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The United Nations (UN) has recently been plagued by several crises—the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taliban’s return in Afghanistan, and the Ukraine war—that have tested its ability to deliver on humanity’s projects of peace and security, sustainable development, human rights, and humanitarian response. Indeed, its actions and inactions in the Ukraine war have triggered an existential dilemma. India must use this moment of creative destruction

Sustaining democracy and faith in democratic institutions is an everyday task and arduous one at that.

Global geopolitics is in a state of intense flux. China’s rise has led to greater competition in the international system, with the United States and the post-War global order coming under increasing challenge. China’s high economic growth rate in the past several decades has meant bigger military budgets. In turn, its military rise threatens security in the Indo-Pacific region where China seeks to dominate, from the Himalayas to South China

Sharpened global polarization has made it harder for India to pursue multi-alignment effectively

The claims and counterclaims are less about the two protagonists in this war than it is about moulding the world’s opinion.

The real undercurrent of US concerns relates to how China's advancement in technologies that can enhance its rising military capabilities.

New Delhi’s decision to import oil from Moscow has disappointed the US and UK, but urging us not to do so as that would help the Russian economy is blatant hypocrisy.

The demand for an Asian NATO remains negligible in Southeast Asia. This is because most countries are convinced that a multilateral security architecture will only elevate regional insecurities, and make them subservient to great power contestations

Amidst increasing global connectivity and accelerating global change, the global security framework has become insufficient, contributing to a crippling dysfunctionality in international cooperation. The current security framework, focused almost exclusively on a narrow notion of military security, is insufficient to address escalating ‘threats without enemy,’ such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, which increasingly endang

The Indian Ocean, a vast maritime expanse, features diverse social, spatial, and topographical characteristics. This diversity is evident in the various actors operating independently, with minimal synergy, political unity, and distinct challenges, across its sub-regions. In this context, what does the maritime security architecture in the region look like? This brief finds that it remains fragmented, and makes a case for nurturing its cohesivene

Public transportation (PT) planning in Indian cities has historically focused on private vehicles and rail-based systems while neglecting bus-based transit. Such planning has led to fragmented urban mobility solutions. This study evaluates the effectiveness of PT systems planning in India by assessing the present state of these systems and analysing planning practices. It summarises the characteristics of various PT modes and the expert guideline

The Bay of Bengal region links South Asia and Southeast Asia, with the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) serving as a platform of trans-border cooperation. The BIMSTEC’s prime assets are the historical and cultural links between the nations, and their spirit of community. However, the lack of both a robust decision-making mechanism and a set of common rules have slowed down the growth of th

In an effort to facilitate the digitisation of the country’s healthcare systems, India released a National Digital Health Blueprint in January 2020, which provides a detailed framework for a “Federated National Health Information System.” This brief makes a case for expanding the scope of the blueprint to include digital therapeutics, digital diagnostics, and telemedicine. It proposes a “National Digital Health Blueprint 2.0,” with dive

There is widespread hope that the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow will deliver decisive action on the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. This report gathers different perspectives from analysts in South Asia, Africa, the Indo-Pacific, and the UK on regional priorities and positions on key issues related to the global fight against climate change. Certain threads bind these analyses regarding what the

While India’s malnutrition rates have dropped dramatically, the country is still home to the largest number of stunted and wasted children in the world. Owing to the cultural and geographical variance across states, combatting malnutrition requires a granular approach. POSHAN Abhiyaan, the government’s national nutrition mission launched in 2017, aims to provide a convergence mechanism for the country’s response to malnutrition. This specia

A number of important treaties of immense strategic significance have been signed during Prime Minister Vajpayee's first ever visit to Tajikistan on November 14. The agreements signed were related to setting up a Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, a bilateral extradition treaty and military ties.

When the stimulus package was announced in May 2020, many raised questions on the immediate viability of the measures in the current economic scenario.

India’s hill cities are unique poles of development. While they have managed to record some degree of economic growth, increasing urban population and unfavourable topography have also made such growth haphazard and unsustainable. In turn, this has threatened the quality of the built environment and of urban life in these cities. This report studies the case of the hill city of Aizawl, the administrative capital of Mizoram, which is part of the

The need for integrated water resource management (IWRM) has been explored and articulated by many water professionals over the recent years. Today, such a holistic approach to the management of water systems has become even more imperative in the context of the global crisis in water for which no easy solution is yet in sight. This brief calls for the development and institutionalisation of the interdisciplinary approach of integrated water syst

Grasslands that provide a variety of ecosystem services for humans—including carbon storage, which is important to mitigating climate change—are among the world’s most threatened habitats. In India, grassy ecosystems are not accorded any legal protection. Vast acres of these grasslands are converted for revenue-generating use, altering their ecological dynamics and threatening the livelihoods and cultures of pastoral and agrarian communitie

Executed properly, Aadhaar could become a central pillar of India’s ‘neighbourhood first’ policy.

The management of fish stocks along the Bengal coast has traditionally relied on the formula of dictating where, when, and how much to catch of one particular kind of fish to mitigate the risk of stock depletion. This paper argues that this conventional approach is inadequate in dealing with the multitude of threats, both local and global, posed by anthropogenic interventions in the natural systems and processes. It builds a case for an Ecosystem

In April 2023, the Supreme Court of India advocated for the government to establish a "uniform national policy" on menstrual health and hygiene (MHH), spotlighting the need for comprehensive measures on a significant public health issue. This brief traces India's path to promoting MHH, highlighting key policy initiatives and their impact on period product usage. Using secondary data from the National Family Health Survey-5, this brief introduces

This paper examines the environmental and policy-level challenges to the actualisation of US-India counterterrorism cooperation. Indeed, despite their seeming convergence on the imperative of effective counterterrorism, there has been limited cooperation between the two countries. While the US’ sense of “American exceptionalism” and its hegemon status purports a utilitarian notion of the adversary, India’s regional power status makes its

The Blue Economy (BE) is a resonant theme among Bay of Bengal states. Despite recent efforts by governments in the region to promote blue growth, however, there is yet no comprehensive, region-wide agenda for marine governance. This brief looks at ways in which Bay states can harmonise their BE approaches to develop an integrated strategy. By collectively investing in technology, innovation, and governance systems, the governments of these littor

Text of the keynote address delivered by Prof. K. V. Kesavan in the symposium Changing Perception of Japan in South Asia in the New Asian Era: State of Japanese Studies in India and other SAARC Countries

It appears that the Modi government is beginning to recognise the need for greater synchronisation between the different arms of the government and appreciate the need for better space utilisation in the realm of foreign policy and national security. This new approach needs to be strengthened and sustained for India to tap its full potential in outer space.

Digital spaces are becoming increasingly vital for public deliberation on issues of shared interest, including during electoral campaigns. This brief examines the types of discourse on social media platforms that electoral candidates engage in. It studies the content of the online campaigns and their potential impact on voter education, and recommends countermeasures against the threat of uninformed and unethical online narratives that only

Policy clarity is needed to deal with the idea of a weapons system that surrenders life-and-death decisions to machines. ICRC is an independent humanitarian organisation set up in 1863, that has been playing an active part in discussions around the subject of AWS

Democracy costs a lot of money. To fight elections and run their routine activities, political parties in India seek donations from all possible sources including ‘illegal’ and ‘interested’ money. This has serious ramifications in preserving the integrity of Indian democracy. An increasing number of countries, meanwhile, have taken the path of public subsidies and direct funding of parties and political activities — aiming to reduce dep