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India does not have much time left to set its priorities right, whatever they be. If nothing else, it cannot afford to 'tire out' its neighbours, who can then choose their own, individual course.

The Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement (LARR) Bill 2011 is the single most important piece of 'legislation in waiting' for very long time. The Bill is a major improvement over the archaic 1894 land law that has contributed to most of the impasse over land acquisitions.

At a juncture like this, rather than losing its energy and focus, the Centre and Maosts affected States need to keep up the pressure on the rebels and if possible make smart negotiations with rebel leaders with attractive surrender and rehabilitation packages.

Pakistan's military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf has seemingly upset the Indians by insisting on a specific time frame within which a solution to the Kashmir issue acceptable to India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris is worked out within the framework of the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's call for zero-tolerance to terrorism in Washington on July 18 has come at a time when there is an urgent need for a global consensus on this issue. The Ayodhya and London attacks have clearly proved the re-emergence of terrorism with a renewed vigour.

Besides Osama bin Laden, Pakistan Army and ISI have been hand in glove with the Taliban for over 10 years, helping them with safe houses, recruitment bases, training and weapons. Their alliances have been effectively documented not only by the Indian security agencies but also by different western security and intelligence agencies.

Now, we have single party majority government at the Centre and in Delhi. For both BJP and AAP winning the election was the easy part, relatively. The hard part to fulfill promises, to give least government and maximum governance has just begun.

While the domestic economic situation needs various corrective steps to bring back an increase in private investment, the external situation needs to be addressed with right export-boosting policies. Raising export growth seems to be the only alternative.

The new NSS survey clearly shows that 8 per cent GDP growth of the last five years has not translated into a higher level of job creation. There was a dramatic deceleration in total employment growth. And this means that India has been experiencing jobless growth during the last five years.

It is time to think of the role of women in uniform beyond being merely the 'sobering/civilising force' on their male counterpart. With the same training and opportunities, it is time to imbue the phrase 'femme fatale' with a new meaning.

India is now extending 'visa on arrival' to tourists from 180 countries to encourage tourism. But budget tourists, who aim at staying in small hotels/guest houses and not five-star hotels, face problems in finding clean and safe accommodation.

For those who see the India-China relationship as one of the key partnerships of this century, what is most disappointing is the lack of ambition in the agenda for the conversations. The two countries now need to be bold and creative in what they do together.

His arrival created controversy and so did his departure. For nothing was becoming either about Porter Goss¿s arrival at Langley to replace George Tenet, or about his departure on May 5. He was brought in to head a sullen and demoralised force and when he was unceremoniously dropped, the CIA was a much-diminished organisation.

With two resolutions in as many days relating to neighbouring Sri Lanka, both moved by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the Tamil Nadu Assembly has revived complex pan-Tamil issues nearer home, with consequences flowing from across the world.

If the rest of India was ¿shocked¿ over the Tamil Nadu police arresting the Kanchi Sankaracharya in a murder case, it was equally surprised over the passivity of the people in the State, whom they expected would have taken to the streets in protest.

The four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is yet choose between General Sarath Fonseka and incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa

The Tamil National Alliance, heading an elected Government in Sri Lanka's Northern Province, have shocked well-wishers in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, with its tough stand on the fishers' issue between Colombo and Chennai.

The Modi government appears to have abandoned the multi-pronged policy of its predecessor of simultaneously engaging Islamabad and dealing with cross-border terrorism. This government made a surprise beginning with the idea of promoting South Asian unity . But since then it has been fixated on countering terrorism at the cost of everything else, though Pakistani covert activity in India has seen a sharp decline since 2008.

Irrespective of how the 'Afghan Endgame' unravels in the coming months, it is safe to argue that stabilizing the war torn country will take decades, and much international help.

With the Delhi Durbar at its dysfunctional worst, power is flowing away from Delhi to State capitals, where some strong men and women are ruling. India's external partners tend to see this with much greater clarity than the domestic observers of Delhi's current listlessness.

Call it a game of good-cop-and-bad-cop being played out by President Musharaff and Prime Minister Jamali, yet Pakistan¿s willingness to ¿keep aside¿ the UN resolution on plebiscite in Kashmir should come as a welcome turn, if not relief, for India, and all those hoping for permanent peace in South Asia.

Pakistan has shown inadequate political will to act against the Mumbai conspirators and has found tactical refuge in legal niceties to take minimum action

Talking about how minority tokenism is hurting the real cause, Saeed Naqvi says a non Muslim with a secular image in the Ministry of Minority Affairs would be able to chart out an agenda for minorities which is free of the odour of tokenism, which would really enthuse the community, not bluff it.

India, which hosts Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations later this month, must come to terms, like the rest of the region, with Tokyo's determination to shape the Asian security order. After he returned to power a year ago, Abe has set about transforming Japan's military strategy.

The turbulent history of the civil aviation sector and the threat of a bumpy future given its current situation are not good for the economy or the image of India as a rising economic power through private entrepreneurship.

A detailed report by the US Senate Intelligence Committee recently has told us once again that torture doesn?t work. India should aspire to become a civilised democracy by putting an immediate legislative ban on torture. It will give our security organisations incentive to develop the interrogation and forensic skills, which are far more efficacious in countering terrorism.

Narendra Modi's view of foreign affairs is likely to be shaped by the outlook of his contacts in the world of commerce. This is not a bad thing, because, the key to any "tough" or decisive policy rests on the state of the Indian economy. But toughness as policy is fraught with all manner of danger, like Nehru's "tough" policy with China in 1962.

Hit by violent ethnic clashes, the Otunbayeva government faces a tough challenge to bring Kyrgyzstan out of the present crisis. One of the main challenges would be to conduct an impartial probe into the violence and punish the guilty to regain the confidence of the minorities.

A number of important treaties of immense strategic significance have been signed during Prime Minister Vajpayee's first ever visit to Tajikistan on November 14. The agreements signed were related to setting up a Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, a bilateral extradition treaty and military ties.

Text of the keynote address delivered by Prof. K. V. Kesavan in the symposium Changing Perception of Japan in South Asia in the New Asian Era: State of Japanese Studies in India and other SAARC Countries

It appears that the Modi government is beginning to recognise the need for greater synchronisation between the different arms of the government and appreciate the need for better space utilisation in the realm of foreign policy and national security. This new approach needs to be strengthened and sustained for India to tap its full potential in outer space.

A common thread that runs through TPP, TTIP and CETA deals is the Investor-state dispute settlement system (ISDS), an opaque supranational court that decides disputes, bypassing the domestic courts and national laws. Now, the fear is that these trade deals might just end up producing managed rather than free trade.

Indian and Pakistani governments have realised the necessity of better connecting provinces on both sides of the border as a possible means of improving broader relations between the two nations.

Speaking on India-China relations Dr Yiwei Wang gave a Chinese perception of this relationship. The basic theme was that there was need to look at three T's (Trade, Tibet and Territory) to improve the bilateral relations.

With both India and the US having differing domestic and national priorities, these countries are bound to compete and conflict on trade issues. But these must not be allowed to overshadow the larger gains that bilateral trade has brought to each country.

India?s improved relations with Bangladesh have brought new opportunities for economic development in the North East region. To maximise the benefits, there is need for identifying the factors and the issues that might hinder the growth of economic ties.

The Saudi monarchy is facing challenges on many fronts but will brazen it out, fully confident of the unstinted support of its powerful patrons in Washington. Some changes, however, may occur in the Saudi government as a sop to the growing clamour for accountability.

For starters, trade talks between the two countries resumed after a hiatus of nearly three years. The talks were suspended following the Mumbai attacks. But the thaw emanating from the latest bout of 'cricket diplomacy' has paved the way for cooperation in the sphere of trade.

By using the markets, developed countries still have a lot to offer the international community, particularly the developing world. However, this would involve a fundamental recast of traditional aid into a wider framework.

Three main issues were discussed in the 40th Munich Conference on Security Policy held on 6-8 February 2004: prospects of transatlantic relations, future of NATO, and future developments in the Middle East. As usual, several Defence and Foreign Ministers, representatives of think tanks, academia, media and the defence industry attended the conference.

The 2014 general elections are all about the economy, jobs, good governance and rising aspirations. Survey after survey conclusively agree that for most voters what matters is stable employment, steady income, corruption free governance and a decisive leadership.

Information security has to move beyond its traditional concepts if it needs to cater to the special demands of governance. Knowledge is for cutting. For long, it has been in the hands of the bureaucrats. It?s time that we snatch it.

The run-up to the upcoming presidential polls in the Maldives will determine the shape of things to come in the future, with far-reaching implications for India, for bilateral relations between the two countries and the Indian Ocean region. This became evident at the end of a candid discussion that a high-level team of the Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had with a section of Indian intellectuals at Observer Research Foundation (ORF),