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Theoretically the rupee cannot be traded because there is no capital account conversion for it. However many countries such as Singapore and the US sell the Indian rupee. This speculation pushes up share markets and plays around with exchange rates, according to a former Revenue Secretary.

Participants at a conference on "Reassessing India's Juvenile Justice System" emphasised on the need to fully implement the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 and the need for the State to provide enough manpower and infrastructure to take care of the aftercare programmes.

The US pivot or rebalancing is an attempt of reassurance to its friends and allies in the context of the emerging dynamics in the Asia Pacific region. While China is a major factor in the US pivot strategy, it is only a part of the story.

Considering India's economic standing, a $2.9 billion loan for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge of Bangladesh would not have been a difficult proposition. If India finds this option too difficult, there are many other alternatives for India to help Bangladesh.

Carter's commitment to deepening defence cooperation with India and Parrikar's determination to recast India's defence structures set the stage for a rebooting of the India-US strategic partnership.

It has been said that any foreign observer who spends a month in China is apt to write a book on the country; if he spends a year in China, he is content to write an article; and if he lives in China for five years, he deems it wise to refrain from making any prediction! I spent three and a half years in China ¿ too long a period for a book but perhaps but perhaps not for a short talk on India-China relations.

Sixty scholars from five BRICS countries, including India, participated in the BRICS Think Tanks Symposium in Beijing recently. It came up many recommendations to be proposed for the consideration of the Third BRICS Leaders Meeting to be held in China in April. A report:

Delhi is aware that the Pak army continues to wield a veto over cooperation with India and the room for manoeuvre is limited for the civilian leaders. Yet India must encourage the leaders of the Punjab to intensify their engagement. Delhi must also strive to improve coordination and consultation with the state leadership in Punjab.

The day after External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna, left for Islamabad front-page headlines in mainstream English language dailies had set their preferred theme: "Krishna to nail Pak using Headley: In Islamabad Foreign Minister says he will harp on Headley revelation of ISI links to 26/11".

The demand for cash that all political parties have to contest elections has been the fountainhead that has created a bureaucratic, military and defence decision-making structure which ensures that we keep running at the same place when it comes to creating a vibrant military industry complex in the country.

When the Indian establishment serenades Governor of China¿s Xinjiang province Ismail Tiliwaldi in the capital next week, it will revive deeply embedded memories from the past¿and hold a promise to a bold new future.

It would be folly to treat the threat issued to the Indian cricket team by a terrorist organisation based in Bangladesh as posing danger only to the players. The threat issued by Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) poses a direct and serious danger to India because, despite denials by the Bangladesh Government, it is clearly an indication that terrorist groups affiliated to the Al Qaeda have made Bangladesh an operational base. The

he return of the Taliban had been in the making for a decade. Convinced that they have come to power through military means, the Taliban do not feel the need to form an inclusive government. Unlike other neighbouring countries, India had been hesitant in exploring engagement with the Taliban and ended up withdrawing from the country. However, it has legitimate interest in the stability of Afghanistan and enjoys goodwill among all communities.

Democratic multi-stakeholderism has the potential to mitigate the genuine concerns of sovereign nations in terms of protection of their cyber resources and infrastructure - not only from anonymous hackers and non-state actors, but also from the overarching surveillance mounted by the US and its allies.

The first round of boundary talks with China under the Narendra Modi government, taking place this week, is an opportunity for New Delhi to explore the territorial compromises necessary to resolve the longstanding dispute. With strong leaders at the helm in Delhi and Beijing, there are rising expectations that the two special representatives - Ajit Doval and Yang Jiechi - will be able to find an early breakthrough on the boundary dispute.

While India has instituted pretty stringent measures, some of which are lacking in even other key nuclear players, India has done a bad job of advertising to the global community of what it has done. This has meant poor appreciation of India's efforts in the area of Nuclear Security.

The government has been successful in maintaining harmony with the military and preventing it from reacting violently in the aftermath of Bangladesh Rifle's mutiny.

More than a year ago, the Vice President of India, Mr. M. Hamid Ansari, pointed out in a speech the lack of good governance that plagued intelligence agencies in India, and a subsequent need for a parliamentary oversight committee to provide democratic accountability to these agencies.

The responsibility for bringing in reforms and change cannot be outsourced to bureaucrats and technocrats as reforms, in essence, is a political enterprise, says former union minister and senior Congress leader Mr. Jairam Ramesh.

The report is based on the key recommendations that emerged out of the deliberations at National Conclave on India's Energy Security: Major Challenges held in New Delhi on 14-15 February 2006. The recommendations emerging out of the Conclave have been compiled in this Report for consideration by the Government

After the loss in Bihar, now it is incumbent on Modi and his team to start rolling out reform, iron out the wrinkles and implement his promises, otherwise, 2019 will be a distant dream. The days of waiting are over.

As the conversations around internet governance become trapped in confrontational language, it is time to move the emphasis back to decision making that works for all

The threat to regional security is mainly from pan-Islamic jihadi terrorist organisations and not from ideological or ethnic terrorist groups.

The ever increasing importance of States in foreign policy - which is traditionally a preserve of the Centre - is not restricted to India, but in fact has become an important matter of debate in international relations.

Former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Hussain Haqqani, has urged regional powers to begin dialogue to prevent Afghanistan from slipping into a civil war situation after the US pullout later this year.

Chinese President Xi Ginping, who came calling in India recently, has been considered to be the strongest leader of rising China since Deng Xiaoping. But a spate of events has raised questions as to how powerful is he and if he is really in control of the vast PLA.

With the inauguration of a railway track in the Northern Province, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his two-day visit to Sri Lanka from March 13 to 14, has managed to hit the right string amidst the people of Sri Lanka. The trip has marked the beginning of a renewed India-Sri Lanka ties.

The 21st-century governance challenge is to manage globalisation while preserving the sanctity of individual pathways that humans may choose to follow in pursuit of their dreams.

The Narendra Modi government is going to close down the Planning Commission as it existed. But, any new organization of Indian economic leadership must learn from the failures and successes of the erstwhile Planning Commission, continuing its best aspects while reforming all that is irrelevant.

If India is the glue that binds the Sino-Pak alliance, as many argue, Delhi should have the capacity to weaken that bond through its own policies. Delhi has managed to alter the triangular dynamic with Pakistan and America by expanding its partnership with Washington. There might be similar possibilities awaiting Modi in Beijing.

India and Iran are, in their own way, natural allies, a fact underscored by the increasing anti-Shia nature of Pakistan. We need them more than they need us and so we must begin the process getting Teheran off its great sulk against us.

Whatever be the end-game in the ¿Karuna rebellion¿ within the monolithic LTTE, the development may have heralded a process of ¿social justice¿ or social re-engineering¿ as is understood in India ¿ and also come to stay, in a way. To the extent, the ¿Karuna factor¿ may have become unstoppable in the socio-political sense of the term, whatever be the immediate consequence of the rebellion, or its impact on the suspended peace process in Sri

In the aftermath of 9/11, fissures between the 'Islamic' and 'non-Islamic' world - a categorisation which is rather nebulous - have 'vindicated' the claims of many individuals on the Indian and Pakistani side that faith is a cause of conflict between both countries.

One of the issues is how the rest of the world reacts to terrorism that seeks to avenge perceived insults and wrongs. There have been various writings on this with respect to Islamist terror and this includes writings by Pakistanis and Muslims from other countries who urge a relook at the way Islam has been hijacked.

President Bill Clinton's five-day visit to India in 2000 followed by a five-hour stopover in Islamabad convinced New Delhi that the world order had changed. Relationships were to be shaped by the new post cold war realities, not old loyalties.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must take a leaf from the Atal Behari Vajpayee book. Remember how he was stung at Kargil by Pervez Musharraf after his bus journey to Lahore. But he persisted. He was willing to go some distance even at Agra, the hardliners in his own party pulled him back.

India has over thirty years of experience in developing biogas, biomass and solar energy and this expertise needs to be leveraged better

With the new government in New Delhi, there is a renewed interest in internet and internet governance in India, according Mr. Thomas Dukes, US Deputy Coordinator for Cyber Affairs. He said the Digital India initiative has been revived and the Government's interest and investment in furthering it is clearly visible.

The synchronised explosions in London on July 7, 2005, seem to be the handiwork of the Al Qaeda and the International Islamic Front (IIF) formed by it in February, 1998.

Maritime terrorism directed at international trade and energy supplies is not just within the realm of possibility but a distinct threat that confronts the international community. Acts of maritime terrorism of a noticeable scale began with the Palestinian Liberation Front hijacking an Italian cruise ship in 1985.

The DMK's current resurgence had its beginning in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls that the ruling AIDMK-BJP combine lost completely after the negative fallout of the economic and fiscal reforms hit the common man