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Some observers believe after closely watching the activities of Anna Hazare and his civil society team that it is nothing short of the beginning of a political movement for changing the Government. Only time will tell whether such thinking is right or wrong.

Both India and Pakistan would have reasons to be satisfied with the joint statement issued at the end of President General Pervez Musharraf's visit to New Delhi from April 16 to 18, 2005, for talks with our Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh.

Historical issues straining Japan-Korea ties have severely limited the two countries to leverage their strategic and economic convergences to strengthen their partnership which could contribute a lot for regional peace and stability.

BSF's firing incident near Ramban has caused widespread protest in Kashmir and once again brought into focus the atrocious record of the BSF in Kashmir, for which the responsibility must rest with the Union Home Ministry. The BSF were never raised as a counterinsurgency force, yet, in 1990, they were pitched into Kashmir.

In Geneva UNHRC session, while West resolution against Sri Lanka, that satisfied none - possibly starting with the movers and shakers of the world that the US and Europe think they are - managed to muster 23 votes, those 'not in favour' added up to a higher 24, comprising 12 against and 12 'abstentions'

If the government is serious about the empowering aspects of the Uniform Civil Code, it is imperative that the minority scepticism is assuaged. Clubbed together with contentious issues like Ram Mandir and abrogation of Article 370, and in the absence of a draft, the UCC becomes nightmare for the minorities.

Political parties appear to lack imagination. In this age of information technology, they need to apply their mind to devise innovative ways of arousing popular interest in public issues. There is a serious disconnect between the political representatives and the people.

The premise of this Budget seems to be a market oriented growth strategy - wholly fair given that the government will struggle to fund the growth needs of the country otherwise. One should hope this budget has set the controls for a larger shift in the government's approach towards administration and efficacy.

What the people want of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and indeed expect, is an economic revolution that will change their lives and those of their children. To this end, Modi's actions, so far, add up to several IOUs, and a number of promises in the form of temporary measures pushed through in the form of ordinances.

If the dreams of this Union Budget have to become a reality, two important aspects need to be addressed -- transparency and efficiency, says former Revenue Secretary Sivaraman.

Drawing on his immense knowledge as a former UN career diplomat, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, suggested enforcement of various instruments of the United Nations to force Pakistan to comply with its counterterrorism commitments.

Continuity rather than change may well be the mark of the second Bush administration's foreign policy.It was billed as `the liberty speech.' George W. Bush, beginning his second term as President, said: ""It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.""

The Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh, which had killed 1133 workers and injured more than 1800, was symbolic of a much deeper crisis, not limited to Bangladesh, according to Prof. Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the Centre of Policy Dialogue, Dhaka.

From 'being the Congress's most trusted alliance partner' during the UPA years, the CBI has now morphed into the BJP's instrumentality of 'fixing' political opponents. Prima facie it appears to be the case and analysts think one will see more empirical evidence of an aggressive CBI in the coming weeks as the BJP feels the pressure on rising intolerance in the country.

Natural gas is an efficient bridge fuel between high-emission fuels and renewable energy systems. Due to limited conventional natural gas reserves, India imports more than half of its natural gas requirements. Increased production of natural gas from domestically available resources could help India reduce gas imports, achieve national emission intensity targets, and honour international climate commitments. Marine gas hydrates ar

After the Ladakh intrusion, Delhi has sensibly stepped up the conversation on LAC management with Beijing. The recent violence on the LoC demands the same with Islamabad. When he meets Nawaz Sharif in New York next month, Manmohan Singh must seek Pakistan's renewed political support for the LoC ceasefire and an agreement to translate that commitment into a military reality.

The current phase of disturbances in Tibet began when five monks in the monastery town of Derge in Gansu province on 27 January demanding the independence of Tibet and return of the Dalai Lama demonstrated outside the monastery attracting crowds of villagers

Protests broke out in Tunisia after opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi was assassinated outside his home on 25 July, 2013. His assassination is not the first in recent months.

India is all set to begin serious efforts to secure a permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC). Two years of non-permanent membership after 19 long years with rotating Presidency of the Council twice over the next two years will mark India's innings.

India will repent at leisure if it gives up the race for the UNSC seat now only to find, after some years, that countries with lesser weight but greater perseverance have left us irretrievably a rung lower in the international hierarchy.

If Uttar Pradesh was to be declared a separate country, it would be the sixth-largest nation. With a population at par with Brazil and per-capita income similar to Kenya's,

As things stand at present, the UPA-II has to get its mandate renewed. The Congress party's alliance with the RLD and the induction of RLD leader Ajit Singh as a Cabinet minister looking after Civil Aviation last year, in fact, may have no meaning if that alliance is not put to optimum use in the post-electoral scene in UP.

India's nuclear doctrine and strategy still continues to harp on the mantra of "minimum credible deterrent", even though Pakistan has now overtaken India in the number of nuclear warheads it possesses. Some analysts say that there are no signs that the Pakistani buildup is slowing down.

The Observer Research Foundation (ORF) India-China Centre (Kolkata) in association with the University of Calcutta, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (Kolkata), and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, supported a seminar on Urban Experiences: India, China and the Chinese Indians. The seminar was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Kolkata on August 5, 2008 at the Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities, Calc

Jagmohan's address to the ORF faculty included a discussion on six important topics, namely slums and illegal constructions, human settlement patterns, culturally significant towns, cities and climate change, pattern of governance after the enactment of the Constitution (seventy-fourth amendment) Act, and resource mobilisation for city development

A country's development is judged by visitors from the general atmosphere and ambience of its big cities and not by the number of five star hotels and their posh lobbies

ORF and GIZ, Germany, have jointly initiated an Urban Workshop Series 2013 to facilitate interaction among key national and international stakeholders and offer and discuss critical inputs that are urgently needed for effective policy-making in India and other emerging economies.

A striking feature of India's urbanisation is the phenomenal size of population of some urban centres. As per Census 2011, there are 53 cities/urban agglomerations in the country that have recorded a population of more than a million. In some of these centres, the population is as high as 18.4 million.

With its transition from a middle income to a developed country, China is facing several challenges. Inconsistent and changing categories of administrative divisions create problems in the governance of urban centres.

The limited development of India's maritime capacities is a cause for strategic concern, especially considering the impact on the nation's economy, which is currently dependent on sea-borne trade for its well being.

India needs to improve its border infrastructure in the background of the changing geopolitics of Asia that will increasingly be shaped by Sino-Indian relations, pointed out a panel discussion on "India's Border Infrastructure" at ORF.

Do we need the IAS? This was the subject of an interaction organized by Observer Research Foundation Chennai Chapter on Saturday, 4 September, 2010, in the light of 'IT czar' N R Narayana Murthy's call for abolishing the system of generalised administrators under the Indian Administrative Service (IAS)

Exceptional and urgent measures must be put in place to ensure the security of the Delhi Metro rail network in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games scheduled for October this year.

There is little doubt that fragile states often need external assistance to survive. In the past decade Pakistan has become one such case. A struggling economy, chronic poverty, poor provisions of public services, internal violence

The Ambassador of the United States to India, Ms Nancy J Powell, on Tuesday released ORF's new publication, America in the Asian Century. The book consists of papers by ORF scholars on US's policy and relations with all important Asian countries.

The US is in a dilemma over the funding of the Diamer-Bhasha dam in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. While China and Saudi Arabia have made big inroads in public perception by taking up developmental projects, the US, despite lots of assistance, is perceived not to be doing enough in this area.

Reports say US and Pakistan have found the formulation that will satisfy Pakistan's political establishment without embarrassing the White House. The language is likely to be flexible enough for Pakistan and the US to interpret it in their own way.

The United States is contemplating a total reversal of its highly ineffective Pakistan policy. This was stated by Prof Christine Fair, Assistant Professor at Georgetown University's Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service while delivering a talk on "The situation in the Af-Pak region" at Observer Research Foundation on June 4, 2012.

The negotiations leading to the compromise legislation in the US Congress revealed two interesting trends. One, the increasing influence of the Tea Party Caucus in Republican politics and by extension in the American political system. Second, the absence of effective Presidential leadership in the debt-ceiling debate.

In Pakistan, there is a sense of disillusionment with the government, and forme Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, an astute politician, obviously sees an opportunity in it for his party PML(N) in the 2013 election. But it is not likely to be an easy road.

Even as the Republican camp resurges and stands a chance of putting their man in the White House, they are aware that some of Obam's strengths remain formidable and that the Democratic camp will leave no stone unturned to guard those safe zones.