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Exercise Malabar and the trilateral dialogue have assumed significance in the backdrop of the US' rebalance to Asia and India's Act East Policy. The growing convergence of interests among the US, Japan and India on issues such as the Indian Ocean, maritime security, respect for international law and a stable Asian security order has driven the trilateral dialogue.

Since their long-term visions and concerns converge, elevating the bilateral relationship between Maldives and Seychelles to a strategic partnership i

If India is unable to call the shots in Maldives, who will even take it seriously as a player in the region?

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Maldives in mid-March as part of the first-ever four-nation southern Indian Ocean trip by any Indian leader. The greater success and long-term achievement of the visit, will depend also on how it all goes and goes down well just now.

With the Election Commission formally notifying the presidential polls for September 7, Maldives is gearing up to prove to itself and the rest of the world that democracy is very much at work in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Maldives in a none-too-unanticipated move has announced its decision to quit the Commonwealth. India as Maldives’ closest neighbour and regional pow

As Maldives faces a complex economic landscape driven by import dependencies and fiscal policy challenges, strategic policymaking is imperative

A piquant situation seems to have arisen in Maldives, on the domestic front and also for its relations with India, after the trial court issued a second order to the police to produce former President Mohammed Nasheed, who has been in the Indian High Commission in Male.

That is the question large sections of the people of the Republic of Maldives have been raising as the small country in the Indian Ocean gets ready for the elections to its Parliament (Majlis), which are due to take place on December 31. While the Indian media and analysts have been devoting considerable attention to the coming re-poll (December 26) to elect the next President of Ukraine in order to see whether the elections there would be free a

The sudden and inexplicable way in which an 'investor-row' involving the Indian infrastructure group, GMR, is getting a new twist in recent days in Maldives, if unchecked, has the potential to rock the bilateral relations.

Politicising a bilateral issue with Mauritius after the now-muted ‘India Out’ campaign will have consequences in the long term for Maldives

By designating Mohamed Ameen, a ‘key leader for ISIS’ — Washington may have taken the ‘global war on terror’ to the southern Indian Ocean ne

Addressing the 42nd annual celebrations of the bilateral relations organised by the Friendship Association of India and Maldives (FAIM) in Male on Friday, local media reported outgoing President Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik as saying as much:

Coinciding with third Maldives Investment Forum in New Delhi, the Government of President Abdulla Yameen paid up the Indian infrastructure major GMR G

With JP and the Nasheed group possibly stepping into the fray, the swing voters will play a deciding role in the upcoming elections

The Maldivian authorities can now breathe easy. Now that the Cricket World Cup, played in venues across Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, is completed without any security problems, the reported Interpol alert against Maldives-based religious terrorists targeting the match venues have receded for good.

Former President Mohammed Nasheed was on a six-day-long visit to India, pressing his case for early elections and reiterating his position on the need for reforming the nation's 'independent institutions'.

All nations, including India, would be watching for inclinations on how the ‘new Maldives’ intends to avoid a China-induced ‘debt-trap’ of the

Inside the Parliament, the Yameen camp continued to target India claiming that the bill criminalising the 'India Out' campaign was drafted by the BJP.

With Solih throwing his hat into the ring for the second time, a two-faced problem emerges for India.

Nasheed ‘puts on hold’ much-hyped proposal even as Yameen moves away from ‘India Out’ campaign.

Solih’s recent victory in the presidential primaries deals a blow to the Opposition candidates Nasheed and Yameen’s campaigns

The Maldivian domestic politics today is in constant flux as the presidential elections draw close

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj undertook a two-day weekend visit to Maldives, setting the stage for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow suit, but possibly based on the quick-changing domestic developments in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

विश्व अर्थव्यवस्था की विकास दर गिरने के चलते मालदीव की स�

The balanced approach adopted by Maldives highlights how the Maldivian foreign policy has evolved under the Solih presidency

Malé is playing India and China against each other and trying to get the best deal, but Muizzu appears to have gone a bit overboard this time.

Boosting further the relations between India and Bangladesh, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently undertook a three-day visit to Dhaka. The successful visit is expected to create a positive ground for Prime Minister Modi's visit likely later in the year.

Why will Moscow be an immense diplomatic challenge for India?

Former Prime Minister Vajpayee¿s government may not have left India shining, but to its credit, it notched up several major achievements on the national security font. Foremost among these was declaring India a nuclear weapons state, a move that unquestionably enhanced India¿s quest for strategic autonomy.

This brief analyses the manifestos of the Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in the past four Lok Sabha elections. It introduces the concept of “falsifiability” to evaluate whether promises made in manifestos can be verified, to begin with; it then outlines the poll promises that are falsifiable across various sectors. The authors examine whether or not the promises were fulfilled, and if not, if they were carried aga

Several of India’s current laws ostensibly help women succeed in the workplace, but actually have the opposite effect of impeding growth and equalit

An Indian delegation had gone to the United Nations to take part in the 64th session of the UN General Assembly. Member of Parliament Manish Tewari, who is also advisor to the ORF, was part of the delegation

It is important that manufacturing growth picks up otherwise India's demographic dividend in terms of having a youthful population could become a demographic liability. Around half of India's population is under 25 years old. Unless they have jobs or job prospects, they will become dissatisfied and disgruntled.

Muizzu’s foreign policy seems to have three objectives: reduce dependence on India, increase cooperation with China, and diversify relations with ot

Attempting to map out key trends emerging from the state intervention to contain the rise of left-wing extremism in India, Observer Research Foundation organised a panel discussion on "State Response to Left-Wing Extremism: A Report Card".

India's Maritime Agenda may appear to be a major step forward, but unless translated into a time-bound action plan which is resolutely implemented and closely monitored, it may remain merely another document.

Growing maritime competition in the Indian ocean has compelled India to engage in maritime diplomacy with the Quad countries to upkeep its commitment

Resolution of the maritime dispute between India and Bangladesh has opened up a new horizon for cooperation between the two countries. They can now join together to exploit the natural sources in the Bay. Both countries should try to transform the Bay of Bengal region into a major hub for trade and commerce, bringing prosperity to the region.

The weakened hold of Mogadishu over the federation is fuelling the emergence of Somali piracy

This paper examines security collaboration in the Bay of Bengal. It argues that despite increased cooperation in the maritime domain, the security perceptions of Bay states differ significantly, arising primarily from disagreements associated with China’s presence in the region. Crucially, the Bay states are wary of being seen as siding with India to counterbalance China. Even in nontraditional security areas where cooperation is readily possib

During a lecture on 'Japan's foreign policy: Strategy and practice', Japan's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Akitaka Saiki reiterated the Japanese position that the security issues in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and East China Sea cannot be treated separately.

Debate on whether Indian armed forces need a continental land defence strategy or a sea-based maritime strategy has gained currency in recent years, but there is yet a clear answer to emerge.

At this juncture of weak economic performance, India has done well not to sign the treaty. It can still join if its main complaint about rapid tariff reduction by 80 to 90 per cent on imports from China is resolved. Also, its concerns about services have to be dealt with, especially regarding the movement of service workers within the region. India could not at this point have opened its huge market to ASEAN and China unconditionally.

The inclusion of soft power initiatives under the BRI shows the urgency on the Chinese side to project the wheels of BRI as moving in Nepal

At the current rate of urbanisation, India would have taken two and a half centuries to urbanise to the current US levels, as against two centuries fo