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Setting up of research taskforces on various climate change and environment risks in the BIMSTEC sub-region can develop a common understanding of the threats, create standards for emergency management and come up with cost-effective solutions.

BBINMVA is an encouraging development that aims at shared growth and prosperity of the region. For success of the BBINMVA, the member countries should remain consistent and resolve the issues on timely basis for fulfilling the vision of prosperity of the region.

The intensity with which India is trying to focus on the aspect of subregional affinity — in the geopolitical and geostrategic realms — finds expression in the BBIN interaction.

The BCIM economic corridor has the potential of transforming a conflict zone into a cooperation zone. This can happen only if adequate measures are taken to check any possible negative impacts of the corridor by involving all of the key stakeholders.

The current Indian government has given clear indicators that it is likely to place regional integration high on its economic diplomacy agenda, be it SAARC, ASEAN or BCIM. The last two are especially important to India's Act East Policy.

Fiscal 2017-18 will end with a real GDP growth of 6.5 per cent, helped by low inflation, versus 7.1 per cent last year.

A second Green Revolution is in the offing given the recent announcements by the central government. The highlight of Finance minister Mr Jaswant Singh¿s January 9 pre-poll sops was the setting up of a Rs. 50,000 crore Agriculture Infrastructure and Credit Fund, to be operational in four weeks and providing end use credit at 200 base points below PLR.

Fifteen nations in 11 months and important visits to China and RoK in May is a tremendous track record. Considering the pace and scale of Modi's engagements and what each visit is expected to produce, one must congratulate the MEA for measuring up to this scorching pace.

Twenty-five uninterrupted years of mostly weak coalition governments at the Centre may have closed political options in Jammu and Kashmir, but now that we have a majority government in New Delhi, decisions may be easier.

If history is to be consulted, re-packaging sells well within the White House and perhaps more importantly, the Pentagon.

In the prevailing era of strategic uncertainty, Special Forces (SF) provide the most reliable means to a government for the application of military force to achieve national security objectives. The SF components of a nation¿s military and other security forces are force multipliers in times of both war and peace.

The Modi government must now attempt to transition India's economic engagements towards a more deliberate, durable and definitional framework. Well-administered LoCs offer a great avenue to do this -- and therefore must be given commensurate strategic priority and attention.

For India, the key implications come in the form of the direction China is headed on nuclear.

The 46th Anniversary of Tibetan Uprising of the Year 1959 is round the corner. On March 10, the Dalai Lama will issue yet another Policy Statement to commemorate the occasion.

The Chinese navy is leading the dramatic shift in the political goals of China's armed forces. Besides territorial defence, the Chinese armed forces now also aim to protect Beijing's expanding interests beyond borders, influence regional security politics and contribute to international peace.

In Beijing, Mr Manmohan Singh repeated what he has long believed -- that India and China were not destined to clash and that they had enough room to grow together. This was an oblique comment on fears in China that India could join a US-led containment of China, and similar fears in India that China was creating a "string of pearls".

China has good relations with most of Afghanistan's neighbours, including Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. But it is Beijing's emerging partnership with the Pakistan army in Afghanistan that is the most interesting new element in the region.

Delhi's economic decision-makers, with their inward orientation, appear to have no capacity to think of a strategy for regional integration in partnership with China, or any other great power. The best it can come up with is to establish an official study group that can spin out the Chinese proposals for a few more years.

The Chinese have been putting serious money into key areas which they aim to become world leaders in the next decade or so. One of these is AI where the government and Chinese corporates are moving in a big way.

China may have reasons to be relieved if a Cold War-like situation re-emerges in Europe and American attention is drawn away from Asia. As America plunged into two prolonged wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, China had the time and Space to build its comprehensive national power.

India must recognize that even as there may be areas that India and China cooperate occasionally, Beijing will take every opportunity to deny India any strategic advancement.

It aims to signal its diplomatic ascendance and challenge Washington as the big shaper of outcomes

The U.S. must realise that neither more sanctions nor military strikes are viable options to rein in North Korea

Two rockets exploded in a district in the southern part of Beirut, wounding five people. While the perpetrators of the attack unknown, Syrian rebels have vowed to retaliate against Hezbollah's fighters assisting President Bashar Al-Assad's forces in Syria.

Cherry-pick the BRI and look for business opportunities that can be fruitfully exploited

West Bengal is conducting a massive, potentially historic eight-phase state legislative assembly election between March and April 2021. This paper gives a historical account of the different factors that are influencing the conduct of the elections, including the economic challenges facing the state, unabated political violence, and the plight of religious minorities. It also examines so-called ‘Hindu nationalist’ and ‘Bengali sub-n

Informed and aware passengers and staff members remain two of the most effective counter-terrorism measures to safeguard vulnerable mass transit systems like Delhi Metro.

Experience would suggest the best time for Modi to take tough decisions is now when his popularity is at an all time high and his adversaries, both within his party and without, are still shell-shocked. If he can stake out the key elements of the long-awaited second generation reforms, he can spend the balance of his tenure working to implement them.

Many reform movements are active in India and have the patronage of politicians bereft of any aesthetics. But in Pakistan, the movements have declared Jehad on the soft Islam, soaked in sub continental Sufism. That is why Mr. Asif Zaradari deserves every one's best wishes for his journey to Ajmer.

This special report was written before the 2020 United States presidential elections. Under the incoming Biden administration, the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan is likely to be more gradual and “responsible”, despite the President-elect being in favour of American troops exiting the war-weary country soon. In retrospect, Donald Trump’s insistence on pulling out all US troops from Afghanistan by Christmas 2020 was not misguided, si

Financial health of Indian banks deserves scrutiny. The RBI should strike a careful balance in its policy objectives. Tighter lending norms are unlikely to be a panacea. It must resist the temptation to resort to such short-term fixes.

Premature punditry on the Ayodhya verdict is a little bit like writing commentaries on Shakespeare after only reading Lamb's Tales.

Europe’s relationship with China has transformed in recent years, with Chinese behaviour and actions now increasingly at odds with European values and interests. As Europe adjusts to new global realities amid a full-fledged war, the European Union (EU) and its member states are recalibrating their strategies and relationships with China. This paper aims to decipher these evolutions by assessing the EU approach and those of certain key European

While there is no doubt that Modi’s outreach has paid us rich dividends, it takes two to tango. The UAE leadership has taken a pragmatic and forward-looking view of the rise of India. It also sees a convergence of interests in standing against religious extremism. As the IPL kicks off, it is important to shed our own stereotypes, to update perspectives and take a fresh look at a country that has emerged as such a vital partner in such a short s

The European Union (EU) had been lurching from one crisis to the next even before a majority of British voters expressed their desire to leave it. While staying away from the Brexit debate itself, its implications for UK and EU, and the politics and motivations in the run-up to the vote, this paper argues that at the very least the referendum is a wake-up call for Europe to begin to address some of its structural and operational shortcomings in a

The distribution of military and economic power in the world today resembles an irregular pyramid. The face of the pyramid depicting the military dimension of power rests on a narrow base, while that representing its economic dimension is much wider. Economic power is more broadly diffused among the major states than is the case with military power.

Both India and China have already entered an age of pragmatism. But they must soon transform it in an age of competitive realism if they are to jointly architect and mould the Asian century.

There are two streams of debate on India’s current nuclear doctrine: one on its current interpretation and deducing its form and what such form means for India’s overall nuclear strategy; and another, more internal to India, on what should be the Indian nuclear doctrine with respect to the evolving nature of threats. The two debates are not mutually exclusive. However, neither of them have contended with all conventional contingencies, in par

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has served as a laboratory test to assess the effectiveness of Cyber Warfare (CW) capabilities. It would be misleading, however, to extrapolate sweeping conclusions from this conflict about the relative ineffectiveness of CW. Rather, diligence should be exercised by Indian strategic and military planners in assessing the CW capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) and enhancing

This paper is an outline of existing energy systems - the demand and supply factors and trends seen within the framework of demographic pressures, environmental concerns and eventual possibility of fossil fuels running out.

Little attention is paid to the dynamics of politico-military strategies and civil military discourse on military capabilities and doctrines for any future conflicts

Internet of Things ensures that all data cannot be treated as equal. The principle of net neutrality needs an overhaul to reflect the complicated future of the cyberworld

Chinese leaders, ever so adept at power politics, do not find it difficult to understand where Modi is coming from. If Modi has surprised the world with his enthusiasm for China, Beijing is also pulling out all the stops to woo the Indian PM.