37531 results found
As winter approaches, the suffering of the people of Afghanistan will worsen
There is no doubt that the Chinese have overcome their earlier phase of "biding time" and have started taking a more assertive and at times more aggressive posture at sea. A pattern that is also being witnessed in other spheres as well.
Emergency humanitarian aid, which aims to save lives and reduce people’s suffering in times of crises, has grown considerably over the last century to become a central feature of international relations and of the multilateral system. It is estimated that over 400 million people depend on such aid today. The future of these people and of the humanitarian aid they depend on are fraught with risks, in light of five palpable trends: exponentially
Writing new rules of the road for critical and emerging technologies is a key imperative for the Quad.
The shrill of the growing divide in America has now reached a crescendo.
Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Hague Institute for Global Justice (THIGJ) recently hosted the second workshop of 'The Hague Initiative on Global Governance' in New Delhi between 21st and 23rd November, 2013.
The tragedy last week snuffed out over 750 lives and injured over 800 pilgrims, during the annual Hajj ritual of stoning the Devil at Mina, a few kilometres from Mecca. This incident again highlights a recurring theme that has dogged the Hajj for hundreds of years.
People's power, if not checked, would devour all Monarchies unless "all of us clasp each other's hands". That is when Al Jazeera traded its credibility to join the regional Jihad. Because of this summersault, the network has been the most effective tool in Libya and Syria.
Air quality in India’s capital city of Delhi and its surrounding region (or the National Capital Region, NCR) is poor during most months of the year. Various factors contribute to the worsening pollution, including human activities and a deficit in planning and governance. This brief examines the causes for declining air quality in the NCR as well as the mitigation measures that have been put in place by the government at different periods of t
Behind the drama playing out over the US Federal Reserve lies a story about compromises made in every Western economy.
Diet diversity is not a luxury but a national imperative. India has the knowledge and the models; what it needs now is scale and convergence
While New Delhi is getting more diplomatic support for its position, it is doing little to change the threat Pakistan poses.
India can’t escape from the systematic challenge of large-scale reforms
The Ministry of Human Resource Development in late June floated the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill, 2018, to repeal the seven-decade-old University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, 1956. The HECI, when established, will replace the UGC that has been the bedrock of India’s higher education system. This brief analyses the draft bill and examines its deficiencies. It suggests that the present bill fails to address the shortcomings of
Any solution to the Kashmir issue requires a two track process involving the domestic separatists and the Pakistanis.
A large mass of uneducated and undereducated would become part of the labour force over the next decade, adding to the potential of the mid-career education market. Neither the government nor the private sector seems to be gearing up for this opportunity.
Hypocrisy of the political leadership of all hues in Tamil Nadu is completely exposed if we focus on the refugee issue. There are presently over 1,20,000 Tamil refugees living in India. Of this, nearly 70,000 still live either in the hundred odd general (open) or the three special (closed) refugee camps in Tamil Nadu.
Minilateral organisations have increased in number in recent years, reflecting a new paradigm in international relations. The I2U2 (India, Israel, United States and UAE), launched in July this year, is one such minilateral. With its priorities set on a geoeconomic agenda, the I2U2 is being driven by both, the member countries’ own motivations and their shared interests. This brief gives an overview of the grouping and its objectives. It
India, currently the chair of IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa), is responsible for steering the agenda for trilateral collaboration. In its capacity as chair, it is incumbent upon India to revitalise the geopolitical group, which has been so central to the construct of "South-South Cooperation" that engages most political thinkers today.
As the International Court of Justice at The Hague moves forth with proceedings on the cases involving India and Pakistan, it is worth considering whether a decision in favour of the Republic of Marshall Islands would truly be the beginning of a new era.
The fallout of this election forefronts the fault lines in the Bengali identity whose syncretic political and cultural climate has now been marred by religious insecurities.
The recent bailout underscores how the international system continues to accommodate a geopolitically pivotal yet structurally fragile state
This brief collects and analyses current evidence in India regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of children (5-9 years) and adolescents (10-19). Using the ‘snowball retrieval’ strategy, the authors identified peer-reviewed studies, reports and government articles published between January 2020 and February 2021 that were relevant to the research question. The brief finds that not only are children and adolescent
Cyber war is a subject that is highly contested among strategists and experts. This brief assesses the impact of cyber operations against strategic targets and demonstrates that while cyber war is a real phenomenon, it is far from producing decisive outcomes. The cyberspace is a medium to conduct military operations and several countries have made investments in capabilities to both attack and defend against cyber-attacks. The brief evaluates the
The post-GST Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) Budget of 2018–19 was the first to contend with the abolition of octroi, which was previously its largest and most robust source of revenue. One year after the introduction of the General Services Tax (GST) by the central government, the MCGM has been forced to find new financing sources. While the state government of Maharashtra has assured that the loss of octroi will be compensated,
A roundtable discussion on the topic "The Impact of High Crude Oil Prices & Challenges in Pricing of Petroleum Products" was organised by Observer Research Foundation at New Delhi on August 14, 2006.
In the past few years, Sweden has been growing closer to NATO than ever, causing some to see Stockholm as very close to joining the Alliance.
This paper highlights the likely impact that the Trump energy policy reset may have on Washington’s approach to energy transitions domestically and globally. It seeks to identify any recalibration that this changed approach may have triggered in the long-term agenda of US partners. The paper focuses on the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—a country that has substantiated its commitment to clean energy pathways with sizeable investments of political
As the Indian Army (IA) integrates new and emerging technologies, it will also need technical specialists for innovation and their effective application in peacetime and wartime. This analysis makes the case that the IA can create a technical reserve drawn from the Technical Entry Scheme (TES), Territorial Army (TA) and its Reserves, which can be merged to perform the missions and tasks of the IA. Any prospective technical reserve force that emer
As the global climate crisis intensifies, nations are becoming more hard-pressed to formulate responses that will be acceptable to all stakeholders. In an effort to understand India’s approach to addressing the challenges of climate change, this paper describes the natural circumstances that have historically shaped its responses. The paper also discusses the most crucial imperatives that have guided such actions and suggests that these
Transport activity in India has increased more than sevenfold over the last two decades, its gasoline-fuelled pathway leading to a rapid rise in negative environmental externalities. To decouple the sector’s growth from high emissions, policymakers are scaling up efforts to deploy cleaner fuels for the sector; in particular, liquid biofuels have received a significant push. However, while biofuels help lower emissions at the point of us
After PM Nawaz Sharief's visit to the US, now General Raheel Sharif will be visiting the country. Gen. Sharif has seemingly controlled terror emanating from FATA, has restored the image of the Army after the setbacks during the time of his predecessors Musharraf and Kayani. He runs a quasi-independent judicial system.
Right now, everyone around Putin is singing paeans to his sagacity. It is his ability to cut through the chaff, determine his priorities and then craft his policies fully cognizant of Russia's current limitations that will see him emerge as a universally acclaimed statesman. Authoritarian he may be, but there is no reason to doubt that he is up to this task.
As major powers like China are deepening their military ties with the Gulf, the need for India to look beyond the imperatives of energy and maritime security is critical to its interests in Oman and the wider Gulf region.
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