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In Brazil, extreme poverty has reduced from 15% to 5%, poverty from 34% to 22% and Gini index from 69% to 54% in the period of 1999-2009. So, knowledge sharing between Brazil and India in matters related to public policy and welfare programmes is of high merit.

An International conference on "Emerging Security Concerns in West Asia" was organised by ORF at its Rouse Avenue campus on November 21-22, 2007 in partnership with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation of Germany.

Al-Qaida has put Pakistan at the top of its priorities. Its leaders judge Pakistan as the most vulnerable country for them to hijack, while independent estimates by security and intelligence officials suggest that Pakistan has the capability to add 8-10 China-model low-yield nuclear weapons in its kitty every year.

Elevating India's standing in world politics, it has been invited to the next week's Annapolis conference on West Asia, convened by the United States, and it would be taking part in the conference, the Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of India for West Asia and Middle East Peace Process, Mr. C.R. Gharekhan announced here today.

India must play a leadership role in the development of global Internet policy. The government needs to respond to the demands of its citizens and reset its position on international Internet governance issues, in line with the progressive developments that have occurred at home. In essence, India should be doing a better job at linking the local to the global.

Dr. Derek Chollet, Principal Deputy Director of the US Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff, visited Observer Research Foundation for an interaction with ORF faculty.

The visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had put relations on a higher plane and the overall situation in Bangladesh had turned for the better in 2006

India will gain very little by taking the lead in this venture. It already holds the rather envied position as the strongest economy within the region. SDB can hardly be expected to raise its global image or position.

India's online population is small as compared to its offline population - about 213 million users to 1.2 billion people - but it is growing. Though these figures expand and contract depending on whom you ask, we do know that 33 million are on Twitter and Facebook has hit the 100 million-user mark.

The recent brutal gang rape in Delhi is not just significant for its violence against women in India, it is also a commentary on the country coming of age, of our desire to move forward, and of our resolve to treat what ails our society.

Professor Joseph Nye,Dean, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, who visited ORF recently, gave an e-mail Interview to Dr. Harinder Sekhon, Senior Fellow, on US foreign policy trends, especially in West Asia and the future of Indo-US relations.

There is a significant difference between the texture of the relationship that the US enjoys with other democracies like UK, Germany, France and Japan, and the one it has with India. And neither are we able to cash in on it to the extent the Chinese and the Pakistanis managed.

India's interests in Nepal have been to protect its own security, and that Nepal should have no doubt about its role there. This was observed during an interaction between a Nepali-media delegation and Indian scholars at ORF on 16 August.

Going into a winning war is easy but wading into uncertain waters to safeguard vital interests is the true test of realpolitik. That is why India's Afghan gambit must be gutsy and counterintuitive.

Taking part in the discussion on his new book "Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years", Mr A.S. Daulat, a former Advisor to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said there have been troubling signs in the Kashmir Valley, such as a number of disappearances and the radicalisation and training of certain sections of youth.

From Europe, India is viewed as a balancing power in terms of the economy and global harmony, according to Dr. Medgyessy, former Prime Minister of Hungary. He says India is ideologically closer to Europe and the US than the other BRICS countries.

If Obama's mandate is any guide, America is about to move to a softer, more socialised capitalist framework in which the people's welfare will be at the centre of policymaking. In a sense, America may be heading the European way in terms of pursuing social market policy.

The Manmohan Singh government has placed high stakes on a new diplomatic breakthrough with Bangladesh, and therefore should constantly look for ways to top up cooperation for fear of reviving Sheikh Hasina's retrograde opponents

Has India’s free trade agreement with the 10-member Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) spurred India Inc.’s globalising drive eastwards? This region, after all, has recently emerged as a major destination for investments from Japan – which is widening its options due to its conflicts with China – and the US, with its so-called ‘pivot to Asia’. India’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with ASEAN, which kicked off in January 20

India supports freedom of speech and expression in Internet. But, security is equally important to India, and terrorism is a huge problem. Therefore, a secure architecture should recognise the role that the state can play, says the Indian Minister for Communication and Technology.

The Jammu and Kashmir problem has imposed heavy political, diplomatic and military costs on India for the last 63 years. It has excessively conditioned our external relations, with much of our diplomacy occupied over the years with explaining to other countries our position on J&K, warding off criticism,

Worse, by attacking the social fabric of the country, the Hindutva groups are laying the ground for greater insecurity in the future.

With India voting in favour of the anti-Sri Lanka resolution at the UN Human Rights Council, Delhi finds itself in a precarious position in Colombo vis-à-vis Beijing. Worse, it's likely to make the lives of Tamils more difficult in the island nation.

Beyond personalities and politics, there is one basic question we need to ask ourselves: Why even 66 years after independence, is New Delhi's influence in its region shrinking instead of expanding?

India simply cannot afford to alienate the government in Male given China's growing reach. The President of Maldives was in China in October last year when Beijing announced a $500-million economic assistance for it. New Delhi views Maldives as central to the emerging strategic landscape in the Indian Ocean.

India is quite advanced in refugee protection as compared to many signatories of the 1951 Refugee Convention, according to chief of mission of the UNHCR, India. Even when refugee protection comes into odds with national security, India has managed to provide social security, education and medical security.

India's best course is the one that Prime Minister Modi is setting. This seeks to position India as a "swing state". On one hand, India has joined the New Development Bank, the AIIB and resisted American-led efforts to condemn Russia over Ukraine. On the other, it is actively wooing the US and its allies, Japan and Australia, in the Asia Pacific region.

For a decisive role in the region's future, India must accelerate its economic growth, build a stronger security partnership with Washington, contain the boundary dispute with China, and strengthen ties with key Asian middle powers.

A retreat from Afghanistan now would mean accepting the Chinese game of restricting our role to our national frontiers. The 21st Century belongs to Asia and we are an important part of that new Asia. Let us not choose a destiny that casts us aside.

India is faced with choices of being part of two regional blocs: BBIN and BCIM. In both blocs, India has Bangladesh as a common partner. The prime motives for being a member of the regional blocs are essentially economic, and strategically political.

Having indicated his intention to increase gas pipeline network infrastructure by 15,000 kilometers, making it almost double existing capacity, India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has certainly raised an intellectual argument among oil and gas stalwarts: What should be India's priority - gas or gas grid?

The fourth India-Bangladesh Security Dialogue, organised by ORF in association with the BEI, Dhaka, stressed on the need for the Indian government to be more proactive in the promotion of its ties with Bangladesh.

It would be difficult to graft something like the U.S. system on to the Indian system. Yet, clearly the time has come when Mizoram and Nagaland also have a say in India's Myanmar policy, instead of merely having to bear its consequences.

There is a need for a strong foreign policy, particularly with regard to the India's immediate neighbourhood, according to a former secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Absence of a national climate change adaptation strategy is hampering India's climate change mitigation efforts, opined experts and stakeholders while speaking at a seminar on 'Supporting Climate Resilient Development in India' in Kolkata on April 23.

Mr. Sanjay Bhattacharya, Joint Secretary (South), Ministry of External Affairs, says "the need of the hour is an enhanced Look East Policy that is more in time with the current global setting".