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India's macro position on equity at international fora such as Rio +20 must be reflected in its domestic resolve to offer energy equitably to its diverse population. The imperatives of creating a 'green economy' must only follow and complement such efforts.

A former director at the Cabinet Secretariat, D.S. Rajan, says that though India-China relations are peaceful for the time being, New Delhi cannot lower its guard as China's intentions are not clear with regard to the border issue.

When a strategy yields no results, or worse, is counterproductive, then the wise move is to change it. Our strategy of not reacting to repeated Pakistani depredations or offering conciliatory gestures may have earned us international accolades but has not made Pakistan change its policy options or stance towards India.

For a few years now, the Khaas Aadmis have been self-categorising into three typologies; the foreign-educated Indian, the Indian who has lived abroad and returned home, and lastly the Indians settled abroad who are still engaged in writing the country's script.

India’s efforts to bring world-class education to Africa can have far-reaching impacts. It will boost local economy, attract investments and foster a culture of innovation.

Modi has a rare opportunity to tap into the positive trends within the South Asian diaspora. An intensive engagement with them would be a valuable complement to Modi's declared strategy of befriending neighbours. Modi could signal the new approach by meeting their representatives during his Australia visit this month.

Although the issue of same-sex marriage may have been settled legally with the Supreme Court verdict, politically, it remains volatile. Since the ruling, reactions of the 2016 Presidential candidates have been deeply polarised, indicating the potential of the issue to become a determining factor in the run-up to 2016.

After a hiatus of nearly six years, India and Pakistan discussed the Sir Creek border dispute. The Surveyor General of India, assisted by the Chief Hydographer of the Indian Navy led the Indian delegation while the Pakistan side was represented by Ahsan ul Haq Chaudhry, Additional Secretary in the Pakistan Ministry of Defence.

Acquisition of air assets by the most successful guerilla outfit and a declared Terrorist organization, LTTE, has alarmed observers around the world.

The economic cooperation between Baosteel of China and China Steel of Taiwan for joint investment in overseas mining, and these kinds of economic engagements, need to be viewed more from the lenses of the liberal paradigm of international relations rather than focusing on the conflict or the political aspects of the engagement.

This report is the text of a presentation made at a seminar on ’Military-technical Cooperation between Russia and India: Status and Perspectives for Cooperation’, organised jointly by Observer Research Foundation and Unity for Russia Foundation, on October 5-7, 2007 in Moscow.

Recent Facebook posts by the Finance and Company Affairs Minister are a compact assertion of reformist credentials. Not just because the has crossed a million 'likes.' People press the button absent mindedly, after all.

In the 21st century global and regional contexts, it's too much for India and its southern neighbours to expect the US to stay away from the region, militarily. If the US is there, the assumption is that China will not be far away. India can make a difference to what could emerge as the re-emergence of a 'new cold war' in this region.

Both President Obama and Prime Minister Modi have seized the moment to reinvigourate the bilateral ties. If Modi has put America at the very centre of his dynamic foreign policy strategy, Obama appears eager to work with what is undoubtedly a more vigorous and action-oriented government in Delhi.

Despite its utility in comprehending tragic events such as the Partition, oral history keeps getting rebuffed for its 'soft' and 'subjective' approach.

With there being a strong connection between smart cities and a nation's pride, it is important to connect universities and research institutions with smart city initiatives, says Dr. Meric Gertler, President of the University of Toronto.

The Government, despite being corrupt and inefficient, does not want to be seen as favouring the private sector and therefore forgoes higher earnings in terms of royalty, taxes, jobs and profit share that it may benefit from if gas producers are given greater freedom.

India’s agrarian crisis has deepened in the past several years, contributing to the slowdown of the economy. Amongst the most crucial factors affecting the country’s agricultural sector is financial inclusion. Over the years, India has attempted various measures to narrow the gap in financial inclusion for its farmers, yet the goal continues to elude the country. This paper presents a discussion of these measures, outlining the current state

While the civic agencies responsible for daily cleaning of streets and removal of garbage are not demonstrating the desired level of efficiency, many urban residents do not follow any of the waste disposal rules, making waste management increasingly difficult.

Noting that the objective of the armed forces is not to win wars but to prevent wars, there was a consensus at an ORF discussion that India needs to overcome its deficiencies in order to create a credible deterrence.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have had a long history globally and in India. While the Indian government supports this partnership model, PPPs have experienced little success in delivering municipal infrastructure and services. This is despite the demands of a rapidly growing urban population for local services, which the municipal bodies are often unequipped to deliver. Indeed, in many cities across the world, there is an emerging push for

India and China cannot afford to be used against each other by interested third parties. They must rather focus on common threats to regional progress. In a new world, India and China could be powerful allies, says a senior Chinese strategic scholar.

Within the span of a week last month, China has successfully carried out maiden launches of two of its next generation launch vehicles. Besides validating the rockets for future manned and unmanned space missions, they have also demonstrated China?s strategic capabilities pertaining to outer space.

The issue of 100 per cent foreign direct investment in defence keeps getting muddied by the day, with various industry bodies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry apparently flip-flopping on an hourly basis.

It is common knowledge that Corporates control most of the electronic media. That being the case, how has the media turned upon the hand that feeds? Intra corporate warfare?

The measure of a successful energy transition must go beyond statistics of installed capacity of renewables, investments and number of jobs. While these are important, the face of the transition should become the lives, livelihoods and well-being of the economy

As in the world's many democracies, parliamentary polls in Maldives too have underlined the coalition reality of the times. The polls have also proved the add-ons do count, as former President Nasheed had proved in his second-round victory in 2008.

In Maldives, the fledgling democracy is now getting exposed to the inevitability of an issue-based confrontation between the Legislature and the Judiciary. But the stake-holders need to handle the issues and the attendant controversies with the knowledge, accommodation and sensitivity that they demand.

Indians need to realise that the time has come for decision-making and thinking which is multi-year, though not in the Five Year Plan kind of a way. What is needed are steps that go beyond partisan approaches and election-cycles aimed at providing the desperately needed transformation of the way India manages its governmental system.

The process of government formation in Nepal seem to be going nowhere if one is to go by the record of recent political parleys between the leaders of the three 'big political parties' of Nepal.

With the elections underway in India, eyes are now on the outcome of the polls, likely to be known by May 16. Wider belief is that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) may win the keenly fought elections.

The govt’s budget needs to expand by at least one-fourth to accommodate the necessary capital spend.

In the past few weeks, Afghanistan has received a stream of important visitors from western capitals that are in a position to preside over its destiny ¿ U.S. National Security Council Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, British Secretary of State for Defence John Reid, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Access to higher education has been a long-standing policy concern in India. Reservation for different social groups at the central and the state levels has been a typical policy response.

Syria and Iraq are no longer just a do-and-kill struggle being enacted by extreme radical Islamists in their brutal search for a Caliphate. The Big Boys - US and Russia -- are now out in the open, the gloves are off and mind games are now being played.

We the people of Iraq, who in all our forms and groupings undertake to establish our union freely and by choice, to learn yesterday's lessons for tomorrow, and to write down this permanent constitution...

Rather than allowing events to drift towards a political or even military showdown, Maldivian President Mohammed "Anni" Nasheed has shown great fidelity to democratic principles in a country where none existed before him by stepping down from office with grace and poise.

One can see the problem of illicit financial flow in a narrow view in terms of loss of tax revenue, but the more often missed out perspective is that these illicit flows create imbalances in the global economy that upset the efficiency of capital. Illicit financial flows cannot be curtailed without the collaborative effort of both developing as well as developed countries

In less than a week, more than 100 people have been killed by terror group Boko Haram in the northern part of Nigeria. This brutal Islamic group remains a significant problem confronting the democratic government of President Goodluck Jonathan.