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Though the imbroglio over the strategic sale of BPCL/HPCL is far from over, the mandarins within the government have come up with yet another proposal to meet the year's disinvestment targets. A booming stock market has inspired the bureaucrats

In mid-June, the oil giant Shell was forced to declare force majeure in its Nigeria unit excusing it from liability and contractual obligations due to sabotage by local militias on its oil pipelines.

It is fashionable in China today to speak of a "new type" of great power relations, indeed of international relations as a whole. In Chinese terminology, this approach is based on three key concepts: non-conflict and non-confrontation including proper handling of differences,

Nepal is in deep turmoil. At the centre is the 8-year-old Maoist insurgency, the cost of which has been enormous ¿ 10,000 lives, a disrupted economy and a sharply fragmented society along ethnic, caste, regional and religious lines. The worst chaos is in the political arena where the government stands discredited and paralysed and the State is gradually sliding towards total collapse.

Like the US, India, too, is grappling with its own version of the fiscal cliff, the biggest challenge before Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. The UPA has exhausted its fiscal space even as growth has fallen to a 10-year low. The challenge is to effect a sharp reduction in the fiscal while not adversely affecting quality public investment, which can in turn give a fillip to private investment.

The gap between India and China in this regard is quite big. So it makes sense for India not to make any peaking commitment until it meets the backlog of providing basic energy needs to the majority of the poor

Few days before the fourth anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) is planning a two-day training convention at Muridke (near Lahore), its former headquarters from where the terror attack was planned and executed.

Kautilya said that the worst enemy is the enemy within. In Arthshastra, he stated, ¿Arrows may not kill a soldier but skillful intrigue can kill even those in the womb.¿

As a responsible nuclear power, India is ready to work with like-minded countries in strengthening the global non-proliferation system. That was the clear message from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his recent joint press conference with the visiting German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder.

Disregarding opposition from the local population in Okinawa, Tokyo continues to state that it will go ahead with its current base relocation plan to Henoko. Tokyo and Washington should comprehend that when constructing a military base in a democratic country, the popular will and voices of local citizens should be carefully considered and heard.

The Finance Minister has addressed the various deficiencies in agricultural production which are responsible for high food inflation. But the actual measures announced are not enough to shake up agriculture and as Dr MS Swaminathan pointed out - it will not make the youthful population take up farming.

In the aftermath of the serial train blasts in Mumbai on July 11, in which 179 people were killed and 772 wounded, the question uppermost in public mind is ¿why has India become the most affected target of terrorism?¿ Ever since June 1985, when Air India¿s ¿Kanishka¿ was blown up over the Ireland coast, India¿s share of terrorists¿ incidents and civilian casualties has risen to become the highest in the world.

It would be premature to blame any one party or organisation for the violence in Muzaffarnagar. Though it is apparent that, once the violence erupted, parties have been trying to make political capital from it. Primary blame must fall on the Samajwadi Party which has been ruling the state for the past one year.

Relaxation of China's One Child policy reform proposed in Third Plenum is not a full proof plan. President Xi Jinping has a perfect analogy with Deng Xiaoping in grappling with a compulsion of sorts. Deng was faced with a bulging population; Xi finds the challenge in ageing one.

The coming together of cognitive computing, digital devices with capabilities to touch, feel, smell and hear and super-speed Internet is poised to transform telemedicine.

Miscarriage of justice appears to have become the norm and draws little outrage, even from those most affected by its outcome.

One does not need a historiographer's findings to understand the central problem that the Indian state is facing in its defence procurement in current times. It lies with intentions, structure and accountability.

The primary aim of the ISPS Code was to strengthen the security of international shipping, ports, waterways and the high seas by directing the governments, shipping companies and port operators to enhance security of the maritime edifice.

That India and China are rivals in Myanmar is a widely accepted premise. Much of the Indian and international reporting on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's just-concluded visit to Myanmar reflected this understanding.

Bangladesh's stake in the Bay of Bengal has increased following the order of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Seas (ITLOS) in the dispute regarding delimitation of the maritime boundary with Myanmar.

I am addressing this open letter not only to you, but also to other members of the US Congress, who have expressed their concern over the course of the US-led war against international terrorism in Iraq and have started suggesting, if not demanding, the withdrawal of the US troops from there.

It is increasingly difficult to make sense out of what is going on in Iraq.

Pakistan and the US have much to lose if the US disengages from Pakistan. Therefore, US-Pakistan relations are likely to overcome their present turbulence and continue being an alliance of convenience for both.

The Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and the Experimental Creativity Centre, Moscow have initiated a collaborative research project on Radical Islam. The first meeting under this project took place in Moscow on the 8th and 9th of October, 2009.

Lt. Gen. Nirbhay Sharma (Retd), Distinguished Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, has been appointed the new Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, a strategic border State in the North East.

Mr. Thomas Haahr, First Secretary, Climate Change, Royal Danish Embassy outlined deep cuts in emissions of industrialised countries, financial support for developing countries, enhanced mitigation action by developing countries and adapting to the impact of climate change as the key challenges that would have to be addressed in Copenhagen

As part of the worldwide launch of the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report 2014, an event was organised at ORF in Delhi on Thursday. According to the Report, ORF has been placed at 8th position amongst the Top 10 think tanks in Asia.

The Kolkata Chapter of Observer Research Foundation has started functioning from its own new building in New Town, Rajarhat, Kolkata. The chapter moved to the new premises on April 15, the auspicious occasion of Poila Baishakh or Bengali New Year.

ORF has launched a new, bold and impressive logo as it completed 25 glorious years. The logo was unveiled by the senior-most Trustee and Honourary Secretary Mr. Baljit Kapur at the 26th Foundation Day. Also present were Trustees Mrs Renuka Mishra and Mr Lalit Bhasin and Director Sunjoy Joshi.

The Observer Research Foundation (ORF) was invited to put together a group from India for the Moscow conference by the Polity Foundation, one of the principal Russian organisers. ORF and Polity have had earlier contact and a bilateral event had been jointly organised by

ORF publication 'BRIC in the New World Order' was released in South Africa recently. The event was organised by the South African Institute of International Affairs. Its National Director Ms Elizabeth Sidiropoulos introduced the book and delivered the opening remarks. The launch was followed by a round-table discussion.

The SAARC should plan a billion dollar Infrastructure Fund for developing water and energy projects in areas with high unemployment and poverty rates, a ORF Policy Brief issued on the eve of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee¿s visit to Islamabad to attend the 12th SAARC Conference.

ORF Senior Fellow Dr. R. Swaminathan will work on mobile banking solutions for financial inclusion and prepare a policy document for the government.

The seminar on Status of India Studies in the United States is co-sponsored by Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and India Studies Program of Indiana University. The seminar is scheduled for September 15 and 16, 2004 at Indiana Memorial Union Hotel, Indiana University, Bloomington.

The study urges urgent action to improve the state of sanitation and demands facilities comparable to those at airports

Mr. Lalit Bhasin, Trustee, Observer Research Foundation, and one of the senior-most lawyers of the Supreme Court, has been bestowed with the National Law Day Award for his "Outstanding Contribution to the Development of the Legal Profession in India and for his deep involvement and engagement in the maintenance of the highest standards at the Bar".

The third meeting of ORF's Indo-Russian dialogue was held in Moscow on 5 - 6 October 2009. India's Russian partner in this dialogue is the Russkiy Mir Foundation headed by Mr. Vyacheslav Nikonov who is also President of the Unity for Russia Foundation.

Observer Research Foundation-Kolkata and Tagore's Cheena Bhavana at Visva-Bharati University co-hosted a day-long series of discussions, an evening of cultural interactions, and a half-day of intensive Mandarin language lessons.

Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India and Fudan Institute for Advanced Study in Social Sciences Fudan University, China have agreed to undertake a joint research project.

The First Meeting of the ORF-Russia non-official Dialogue jointly organised by ORF and two Russian NGOs, Public Chamber of the Russian Federation and the Polity Foundation was held in Moscow in October 2007.

Experts from the BRICS countries and Germany discussed in Delhi 'Supply Side Economics and the Need for Energy Diversification'; 'The Future of Global Energy Systems'; 'Industrial Efficiency and Business Responsibility' and 'Energy Access in BRICS Nations'.

The second meeting of the ORF-PCIP Task Force on India-US Relations was held at Los Angeles on September 13-14, 2004. The first such joint Task Force between an American and an Indian think tank, it is a Track II initiative between Observer Research Foundation, India?s first multi-disciplinary think tank and the Pacific Council, a leadership forum based at Los Angeles and rooted in the American West.

The March 16-visit of US Secretary of State Condeleza Rice to New Delhi is an unprecedented, landmark visit at the most opportune time', said the Indian Foreign Secretary, Mr Shyam Saran, while Inaugurating the ORF-Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Dialogue on East and South East Asia, at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), on March 17, 2005.

Twenty-four undergraduate students, studying history, journalism, economics, political science, and commerce, in different DU colleges, such as Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Hansraj, Hindu, Indraprastha, LSR, Miranda House, Ramjas, and Sri Venkateswara, took part in the workshop.