161 results found
Big ticket reforms promised by Mr. Narendra Modi are likely to resume stalled projects and revive business climate. However, if India is to return to its erstwhile double digit growth, the importance of banking sector reforms cannot be overstated.
Nepal's balancing act between the two development and infrastructural projects—the MCC aided by the USA and the BRI promoted by China—can hinder i
Although PM Dahal signed several agreements with China during his recent visit, critics at home are dismayed that Nepal is not gaining anything concre
India's goal of reaching net zero presents a crucial challenge and opportunity. Its success depends on financing key sectors effectively, thus, shapin
Land is at the heart of India's current development predicament. Hundreds of its mega projects and big ticket projects are caught up in the land logjam. But the proposed Land Bill still lacks effective provisions to provide reasonable price to land owners in rural areas where there is no land market.
Maldives’ political front seems to have been upturned as new political parties emerge in the face of the upcoming presidential elections
It is important to note that while India has emphasised the need to increase its involvement in Myanmar's energy sector, it also recognises the need to take 'socio-environmental consideration' in major energy hydro-power, energy and pipeline projects.
India is commonly — and rightly — considered as a reluctant democracy promoter. But while sceptical about the motives behind Western attempts to promote democracy and about the effects of their democracy promotion efforts, India has since the mid-2000s moved warily to involve itself in “democracy assistance”. This article argues that New Delhi has engaged in these activities in the context of a wider shift in strategy, in parallel with t
People in the Northeast have preferred sustainable thinking and planning, and community involvement has been a pre-condition for development-based ini
The SAARC should plan a billion dollar Infrastructure Fund for developing water and energy projects in areas with high unemployment and poverty rates, a ORF Policy Brief issued on the eve of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee¿s visit to Islamabad to attend the 12th SAARC Conference.
A spectacular dogfight scoreline is tantalising, but still leaves a lot unsaid about the future of AI and autonomous warfare.
India is concentrating more on connectivity projects to strengthen the India-Nepal relations and to cater to its security needs in the Northeast
The Centre having addressed issues in terms of suppliers' liability through parliamentary legislation in the case of nuclear power projects, the nation will have to now decide if it wants growth with risks or would be happy with riskless regression.
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,
BIMSTEC needs to be brought down to the people from the high governmental meetings. Activate people-centric initiatives to ensure engagement and involvement of the society in projects developed under BIMSTEC. This can start by simply involving people in the borderlands and coastal areas.
The BRI was conceptualised under the ethos of the Chinese proverb, “If you want to get rich, build roads first”; however, China is adapting its ap
Given that some of India’s recent urban expansion projects have attracted criticism for poor planning, Saltlake can serve as an Indian model of urba
Myanmar government is proceeding with the BRI projects in an attempt to resuscitate the economy but this could come at a huge cost
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
Myanmar and Bangladesh are active partners in India’s Act-east policy, projects envisaging connectivity between the Southeast with South Asia and countering insurgency in north-east
The present institutional linkages are no doubt improving, but these have to be strengthened further to support connectivity projects.
Goal 11 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals aims to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” Its targets include the promotion of resilience to disasters such as earthquakes. Many of India’s cities that lie in high-intensity zones—determined by ‘seismic microzonation’—are extremely vulnerable to earthquakes. Such cities, therefore, must move towards developing and adopting policies that pro
Pakistan is facing an imminent energy crisis. Hydroelectric projects like Kalabagh, or coal-based ones like the Thar have failed to address the nation's growing energy needs adequately.
China's engagement with Afghanistan has become crucial as the US gradually pulls out its troops from the country. It has increased its investment in infrastructure projects in Afghanistan to US$1 billion from negligible amounts within a period of one year. Though it is still to be seen whether China would assert itself after the withdrawal of coalition forces, one thing is certain: Beijing is well poised in the Afghan endgame.
The growing China-India rivalry in rail connectivity in Nepal can could potentially drive advancements in its linkages. Nevertheless, Nepal should app
India has recently completed long-pending infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.
Both Russia and China have both proposed large railway infrastructure projects in Afghanistan and other weekly roundups from South Asia
The two countries are holding talks for India to reschedule Sri Lanka’s $900 million India debt.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's engagement with Asia is primarily aimed at completing two specific national projects, while at the same time positioning India at the helm of global affairs.
India needs LCA for a variety of reasons. First, it is a requirement, not a 'symbol of statehood' project as scholars like David Kinsella and Jugdeep Cheema might like to argue. Basic principles of self-reliance in defence would necessitate such projects.
To meet the economic growth estimations of 2022, Bhutan would have to adopt strong policy measures to revive its economy
The many success stories of Indian LOC funded projects, which has been welcomed positively by Africa, indicates the point that African countries have
China is touting its vision of linking two Indian projects (Mausam and Spice Route) with its One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. China's main goal is to coordinate regional policy so that each country's economic development plan becomes part of a larger regional vision.
Why is it that despite sharing significant commonalities, India and China remain trapped in a relationship that projects them as inevitable rivals? This paper examines the promise of these bilateral relations and attempts to sound the death knell to the old narrative.
The Digital Silk Road (DSR), part of the Belt and Road Initiative, symbolises China’s approach to expanding information exchanges and digital cooperation with emerging markets and developing economies. Under the DSR, several private corporations and state-owned enterprises supported by Chinese state banks are offering inexpensive technological contracts and rapidly building digital infrastructure projects. This brief examines the operationalisa
Given the dearth of natural resources, all major powers are intensifying their collaboration with African countries and investing in infrastructure an
BRI projects cut across various countries with different legal systems — the legal and regulatory differences across different jurisdictions increas
Governments should adopt certain processes and values to certify the critical infrastructure projects of the Chinese.
China is likely to mount a major effort to protect its strategic investments and ongoing projects in Maldives
The failure of global finance to create a bridge between savings that earn low returns in the global north and the projects that would create much-needed infrastructure in the global south has caused a crisis that needs the attention of global regulators. Among the multiple causes of this crisis is the stringent regulatory response to the 2008 financial crisis, including new lending norms for banks; the tardy response of institutional investors t
The United Nations (UN) has recently been plagued by several crises—the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taliban’s return in Afghanistan, and the Ukraine war—that have tested its ability to deliver on humanity’s projects of peace and security, sustainable development, human rights, and humanitarian response. Indeed, its actions and inactions in the Ukraine war have triggered an existential dilemma. India must use this moment of creative destruction
India’s earliest engagement in the triangular format was in the 1950s when it partnered with the United States of America and Canada for development projects in Nepal
At the bilateral level, both leaders have discussed a wide array of issues, including defence cooperation, connectivity programmes and Japan’s deepe
Sri Lanka, which in the 1970s was being hailed as a development success story for a low-income nation, is now mired in a financial and economic disaster, its worst yet since independence in 1948. Despite notable investments in infrastructure projects, and a largely stable growth rate from 2013 to 2019, the Sri Lankan story was marred by a series of untimely and mismanaged economic measures that led to the current meltdown. External factors have c
Various explanations have been proffered for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s renewed emphasis on ideology. The popular narratives attribute it to either Xi’s power ambitions, or a reaction rooted in his personal trauma during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. Meanwhile, an alternative discourse projects the rise of ideology politics as a response to a possible legitimacy crisis facing the Communist Party of China (CPC). This paper weighs i
This report is part of the Observer Research Foundation’s “Financing Green Transitions” series which aims to find potential linkages between private capital, in all its forms, and climate action projects. The series will primarily examine domestic and international barriers to private capital entry for mitigation oriented climate projects, while also examining potential avenues for private capital flow entry towards adaptation and resilienc
The US is in a dilemma over the funding of the Diamer-Bhasha dam in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. While China and Saudi Arabia have made big inroads in public perception by taking up developmental projects, the US, despite lots of assistance, is perceived not to be doing enough in this area.
Despite Nepal's aspirations to become a ‘zone of investment,’ structural and political obstacles prevent the country from achieving this goal.
कश्मीर घाटी में मूलभूत ढांचे की परियोजनाएं पूरी होने से �
जगातील अन्य बुलेट ट्रेनप्रमाणेच, भारतालाही यासाठी अपेक्षित मुदतीपेक्षा जास्त वेळ लागेल आणि त्यामुळे खर्चात वाढ होईल, हे गृहीत धरायला हवे.
