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The electoral system of India has flaws and there is an 'anti-democratic conspiracy of silence' to hide it, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Mr. Salman Khurshid said during a talk on 'Has the Indian Electoral System Failed?' organized by the ORF Mumbai chapter of Observer Research Foundation on January 24,
Under the 2008 Constitution, President Nasheed is to be succeeded by Vice-President Mohammed Waheed Hassan, who would complete the remaining two-and-half years of the presidency, until elections in October 2013.
While mandating CSR operations for large companies was a more justifiable social policy programme by the UPA-II than others, some of its provisions and recommendations reflect a lack of understanding of the Indian social and economic environment and of the real needs on the ground.
There has been a relative decline in the far reaching capabilities of the US
Though the recent Assembly polls in Bihar witnessed developmental agenda replacing caste and related equations, the power structure is yet to change at the societal level. There only the rich and influential mattered, with caste playing a dominant role, based on individual regions.
The Afghan-Pakistani region is in transition and the changing geo-political realities will have new implications, says Kamran Bokhari, Vice President of Middle Eastern and South Asian Affairs at Stratfor. He says old paradigms cannot be used to gauge new realities.
It is not only President Obama who feels boxed in by the Lindsay Grahams and John McCains of his country but Rouhani too has formidable set of foes to fight, before either can climb down from his stated position. Not everyone in Iran wants his President to negotiate the country out of its present misery.
The ¿Mother¿s Day¿ on Sunday, May 8, and the ¿Akshaya Tritiya¿, or Akha Teej¿, falling on Wednesday, May 11 this year, may have marked a further turning-point in the traditional Dravidian mores. It had witnessed a revival and the peak through the 20th century Tamil Nadu, but evolving circumstances had begun rendering it inconsistent, redundant and irrelevant to the times in the last quarter.
Over the last few decades, particularly after the end of cold war, a distinctive feature of the strategic and security related environment has been the unprecedented and sheer dynamics of change in the concepts, paradigms and complexities of national, regional and global security.
Last fortnight's India-China joint naval exercise, however limited, may be a new opening in bilateral relations. Coupled with the politico-economic CBMs of the past years, the Shanghai naval exercise is an indication that both nations are learning to overcome the bitter past.
Traditionally, a newly elected South Korean President visits Washington first, followed by Tokyo. But the new President Park Geun-hye, as expected, did visit Washington first in May, but followed it up by a visit to Beijing and not to Tokyo. This is interpreted this to speculate that China has taken precedence over Japan in Seoul's diplomatic calculations.
During the past couple of weeks, Nepal Maoist chief Prachanda has given three significant interviews. He carefully picked up three influential and understanding media channels, ¿ Kantipur in Nepal, The Hindu in India and the BBC of London ¿ to send a strong message across to Nepal, India and the international community respectively.
India will likely struggle to achieve the SDGs for financial reasons. At present, a shocking 2-3 per cent of Indians pay taxes. Mobilising domestic finance ? including optimal tax collection reform ? can help supplement the traditional sources of aid.
Iran's cancellation of $500 million funding to Pakistan for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline indicates Iran's clout in regional energy affairs. It is unclear why Iran took this sudden step. Is President Rouhani merely fine-tuning some of the policies of his predecessor? But there is certainly more to this than meets the eye.
Over the past two decades, the India–US relationship has expanded in almost every conceivable dimension, albeit not as allies but as fellow travelle
President Pervez Musharraf has a number of reasons to be unhappy with India. It took only a few hours for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to dismiss the General's seemingly well-crafted and cleverly worded war-game plans for Greater Kashmir. The General's idea was simple.
Chennai may have lost out on the petroleum, petro-chemicals, pharmaceutical, and biotech fields, but it still remains the home-base of several solid market leaders from myriad industries.
The collapse of an under-construction 11-storey building in Chennai which claimed 42 lives should serve as a wake-up call for the housing sector to have a regulatory mechanism for the construction industry.
The collapse of an under-construction 11-storey building in Chennai which claimed 42 lives should serve as a wake-up call for the housing sector to have a regulatory mechanism for the construction industry.
The George Bush visit was a giant step forward for Indo-US relations and India was elated to be part of the Big League. Now that he has gone, the Left protests turned out to be only that much bushfire and the euphoria of the visit has evaporated somewhat, it is time to evaluate just what this winwin situation might mean.
India-Bangladesh relations got a major boost following Home Minister P Chidambaram's visit to Dhaka in July this year. The visit, described by Chidambaram as constructive, infused optimism about the resolution of some of the bilateral issues like border during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's scheduled visit to India in September this year.
The new extra-regional player in China seems to want to provoke internal anti-India debates in individual South Asian nations.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) witnessed the beginning of a new era - Hu Jintao era, when the sixty one year fourth generation leader was elected to the post of Chairman of the Central Military Commission(CMC) during the Fourth Plenum of the 16th Chinese Communist Party(CCP) Central Committee (Beijing, September 16-19
China has avoided taking up regional and global responsibilities despite the United States' basic policy and efforts to make it a responsible stakeholder in the international community and help it take its rightful place as a global power, according to US scholar Dr Michael Auslin.
This has been a longstanding policy of China, but more recently, Beijing has been perturbed by New Delhi’s proactive push in China’s periphery along the wider Indo-Pacific. Beijing is attempting to portray itself as the new leader in the emerging multipolar world
2003 was an important year in the evolution of China¿s counter-terrorism policy. In December last, its Ministry of Public Security issued a list of identified 'Eastern Turkistan' terrorist organizations. Figuring in the list are the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), the World Uighur Youth Congress (WUYC),
As part of its political transition from military to "civilian" rule, Myanmar adopted a new constitution through a national referendum in 2008 and conducted its first national elections in two decades in November 2010.
China's rulers have a problem. They are not sure if they can continue to portray the image of a country interested in a peaceful rise without this coming into direct conflict with a desire to reassert newly defined core interests.
For decades since 1932, after the Chakri dynasty gave up absolute power, Thailand has lived under the shadow of military coups.
Chinese reports in the ‘Global Times’ have portrayed MILAN as an inflammatory tactic, aimed at ‘spreading tensions from the land to the sea’, a blatant Indian attempt to undermine Chinese influence in South Asia.
As in Bandung 60 years ago, there is little consensus in Asia on how to build a new regional order. Prickly nationalism and persistent territorial disputes are making Asia into a geopolitical tinderbox. China's growing power has made it an attractive economic partner as well as the prospective political hegemon.
As a rising China becomes the most important extra-regional partner for India's neighbours, India cannot simply wish away the Chinese influence in the subcontinent. The only way to limit the scope and structure of China's security profile is to expand India's own cooperation, including in the defence domain, with all neighbours.
The fifth meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing was used by China to reinforce its engagement with Africa. It is significant that despite it being only a ministerial conference, six Heads of State and two Prime Ministers attended the opening session.
China has clearly made very significant strides in its Space capability. However, it is still a long way short of matching U.S. capabilities and alarm bells need not ring just yet. It will need to undertake significant reforms before it supplants the U.S. as the world's leading Space power.
New Delhi has made it clear that it does not see China as a "threat" to India. The official position reflects a correct assessment of our security environment. China poses a challenge, not a threat, to India.
While the People’s Republic may be more powerful now, its arrogance is driving Asia’s other giant into the arms of the U.S.
Given the past Sino-Russian relations the longevity of their entente is moot. Clearly, India is not entirely without options in this geopolitical competition, the only problem is to get New Delhi to play the game.
The Chinese growth story, triggered and driven by its industrial growth, is truly amazing. But now that industrial growth is slowing down because of higher wages and higher standards of living, to remain competitive China would have to outsource its production to cheap labour countries or move to another growth area - services.
While one could consider the establishment of a space station by China as a potential for collaboration, it would be more prudent of India to consider the military implications of such a move. A manned space station provides a greater thrust to PLA's combative capability.
As the gap between its power and that of China grows, India needs the US to balance China in the South Asia-Indian Ocean Region. The Indian contribution, military or economic, towards a strong American Indo-Pacific strategy appears more nebulous. This is an asymmetry which cannot but have real-life consequences. India should not assume that antipathy to China alone will be the over-riding factor in the US global policy.
As nations in Asia rebalance against Chinese aggression and expansionism, China begins mobilisation of its citizens, citing danger to the nation
Recently China reiterated its interest in constructing a deep seaport in Bangladesh. The Chinese interest in the project reportedly arises because of two reasons. One, to further strengthen its presence in the South Asia region,
China, keen to demonstrate that it is more powerful than Russia, has issued dire warnings to Washington against Pelosi’s visit
Though the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Japan is an achievement in Indo-Japanese bilateralism, much more needs to be done at the people-to-people level to broaden and strengthen the growing relationship.
