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Efforts toward a peaceful reconciliation with the Taliban have failed and Afghanistan and the United States remain engaged in a bitter war against the insurgent group. The US has shown willingness and capability to go after Taliban leaders on Pakistani soil, upsetting its relations with Islamabad and ending Pakistan's game of plausible deniability. Under its new leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban continue their onslaught against the

The day after External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna, left for Islamabad front-page headlines in mainstream English language dailies had set their preferred theme: "Krishna to nail Pak using Headley: In Islamabad Foreign Minister says he will harp on Headley revelation of ISI links to 26/11".

The demand for cash that all political parties have to contest elections has been the fountainhead that has created a bureaucratic, military and defence decision-making structure which ensures that we keep running at the same place when it comes to creating a vibrant military industry complex in the country.

The US must balance its economic ambitions with environmental responsibility. With advancements in car­bon capture and renewable ener­gy, the scope of a balanced approach exists

he return of the Taliban had been in the making for a decade. Convinced that they have come to power through military means, the Taliban do not feel the need to form an inclusive government. Unlike other neighbouring countries, India had been hesitant in exploring engagement with the Taliban and ended up withdrawing from the country. However, it has legitimate interest in the stability of Afghanistan and enjoys goodwill among all communities.

The first round of boundary talks with China under the Narendra Modi government, taking place this week, is an opportunity for New Delhi to explore the territorial compromises necessary to resolve the longstanding dispute. With strong leaders at the helm in Delhi and Beijing, there are rising expectations that the two special representatives - Ajit Doval and Yang Jiechi - will be able to find an early breakthrough on the boundary dispute.

India and Latin America have never been more economically relevant to each other than they are today, with trade reaching an all-time high of US$50 billion in 2022. Key to improved economic ties in the recent few years is the heightened political will on both sides. Today there is a sense of optimism that India and the countries of Latin America can continue on this upward trajectory in the coming years of the 21st century. While the private sect

The Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India and the Stanley Foundation, USA co-hosted an international workshop on climate change on February 25-27, 2014 in New Delhi. The central objective of the workshop was to unbundle the different policy responses resulting from the multilateral negotiations thus far and their impact upon the evolution of existing and future multilateral frameworks. This Policy Brief aims to capture some of the salient per

As economic growth continues to slump around the world, it has become imperative for developing nations such as India to seek to strengthen partnerships with African nations. There is a growing consensus that Africa is the last remaining capitalist playground. With an abundance of natural resources and the lack of an institutionalised capacity to harness them, Africa's statesmen have sought to move beyond their dependence on foreign (mainly West

The paradox of the African continent is that it is resource-rich but remains poor in many parts. Has regional integration improved economic performance and does it pave the way to a better future? This paper examines West African integration--its evolution, the successes it has scored and the challenges that remain.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced nation states to shut down borders and to look decidedly inwards. In this newly emerging and highly tenuous global political economic landscape, a question that is being widely debated is what globalisation will look like in a post-pandemic world. This brief ponders the question in the context of India and its neighbourhood. Revisiting theoretical insights from ‘New Regionalism’, this analysis examines whether

One of the key issues debated today in assessing India’s rise is its role in global and regional governance. This paper attempts to assess India’s changing approach towards regionalism and argues that unlike the Nehruvian approach that overlooked South Asia in region building efforts, the new regional approach gives equal emphasis to South Asia regionalism and the wider Indo-Pacific regionalism. The paper asserts that India’s new leadership

This brief examines the education crisis that has affected close to 250 million children in India due to school closures implemented as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It underlines that the switch to remote learning has created a “regression in learning” that, while cutting across the entire socio-economic spectrum, has disproportionately affected the poor, and among them, the girls. This pandemic-induced education divide and learning l

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly proliferating the healthcare landscape and has immense promise for improving health outcomes in a resource-constrained setting like India. With emerging technology still finding its footing in the healthcare industry in the country, there are systemic roadblocks to hurdle before AI can be made transformative up to the last mile of public health. AI also carries immense challenges for India’s mostly t

This brief discusses Thailand’s Over-the-Top (OTT) industry, focusing on production, consumption and impact. It analyses the rise of online audio-visual business in the country, and the implications for traditional broadcasters. In the context of existing international practices and Thailand’s domestic situation, the brief discusses the current and future regulatory requirements of the OTT industry. It also makes recommendations for a regulat

Chinese President Xi Ginping, who came calling in India recently, has been considered to be the strongest leader of rising China since Deng Xiaoping. But a spate of events has raised questions as to how powerful is he and if he is really in control of the vast PLA.

Central business districts (CBDs) dominate economic activity in large cities. In India’s capital, New Delhi, for example, Connaught Place is a CBD. Firms relocate to CBDs due to the ease of doing business in such areas owing to retail agglomeration, functional grouping, labour pooling, and the ability to attract talent. However, recent phenomenon such as an increase in remote working, the rise in real estate costs, and the expansion of city lim

The Narendra Modi government is going to close down the Planning Commission as it existed. But, any new organization of Indian economic leadership must learn from the failures and successes of the erstwhile Planning Commission, continuing its best aspects while reforming all that is irrelevant.

This brief outlines a framework for India if it is to play a more proactive role in integrating and reimagining its immediate neighbourhood, in particular with reference to the economic relations with its BIMSTEC partners. The analysis is done in the context of important economic and strategic developments in the Asia-Pacific region in the recent years. It describes how India can navigate between competing economic and geo-strategic imperatives b

If India is the glue that binds the Sino-Pak alliance, as many argue, Delhi should have the capacity to weaken that bond through its own policies. Delhi has managed to alter the triangular dynamic with Pakistan and America by expanding its partnership with Washington. There might be similar possibilities awaiting Modi in Beijing.

Whatever be the end-game in the ¿Karuna rebellion¿ within the monolithic LTTE, the development may have heralded a process of ¿social justice¿ or social re-engineering¿ as is understood in India ¿ and also come to stay, in a way. To the extent, the ¿Karuna factor¿ may have become unstoppable in the socio-political sense of the term, whatever be the immediate consequence of the rebellion, or its impact on the suspended peace process in Sri

India has over thirty years of experience in developing biogas, biomass and solar energy and this expertise needs to be leveraged better

This Paper outlines the potential of renewable energy in addressing India's energy supply and access; it identifies challenges and provide a discursive overview of the various market and policy instruments developed to scale up renewable energy generation. India’s significant economic growth over the last decade has led to an inexorable rise in energy demand. Currently, India faces a Ichallenging energy shortage. To grow at 9 per cent over t

The strategic compact between India and the European Union (EU) is coming up for renewal in 2025. While the Roadmap to 2025, launched in 2020, was an important step in the relationship, the strategic partnership remains largely underwhelming. The unfulfilled potential becomes a matter of even more urgent concern today, amidst the geopolitical turbulence and geoeconomic challenges confronting the world. As negotiators from both India and the EU co

The synchronised explosions in London on July 7, 2005, seem to be the handiwork of the Al Qaeda and the International Islamic Front (IIF) formed by it in February, 1998.

In the Kashmir Valley, violence has receded. But the situation is not normal, as evidenced by recent incidents of attacks. Normality will not come till the Union government addresses the sentiment that is exploited routinely by the Hurriyat. Normality will also be judged by the return of the exiled Pandit community to the Valley.

India must not contribute to the digital and economic rise of the same power that harms it

Pessimism towards a foreseeable settlement of the India-China border dispute is not unfounded. At the political level, there is a "trust deficit" which impedes cooperation. Despite the existence of multi-tiered mechanisms to facilitate resolution, there has hardly been any progress on the issue in recent years. This paper identifies the obstacles and explores how a peaceful settlement of the India-China border dispute could be arrived at in the f

The concept of food security comprises access, affordability, food safety, food preferences and dietary patterns. Recently, there has been a demand-driven shift in food consumption patterns in India towards nutrition-rich and economically high-value horticulture (fruits and vegetables), livestock and dairy products. Providing for such consumption needs will require diversification of agricultural production beyond the staples, especially wheat an

The Indo-Pacific region is experiencing profound geo-strategic re-alignments. Post-war norms are being challenged by a rising China that is unconstrained by the established legal, economic and diplomatic order. These changes come at a time of growing uncertainty over US commitments to both its regional allies and a liberal international trade regime. In the absence of American leadership, the only formidable and practical alternative is the emerg

There is no doubt that International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans often come with a set of conditionalities that most countries find unfavourable to implement. With its ongoing economic crisis and complex multilateral debt negotiations between creditor nations, Sri Lanka is no exception.

An examination of the prospects for al-Qaeda following the US drawdown in Afghanistan and the likely threats which the region, and India in particular, might face in the future. A supplementary scrutiny of ISIS, and the group's possible expansion in the region, is also proffered.

South Asia's foreign policy calculus is increasingly complex as Russia steps up to vie for power with the US

The effect of the 15th anniversary of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the expiry of several provisions of its WTO Accession Protocol was the object of heated debate between major trading partners in 2016. Yet the question of China’s graduation to the market-economy status, and its implications on the anti-dumping investigations in the importing countries, remains. This paper explores the divergent legal interpretat

Traditional development financing is proving insufficient to address overlapping global challenges, such as climate change and fragile contexts. This brief explores new thinking in development finance through two examples. The first is Islamic climate finance, which constitutes less than 2 percent of global Islamic finance. The brief identifies policy priorities and proposes dedicated Islamic climate-finance windows (e.g., in the Green Climate Fu

Even as globalisation has succeeded in creating a closely connected world, its biggest failure may yet be that it could not produce a stable world. Today there is a widely held view that organising the world regionally may be complementary to globalisation, if not serve as a replacement altogether. Other analysts consider the relationship as more tangled, debating whether to view regionalism as a stepping stone to globalisation or as a stumbling

Following the Nirbhaya case of 2012 and the public outrage that it provoked, public safety for women has been increasingly deemed a political issue worthy of attention and concern, particularly in India’s cities. The government’s response has been to promote precautionary policies for women that, while may be well-meaning, tend to reinforce the prevalent social inclination to put the onus of their safety on women themselves, rather than addre

Waste-to-energy (WtE) projects are often promoted as sustainable solutions for both renewable energy generation and GHG emissions reduction. However, their effectiveness is contingent on the fundamentals of sustainable waste management—including segregation, collection, and transportation—without which WtE plants risk exacerbating environmental and health risks by processing mixed waste, leading to toxic emissions and inefficient energy recov

The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is one of the most vibrant, distinct, intricate mountain systems in the world. An estimated 210 million people live within these mountain systems, and some 1.3 billion people who live downstream of the HKH rely on the freshwater obtained directly or indirectly from the rivers and tributaries of the region. Recent data shows that significant areas of glaciers in the HKH region are retreating at an alarming rat

European bloc politics could well extend to the Indo-Pacific this time, with China in view

Despite the call for a global paradigm shift in water governance—from the traditional reductionist engineering approach to the more holistic integrated river basin governance framework—a change is not yet perceptible in India’s water governance architecture. The hesitation to change has led to ecological problems and conflicts at various levels. This paper identifies the knowledge gaps that inhibit the paradigm shift and explores the lacuna

The subject of nuclear weapons remains off-grid in India. There’s no public information on who constitutes the executive and political councils under the Nuclear Command Authority besides their chairmen

Over the past six decades, China has had an inconsistent policy on Kashmir, changing its position depending on its own interests. While maintaining a fine balance between its rapprochement with both Pakistan and India, China has also used the issue to make inroads to India via Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Indeed, China’s Kashmir policy has allowed it to steadily find its way to India’s western and northern borders and into the region’s

Western media coverage of India’s handling of Covid-19 is yet another example of the West attempting to diminish the East.

Even as Russia explores new vistas of growth and opportunity via the OECD, she must not loose sight of her leadership and moral responsibility at BRICS, of which she is not just a founding member but the foremost proponent.

India’s Northeast has often been described as the region where South Asia and Southeast Asia meet. Indeed, sharing much of its border with neighbouring countries, the northeastern states are economically and culturally integrated with Southeast Asia. This brief examines the role of India’s Northeast in strengthening the country’s relations with its partners in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC

The early years, particularly the first 1,000 days, are a critical period in a child’s development, with lifelong impacts. Evidence shows that one of the most effective strategies for economic growth is investing in the developmental growth of at-risk young children. However, early childhood development (ECD) programmes are severely challenged by the sheer scale of need in the face of early childhood care and education losses due to COVID-19 me

The government should establish a price regulation mechanism for the Assam silk weavers so that the small traders are not exploited. This can be done by setting up a Silk Auction Board on the lines of the Tea Auction Board. This will also make Assam silk a large global brand like the tea industry and transform it into a modern industry ensuing competition at the global level.

The revival of South Western Silk Road would promote connectivity as well as enhance economic ties between India, Nepal and China, according to experts who participated in a discussion at ORF.