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Through concerted attack on India from the usual suspects in recent days, India is first being made the whipping boy for the failure of the American non-proliferation lobby in their own country. Then it has to accept blame for the complex relations the U.S. shares with Pakistan and China that is driving these Asian allies to increase their arsenals. Can we get real, please?

The recent hospital fire in Kolkata has raised several concerns on the issue of regulation of radiological units. After a review recently, the hospital's accreditation was kept in abeyance following non conformity with respect to its radiotherapy division.

As New Delhi and Seoul reconnect politically, the planned visit of President Park to India in the next few months provides an occasion to think boldly about the future of the bilateral partnership. If Delhi can look beyond China in its policies towards northeast Asia, it will find that South Korea can help develop very interesting strategic options for India.

Kurdish militants in Syria seized a border crossing with Iraq from Islamist rebels linked to al-Qaeda which had held the crossing since March, according to activists and an Iraqi official.

In the recent Kuwait elections, for the sixth time the National Assembly was re-elected in last seven years. Though the Assembly is supposed to be in term for four years, t it is usually dissolved by the Constitutional Court before the completion of its term.

What would be the impact, if any, of the recent crisis in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia - that resulted in the overthrow of the government of Askar Akayev - on the growth of religious extremism in Central Asia in general and in Kyrgyzstan in particular?

India neither has a well-defined bankruptcy legislation for businesses to close down systematically or special courts to take care of such issues; and, as a result the process becomes slower, says former Revenue Secretary M.R. Sivaraman.

Lack of clarity on the legal nature of the Paris deal and the INDCs has been a cause of concern for India. There has been a proposal for a kind of "hybrid agreement", which suggests that Paris deal will not actually be legally binding but have certain legally binding elements.

India's top military experts say the lack of clarity and differentiation between conventional and nuclear missiles in the 2nd Artillery Corps of the Chinese army (PLA) is a cause of concern for India. They also point out that there exists a lack of discussion on Chinese cyber capabilities or its command and control structures.

After in-depth discussion at a roundtable on the nuclear liability bill, the participants agreed that the bill in its present form has several lacunas which need to be addressed. And, an effort could be made to make the bill comprehensive in its reach.

The law makers from the government should know that the removal of two contentious provisions from the 2013 Land Act (LARR) would not end all the trouble facing land acquisition. Given land is a State subject, much would depend on how different states create "enabling conditions" for smooth acquisitions.

The passage of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) Protocol by Parliament not only removes all hurdles for the final settlement of India's longest border with any neighbour, but also paves the way for exchange of Enclaves and merger of Adverse Possessions by re-drawing the International Boundary (IB), also known as the Radcliffe Line.

The recent years have seen a new trend emerging in the African continent. Representatives from Western conglomerates have been shifting their focus to Africa in order to secure rights to the vast, untapped resources of the ecologically rich continent.

The land amendment bill, brought in by the Modi government, represents a crucial plank of his government's economic agenda to turbocharge Indian growth. The government would find it difficult to execute its Make-in-India policy without improving the legislative framework for land acquisition.

The India-Bangladesh relations got a major boost after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared to support the land-boundary agreement with the neighbouring nation.

An official delegation from Sri Lankan comprising Mr. Sunimal Fernando, Advisor to the President, and Mrs. Shirani Goonatilleke, Secretary of the government's Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP), visited Observer Research Foundation (ORF) on October 9, 2006, and had an interaction with the research faculty.

What Colombo and Beijing are telling Delhi is that Chinese naval presence in Sri Lanka is now routine and India should get used to it. Delhi quite clearly will find it hard to digest. But, if Delhi wants to limit or reverse Colombo's strategic tilt towards China, it should start with a comprehensive review of its policy towards Sri Lanka.

The comfort levels between the West and the UNP, with shared perceptions of liberal democracy and market capitalism is mutual

After 9-11, many Americans remember Pakistani dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf¿s speech to Pakistanis in English, in which he explained his U-turn on the Taliban and Al Qaida. Faced with a ¿with us or against us¿ ultimatum from an angry America, Gen.Musharraf told his rich Pakistani elite brethren that Pakistan had to finally ¿shun extremism¿ and join hands with the US.

Two years after the Mumbai attack, and despite the intense global crackdown, one of the world's most networked, resourceful and dangerous terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), remains operational in Pakistan, and ready to hit again.

These are clear indications that Lashkare-toiba, Harkat-ul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are poised to regroup and re-emerge in the coming months as part of Al Qaida¿s new plan to extend and consolidate its activities in the Middle East and Asia, especially Saudi Arabia and India.

How the country and its political establishment need to factor in exigencies and work efficiently and cohesively towards rejuvenating the prospects for India, was the focal point of the panel discussion on the occasion of the launch of the book 'Getting India Back on Track: An Action Agenda on Reform'.

The proposed Food Security Act will cost the government around Rs 100,000 crore a year. Though it is big money, especially when the economy is on downslide, when lots of money were spent on events like the Commonwealth Games and industry given huge tax sops.

China will have to act selflessly if it wants to build alternative institutional arrangements that look at development from the emerging economies prism. The BRICS will also have to be careful about what it regards as its core strength. So far, it has largely been perceived to be pushing for an alternative economic development paradigm.

For a government committed to 'minimum government, maximum governance' it is time that policy making in key economic ministries become far more open and consultative, its acts and actions predictable. In the long run, that is the only way to ensure that policies for the auctions of licenses, processes of tendering and award, and actions to ensure their implementation -- are not subject to capture by select coteries.

Wikileaks has not only knocked open the door on 250,000 secret diplomatic cables, it may also have inaugurated an era when audacious discourse will not be placed under the stifling blanket of that expression - "Conspiracy Theory".

The successive torture and slaying of individual Americans in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Gulf region has a new message for the civilized world. Whatever be the rationale behind the decision-making at the governmental-level, the average American is ready for a long engagement with terrorism and terrorists.

India’s increasing economic and political clout has prompted a spurt in the volume and complexity of its overseas development assistance. Looking ahead, the largest incremental capital for global development and infrastructure beyond what exists today will also come from India as the value of its economy grows from $2 trillion to roughly $7 trillion by 2030. However, the DPA – India’s development cooperation agency – is yet to assume an a

India handled Cyclone Phailin very well. Now, it is better for the system to learn a few lessons and not just prepare for the next big one, but also figure out ways of dealing with the smaller and completely needless tragedies that occur across the country because crowds have not been properly managed at a festival, or buses and ferries.

Nations will not have common values, because nations themselves are a collection of diverse historical experiences and ambitions. However, there is no need to throw in the towel over global governance, for nations can have a vision for shared prosperity with different approaches to get there.

Indian polity is a prisoner of 'Luddism'. Left or right, it needs someone who can act as a change agent. Between the Congress and a confused BJP is the third force, the real Luddite socialists -- a conglomeration of SP, BSP, JD-U, TMC and a sprinkling of others. India unfortunately is caught between these forces, devastating its economic paradigm.

For Brazil, there are multiple opportunities within BRICS, not limited to the economic sphere. In many ways, the grouping brings Brazil from the left corner of the world map to the center, where the geopolitical theatre is most active; in Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

Left-wing extremists, popularly known as Maoists worldwide and as Naxalites1 in India--have been gaining in strength and influence since some time. Today, the menace of Left-wing extremism is the single internal security threat that affects the largest number of States in India.

A number of legal frameworks and paradigms exist. But whether India's should be brought in from outside or adapted within the country to suit national requirements is a key decision to be made

The Election Commission's proposal for fixing eight per cent vote-share in Lok Sabha polls as the lower-limit for conferring the status of 'National Parties' is fraught with consequences that go beyond the constitutional mandate.

There are multiple concerns around the audit of CSR and a discomfort with the lack of audit and oversight required for CSR activities. "Comply or explain" simply has not worked in the case of other existing regulatory frameworks that deal with corporate governance issues. It is time to realise that in India, only a few are in a position to ask, while nobody is in any hurry to explain.

We can only speculate on the causes of their present westward shift in the Daulat Beg Oldi area. But one thing is clear: the central locomotive of Chinese policy remains Tibet. Despite massive investments in the region, large numbers of Tibetans remain disaffected.

BRICS countries have tried to move internet governance debates by taking strong stands at the global level. India too, has flirted with the idea, time and again. If nothing else, the biggest takeaway from this grouping needs to be the commitment to putting across new ideas to the global community.

COVID-19, which is a highly infectious disease of zoonotic origin, serves as a serious reminder that human-nature interactions need to be based on sustainable development pathways. The recent surge in zoonotic infections in different parts of the world—among them, H1N1, Nipah virus, Zika virus, and Lyme disease—can be attributed to the intensification of human-animal contact through wildlife trade and livestock production. Reducing the rates

Three quick lessons can be drawn from the recent coup attempt in Bangladesh. These are growing unrest among political and military circles against the Awami League government for its policies towards India and fundamentalism;

India's military leadership should look to Nepal to understand how insurgencies can be peacefully terminated instead of just looking for more potent ways of neutralising separatists.

In the backdrop of President George Bush's forthcoming visit next month and India's closer integration with the global economy, we need to start paying greater attention to the US economy, which has effectively functioned as the sole engine powering the global economy for the past decade and a half.