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The Centre's Notification of the Cauvery Award should encourage Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to work with the Centre and the other two riparian stake-holders to revive the proposal to build an additional reservoir to store the excess waters, to be shared among them.

During the Cold War, India navigated its external relations guided largely by the doctrine and practice of non-alignment. In these contemporary times, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to inaugurate a period of heightened geopolitical rivalries, with the United States and China as the principal poles. India will be differently positioned in this post-Covid “new normal” than it was in the era of the Cold War and therefore will need differe

The changing world order in the post cold war era has heralded the rise of economic globalization which has been dominated by the desire for symbiotic cooperation and economic intercourse between states.

China has persistently employed a strategy of belligerent operations below the threshold of war against its territorial and maritime neighbours. These range from fistfights with neighbours’ armies and minor troop engagements on land, to ramming ships against theirs in its near seas, clashing with their coast guards, or engaging in aggressive military exercises and aviation patrols. These actions are not severe enough to provoke a war, but not s

Over the last few decades, particularly after the end of cold war, a distinctive feature of the strategic and security related environment has been the unprecedented and sheer dynamics of change in the concepts, paradigms and complexities of national, regional and global security.

President Pervez Musharraf has a number of reasons to be unhappy with India. It took only a few hours for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to dismiss the General's seemingly well-crafted and cleverly worded war-game plans for Greater Kashmir. The General's idea was simple.

The George Bush visit was a giant step forward for Indo-US relations and India was elated to be part of the Big League. Now that he has gone, the Left protests turned out to be only that much bushfire and the euphoria of the visit has evaporated somewhat, it is time to evaluate just what this winwin situation might mean.

It is clear that the old confidence building measures regime initiated in 1993 has broken down. Yet striving to sort out differences over where the LAC lies is the only way forward for Prime Minister Modi and President Xi.

China and Russia both seek closer ties with the Taliban in Kabul, even as they have refrained from fully recognising the regime. This brief explores China’s and Russia’s converging interests in Afghanistan, and argues that their primary concern is a shared existential threat of terrorism from Afghanistan. Beijing and Moscow regard Afghanistan as a potential source of trans-regional instability, and they are adopting a pragmatic approa

Chinese influence in Africa is high on the global agenda, as China within just a few decades has become a key political and economic power in the continent. Indeed, its emergence as a dominant economic and political actor might be the most important development in Africa since the end of the Cold War. This paper analyses China's economic and political relations with Africa beginning in the 1990s. It argues that the concern is not that China has e

Well aware of China's growing influence in the Bay of Bengal and the changing power dynamics in the Indo-Pacific region, Japan is now presenting itself as an alternative benefactor. With an eye toward Beijing, can the emergence of Japan in this region prove to play a balancing role?

As the gap between its power and that of China grows, India needs the US to balance China in the South Asia-Indian Ocean Region. The Indian contribution, military or economic, towards a strong American Indo-Pacific strategy appears more nebulous. This is an asymmetry which cannot but have real-life consequences. India should not assume that antipathy to China alone will be the over-riding factor in the US global policy.

Nations act solely in supreme national interest. China’s response to the Pahalgam terror strike is in steady contrast with its own stand on many issues

Pakistan, Russia & China to hold consultations on Afghanistan to explore ways reconcile & restore peace in war-torn country & other weekly roundsups

For the biggest maritime parade held in China since 1949, the People's Liberation Army Navy deployed 48 warships, 76 aircraft and 10,000 sailors and marines.

India’s inability to develop interdependencies with neighbouring countries, both economically and strategically, has left a void that China has dutifully filled. There still remains a window for India to correct its past mistakes and develop a concerted strategy to regain influence in the region.

With China aiming to develop a "world-class" military by 2050 that can fight and win wars across all theatres, Indian conventional and nuclear thinking will also have to evolve

India and China's space missions tend to be real space firsts, rather than duplications of the US' and Soviet Union's Cold War space firsts.

The decision of key American allies like the UK, Germany, France, South Korea and Australia to join the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB) marks another step forward in the shaping of a Chinese-led Asian economic and, possibly, security order.

If New Delhi lets domestic political passions overwhelm the need for a carefully crafted strategy towards Pakistan, it will find the Afghan dynamic will soon make matters a lot more difficult for India.

Other than dangling a cheque book, Beijing seems risk averse and has few answers to long-standing geopolitical flashpoints

China's relation with Pakistan has become one of the most comprehensive one that Beijing has with any country. The strategic imperatives of developing Pakistan as a bulwark against India has been among Beijing's overriding objectives in influencing the balance of power in South Asia.

Xi's visit to the United Kingdom was not about trade and investment only. It has an important strategic component, viz, shaping China as a truly global power. Recall that the end station of both the land and maritime components of the Belt Road Initiative is Europe. As China shifts its economy towards high-end manufacturing and services, it is targeting the European market, where its two largest partners are Germany and UK.

Extraordinary events in geopolitics have redefined China's contemporary history: the breakup of Soviet Union; the end of Cold War; and China's realignment with Russia and the erstwhile states of the Soviet Union.

China’s growing military profile in Africa is following its economic footprint in the continent as exemplified by the Chinese “logistics support base” in Djibouti. It is moving towards an ever more expansive definition of its global interests, as its business in Africa pushes it to create new mechanisms for securing those interests, including its own growing military footprint abroad. This brief examines the changing nature of China’s inv

China is extending its hand to Nepal, India’s Himalayan neighbour, which for its part is understandably attracted to the prospects that are emerging on its Northern front. How does China’s expanding footprint in Nepal affect India? This brief examines the possibilities for India’s success in competing with China in Nepal, and posits two overarching factors: New Delhi’s overall capacity to challenge China, and India’s political will to a

China’s annual parliamentary meetings offer a glimpse into its future direction. This year, amidst economic headwinds, a key takeaway is the continued surge in defence spending

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has undergone many changes since Xi Jinping became general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2013. Efforts at modernising the PLA have been conducted in earnest for the past 10 years through the overhaul of the organisation and the introduction of latest technologies to make it battle-ready. This paper describes these capability-related and institutional changes in China’s military, wh

Increasingly, the Chinese are realising that keeping their currency undervalued is not a viable option. The end game as far as the exchange rate management in China is concerned should look towards establishing a less controlled and more market oriented exchange rate-one that is determined by actual demand and supply factors.

The white paper is an amalgamation of past experiences as well as the role that China will play in the global order in the coming years.

China’s evolving security dynamics with the United States have compelled it to rethink its nuclear strategy to achieve effective deterrence. It is aiming to modernise its nuclear arsenal and increase its nuclear ambiguity through conventional-nuclear entanglement. Ambiguity will increase the risks of mischaracterisation and can have a destabilising impact on the Indo-Pacific region. This paper highlights two areas where India ought to be most c

China’s nuclear weapons arsenal has grown and modernised over the recent years, and current estimates say the country has 350 operational warheads ready for delivery, over 248 land-based ballistic missiles, and 72 sea-based ballistic missiles. China also has 20 nuclear gravity bombs and additional warheads intended to be armed on land- and sea-based missiles. This brief outlines a history of China’s nuclear weapons programme, scrutini

Despite the hypocrisy and power politics at the foundation of the GSI, it would be foolish to dismiss it or assume that it will not garner support from other countries.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has detained an estimated one million Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps in the Xinjiang province for forced re-education and political indoctrination. While the West has deplored China’s actions, the major Muslim countries have defended and even welcomed the policy. China has exploited its economic and diplomatic clout and the growing indebtedness of the Muslim world to subdued any criticism of its actions

India’s ties with Beijing have frayed even as relations with Moscow lose warmth because of their actions

Apprehensions of China gaining an advantage in the tech rivalry through unfair means weigh heavily on US threat assessments.

At a conference on "Civil Society and Nuclear Weapons Policy", organised by ORF and Chatham House in Bangkok, there was a general consensus among participants that the emphasis should be given on raising awareness on the various hazardous impacts of the nuclear weapons explosion, especially in the nuclear weapons states.

The relative prosperity being recorded by the countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)[1] is being confronted by multidimensional challenges brought about by climate change, including in public health. This brief examines the role of regional cooperation in mitigating these negative consequences of global warming. Analysing the national health policies of BIMSTEC countries, this bri

Riyadh, Jerusalem, Washington, in that order of anxiety, must be in a huddle on the change in Tunisia and chill winds blowing across Egypt, Yemen and Jordan. The State Department has issued a warning that must send shock waves throughout the Arabian peninsula "status quo in the Middle East and North Africa is not sustainable".

Civil wars are drawn-out conflicts, often lasting up to a decade or even longer before a political settlement is reached. Pakistan's military campaign against Pashtun militants, variously allied to the Afghan Taliban, the al-Qaeda, and often fighting for localised interests has stretched into its 12th year.

The year 2015 marks an important date in international history - the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. It is also the 50th anniversary of normalisation of relations between South Korea and Japan. And, it is a chance that both Japan and South Korea should grab with an aim to re-normalise their relations.

The United States and Luxembourg have adopted domestic space laws granting certain legal rights to space mining companies. These moves have initiated a debate on the future of this industry, as well as the passing of relevant laws governing outer space and its resources. This paper makes an assessment of commercial space mining activities in the broader context of the emerging space economy. It finds that entrepreneurs are increasingly looking at

It is sad that caught unawares, the nation is finding new ways to explain away the current puzzle that Jammu and Kashmir once again has become. Issues such as 'trust deficit' and 'governance deficit',

This forward-looking brief examines India’s economic reforms over the past decade and argues that in his third term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would need to shift gears. Working to his advantage is the expectation of political and policy continuity. This must now be tempered by the slightly weaker political mandate. In the past 10 years, Modi moved the reforms needle with his dexterous stance; he now needs to work with a new idea—that of c

What is a matter of grave concern has been the lopsided priorities of the government towards the military vis-a-vis the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) that have come to the fore.

China has been less harmed by the tariff war than was expected, and it has been remarkably resistant to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is the only economy in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook update that is likely to have a positive growth rate of 1 per cent in 2020. This has probably reinforced Xi’s belief that a strong one-party state is better able to handle the challenges. He has also pushed state-owned market enterprises to follow market rules

China has sometimes been cordial to sanction imposers depending on the issue-salience of the sanction, yet its posture towards international sanctions regimes remains cold, especially when they conflict with its national interests.

The COVID-19 pandemic can serve as an opportunity for India to redefine its approach to economic growth. The policy objective should be that once the threat of the current pandemic subsides, the country will not return to business-as-usual mode and rather build an economy for the future. The Indian government has declared that it is considering measures towards distress mitigation, relief disbursement, and a revival of growth. At the same time, h