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In a groundbreaking speech in August this year, US President Donald Trump laid out his government’s policy for South Asia, authorising more American troops to Afghanistan and insisting that Pakistan must either “do more” to restrain Islamist militants, or face consequences. Indian and Afghan governments have welcomed the new US policy approach. The major components of Trump’s Afghanistan strategy — recognising Pakistan’s role in provi

Cross-border payment is one part of the banking sector that has yet to benefit from recent progress in digitalisation. Most international transactions are still processed using a 600-year-old correspondent banking system devised by the Medici.[1] However, this system of manual entry of transactions is not a scalable solution for the burgeoning digital payments space. While this may seem like an issue for institutions, a huge segment of the popul

From Kedarnath in 2013 to Chamoli in 2021, the Himalayan belt has seen disasters arrive with unsettling frequency, each more devastating than the last.

The recent suicide bombings in Uzbekistan that killed more than 40 persons, mostly policemen, reveal an emerging pattern of terrorism in the region.

From testing nuclear weapons to pursuing peace with Pakistan and China, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was clear-headed about his about his security and foreign policies from the outset.

The China factor has steadied the two nations’ strategic partnership, despite their differences of opinion on other matters.

Releasing ORF's latest book on China, the Vice President of India, Mr. M. Hamid Ansari, called for introspection and change of mindset to address the issue of India lagging behind China in the field of science and technology.

The Vice President of India, Shri. M. Hamid Ansari and the Union Finance Minister, Shri. Pranab Mukherjee, remembered the contributions of late Shri R.K. Mishra, ORF Founder Chairman, while releasing 'A Brahmin Without Caste: Remembering Rishi Kumar Mishra' -- a volume contributed by 56 personalities from different walks of life.

Indian Army Vision 2020, the new publication of Observer Research Foundation, was released in Delhi on Tuesday (April 29, 2008) by the Vice President of India, Mr. Mohammed Hamid Ansari.

Possible maritime cooperation with Vietnam and the US - a collaboration unimaginable until very recent times - will strengthen India's current approach to multilateral engagement to secure its strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific.

The India-U.S. Joint Vision and the mention of the South China Sea is India's strategic response to the growing Chinese naval profile in the Indian Ocean Region. In this context, US outreach to Vietnam and India's Act East policy are symbolic of India-U.S. cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

Hanoi has not found as much support as it hoped for despite its bold confrontation of Beijing in the South China Sea.

The "Pakistan" thesis doesn’t hold water because no other country can be so self-destructive as Pakistan is in its rivalry with India.

As an ASEAN member, Vietnam has worked hard to secure peace and reconciliation among Southeast Asian nations, which were once deeply divided by war.

The South China Sea dispute is today at the centre of the emerging geopolitical game in the Asia Pacific region. The growing US-Vietnam friendship will have a strong bearing on the direction of the changing regional security dynamics.

Indian Navy's reported lack of enthusiasm in increasing the number of participating ships and aircraft reflects the susceptibility of the Indian establishment to cave in to Chinese sensitivities. From a peak contribution of eight warships in 2007, the number has dropped to four this year.

The expansion of access to affordable drugs will play a central role in addressing present and future global health challenges. Given the vast social implications of increased access to medicines, the Indian patent system has historically maintained a pro-public health stand. However, the international political community is increasingly advocating for stricter patent regimes and India can no longer continue to ignore the pressure exerted by deve

The debate about Iran's quest for nuclear energy is wholly enmeshed in the politics of US-Iran relationship. Iran is a signatory to the NPT and its additional protocol. It has obligations; it has rights. The focus of the west is on obligations, of Iran on rights. The North-South divide is reflected in the board of governors of the IAEA, with Russia and China supportive of the non-aligned who apprehend, as Washington Post put it,

The ‘Legion’ hacks expose the dire state of cybersecurity in India. Frequent data breaches will steadily erode the confidence of Internet users and deter them from using digital gateways

The sheer magnitude of Vyapam has stunned people. The Bharatiya Janata Party, in power in Madhya Pradesh for the duration of Vyapam, is clearly answerable for the mess. Its government and chief minister have a lot to explain.

This Paper examines the evolution of India and Indonesia's military strategic mindset, from inward-looking powers to budding naval powers. It asserts that the two countries will have "no choice but to cast aside the antiquated aspects of non-alignment and move toward a more pragmatic approach to foreign policy, based on multilateralism."

It is time for the European Union to wake up to the world they actually live in and now move towards the more workable paradigm of "Shared Interests and Shared Prosperity", acknowledging that beneath every façade, nations and societies share only one common value, that of 'self-preservation' based on 'self-interest'.

Twenty-six persons were killed and over a hundred injured by two explosions in Dimapur, the only railway station in Nagaland in India's North-East, on October 2, 2004, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The same day, in a series of co-ordinated attacks in different places in Assam, also in the North-East, involving the use of hand-held weapons, hand-granades and explosives,19 persons were killed.

In spite of its modest economic weight in the initial years, the New Development Bank (NDB) can change the ethos of development finance irreversibly. Rather than replacing or supplanting existing development finance institutions, the NDB will seek to supplement existing resources.

India barely spends 1.5 per cent of its GDP on defence — two-thirds of it on military salaries and pensions and current costs.

For steady growth in the face of fragile geopolitical contestations, New Delhi needs access to different platforms to pursue interests in multiple geographies

While the new Indo-Pacific construct continues to grab headlines, India's recent diplomatic orientation points to a renewed appreciation of what American strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski called the world’s “decisive geopolitical chessboard”: Eurasia. In order to grasp the significance of this strategic space, it is useful to compare it with the dynamics of the Indo-Pacific.

The economic advantage from a revived financial sector will generate manifold benefits in investment, growth, and jobs. Every 1% of growth generates 1.2% of tax revenues.

In the war against ISIS, the picture is gloomy. The ISIS is unlikely to be pushed back as long as the Coalition's War against it remains only aerial. The Iraqi troops battling them were trained by the Americans, who after spending billions of dollars on their training find they are not up to the task.

Most analysts agree that a dangerous mix of demand, supply and currency is responsible for Punjab’s drug menace. Punjab is both a transit point and a market for the drugs smuggled from the so-called Golden Crescent that is Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. While the heroin produced in Afghanistan is smuggled through the 553-km-long, porous India-Pakistan border, the opium, poppy husk, charas and hashish, among other drugs, come from the neighbour

The 9/11 Commission Report has been made public and has, since then, witnessed intense scrutiny and commentary in the international media. The Indian media and analysts have been exceptionally vocal about its findings on Pakistan¿s possible linkages with the 9/11 attackers and conspirators.

The bombings in Russia bring into notice the challenges which India also faces in tackling Islamic militancy. In fact, the Chechen insurgency has in the past been compared to the insurgency in Kashmir.

Modi’s visit to Ukraine isn’t about appeasing Western powers after his Moscow visit. It’s about being a credible voice of the global South, the poor nations that suffer when richer ones fight

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its eighth month in late October and shows no sign of abatement. The war has had massive consequences on Ukraine, and women and girls are bearing the disproportionate burden. The conflict has further exacerbated gender inequities that were already compounded by eight years of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine and, beginning in early 2020, by the COVID-19 pandemic. This report seeks to fill the gaps in litera

If India continues to act rigid, it will result in the failure of the Doha round and bring misfortunes for small countries and tragic outcomes for all the members of WTO. India shouldn't get carried away and link its food security and subsidy issues to the Trade Facilitation deal

The December 16, 2014 attack on an Army run school in Peshawar by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has caused global outrage. The attacks led to over 148 deaths of mostly children and some school staff.

The latest U.S. Defense Department report on Chinese military power recounts Beijing’s growing space and counterspace capabilities.

The latest White House assessment of the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan submitted to the US Congress has questioned Pakistan's commitment towards degrading and defeating terrorist groups like al Qaeda and Taliban.

India is keen to join the world's export control regimes, all four of them including the Wassenaar Arrangement, as part of its efforts at integrating with the global non-proliferation architecture. While the Wassenaar Arrangement's predecessor, the Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls, was established to control transfers of advanced dual-use technology in the North-South and East-West context, the Arrangement's objectives have

Water security is a growing concern in South Asia today. Growing population, expanding urban centres, widespread pollution and mismanagement are pushing several countries in the region towards a water crisis. Mr. B. G. Verghese, well known journalist, author and expert on water issues, calls for better understanding and cooperation among the countries in South Asia to address the challenge of ensuring adequate and equitable availability of water

Initiating the discussion on "Water Security in South Asia", eminent water expert and noted writer, Mr. B. G. Verghese felt that while water is the key to cooperation in the region, climate change is the most important issue for all South Asian countries.

It is imperative that a transdisciplinary knowledge base of rivers is evolved by combining fluvial geomorphology, engineering, hydrology, hydro⎯geology, ecological sciences, climate sciences, tectonic sciences, ecological economics, law, political sciences, sociology, social anthropology, humanities and culture, institutional theory etc. through a multidisciplinary team.

Massive populations in many parts of the world, including in India, continue to grapple with lack of access to clean and safe water. This paper studies the case of Delhi. It describes the conditions under which water is produced and supplied to domestic consumers in Delhi and explains the capacity of the water and sewerage agency to discharge its duties. The analysis finds challenges in five aspects related to water supply in Delhi: quantity; qua

This paper highlights the importance of water valuation and pricing for sustainable and efficient water allocation and management in India. An efficient water-pricing mechanism could be a tool to address the impending crisis of water scarcity, which necessitates a robust, objective, and holistic valuation technique. Every unit of water consumed for economic purposes has an ecological footprint, and this opportunity cost or externality factor need

The Finance Minister can at best provide an enabling environment through the Union Budget and other policy frameworks that lie in his domain. The political and bureaucratic class need to pull in the same direction over the next few years to reverse some of the structural weaknesses.

The primary objective of the US is to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a launchpad by Al Qaeda