Recent Updates

IAS Recruitment should be through Armed Forces
Defence and Security | Indian Defence Sep 02, 2004

IAS Recruitment should be through Armed Forces

The central government is considering a proposal to select aspiring IAS and allied services candidates after the 12th standard with a view to catching them young for a career in the bureaucracy. Presumably, a new academy will be established for this purpose because the Mussoorie ...

Playing the Balancing Act
Domestic Politics and Governance | National Politics Sep 02, 2004

Playing the Balancing Act

By referring to the ¿unprecedented¿ parliamentary ruckus that marked his first 100 days in office and to globalisation in the same vein at the J R D Tata centenary celebrations in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have identified areas of concern not only ...

China is a challenge, and not a threat, to India
International Affairs | Indian Foreign Policy | Defence and Security | China Foreign Policy | Indian Defence | China Military Sep 02, 2004

China is a challenge, and not a threat, to India

New Delhi has made it clear that it does not see China as a "threat" to India. The official position reflects a correct assessment of our security environment. China poses a challenge, not a threat, to India.

Will he dare shed his uniform?
International Affairs | Neighbourhood | Terrorism Sep 01, 2004

Will he dare shed his uniform?

Three months from now, President Pervez Musharraf will have to take a decision. He could decide to quit the post of the Chief of Army Staff-a position he has been holding for the past five years, the longest ever for a Pakistani General, perhaps longest ...

Act of last resort
Domestic Politics and Governance | Defence and Security | State Level Politics | Internal Security Sep 01, 2004

Act of last resort

Why does Manipur continue to be on fire? Civil and human rights activists, social scientists and even the media would have you believe that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) is primarily responsible for this. Is that so? Why is this act necessary? What ...

On a hot tin roof
International Affairs | Neighbourhood Aug 31, 2004

On a hot tin roof

Nepal is in deep turmoil. At the centre is the 8-year-old Maoist insurgency, the cost of which has been enormous ¿ 10,000 lives, a disrupted economy and a sharply fragmented society along ethnic, caste, regional and religious lines. The worst chaos is in the political ...

Jihadism
Defence and Security Aug 24, 2004

Jihadism

Jihad, as it is not known today, is not guided by any specific logic, and it is not meant to achieve any political objectives', said Dr. Faisal Fatehali Devji, Professor of History at Yale University, while making a presentation on 'Jihadism', at Observer Research Foundation, ...

New Prime Minister, New Challenges
International Affairs | Neighbourhood Aug 21, 2004

New Prime Minister, New Challenges

Pakistan's Prime Minister-designate Shaukat Aziz has been elected to the National Assembly with a thumping majority. His victory is being projected as a peaceful transition of power¿from Jamali to Shujaat to Aziz-- and as a sign of democracy maturing in Pakistan.

Workshop on Access to Justice
Domestic Politics and Governance | Law and Justice Aug 21, 2004

Workshop on Access to Justice

Observer Research Foundation on August 21 organised a day-long workshop on ¿ Access to Justice in India¿ particularly for the poor and vulnerable sections of the society. Drawing the attention of the participants, ORF Chairman R.K.Mishra, in his welcome address said there was no dearth ...

Seminar on Employment and Growth
Indian Economy | Development | Inclusion Aug 17, 2004

Seminar on Employment and Growth

Appropriately designed strategies could promote growth with employment, Mr AB Bardhan, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India, said, while speaking at a seminar on "Employment and Growth",

Making Dreams Work
Domestic Politics and Governance | National Politics Aug 16, 2004

Making Dreams Work

The twin messages on the Independence Day, respectively from President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have in them core ideas on core issues and core values that have got marginalized in the rough and tumble of every day living and ...

Custodians as proliferators
International Affairs | Neighbourhood | Defence and Security | US Foreign Policy | Nuclear Security Aug 13, 2004

Custodians as proliferators

One of the questions that neither the Bush administration nor the Musharraf government has so far investigated is the involvement of Pakistan's military in the proliferation activities of nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Trends in Indian Foreign Policy
International Affairs | Indian Foreign Policy Aug 11, 2004

Trends in Indian Foreign Policy

Speaking at an interaction on 'Trends in Indian Foreign Policy', organized by Observer Research Foundation (ORF), ORF Mumbai Chapter, Prof. S D Muni of Jawaharlal Nehru University, ... more

Indian Polity at the Crossroads, Again?
Domestic Politics and Governance | National Politics Aug 06, 2004

Indian Polity at the Crossroads, Again?

A decade and more after the ¿reforms regimen¿ caused a rethink of the ¿national agenda¿, the Indian polity may be at the crossroads again. If cascading fiscal compulsion was behind the earlier re-think, this time round it has more to do with the evolving polity ...

War on Terrorism has to shift focus
International Affairs | Neighbourhood | US Foreign Policy | Terrorism Aug 04, 2004

War on Terrorism has to shift focus

The 9/11 Commission Report has been made public and has, since then, witnessed intense scrutiny and commentary in the international media. The Indian media and analysts have been exceptionally vocal about its findings on Pakistan¿s possible linkages with the 9/11 attackers and conspirators.

Time Frame  for Kashmir Solution
International Affairs | Neighbourhood | Indian Foreign Policy | Terrorism Aug 02, 2004

Time Frame for Kashmir Solution

Pakistan's military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf has seemingly upset the Indians by insisting on a specific time frame within which a solution to the Kashmir issue acceptable to India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris is worked out within the framework of the composite dialogue between India ...

Splitting Jihad to Control it or End it?
Neighbourhood | Defence and Security | Internal Security Jul 30, 2004

Splitting Jihad to Control it or End it?

Ever since the start of the insurgency in Kashmir, the Pakistani intelligence agencies have constantly raised, mutated, emasculated and even extirpated the so-called jihadi groups active in Kashmir. The dependence of the Jihadis active in Kashmir on Pakistan for training, logistics, arms and ammunition and ...

Pakistan & 9/11
International Affairs | Neighbourhood | Indian Foreign Policy | US Foreign Policy | Terrorism Jul 28, 2004

Pakistan & 9/11

In an article on the interrogation of Omar Sheikh, one of the accused in the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist belonging to the "Wall Street Journal", written on March 13,2002, ("The Man Who knows & Talks Too Much"---http://www.saag.org/papers5/paper424.html), I had ...

Going Nuclear
Economics and Finance | Energy | Energy Security | Economic Reforms | Energy Access Jul 20, 2004

Going Nuclear

The Power sector reforms in the country have presented the next strategic challenge that could redefine global interest in India. The country has set an ambitious target of producing 20,000 MW of Nuclear power by 2020 i.e. around 1000 MW of additional nuclear capacity per ...

Sri Lankan Premier India Visit: An Opportunity Lost?
International Affairs | Neighbourhood | Indian Foreign Policy Jul 20, 2004

Sri Lankan Premier India Visit: An Opportunity Lost?

The Sri Lankan Premier Mahinda Rajapakse has completed his three-day visit to India over the weekend from July 17 to 19. He was here on the invitation of the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Between Consensus and Homogeny
Domestic Politics and Governance | State Level Politics | National Politics Jul 20, 2004

Between Consensus and Homogeny

By writing to Chief Ministers on administrative systems, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has revived a process that probably died with Jawaharlal Nehru. As Prime Minister, Vajpayee had his year-end Musings, which like Nehru¿s letters covered a wide range of subjects, including foreign policy and security ...

Saudi Arabia: A nation in turmoil
International Affairs | US Foreign Policy | Terrorism Jul 16, 2004

Saudi Arabia: A nation in turmoil

¿Unlike in Egypt, Algeria and Yemen, no well¿defined group engaged in sustained terrorism has emerged in Saudi Arabia¿i. A lot has been said and written about Saudi Arabia¿s role in the largely defunct ¿war on terror¿. The ruling family of the House of Saud has ...

Budget 2004: The Power Sector Review
Energy Security | Energy Access Jul 15, 2004

Budget 2004: The Power Sector Review

Budget 2004, despite the change of regime in New Delhi, maintains the much required continuity for critical power sector reforms to achieve the country¿'s "Power for All" objective by 2012 and double installed capacity to over 200,000 MW .The salient features in the budget vis-a-vis ...

Of Consensual Development
Domestic Politics and Governance | Climate, Food and Environment | State Level Politics | National Politics Jul 14, 2004

Of Consensual Development

Reports that the Centre is considering the winding up of the Task Force on the possibly over-ambitious project for the inter-linking of rivers need to be received with concern. It is nobody's case that the report, or the project, should be accepted in toto,

Suicide Strike in Colombo
International Affairs | Neighbourhood | Terrorism Jul 08, 2004

Suicide Strike in Colombo

July 7, 2004, Wednesday, witnessed the first suicide attack in Sri Lanka since the signing of the Cease Fire Accord (CFA) between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Reviving Dabhol
Energy Access | Energy Efficiency Jul 08, 2004

Reviving Dabhol

Enron Corp's Dabhol Power Station project, worth over-$3 billion, has, arguably, been India's most talked about project since the beginning of the "economic reforms" in the early 1990s. The 2,184 MW power project was acclaimed as the flagship project of the LPG regime that was ...

Contributors

Siranush Melikyan

Siranush Melikyan

Siranush Melikyan is an Assistant Professor at the Yerevan State University. ...

Read More + Tigran Yepremyan

Tigran Yepremyan

Tigran Yepremyan is the Dean of the Faculty of International Relations and an Associate Professor of World History and IR at the Yerevan State University, Armenia. ...

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