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Despite projecting close ties with Vietnam, the ground reality reflects a different story

The bill has to be a constitutional amendment as it overshoots the Supreme Court's 50% cap on quotas and takes the total to 60%.

With the sheer volume of free — occasionally dubious and sometimes outright fake — content available online, one wonders if the news business can ever be rescued in India.

Fumio Kishida’s victory owes much to LDP’s conservative wing and many of his foreign policy actions will function within the parameters that former prime minister Shinzo Abe laid down during his time in office

With trade sanctions lifted, New Delhi can engage in substantive economic ties with Pyongyang.

If 2017 saw the rise of the ‘spin’ — any event or news was butchered and battered until it yielded a pre-determined narrative — 2018 will see

Off the record, top Indian government sources admit that by and large, when governments and law enforcement authorities put systems in place in a cris

The Indian stance on Palestine is a non-issue, specifically for Israel, which knows India’s views are mostly steeped in its own domestic politics.

India and Pakistan could demonstrate their responsible stewardship of nuclear weapons by launching a bilateral initiative on HINW.

This critique on the Draft Report on Integrated Energy Policy was serialised in Volume II, Issue 43-46, 50 of ORF Energy News Monitor. It has three sections, first, Concept level issues- identifies the gaps in the Planning Commission's draft report, second, Action plan- for filling those gaps and lastly, Conclusions.

Remember the Kremlin Watchers of yore during the height of the cold war and their best-sellers on the Evil Empire? And the scary stories on communism they used to disseminate? And how the newspaper columns of those days were filled with their analyses? And the so-called classified documents of the Soviet State and Communist Party to which they managed to have access and which they used liberally in their writings and books?

India has been proactive in the Arms Trade Treaty debate and has submitted its views on the issue. Currently, the debate is shifting towards the content of the treaty. Differences continue to exist, but India feels the final treaty should emerge by consensus.

The Modi government must now attempt to transition India's economic engagements towards a more deliberate, durable and definitional framework. Well-administered LoCs offer a great avenue to do this -- and therefore must be given commensurate strategic priority and attention.

As India's online footprint has increased, so has the role of e-commerce. The industry is expected to cross $6 billion in revenues by 2015, not including ticketing and travel, according to Gartner Research. It must then follow that e-commerce should be encouraged to play a key role in building requisite supply chain efficiencies across India.

India’s power sector requires sustained efforts to achieve the power generating capacity target of approximately 1.2 terawatts by 2047. It needs such capacity to meet the demands of economic growth and achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 7 of providing universal electricity access. At the same time, the country also needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to meet commitments to global climate action agreements. This paper revi

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.

The United States and Luxembourg have adopted domestic space laws granting certain legal rights to space mining companies. These moves have initiated a debate on the future of this industry, as well as the passing of relevant laws governing outer space and its resources. This paper makes an assessment of commercial space mining activities in the broader context of the emerging space economy. It finds that entrepreneurs are increasingly looking at

India has always lacked the counter-narrative to Pakistan’s misinformation campaigns, but will the current communications clampdown make it lose the

The rise of modern technologies may drastically alter the employment landscape in India, potentially displacing large portions of the workforce. India requires an inclusive future of work that retains those currently in work while also creating sufficient new opportunities for the growing labour force. This paper reviews extant literature on technological change, automation, and their impact on the future of work in India and, by extension, educa

The intersecting impacts of COVID-19 and climate change are compounding the vulnerabilities of coastal communities.  This paper examines the disastrous effects of cyclone Amphan in the Bengal delta region of the Indian Sundarbans amidst a countrywide lockdown triggered by the pandemic, and their cascading consequences for a rural community inhabiting this climate hotspot. It highlights the livelihood crisis experienced by internal rural-urban mi

Social media platforms facilitate the sharing of information and enhance connectivity and civic engagement. At the same time, however, they are vulnerable to abuse by malicious actors who use the channels to spread misinformation and hateful and divisive content. Regulatory reforms must seek to align the utility of social media platforms with the welfare of citizens, while safeguarding the right to free speech. This paper explores the regulatory

Unlike in Kashmir, the population in the rest of the country has not witnessed weeks of curfews every year. The majority may not even know what a curf

This paper offers a comparative study of India and China in higher-education reforms for the development of talent in artificial intelligence (AI), and in AI research. It analyses the AI development plans and strategies of the two countries, their automation readiness index, talent retention, and research output. The analysis is based on both primary and secondary sources including interviews, government and industry reports, and recognised ranki

A five-member delegation from the Beijing-based China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) exchanged views with the ORF faculty on bilateral relations, media reportage, regional issues, international terrorism, and possible areas of research cooperation

The reported ban on two television news channels in Uttar Pradesh has exposed the lack of rules when in face-offs between politicians (or perhaps, ruling politicians) and the media. There were earlier reports that the Central government had requested Google to take down posts that criticised it.

Why is the Navy procuring three different helicopters to fulfil three ends of the same capability spectrum? The Navy would be better off with a single platform to leverage engine and systems commonality reducing costs in the form of maintenance, acquisition of spares and the training of pilots and maintenance crews.

Amidst the war in Gaza, the surge of alternative news media outlets and social media has significantly bolstered support for the Palestinian cause

The event revolved around the current Chinese foreign policy in south-east Asia, its BRI project and relations with the Indo-Pacific countries and how the world views China under these geopolitical scenarios and Chinese reactions towards them.

The First Energy Ministry of India was constituted under interesting circumstances. The former Energy Minister of India, Shri K. C. Pant delivered a talk at ORF on July 14, 2006 presenting his views on the fifty years of India's energy policy

Germany is the second EU country to have an Indo-Pacific policy after France — which views itself as an Indian Ocean country. Germany seeks to be pa

The recent violent actions of the Maoists have made big news. It will not be easy to resolve this problem because these are the people who have been deprived of their land and development, and they form the core of the movement. Only better distribution of the growth story can bring peace to these people

Given the complexities and the possible excess of making the Internet (more) fragmented, should we consider doing more than just demanding liability f

Today, there is barely any Kashmiri voice of dissent on TV screens and in newsprint. Any dissent or outpour of anger is either shut down, belittled or

Although the scheme has ensured housing supply to millions of households, a focused approach is necessary to address the challenges of slum redevelopm

India got a reality check recently when newspapers splashed the shocking conclusions of the first Socio-Economic and Caste Census since 1934. The message from the numbers is obvious: India has to resolve some very basic issues within before it can aspire to be any kind of power, regional or global.

We could soon see America leave Afghanistan's brutal war half-finished. The implications of this will be dreadful for ordinary Afghans. This is no good news for India either.

Over the years, sanctions have emerged as a preferred foreign-policy tool for many States, especially in the West. Sanctions serve a number of purposes, including the application of economic and political pressure on specific governments with a view to change their stance on a particular issue. International organisations, throughout the 20th century, used sanctions to impose their positions. The League of Nations first imposed sanctions in 1921

Russia views India’s burgeoning role in Eurasia with optimism, both politically and economically and recognises its potential to fortify its trade a

This brief reviews the crucial role of India in global climate politics and highlights the country’s partnerships on sustainable energy in Africa through the India-led International Solar Alliance (ISA). The brief finds that, beyond contributing to climate change mitigation, India—through ISA, in particular—is helping ensure energy security and sustainable livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa by providing poor communities access to natural, ec

This report builds on the discussions during the 5th ORF Kalpana Chawla Space Policy Dialogue 2019 organised by ORF. The report has three sections: the first covers questions of strategy in space; the second discusses policy dimensions; and the final one explores the role of private enterprises in the space domain. While some sections may include global perspectives, the report views the various challenges in space primarily from an Indian standp

India simply cannot afford to alienate the government in Male given China's growing reach. The President of Maldives was in China in October last year when Beijing announced a $500-million economic assistance for it. New Delhi views Maldives as central to the emerging strategic landscape in the Indian Ocean.

On June 14, the British newspaper, Times London, broke the story about issuing of British travel documents, on the recommendation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in 2014,