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India should work more closely with the members of the US Congress in order to strengthen the strategic relationship between the two largest democracies in the world.

The US Congressional Staff was pointed out that though Pakistan's political machinery is willing to work with all parties, including India, on Afghanistan, the army apparatus and the ISI still remains a liability. These factors must be taken into account while US deals with Pakistan.

By entering the scene though a little late in the day, SLMC president Rauff Hakeem on the one hand, and the People's Front of Liberation Tigers (PFLT), the latter the political outfit floated by the LTTE as far back as 1989, have made the 10 May polls to the Provincial Council high profile and interesting at the same time.

Al Quds al Arabi is a respected daily and the opinion of its editor, Abdul Bari Atwan, carries weight. For this reason, his op-ed on September 7 on "Talabani and Arabness of Iraq" is to be taken note of. The point of departure is Iraq's isolation in the Arab world and Mr. Atwan,

Hamburg wants to go completely car free in the next ten years, and it wants to achieve it by networking all its green Space creating a new paradigm of walkable and cycleable urbanity.

Former NDA prime minister Vajpayee kept the professional hawks in the national security establishment and the conservatives in his own party BJP at bay in the making of India's foreign policy. It is not clear if Narendra Modi can sustain a similar freedom of action for his government.

After decades of being on the backburner, the 9-11 terrorist attacks forced America to take a fresh look at the South Asian region. The last time the US had focused on this region was immediately following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which required US policymakers to structure their policies to fit the Cold War paradigm.

The Andhra crisis illustrates the inability of the UPA government to arrive at a decision in respect of the Telangana problem. This attitude of drift has been noticed for well over 50 years. And the Centre has shown little understanding while handling with socio-political issues of Telugu speaking districts of the erstwhile Madras Presidency.

The Indian Army and the much-vilified social media is coming to the rescue of hapless victims of unprecedented flood in J&K. The use of social media for malicious purposes is proven. The use of the medium to incite and radicalise is also rampant. Yet it is a force for good as we saw this past week. Challenge and vilify the user, do not condemn the tool.

Gandhiji would surely condemn the corruption that plagues India today. But unlike Anna Hazare, he would steer us towards the more preliminary question of, how did we get here?

By moving the Mumbai High Court for rent-exemption for the MMRDA ground, and at the same time paying up-front when compelled to do, Team Anna has showed what they are worth in terms of public morals and fiscal accountability.

The events after the presentation of the 'Jan Lok Pal Bill' draft by 'Team Anna' has unfolded on expected lines. The Government's softened Bill, defending its politico-constitutional position on the inclusion of Prime Minister.

The Congress, with luck, must have its leader, Sonia Gandhi, back soon or, in the alternative, find some way to keep together the flock which has grown accustomed to the apotheosis of a family. A simple way is to hold party elections, never attempted after the Tirupati session of the Congress in 1993.

It is lack of access to easy credit and high rates of interest that are behind the fall in private investment in agriculture

Although the present confrontation between the judiciary and executive is not of the magnitude witnessed in 2007, the episode underlines the vulnerability of the political process in Pakistan.

What is bewildering is the stone silence on the part of ordinary Americans who are being hoodwinked by the Obama administration into believing that funnelling money and weapons to Pakistan's rogue military would help in winning strategic goals. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The kidnapping of two Chinese engineers working in an irrigation project in South Waziristan in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan by a group of pro-Osama bin Laden jihadi terrorists last week and the death of one of them on October 13,2004,

Did Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru fight British colonialism? If they did, is it not ironical that New Delhi should be seen to be supportive of the French neo-colonial effort in Mali?

Anti-India sentiments have gone viral in rural Nepal and unless urgent steps are not taken, this could lead to a widening gap between India and Nepal, according to former Minister of Water Resources of Nepal, Dr. Dipak Gyawali.

It is an unfortunate fact that India usually commits itself to reform after it is hit by a crisis. That is why the two periods of reform and restructuring followed the 1962 defeat at the hands of the Chinese and the Kargil war.

Naxalites of the Communist Party of India-Maoist and Communist Party of India -- Marxist-Leninist (Janashakthi) trashed the peace process in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on January 17.

Some economists argue there is an overlap between the demands of the stock market and the emerging aspirational classes. The new FM has said, sacrifices will have to be made to correct the fiscal path. The question is who will make the sacrifices -- big capital or ordinary people?

Pakistan trusted and gave too much independence, which was misused by AQ Khan to the detriment of Pakistan's national security and international embarrassment, says Brig. Khan....

The birth of AQIS at the time when al Qaeda is loosening its grip over the jihadist movement in the Middle East, which has been taken over by the Islamic State (IS), raises questions about al Qaeda's possible resurgence in South Asia.

The current wave of protests sweeping across the Arab world has the Obama administration worried, particularly about Egypt. Interestingly, each protest in the region has targeted rulers who have been allied to the US for long. The US thus finds itself in a delicate situation.

Regimes sympathic to the Palestinian plight would, to that extent, be insulted from peoples' wrath in Syria and Libya, for instance. Demonstrations in Iran and Libya are part of the internal turmoil in these countries, unrelated to the Palestinian issue.

The 'Arab Spring' has given an opportunity to India to present itself as a model to other countries, feels Prof Gawdat Bhagat of the Near-East and South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, Washington DC.

Bush years were, of course, guided by more crude principles. But consider military action against Qadaffi's Libya keeping Albright's perspective in mind.

Dr. Paul Joseph, Fulbright-Nehru distinguished chair, Tufts University, US, argues that there are two types of opposition to war inside the US, which proves that Americans are becoming more peaceful.

Allowing women in combat roles in the Air Force is very different from such deployments in Navy or Army. This is mainly because, while the Air Force can ensure their selective employment on tasks within our borders, the same does not hold true for naval ships or more so for the Army.

The October 29 serial blasts in Delhi are a warning to all of us who are basking in the afterglow of a make-believe harmony across the Line of Control. Opening bus routes, transit points, good wishes, hugs, flowers, smiles are all fine and necessary in one way to engage a neighbour who has been more of an adversary in the past half-a-century of its existence.

Baiting Pakistan into increasing its duplicity in its dealings with Nato, India has effectively provided the West with a convenient scapegoat. Come 2014, the historical narrative will more likely focus on betrayal rather than the reality of the West's bad homework and flawed assumptions.

India must bolster its weight in the digital marketplace, commensurate with the number of current and potential netizens. This would be possible only by creating capabilities and an environment where private businesses, SMEs and individuals can access and exploit this medium gainfully.

India has been proactive in the Arms Trade Treaty debate and has submitted its views on the issue. Currently, the debate is shifting towards the content of the treaty. Differences continue to exist, but India feels the final treaty should emerge by consensus.

The army has hinted at fresh elections in 2010, with predictions of October 10 being the chosen day for polling

Exercise Sanghe Shakti, held over one week in Punjab in May 2006, was designed to test the Indian Army¿s new concept for offensive operations in the plains. This was the most recent in a series of annual exercises that have included Poorna Vijay (2001), Vijay Chakra, Divya Astra, Vajra Shakti (May 2005) and Desert Strike (November 2005), all of which were all aimed at concentrating and coordinating firepower and fine-tuning

Several developments over the last few months have made clear that the Army modernisation programme, at least, is turning into a train wreck. This is not to say that all is well with the modernisation of the Air Force and the Navy, but just that the Army modernisation programme stands on far shakier ground, with minimal scope for results.

Three top Jamaat-e-Islami leaders -- amir Motiur Rahman Nizami, general secretary Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, and naib amir Delwar Hossain Sayedee -- were arrested on June 29. The Jamaat leaders were charged with war crimes of 1971 and hurting popular religious sentiments.

As the Sangh and its affiliates continue to push their toxic religious and cultural agenda, irrespective of the domestic and international audiences' deep sense of revulsion, it is clear as daylight that there are two Indias.

Article 370 is a burden on the people of Jammu and Kashmir which has been misused by successive State governments to stall the delivery of several public welfare initiatives of the Central Government, according to dean of Jammu Central University.

If China were to shape a world order that might be bereft of some of the universally accepted principles, it may be problematic for many countries, including India.

Now that BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi is approaching what could possibly be the pinnacle of his career, the last thing he wants is to box himself in by his own rhetoric. It is for this reason that in his Haryana speech, he also invoked Atal Bihari Vajpayee's policy, which used the Kargil crisis to get the world community to pin down Pakistan on avoiding the use of violence in relation to Kashmir.

Given the Indian government's taste for pushing unilateral mechanisms for governing the internet at an international level, and Indian civil society, which for the most part seems to vocally support a multistakeholder approach, the Indian elections might bring about a new opportunity for both sides to find clarity.

India being the closest neighbour with high stakes in the stability of Maldives, President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's India visit from January 1 to 4 would be keenly watched, nearer home in the two countries, and afar.