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As India places the Mekong sub-region among its priorities under the country’s ‘Act East’ policy, the ongoing India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway project––currently the only land connectivity project between India and the Mekong countries and the wider Southeast Asian region––could prove to be a game changer. It is imperative to explore ways to ensure early completion of this strategic communication link. This paper focuses on

The troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir is governed by two controversial laws – the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act (AFSPA) of 1990 and its predecessor, the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), 1978. In the past few years, state security forces have been enforcing these two laws against suspected militants and insurgents with increasing severity. This paper argues that the combined enforcement of these two laws has s

The mass exodus of the Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh in 2017 has caused ramifications in the two countries’ bilateral relations. The underlying currents between the two nations have become more apparent following two failed repatriation efforts since the exodus. The public display of dissatisfaction and blame-game have only fuelled the tensions. This brief examines how far the Rohingya issue has affected the connectivity, trade and secur

This brief analyses the correlation between gender-based inequities and malnutrition. It highlights the case of South Asia, and uses as a backdrop the compounded challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors review existing literature on the subject and cull patterns, with the aim of outlining recommendations for countries in the region for bridging interrelated gaps in gender parity and nutrition.

Gender inequality is a major cause and effect of hunger and poverty, with women and girls comprising 60 percent of the global hungry. Women face multiple challenges (such as limited access to education and employment opportunities) that curtail their economic autonomy and weaken their bargaining position within the family, consequently impacting household food security. The pandemic has worsened this situation. It is crucial to apply a ge

Russia and Pakistan have never really had warm relations. Following Pakistan’s independence in 1947, then Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan was invited by both the Soviet Union and the US. He chose to visit the US, mainly because the US had 2 more capacity to help Pakistan economically.

Jawaharlal Nehru was clear with his idea of India: an Undivided India which included the Provinces under British Rule and the amorphous mass of small and big Princely States, which did not desire to be part of such an idea of ‘India’. In his battle to subjugate the Princes, Nehru found an ally in the last Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten sent by the new British Prime Minister Clement Attlee. The implementation was then run like a relay race whe

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.

Like in some other regions of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated external debt accumulation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This could have massive, adverse impacts on growth as governments prioritise debt servicing commitments over key development expenditures such as healthcare and education. For the countries in SSA with relatively lower GDP, this could mean getting caught in a vicious cycle of low output and mounting debt. A pa

Rekindling a romance is never easy. However, if the expansive agenda unveiled by Modi and Obama is matched by bureaucratic purposefulness in Delhi and Washington, India and America have a second chance at building a strategic partnership of considerable consequence.

An unresolved and unaddressed Iran–Israel dynamic ultimately threatens any other regional normalisation

Amit Krishankant Paul, The Siachen Story: The Inadvertent Role of Two German Explorers in Starting the Race to the World’s Highest Battlefield, April 2024, Observer Research Foundation.

Recent research has drawn attention to the potential link between air pollution and diabetes, indicating that environmental factors may play a crucial

India should adopt a similar approach to that of the other East Asian countries and ramp up spending on schooling and public health

The stability and security of Mozambique is a cause of international concern.

India’s large defence industrial base has historically been dominated by public sector entities, although they have failed in meeting the growing requirements of the armed forces. The public sector suffers from inefficiency in productivity, innovation and international sales, rendering New Delhi highly dependent on arms imports. The government is taking steps to reform the public sector, even as it accords greater importance to the private sect

This brief discusses the status of Gorkhas who have joined the Russian Army and the Wagner Group as civilians, combatants, and mercenaries. Would Gorkhas, who otherwise constitute part of the regular armed forces in the United Kingdom and India, enjoy the same status if they join an ongoing conflict without entering into any bilateral agreement between the states? If not, what will the Gorkhas' status be under the prevailing international law reg

Tunisia, Eygpt, Syria?events may seem to be following a pattern but the changing dynamics in West Asia point to far more complex political and strategic games being played: The US role, Saudi phobia, Israeli and Iranian intrigues. Oil. And, to top it all, the Shia-Sunni face-off. Is Turkey being lured in as a possible Joker in the pack? Welcome to another Great Game.

The real story for strong India-Australia relations lies beyond uranium. With one of the world's strongest mining sectors, Australia can help India exploit its own natural resources in an environmentally sustainable way and thereby address one of the major current constraints on India's economic growth.

The formidable strength of Israel’s military forces is essential not only for the survival of Israel but also for the balance of power in the Middle

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to Balochistan, POK and Gilgit in his Independence Day speech has caused a considerable flutter in Pakistan and India.

Resurgence of terrorism and a further influx of refugees are areas of concern for Bangladesh after the US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

With newer forms of identities taking over the older ones and parochialism and regional chauvinism becoming the new lingo of identity in the age of Twitter and Facebook, time is now ripe for a serious debate on reorganisation of States in India. The country can no longer afford to postpone this serious public policy issue.

The government cannot launch measures which tackle different dimensions of the agrarian crisis in isolation from each other.

In the short term, it appears Libya will be divided between East and West. The world, including the Arab public and 20 million Muslims in Europe, will see the partitioning of the country for what it is: not to stop the "slaughter" of the innocents but for Libya's light crude for which European refineries are specially geared.

Resolving the Tibetan conflict by providing at least limited autonomy would increase governing legitimacy of the Communist Party of China.

The threat to the global democratic order needs to be tackled by developing joint strategies, especially in light of the rising belligerence of author

The Mehdi Masroor Biswas case has exposed our intelligence preparedness to fight cyber terrorism. Our intelligence agencies were not able to identify the owner of @shamiwitness Twitter account because of a spoofed IP address. Laughable, if it were not a matter of national security.

Much of the Indian budget is focused on the army, with the air force being a distant second and the navy a poor third.

Some security aspects of the widespread tragedy caused by the Tsunami of December 26, 2004, have not received the attention they deserve.

According to the Tsunami Laboratory at Novosibirsk in Siberia, there were 796 tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean region during the last century. Of these, only 117 caused human casualties and property damage. In the case of a majority of them, the human casualties and the property damage were near the source of the tsunami only.

Both manifestos have made laudable assertions regarding city problems, however, the issues of the financial domain of ULBS and certain pending urban r

Now in its twelfth month, the Ukraine crisis is caught in a protracted winter of war rather than one of frozen hostility or attempted peace. Most prognoses point towards continuing military action instead of dialogue in the near term. This is primarily because Russia and Ukraine have made their maximalist positions clear. But is the door to dialogue completely shut, or is there room for ‘strategic accommodation’ through creative peace diploma

The ongoing tussle is germane to the geopolitical mapping of future Europe

In the wake of the Ukrainian war, Europe is trying to end its dependency on both Russia and China

India and the United States are natural allies because of structural and systemic convergences that the two countries experience in contemporary globa

Until the early 1990s, India’s urban local bodies (ULBs) were under the complete control of the states, having little functional, financial and administrative autonomy. The 74th Amendment Act of 1992 sought to make ULBs self-governing institutions. Many salutary provisions were made in the Act and there have been certain positive outcomes since it came into effect in April 1993. However, many key issues have remained unresolved and at present,

The Centre must proceed with caution as ill–timed and hasty measures can damage the efforts of integration.

India’s desire to play a more significant role in global governance should not cause anxiety in the United States. While India won’t promote every U.S. priority, it won’t jeopardize U.S. core interests.

In 2011, the government set up a task force to examine the processes and procedures related to national security in India and come up with recommendations to fix the problems and plug any gaps that emerged. The panel, chaired by former Cabinet Secretary Naresh Chandra, submitted its report to the Prime Minister. Now the bureaucratic grapevine suggests that the report may soon meet the fate of other similar endeavours: getting shelved.

Trump’s rise symbolises the US’s polarised polity, but he is only the manifestation of the disease, not its cause.

Far from being a failure, the Alaska meeting seems to have begun the process of resetting US-China relations in a positive direction once again.

The US slipped from producing nearly 40% of the world's chips to just over 10% in the last three decades. By allocating $53 billion towards the enhancement of US semiconductor manufacturing, R&D and the augmentation of its skilled workforce in the domain, the Act sought to change China's comparative advantage

Given the daunting challenges of 2021, and the opportunity that the pandemic presented to reform the health sector, Budget 2021 unfortunately remained

Digital payments are no longer about ensuring that money reaches the intended person or entity. Instead, the data exhaust of the transaction has becom

Speaking at a meeting of the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka at Colombo on May 26,2005, Hagrup Haukland, the chief of the Norwegian-led military mission, which monitors the three-year-old ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), confirmed the allegation of the Sri Lankan Government that the LTTE had constructed an airstrip near Iranamadu in the Wanni area under its control in

Xi seems to have overplayed his hand, leading to a significant realignment, resulting in a pushback at a time when his governance style has come under scrutiny

Before the rise of Xi Jinping—before the Beijing Olympics and the South China Sea tensions and the China-India border crisis—the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had already sensed that a rising China would pose daunting challenges to its neighbours and the regional order. This brief argues that without Abe, there would likely have been no ‘Quad’ grouping joining Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. His re

Despite advancements in legislation and representation over the last decades, women continue to face barriers in accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare, legal protection against violence, and leadership roles. In the economic sphere, gender disparities persist in labour force participation, job sectors, wages, and unpaid care work. Women are constrained in participating in the labour market as their social role remains attached to domestic