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Despite testing and confirming the acquisition of Kinetic Energy Weapons (KEW)—an integral part of strategic defence systems that are an alternative to nuclear warheads—India remains in need of a more robust military space programme. The country’s principal rival in the space military arena, China, has significantly more expansive and diverse capabilities. Although KEWs as part of its counter-space programme are not a panacea for India’s

Across India, existing systems for the collection, transportation and disposal of solid waste are mired in chaos. The problem is more acute in the urban areas, where rapidly growing populations generate increasingly larger quantities of solid waste that urban local bodies (ULBs) are unable to manage effectively. Improper management of solid waste poses risks to the environment and public health. This paper dissects the state of solid waste manage

This Paper offers a broad and objective analysis on the controversial issue of 'uclear liability', India's concerns and provides a recommendation for a coherent and comprehensive approach to resolve this conundrum.

This Paper analyses South Africa's position as a member of both BRICS and IBSA, especially the broader strategic implications arising out of its membership of the two organisations.

India has recently completed long-pending infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.

Japan protested to China after four Chinese coast guard ships sailed into territorial waters of Senkaku Islands & other roundups from South China Monitor

The combination of Indian demography, Korean technology, its value for money aspects, and the government support has made Korean companies in India quite successful, according to the Consul-General of the Republic of Korea in Chennai, Mr. Kim Kyungsoo.

South Korea’s Indo-Pacific strategy, released in December 2022, highlights the country’s willingness to engage with the Indo-Pacific concept, shedding the ambiguity of the earlier stance under President Yoon Suk Yeol’s predecessor. This policy step up recognises emerging geopolitical trends that require South Korea to engage with new territories previously overlooked in its strategic radar, such as the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This brief

South Korea’s Moon Jae-in government has adopted what it calls a “New Southern Policy”, and by most accounts, the strategy is aimed at strengthening the country’s relations with India. What is the rationale for South Korea’s current inclination towards India? This brief argues that the ‘China factor’ is playing a key role in this new approach: South Korea wants to diversify its foreign relations as it faces a dilemma over its econom

With the Japanese crisis triggering worldwide re-thinking on the feasibility of pursuing nuclear energy to meet growing global energy demands, it is time that India, US and others looked at the option of Space Based Solar Power (SBSP).

Space debris, traffic management and orbital frequency being issues that concern both India and the US, this ideally should be on the agenda in future US-India endeavours. It might be good for both the countries if they can engage in shaping this debate that would give them ownership of the issue.

In delivering the inaugral address Chidambaram said space to create efficient entrepreneurs is shrinking in India

After the coming UNHRC session, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group is set to meet in London in April, when they are bound to flag the issue. The Indian position at London would have to be reflective of the position that it might have to take at Geneva only weeks earlier.

The election of a new government in Colombo provides New Delhi a great opportunity to reset its relations with Sri Lanka. Both countries need to set aside the contentious past and see how they can construct a 21st century relationship based on economic ties and the awareness of the need to understand each other's security concerns.

Sri Lanka's poll results have shown that President-elect Sirisena's victory was made possible by the overwhelming vote of the minorities, particularly the Sri Lankan Tamils. However, the Indian concerns on ethnic issues will be addressed wholly only when the new government and its limited TNA underwriter arrive at a negotiated settlement.

There are humanitarian and human rights issues in Sri Lanka. Yet, it is basically a political cause, still, which no one in Tamil Nadu seems to be talking about, any more.

Whether Indians have great expectations from their new Prime Minister Narendra Modi or not, India's neighbours, who see in the emergence of Modi from a grassroots-level politician to become the Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy, seem to have expectations and aspirations unmatched in the recent past.

The delivery of a Chinese frigate to Sri Lanka reinforces China’s role within competition between the two Asian giants.

Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid's recent reminder that the Sri Lankan Government of the day alone had invited India to facilitate the peace process in the eighties should clarify a few points for Sri Lankans who harbour other views in the matter.

At the UNHRC session next month, India should take the initiative to work out a consensus resolution, where not just the Sri Lanka-related 'accountability' concerns of the West but also the competing counter-concerns of 'friends of Sri Lanka' are also addressed.

It may be time for both the Centre and the Tamil Nadu Government to actively consider the alternate, 'deep-sea fishing', away from the Sri Lankan waters, if India's Palk Strait fishers and bilateral relations were not to run aground.

'Competitive politics' in Tamil Nadu was only one element in India's vote for the US Resolution. But there has been a general sense of dissatisfaction across the State with the Sri Lankan Government's perceived unwillingness to stand by its war-time promises.

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's tour of the war-ravaged areas in the North and East of Sri Lanka has come as a perceptible first step towards the Indian Government repairing relations with the Tamil community in the island-nation.

The week-end Sri Lanka visit of the Indian troika comprising National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshanker Menon, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar is important to both the nations for reasons that are more than the obvious.

Since 2010, some 250 naval vessels from across a wide spectrum of nations have berthed at Sri Lankan ports. If Indians have to suspect Sri Lanka in the matter of Chinese naval vessels, then they would have to suspect a host of other nations.

The recent faux pas of Prime Minister D M Jayaratne's allegation of 'LTTE camps in Tamil Nadu' had the potential to damage bilateral relations with the Indian neighbour,

Reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping had proposed trilateral talks involving the shared Indian neighbour at a meeting with visiting Sri Lankan counterpart Maithripala Sirisena should make New Delhi sit up and take notice.

In an observation recently in the Sri Lankan Parliament, External Affairs Minister G L Peiris asserted that the country could not achieve its development goals without India, which was going to play a vital role in achieving such targets.

With Tamil Nadu Assembly elections due by May next year and an anti-Jaya political realignment likely on cards, the Sri Lankan Tamil 'separatists' appear to be trying to drive a wedge between political parties in Tamil Nadu. The purpose seems to be to try and embarrass prospective allies of the DMK.

Sri Lanka's Northern Province Tamil Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran seems to be sending contradictory signals to India through his actions. On the one hand, he wants India to play an active role in finding a 'political solution' to the ethnic problem. On the other, he boycotted the India-funded Colombo-Jaffna railway inauguration and earlier President's invitation to be part of the delegation to India.

By inviting SAARC Heads of Government for his inauguration, prime minister-designate Narendra Modi has demonstrated a firm grip over the emerging foreign policy scenario(s) and his vision of and for an India of the future.

India's abstention from voting at the UNHRC session in Geneva means that India has now re-positioned itself to re-engage the Sri Lankan stake-holders in a constructive way, as articulated by Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid long before the vote.

Public posturing apart, moderate Tamils in Sri Lanka seem to want India to intercede on their behalf all over again and help arrive at a political settlement on the ethnic issue with their nation's government.

With the international community refusing to take its focus off the human rights situation in Sri Lanka even in the midst of developments in West Asia and North Africa, there are now expectations that it could well be Colombo's turn to be called to account for, though to be at a lesser degree.

India thus cannot afford to vote against Sri Lanka at UNHRC, now or later. If India needs to engage with Sri Lanka for helping the Tamils, it cannot do so from a perceived position of animosity and antagonism.

A delegation of senior journalists from Sri Lanka and Maldives visited Observer Research Foundation and held interaction with its faculty on July 5, 2011. The interaction, chaired by Mr. H.H.S. Viswanathan, Distinguished Fellow, ORF and a former ambassador.

The Sri Lankan Premier Mahinda Rajapakse has completed his three-day visit to India over the weekend from July 17 to 19. He was here on the invitation of the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Last year’s economic crisis crippled the island nation, but it also provided India an opening to offset some of the inroads that China has made in Sri Lanka.

At the Galle Dialogue 2016, Sri Lanka sought not only to stress its critical geographical location at the crossroads of important Indian Ocean sea lines of communication, but also to display a catalytic ability to spur regional collaboration in securing the vulnerable commons.

The country continues to be a prime area of competition for both Asian powers in the South Asia region.