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It has been five years since General Pervez Musharraf came to power in Pakistan in a bloodless coup on October 12. One questionable referendum staged in April 2002, the less-than-credible parliamentary elections in October the same year, a controversial constitutional amendment and two changes of government this year later, Gen Musharraf is still the numero uno.

Compared to the increasing suicide attacks the world over, India has, by and large, remained safe from these assaults. The reason is that Indian Muslims have a strong sense of Indian identity. In both their grievances and aspirations they think like their fellow Indian citizens, rather through any religious or sectarian prism.

Friendly Indo-Bangla relations will play a major role in securing peace and prosperity in the South Asia and these can be achieved with sincere initiatives by the government in resolving outstanding issues. India's Bangla policy could be a for the new government in dealing with other countries in the Neighbourhood.

The Congress ended with the insertion of the ‘Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era’ into the Party constitution, confirming Xi as the most powerful Chinese leader since Deng Xiaoping.

Illegal immigration of the kind seen in the border states has not only changed the demographic composition of the territories, but has also posed alarming political and socio-economic problems.

Settle the border with India. With increasing US pressure, it is in China’s interest.

The MH370 incident has occurred very close to our Tri-service Command at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands which has three radar stations. Regardless of whether or not MH370 actually flew over or close to the Command, it would doubtless be useful to learn lessons from this and that switching off radars at night is a dangerous way to economise.

The debate on privacy got a fillip by the recent arraignment of WhatsApp for being the conduit of fake news, which incited vigilante violence.

Potential security engagements among the three have spotlighted their increasing convergence.

Countries in South Asia, before COVID-19, were already battling critical socioeconomic vulnerabilities and a deluge of extreme weather events brought about by a changing climate. The pandemic has demonstrated how disasters can cascade and converge to threaten lives, livelihoods, and economic and social systems. Yet, governments in the region have been slow to incorporate a multi-hazard, multi-sectoral perspective into their preparedness managemen

This will be PM's fifth and shortest bilateral visit to the US since he took office.

The Government of Myanmar, in the past few weeks, has played host to a number of high-ranking foreign officials. These include the likes of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The Democratic election nomination tussle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is going through an exciting time as Sanders' far-left economic agenda is increasingly becoming more appealing to the party's base.

Will the globalization of the economic relationship trump the geo-politics that is being played out in East and South East Asia? For the US, the dilemma is acute, for it cannot ignore the pleas of its allies in the region nor allow an incremental drift to take place in the relationship.

Now that the mood and methods have set in for three Provincial Council polls, the results would determine if the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa would want to go ahead with the process in five others before holding the first-ever elections.

Kerala is trying in a civilian court two Italian military men for actions they took in defence of their territories. Imagine trying a serving Indian soldier in a civil court for an incident resulting from discharge of duty in naxal-infested areas, the northeast or Kashmir.

For the uninitiated, surgical strikes are limited and lightning fast incursions into enemy territory meant to neutralise tactical threats.

India continues to be enthusiastic about the potential of the Quad in shaping a free, open, and inclusive rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific

Pakistani authorities have shown little sophistication in addressing the challenge of violence in the province.

Beijing has been Africa’s largest trading partner since 2008.

Europe has to come to grips with the fact that not even the USA is strong enough to create a new order anywhere in the world, neither in Afghanistan nor in the Middle East. Instead, anything that will increase the conflict without an achievable goal will play into the hands of the IS.

Any attempt by India to haul up Pakistan before the international community, including the UN, could prove counter productive. It could start with India itself 'internationalising' the issue, and formally allowing the rest of the world to tell us what we should do to Pakistan, and on the vexatious Kashmir issue.

Like it or not, the term ‘Indo Pacific’ seems to be a means of including India in the military calculations of US strategy in the Pacific.

The CBI is #IASmukt, as is the CVC, whose commissioners are former income-tax, police and bank officials.

Since Putin and Modi last took stock of ties, a new energy and economic relationship has emerged, driven by Russia’s war

Decades of women right movements have demonstrated that theory and praxis must join hands in order to bring about a sustainable change. Exploring and implementing ideas to make this process participatory with adequate incentives will ensure that half a billion Indians,

The last multilateral negotiations in the field of nuclear disarmament took place more than 20 years ago, resulting in the long awaited Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The treaty, however, has yet to enter into force. India is often held responsible for such uncertainty, in spite of having withdrawn from the negotiations before it was even concluded; at other times, it is the US which is blamed for failing to ratify the CTBT—giving reason

The standoff at Doklam is less a boundary incident involving India, China and Bhutan, and more a coming together of geopolitical fault lines.

The allegation of Indian expansion of its uranium enrichment facilities is based on a report released by IHS Jane's, which has already been dismissed by both the US and the Indian governments as speculative. Indeed, the IHS Jane's report merely identifies a "possible" new uranium hexafluoride plant.

It is increasingly becoming clear that the battle is less about the trade deficit and more about America’s intention of preserving its global primacy.

Hanoi is gradually becoming the linchpin of India’s eastward move.

Compared to an average 100,000 incidents annually in the 1980s and 1990s, India witnessed only 72,126 communal riots in 2013. Thus, overall there has been a drastic reduction in communal riots. Yet, these macro statistics do not reveal the changing nature of communal violence and their intensities.

Ever since the US declared Iran a member of the ¿Axis of Evil¿, and more so after the Iraq invasion, the question very often asked in many of the essays that appeared in the West was ¿Is Iran next?¿ And now, after a bruising experience in Iraq, the US administration cannot just retreat to the relative safety of the White House and glower at the rest of the world.

In an announcement that caught the nation by surprise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes of the Indian currency in November to arrest ‘black money’, end corruption, and choke terrorist finances. This move represents a policy departure and it has far-reaching implications. As national debate has been hijacked by the possible fallouts of demonetisation, other critical issues have been pushed to

The question of inviting Australia to the exercise, which currently includes India, Japan and the United States, has been controversial.

New Delhi will be hoping that Congress can continue to rein in Trump’s worst instincts.

The consequences of the Okinawa gubernatorial elections, where Prime Minister Abe's party candidate was defeated convincingly, mainly on the issue of relocation of US bases, will resonate on the US-Japan security alliance as well as Abe's ruling LDP party.

While Mamata Banerjee tries to avoid being branded as an anti-industry and inflexible politician, her best ally could be the pending central land acquisition bill, which thanks largely to Mamata Banerjee, is in comatose since 2007.

For over a year, China is running a huge anti-corruption campaign. More than 1,82,000 officials have been punished, including high ranking military officials, four national leaders and senior executives of state companies. However, this type of arbitrary and high-handed posture could backfire and become a catalyst for political crisis if it continues in the present way.

In Prague, the expensiveness of the custom of burial has become an issue. And this issue is of relevance to most urban societies including ours as pressure on urban land will result in pressure on graveyards.

India had recently decided to partner Russia in a joint project known as Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA). A project like this is a rarity, like Brahmos, that India can ill afford to lose. Prudence would demand employment of a realist strategy of engagement by India in convincing the Russians to expand the scope of involvement.

Bilateral ties between New Delhi and Paris today cover a gamut of issues including defence, maritime, space, security, and energy.

For Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the foremost challenge will be to handle the economic crisis and keeping the political alliance intact. The incoming government will face a strong opposition from Imran Khan and his PTI, who are masters at street campaigning

In both rural and urban contexts, women are more vulnerable to heat stress and air pollution in low and middle-income countries like India.

An increasing number of startups and new businesses have been founded in India over the last decade, the majority of them by men. While many Indian women have entrepreneurial ambitions, it is often more difficult for them to succeed. This brief examines the impediments to greater participation of female founders in India’s economy by first gathering available data to describe the situation of women entrepreneurs in the country. It then explores

Feminisation of agriculture is taking place in a number of developing countries, including India, and women are forced to play multiple roles as entrepreneurs, labourers and cultivators. They have to compete with men in getting access to resources which is difficult.

Even today, the Army continues to be organised on the basis of regional, linguistic, caste and religious affiliations. Nearly 70 years since Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose raised combat units in which personnel from all over India served together, it is time that our Armed Forces seriously consider these issues of regionalism, ethnicity and deployment of women in combat roles.

Gender disparities in economic participation and opportunities remain significantly large across the world. To bridge these gaps, G20 countries are working to advance women’s entrepreneurship through financial assistance, knowledge creation, and governance for supporting enterprise. India, in particular, has introduced a number of government schemes to promote entrepreneurship among women, such as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and the Prad

Women’s representation in India’s Parliament is an important metric to evaluate progress in bridging gender inequities in the country. India has a female population of 662.9 million and is the largest and one of the most resilient parliamentary democracies in the world. As the country completes 75 years of independence, this paper gives a historical account of the progress in women’s representation in Parliament over the past decades. It co

Regional security in West Asia stands at a precarious intersection.