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The crucial factor that can help transform India-China bilateral is Modi himself. For the first time, the Chinese will interact with an Indian leader who can be politically strong in safeguarding India's sovereign interests, while at the same time being very welcoming in embracing China economically.

With festivals fast approaching, time may be running out on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's self-set December deadline for her Government to host the third round of talks between fishers' representatives from the State and Sri Lanka.

The new undercurrent is targeting the notion of big business itself. India is angry, and rightfully so. But is there any problem being solved by targeting large corporates for accumulating wealth? It is not solving the investment drought or the fiscal deficit. It is also not solving the critical challenge of making Indian MSMEs globally competitive, or of creating jobs for the 12 million youth entering the workforce every year.

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked rapid digitalisation worldwide, with work-from-home interactions, online payments, and online consultations for various services becoming acceptable practices. While this shift in the manner and nature of work brought enormous benefits, crucially in terms of access, it has also increased the kind of cyber security threats that countries face, with vulnerabilities felt particularly in the health and financial sectors.

Now a mobile App for water management? And, the rapidly dropping price of wireless consumer technology such as WiFi and Bluetooth could turn these individual nodes into a data-rich network.

With the SAARC summit only days away, the focus should be as much on re-positioning India, both in the regional and emerging global context, as on terrorism and security. Prime Minister Vajpayee set the mood a fortnight ago by referring to a 'common currency' for, and hydro-power cooperation among member-nations.

A number of initiatives have been recently undertaken to improve the tourism sector in India. These include the introduction of tourist police at key tourist sites in Delhi and the decision to set up an inter-ministerial group to facilitate better co-ordination between the tourism and civil aviation ministries.

Launching the new book of Dr. C. Raja Mohan, 'Modi's World' on Friday, Indian Foreign Secretary Dr. S. Jaishankar explained the changes brought out by the foreign policy of the Modi government.

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 Malaysia. The case studies highlight that only a few world-class universities are keen to establish campuses in foreign countries. As su

India pulled out of the planned Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2018 after entering negotiations in 2013. India has a trade deficit with 11 out of the 15 RCEP countries and some analysts have theorised that India decided to opt out of the agreement because of such adverse trade balance.  Indeed, India has a trade deficit with most of its trade partners in past free trade agreements (FTAs). It is in this context that this br

The quotas in textiles, enforced under the Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA) which was signed in 1994, are going to be lifted on December 31, 2004 and the trade in textiles would come under the WTO directly. It means that all forms of protectionism applied to textile industries the world over, would have to go.

The Rohingyas are among the world’s most persecuted communities, who, until a mass exodus in 2017, mainly resided in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. In 2017, about 712,179 Rohingyas made their way to Bangladesh, taking the total number of Rohingya refugees in that country to 855,000.[1]The overcrowding caused by this influx at the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps has led the Bangladesh government to consider temporarily relocating the Rohingya refugees t

The Vice-President of Maldives, in his address to the ORF faculty, recounts the long and bitter-sweet struggle against autocratic rule in his country. With an elected government now at the helm and democracy gradually taking roots in different spheres of society, he outlines the crucial challenges that lie ahead for the island nation.

Beginning in 2017, the first Trump Administration steered United States (US)-China relations from engagement to competition. Thereafter, Biden largely built on this policy, while giving indications of moving towards a phase of “competitive co-existence”. Under Biden, the US sought to reassure China that it was adopting a strategy of “de-risking” and not “de-coupling,” and its goal was to adopt a technology export regime that would als

Amb. Hiroshi Hirabayashi, former Japan's Ambassador to India and currently President, The Japan-India Association, was in ORF for an interactive session

As China continues to expand its presence in international waters, it is developing capabilities to counter foreign submarines which, otherwise, may pose challenge to its ambitions. This is where the recently launched Gaoxin-6 becomes important for Beijing.

Not since the era of Indira Gandhi and Deng Xiaoping, perhaps even since that of Nehru and Mao, have India and China been led by such dynamic and forceful politicians as Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping. These leaders are due to meet later this month in Xi's first official visit to India.

Peaceful relations with Pakistan is a prerequisite to India’s domestic stability and its quest for great power status.

West Bengal Governor and former National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan recently noted that contrary to what many security and strategic analysts in the West profess, terrorism remains by all means a grave threat to the civilised world. The reality is global terrorism is expanding, especially in Asia.

Growing urbanisation and its resultant problems and issues have drawn the attention of international organisations, national governments and the civil society. The United Nations (2012) has reported that while "unprecedented increase in urban population will provide new opportunities to improve education and public services in Africa and Asia,...

India lacks resources and direct access to Afghanistan, but it can derive some comfort from the fact that, if the past is any guide, you can always trust Islamabad to give us the opening through its propensity to overreach.

In the current and preceding years, the government has been trying everything to limit gold imports to control the current account deficit. Yet this commodity has one of the largest share in terms of exemption given. In 2012-13, the estimated amount of custom duty foregone for diamond and gold would be Rs 61,035 crore or 20.5% of the total revenue foregone.

J&K is a fractured state estranged from the rest of the nation constitutionally, Article 370 elevates the state in the scheme of Indian federalism,

An international conference on South Asia's water future, organised by Observer Research Foundation in association with the PHD Chamber of Commerce, has underlined the need for proper management of this largely exploited and poorly utilized natural resource.

India's former member of the WTO Arbitration Committee, Dr. A.V. Ganesan, thinks that it would be unsustainable for India to rely on imported food grains, and hence it is imperative that India supports its farmers to augment food production to meet the domestic demand.

India has been importing from Israel various weapons systems, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles over the last few years, making India one of Israel's largest buyers of military hardware.

In the face of the Greece crisis, the fundamental problem that needs to addressed is whether the European Union was sustainable, as very soon Spain would also be faced with a financial crisis similar to Greece. A total re-writing of the books and balance sheet of the European economy is required as it was done in 1945, according to Dr. S. Narayan.

Greece may be far away from India but the lessons to be drawn are many. Bringing down fiscal deficit through harsh austerity measures has brought Greece to the brink. India should also not cut the important social sector spending in order to bridge the fiscal deficit.

At a roundtable on the situation in Bangladesh, experts underlined the need for ensuring a credible election in Bangladesh for the country's stability and the strengthening of India-Bangladesh relations.

India is not only conjoined with Africa geographically and historically, but has interests intersecting over a wide range of areas.

Even a cursory look at the drivers of Indian defence exports reveals the salience of simplified industrial licensing, easing of export restrictions, and issuance of no-objection certificates

The central administration in China is wary of a protracted confrontation about the public in Hong Kong, and considering the nature of the demand, a prolonged protest would certainly be an embarrassment to China in the global political arena, says a China expert.

Even a flawed Afghan government will be better than the Taliban rule, but the US appears to accept any deal in a hurry to get its "boots on the ground" out of Afghanistan.