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The G20 meeting in Seoul next month ( November 11 and 12th) for the Finance Ministers of the twenty member countries that include India, China and the US, is likely to be a stormy one judging from the controversies surrounding the state of the world economy.

This paper argues in favour of integrating valuation of ecosystem services in development policy planning in India. The paper presents three cases where monetary values of ecosystem services have been estimated to illustrate the significance of the exercise: the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) in Uttarakhand, the Kunigal Wetlands in Karnataka, and the Indian Sundarbans Delta (ISD) in West Bengal. The first two cases highlight the ecosystem-livelihoods

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, there has been a surge in cases of online child sexual abuse and exploitation (OCSAE) in many parts of the world. This brief discusses the cases of India and Australia. It examines their efforts to combat the increased incidence of OCSAE resulting from greater use of the internet as movement was restricted in response to the pandemic. The brief focuses on India and Australia as bo

For their survival and success, terrorist organisations need recruits, sanctuaries from which they could operate, funds and arms and ammunition, explosives and other material required for their acts of terrorism. Where, in addition, sponsorship by a State is available, it adds to their strength and to the difficulties of the counter-terrorism agencies in dealing with them.

India is experiencing a surge in power demand owing to an expanding economy. Even as the country has embraced the idea of transitioning to clean renewable energy, its current demand for electricity can only be met by addressing the concerns surrounding coal-fired power plants. The goal of going green might be a medium- to long-term strategy that should be diligently pursued to avoid future crises. In the short term, however, focus should

A key element of India’s strategy for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) is menstrual health. However, the focus is on the provision of single-use pads which, being non-biodegradable, contribute massively to environmental waste. Integrating reusable menstrual products into existing supply chains could benefit women in low-income households while reducing the negative consequences on the environment. Th

The application of emerging technologies in humanitarian assistance has increased in recent years, and they have proven effective in delivering life-saving interventions to populations in need. In a fast-changing technological landscape, the use of such tools is only expected to increase further. At the same time, however, the use of technologies brings certain challenges, such as misuse of data and the spread of misinformation. This brie

The Observer Research Foundation hosted an exciting, in-depth interaction with Nepalese Maoist leaders Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai on November 18, 2006. Addressing their first international audience together from the same platform, the Maoist leaders put before the distinguished gathering, which included political leaders, former diplomats and members of the academia and media, their vision about a new Nepal which they would like to bui

The COVID-19 pandemic is taking an enormous toll on health systems across the world. A growing concern is that efforts to manage the pandemic are undermining care for serious non-Covid illnesses such as cancer. In the UK and US, for example, it is estimated that delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment due to COVID-19 will lead to excess cancer deaths in the range of tens of thousands within a year. In India, where health systems are weak, it is

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) placed itself in a highly embarrassing situation with its decision to ban the usage of 'obscene' words in text messages. Stiff resistance from users,

Knowledge assessment is essential to policymaking, including for health. This report measures awareness of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance, and finds crucial gaps in understanding on many issues. In a survey among visitors to a science museum in Kolkata, the authors found, for example, more than six of every 10 respondents (67 percent) believing that antibiotics can be used to treat viral infections. This report highlights the need to de

The problem of female foeticide and sex selection was highlighted as a big public health concern at a seminar on 'Public Health Concerns and Reforms' organised by ORF and RLS in Delhi. It was said that India could witness elimination of 9-10% girls in the times to come.

According to the 2020/21 Global Education Monitoring Report, India has the weakest public perception of the government as the primary provider of school education. This issue brief analyses what such low public support for government education provision indicates and discusses the implications in terms of educational equity. It highlights how the hierarchical Indian education system, in which a family’s ability to pay decides the course

Some of the country's most prominent scientists, academicians, policy makers and industry leaders have pledged to come together to explore ways to strengthen research-oriented higher studies in engineering education in India. At a panel discussion on 'India's Leadership in Manufacturing: Role of Engineering Education' organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India's leading

New Delhi and Islamabad dominated dialogue have failed to come up with any solution to vexed issues like Kashmir. May be sub-regions like Punjab and other border provinces like Rajasthan-Sind.

As India assumes the G20 presidency, it has the opportunity to further the cause of mutually beneficial, rules-based international trade at a time when the world is facing a series of multiple and overlapping political and economic crises. This paper opens by describing a confluence of factors that together open a window of opportunity for India’s presidency to advance pragmatic engagement on trade, specifically in shoring up the multilateral t

As part of this effort, the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) launched a report, Health Equity and Inclusion in Action, which seeks to examine the ways different health initiatives in six countries across Asia and Africa are exploring to address this complex problem. The report, created by the ORF in collaboration with Gilead Sciences who commissioned it, examines case studies from Bangladesh, India, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa and Vietnam to

Left-wing extremists, Naxalites of the People's War Group (PWG), have traveled a long away from fielding hand-held, traditional farm tools as weapons. Their sagacity is, indeed, amazing. Perhaps, to state in a lighter vein, they would give a complex to India's defence technologists, if not put them to shame.

ATTACKING the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, on October 1, 2003, is most spectacular act that Naxalites of the People's War (formerly People's War Group or PWG) have carried out till date. The rebels have not only proved that they have the ability to strike at locations far away from their traditionally known strongholds but also that they were poised to expand their influence beyond the state boundaries.

In November 2022, Qatar will become the first state in West Asia and the Arab world to host the coveted FIFA football World Cup. Doha’s winning the hosting rights has brought the country—home to only 2.9 million people, more than eight out of every ten of whom are foreign workers—out of the shadow of its large, and more powerful regional neighbours such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This brief views thi

The Quad’s growing effort to shape international norms and rules in the Indo-Pacific is taking place in an environment fraught with multiple challenges. China’s assertive rise as well as internal differences within the group pose significant risks to the plurilateral platform’s mission of creating a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific. Focusing on the Quad’s cybersecurity cooperation, this brief examines the various internal and e

As the total number of fatalities in the earthquake, which struck the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the North-west Frontier Province (NWFP) on October 8, 2005, crosses the 50,000 mark and is inexorably moving higher and higher as more and more dead bodies are recovered under the debris and more and more injured survivors are succumbing to death due to lack of medical facilities and protection against the severe cold which has already set in

The Aadhar project remains complex - a herculean task. The UK government shelved its identity card project because it was untested and the technology not secure, and because of the risks to the safety and security of citizens. With India in the midst of an election, it remains to be seen what will happen when a new government is formed,

The Third R. K. Mishra Memorial Lecture was delivered by His Excellency Mr. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, on October 5, 2011 in New Delhi. Outlining his vision for a peaceful and stable South Asia, President Karzai stressed that all the regional players would have to work together towards achieving this goal. This is the text of the lecture and proceedings of the event.

The 1857 revolt was not a mutiny for self-rule, instead it was staged with the aim of restoring Mughal rule in Delhi. Once the revolt was suppressed, princes loyal to the Company were allotted lands that were taken from previously annexed kingdoms, according to Rear-Admiral Mohan Raman (Retd).

Radiological sources are used extensively in civilian sectors including for medical, industrial, agricultural and research purposes.  While the positive benefits are well-recognised, concerns about terrorists using these materials to develop a “dirty bomb” are also well-known.  Because of the extensive use of radiological materials in the civilian sector, these are easily accessible. The absence of an overarching regime covering radioactive

Thanks to decades of underinvestment, the force has lost its edge over its increasingly aggressive rivals. A few more planes won’t fix that.

The chance of an all-out two-front war with nuclear-armed Pakistan and China are near zero; local skirmishes are always possible. The difference between planning for all-out war and a limited one is hundreds of thousands of crores of the taxpayer's precious money .

With the midnight melodrama involving the Delhi Police and Baba Ramdev, the issue of fighting corruption has been over-shadowed by the propriety of the police using excessive force to disrupt the peaceful crowd of people, who were sleeping in those tents after all.

Now thanks partly to Paul's bid for the Republican nomination, Libertarianism has become popular in American politics again. Tens of millions of Americans today are fiscally conservative, socially tolerant and sceptical of American military intervention abroad.

An old maxim has it that, you can drive a man to murder, but can't make him think. What President George W. Bush's shameful and imperious encouragement to the unilateral Gaza pullout plan and the land grab that it entails in the West Bank do mean to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in evidence.

As China surges ahead economically, there have been a ten-fold increase in the civil unrests (from 1993 to 2005) which in China is described as "mass incidents". Such incidents hinge on the issues of unemployment, pensions, wages, corruption, tax collection problems, misuse of funds, etc.

Of all cases of rare diseases across the globe, around one-third occur in India. Yet, these diseases—‘rare’ because they affect a relatively small number of people—are hardly given attention in the country. With its resource constraints, India continues to lag in awareness, diagnosis, and drug development relating to such diseases, and there is inadequate medical and scientific research, too. India formulated a National Policy on Rare Dis

This paper proposes a framework for defining risk metrics to capture climate resilience in infrastructure assets. It first outlines the risks that infrastructure is exposed to under a future of climate change, before summarising some of the current approaches used by large investment organisations to measure the resilience of this infrastructure. Finally, the paper proposes a method to develop a framework for risk metrics that build on these appr

The financial condition of the Indian Railways (IR) is weakening by the day because of mounting losses in the passenger business. This, at a time when it is making efforts to improve its services through new capital intensive initiatives. IR’s freight revenue has traditionally subsidised its passenger revenue, resulting in one of the lowest passenger fares but one of the highest freight rates in the world. Since freight trains and passenger tra

The government is perhaps keen on projecting a welfare-oriented profile in which the poor are looked after. Prices, jobs, higher industrial growth and prospects of rapid economic recovery will remain the most important planks on which the next elections will be fought. The RBI's latest move of not raising the repo rate may also help in economic recovery.

Conflicts between central banks and governments are embedded in the evolving discourse of every democracy. The recent discord between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is neither the first nor likely to be the last. Institutionally, once a disagreement between the RBI and the MoF crosses the Rubicon, the government has the power to overrule the central bank’s decisions. Moreover, such a structure is not restricte

The international community has been engaged in negotiations around climate finance for three decades now, and working definitions continue to assign the role of funder to advanced economies, and that of recipient, to emerging ones. This brief makes a case for expanding such narrow definitions. It calls on countries such as India to re-imagine not only the idea of climate finance but also the mechanisms of raising funds and the channels f

As the US President is scheduled to visit India next month, there is a lesson for both sides in the 1972 Nixon-Mao summit in Beijing. While the Americans and the Chinese exchanged views on everything, the focus was firmly on the big strategic picture.

The electric two-wheeler segment represents a unique opportunity for India to become a global leader in the green technology space. The growth of this segment in the country is being driven by strong policy support, combined with homegrown engineering and innovation. However, the industry has yet to fully harness the global electric vehicle (EV) opportunity, and policy uncertainties are impeding innovation and investment. This brief makes a case

This year marks a decade since the announcement of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This brief analyses Chinese-language literature to understand the country’s current stance on Pakistan and the CPEC. Two trends emerge. First, China appears to be facing a dilemma over Pakistan. While the Chinese government wants the CPEC to be successful, China’s strategic community now shows little optimism on the initiative. Second, contrary to

This brief examines the reciprocal relationship between science fiction and real-world technological, geopolitical, and policy developments throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. Beginning in the 1940s, the analysis explores how the genre has evolved amid historical events such as the World Wars and the Cold War, and the rise of digital technology. The brief gives particular attention to the role of science fiction during periods of criti

Attempts to arrive at a non-Western understanding of International Relations have often been made to counter the “hegemonising” influence of realism in the Indian milieu. This brief examines realist scholarship in India in recent years to understand what variants of realism have been given prominence. It also notes the absence of scholarship of the neoclassical realist variant and how this gap leads critics to arrive at an incomplete understa

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.

For the new government, the task ahead is difficult, but not impossible. It will require new ideas and out-of-the-box strategies. Here, ORF presents a holistic and relevant agenda for the government, offering a diagnosis of the current problems and providing actionable recommendations.

The ongoing conflict on the Sino-Indian border has highlighted the need for structural reforms in the Indian Army. This paper examines the impact of the Joint Doctrine of Indian Armed Forces, 2017 (JDIAF) and the Indian Army’s Land Warfare Doctrine, 2018 (LWD) on the development of the Indian Army’s tactical concepts, organisational structures, and the weapons and equipment profile. It discusses the importance of formulating a formal National

After a decade, officials from India, Japan, Australia and the United States convened in Manila in November 2017 to renew their quadrilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. While the agenda of the quad is still unknown, this paper presents a political-military strategy for the grouping directed at shaping Chinese behaviour in the region. Viewing strategy through the ends-means-ways lens, the paper describes key objectives of dissuasion, deterre

Defence cooperation is the dominant component of the India-US bilateral relationship. India seeks to leverage this aspect in the Indo-Pacific to diversify the scope of nascent plurilaterals, integrate with US frameworks to expand cooperation with regional nations, and consolidate its position as the preeminent partner for extra-regional players. This brief recommends that India take advantage of ongoing development initiatives with the US and ide

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:

The Observer Research Foundation's programme on Defence Procurement Reforms, following a seminar organised in May, 2012, has now moved to the second stage of identifying initiatives that can be taken in the executive and legislative branches. This Paper presents practical recommendations to improve capacities and decision-making methodologies in India's arms procurement system.