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According to the Planning Commission, rural poverty has declined faster than urban poverty regardless. If this is true, it would definitely have got reflected in better housing and sanitation. It would also have meant a decline in malnourished children and maternal death. But the census figures show a different picture.

With the sheer volume of free — occasionally dubious and sometimes outright fake — content available online, one wonders if the news business can ever be rescued in India.

After the nuclear disaster at Fukushima most countries around the world curtailed their nuclear power ambitions. However one region remained unperturbed in its desire to acq uire nuclear technology,

While it is legitimate to question the ethics and rules surrounding autonomous weapons, the idea that their development will necessarily usher in an apocalyptic future may not be accurate

Beijing knows that it cannot become a global power without friends. As the US has known, there is a limit to what you can do alone. The US with its network of friends, allies and partners is a case in point.

The Citizens Grievance Redress Bill, despite its impressive provisions, is fraught with certain inadequacies that might not appreciate the grass-root realities of public grievances - like lack of a holistic interpretation of likely grievances.

Can Delhi go beyond diplomatic statements and help China's neighbours to stand up to Beijing? As the Philippines and Vietnam look to diversify their security partnerships and build national capabilities for deterrence against China, Manila and Hanoi would like to see Delhi be a little more forthcoming with its hard power.

Even as IS loses control over land, and struggles to keep hold of its influence zones, the fight against the insurgency group is going to be long-drawn.

Despite earlier reports that India would actually participate in the Australia-U.S. led military exercise, New Delhi remained an observer of the latest iteration.

Why was there no Big Bang change in the Budget? After all, the Modi government had the full mandate to do so. Why was the FM playing with Lego like blocks instead of huge building blocks? It could be because the time was short and the Budget was put together in a hurry.

One of the key reasons for TTP's survival has been Pakistan's policy of using terrorist groups as instruments of state policy. Pakistan Army's protection of the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban as ' strategic assets' helped TTP to retain its sanctuary and its attack capabilities.

Europe has to come to grips with the fact that not even the USA is strong enough to create a new order anywhere in the world, neither in Afghanistan nor in the Middle East. Instead, anything that will increase the conflict without an achievable goal will play into the hands of the IS.

With Donald Trump poised to expand tech sanctions in the name of national security, Beijing has signalled it won’t shy away from retaliation

Trying to influence elections using tools like targeted messaging, fake news and negative campaigning have for long been part and parcel of politics.

India has pulled ahead of China and United States as the most favoured destination for foreign direct investment. But is being number one good enough to make the Modi government's 'Make in India' productivity reform a success story and achieve its desired 8-8.5 per cent growth?

On December 20, 2003, a landmark in the history of modern India was achieved. The nation's forex reserves for the very first time crossed the $ 100 billion mark, to be precise clocked 100.048 billion. The high, coming just after a decade of reforms, remember 1990-91, could well be termed as the coming of age of India¿s liberalisation program.

Lack of monetary resources may prove to be a major impediment to India achieving its climate targets and the Sustainable Development Goals.

A legalistic position towards the Greek demand for reparations is neither sufficient nor politically wise. A generous gesture towards Athens would strengthen Germany's position as a country that is more than a leader by default in the EU.

While superficial similarities between the recent Gurdaspur attack and the Mumbai attack may be apparent, there are major differences in the manner both planned and executed. The scale of the attack itself suggests that it certainly doesn't seem to have had the support of the highest echelons of power as in the Mumbai attack.

The 2014 campaign was a pulsating and historic one but its essential architecture was unorthodox.

Any attempt by India to haul up Pakistan before the international community, including the UN, could prove counter productive. It could start with India itself 'internationalising' the issue, and formally allowing the rest of the world to tell us what we should do to Pakistan, and on the vexatious Kashmir issue.

The strategic advantage accruing to India in Siachen should not be given up for apparent short-term political gains. Giving up Siachen as a gesture of friendship would also mean that its recapture would be extremely expensive to India in men and material.

Giving huge amounts of cash subsidies in the developed countries also distorts market. Lowering the actual cost of production artificially, these countries have produced mountains and lakes of agricultural products which are then dumped in international markets which lower the prices.

The problem is less to do with ideology, and more about the clumsiness and coarseness with which the ideology is being spread.

India's objections to Pakistan's plan of holding an election in Gilgit-Baltistan region and New Delhi's protests to Chinese activity there need to seen in the wider context of Sino-Pak nexus.

Given our troubled relationship with Pakistan, we need to keep our security apparatus in a state of alert with state-of-the-art equipment. All bilateral issues with Pakistan -- political, military, economic -- will simply have to go on the back-burner till Pakistan decides it wants to live as a good neighbour.

The most urgent need is to upgrade India's physical infrastructure to encourage domestic and foreign direct investment in the manufacturing sector. This will absorb the rural labor surplus that is migrating to the cities by providing employment in labor-intensive, less technology-intensive manufacturing, regulated by humane labor laws catering to the contemporary needs of the economy.

Kathmandu has repeatedly indicated that it wants to maintain a balance between India and China.

Laying down the rules of the road is a task that should not be left until Space is highly weaponised. Aside from the political and strategic value, India has a huge financial stake given its investments and reliance in this regard.

India is located at such a prime position that it can't miss out the opportunity to be part of the MSR. Both the Marine Silk Road and the continental Silk Road --which is going to connect China with the central Asia -- are going to pass from India's periphery. India could gain a lot from being an active partner to the MSR. And, not joining it may isolate India.

As an aspiring global power, what India should take note of is that the TTIP will potentially contribute greatly to the evolution of rules of global trade, particularly in areas where multilateral-level consensus is still elusive. It is in India's interests to keep a close watch of the situation and make necessary interventions.

The US merely followed the lead of Britain in pushing the UN resolutions of 1948 making a dispute out of India’s complaint of Pakistani aggression in Kashmir.

A country that spends 15 per cent of its Central expenditure on national defence (armed forces and DRDO) and 23 per cent on national security (armed forces and all other security forces like para-military, police) must explain to its citizens as to whether its spending on security is justifiably utilised or not.

As five states in India go to the polls in the coming weeks, it seems the 'silly season' is upon us. We are being saturated with inanities masquerading as "political discourse". The problem, however, is that as these samples of ludicrousness tumble out in a disturbingly steady stream, we actually engage with them in earnestness.

New Delhi's labyrinthine procurement organization is an obstacle to the country's national security. And the external security threats that India confronts, especially that from Beijing, will not miraculously disappear.

With Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa linking the officially-blessed second round of fishers' talks in Colombo, scheduled for 13 March, to the release of all fishers arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy, questions have arisen about the future course.

Two intertwined territorial contentions remain unresolved between China and Japan in the East China Sea.

Two of the six spots renamed could be of significance, but the other four are simply points on a map. Is there a method behind this that we cannot discern at the moment?

China invested more than USD 100 billion overseas last year alone. Its cumulative investments in Myanmar total USD 14.2 billion. The real question is why Chinese investment in India has lagged so far behind. Political mistrust is certainly a large part of the answer.

Indian decision-makers appear to live in splendid isolation and do not recognise the importance of meetings like the Pacific Army Chiefs Conference. These meetings have become more institutionalised and are likely to gain greater momentum.