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The two-week-long Sindh festival, now underway in Pakistan, is significant for multiple reasons. For one, it is about the unfolding leadership transition in the Pakistan People's Party from Asif Ali Zardari, who led it after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007.

The shift of the non-PPP Sindhi leadership to other non-Sindhi parties, and their subsequent victories there, though limited, is shows that much of Sindhi society is looking to the rest of the country to bring about change in the Province. Better connecting Sindh to the Pakistani mainstream is now seen by many as a solution to their internal grievances.

India has asserted an edgier counter-terror doctrine: credible, calibrated, and coercive

Singapore’s centrality in India’s Southeast Asia outreach is reflected in the two countries’ cooperation in multilateral forums

The recent New Delhi visit of Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations, was very much fruitful to give a boost to Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj's 5s vision and enhance the skill development and cultural ties between the countries.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh deserves credit for his determination to push on with engagement that may be difficult, but which is undoubtedly in India's interest. And his boldness isn't confined to Pakistan alone.

Afghanistan thinks that the Istanbul Process, as a mechanism established in November 2011 for regional cooperation to ensure stability in the country, is still under-utilised, says Afghanistan's Ambassador to India Shaida M Abdali.

Despite a long speech there were no magic bullets presented to kickstart a virtuous cycle of investment, growth and jobs.

The rise of Islamic State does pose a strategic threat to South Asia, although the influence might not be direct, according to Prof. Stephen Tankel of American University. He says since the decline of the Al Qaeda senior leadership in Pakistan, the IS has emerged a source of new leadership.

Lt Gen (retd.) David Barno, Director, Center for North-East and South Asia (NESA) at the National Defense University, Washington, D.C. along with Col (retd.) Jack Gill, also of the same center, visited ORF on 18 April 2008. LTG Barno made a presentation on "Situation in Afghanistan in the Context of Insurgency and Changing Nature of War".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leading a majority government after a gap of 25 years, took charge of the country on May 26 this year at an impressive swearing-in ceremony.

With every day inching closer to the penultimate battle of 2014, the lines ar e being drawn and rules of the game getting clear. Political leaders are maki ng their preferences clear about PM candidates. And with every announceme nt, any chances of Na-rendra Modi making it to 7RCR are receding.

Parrikar's off-the-cuff remarks have strengthened China's case against India on both counts.

This issue brief examines what is little known about the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) to underline the threat it continues to pose to India and the world six years after the Mumbai attacks.

The city of Mumbai is almost synonymous with its train network, the backbone of its bustling public life. Mumbai suburban trains are said to be the most efficient railway systems in the world. Its eminence & growing dependency has belittled the high price of human lives, the city is paying. In 2002, the Mumbai suburban railway system claimed 3773 lives, injuring 3,297 from the total 7070 accident cases.

A collusive relationship between politicians and Naxalites or the People's War (PW) and Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI), which have merged on September 21, 2004, to form the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), is clearly visible in Bihar, as in several other parts of the country.

There are now three strands to Pakistan's strategy. One, to keep the pressure on Afghanistan through increased Taliban terrorist attacks; two, take over the dialogue process with the help of China, and; three, tie all this up with an ISI-NDS deal.

The shadow boxing being done by UPA's friends and foes for a rollback of "prices" actually lacks a killer punch because what they are demanding is one of taxes meant to collect revenues for the UPA's flagship social sector schemes

The visit of External Affairs Minister SM Krishna to Dhaka early July underlines the importance of Bangladesh in India's strategic thinking. The visit was also crucial as it laid out the agenda for the all-important visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh later this year.

Of all the non-conventional renewable energy sources, small hydro represents highest density resource and stands in the first place in generation of electricity from such sources world-wide. It is also the most cost-effective energy technology to be considered for rural electrification and under the climate change scenarios.

As India braces itself for an over-ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, it also has to deliberate the prospects of developing other renewable energy resources. Of all the non-conventional renewable energy sources, small hydro represents the highest density resource.

Over four billion people do not have access to Internet; that makes a huge two-thirds of the global population. In India, around four of every five people lack this basic resource. Various access technologies are being developed in different parts of the world to bridge the digital divide. Amongst these technologies, the emergence of small satellites carries immense promise. These satellites are used for applications ranging from remote sensing t

In 2017, India launched a record 104 satellites into space. Barring one, the rest of the satellites that were launched were small satellites.

While the launch of the MUDRA Bank is a laudable effort on the part of the government, there still persists ambiguity in the nature of the Bank's undertakings. The most pressing concern is in regards to the Bank's role as both a regulator and refinancing agency which will lead to a conflict of interests.

Building one hundred smart cities, towns or townships will not change India's urban landscape much. India needs an overall smart, well-discussed, thought-out, and lastly effective and efficiently implemented urban development strategy in a holistic urban policy framework. Now is the time to shape it.

As India starts moving on its path of making its hundred odd cities 'smart', it could take a few cues from the experience of China, another developing country and India's immediate neighbour. Though in many parameters, the Chinese cities do quite well, they too have shortcomings, when looked from some indicators.

Fixers aka political managers abound because they thrive in an artificially scare economy where votes are a premium

It is not often that China defends the rights of whistleblowers against the state and America finds itself defensive about internet freedom. That precisely is what Edward Snowden, the young American who has exposed the expansive cyber espionage activities of the National Security Agency in the United States against its own citizens and the rest of the world, has achieved.

In treating Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari badly at the NATO summit in Chicago, US President Barack Obama was highlighting the US frustration at Pakistan's reluctance to open up over land access to the international forces in Afghanistan.

It's pointless to blame Pakistan for successful terrorist strikes. What about the CCTVs that didn't work? The strategy of the new generation of terrorists is to keep the country forever in the terror warp, and they seem to be winning.

The recent US decision to blackball People¿s War (PW) and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) may have revived interest in the naxalite movements, nearer home in India. While there can be no two ways about the State and the society fighting militancy, insurgency or terrorism, there is need to study the social causes and implications of such a trend. That way, we can reduce such incidents and instances, if not totally eliminate them.

Political and economic history typically studied structures and processes. Social history was interested in documenting the values, interests, and everyday lives of the common people.