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While Elections-2007, which returned the ruling BJP and Chief Minister Narendra Modi to power against the expectations of the English language media in the country, it only helped focus on what has now come to be termed as the 'Gujarat model of development'.

At the heart of the debate on electoral reforms lies the vexed issue of campaign finance reform. There are four fundamental questions that need to be answered to understand this conundrum. A related but standalone issue is that of state funding of elections.

Dr. Anupam Chander, Professor of Law at UC Davis, says a specific rule which necessitates the consent of data subject in order to process the data coming from foreign countries in India is effectively discouraging foreign investments in India.

With electronic snooping here to stay, the larger question is not of ethics or privacy, but of regulation, protection and the provision of strong legal remedies

Election Commission's reported decision to implant a 'verification mechanism' in the electronic-voting machines to be deployed in the four-State Assembly polls could have anything but the intended consequences.

Why do Indian and Pakistani leaders succumb to the predictable? There's so much déjà vu about their peace process being derailed by border firings and terrorist strikes that the wider world has begun to yawn

Nepalese Prime Ministers generally prefer to call on New Delhi for their first foreign visit after assuming office. The urgency for Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's visit was, however, accentuated by nearly a week-long effective blockade of Kathmandu imposed by the Maoist insurgents.

The presence and influence of the Naxalites are increasing dramatically and rapidly in various parts of the country while we remain engaged in endless debates on how to address the problem.

As part of a three-year research project undertaken by ORF and PRIO to study and analyse urban governance, urban security and environment related trends and concerns in selected regions of India, an international conference was organised on "Emerging Challenges in an Urbanising India: Governance, Security and Climate Change".

With Al Qaeda far from being vanquished, and Pakistan and Bangladesh inevitably turning into jihadi outposts in the emerging pan-Islamist network in Asia, India is more than likely to be caught in the vicious tail-wind of the next wave of terrorism, gathering momentum since 9/11.

A single deft move in the 18th century secured the British empire in India many advantages over the advancing Russians. By sending five English dray horses along with a blue velvet upholstered coach to Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore, upstream from Kutch, the British discovered that the Indus was navigable all the way up.

It were thousands of village pradhans who had to be "empowered" as the nodal points most in contact with the people. Legislators and policy makers have to develop institutional mechanisms to liaise with the Pradhans who implement policy at the village level.

Control of China through cooperation could be a more effective policy given the size and closed nature of China's society

With the Opposition-dominated Parliament passing the Judges Bill and the Government coming up with a consensus list of seven Supreme Court Judges that too was passed, there is now hope about an early end to the constitutional deadlock that had engulfed Maldives over the past weeks.

India is the third largest coal producer and the coal industry one of the oldest sectors of commercial involvement

With the death of brigand Veerappan in a police encounter in Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri district, a long and arodous era in criminality has come to an end in this part of India - nay, even the world. Not many criminals in the world in these modern times would have scalped 130 human victims, apart from the hundreds of elephants and thousands of sandalwood trees to his credit as Veerappan did.

Pakistan is living through turbulent times and, General Musharraf, its self-styled President, is under tremendous pressure. The United States-led anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan has shaken Pakistan's polity like no other event in its troubled history.

A talk by Prof Dilip Ahuja and Prof D P Sen Gupta

To meet its poverty eradication, human and economic development targets, India will require much greater availability of energy. Poverty eradication is critical for building resilience to potential climate impacts.

Energy: Power Ministry plans to shut coal-fired power plants with capacity of about 8000 MW.

How can Japan bring in energy reforms with its weak political structures, a very strong nuclear lobby that can influence policymaking, and rising public discontent? Japan has seen five Prime Ministers in the last five years.

The Modi government's biggest challenge is battling a legacy of distrust. The dominant political discourse in India remains deeply suspicious of market liberalization.

Fourteen years ago, in 1996, Dr Vijay Kelkar, one of my distinguished predecessors in the long list of luminaries who have delivered this Lecture, said, "What petroleum was to the 20th century, natural gas will be to the 21st."

Formulating a policy towards China that finds the right balance between engagement and resistance is not easy. We are obliged to engage with China as it is fast on the road to becoming the world's number two power.

The importance of today's Africa for India is self-evident. India's ambitions of being a global power cannot be achieved without the support of the African continent consisting of 55 countries. Nowhere is the importance of African countries felt more than on the issue of the expansion of the UN Security Council.

SAARC remains the only viable vehicle for South Asian integration, a project vital for India because a viable South Asian economy is a necessary pre-condition for our ability to engage effectively with ASEAN and China. And when we look at SAARC, the key hurdle it must overcome is the India-Pakistan problem.

An international conference on "Engaging with a resurgent Africa" was organised in New Delhi on 20th and 21st of November. It was organised jointly by Observer Research Foundation and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung of Germany.

London is the most unequal city in the developed world, with its richest 10 percent more than 100 times better off than the poorest ten. London's wealth inequalities are said to be approaching those that "have not been seen since the days of the slave-owning elite."

India and Pakistan can reap multiple benefits from an enhanced cooperation on the economic and energy fronts, according to experts at a recent conference at Observer Research Foundation.

There she was, a wisp of a girl in her teens, out in Mahim at 11.30 in the night, feeding strangers stranded after the bomb blast. This was her answer, and those of countless citizens of Mumbai, to the terrorists who thought they could break the city¿s indomitable spirit. Salaam, Mumbai.

HOW to ensure food security and control inflation has emerged as a major challenge for the government in the New Year. The hangover of food inflation from 2010 cannot be ignored as it is still in double digits.

Adequate access to water is not only a human right but it also forms the cornerstone of economic development. It is growing in importance in Asia where the population is rising at an exponential rate making it home to more than half of the world's population.

The world often sees China as a monolithic, monochromatic nation, relentlessly marching towards a future which it has clearly defined for itself. The reality, however, is a nation led by a Communist Party elite, which is very good at doing what it does, and which works hard at remaining where it is ? at the top of the country's political pyramid.

The tensions between India and Pakistan have to be seriously examined and ways and means to bring back normalcy should be worked out and implemented. India stands to lose much more if terrorist organisations are deployed in various cities in the country at a time of Pakistan's choice.

Space is once again becoming the sphere of rivalry and potential conflicts. But the EU Code of Conduct does not move towards a legally binding mechanism that has been the demand from the Asian countries at various multilateral forums.

Why does a diplomat who has been in this profession for 40 years turn to a theme such as ethics and international relations? The real reason is that I think that any field of human activity has an ethical dimension.

South Sudan does not possess the political leadership to resolve the current crisis of citizenship and governance. But it is time for an unbiased state to step in and address vital issues and questions that it did not address immediately after independence for the collective sake of all South Sudanese.

The immediate concerted European response in the aftermath of Madrid blasts on March 11, 2004 was the creation of the post of a Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, who would directly work under the European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana. In fact, the idea of effective counter-terror coordination and intelligence sharing

The immediate concerted European response in the aftermath of Madrid blasts on March 11, 2004 was the creation of the post of a Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, who would directly work under the European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana. In fact, the idea of effective counter-terror coordination and intelligence sharing

While there has been progress over the last few years in terms of garnering greater support for the EU Space code, there appear to be a few outstanding issues that need further elaboration and alteration to make the code more appealing. The way forward might be to shift from a consultative to a negotiating phase, before moving to hold a diplomatic conference.