1203 results found
As the world today looks up to India as a net security provider, Delhi needs to recast its peacekeeping strategy by modernising its decision-making structures, expanding domestic defence capabilities, and strengthening its military diplomacy.
During a recent discussion on Indo-US relations, a former senior adviser to the Government of India, who retired some years ago, expressed his surprise that the community of non-governmental strategic analysts in New Delhi had failed to forewarn the policy-makers of the Government of India over the likelihood of opposition from the US to the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan till the Indian border to sell gas to Pakistan a
By referring to the ¿unprecedented¿ parliamentary ruckus that marked his first 100 days in office and to globalisation in the same vein at the J R D Tata centenary celebrations in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have identified areas of concern not only for his party and Government but also for the nation as a whole.
Modi and Obama need to focus less on India's near-term carbon emissions and find ways to boost its use of renewable energy like solar and wind. Such an approach will address Delhi's need to grow its economy and Washington's desire to lessen the weight of coal in India?s energy mix.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit, his sixth bilateral summit with the U.S. leader in nine years in office, will not be of great significance because the circumstances of what go into a successful summit do not exist. That has to do with the paralysis of governance in New Delhi, but equally the distemper that afflicts Washington.
New Delhi has enough regional ructions without another tense relationship to manage.
Delhi must pay close attention to several pioneering initiatives undertaken by a number of Indian states to address service delivery challenges.
The Bay of Bengal has emerged as a key arena for Sino-Indian competition due to its proximity to vital sea lanes, rich resource potential, and strategic geography. This paper analyses how China and India employ port development initiatives in the Bay littorals—Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar—to secure their economic interests, extend geopolitical influence, and mitigate strategic vulnerabilities. Through case studies, the paper highlights
New Delhi’s diplomacy outreach must take charge of the story as the side that frames the question often controls the answer
Given its unique position, the politics and governance of J&K have always depended on the good relations between the governments in New Delhi and Srinagar. When they have been disrupted, as happened in the 1983-87 period, it was disastrous for the state and the country.
Sri Lanka is considering a power-sharing mechanism at the Centre, said Prof. G.L. Peiris, Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister, while delivering the second R.K. Mishra Memorial Lecture in New Delhi.
The Indian President's presence at the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II in Russia on May 9 is in part about extending New Delhi's solidarity with Moscow at a time when many Western leaders have decided not to show up in protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin's policy in Ukraine.
The US has placed India in the category of 'closest partners' for defence cooperation. The official spin was that New Delhi would now be on the same footing as the closest allies of the US such as Britain. That may be the endpoint that New Delhi and Washington have decided upon, but it is far from the current reality. Both sides would need to do an enormous amount of work to attain that goal.
The rape of the young medical student in Delhi, who was returning from a movie with a friend, is not only a failure of the law and order system but also traditional India's incapacity to accommodate the 21st century nation.
The commitment of states towards achieving gender equality as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development received a renewed boost during the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023, with a marked shift in the discourse from women’s development to ‘women-led’ development. This article uses the Public Financial Management (PFM) lens to emphasise the role of governments in achieving gender-related outcomes. While proposing an outcom
The problem of female foeticide and sex selection was highlighted as a big public health concern at a seminar on 'Public Health Concerns and Reforms' organised by ORF and RLS in Delhi. It was said that India could witness elimination of 9-10% girls in the times to come.
New Delhi and Islamabad dominated dialogue have failed to come up with any solution to vexed issues like Kashmir. May be sub-regions like Punjab and other border provinces like Rajasthan-Sind.
The Third R. K. Mishra Memorial Lecture was delivered by His Excellency Mr. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, on October 5, 2011 in New Delhi. Outlining his vision for a peaceful and stable South Asia, President Karzai stressed that all the regional players would have to work together towards achieving this goal. This is the text of the lecture and proceedings of the event.
The 1857 revolt was not a mutiny for self-rule, instead it was staged with the aim of restoring Mughal rule in Delhi. Once the revolt was suppressed, princes loyal to the Company were allotted lands that were taken from previously annexed kingdoms, according to Rear-Admiral Mohan Raman (Retd).
With the midnight melodrama involving the Delhi Police and Baba Ramdev, the issue of fighting corruption has been over-shadowed by the propriety of the police using excessive force to disrupt the peaceful crowd of people, who were sleeping in those tents after all.
PM Modi's decision not to join RCEP is an admission that even the prospect of joining a massive regional trade agreement isn't incentive enough for New Delhi to launch deep economic reforms.
This paper follows the proceedings of a workshop organised by ORF in August 2014 to re-examine India's nuclear doctrine. The workshop explored the challenges posed to India by Pakistan's introduction of battlefield nuclear weapons or Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNWs), New Delhi's interest in acquiring a Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system, and the growing threat perception from China.
Delhi is aware that the Pak army continues to wield a veto over cooperation with India and the room for manoeuvre is limited for the civilian leaders. Yet India must encourage the leaders of the Punjab to intensify their engagement. Delhi must also strive to improve coordination and consultation with the state leadership in Punjab.
New Delhi must now accelerate the transformative governance changes it has initiated in the North East
The first round of boundary talks with China under the Narendra Modi government, taking place this week, is an opportunity for New Delhi to explore the territorial compromises necessary to resolve the longstanding dispute. With strong leaders at the helm in Delhi and Beijing, there are rising expectations that the two special representatives - Ajit Doval and Yang Jiechi - will be able to find an early breakthrough on the boundary dispute.
The report is based on the key recommendations that emerged out of the deliberations at National Conclave on India's Energy Security: Major Challenges held in New Delhi on 14-15 February 2006. The recommendations emerging out of the Conclave have been compiled in this Report for consideration by the Government
The Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India and the Stanley Foundation, USA co-hosted an international workshop on climate change on February 25-27, 2014 in New Delhi. The central objective of the workshop was to unbundle the different policy responses resulting from the multilateral negotiations thus far and their impact upon the evolution of existing and future multilateral frameworks. This Policy Brief aims to capture some of the salient per
Central business districts (CBDs) dominate economic activity in large cities. In India’s capital, New Delhi, for example, Connaught Place is a CBD. Firms relocate to CBDs due to the ease of doing business in such areas owing to retail agglomeration, functional grouping, labour pooling, and the ability to attract talent. However, recent phenomenon such as an increase in remote working, the rise in real estate costs, and the expansion of city lim
If India is the glue that binds the Sino-Pak alliance, as many argue, Delhi should have the capacity to weaken that bond through its own policies. Delhi has managed to alter the triangular dynamic with Pakistan and America by expanding its partnership with Washington. There might be similar possibilities awaiting Modi in Beijing.
The United States’ (US) November 2025 articulation of the country’s national security strategy locates New Delhi in its ambitions. Raisina Hill is countering this by opening doors wider with defining economic engagements that potentially number 50. This paper argues that locating India in the US grand strategy map is a risky venture given the apparent disconnect between what the US says and how it behaves. A new equilibrium requires Trump and
President Bill Clinton's five-day visit to India in 2000 followed by a five-hour stopover in Islamabad convinced New Delhi that the world order had changed. Relationships were to be shaped by the new post cold war realities, not old loyalties.
There needs to be quiet dialogue to resolve their many differences, with New Delhi needing to be sensitive and generous
Two broad principles outlined by Jawaharlal Nehru must guide Delhi's current approach to the Asian power rivalry. One is to seek good relations with both China and Japan; and other is Nehru's insistence that postwar Japan should not be isolated or punished because of its imperial past.
The multilateral order, built on the debris of the Second World War, is no longer fit to address this situation. Global institutions are missing in action just when they are needed the most
The Observer Research Foundation and the ROSA Luxemburg Foundation, Germany organized a two day International Conference in Delhi on Nov 23-24, 2006. The Conference was on Rise of China: Asian and European Perspective.
It is now clear that Aam Aadmi Party will be the major contender in the Lok Sabha elections in the first quarter of 2014 and would give all other veteran parties like the Congress and the BJP a real challenge. The AAP could even halt the march of Narendra Modi towards Delhi.
A roundtable at the ORF Campus at New Delhi held on 14 January made an attempt to look at the future of India and China in 2025. The session was chaired by Ambassador MK Rasgotra, President, ORF and moderated by Jim Yardley, New Delhi Bureau Chief of the New York Times.
Moscow’s relevance to Delhi’s strategic calculus irks Washington
Given its vast coastline, Delhi should devote its attention for now to importing hydrocarbons by sea, investing in equity oil in Russia and other energy-rich countries, and concluding swap arrangements rather than grandiose transregional pipelines.
Over the last few years, Delhi has found Riyadh more forthcoming in tracking down terrorists of concern to India. As the Kingdom enters a more decisive phase in their war against terror, the prospects for security cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia are likely to improve.
The NDA government has not devoted sufficient attention to the Middle East in 2014. As New Delhi turns to the Gulf in 2015 and tends to its high stakes in the region, an intensive engagement with Saudi Arabia must be at the top of PM Narendra Modi's diplomatic priorities.
New Delhi and Beijing’s uneasy engagement and rivalry raise two crucial questions: what kind of power disparity is emerging between China and India? Can the disparity aggravate existing structural competition between the two states?
Recongnising the pivotal role of technology in ensuring India?s emergence as a global player, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi, has launched a ?Technology Initiative?. As the first event, a one-day workshop on ?Science & Technology Challenges for India? is being hosted on May 7, 2005. The workshop brings together renowned professionals to evolve collective, cohesive thinking on issues of significance to India?s S&T performance and as
After its successful maiden meeting last year, the Asian Forum on Global Governance will be organised again in New Delhi from October 14 - 24 this year. The nomination and application process is going on since March 15. The last date for submission of applications is June 1.
This paper looks at debates from the days of the British Raj until now that have shaped India's strategic thought on Afghanistan. It highlights the impact of India's territorial construct on its strategic imagination and argues that India's Afghan policy is determined by its political geography. Afghanistan has proved to be a security lynchpin in South and A Central Asia over the last two decades. Home to a variety of militant networks with regi
India cannot afford to be a mere bystander to developments in its immediate Neighbourhood. A failure to assist Afghanistan at this crucial juncture would not only undermine India's long term security interests but would reflect poorly on New Delhi's reliance as a friendly partner in troubled times.
With tensions persisting on the Sino-Indian border, Delhi’s efforts to bolster its infrastructure in critical areas continues.
India and South Korea stand as important middle powers whose influence in the Indo-Pacific region is expanding in their own ways. At the same time, their bilateral partnership today has even bigger potential to serve as a stabilising factor amid shifting regional geopolitical equations. The current year—the 50th since the two countries established formal diplomatic ties—is an opportune moment for harnessing their converging interests. This br
A Pakistani nuclear deal would suggest that the US is determined to maintain good ties with both India and Pakistan. Those in India, who expected that Washington's unhappiness with Islamabad would result in undivided attention to New Delhi, will be disappointed. But, the US is following the logic of its geopolitical interests.
