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The multiple crises besetting India’s justice delivery system are related to a large extent to what the Chief Justice calls “dilapidated” infrastructure. Indeed, it is empirically known that there is a positive correlation between adequacy of infrastructure—whether courtrooms, chambers, sanitation facilities, or digital connectivity—and productivity in the delivery of justice. This brief highlights the stark gaps in infrastructu

Indians need to realise that the time has come for decision-making and thinking which is multi-year, though not in the Five Year Plan kind of a way. What is needed are steps that go beyond partisan approaches and election-cycles aimed at providing the desperately needed transformation of the way India manages its governmental system.

This paper highlights the imperatives for India’s G20 Presidency for promoting development cooperation towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Given its unique development cooperation model—more precisely, its development partnership model—India can utilise its G20 presidency to push the sustainability agenda. This will help bridge the North-South divide in sustainable development financing. The paper recommends

Even as India has had a long-running debate about many aspects of its nuclear doctrine, most importantly, its No First Use (NFU) policy, the country continues to maintain the NFU. This paper makes a critical assessment of recent arguments made by Christopher Clary and Vipin Narang that India may be reconsidering its NFU policy because of counterforce “temptations”. The paper dissects the evidence they present—statements made by mostly retir

Proactively taking advantage of China’s involvement in the Taiwan Strait to fight China in multiple theatres is something Indian military planners should think about.

Sri Lanka¿s new Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, has indicated the importance, and relevance of India to the Sri Lankan context, by visiting New Delhi within days of his being sworn in. His visit to India even before the conclusion of the Indian electoral exercise was testimony to the mood in Colombo for increasing New Delhi¿s role and involvement in the Sri Lanka peace process.

The Jammu and Kashmir problem has imposed heavy political, diplomatic and military costs on India for the last 63 years. It has excessively conditioned our external relations, with much of our diplomacy occupied over the years with explaining to other countries our position on J&K, warding off criticism,

For a decisive role in the region's future, India must accelerate its economic growth, build a stronger security partnership with Washington, contain the boundary dispute with China, and strengthen ties with key Asian middle powers.

The foreign policy of the Modi government is the continuation of the foreign policies introduced by the Manmohan Singh government, whose hallmark was the concrete decision to link India's economic transformation and growth of India with its foreign policy approach and objectives, says Dr. Shashi Tharoor.

Advani's most memorable quote: "You were asked only to bend, but you crawled" holds good today, as much as it did in 1975. Through the UPA regime, it was manifested in the absence of criticism of Sonia Gandhi, and now it is in the free ride that Narendra Modi gets.

Though India is yet to demonstrate anti-satellite test capability, as China did in January 2007, the scientific establishment has made it amply clear that they have the technological blocks ready should there be a political decision to do so.

Incidents in China should serve as a reminder that racial bias against Africans will be counterproductive for countries wanting to pursue a holistic partnership with African countries.

Both India and Russia need to start thinking strategically about the Central Asian region, not letting emotions guide their foreign policy decisions. This was the consensus reached at a conference organised recently in Delhi.

This brief offers a way to rethink the ongoing dispute between India and Bangladesh over the former’s plan to build a high dam on River Barak (known as Surma-Kushiyara and Meghna in Bangladesh) at Tipaimukh in the state of Manipur. It identifies the origins of different sources of water for Bangladesh’s Haor, the region that is widely feared to be under threat by India’s planned dam. The brief recommends the conduct of a comprehensive study

In an important advance in the bilateral security cooperation between Delhi and Yangon, two naval vessels from Myanmar have arrived in Vishakhapatnam for joint exercises. While India's naval diplomacy with Myanmar is headed in the right direction, Delhi needs to step up the pace of cooperation.

Ceasefire along LoC has not really solved any of India's problems.There exists a dire need to look beyond the existing CBMs of providing advance warnings for military exercises and ballistic missile tests which are relatively "high level" issues.

The decision about whether to escalate or not is much more complex than it appears.

There is a lot riding on the relationship for both New Delhi and Canberra given that both have a inherent interest in balancing China and ensuring a stable Indo-Pacific strategic order.

The Manmohan Singh government will sponsor a $5.4-billion policy to provide free generic drugs - a decision that could change the healthcare woes in India for millions of poor people.

Contemporary seabed warfare in Europe should be viewed as a warning for Indian Ocean littoral states, especially sophisticated regional maritime powers such as India and Australia. The Ukraine–Russia conflict has brought seabed warfare to the fore, as seabed critical infrastructure is once again the target of international conflict. This brief surveys European seabed warfare developments since 2021, how various European actors are responding, a

In the past decade, India has successfully demonstrated the three pillars of effective deterrence—capability, credibility, and communication—in its strategic posture towards China. It has bolstered its defence diplomacy with key partners in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and across the broader Indo-Pacific region, through regular joint military exercises, military officers exchange programmes, frequent high-level diplomatic visits, and the co

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has launched many reforms under the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives to strengthen India’s moribund defence industry. These reforms have led to some visible improvements, as evidenced by increased defence production and exports, and a large bank of in-principle government approvals for future domestic production. However, several challenges persist that require urgent attenti

Maldivian President Yameen Abdullah Gayoom’s rejection of the Supreme Court’s decision to release the jailed opposition leaders to ensure a free and fair presidential elections later this year has brought to head the country’s brewing estrangement with its traditional ally, India. India faces a dilemma: How must it deal with the situation in Maldives? This report examines India’s options in the context of China’s expanding power in the

Various vaccine trials across the world are showing highly promising efficacy, and multiple vaccines are getting approved across continents. The global vaccine race has now entered its second phase, where countries try and procure as many doses of Covid-19 vaccines as possible. India has put its faith primarily in the vaccines of Oxford-AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech-ICMR. It has also secured future stockpiles of Gamaleya and Novavax vaccines thr

Speculations are rife about India possibly inviting Australia for the next Malabar naval exercise—which COVID-19 has caused to be moved to 2021.[1] If true, this would represent a break from the past and signal a change in the Asian strategic environment. Over the past few years, India has consistently resisted including Australia in the exercise, despite the latter’s willingness. The only other time that Australia was included in the Malabar

China’s increasing activities in the Indo-Pacific have motivated India to embrace military logistics agreements with a wide variety of partners.

With discussions underway for Canberra to join the Malabar naval exercises, New Delhi hopes to add a new backer in its fight against China

Why does India have so few available options to manage security threats? In crisis management, Indian policy-makers have faced all-or-nothing choices, either passively absorbing provocations, or overreacting with massive mobilisations and threats of general war. In wartime, with the notable exception of the 1971 war, India has generally fought to degrade enemy military capabilities rather than to achieve decisive operational effects. This paper a

अमेरिका ने पाकिस्तान को एफ-16 युद्धक विमान को अपग्रेड करने का फैसला भारत के खिलाफ है. ऐसे में यह सवाल भी उठता है कि बाइडेन प्रशासन का भारत के प्रति क्‍या नजरिया है. क्‍या बाइडे

अमेरिका ने पाकिस्तान को एफ-16 युद्धक विमान को अपग्रेड करने का फैसला भारत के खिलाफ है. ऐसे में यह सवाल भी उठता है कि बाइडेन प्रशासन का भारत के प्रति क्‍या नजरिया है. क्‍या बाइडे

The pressures to change in Pakistan are real. It is not inconceivable that over a period of time, Islamabad will recognise that there are alternatives for Pakistan to exercise regional influence.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's initiatives at Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt), Thimpu and Chandigarh to improve relations with Pakistan, viewed with much skepticism at the time, were far-sighted. It is time now for even bolder steps.

Though domestic politics will continue to pose challenges to Dr Manmohan Singh's image, his firm commitment to Indo-Pak engagement has put both countries on course for at least a manageable relationship, if not a cordial one, based on mutual interests rather than vicissitudes and emotions.

Since the creation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967, Indonesia has endeavoured to play a leading role in shaping Southeast Asia’s regional security architecture; this continues to be true amidst the more recent shifts taking place in the global geopolitical landscape. Accordingly, the nature of Jakarta’s contributions towards Southeast Asian security reflects the dynamics of its national foreign policy dec

The public attribution of a cyber incident—undertaken coherently and underscored by robust decision-making—can be a useful tool for national security. India, thus far, has not publicly attributed any international cyber incident to a specific private perpetrator or nation-state. Studying the models framed by scholars based in other jurisdictions, this brief offers suggestions on how India can approach the issue of public attribution of cybera

India has been a major beneficiary of the decision of the Bush Administration to transfer the responsibility for the compilation and analysis of statistical data relating to significant international terrorist attacks from the Counter-Terrorism Division of the State Department to the newly-created National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) presently headed by John Brennan as the acting Director.

There is no doubt that Iranian security policy is now bent on laying out on the table and publicising its entire gamut of strategic and tactical playing cards for all to see

The key problem with offering NSG membership to Pakistan is its obstructionist approach. Pakistan will try to block any decision which it might think will be advantageous to India. Since the NSG functions on the principle of consensus, Pakistan's pursuit of parity with India will lead to a stalemate within the NSG.

If Barack Obama can match his oratorical skills with decisive action and emulate Roosevelt's bold economic measures and the Star Wars programme of Ronald Reagan, America can well embark on the path to economic recovery at home and overcome the strategic challenges that threaten its once pre-eminent global position.

USA solar industry got a setback with almost three solar companies, including Solyandra Inc., declaring suspension of their operations and plans. Criticising China's role in the failure of the U.S solar companies may come as a natural defence mechanism, but then China can't be completely held responsible.

The attacks in Jammu and Kashmir are so few that correlating them with demonetisation would be a tricky exercise.

Even George Bush, who had much less qualms about bombing any country, thought it fit to show some proof of Saddam Hussain's WMD to the UNSC, however fake it was. May be, Obama, precisely due to that qualm, is reluctant to show the proof to the world.

The recent shift by the Middle East prioritising geoeconomics over the Palestinian issue could suffer a setback. The crisis ignited by Hamas highlights that the gap between top-heavy policy decisions and groundswell public opinions, movements, and crisis points need to be addressed by regional powers to ensure long-term sustainability of economic cooperation programmes

Drones are no longer esoteric and confined to military precision strikes. The impending, almost inevitable, arrival of drones into our daily lives raises three issues that we need to start thinking about -- reconceptualisation of connectivity and infrastructure, the need to re-imagine airSpace and the third, privacy.

One can see two major reasons for PM Shinzo Abe's decision to change the policy on arms exports. First, Abe is keen to remove many of the self-imposed taboos that have stood in the way of Japan becoming a 'normal country'. At a time when the security environment in East Asia has become so tense, Japan cannot afford to neglect the modernisation of its defence industry.

The recent decision by the government of Naoto Kan to denuclearise Japan by 2050, regardless of its naivete, has certain traits that could help in overhauling the political economy of Japan's energy sector.

The abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019 provoked intense diplomatic response from the international community. For the most part, India received widespread support for its decision. At the same time, however, there have been criticisms of the restrictions imposed in the region on communication and civil liberties. China and Pakistan, in particular, reacted with hostility and attempted to

In aftemath of Uri the Kashmir flare up has increased the domestic pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to act decisively

The Cabinet Committee on Security¿s decision to have Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani as the new person to be heading the talks with separatist outfits raises several questions. What had prompted the Government to finally involve a separatist outfit at the level of talks that the latter have been demanding for so long? And then what would be the status of talk¿s vis-à-vis Pakistan especially after this peace initiative?

CyberSpace is a free-wheeling mind-Space at the cutting edge of innovation precisely because of the absence of sovereignty and artificial barriers. Declaring sovereignty here is as absurd as extending one's jurisdiction deep into the minds of others.