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Government advisory committees come with implicit constraints to stay within the limits of what is politically doable.

Encrypting communications enhances privacy and the security of information services. This, in turn, incentivises innovation in the ICT sector and contributes significantly to the growth of the internet economy. India’s (now withdrawn) Draft National Encryption Policy was single-minded in its approach. It sought only to prescribe standards that would enable law enforcement agencies to access encrypted data. There are, however, multifarious conc

Prudence lies in following the Chinese strategy of subordinating muscular diplomacy to economic growth. It remains in India’s interest to adhere to the open economy model.

या अर्थसंकल्पामागील मूलभूत तत्त्वज्ञान भारताला हक्काकडून सक्षमीकरणाकडे जाण्यास मदत करणे हे आहे.

भारतामध्ये पुढील पॉवरहाऊस बनण्याची क्षमता आहे कारण त्याच्या अर्थव्यवस्थेने आव्हानात्मक काळातही लवचिकता दाखवली आहे.

As India completes 50 days of lockdown, this report presents the findings of a data-driven enquiry into the extent to which the lockdown has achieved its health objectives and arrested the spread of COVID-19. The success is measured on four parameters: flattening the curve, reducing the growth rate of new cases, containing the spread, and improving healthcare capacity. The findings show that while the lockdown has flattened the curve to an extent

This report evaluates India’s soft power strategies under the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2024. It looks into the ways in which the government has promoted cultural connectivity, diaspora engagement, and partnership building to strengthen India’s global image. It underlines the growth of India’s soft power in the past decade, becoming more coherent, strategic, and ambitious. In the past decade, India has initiated, f

The 2008 terrorist attack came during a sustained period of high economic growth in India.

The world is currently witnessing an increase in the prevalence of undernourishment as well as a rise in the incidence of overweight, obesity, and non-communicable diseases. Addressing issues of food security and nutrition would not be possible without adopting a food systems perspective—from farm to fork. Indeed, in 2021, countries developed national pathways to transforming food systems to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Developme

A new social contract between citizens, consumers, employees, the state, and enterprise is needed to delineate a new understanding around rights, responsibilities and entitlements. Digital  transformations  are  rapidly  altering  the  nature  of  work,  models  of employment,    contracts,    regulations    and    protections.    Increasingly,    the responsibilities  of the state are becoming the obligations  of,�

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic hastened the widespread adoption of digitaltechnologies across the globe. The pace of digitalisation—from the micro levels ofeducation and e-commerce to the macro levels of supply chains and productionnetworks—has galvanised governments to advance digital regulations. Thetightrope walk of creating policies that enable digital innovation and ensureregulations are in the larger public interest have led to inte

India has been witnessing rapid urbanisation in the last decade, particularly in its large and medium-size cities. As more and more people move towards cities and towns, it is imperative to build an understanding of how cities are geared in terms of growth and inclusion. In what ways do India's marginalised communities get excluded from the country's growing urban spaces? This paper studies how individuals and groups are included in􀀳or exclude

Bangladesh’s sensational growth story masks some concerning structural weaknesses that are now coming into play.

Some of the best performing countries of Africa -- Nigeria, South Africa and Botswana -- have GDP growth rates comparable with the fastest developing countries of the world. Their GDPs are the least volatile in Africa. Rwanda was declared the best reformer by the World Bank for encouraging business in the country.

ndia was facing a massive balance of payment crisis when the Observer Research Foundation released a document, ‘Agenda for Economic Reform’, on 1 July 1991. The Agenda outlined the reasons for the crisis and recommended a broad strategy to enable the country to overcome it. As India marks 30 years since the start of widespread reforms that opened up the economy, ORF revisits the recommendations outlined in the document.

The Observer Research Foundation’s first Tech Huddle was held on 23 November 2023 and focused on the governance of artificial intelligence (AI) in India, highlighting the rapid growth and adoption of AI as well as the complexities associated with developing regulatory frameworks for it. AI governance is in its infancy, both globally and in India, and grapples with issues such as the explainability of AI systems as well as the embedded biases, s

The budget growth, clearly aimed at countering the challenge along the Sino-Indian border, is still marginal.

This shift in Germany’s strategic posture aligns well with India’s willingness to play a larger global role.

Left-wing activism amongst young people in the United States is on the rise, in no small part aided by the internet and social media. The generation which demographic researchers refer to as ‘Gen-Z’—or those born between the mid- to late 1990s to the early 2010s—is becoming more politically engaged. This brief offers an intellectual history of modern-day leftist politics in the US, and argues that it is primarily driven by the pur

India presents a unique case of balancing decarbonisation efforts with industrial growth. While notable progress is being made in decarbonising the power and transport sectors, reducing industrial emissions poses a formidable challenge. To meet its decarbonisation targets, India will need massive capital flows, projected at US$10.1 trillion by 2070. While green finance will support technologies that align with the Paris Agreement, transition fina

Real impetus for India's expansion of its second-strike capability is, in fact, the significant growth of the Pakistani and Chinese navies in the Indian Ocean.

This brief assesses the growth of Armenia’s defence deep-tech landscape, and the geopolitical ramifications of its development for India, in particular. Tracing its historical development and current status in light of the current strategic volatility in the South Caucasus, the brief highlights the scope for closer cooperation between Yerevan and New Delhi in the deep-tech domain, shaped by such factors as issue-based convergences, Armenia’s

The turn observed by global economics over the past decade has not only put developing economies in Asia at the centre of the global growth story but also reshaped how countries in West Asia approached India.

This report explores strategies to strengthen the relationships among Global South countries, with a focus on enhancing regional synergy between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation BIMSTEC. The report provides an overview of BIMSTEC’s rising significance as a link between South Asia and Southeast Asia, provides insights into the growing need fo

The report examines India's urbanization, highlighting rapid population growth, metro rail expansion, sustainable transport policies, and financing challenges, while assessing efforts in localization and revenue enhancement for metro systems.

Will the government’s ambitious mission, ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India)’ eventually prove to be a missed opportunity? Earmarking funds worth 10 percent of India’s GDP, the mission not only aims to respond to the devastating blow caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to serve as a long-term roadmap to growth. It is largely hinged on business-as-usual practices, including providing a push to the coal sector, which may be under

Stakeholder groups have produced various guidelines on ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years. However, translating principles into practice continues to be a massive challenge, as AI markets expand and AI risks are heightened. AI audits—or the process of investigating an algorithm against existing regulations and known harms—are emerging as a way of bridging the gap between principle and practice. This paper scans the landscape

India need to do more to speed up its own financial sector reforms and make it stronger because the percentage of NPAs has reached a dangerous level of 4.45 per cent and could reach 6 per cent soon. Unless the banking system is strong, India cannot be on a higher trajectory of growth.

BRICS is in transition and cannot afford to lose growth momentum. Multilateral institutions such as a BRICS Bank can aid in sustaining directed, equitable and resilient growth.

BBINMVA is an encouraging development that aims at shared growth and prosperity of the region. For success of the BBINMVA, the member countries should remain consistent and resolve the issues on timely basis for fulfilling the vision of prosperity of the region.

Fiscal 2017-18 will end with a real GDP growth of 6.5 per cent, helped by low inflation, versus 7.1 per cent last year.

The legacy cross-border payment infrastructure is replete with issues of high costs, limited access, low speed, and opaque structures, which have limited the potential of cross-border payments to enhance international trade and foster economic growth in emerging economies. The increased demand for transparent, accessible, faster and cheaper solutions in the financial sector has pushed the private and public sectors to accelerate investments in in

This brief examines India’s defence allocations for 2022-23. It outlines the conceptual and definitional aspects of the defence budget, examines defence allocations from the prism of state of the economy and public finance, and explores the potential impacts of the budget announcements on the defence production sector of the government’s self-reliance mission, Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. The analysis also utilises a comparison of India’s mi

As the Bay of Bengal region continues to rise as an economic and strategic hub, there is increasing awareness of the role to be played by the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in promoting growth, development and stability in the region. Having kept a low profile in its 20 years of existence, BIMSTEC is now being seen as a potential driver of integration between South Asia and Southeast As

This brief discusses the climate change challenges facing the member states of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the initiatives taken by them to mitigate the effects. The South Asian countries within BIMSTEC are particularly vulnerable to global warming-induced weather variations that cause economic damage and loss of lives. At the same time, BIMSTEC economies have achieved impressiv

Given the global importance of the Blue Economy, India’s G20 Presidency brings about the unique opportunity to prioritise the BE for the purpose for growth, green economy and social equity.

Enabling greater free trade and removing NTBs should be undertaken with the goal of not just regional integration and growth but also development of communities, employment and poverty alleviation across South Asia.

A gender-inclusive trade agenda will help create better jobs and unlock greater economic potential.

This paper explores the various opportunities and challenges of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation or BIMSTEC, a unique inter-regional grouping composed of aspiring member countries from South Asia and Southeast Asia. While the grouping has massive potential to contribute to regional cooperation, this paper explores the capabilities of the organisation in terms of meeting the expectations of renewed

BRICS must now move on from being a grouping of individual nations, discussing agendas, to becoming a "go-to" institution for setting regional and global agendas. The essence and ethos of such an institution must flow from the inorganic prism of stability, security and growth for all.

BRICS as an institution must nurture independent growth trajectories of member nations keeping their individual interest at the forefront.