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Women make up a majority of the four billion people excluded from the digital economy. Policy narratives assert that the digital economy has the potential to transform the world of work. Conversely, there are concerns that the existing ‘digital divide’ within and across nations will simply exacerbate existing social inequalities and reinforce gender hierarchies. G20 member states have repeatedly committed to bridging pervasive gender gaps in

As the partner that stands to benefit the most from any expanded BRICS play, China needs to be singularly more magnanimous and mindful in accommodating the legitimate interests and aspirations of other member states.

The geo-strategic uncertainties that prevail in Asia will drive India and Japan increasingly in the direction of jointly addressing the need for maintaining the prevailing balance of power in the continent, according to scholars from India and Japan.

The Indian proposal for a SAARC power-grid, revived by Union Minister Piyush Goyal, has the potential to increase power-generation in South Asia. It also has the potential to reverse the way the South Asia thinks about itself - and the world thinks about South Asia, besides cutting oil bills of countries like India.

Has New Delhi forgotten its breast beating against cross-border terrorism in Kashmir atleast since 1989? How will it ever raise that issue again having voted along with the west which stands for cross border terrorism by US, France, UK, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey against Syria?

This year made it clear that the US-China strategic competition is not merely the figment of Donald Trump's imagination

Due to the persistent adversarial nature of the Sino-Indian border environment, and because China is now a de facto maritime neighbour as well, India needs to examine its options of leveraging sea power. This brief analyses some fundamentals of sea control and sea denial, and examines some misconceptions about these. By using factors of time, force and space, the brief argues that while maritime economic warfare (explained as counter-value operat

India and Nepal are fellow riparian nations in South Asia and thus could potentially use their shared water resources as avenues for collaborative effort. Using water to generate hydropower for maximum benefit comes from a place of mutual interest, allowing for optimum leverage for the socio-economic development of both countries. This brief outlines a history of the India-Nepal hydroelectric power scenario, and offers recommendations for growth.

Forests help mitigate the impacts of climate change, provide economic benefits for the country, and meet specific facets of India’s sustainable development goals. It is essential, therefore, to revisit India’s forest governance and evaluate the country’s efforts at forest restoration and conservation. This brief examines the current state of India’s forests, explores the effectiveness of forest restoration and conservation measures, and r

Our fascination with quantitatively large projects overlooks the small qualitative project developments like Small Hydro which offers a lot more scope for sustainable socio-economic and environmental development.

China has forged ahead on developing hydropower, while other Himalayan nations have languished

Even though India might benefit from weak energy prices, industries exiting China, it’s going to get harder to compete in manufacturing.

Noting that the objective of the armed forces is not to win wars but to prevent wars, there was a consensus at an ORF discussion that India needs to overcome its deficiencies in order to create a credible deterrence.

India and China cannot afford to be used against each other by interested third parties. They must rather focus on common threats to regional progress. In a new world, India and China could be powerful allies, says a senior Chinese strategic scholar.

India’s aspirations of becoming a superpower must first begin with establishing itself as a strong regional power.

A look at why the stalemate in relations between New Delhi and Srinagar persists.

Defensive cyber operations are necessary to protect a network. At the same time, Offensive Cyber Operations (OCOs) cannot be neglected in military planning and should get as much attention as defensive cyber missions. Given the massive requirements for investment in cyber military capabilities geared for OCOs, this paper makes a case for the importance of OCOs for India. It outlines a roadmap for New Delhi to achieve effective OCO planning.

India needs to do a more convincing job as a beneficial strategic partner of ASEAN by boosting its domestic economic reforms agenda, enhancing regional connectivity, and increasing its presence in regional institutions. ASEAN too should be more specific in its expectations from New Delhi.

India needs to be disaggregated at least to the district level to resolve some of its key challenges.

The two most-important objectives of foreign policy is ‘security’ — both external and internal — and ‘economy’.

India is the second fastest growing economy in the world today. At a most basic understanding, an economy grows when goods -- agricultural and industrial -- are produced and bought and/or when the service industries are growing phenomenally. In India's case both sectors are performing very well.

India needs to embrace the idea of soft power, and abandon the misconception that 'soft' power somehow equates to a soft country, says Ms Mira Kamdar, a noted author. She believes there is hope, since the Indian people are not taking injustices lying down.

With Narendra Modi pursuing a very active Indian Ocean region diplomacy, Maldives cannot be kept away from his outreach programme. Maldives is key to our strategic interests in the Indian Ocean and any instability or discord in its internal affairs would have a bearing on our security.

The victory of a pro-China government in the Maldives offers Beijing an opportunity to restore its influence in the Indian Ocean region

The principal Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be all ready for the big electoral battle of 2014 in India. It is sniffing power. It feels that its time of reckoning with the people of India has arrived and it only needs to put its act together to realise the dream.

Allegations of financial scams have continued to trouble the UPA-2 Government as the Opposition has scented its path to power by keeping them in public domain. The proceedings of Parliament during the winter session were stalled as the Government declined

To achieve all that Modi has promised, he needs a peaceful periphery and a stable world order. At home, Modi may be master of all he surveys, but abroad, there are other players, some positive, others inimical. There are issues, such as US-Iran tensions, US-China trade spat, rising climate of protectionism and Brexit, that he cannot control.

Eager to discover the road to Delhi's throne, India's main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is trapped in a cleft, not knowing whether to follow the dictates of 'realpolitik' or stick to its original principles as formulated by the party's elders in close consultation with the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) mentor.

Carbon-intensive assets are a financial time bomb.

Global trends are evolving rapidly and major powers are re-defining their ties with each other to match their contemporary requirements. In light of these trends, New Delhi will also have to be diplomatically nimble as it seeks to engage major powers more substantively.

India’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector is a key driver of the country’s economic and social development by fostering entrepreneurship and generating substantial employment opportunities at comparatively lower capital costs. However, inadequate access to finance is one of the most crucial barriers to the sector’s growth. Recent developments in digital public infrastructure in India could present new solutions to boost MSM

India’s talk of an ‘Act East’ policy or an Indian Ocean presence sounds hollow when its ability to shape outcomes in its own neighbourhood is so limited