete Math’s concept of Network Flows has been used to conserve endangered species. Spatio-temporal optimisation concept has been used to implement geospatial apps, e.g. maps, 3D reconstruction, processing of satellite images. Linear algebra has been used to respond to pandemics and manage logistics. Linear algebra has been used to balance chemical equations. Discrete probability theory has been used in modelling uncertainty in ML/data analytics models. Hidden Markov models or probabilistic models are used in speech processing and multi-media data processing. Graph theory is widely used.

Discrete Math courses cover Logic, proof techniques, resolution, induction, set theory, combinatorics, permutations, combinations, sum rule, product rule, pigeon-hole principle, Ramsey numbers, cardinality theory, countable and uncountable sets, Cantor’s diagonalization, uncomputable functions and graph theory.

Even binary math is discrete arithmetic.

A B.Tech degree course in computer science has Discrete Math as one foundation subject.