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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 ...

Open-Source Intelligence Has Arrived
International Affairs | Internet Governance | Artificial Intelligence Oct 04, 2023

Open-Source Intelligence Has Arrived

The concept of ‘intelligence’ immediately brings to mind a covert world of spies, secrets, and classified documents. That might have been true in the past, but in the current age, Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) is gaining prominence. OSINT is intelligence based on information that is publicly ...

A Divided ‘Visegrad Four’ Navigates Relations with the European Union
International Affairs Oct 03, 2023

A Divided ‘Visegrad Four’ Navigates Relations with the European Union

The Visegrad Four (V4) countries—Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary—are examples of communist states that have transitioned to liberal and democratic governance systems. In recent years, their visibility in the European Union (EU) has surged due to their contrarian positions on certain critical issues ...

Cyber Mercenaries: A Call to Action for the Quad
International Affairs | Cyber and Technology Sep 20, 2023

Cyber Mercenaries: A Call to Action for the Quad

This paper investigates, in the context of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad, the burgeoning threats posed by cyber mercenaries acting as proxies for revisionist states bent on destabilising the institutions and societies of adversary nations. The paper offers essential definitions of what comprises cybersecurity ...

The Causes and Consequences of Abolishing Cantonments in India
Urbanisation Sep 19, 2023

The Causes and Consequences of Abolishing Cantonments in India

India’s decision to abolish cantonments after carving out the military areas, announced in April 2023, has been met with scepticism and support. Cantonments, primarily created during the British rule to station and house the military, evolved to include civilians as residents and staff to provide ...

India’s UPI Market: Projections for Growth Under Various GDP Scenarios
Indian Economy | Economics and Finance Sep 08, 2023

India’s UPI Market: Projections for Growth Under Various GDP Scenarios

This paper projects the nationwide and state-wise size of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) market under various GDP growth scenarios. The market sizes under these scenarios are expressed in monetary values at the scale of both sub-national units and the Indian economy as a whole. ...

India's G20 Leadership: Elevating Capacity Building for Sustainable Development Financing
Development | Economics and Finance | Developing and Emerging Economies | Sustainable Development Sep 04, 2023

India's G20 Leadership: Elevating Capacity Building for Sustainable Development Financing

India’s G20 Presidency has identified the mandate for the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) as thus: “capacity building of the ecosystem for financing sustainable development.” The aim is to scale up efforts in mobilising large pools of global capital for sustainable projects, particularly ...

Beyond Cyber Fires and Ukraine: PLASSF Impact on a Sino-Indian Conventional War
International Affairs | Defence and Security Sep 01, 2023

Beyond Cyber Fires and Ukraine: PLASSF Impact on a Sino-Indian Conventional War

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has served as a laboratory test to assess the effectiveness of Cyber Warfare (CW) capabilities. It would be misleading, however, to extrapolate sweeping conclusions from this conflict about the relative ineffectiveness of CW. Rather, diligence should be exercised by Indian strategic ...

From Risk to Resilience: Climate Vulnerability Assessments in India
Economics and Finance | Climate Change Aug 22, 2023

From Risk to Resilience: Climate Vulnerability Assessments in India

Climate adaptation has been at the forefront of UN climate negotiations over the past decade, given the increasing frequency of extreme weather events at the global, national, and sub-national levels. Climate vulnerability and risk assessments (VRA) are essential for adaptation planning, as they help identify ...

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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