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Elected Women Representatives in Local Rural Governments in India: Assessing the Impact and Challenges
Gender | Urbanisation Jan 31, 2024

Elected Women Representatives in Local Rural Governments in India: Assessing the Impact and Challenges

India’s 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, which empowered local self-governments (Panchayati Raj Institutions) and reserved one-third of electoral seats in these bodies for women, has elevated women’s participation in rural governance. India is among the foremost countries for women’s participation in local governments, with over 1.45 ...

Continuity and Change in Bangladesh’s Indo-Pacific Outlook: Deliberating Post-Election Scenarios
International Affairs Jan 04, 2024

Continuity and Change in Bangladesh’s Indo-Pacific Outlook: Deliberating Post-Election Scenarios

Bangladesh’s Indo-Pacific Outlook, released in April 2023, is a projection of its interests in the region, and a testament to its political nonalignment and commitment to economic development. Its focus on upholding the rule of law and maintaining regional stability makes it a conducive partner ...

Gender in the Waterscape: Creating Economic Ripples in India’s Labour Markets
Gender | Sustainable Development | Water Dec 13, 2023

Gender in the Waterscape: Creating Economic Ripples in India’s Labour Markets

This paper assesses the gendered division of labour for household-level domestic service activities, of which water management remains a primary component, across Indian states and the various dimensions of gender that are relevant in this context. Women have traditionally played an essential role in water ...

Catalysing Progress Through Capacity-Building Initiatives: Learnings from India’s Pan-African e-Network Project in Ghana and Malawi
International Affairs Nov 14, 2023

Catalysing Progress Through Capacity-Building Initiatives: Learnings from India’s Pan-African e-Network Project in Ghana and Malawi

Capacity building is a central feature of India’s outreach to Africa. Over the last seven decades, the Indian government has provided numerous scholarships to African students through the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation scheme. India has also established ...

India-France Trilaterals in the Indo-Pacific: Imperatives, Interests, Initiatives
International Affairs Nov 04, 2023

India-France Trilaterals in the Indo-Pacific: Imperatives, Interests, Initiatives

By broadening the scope of bilateral cooperation from the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) to encompass the entire Indo-Pacific region, the India-France Indo-Pacific Roadmap, released in July 2023, underscores the importance of moving beyond the traditional self-centred approach to foster a more outward-looking dynamic with key ...

Water Valuation and Pricing in India: Imperatives for Sustainable Water Governance
Sustainable Development | Water | Climate Change | Agriculture Nov 02, 2023

Water Valuation and Pricing in India: Imperatives for Sustainable Water Governance

This paper highlights the importance of water valuation and pricing for sustainable and efficient water allocation and management in India. An efficient water-pricing mechanism could be a tool to address the impending crisis of water scarcity, which necessitates a robust, objective, and holistic valuation technique. ...

The State of India’s Public Sector Defence Industry
Defence and Security | Indian Defence Oct 26, 2023

The State of India’s Public Sector Defence Industry

India’s large defence industrial base has historically been dominated by public sector entities, although they have failed in meeting the growing requirements of the armed forces. The public sector suffers from inefficiency in productivity, innovation and international sales, rendering New Delhi highly dependent on arms ...

Foreign Universities in India: Lessons and Learnings from Global Experiences
Education Oct 20, 2023

Foreign Universities in India: Lessons and Learnings from Global Experiences

In May 2023, India’s University Grants Commission announced draft guidelines to allow foreign universities to establish operations in the country. This paper explores the potential outcomes of the decision by assessing the experiences of foreign institutions in China, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, and ...

Tracking India’s Infrastructure Development Near the Line of Actual Control
Neighbourhood Oct 17, 2023

Tracking India’s Infrastructure Development Near the Line of Actual Control

The pace of Indian infrastructure building along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) bordering China has historically been slow due to financial and doctrinal constraints, but has accelerated in the past 20 years. Construction has become more efficient owing to bureaucratic changes and the infusion ...

Ethical and Regulatory Considerations in the Collection and Use of Biometric Data
Privacy & Data Protection | Internet Governance | Cyber and Technology | Privacy and Surveillance Oct 10, 2023

Ethical and Regulatory Considerations in the Collection and Use of Biometric Data

Surveillance as a tool of governance holds more relevance today than ever before, as information technology grows by the day and collects more biometric data. Biometric data—either first-generation (static biological data) or second-generation (dynamic socio-spatial biological data)—is extracted from the biological and social aspects of ...

Contributors

J. M. Mauskar

J. M. Mauskar

Spending more than 34 years as a Public Servant as an officer of the Indian Administrative Service he has had ’hands on’ experience of International Trade, Investment Promotion, Overseas Investments, International Contracts, Dynamics of Petroleum Sector and Environmental issues, especially ...

Read More + Preeti Kapuria

Preeti Kapuria

Preeti Kapuria was a Fellow at ORF Kolkata with research interests in the area of environment development and agriculture. The approach is to understand the linkages between biodiversity ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services and to examine how environmental governance participatory ...

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