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Experts warn that while governments are getting better at managing cyber and internet threats, adversaries may go after private sector systems, in the absence of active public-private cooperation.

Cyber attacks are not a security challenge that can easily be eliminated. No kind of infrastructure is absolutely impregnable and the adverse impacts can at best be minimised by emphasising on risk containments, according to experts.

The India Conference on Cyber Governance and Cyber Security, organised recently by ORF and FICCI, is the beginning of a strong forum that can debate India's policies, help mould its strategy and simultaneously address global challenges.

The Ministry of External Affairs, backed by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, will have to further streamline the efforts to address India's cyber concerns and also factor in India's impending interests in the global ICT trade.

With both the goods FTA and services FTA in place, India is well set on the path of a comprehensive economic partnership with ASEAN. India, whose services sector contributes about 55% to the country's GDP, has been keen to sign the services FTA with ASEAN as it will help the Indian companies tap the ASEAN markets easily.

While the initiatives taken at the UN, including the draft code, could be viewed as a step forward, the clear differences in what the American and Russian sides seek to address through such a mechanism will remain a stumbling block.

The US has become more proactive in engaging with the international community to address cyberSpace challenges ever since the policy shift in 2009. However, it still maintains its opposition to the need for an international treaty to govern cyberSpace.

Although it would not be entirely false to suggest that Maoists have managed to capture the imagination of a large section of Nepalese society because of the widespread poverty and continued neglect by successive monarchs and political leadership, there are quite a few other, equally valid, reasons why Maoists have had a run of the Nepalese countryside.

If the Pakistan-TTP talks succeed Pakistan may actually metamorphose from a hybrid theocracy to a complete theocracy, as Ayesha Siddiqa argues, because the Taliban, good or bad, want implementation of the Sharia. Thus all would depend on how far Pakistan's military and civilian leadership want to go to accommodate Taliban demands or prefer to wage war against TTP.

To arrest the spread of brutal Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the US must go in with a limited military mission, thus aiding the process of bringing stability in Iraq and the region at large. However, it should not look at staying in Iraq for a long haul.

The US Treasury Department's decision to designate the gangster based in Pakistan, Dawood Ibrahim, as a terrorist on October 16, 2003, was undoubtedly belated but could still prove to be a milestone in the War on Terrorism if Washington could arm-twist President General Pervez Musharraf to hand over the criminal to the interrogators for questioning about his links with al Qaida and other terrorist groups.

The recent attack on the British Council in Kabul by the Taliban shows that, apart from military tactics, there is an urgent requirement in the West to reconsider the political objectives in Afghanistan.

Mumbai today has a plethora of institutions - BMC, MMRDA, MSRDC, MVRC, etc. At last count, there were 23 institutions directly or indirectly 'planning' for Mumbaikars. There is an urgent need to 'de-institutionalise' urban planning.

There is a need for Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans to acknowledge that the Indian vote in Geneva owed mainly to the un-kept promises from the war years, and less to do with the 'Tamil Nadu factor'.

Despite the positive connotations of a de-radicalisation initiative in Pakistan's Swat, lead by Pakistan's army, the relationship between the military and terrorist groups still remains unclear.

History is all set to repeat itself in the subcontinent. As usual, the search for a permanent thaw in the India-Pakistan relationship seems to be hitting a big bump in the days ahead that might possibly derail the bilateral negotiation process initiated during the Islamabad SAARC Summit in January this year.

The killing of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer on January 4 in Islamabad and the wide-spread adulation of his killer, a Punjab Police commando, has raised a whole litany of fears and dilemma in, and about, Pakistan.

The most important lesson for India from the US operation on Osama bin Laden safehouse is that it should have a clear policy as to how to deal with the principal accused in the concerned case; how to deal with him or them.

To confuse the delay in executing the death penalty in the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case to politically imply that the convicts were not involved in the heinous crime would not pass legal or judicial muster. It could complicate matters, but things would remain where they would.

The IFS is criticised in some western circles because it resists efforts to incorporate India into the West's sphere of political and intellectual influence. Some who are attacking the MEA today want this resistance to end.

The nature of nuclear threat that India faces is not "binary" as India's concerns related with Pakistan and China are intertwined. The history behind China-Pakistan nuclear collusion makes it important to look into the "interlink".

In recent years, China has increasingly invested in West Africa to further its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, diversify its supply chains, and acquire critical minerals and raw materials for its domestic industries. Indeed, China sees immense potential in West Africa for the region’s ability to provide a secure supply of critical minerals and energy resources insulated from the West. Beijing is now the region’s largest bilateral trading

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil¿s none-too-recent hint that the Centre was considering the setting up of a new commission to review Centre-State relations is a welcome move. While it may be yet another effort at decentralization of administrative power between the Centre and the States, care should be taken in formulating the terms of reference and in the choice of the commission¿s members that the process percolates down to the panchayat-lev

In the Finance Bill introduced in Parliament on February 28, the budget estimates (BE) for defence have increased marginally from Rs 83,000 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 89,000 crore for 2006-07 ¿ a rise of about 7 per cent. With inflation ruling at 4 to 5 per cent, the real increase in current rupees is only of the order about 2 per cent.

The reason why there has been a decline in marginal farmers is because of the overall low agricultural growth. It has been less than 2 per cent per annum in the decade of mid-1990s to mid-2000s.

In what is being touted as a major shift in Indian policy towards Israel, New Delhi abstained from a vote against Israel at the UN Human Rights Commission. The UN human rights body called for Israel's accountability in alleged war crimes committed by its officials during the conflict in Gaza in July 2014.

The Modi government's policy of engagement, rather than isolation of sanctioned countries, is very much in line with its predecessor, United Progressive Alliance, led by Manmohan Singh. However, like Singh, Modi too has refrained from speaking on the issue of sanctions.

At this juncture of the US Presidential campaign, Mitt Romney's worldview seems to be defined, more than anything else, by the desire to sound different from President Obama. But foreign policy is still very much President Obama's turf, and Romney's recent foreign trip did nothing to change that.

We need to look beyond the Presidential vote in Afghanistan, scheduled for next April. These elections would not only test equations of military and political power as the NATO forces pull out but also the strength and possibility of deeper enduring facts of the Afghan reality.

Extremists' groups like the ISIS have capitalised on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's ethno-sectarian politics. And, the resurgence of ethnic animosities has long-standing implications for Iraq and the West Asian region as a whole.

The new land acquisition bill has brought transparency in land acquisition. But by incorporating too many instruments and agencies to ensure the same, it instead risks making the process bureaucratic. Thus, the bill ends up replacing a coercive colonial law with a cumbersome one.

Monday's terrorist attack on Dinanagar police station in Gurdaspur district, the first major terror attack in Punjab since 2002, and that took the lives of 11 persons, is a puzzle. This could be a routine warning from the LeT to both the Indian and Pakistani governments against getting too close to each other.

Narendra Modi is viewing Obama's New Delhi visit on a longer perspective where he seeks to leverage the U.S. connection to attract technology and investment from the western world, as well as build ties to balance China.

Development and production of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) by Pakistan has increased the level of tensions in South Asia, though it has, in an attempt to ease global concerns over its development of TNWs, has assured that its top leadership will continue to have complete control over its TNWs if deployed.

Experts from India and Germany, including academics, practitioners and policymakers, took part in a day-long seminar titled "Deconstructing the Economic Crisis" organised jointly by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS), Berlin.

For both Myanmar and India, Suu Kyi's visit needs to be viewed as yet another important step towards strengthening relationship between the two neighbours. It will serve nobody's interest if the visit were to be seen as a political gain for a party at the cost of others in Myanmar.

The emergence of Bangladesh as the new hub of international Islamist terrorism, insurgency in Nepal and Maoist militancy across several states, add new challenges to national security threats that India traditionally tackles. Despite these, India's defence expenditure continues to decrease in real terms and as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every year.

China has discarded the traditional emphasis on criticising the arms control agreements promoted by the Western powers and focuses instead on securing Beijing's national interests by actively participating in international and regional military negotiations and shaping the international military norms.

Defence needs to be viewed as an integral part of national planning so as to comprehensively quantify the overall requirement to meet our legitimate security needs and strategic aspirations.

There is need to re-prioritise the expensive items in the services' wish list in a manner that will not strain the economy, without necessarily increasing the vulnerability of the country.