iWorld
igraasp – a news channel for children launched on YouTube
MUMBAI: In today's world of numerous news channels, loud opinions, debates, fake news, chaos and noise, there is little content that is appropriate for children in the news space. Yet it is essential our children understand current affairs from India and around the world. Here is where the idea of a kid friendly news channel for children, by children germinated in the minds of a group of like-minded mothers. igraasp comes as a breath of fresh air to provide children well-curated, constructive, age-relevant news in a creative and well-researched manner.
igraasp (which is the acronym for 'I Get Ready and Always Step Up) aims to start with a 15-minute weekly capsule of news delivered through their channel on YouTube every Sunday starting in February, 2020.
igraasp started when four entrepreneurial mothers – Gayatri Luthra, Priya Wadhawan, Ruchi Mitroo and Shikha Chaturvadi wanted to spread the joy of seeking for information, news and current affairs amongst children. They wanted to provide a news platform for kids which would make them 'future-ready'.
igraasps founder Priya Wadhawan said, “News is essential for children to build a habit to be updated about current affairs. However, we felt the need for a medium relevant for them as an audience to curate news from across genres and regions presented in a fun engaging manner, building their interest and awareness of the world around them.”
The founders strongly feel that a digital and child-appropriate current affairs news platform like igraasp will facilitate a child's critical thinking, their emotional intelligence, enable them to comprehend issues, the scale of impact, and appropriate means to effect solutions.
The anchors for the weekly episode are interestingly crowd-sourced taken from different schools for diversity. These students have also undergone workshops and training for news anchoring. The show is hosted by these students and features child-friendly news across segments including National news, International news, Sports, Environmental updates, Space &Technology and of course the F square (the Fun and Facts section).
A kid who igraasps will always be ready to strike a conversation, get a handle on a serious situation, quip and quote with proficiency, and always step up to the occasion.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
