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How can Japan bring in energy reforms with its weak political structures, a very strong nuclear lobby that can influence policymaking, and rising public discontent? Japan has seen five Prime Ministers in the last five years.

The Modi government's biggest challenge is battling a legacy of distrust. The dominant political discourse in India remains deeply suspicious of market liberalization.

Fourteen years ago, in 1996, Dr Vijay Kelkar, one of my distinguished predecessors in the long list of luminaries who have delivered this Lecture, said, "What petroleum was to the 20th century, natural gas will be to the 21st."

The increasing demand for mobility and the rising rates of motorisation in India have substantially increased energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the road transport sector. As of 2021, road transport was responsible for 14 percent of the nation’s total energy consumption, 92 percent of transport-related energy demand, and 94 percent of transport-related CO₂ emissions. In 2021, India committed to net-zero carbon emissi

Waste-to-energy projects in India have historically been city-centric. As cities are well-served by LPG and CNG distribution systems, the Bio-CNG produced has to be used for either fuelling urban public transport, or moved to rural areas at considerable cost. Distributed production and distribution of compressed biogas (CBG) from municipal organic waste in rural and peri-urban areas could be a cheaper option for local consumers. Such prod

Formulating a policy towards China that finds the right balance between engagement and resistance is not easy. We are obliged to engage with China as it is fast on the road to becoming the world's number two power.

The importance of today's Africa for India is self-evident. India's ambitions of being a global power cannot be achieved without the support of the African continent consisting of 55 countries. Nowhere is the importance of African countries felt more than on the issue of the expansion of the UN Security Council.

SAARC remains the only viable vehicle for South Asian integration, a project vital for India because a viable South Asian economy is a necessary pre-condition for our ability to engage effectively with ASEAN and China. And when we look at SAARC, the key hurdle it must overcome is the India-Pakistan problem.

An international conference on "Engaging with a resurgent Africa" was organised in New Delhi on 20th and 21st of November. It was organised jointly by Observer Research Foundation and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung of Germany.

Mainstreaming gender in urbanisation can be a useful tool in understanding and tackling exclusionary growth and access to resources in urban spaces more generally.

London is the most unequal city in the developed world, with its richest 10 percent more than 100 times better off than the poorest ten. London's wealth inequalities are said to be approaching those that "have not been seen since the days of the slave-owning elite."

India and Pakistan can reap multiple benefits from an enhanced cooperation on the economic and energy fronts, according to experts at a recent conference at Observer Research Foundation.

The Indo-Pacific region is becoming the world's new strategic and economic ‘centre of gravity’. Indeed, the accelerated trajectory of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) in recent years highlights the region’s growing importance. The Quad countries have committed to a rules-based order and a free and open Indo-Pacific, and are aiming to develop resilience across domains, such as in the maritime space, to counter and deter aggressive

As technologies evolve, so do threats.

The strategic location of India’s North Eastern Region (NER) offers ample opportunities for enhancing the country’s economic ties. However, supply-chain constraints at the regional level hamper the trade-growth linkages, as do trade barriers, social unrest, and inadequate infrastructure. Enhancing and improving commercial exchanges with neighbouring countries, such as Bangladesh and Myanmar, will strengthen bilateral and regional networks. Th

There she was, a wisp of a girl in her teens, out in Mahim at 11.30 in the night, feeding strangers stranded after the bomb blast. This was her answer, and those of countless citizens of Mumbai, to the terrorists who thought they could break the city¿s indomitable spirit. Salaam, Mumbai.

Africa faces various challenges in ensuring equitable access to life-saving drugs. Drug prices in the continent are largely unregulated, making locally produced drugs more expensive than the imported ones. The African countries thus rely heavily on imports to meet their pharmaceutical needs. Further, the medicine delivery systems in the countries are encumbered by the poor implementation of regulatory policies, if they are in place at all. East A

Cyber security should take centrestage in nuclear-policymaking. This brief evaluates the current state of cyber security in India’s civilian and military nuclear systems, as gleaned from both incidents of breach on-ground and analyses in the public discourse. It outlines the level of threats faced in this domain, and makes a case for the development of policy measures for an integrated cyber-nuclear security strategy.

HOW to ensure food security and control inflation has emerged as a major challenge for the government in the New Year. The hangover of food inflation from 2010 cannot be ignored as it is still in double digits.

Adequate access to water is not only a human right but it also forms the cornerstone of economic development. It is growing in importance in Asia where the population is rising at an exponential rate making it home to more than half of the world's population.

The world often sees China as a monolithic, monochromatic nation, relentlessly marching towards a future which it has clearly defined for itself. The reality, however, is a nation led by a Communist Party elite, which is very good at doing what it does, and which works hard at remaining where it is ? at the top of the country's political pyramid.

Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine follows its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its continued direct support for separatist activities in eastern Ukraine, marking a new chapter in Moscow's geopolitical approach. China's response and its overt diplomatic, financial, and economic support for Russia was also noteworthy. This brief assesses the contours of the new geopolitical formation (the ‘DragonBear’, a term coined by this author)

The SCO is not another SAARC, and its member states will most likely not sit by and watch their agenda hijacked by a bilateral dispute.

For him, Turkey is the Islamic power awaiting its due, and while it does not have the oil dollars backing its fragile economy, it is still working hard to create its own narratives and influence zones across the region.

With the rise of India on the global stage, it’s in the interest of Delhi and Ankara to expand economic engagement.

The tensions between India and Pakistan have to be seriously examined and ways and means to bring back normalcy should be worked out and implemented. India stands to lose much more if terrorist organisations are deployed in various cities in the country at a time of Pakistan's choice.

Space is once again becoming the sphere of rivalry and potential conflicts. But the EU Code of Conduct does not move towards a legally binding mechanism that has been the demand from the Asian countries at various multilateral forums.

This paper presents an approach towards promoting nutritional security on one hand, and water security on the other, in an integrated framework. Using econometric models, it delineates water use efficiency on the basis of calorific estimates of the productivity of agricultural water use in the context of various crops. Based on the estimated marginal product of water across the various crops, the paper finds that alternative crops such as maize a

Why does a diplomat who has been in this profession for 40 years turn to a theme such as ethics and international relations? The real reason is that I think that any field of human activity has an ethical dimension.

In recent years, different research institutions, government bodies, and private entities across countries have issued principles and guidelines for the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). There is little consensus, however, over universal ethical principles and how to implement them. What are the similarities and differences in AI ethics discussions across geographies, and what are the existing gaps? Crucially, if the larger goa

South Sudan does not possess the political leadership to resolve the current crisis of citizenship and governance. But it is time for an unbiased state to step in and address vital issues and questions that it did not address immediately after independence for the collective sake of all South Sudanese.

The immediate concerted European response in the aftermath of Madrid blasts on March 11, 2004 was the creation of the post of a Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, who would directly work under the European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana. In fact, the idea of effective counter-terror coordination and intelligence sharing

The immediate concerted European response in the aftermath of Madrid blasts on March 11, 2004 was the creation of the post of a Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, who would directly work under the European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana. In fact, the idea of effective counter-terror coordination and intelligence sharing

While there has been progress over the last few years in terms of garnering greater support for the EU Space code, there appear to be a few outstanding issues that need further elaboration and alteration to make the code more appealing. The way forward might be to shift from a consultative to a negotiating phase, before moving to hold a diplomatic conference.

The euro zone's recovery is obstructed by its own structural weaknesses. And the idea of a crisis relapse cannot be discounted as yet and the consequences of it are hard to fathom. The euro zone may also need to abandon its optimistic view.

स्वीडनचे 2023 चे अध्यक्षपद हे एका गंभीर टप्प्यावर आले आहे कारण युरोपला अनेक आव्हानांचा सामना करावा लागत आहे.

The new draft of the EU-initiated International Code of Conduct for Outer Space is a significant step forward. The language has been tightened to make it more precise. The document is particularly mindful of the interests of emerging Space actors and instituting measures for greater international cooperation. There have also been several practical measures suggested for more transparency.

Accompanying these country-level strategies is a range of defensive measures that the EU has put in place. These include two-way screenings of investments and anti-coercion mechanisms under the umbrella of its 'derisking' approach. At the same time, Europe is attempting to diversify its trade partners and supply chains in favour of more 'like-minded' nations in Asia, Latin America and elsewhere.