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If Narendra Modi becomes prime minister, he will join a select band of predecessors who can be called "outliers" - a scientific term used to describe phenomena which are outside the normal experience.

In the US presidential election, dominated by domestic issues and with little focus on foreign policy, outsourcing has emerged as a point of discussion. India is one of the top countries to which the US outsource work.

It is not the first time that the Pakistan army has accused the R&AW of fomenting trouble in Pakistan. India should be cautious of what lies behind this seemingly sudden provocation. The Pakistan army prepares the ground for a major attack against India and its assets by raising the pitch of allegations to whip up public support at home. This has been the case in the past, including the Mumbai attacks of 2008.

Two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 14-24 million people have died worldwide due to the coronavirus or the chaos of lockdowns and other impacts. To a great extent, much of this current state of the world is due to human health being profoundly misunderstood and neglected in international relations and national politics. This brief discusses two principles that can help understand why this pandemic is not at an

The big paradox that the US confronts is the need to confront China and Russia at the same time. Clearly, even the mighty US does not have the energy and resources to do that. Beijing is, of course, quite self-confident because it is locked into the western economies and is, in that sense, sanctions proof.

There is an irony in the government's crackdown on Ford Foundation that seems to have escaped most observers. In the 1960s, the principal critics of the Foundation were the Indian Left. Now, the government and critics of foundations and NGOs fail to realise one thing. Now we are a self-confident, resilient society with institutions that have gained considerable depth. We are also a transparent and open society.

Once Narendra Modi steps away from the minefield of Nepal's domestic discourse on the Hindu state, the Indian Prime Minister will find the shared Hindu and Buddhist heritage a solid foundation on which to build a new and lasting edifice of bilateral cooperation.

Direct criticism for scarce or expensive vaccines at the government, not the private sector

Strategists in New Delhi would have to factor in that a two front confrontation with Pakistan and China cannot be ruled out. US response in this case is an uncertainty. We need to remember that in the ultimate analysis, China is the resident power and the US is a distant power.

It is easy to criticise Nehru today. His priority then, as it remains that of our country today, is to take poor Indians out of poverty and protect the country's territorial integrity. Given the circumstances, he did not do a bad job, and he did it without murdering millions as was done in China, or overturning democracy, as was the case in many countries of the time.

The real American dilemma is to find allies in Islamabad who reduce and not multiply anti Americanism

The terrorists may be an extreme minority, but they have successfully coerced the majority?or, to be more accurate, enthralled them?into sympathy for them. They have successfully also intimidated a large number of writers, artists, journalists, film-makers, many of whom live in exile.

The impact of the Kachin conflict should also be evaluated in terms of Myanmar?s ties with other nations, especially Japan ? a nation that is one of the principal aid providers and architects of Myanmar?s path to development.

The Modi government needs to break from traditional, statist methods of conducting water diplomacy and distinguish itself by including the concerns of basin inhabitants on both sides to find a lasting solution to the Teesta issue.

It is time to conduct a reality check on the India-Pakistan peace process. In fact, there is a particular urgency for it. For, the peace process seems to have got hijacked by secessionist elements in Kashmir and Pakistan who never had any stakes in it.

The President of Pakistan had expected his handpicked Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, to perform his bidding and strengthen his position. But President Musharraf was disappointed. He, therefore, felt that a change was essential in order to secure his own place and keep the other power players content.

¿Arise, ye Arabs, and awake!¿ was the seditious 19th century slogan of Arab nationalism in its infancy. It aroused them against the Ottoman rule but did not hinder the subsequent imperial designs of Britain and France. The moment of liberation became the start of newer forms of dominance.

The proximate political failures in both these cases are greater than in 2012, and require a more robust political response

By organising the two-day Lahore convention through Hafiz Sayeed and his Jihadi organizations of LeT and JuD, Pakistan wants to demonstrate that the people of Pakistan are not happy with the way the events have taken place in Kashmir.

It was evident at some of the various Track 2 dialogues a few years ago, where water from Kashmir was the issue that Pakistani delegates wanted to discuss saying that this could become the new flashpoint. Actually, water from rivers that flow through Kashmir has always been the real issue for Pakistan and not Kashmiris or their religion.

Once the US successfully built and used nuclear weapons to devastating effect to end the Second World War, other great powers of the time realized that the acquisition of nuclear weapons was essential to maintain their status. In 1970, after three decades of hectic developments,

The first part of this effort documented the various acts of omission and commission by the non-proliferation ayatollahs that led to the 1998 nuclear weapons testing of India, followed by Pakistan. However, the stark reality of the consequences of the dubious policies adopted by the NPAs towards Pakistani and Chinese proliferation came to light recently in the exposé of the Pakistan¿s ¿nuclear father¿ Dr.A.Q.Khan and his nuclear smuggling rin

Iraq is back in the headlines, loaded with euphoria. The electoral exercise has been undertaken; the results have yet to be announced. The running commentary on CNN on January 30 tended to suggest a near perfect exercise. No mention of course was made of the invasion, the occupation, the Iraqi dead, the reduction of Iraq to a stone-age condition, the falsehood of the pretext for war and the failure to find traces of weapons of mass destruction

At some point in the near future, everyone will have a smart digital device. The new digital divide will be of those with access to interactive digital content and those without.

Like the proverbial phoenix of Greek mythology that rose from its ashes, the Taliban is resurrecting in Afghanistan. The good news is that the ¿rising Taliban¿, on the one hand, is supposed to be moderate, and on the other hand, seems to have severed its links with Al Qaeda. The bad news is that it is still the Taliban.

India and Taiwan have historically maintained ‘unofficial’ ties. There have been notable shifts in recent years, as seen in the creation of representative offices in both that serve de facto as embassies. Today the two are aiming to foster more robust economic ties. The COVID-19 pandemic, China’s assertive behaviour, and the growing significance of Taiwan in regional geopolitics, have prompted India to pay greater attention to the island na

This brief analyses the correlation between gender-based inequities and malnutrition. It highlights the case of South Asia, and uses as a backdrop the compounded challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors review existing literature on the subject and cull patterns, with the aim of outlining recommendations for countries in the region for bridging interrelated gaps in gender parity and nutrition.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had widespread global economic impacts, and countries are gearing up for recovery. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be crucial. Given that the SDGs incorporate the four pillars of capital — human, social, natural and physical — these targets will be useful in the post-pandemic economic recovery process. This brief utilises econometric analysis to illustrate how the implementation of the SDGs is a stat

The United Nations (UN) has recently been plagued by several crises—the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taliban’s return in Afghanistan, and the Ukraine war—that have tested its ability to deliver on humanity’s projects of peace and security, sustainable development, human rights, and humanitarian response. Indeed, its actions and inactions in the Ukraine war have triggered an existential dilemma. India must use this moment of creative destruction

For over seven decades the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took justifiable pride in the stability of its political system, the tranquility of its social scene, and the in the overall loyalty of its citizenry. The compelling simplicity of the Saudi flag reflected the cohesion. Occasional murmurs of discontent, and an eruption or two in recent decades, did not belie this judgment.

The 55-45 percent Scotland referendum against independence has revived the on-again-off-again discourse of the kind among Sri Lankan Tamils (SLT), one more time. Rather, certain Tamil web campaigns have cited even a 'No' vote in Scotland to justify their demand for a referendum in the SLT community.

The 2004 annual piracy report published by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) had noted that the Tsunami tidal waves that hit Sumatra in Indonesia might have destroyed the piracy related infrastructure. Some of the pirates may have even perished in the disaster. Besides, there was also a large naval presence and may have acted as a deterrent against piracy activity in the Malacca Straits.

Like in some other regions of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated external debt accumulation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This could have massive, adverse impacts on growth as governments prioritise debt servicing commitments over key development expenditures such as healthcare and education. For the countries in SSA with relatively lower GDP, this could mean getting caught in a vicious cycle of low output and mounting debt. A pa

Rekindling a romance is never easy. However, if the expansive agenda unveiled by Modi and Obama is matched by bureaucratic purposefulness in Delhi and Washington, India and America have a second chance at building a strategic partnership of considerable consequence.

There is a shift in rhetoric from former Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel's statement that the US has been "clear and consistent" on not taking positions on "competing territorial claims" to Ashton Carter's clear insistence on American action in the event of assertive activities of one country.

India ranks 114 out of 142 countries in the Global Gender Gap index this year. Except Pakistan, most of the South Asian countries rank higher than India. What the index shows is a reflection of reality that no matter how rapidly India grows, women's status in society needs faster improvement.

The Sino-Indian clash puts Russia in an awkward position.

An Indian Prime Minister's visit to China has always been of strategic significance. Rajiv Gandhi's visit to China in 1988 following Wangdung episode resulted in the formulation of Mutual Understanding, Mutual Accommodation and Mutual Adjustment for a long-term Sino Indian boundary solution.

The private sector can best fill the skilling gap. The information technology industry did this to grow and continues to do. Old economy companies in steel, cement, chemicals, engineering and construction are less willing to fund this public good. They complain that trained employees leave for better opportunities and skilling becomes a never-ending drain on company resources.

We risk missing out on a generational opportunity to shape global development through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In a talk at ORF, Dr. Bjon Lomborg, head of the Copenhagen Consensus think tank presented a critical evaluation of the 17 SDGs and 169 associated targets.

It is commendable that the prime minister has raised the issue of black money at an international level. The solution, however, lies in following up on commitment for 'more governance and less government' by implementing networked and integrated digital solutions.

Even though the territorial disputes in the South China Sea is nothing new, the recent confrontations among China, the Philippines, and Vietnam have sparked global concerns. It is being feared that the region is becoming a new flashpoint with serious security consequences.