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Mitigating the adverse impact of Beijing’s crude ambition while simultaneously absorbing Chinese capital is a tough balancing act. Before making policy choices, India must rapidly improve its ability to monitor the full extent of economic exposure to China.

This report is part of the Observer Research Foundation’s “Financing Green Transitions” series which aims to find potential linkages between private capital, in all its forms, and climate action projects. The series will primarily examine domestic and international barriers to private capital entry for mitigation oriented climate projects, while also examining potential avenues for private capital flow entry towards adaptation and resilienc

The normalisation of trade between India and Pakistan could lead to preferential trade arrangement under SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement of 1996). This would increase regional trade and stability.

There was a great scope for expanding economic ties between India and Kazakhstan, said Kazakh Ambassador to India, Kairat Umarov, at an interaction in Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

European policymakers seem to be taking an awfully long time to realize the fact that there cannot be general blanket solutions to the problems in the euro-zone. Every time a member nation is in trouble, the same few steps seem to be repeated.

The coming to power of a Left-leaning Syriza government in Greece is not because people supported their ideology but they wanted to protest against the economic stagnation caused by austerity programme, says Ramon Perez-Maura, Assistant Editor of leading Spanish daily, ABC.

If the Syriza government in Greece had the foresight to seek technical assistance from the bureaucracy of any Latin American, African or Asian country on how to deal with agitated lenders, they would never have got into the mess they are in now.

The ancient idea of ‘Thucydides trap’ points at a ‘war’ between the titans

To successfully combat climate change, there is an urgent need to finance mitigation and adaptation efforts at various levels. Green bonds are a relatively new funding instrument for green projects that have steadily become the first line of defence against climate change. India, in particular, has immense scope to diversify the green bond market beyond renewable energy. This brief analyses the policy structure of countries that have successfully

India spends over 2.6 per cent of its GDP to deal with challenges of climate change. Still, resource scarcity and other priorities make it a challenge to find matching financial resources for mitigating climate change. Green Bonds have the potential to significantly change the climate change landscape of India.

Why was Devyani Khobragade allowed to employ Sangeeta Richards in her home in the first place despite the fact that her father is employed with the US embassy in New Delhi? It is worrying that as of now Indian diplomats and consuls can take just about anybody they want with them for their posting overseas. There is no detailed dive on the assistant's threat perception nor periodic review of the likely vulnerability.

By 2040, the proportion of the population below 34.5 years will fall to 50 per cent from 65 per cent today.

A lot of thinking should be done about how to reinvigorate agriculture because rural demand is important for reviving manufacturing sector. Agriculture is important also because 52 per cent of the population is still occupied in agriculture and it has a share of 17 per cent in the GDP.

As the debate on restarting two nuclear reactors in Oi is hotting up in Japan, the Noda government needs to both give the newly announced nuclear regulatory body time to create the promised new regulations while also ensuring the people and industry do not suffer due to power shortage.

The two countries are moving closer in the security domain.

The hypothesis of “jobless growth” has been central to recent debates around India’s economic development trajectory. This brief undertakes an evaluation of secondary data to test whether India is indeed experiencing jobless growth. The authors find that the characterisation of “jobless growth” is both reductive and empirically unsound, and India’s employment landscape has experienced notable expansion alongside robust Gross Domestic

Everyday fears of violence against women have sharpened in the recent past. However they are increasingly being addressed by new prescriptive do and don't lists of precautionary measures for women. This is happening even while we consistently assert that the onus need not be on the women to keep themselves safe.

In the 1980s, a young India was being excited against older nation-states. In the 2020s, an ancient civilisation is leading the way in forging a new consensus

Growth is too weak in Europe today to support the necessary fiscal consolidation of the Member States. And without growth, there will be no budgetary and fiscal consolidation, says Pierre Sellal underlining the need for a growth pact.

From a strategic perspective, the successful launch of the GSLV means India is self-reliant in the area of satellite launching, including heavier satellites. This also means that India will not have to depend on foreign agencies to carry their heavier payloads.

If it is any yardstick for a vibrant democracy, India today has six former Prime Ministers around. Only two of them, namely, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and P V Narasimha Rao completed a full term, and thus became mascots of political stability in their time. Yet, subsequent elections proved that stability was not the only concern of the Indian voter. To him, political stability is a vehicle for his deliverance and in ways he understands.

Gujarat has the required natural resources, human potential and entrepreneurial spirit to become the engine of India¿s economic growth and achieve a growth rate of 20%.

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 7, 2008: Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral, former Prime Minister of India, on Thursday released a book on "Small States Security Dilemma: A Maldivian Perception" at Observer Research Foundation.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was formed in 1981 to counter the emerging threat from an ideological rival, Iran. While it has served the purpose of keeping the GCC countries together over the decades, the changing regional dynamics are raising questions over its continued relevance in its present form. The Hamas terror attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the consequent Gaza war has led to irreversible changes, Israel and Iran have engaged

While India's economic presence in the Gulf region has transformed from merely an exchanges between merchants and human capital, as a geopolitical player, India's role has remained subdued.

Will President Obama's passionate call for stricter gun laws from the pulpit bring any change, or will he go towards the sunset in 2016 with having done practically nothing on this issue?

The story began on March 18th, when Pakistan¿s leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf casually mentioned in an interview with CNN¿s Aaron Brown that it is likely that Pakistani troops have surrounded a ¿High Value Target¿ in the tribal ¿agency¿ of South Waziristan. Some enterprising Pakistani ¿intelligence official¿ leaked to the eager

Of all the reasons, there is one reason why the world must pay immediate attention to what is happening in Balochistan. Here, a military dictator ruling without any political legitimacy for more than five years has now launched an ethnic cleansing which, to say the least, is colossally retrogressive and inhuman.

With the Chinese refusal to take charge of the operations at Pakistan's Gwadar Port and a series of handicaps and security issues, this facility may fail to achieve its intended target of building it into a strategic asset.

अमेरिकेतील वाढत्या अंतर्गत फूटीची तीव्रता आता शिगेला पोहोचली आहे.

In 2006, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh named  Maoist insurgency as “the single biggest internal-security challenge”[i] the country has ever faced. He would repeat the same warning in the succeeding four years.[ii] This paper argues  that today, the insurgency no longer poses the same degree of threat to the Indian state. It outlines the trajectory of the Maoist insurgency from its roots in the late 1960s, to credible domination over

Hamas was never a household name beyond a point unlike Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State. Until now

Even if there’s a ground invasion by Israel into Gaza and an extended conflict, the impact on energy prices and the resultant OPEC response would depend on the scale and reach that the conflict takes. If it remains localised without affecting major oil producers or transit routes, prices may see limited immediate change, prompting OPEC to maintain current production levels

The author, who was part of the ORF delegation which took part in discussions with Chinese party and government officials, says that the possibilities for India and China to collaborate must transcend boundary disputes and other age-old issues.

The Haqqani Act of the US Congress, and last week's decision in the US Senate to delay the confirmation of a new US ambassador to Kabul, are now adding to the pressure on the State Department. The next few weeks are likely to see intense parleys between Washington and Rawalpindi to find a way to delay.

Did New Delhi’s ‘big-stick’ approach make Beijing pipe down on the LAC?

As the Year 2005 draws to a close, it is worthwhile to find out where are we today on the path of reconciliation with Pakistan? Is there a process to the peace?

Professional diplomats will find little that is new or startling in the Wikileaks cables. For them the quality and content of reporting in the leaked cables is quite standard fare. Transmitting to Headquarters information gleaned from contacts, assessing its worth,

Agriculture remains the world’s biggest employer and the most important source of food and raw material for various economic activities. The fulfillment of a number of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is anchored on the performance of the sector. This brief examines the most crucial negative consequences of how modern agriculture is practiced, and how these will make it difficult for the world to realise the SDGs. Drawing on examples fr

Due to the persistent adversarial nature of the Sino-Indian border environment, and because China is now a de facto maritime neighbour as well, India needs to examine its options of leveraging sea power. This brief analyses some fundamentals of sea control and sea denial, and examines some misconceptions about these. By using factors of time, force and space, the brief argues that while maritime economic warfare (explained as counter-value operat

Given the need to prioritise growth in the developing world, the goals must be 'development-climate compatible,' not, 'climate-development compatible', according to Dr. Youba Sokona, coordinator, African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) based in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to “leave no one behind’’ and directed all countries to work together to end poverty and other deprivations. Achieving the SDGs requires collaborative strategies aimed at improving technologies of the Least Developing Countries (LDCs) in the productive sectors such as agriculture. Understandably, in most developing countries, the agriculture sector is characterised by informality, small scale,

India and Nepal are fellow riparian nations in South Asia and thus could potentially use their shared water resources as avenues for collaborative effort. Using water to generate hydropower for maximum benefit comes from a place of mutual interest, allowing for optimum leverage for the socio-economic development of both countries. This brief outlines a history of the India-Nepal hydroelectric power scenario, and offers recommendations for growth.

India’s online gaming sector is rapidly growing, surpassing other emerging digital sectors in the country. It contributes to GST revenue, creates jobs, and attracts FDI. The sector also promotes ancillary sectors, contributing indirectly to the economy. However, concerns persist around harms such as addiction, financial crimes like money laundering, and implications to national security. Regulatory uncertainty continues to hinder the sector’s