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After the marginalisation of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) since 2016 owing to tensions between India and Pakistan, a search for alternative regional collaborations led India to Bimstec.

There is a modicum of double standards being displayed by China — it has had little compunction in assisting Pakistan with the CPEC.

Jayashree Balasubramanian et al., “Leveraging Community Engagement in Swift and Skillful Disaster Response,” ORF Special Report, March 2024, Observer Research Foundation.

How have nuclear weapons affected Indian foreign policy? Has India been able to leverage its status as a nuclear weapons state to further its foreign policy objectives? This issue brief examines these questions by first analysing how India’s foreign policy objectives have been affected by its possession of nuclear weapons. It then posits two strategies that India can pursue to leverage its status as a nuclear weapons state. The first strategy d

The global macroeconomy has undergone unprecedented change in recent years, particularly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the G20 had an effective coordinating role in steering the global economy through the 2008 global financial crisis, its role in engineering an inclusive and sustainable recovery from the pandemic has been more mixed. Incomes in the advanced G20 economies are on track to return to pre-pandemic levels by end-2022 but have

India is the world’s largest rice exporter, making it a significant player in the global rice market. A global rice shortage is anticipated amid rising geopolitical tensions and commodity prices. To safeguard domestic consumers from exorbitant price shocks, India has banned the export of non-basmati white rice since July 2023. This paper examines the ban's implications, especially regarding welfare redistribution among basmati and non-basmati f

China's Blue Book sees the US as a pivot to Asia and strengthening of alliances in the region is viewed by the Chinese analyst as being directed to contain China. The Blue Book also notes that India's defence cooperation with the US, Japan, Vietnam and Australia has strengthened it. India has to act with maturity while dealing with the resurgent China.

Can China be meaningfully engaged on issues like the border or the boundary? The answer is a resounding 'no'. The Chinese leadership structure is in flux. All the meaningful rapprochements and border resolutions were carried out either in the Mao or the Deng era. Since then, China's leaders have been too weak and fearful of internal coups to move forward in a meaningful way.

While India's abstention at the UN vote on Libya is debatable, is there an opportunity for India and the Indian Air Force in particular in the Libyan crisis?

Khalifa Haftar, a former army chief and the current head of the self-styled Libyan National Army, has launched a grab for power.

A year after India abstained in the Libya vote, it's clear that India's decision to step aside gained it little, and may have done significant damage to its international standing. If Delhi is to meet its aspirations of becoming a significant regional, let alone global, player, then it needs to think more carefully about the message its positions send.

Since the overthrow of the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been plagued by violence and instability. Internecine fighting for power seems be the new norm in Libya, and the country has gradually slipped into a quagmire of civil war.

It was the latest carnage by the Islamic State (IS) that finally brought Libya to world attention. Largely unnoticed, this ruthless predator had created space for itself in Libya in the New Year.

If Eastern Libya goes out of Tripoli's control, the Western half of the country will be left with two-thirds of the country's population and without oil revenue. In such a predicament, any regime in Western Libya will become a failed state, l spawning disorder in the entire region.

A few weeks ago the media were running out of print space and airtime covering the Rahul Mahajan story. Rahul¿s sole claim to fame is that he is the son of a slain ex-minister; his own activities made no difference to most of us then or now. Yet in the midst of innumerable health and other bulletins about this ¿celebrity¿, one of the channels had a constitutional expert voicing his opinion on the episode.

The United States wants a higher strategic relationship with India, which does not include agreeing with Indian views on Pakistan. Our participation in the Bonn conference should bear this in mind.

This special report analyses insights gathered by the author from different sections of the Kashmir public regarding the impact of the abrogation of Article 370 on their lives. The interviews were supplemented by secondary sources, primarily news reports in the national and international media after 5 August 2019, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of India abrogated the enforcement of Article 370 of the Constitution, which sinc

In defining the term 'quality of life', there is no better way to give it a concrete shape than trekking in the woods of an alien land, traversing the streets and bylanes of its cities and staying with people whom you would otherwise never meet in your life.

The Indian Army’s (IA) difficulties with regard to the acquisition of light tanks are as much self-inflicted as they are a product of fiscal constraints. The Army has exerted only half-hearted efforts in developing its light-armoured capabilities—inconsistent with current Army doctrine and in disregard of history. Indeed, the IA has used light armour in high-altitude operations in the past. This paper argues that the IA is hobbled by an infan

Dovetailing the renewable power generation programme with the target of lighting every home by Deepawali 2018, is the best fit.

Throughout the 1990s, the Anglo-US duo remained obsessed with India's nuclear plans and virtually refused any discussions on Pakistani assistance to terrorism in India. The US also did succeed in delaying our missile programme even as they equipped Pakistan with nuclear capable F-16s.

The NDA Government has launched a fresh gold monetisation scheme, but skeptics aren't convinced that this will succeed where others in the past have failed abysmally. Till the scheme is made much more lucrative and perhaps mandatory in some form, it is doubtful that this scheme will perform better than the earlier ones.

Climate change experts at a roundtable at Observer Research Foundation emphasised the need for maintaining a pragmatic attitude at the 20th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at Lima. According to them, the goal should be to set reasonable expectations that can be achieved in Paris.

Observer Research Foundation organised a closed door roundtable meeting of Indian Non-Government Experts on climate change with Amb. Antonio Garcia, Special Envoy for Climate Change, Peru.

Clausewitz may be out of fashion and less relevant today but no one can question his evergreen noting, ¿Each age has had its own peculiar forms of war.... Each, therefore, would also keep its own theory of war¿.

Climate change and economic development are emotive subjects that are closely related: yet one is caused by the other. People’s lives are increasingly getting affected by the negative side-effects of climate change, particularly in developing countries which, at the same time, face enormous challenges to their aspirations for economic growth. Leading scientists agree that global warming is a reality and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are requir

The ongoing security transition is critical to the success of the peace process in Afghanistan. As part of the US 2014 plan, the NATO forces are to hand over the responsibility of security of the country to the Afghan security forces, district by district.

Media's increasing reach cannot be ignored and policymakers and policymaking has to adapt itself to this grind. Media, despite it many vices, serves as a medium for greater appraisal of government policies. But media should understand that sustained attention comes only with sustained credibility.

According to the Delhi Police, Haroon Rashid, an Indian mechanical engineer, who is alleged to be a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), was arrested by them at the Delhi airport on May 16, 2005, on his arrival from Singapore where he had reportedly gone to do a training course.

China’s maritime economic initiative, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) that is part of the larger One Belt One Road (OBOR), has been under considerable international focus recently. India, for its part, has remained non-committal despite China’s charmed offensive. However, with the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, both of which exclude the growing economies of I

China and India both face the twin problem of floods and droughts. While building dams has been the typical way of dealing with this problem, both the countries are exploring the more controversial project for water transfer between river basins, with China taking the lead with its South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP).