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Gaiko Forum, Japan's prominent think tank sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan, has published a detailed report on the symposium on "Security and Strategic Challenges in Asia: Prospects of Japan-India Cooperation" organised by Observer Research Foundation in association with the Gaiko Forum and the Embassy of Japan in New Delhi, on March 18, 2008.

The Commonwealth Games was planned to showcase a modern India. But it has actually set back India's urban modernisation plans through disproportionate focus.

As China continues to expand its presence in international waters, it is developing capabilities to counter foreign submarines which, otherwise, may pose challenge to its ambitions. This is where the recently launched Gaoxin-6 becomes important for Beijing.

Gas in its varied avatars is going to become the most important bridge fuel for the next decades at least, with the world probably going to see very different gas markets dictating the geo-politics of the future.

The May 2007 summit at Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan between Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan has once again brought the Central Asian Republics (CARs), especially Turkmenistan, in the limelight of international energy politics.

Various issues and problems impacting the availability and accessibility of natural gas, the fuel of the future, came up for detailed discussions at the recent two-day 7th Petro India 2008, organised jointly by Observer Research Foundation and Indian Energy Forum in Delhi.

Is former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom reviewing his political options for the future in the light of the inevitable mid-term crises facing the MDP Government of his successor, Mohammed Nasheed?

During the US visit, PM Narendra Modi reiterated that India is the fastest growing economy among large countries in the world. Showcasing India's high GDP growth when others are faltering is a good strategy which the government has adopted which pushes India in the limelight.

The GDP growth does not mean much to the average voter. But prices do that matter as inflation cut into the budget for healthcare and education for children. Thus what will ultimately decide the outcome of the elections will be inflation and the government's inability to control it.

Not since the era of Indira Gandhi and Deng Xiaoping, perhaps even since that of Nehru and Mao, have India and China been led by such dynamic and forceful politicians as Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping. These leaders are due to meet later this month in Xi's first official visit to India.

Gender-sensitive disaster management can be best aided by gender inclusive efforts. There is a lot that women could do to aid the process of relief and rehabilitation. For instance, traditional knowledge and skills of women can be used to manage natural resources, aid the injured and sick, prepare community meals.

The growing socialisation with female virtual assistants in AI is rapidly diminishing the significance of women to 'a gendered female who responds on-demand'.

Lashkar, with its vast network of trained jihadis, commanders and training infrastructure, is Pakistan Army's key strategic instrument in keeping terrorism active in Kashmir and other parts of India

There are developments taking place in the quake affected Pakistan occupied Kashmir that need to be closely watched by both the Indian authorities and the Western world. The first is the failure of the Pakistan army and its associated institutions to provide relief to the millions of quake affected people in Kashmir under its occupation.

Inaugurating the ORF conference on "Generating responses to an uncertain monsoon", Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat emphasised the need to understand the science behind the behaviour of the monsoon for achieving a long-term drought-proofing solution.

As the partner that stands to benefit the most from any expanded BRICS play, China needs to be singularly more magnanimous and mindful in accommodating the legitimate interests and aspirations of other member states.

In 1990, after the end of the Cold War and the unification of Germany, the United States of America gave an assurance to the Soviet Union that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would not expand its role beyond the borders of Germany.

Can China slow down without imploding? No, says Mr. Osamu Tanaka, the Executive Vice President of the Policy Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance, Japan. He predicts that 2017/8 will be the beginning of a Chinese financial meltdown.

Although neither India nor China envisions participating in decisive naval battles given the interdependent nature of the world order, naval suasion continues in the Indian Ocean. The underlying strength for control of the Indian Ocean, however, is not geopolitical but economic power.

The geo-strategic uncertainties that prevail in Asia will drive India and Japan increasingly in the direction of jointly addressing the need for maintaining the prevailing balance of power in the continent, according to scholars from India and Japan.

Pakistan's present actions of ratcheting up tensions not only on the Line of Control but also along the International Border, while obviously making an attempt to regain the initiative, is actually unlikely to pay any dividend for a number of reasons.

An autonomous Judicial Commission can effectively nudge the judicial system towards its intended Constitutional mandate; apolitical, enlightened and efficient application of the rule of law and protection of the fundamental rights of private entities, against encroachment by the executive or the legislature.

India must come to terms with the fact that what it does with one country is bound to affect its relations with others, notwithstanding the declarations to the contrary. For international relations is not a series of discrete bilateral relations. The answer lies not in circumscribing one's own options but in intensifying engagement with all.

The recent terrorist attacks in China's Xinjiang and the involvement of terrorist camps operating in Waziristan and nearby areas have raised serious questions about Pakistan's commitment to battle terrorist groups.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have just made back to back visits to the United States. In keeping with the times, both began their tours from that Mecca of our age - Silicon Valley.

The Chinese objectives are in perfect congruence with those of Pakistan in Afghanistan. Pakistan is also mindful of the fact that an enhanced Chinese presence will keep India away (at least Pakistan is hopeful of), thereby ensuring Pakistan the strategic depth that it has been seeking to achieve in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gillani lost a sliver of a chance in Pakistan's supreme legislative body National Assembly (on May 9) to steer his embattled country away from the perpetual dilemma of being stuck at the crossroads of destiny.

The panacea for the current problems emanating from a one-sided media coverages is public service media, insulated as much from the government as the market, something the Prime Minister promised during his earlier term - UPA-I.

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon. It is the calculated, targeted and indiscriminate use of intimidatory violence to achieve an objective, which could be political, economic, social or religious or to give vent to anger arising from political, economic, social or religious reasons. A terrorist gives vent to anger on behalf of a group or a community.

Efforts are being made on a global scale to improve public health. One of the ini tiatives to attend to the many problems and challenges in the public health sect or is the creation of the Health Impact Fund (HIF).

PM Narendra Modi's interest in the diaspora is about recognising India's possibilities as a "global nation" that is not defined in narrow territorial terms. Delhi, of course, is not yet ready to give dual citizenship of the kind that some countries do. But short of political rights for the diaspora, Modi has begun to offer much.

West Bengal Governor and former National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan recently noted that contrary to what many security and strategic analysts in the West profess, terrorism remains by all means a grave threat to the civilised world. The reality is global terrorism is expanding, especially in Asia.

In the early years of the 21st Century, we find ourselves relearning the most enduring lesson of history. That is, ¿Only thing constant in nature is change. It is not the reality that is changing but change, which is becoming a reality.¿ The difference now is that the revolution in technology is making changes, including global trends and strategic changes, faster than ever before.

Growing urbanisation and its resultant problems and issues have drawn the attention of international organisations, national governments and the civil society. The United Nations (2012) has reported that while "unprecedented increase in urban population will provide new opportunities to improve education and public services in Africa and Asia,...

Eminent economist Professor Jagdish Bhagwati has defended globalisation staunchly in his latest book "In defence of globalisation" and so has the editor of Financial Times (London) Martin Wolf in his book "Why Globalisation works".

The recent violent actions of the Maoists have made big news. It will not be easy to resolve this problem because these are the people who have been deprived of their land and development, and they form the core of the movement. Only better distribution of the growth story can bring peace to these people

India lacks resources and direct access to Afghanistan, but it can derive some comfort from the fact that, if the past is any guide, you can always trust Islamabad to give us the opening through its propensity to overreach.

The US constitution builds a wall of separation between the church and the state, interpreted as prohibiting the state from meddling into the affairs of the church and vice versa. However, this constitutional provision cannot negate the church's influence in impacting who gets elected as President.

The All Party Hurriyat Conference¿s rather studied acceptance of the Centre¿s offer of talks while welcome should also add to the seriousness of the peace process in Jammu and Kashmir. While distancing Pakistan from a process that had been trilateral in the past formulations of the Hurriyat, the current round would expect the Centre to go beyond traditional pulse-feeling, and gestures.

The Indian proposal for a SAARC power-grid, revived by Union Minister Piyush Goyal, has the potential to increase power-generation in South Asia. It also has the potential to reverse the way the South Asia thinks about itself - and the world thinks about South Asia, besides cutting oil bills of countries like India.

Saying that South Asian countries need to work closely to share, and not divide, water, the author says the consequence of bringing water to a pedestal on India-Pakistan relations can have devastating effects on regional security and prosperity.