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China's decision to sell two additional nuclear power reactors to Pakistan has dimensions that need to be better understood. China is persisting with its internationally destabilizing proliferation activity.

With the IMF being viewed by developing countries with skepticism, the G8 unrepresentative of current global realities and the UN too large, the G20 has done well to fill the gap in an effective global governance model. And the effectiveness of the G20 as an international body would be greatly determined by the structure it chooses to pursue.

India has many reasons to nurse a nuclear grievance against China. For, Beijing's decision to arm Pakistan with nuclear weapons has given Rawalpindi the impunity to pursue cross-border terrorism against India. But Delhi has no reason at all to blame Beijing for its own failures on the nuclear policy front.

There are unlimited possibilities for strengthening maritime cooperation with Bangladesh and Myanmar - ranging from joint scientific research to environmental monitoring and from major trans-border projects to trilateral naval exercises. If Delhi decides to play for small stakes in the Bay of Bengal, it will deal itself out of the emerging great game in the east.

Given the enormity of challenges, there is a need for all the space-faring powers to unite in this exercise. It is important for India and others to debate and decide on what it thinks the norms should be and what sort of future it wants to achieve in space.

Africa is facing a digital divide. Access to the internet and related digital services is low, and in most countries, the supporting regulatory framework is not in place; nor are the necessary data and logistics infrastructure. At the same time, there are various examples of e-commerce success stories across the continent; and the wide use of mobile phone technology has created many new opportunities for African entrepreneurs and consumers alike.

India’s 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, which empowered local self-governments (Panchayati Raj Institutions) and reserved one-third of electoral seats in these bodies for women, has elevated women’s participation in rural governance. India is among the foremost countries for women’s participation in local governments, with over 1.45 million women shaping local decision-making. Women leaders are a critical link between local governance, s

Election Commission's reported decision to implant a 'verification mechanism' in the electronic-voting machines to be deployed in the four-State Assembly polls could have anything but the intended consequences.

In the Indian context, the term, ‘Special Operations Forces’ (SOF) refers to all those forces that are especially selected, organised, trained and equipped for tasks that have an impact at the strategic level and are beyond the remit of conventional forces. India’s uncoordinated response to the January 2016 terrorist attacks on the 1 Pathankot Air Force base has again trained the spotlight on the issues of tasking, synergy and ‘jointnes

The Indo-Pacific region is becoming the world's new strategic and economic ‘centre of gravity’. Indeed, the accelerated trajectory of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) in recent years highlights the region’s growing importance. The Quad countries have committed to a rules-based order and a free and open Indo-Pacific, and are aiming to develop resilience across domains, such as in the maritime space, to counter and deter aggressive

An enormous amount of capital is required for climate change mitigation and adaptation globally, but especially in emerging markets that have the dual burden of achieving development and meeting national climate goals in the coming decades. Although it is tough to estimate the precise amount of capital required to achieve these goals, it is anticipated to be in the range of trillions of dollars. However, the flow of capital into green sec

The Sundarban ecoregion, straddling India and Bangladesh, is home to the largest contiguous mangrove forest in the world. Parts of the forest are designated as World Heritage Sites in both countries due to their rich biodiversity. The natural areas of the Sundarban are influenced by human use and, in recent years, increasingly by climate change. This paper explores an institutional arrangement that could help identify and implement the options th

In recent years, different research institutions, government bodies, and private entities across countries have issued principles and guidelines for the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). There is little consensus, however, over universal ethical principles and how to implement them. What are the similarities and differences in AI ethics discussions across geographies, and what are the existing gaps? Crucially, if the larger goa

The new draft of the EU-initiated International Code of Conduct for Outer Space is a significant step forward. The language has been tightened to make it more precise. The document is particularly mindful of the interests of emerging Space actors and instituting measures for greater international cooperation. There have also been several practical measures suggested for more transparency.

The Af-Pak conflict's center of gravity has over the past five years shifted decisively to the very heart of Pakistan. Hence, the ultimate ace up Pakistan's sleeve is to search seriously for peace with India, step by step, but sincerely.

China has often showed a lack of willingness to abide by not only established international law but also certain norms that the global community has fostered over the years. It has flouted the decision issued by an arbitration court at The Hague regarding its claims in the South China Sea; it has also appropriated intellectual property.  In the 1970s when the Western economies were taking the lead in setting global norms while balancing the thre

As China pursues its expansionist ambitions in the greater South China Sea, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is working to enhance his country’s ability to exercise its sovereignty and sovereign rights. Towards this end, Manila is expanding its strategic options through robust external partnerships and national policy recalibrations to secure its lawful waters in what it calls the West Philippine Sea. There are concerns, however, abou

Heightening great-power rivalry has impeded consensus-making in multilateral institutions. This has given rise, in recent years, to minilaterals especially in the Indo-Pacific. Even as there are criticisms that minilaterals are too informal and lacking in structures that are required for focused debates, China’s belligerence has galvanised support for, and focus within minilateral groupings in the region. Over the past year, the fallout of the

Over the last few decades, a global climate finance architecture has emerged to channel domestic and international funds towards climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. However, mobilising climate capital at scale has been a challenge, particularly in the Global South, since the current financial system is inept at including climate change metrics in its capital allocation and disbursement processes, and applying a climate justi

This paper attempts to make a contribution in the context of the recent push in making India an e-empowered economy for promoting exports. The study stems from the premise that exports respond significantly to the costs associated with breaking into foreign markets and sustaining in those markets, whereas e-commerce offers a ready platform to minimise such costs. The empirical exercise focuses on export decision and export intensity, after adjust

India has moderated its position on the Israel-Palestine conflict over time, exchanging statements of condemnation for those "expressing concern". But behind India's strategic balancing act there also lies a precise domestic calculus.

If the George Bush Administration in the US were wise, it would have waited for the current holy fasting period of the over one billion Muslims of the world and their Eid festivities to be over before launching its much-publicised and much-hyped offensive to pacify Falluja, the Sunni stronghold in Iraq, which is apparently perceived by the Pentagon as the nerve-centre of the anti-US resistance and jihadi terrorism in Iraq.

The Government's decision to bring in FDI in retail has created an uproar, but it is not surprising at all as it has not only been ill-timed but is also being clumsily handled by the political class.

Interstate (River) Water Disputes (ISWDs) are a continuing challenge to federal water governance in India. Rooted in constitutional, historico-geographical, and institutional ambiguities, they tend to become prolonged conflicts between the states that share river basins. This paper examines the constitutional complexities, contentious political federalism, and identity-based electoral political dynamics that fuel ISWDs. It discusses the River

Defence structures around the world are seeing a technological upheaving as new and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) are being added to military arsenals. However, military AI largely lacks precision and is often developed without any threat-modelling which takes gender into account, examples of which are already being seen in civilian applications of AI. Translated into a conflict environment, deploying such AI systems cou

Climate change has emerged amongst India’s most formidable challenges to sustained GDP growth. To accelerate the implementation of the country’s commitments under the Paris Agreement and advance its progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, finance is key. India needs to develop a comprehensive strategy and an integrated policy approach that aligns the country’s financial systems with the long-term needs of the economy while incor

Over three years since the February 2021 coup in Myanmar, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has made little progress in helping resolve the crisis despite releasing a ‘Five-Point Consensus’ (5PC) in April 2021. The political crisis that followed the coup poses a challenge for the ASEAN, which must now deliberate on ensuring not only the early implementation of the 5PC but also whether, and how, it should continue to abide by

This paper analyses the patterns of virtual water trade (VWT) in agricultural products across the globe—VWT is the flow of water embedded in goods and services when they are traded—and the implications for alleviating water scarcity. Virtual water trade has been crucial in ameliorating water scarcity in virtual water-importing nations. At the same time, it has led to per capita water availability declining at a more rapid rate among the net v

A number of initiatives have been recently undertaken to improve the tourism sector in India. These include the introduction of tourist police at key tourist sites in Delhi and the decision to set up an inter-ministerial group to facilitate better co-ordination between the tourism and civil aviation ministries.

It is absolutely necessary that the central government must consult the state concerned, take care of its grievances, and take it on board while making a decision. At the same time an effective foreign policy requires that the Centre will be in a position to draw the line and assert that the national interest must trump any other interest.

In May 2023, India’s University Grants Commission announced draft guidelines to allow foreign universities to establish operations in the country. This paper explores the potential outcomes of the decision by assessing the experiences of foreign institutions in China, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, and Malaysia. The case studies highlight that only a few world-class universities are keen to establish campuses in foreign countries. As su

If there is one thing on which all the ¿Dravidian parties¿ of Tamil Nadu stand united today, it is their criticism of the Union budget, presented by fellow Tamil leader Palaniappan Chidambaram. In doing so the DMK, the PMK and the MDMK, allies of the Congress at the Centre, have restricted their criticism to the proposed tax on the daily withdrawal of money from one¿s own bank account.

Most leading air forces around the world were quick to learn from the experiences of the US Air Force between the Vietnam War in the 1960s and the Gulf War three decades later. This resulted in the widespread adoption by these forces of Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) beginning in the mid-1990s. Only a few of these air arms, however, have matched the overall effectiveness of US air power, which combines aircraft survivability with weapon range,

Gender equality is a fundamental human right. This principle is also found in the SDG 2030 Agenda where its signatories, including India, reaffirmed their commitment to mainstreaming gender development and ensuring equal representation of women in political and economic decision-making. This paper outlines gender-budgeting norms for resource allocations as an essential prerequisite for India to achieve progress towards the SDG-5 on gender equalit

Although neither India nor China envisions participating in decisive naval battles given the interdependent nature of the world order, naval suasion continues in the Indian Ocean. The underlying strength for control of the Indian Ocean, however, is not geopolitical but economic power.

The IMF estimates that State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) assets totalled US$45 trillion in 2018, close to 50% of the global GDP, and calculated the debt of the largest SOEs to be US$7.4 trillion. Clearly, SOEs have a direct bearing on the global economy. The most systemically important SOEs are the State-Owned Multinational Enterprises (SOMNEs) since they are focused on cross-border financing and business. A global framework for regula

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive economic and social fallout for India, as it has across the globe. In India, large numbers of people lost their jobs, and supply chains across industries and agriculture have been disrupted. At the same time, environmental indicators—notably air and freshwater quality—showed improvements following the long period of a nationwide lockdown. This brief outlines why India must make a focused decision to mov

The Haqqani Act of the US Congress, and last week's decision in the US Senate to delay the confirmation of a new US ambassador to Kabul, are now adding to the pressure on the State Department. The next few weeks are likely to see intense parleys between Washington and Rawalpindi to find a way to delay.

The essence of SSC is pivotal & sincere. But it is not devoid of criticism. The use of the word, ‘South’, itself reflects the colonial hangover that developing countries are trying to shed

Young Indians are ambitious and show greater autonomy in their career decisions.

This brief examines India’s defence budget for 2023-24. It outlines the economic context for India’s latest defence allocations, and examines the drivers of growth, the broad distribution of resources among the defence forces, and the impact of such distribution on modernisation and the domestic defence industry. The brief posits that the new defence budget, coming on the back of a hefty mid-year upward revision of the previous alloca

Human traffcking remains a highly acute issue in India and rehabilitation efforts must be stepped up to make sure that those rescued from these hazardous situations are given a chance to rejoin mainstream society. However, various loopholes exist in the judicial and executive processes involved in the country’s rehabilitation systems. This paper describes such problems evident in the process of home enquiry for the rescued victims: fraugh

To take India-Japan ties to the next level, three issues need to be resolved. First, early end to their negotiations on civil nuclear cooperation. Second, a decision on the offer of the US-2 amphibian aircraft. Third, the symbolism of Japanese technology products which can be used for military applications.

Tamil Nadu fishers have put their politicos on notice. Sympathise and empathise with them on their cause but not politicise it too much, as it may have become a hurdle and a hitch, not amounting to support and solutions.

The Indian Air Force’s problems with numbers is no secret, It has been plagued by poor decision-making, poor acquisition strategy and shoddy quality control and contract delivery.

From an internet governance point of view, and the debate over the ITU staking its claim over managing the internet resources and taking over the ICANN functions, GAC's role is an important one, but which often finds itself as not having enough 'clout' in the ICANN decision making process.

आम्ही इंडो-पॅसिफिकमध्ये तंत्रज्ञानाची घोडदौड पाहत असताना, iCET चे उद्दिष्ट दोन्ही देशांना गंभीर आणि उदयोन्मुख तंत्रज्ञानामध्ये भागीदारी वाढविण्यात मदत करणे आहे.

Nepal's Prime Minister Bhattarai has difficult tasks ahead. His credibility has diminished following a heap of unpopular moves he resorted to. He has been criticised for seeking amnesty for rights violators and for his failure to deal with rampant corruption and worsening law and order situation.

Adoption of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can affect the performance of firms in a variety of ways, including faster processing of information and products, the facilitation of changes in business practices and improved internal organisation and management. Indeed, much of the recent research on developed countries in this area has emphasised less the adoption decision per se than what adoption facilitates. In particular, ICT is

The financial health of the Indian Railways, the single largest employer in the Government of India, has been in a dismal state for some time now. With the recent merging of the railways budget with the general budget, it has become a daunting exercise to conduct an analysis of railway finances. Yet, it is no doubt in the national interest to not only locate the shortcomings in the system but also explore solutions to improve performance. This pa