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First let me say how pleased I am to be here. The Observer Research Foundation has a strong track record of building partnerships between business and policy makers, and generating innovative thinking on how to tackle the major challenges of our times.

The rapid development of genetic engineering technologies has created multiple opportunities for treating genetic diseases and improving human health. However, genetic engineering technology poses ethical, societal, and security challenges. This brief explores these risks, focusing on those related to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the revival of ideologies that consider some races to be “more suitable” than others. The brief also

The crisis in Ukraine has resulted in an unprecedented level of unity in the often-fractured European Union (EU). The member states have provided Ukraine with economic and military aid, imposed far-reaching sanctions on Russia, strengthened their own defences, and accepted millions of Ukrainian refugees. At the same time, nuanced divergences have also emerged, particularly on how the countries view relations with Russia and calculate thei

After a brief discussion on the uneasy relationship between Regional Trade Agreements and the WTO, the implications of the “deep” integration that the EU is seeking with India are discussed, and the respective positions, interests and concerns of the partners in the long drawn out negotiations are examined. The challenges for India in plunging into such “deep” territory, unprecedented in its history of bilateral or multilateral negotiatio

This week, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg once again underlined that Ukraine could expect more deliveries of heavy weapons from western nations.

As the Indo-Pacific region grows in prominence, all the members of the CSC, which are democracies, will continue to play their cards based on domestic and external benefits.

An imprisoned Imran Khan directing street protests is a thorn in Pakistan army’s side. The political instability deepens Islamabad’s ‘polycrisis’

India is trying to convey that any expansion of BRICS is futile without serious efforts to nurture trust and foster cooperation.

The more pushback Xi Jinping faces globally, the more aggressive his domestic and foreign policy agenda is likely to become.

China and Zimbabwe got closer ever since Mugabe started pursuing his ‘Look East’ policy after the imposition of sanctions by western countries because of human right concerns.

The skewed tobacco taxation policy, far removed from a reality based understanding of the tobacco consumption and economics, is not helping the government achieve any goals. It is perhaps due to either a strong lobby, or the desire to protect 36 million beedi workers or just bad strategy.

Despite having among the largest coal reserves in the world, India lags far behind in consumption. The average Indian's coal consumption is around 20% that of the US citizen, and 34% of the average OECD citizen.

Globally, healthcare has made great strides in making vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics available to more people. Yet, infectious diseases continue to pose a significant threat in many parts of the world, and the SARS, Ebola, and Zika crises are only a few of the recent outbreaks that draw attention to the weaknesses of public health systems. In India, the recent epidemics of Nipah virus and acute encephalitis syndrome call attention to the

India, which clung to non-alignment as its international identity since Independence, had little inclination for defence diplomacy. But now New Delhi is slowly moving away from a fastidious avoidance of military partnerships in the past to making security cooperation an important part of India's foreign relations now.

The adoption of digital payments has risen exponentially over the past decade in many countries including India and those in the African continent. In India, the growth has run parallel to rapid mobile penetration, aided by initiatives like Aadhaar, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and IndiaStack, as well as the unintended push factor created by demonetisation in November 2016. This brief discusses the landscape of fintech—‘finan

The age-old Chinese dictum of hiding one's capabilities and strategically biding time for an opportune moment seems to be fast eroding to make way for aggressive posturing by the Chinese especially in the South China Sea.

The return of a Socialist in France since Mitterand's victory in 1981 confirms a trend in Europe which, instead of lifting the mist, is adding to the fog. The other day in the UK, Labour had trounced the Conservatives in local bodies election across the country.

What does it mean to speak of an ‘Indian’ approach to international affairs? Indian International Relations (IR) is commonly presented as merely a derivative of ‘western’ disciplinary traditions in Europe and North America. This obscures the vast body of work on political science and international thought that emerged from the beginning of the 20th century amongst South Asian intellectuals, scholars, and activists. This forgotten history

As global geopolitics enters a multipolar era, there is a need to assess the extent to which strategic concepts from the bipolar era remain valid and useful. In this brief, the notion of a ‘strategic triangle’, which became prominent during the Cold War, is extended to a ‘great-powers tetrahedron’ for Asia in the 21st century. The brief describes this notion and examines four triangular relationships involving India, China, Russia, and t

On the sidelines of the trilateral Northeast Asian Summit in Tokyo, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak visited some of the worst affected areas in Fukushima and freely moved with the victims and publicly tasted vegetables and fruits to dispel the public fear about radiation.

The Macron visit underlined the growing strategic convergence that draws India and France together

A New Silk Road is magical thinking, given that Afghanistan remains a hotbed of instability plagued by daunting challenges. Lack of security has already delayed Tapi, the natural gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

India is witnessing a phenomenal increase in urbanisation and it is essential that this process is studied and analysed thoroughly to provide for a better quality of life, said Mr. Strobe Talbott, President of the Brookings Institution, while formally releasing ORF Mumbai Vision 2015: Agenda for Urban Renewal, published by Observer Research Foundation in ORF Mumbai on September 20.

Care work, both paid and unpaid, is at the heart of most economies. The care sector comprises formal healthcare, childcare services, early childhood education, disability and long-term care, and eldercare. Two-thirds of care workers globally are women, and women and girls perform more than three-quarters of all unpaid care work. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the vulnerability of care workers and deepened the gender gap. This paper a

The rapid growth in military cyber capabilities of the countries in the Indo-Pacific combined with the use of assets from the cyberwarfare toolbox—in domestic and interstate contexts—is adding uncertainty to already competitive political, military, and economic relations. This issue brief assesses the cyberwarfare context in the Indo-Pacific, and reviews the military cyber capabilities of the region’s countries and their commitment to inter

Silicon-based security, including cryptography, secure storage, attestation and authentication, will enable developers to leverage hardware-based functions to secure their products and services.

The rapid growth in military cyber capabilities of the countries in the Indo-Pacific combined with the use of assets from the cyberwarfare toolbox—in domestic and interstate contexts—is adding uncertainty to already competitive political, military, and economic relations. This issue brief assesses the cyberwarfare context in the Indo-Pacific, and reviews the military cyber capabilities of the region’s countries and their commitment to inter

Thinking about the future of global food systems has now become more critical than ever. Climate change impacts—among them, shifts in soil quality, precipitation, pest regimes, seasonal growth patterns, along with land degradation and reduction in biodiversity—have impacted agricultural and aquatic food production systems across the world. Indeed, the causal links between climate change and food security are manifesting more clearly, particul

In August 2021, Kabul fell to the Taliban, marking their return nearly 20 years since they first ruled Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. This report examines the prospects of restarting India’s engagements in Afghanistan under the current Taliban regime. It builds on the insights shared during an exclusive, virtual roundtable organised by ORF’s Centre for New Economic Diplomacy (CNED) in September 2021, and makes a case for India to consider the

India is at a crossroads. It has the largest young workforce anywhere in the world, and is the fastest growing economy today. At the same time, the economy is not creating enough jobs, and therefore not fully harnessing its “demographic dividend” in preparation for the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. To create more and better jobs, certain fundamental realities need to be recognised – the untapped opportunities in the services sector, t

The ‘Compact with Africa’ (CWA) is the main pillar of a renewed G20 partnership with the continent. Its objective is to attract more private investment to Africa, especially for infrastructure. African countries face the challenge of diversifying their economies and promoting industries and services that can absorb a rapidly growing labour force. Lack of investment and Africa’s massive infrastructure gap are major obstacles to this economic

The G20 Digital Agenda: Cross-Presidency Priorities white paper, co-authored by the World Economic Forum and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), underscores the importance of a cohesive digital strategy within the G20.

The role of digitalisation in the global economy has become increasingly crucial as the dependency on digital technologies has surged amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Establishing a digital economy involves utilising digitisation as the key factor of production in a broad range of economic activities. The G20 has recognised the importance of maximising benefits and minimising challenges from the development of the digital economy. Over the years, it h

The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming the world of work. As new occupations are emerging in this digitised landscape, the skills and competencies required for jobs are evolving as well. This brief examines the skills gaps that persist across the G20 countries, and argues that they will need to adapt their education and training mechanisms to the changing skills requirements. Although nearly all presidencies of the G20 forum have prioritised youth

This time around, it is probably fair to say that no “Wuhan spirit” can salvage bilateral relations.

Moves and counter-moves in Indo-Pak relations, like in a game of chess, continue to leave the actors in a mood to fight further. However, unlike in a game of chess, no endgame seems to be in the offing. This vicious circle of moves, counter moves, stalemate, warmongering, dialogues and so on is a direct impact of a precarious lack of an ultimate solution to the basic issue in Indo-Pak relations.

It is a troubled world that we live in today. However, so far India has been a sea of tranquility and it is too early to say if there is a link between the storm brewing on both flanks, but the security agencies, indeed the entire country, have a task on their hands.

The global climate finance architecture tends to restrain emerging economies from mobilising and accessing global private commercial capital for energy transition. This brief explores the different global financial regulations that influence climate capital flows between countries, and argues that institutions must enhance their role in facilitating the optimal allocation of capital. It evaluates the role of Multilateral Development Banks from a

The South Caucasus region—comprising Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan—is a critical geopolitical hub due to its strategic location at the intersection of Asia and Europe, where India has emerged as a new player. This report explores the current India-Armenia partnership in the context of evolving geopolitical dynamics and regional power shifts. It focuses on understanding how Armenia’s strategic importance can serve India’s broader geopol

Global supply chains are being restructured to achieve distinct geopolitical goals, given the strategic vulnerability of such networks due to being controlled by a few nations. Countries that are prominent sourcing hubs for some supply chains could potentially ‘weaponise’ their economic influence for larger geopolitical gains. This brief argues that although multiple global efforts have been initiated to address such threats, efforts

The International Financial Architecture has come under much scrutiny following the 2008 global financial crisis. There have been demands for major reforms to the IFA; but despite the steps taken so far, much more needs to be done to ensure global financial stability.

Amid disruptive international crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, ensuring a secure energy supply for development requires focused efforts by individual countries and the international community. This report examines the global governance of the energy transition from the perspectives of the Latin American and Indo-Pacific regions. Despite their geographic distance, the two regions share similarities in their econ

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has historically been a key instrument of state power in modern China, from the time founder Mao Zedong famously said that power flows “from the barrel of a gun.” Today, in the era of Xi Jinping, China is strengthening its defence diplomacy through Xi’s so-called Global Security Initiative (GSI) that envisions a growing role for the Party-state’s arms like the PLA and the Ministry of Public Security. T

Asia’s growing space race is indicative of the larger geopolitical competition in the region. China’s rise and the strategic uncertainties it has created are particularly worrying to India and Japan, leading to surprisingly fast-growing India-Japan strategic cooperation.

The idea was to capture the different dimensions of the war on terror as has been perceived and to locate the war in the larger geo political context in order to appreciate and understand the consequences, according to Dr Ashley Tellis, a well-known senior US policy analyst.

There has rarely been a period in modern history, when the world has not been confronted with terrorism; somewhere or the other, in some form or another, for some reason or the other. As a mean of coercion through violence, terrorism ebbs and flows and keeps undergoing many mutations.

Germany’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has earned it almost all-round approval. This special report argues that there is indeed much that German policy has gotten right. But it is also important to keep an eye on the limitations and failings, for which Germany – and other countries that seek to emulate it – might end up paying a very dear price. In contrast, a timely correction of some aspects of German policy could help pre-empt bo

Eminent Indian nuclear scientists have been expressing their concern about the contents and direction of the Indo-US nuclear deal signed last July. Strategic analysts, former diplomats, prominent politicians and knowledgeable commentators have repeatedly cautioned the government about the minefields ahead. Ought not the government pause and clear these doubts? There is little effort towards this end, and we all seem to be running blind.