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With displays of outright incompetence in many situations, the thin-on-talent Modi government has bungled its way through four years of diplomacy and policy without any sign of course correction.

From the Abu Dhabi conference, the urgent call for action should resonate loud and clear throughout COP28 in and create a dynamic and durable pathway

Most leading air forces around the world were quick to learn from the experiences of the US Air Force between the Vietnam War in the 1960s and the Gulf War three decades later. This resulted in the widespread adoption by these forces of Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) beginning in the mid-1990s. Only a few of these air arms, however, have matched the overall effectiveness of US air power, which combines aircraft survivability with weapon range,

Floods are a recurrent phenomenon in many parts of India, and human and economic losses are consistently rising with increased exposure to the hazard. These losses can be significantly reduced by eliminating the encroachment on floodplains and regulating the land use within it through floodplain zoning, a widely accepted and effective non-structural policy measure. Despite its benefits, floodplain zoning has not been widely adopted in India, main

The 2023 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report highlights a surge in drug production in Myanmar, posing serious security challenges. The cultivation of poppy, key for heroin production, increased by 33 percent in 2022, reversing a downward trend seen since 2014. Experts attribute the rise largely to livelihood challenges: Myanmar’s economy contracted by 18 percent in 2021, with only a modest rebound in 2022, and there are the compound

This paper analyses India’s participation in more than two decades of global climate politics. India has transitioned from a protest voice on the fringes of global climate policy to one that is actively shaping international efforts to combat climate change. Analysis of the drivers behind India’s negotiating positions on climate change thus far has focused on the competing motives of equity and co-benefits, which has however been insufficient

Climate adaptation has been at the forefront of UN climate negotiations over the past decade, given the increasing frequency of extreme weather events at the global, national, and sub-national levels. Climate vulnerability and risk assessments (VRA) are essential for adaptation planning, as they help identify areas, populations, and systems that are most at-risk from the impacts of climate change. They can also be used as a tool to develop adapta

Underlying all practical steps between India and France is a shared strategic vision, particularly driven by the strategic uncertainties around China’s rise and its growing assertiveness.

The design to host Modi had a bit of everything that was required off Jerusalem to make sure there is no scope of a 'step back' on the Indo–Israeli front, curating a programme that was as much Bollywood as diplomacy.

As global food production faces the negative consequences of climate change, best practices in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) must be promoted to achieve food security. This requires adequate financial and human resources to be channeled to the upscaling of CSA activities in high-impact, priority areas. Considering India and Africa’s complementary sectoral priorities and their similar roles in evolving global food markets, various opportunitie

India’s engagement with Southeast Asia entered a new phase following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third consecutive electoral victory in June 2024. With the ‘Act East’ policy too, marking its 10th anniversary in 2024, New Delhi has intensified its regional outreach through an unprecedented series of high-level diplomatic exchanges, security partnerships, and strategic dialogues. This brief examines how this surge in engagement is both a

FTAs have helped consumer well-being by increasing consumer choices at affordable prices. However, the problem is that for any government to sign an agreement of this character would necessitate a better feasibility study report that is more holistic in nature.

Amb. Hiroshi Hirabayashi, former Japan's Ambassador to India and currently President, The Japan-India Association, was in ORF for an interactive session

This Issue Brief seeks to provide inputs for further discussion to gain from potential windfall opportunities that might arise for India's natural gas industry as well as lay the requisite foundation for a future plan.

For India, which is also experiencing declining growth rates in the last couple of years, the priority at the forthcoming G-20 summit at St Petersberg would be issues including the spillover of the global slowdown on emerging economies as well as quota reforms of the International Monetary Fund.

New Delhi must work with the Rouhani government to ensure that bilateral irritants in fostering economic ties between the two nations are resolved soon.

Gaiko Forum, Japan's prominent think tank sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan, has published a detailed report on the symposium on "Security and Strategic Challenges in Asia: Prospects of Japan-India Cooperation" organised by Observer Research Foundation in association with the Gaiko Forum and the Embassy of Japan in New Delhi, on March 18, 2008.

The Commonwealth Games was planned to showcase a modern India. But it has actually set back India's urban modernisation plans through disproportionate focus.

This paper assesses the gendered division of labour for household-level domestic service activities, of which water management remains a primary component, across Indian states and the various dimensions of gender that are relevant in this context. Women have traditionally played an essential role in water management at the household level, devoting a significant share of their day to related unpaid domestic service activities. Such engagements o

Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is a targeted fiscal instrument that several developing countries have cemented into their growth plans. GRB is used to ensure that policy prescriptions to alleviate gender inequality translate into outputs by linking them to budgetary allocations. Although the concept was introduced in India, Bangladesh and Rwanda at around the same time (the early 2000s), the three countries have followed different routes and a

India introduced Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) in financial year 2005-06 to design public spending in a way that ensures that the benefits accrue as much to the country’s women as they do to the men. India’s effort has influenced both the government’s expenditures and its revenue policies—such as additional tax rebates on properties owned by women, for instance—at the levels of both central and state governments. However, 18

Gender equality is a fundamental human right. This principle is also found in the SDG 2030 Agenda where its signatories, including India, reaffirmed their commitment to mainstreaming gender development and ensuring equal representation of women in political and economic decision-making. This paper outlines gender-budgeting norms for resource allocations as an essential prerequisite for India to achieve progress towards the SDG-5 on gender equalit

Rapid advancements in medicine and falling fertility rates have contributed to the rise in the population of India’s older adults in recent decades. This demographic and epidemiological shift has a gendered impact: A higher proportion of women over the age of 60, compared to their male counterparts, suffer from Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, heart and bone diseases, cancers, cognitive decline, and depression. T

Although neither India nor China envisions participating in decisive naval battles given the interdependent nature of the world order, naval suasion continues in the Indian Ocean. The underlying strength for control of the Indian Ocean, however, is not geopolitical but economic power.

The geo-strategic uncertainties that prevail in Asia will drive India and Japan increasingly in the direction of jointly addressing the need for maintaining the prevailing balance of power in the continent, according to scholars from India and Japan.

It offers a notable contrast that India’s ties with Russia haven’t taken off despite New Delhi’s keenness while its relationship with the US has expanded notwithstanding hesitations.

The permission for Air India to fly over Saudi Arabia must be seen as a major breakthrough, cutting hours off flights between India and Israel

Continued efforts at looking beyond immediate horizons is required.

Pakistan's present actions of ratcheting up tensions not only on the Line of Control but also along the International Border, while obviously making an attempt to regain the initiative, is actually unlikely to pay any dividend for a number of reasons.

Peaceful relations with Pakistan is a prerequisite to India’s domestic stability and its quest for great power status.

Emissions from fossil fuel-powered motor vehicles adversely affect air quality and contribute to global warming. The manufacture and use of electric vehicles (EVs) is among the ways by which this challenge can be mitigated. This brief evaluates the best practices adopted by countries in the forefront of EV adoption, and outlines the lessons India can draw from them to inform its own EVs strategy. It finds that in addition to strengthening

What should be India's approach towards the international internet governance discourse? This Issue Brief attempts answer this question by examining the Indian government's engagement with the global community, using the recently concluded NETmundial conference on internet governance as a case study. It also provides policy recommendations for the way forward.

In the early years of the 21st Century, we find ourselves relearning the most enduring lesson of history. That is, ¿Only thing constant in nature is change. It is not the reality that is changing but change, which is becoming a reality.¿ The difference now is that the revolution in technology is making changes, including global trends and strategic changes, faster than ever before.

The recent violent actions of the Maoists have made big news. It will not be easy to resolve this problem because these are the people who have been deprived of their land and development, and they form the core of the movement. Only better distribution of the growth story can bring peace to these people