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In his opening remarks Mr. Sunjoy Joshi, ORF Distinguished Fellow, said that pace of adoption & innovation was critical for mainstreaming climate friendly technologies

Innovative approaches will require regulatory processes to include all stakeholders.

India needs LCA for a variety of reasons. First, it is a requirement, not a 'symbol of statehood' project as scholars like David Kinsella and Jugdeep Cheema might like to argue. Basic principles of self-reliance in defence would necessitate such projects.

As the Telangana issue shows, the principal driver now is politics. If it is electorally useful for a new state to come up, it does. However, this is not good for the country because there are no limits to the number of ways that the country can be further divided and subdivided.

Most of the Maoist leaders had migrated from Telangana, particularly after the Andhra Pradesh Government began combining developmental plans with combing operations. So, it remains to be seen how the creation of a Telangana State would impact on the morale and methods of the Maoists.

Andhra Pradesh is in a state of huge flux today. Apart from challenges like Naxalism, the Telangana issue has intensified the turbulent political atmosphere. The recent submission of Justice B N Srikrishna Committee Report has brought back the question of reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh onto national headlines.

By hijacking the Telangana movement, members of the Congress and other political parties in the region may have left lesser room for Left militants, who were reported to be driving the movement earlier, for manoeuvrability.

Participating in an ORF roundtable on 'Telangana: Current Dynamics', Communist Party of India Deputy General Secretary Mr. Sudhakar Reddy said that the Sri Krishna Commission Report on Telangana should be rejected as its observations and recommendations were wrong and impractical.

In March, a "matrix" between the two Sudans set conditionalities and dates both countries must respect. It was an insurance against political vagaries and deep deficit budgets. But with oil revenues falling into Machar's hands, the entire ambit of monies and transit fee from Juba could come unstuck one more time!

The new Iran strategy of the Trump Administration is aimed at “neutralising the government of Iran’s destabilising influence and constraining its aggression, particularly its support for terrorism and militants.”

Tensions between India and Pakistan or North Korean provocations or South East Asia's maritime problems should not be perceived as local. The tensions in the South China Sea can single-handedly destabilise the region and the world, argues Prof. Rory Medcalf.

The Ukraine crisis may have effectively ended the rapprochement between the USand Russia, and in turn affecting relations such as those of Japan and Russia. Prior to this crisis,and the subsequent Western sanctions on Russia, Tokyo and Moscow had been reaching out toeach other, and hope flickered for a resolution to the territorial dispute over the NorthernTerritories or Southern Kurils. This paper argues that with nationalist governments in powe

Despite being a victim of terrorism for decades, India has demonstrated remarkable consistency in the irrational and incoherent response of its policy makers, people and sections of its mass media to dramatic and outrageous terrorist violence.

Local militants of Afghanistan joining the Islamic State's (IS) and violent clashes involving "IS jihadists" in different parts of the country suggest a realignment of loyalties of local militants. Kabul and the region must not be complacent.

Largely ignored by intelligence and security agencies as a potential terrorist haven, Kerala has emerged as one of the key hubs of extremist and terrorist activities in the region.

Pakistan's Punjab is on the verge of becoming part of the expanding network of terrorist sanctuaries across Asia.

If India becomes a hotbed of conflicts - many think this may happen in the future - attracting FDIs will be a major problem. Even, our domestic investors are looking for investment opportunities abroad.

Increasing radicalisation and internal strife in Pakistan will destabilise the country and the region, said noted terrorism expert Major General Afsir Karim at a discussion in Observer Research Foundation on Jan. 23 in New Delhi.

The threat that is pre-eminent today is terrorism. And none of the counter terror efforts will succeed unless global powers deal effectively and consistently with the epicentre of terrorism -- Pakistan.

Because of the tacit and overt alliance between the constituents of policymaking institutions and the violent non-state actors in Pakistan, it is imperative to review the current strategies and policies to evolve a more comprehensive set of actions.

October is a month of special concern and tension in both Indonesia and Thailand due to the third anniversary of the Bali explosions of October 12, 2002, and the first anniversary of the terrible tragedy on October 25 last year, in which 78 Muslim youth, taken into custody by the security forces for participating in a big protest demonstration (1,300 protesters) outside the Tak Bai police station in the Narathiwat province of southern Thailand, a

In the aftermath of the serial train blasts in Mumbai on July 11, the question uppermost in public mind has been, ''Why has India become the most affected target? Are we in a no-win situation against terrorism?''

The question of Palestine has been on the global agenda since 1947. It predates the current phenomenon of global terrorism and is not synonymous with it. It is nevertheless the principal cause of instability in West Asia.

Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf is under pressure.For the first time since he seized power on October 12,1999, there are indications that he and some of his Lts.General, who constitute the real source of his power and not the people, are not on the same wavelength.

This paper proposes a counter-terrorism (CT) framework in terms of three types of CT policies—i.e., offensive, defensive, and confidence-building measures (CBMs)— targeted at a terror outfit that is either resource-constrained or resource-abundant. It argues that defensive measures are a ubiquitous element of CT, as these can prove effective irrespective of whether the targeted terrorist group is resource-abundant or resource-constrained. On

Security Guards belonging to the Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) foiled a daring attempt by a group of six terrorists to penetrate a Hindu place of worship at Ayodhya, a holy town of the Hindus in the state of Uttar Pradesh in North India, on July 5, 2005. The site at which the place of worship is located has been a bone of contention between sections of the Hindus and the Muslims for many years.

Investigations into the recent terrorist attacks and the subsequent chain of arrests and seizures in different parts of India, particularly rural Maharashtra, have revealed a growing alliance between jihadi groups operating from Pakistan and Bangladesh with ideologically extreme groups in India.

That is the latest position of the Government of Begum Khaleda Zia, the Bangladesh Prime Minister, in the face of growing international pressure spearheaded by the member-countries of the European Union (EU) to act against terrorist groups operating from Bangladeshi territory.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should take care when detailing the reasons why constitutional reforms are needed. While talking about the external threats, he should be very careful not to unnecessarily cause provocations to either China or North Korea.

There is hope among the politicians of various political groups in Kashmir as well as the people of Kashmir that Narendra Modi as Prime Minister would take some decisive action in keeping with their expectations. Modi himself has moderated his stand to that there should be a discussion on Article 370.

The Mullahs have found a fresh issue on which to trap General Pervez Musharraf. It has both religious connotations and a real possibility of a confrontation in which the General is bound to capitulate. The issue deals with school textbooks in Pakistan. A section of the society in Pakistan feels that textbooks cleared by the Federal Education Ministry's Curriculum Wing are regressive in nature and run counter to the objective of a progressive nati

ORF Kolkata organised its 2nd annual Inter-University Debate Competition on 7 November, 2015. Students of the Tezpur University won the competition that saw participation of representatives from eight universities from eastern and north-eastern Indian states.

The number of malnourished children in India has increased significantly between the time of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 (2015-16) and the fifth round (2019-2020), and the progress in the first half of the decade has been reversed. This paper tells the story of the Northeast region of India, where malnutrition is worse than the country average. It examines the policy landscape in the region, evaluates current programmes and initiat

The recently concluded 19th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) brought the world’s attention to the future direction of the CPC. As the proceedings of the Party Congress revealed, sustaining the legitimacy of the CPC’s hold on power is an overriding concern for the country’s political leaders. The Party Congress addressed the corruption plaguing the CPC and the Chinese state writ large, which has deep, long-term consequen

General elections of 2014 could well be the most interesting election they will witness in their lifetime. Several developments suggest that the elections could mark a big shift of the political paradigm and, in that sense, they could well mark the true beginning of 21st century politics in the country.

India can proposition an Aadhaar-based alternative — one that is seen to be a ‘privacy first’ solution that lets governments retain jurisdiction over their data, while allowing indigenous enterprises to flourish.

The signing of the Accords has helped remove strategic obstacles for New Delhi and aided defence cooperation

It would be a mistake to assume that the US has changed its policy towards the region. It may have changed its style or the way it wishes to handle India and Pakistan but not its overall interests. The US wants to have a stronger presence in India without losing the hold it has on the military rulers in Pakistan.

Pakistan is an important player as far as determining the outcome of a post-2014 Afghanistan is concerned and should be engaged with. But to expect it to play a productive role or to expect Afghanistan and Pakistan to reconcile their differences and jointly work towards stability is a tall order.

The African countries are set to launch the African Continental Free Trade Area or AfCFTA, the biggest free trade agreement in the world since the World Trade Organization was created in the 1990s. When implemented, the AfCFTA is projected to increase intra-African trade by 52.3 percent by 2022, from 2010 levels. In turn, higher trade levels can facilitate economic growth, transform domestic economies, and help the countries achieve the Sustainab

Unlike in other regions of the world, the value of intra-Africa trade has remained low over the years. Moreover, Africa accounts for just 2 percent of global trade. In 2021, African countries launched the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to create a single African market for the free movement of goods, services, labour, and capital, and increase intra-African trade. AfCFTA may be able to provide Indian firms and in

ACT 1: March 2002. Abu Zubaidah, a Palestinian member of Al Qaeda, was arrested in Faislabad in Pakistani Punjab by the Pakistani authorities and handed over to the USA's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was the operational chief of Al Qaeda; his arrest was a major breakthrough, we were told. This is hardly supported by the report of the 9/11 Commission.

How big a catch is Abu Faraj al-Libbi, a 40-year-old Libyan married to a Pakistani, fluent in Urdu and Arabic and suffering from lucoderma, whose arrest was announced by the Pakistani authorities at Islamabad on May 4,2005?

While the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board is well within its right to appeal to the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court verdict, the VHP's reaction does not represent the people's will at all.

This weekend at Goa Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his foreign policy team will undertake a significant manoeuvre with SAARC grouping gasping for breath

Often referred to as among the most strategically located island chains in the world, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are critical for India’s strategic interests. The islands comprise the sole archipelago in the Bay and they straddle important sea channels. As the long-standing protectionist regime in the islands morphs into a more flexible form of governance that will balance development with conservation, the stage appears set for India to c

The violent uprising of the people of Andijan in Uzbekistan on May 13,2005, seems to have been crushed for the time being by the Uzbek authorities with heavy force, resulting in the death of at least 20 civilians. The anti-Government elements, which organised the uprising, claim to have captured 30 Uzbek soldiers and to be keeping them in their custody.