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The BRICS ship remains on course to sail steady, and is heading for more effective projects in years to come post the show of strength in Goa

The macro-economic situation at this point of time is indisputably negative and the Budget for 2013-14 should set realistic spending allocations with the aim to reduce the fiscal deficit to sustainable levels.

Though the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Japan is an achievement in Indo-Japanese bilateralism, much more needs to be done at the people-to-people level to broaden and strengthen the growing relationship.

The 13th round of military commander’s talks between India and China will take place at Moldo today.

In generations to come, India will no doubt produce finer minds; but it is unlikely to give us a bigger heart. More than his achievements as a missile and defence technologist, beyond governmental accomplishments and far removed from the prizes and honours he received, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam touched human lives.

The Narendra Modi government's decision to boycott the Belt and Road Initiative Forum in China constitutes one of the three biggest Indian foreign policy risks in recent memory.

Many more reforms are needed to boost consumer confidence. People have to have faith in their future earning capacity and only then they will start buying.

Indian Foreign Secretary Ms Nirupama Rao has suggested joint management of fisheries resources, alternative methods of fishing and examining alternative livelihood to resolve the fisheries disputes between countries in the South Asian region.

In the current and preceding years, the government has been trying everything to limit gold imports to control the current account deficit. Yet this commodity has one of the largest share in terms of exemption given. In 2012-13, the estimated amount of custom duty foregone for diamond and gold would be Rs 61,035 crore or 20.5% of the total revenue foregone.

This crisis is significant from two angles:. It is part of a bigger Chinese strategic game — understanding the implications from a tactical and operational perspective is important.

The Navy needs a strategy of distant power projection. By employing a plan for sustained presence in the Western Pacific, New Delhi can show its resolve to Beijing.

The Jammu and Kashmir problem has imposed heavy political, diplomatic and military costs on India for the last 63 years. It has excessively conditioned our external relations, with much of our diplomacy occupied over the years with explaining to other countries our position on J&K, warding off criticism,

After the April 27 meeting between the Indian and Chinese defense ministers, the two sides failed to issue a joint statement — a telling clue as to how the meeting went.

To check non-tariff barriers in the south Asian region, India being the largest economy in the region must take the lead, but other partners must extend cooperation and come together on a common platform.

Needs Based Sharing Model and hydro diplomacy were among the many solutions that were suggested by experts at a discussion on "River of Conflict or Rivers of Peace - Water Sharing between India and China'' at Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata.

For now, it’s more important for the government to keep things stable until it’s clear how best to intervene.

ORF and Hammurabi & Solomon, a law firm, have submitted a memorandum to Justice Verma Committee, detaling suggestions in the law and the government setup to provide for speedier justice and enhance safety and security of women.

People have voted against the military’s political favourites but General Munir still gets to cook up the next coalition government

The government should establish a price regulation mechanism for the Assam silk weavers so that the small traders are not exploited. This can be done by setting up a Silk Auction Board on the lines of the Tea Auction Board. This will also make Assam silk a large global brand like the tea industry and transform it into a modern industry ensuing competition at the global level.

By the standards of electoral practices in South Asia, incidents of violence in Bangladesh’s elections cannot be viewed as excessive. The allegations of malpractices cannot be dismissed outright since no election in Bangladesh has been free from these aberrations and violence.

China is looking at their problems and working on them and willing to shift established positions if the situation so demands, while India seems to be trapped in the verities of the past and are unable to move beyond tired slogans and nostrums.

COP29 announced the full operationalisation of the Loss and Damage (L&D) Fund, a long-awaited step for developing countries, including small island states, least-developed countries, and African nations. This milestone marks persistent advocacy for climate justice. However, the fund’s current framework has notable gaps. This paper highlights key concerns in the existing framework, including the lack of a clear and comprehensive definition,

The 2004 annual piracy report published by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) had noted that the Tsunami tidal waves that hit Sumatra in Indonesia might have destroyed the piracy related infrastructure. Some of the pirates may have even perished in the disaster. Besides, there was also a large naval presence and may have acted as a deterrent against piracy activity in the Malacca Straits.

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.

The standoff at Doklam is less a boundary incident involving India, China and Bhutan, and more a coming together of geopolitical fault lines.

Much of this month has witnessed a slow but steady build-up of Russian troops in Syria. The Russian move is of huge significance - militarily as well geopolitically - not by what it brings to the table, but by what it prevents the other protagonists from doing in that tragic conflict.

Xi’s consolidation of power likely has two objectives. The first is personal — Xi seeks to cement his legacy. The second is great power ambitions.

By ratcheting up tension, China is causing alarm in other countries that use the busy South China Sea as the shortest and most convenient link between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Chinese could well end up the losers as the countries affected could band together to offset Chinese aggressiveness. Worse, it could well trigger off Japanese nationalism and rearmament.

This Issue Brief gives an assessment of the gaps and shortages in climate financing flows, available monies in the global system and suggestions to mobilise resources towards mitigation and adaptation needs of developing countries.

This report evaluates India’s soft power strategies under the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2024. It looks into the ways in which the government has promoted cultural connectivity, diaspora engagement, and partnership building to strengthen India’s global image. It underlines the growth of India’s soft power in the past decade, becoming more coherent, strategic, and ambitious. In the past decade, India has initiated, f

The killings in Kashmir suggests that the terror eco-system has been taking its cue from Pakistani army chief with an eye towards bringing back some international attention to the conflict

Most central banks across the globe are today seized with the idea of cryptocurrency, with countries like Sweden and China already embarking on their pilot projects. This paper argues that most of the proposed architectures for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) are not designed to mimic the paper currency in its digital form. It proposes an architecture that largely retains all the properties of a paper currency, with only one limitation—i

Evidence from several countries suggests that last-mile connectivity solutions—the transport options available to commuters from the origin of their journey to the point of accessing a public transit system—enhance citizens’ mobility and increase metro rail ridership. This brief evaluates India’s operational metro rail transit systems to identify the missing links in the provision and effective implementation of last-mile connecti

The European Union (EU) stands at a critical junction in its institutional evolution. The European sovereign debt crisis in 2009, the Brexit decision in 2016, and the success of anti-European populist parties in many member states have triggered intense discussions about necessary reforms in the Union, which only intensified after Emmanuel Macron became president of France in 2017. His vehemently pro-European outlook and ambitious suggestions for

The trends emerging from Odisha and Chhattisgarh following the latest kidnappings of popular officials confirm to a certain global pattern - desperation leads to unpopular acts. These measures suggest they become considerably weaker and are making desperate attempts to wage easy propaganda.

Affirmative action, especially in the form of reservation policies, to address the issues of inclusion and equity has been in place in India for a long time. The available evidence suggests that the policies of reservation have not been an unqualified success. Indeed, implementation of the reservation policies has faced a variety of issues ranging from problems of identifying the beneficiary groups and the creamy layer to legal interpretation of

Pointing out that the problem for an upcoming Indian defence industry is in the basics, experts suggest that a refinement of processes in conducting business and procurement would go a long way.