5234 results found
China's actions need to be examined to reveal their correct motivations between their intentions
Globalisation reduces commodities and perceptions to a common destiny. Thus a spectre that is haunting the west, of Muslim group identity, seems to have reached India too.
The “India factor” has normally played a big role in the course of Nepali politics, discourse, and elections
Indo-Pak relations appear to be on hold largely because of complications created by the Afghan situation. Part of the problem are Pakistani suspicions about Indian ambitions in Afghanistan. Former Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri believes there are misperceptions on both sides.
The moment finance minister Pranab Mukherjee announced a mere 4% nominal increase in defence budget pegged at Rs 1,47,344 crore for 2010-11, members of Indian strategic community started showing their frustrations.
The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) of Stanford University and the Observer Research Foundation, had co-sponsored a conference entitled "Does South Asia exist? - Prospects for Regionalism in South Asia." As the title suggests there was considerable and intense debate on this subject during the two-day conference.
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.
Does the United Nations really matter when it comes to war and peace in the 21st century? To ask this question when long promised reform of the UN seems at hand ¿ the report of the High Level Panel appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan will be out on Thursday ¿ and India is stepping up its efforts to become a part of an expanded UN Security Council sounds heretical.
On the eve of the February 18 elections, no two people in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi were agreed on the certainty of elections taking place. Elections cannot take place, it was argued then, because the establishment will not risk an open-ended process which might produce inconvenient results. In the Pakistani context, the establishment has always meant the Army, the bureaucracy, big landlords and the United States.
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.
If the selection for MMRCA so far has shown emphases on technicalities, the final selection should primarily be based on more concrete benefits that either company offers. The final MMRCA award would also reflect the abilities of the MoD in processing such complex contracts in the future.
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.
To explain the causes of the present unsatisfactory situation many in India would argue that a self-absorbed India has neglected its neighbourhood
Israel being India's most trusted ally in West Asia and among the three or four closest friends in the world, Prime Minister Modi's visit to Israel needs to be a standalone, a single country trip. The India-Israel relationship is important enough, even sacred enough, to merit that respect.
At first sight, it would appear that Sarabjit Singh's case, which dates to 1990, may fall in the category of Indian involvement. But other evidence suggests the case against him is weak. There are also reasons to believe that Sarabjit's was a case of mistaken identity
Is the digital economy about digitising the real economy, society and governance - or is it simply a valuation game? The question is particularly valid as a series of digital and e-commerce companies have totted up impressive funding without knowing how to build a sustainable business model.
Controversies over the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala and Koodamkulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu, development issues regarding Sangur and Nandigram in West Bengal have exposed the political double talk on the excuse of people's concerns.
From America to Bangladesh and Australia to Europe, those who bet on big breakthroughs with India in the last few years can't hide their disappointment at its seeming inability to seize the opportunities at hand. It is up to Delhi to prove that the concerns of its friends and partners around the world are misplaced.
Recent announcements detailing the probability of an early NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan are not realistic, given the ground realities in the country. Lt-Col Daniel Davis in his article 'Truth lies and Afghanistan' speaks of a misleading picture presented by US leaders.
World renowned management professor and author, Dr. Jagdish Sheth, delivered a lecture on "The Tectonic Shift: The New Geoeconomic Reality" at Observer Research Foundation. Dr. Sheth, Professor of Marketing in the Goizueta Business School, Atlanta, USA, and the author of 'Chindia Rising: How China and India will benefit your business' forecast a new geo-economic reality in the world driven by markets of emerging nations.
Address by External Affairs Minister at the inaugural session of BRICS Academic Forum 2021.
The 'Elavarasan episode' in Tamil Nadu is a product of an electoral malady for which the political class would only offer words, not pro-active solutions. With greater educational opportunities and industrialisation nearer home rewriting the face of caste equations, the problem has worsened.
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.
Difficult basins with poor prospects like the kind in India will never be explored or developed under fair-returns-cost-plus regimes. Successes such as those of Lundin in Norway or Cairn in Barmer do not come to the faint-hearted.
The Delhi police proposal to use drones for day-to-day law and order activities is bound to fail unless it is accompanied by a regulatory and manufacturing ecosystem for unmanned aerial vehicles
Neither the drone attacks - a significant technological innovation in air power - nor direct cross-border military raids address the ultimate source of terror, the Pakistan army. They merely target the manifestation of the problem.
Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Delhi University conducted the third summer workshop for undergraduate students of Delhi University from 17 May to 2 June. The theme of this year's workshop was "Contemporary Challenges and the Making of Public Policies".
Mark Lynas is right. Completely divorced from research and data Indian activism today is a cesspool of myths and misconceptions
The unsolicited US$ 18.5 billion bid for acquisition of the petroleum major Unocal by China National Offshore Oil Company (Cnooc), the Honk-Kong based subsidiary of China's third largest oil company, has sent the business, and political, world into a tizzy.
Anyone driving to the hills on the mandatory pilgrimage trail cannot but notice the ubiquitous drum or two in front of roadside stalls - its presence advertising fuels in a way that no pure-for-sure campaign can match.
India's ranking in the World Bank's ease of doing business index is 134. Ease of doing business has ease of settling commercial disputes at its centre. With the Arbitration and Conciliation (amendment) Bill coming in place, India could play a greater role in shaping the way forward.
The recent developments in East China Sea carry a high risk of confrontation and miscalculation in the already volatile region. Beijing's unilateral move to extend its authority and control in the region runs against its policy to change its image amongst its neighbours.
Indians may be suspicious of China and the Chinese of India. But it is the West which does not want to accept the strategic consequences of a rising Asia.
As political stalemate characterises present-day Nepal, analysts are worried over the impending economic fallout of the same in the erstwhile Himalayan kingdom. Already struggling with eight-hour power shortage which at times stretches up to 16 hours a day, the country is faced with a severe economic crisis.
The Indian diaspora in the US has been instrumental in deepening and strengthening India-US relations and will continue to do so in the future, says State Senator Ellen Roberts from Colorado Legislature and Minnesota State Representative Paul Thissen.
South Asia is one of the most populous region in the world, representing about 24 per cent of the world's population. Most countries in the region are in various stages of economic development, and aspire for regional economic integration.
Behind the hype of high economic growth today is a tale of average performance in various economic sectors.
India's agricultural growth had not been at the targeted level of 4 per cent in the past few years, but it was 4.6 per cent in the last quarter. Due to a good monsoon, the agricultural growth rate is likely to be higher at around 4.9 per cent. It will lead to higher demand for goods and is likely to give a fillip to industry this year.
