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Cooperation with like-minded countries gives India more space to emerge as a key regional interlocutor

Confusion over municipal property tax collection in Mumbai is a lesson for ULBs across India

To stop the coronavirus, the government will have to be there for its people in unprecedented ways.

Recent years have highlighted the global headwinds against China's increasingly aggressive moves in the Indo-Pacific region. Vulnerabilities associated with an overdependence on the country for several critical goods, including electronics, have exacerbated prevailing anti-China sentiments. This has provided the impetus for diversifying electronics supply chains, an opportunity India is well positioned to leverage. This brief assesses Ind

Maldives, or the Maldive islands in the north-central Indian Ocean, is widely regarded as a paradise by holiday-seekers from across the world. Yet, its own people are beset by severe issues of insecurity. This brief investigates the various threats to security in the island nation, primary of which is the massive income inequality. It outlines a political and religious history of the nation, and explores their influence in the current sta

India is driving a transition to e-mobility in a bid to meet its commitments to the Paris climate agreement. Meeting the e-mobility targets will have multiple benefits, including cleaner air, improved health, and a reduced oil import bill. India’s cities will play a key role in achieving the e-mobility transition through planning and the implementation of local policies, but they must first overcome certain challenges. Assistance from the centr

After the Boston bombings, the big counter terrorism question for the US will be how to prevent such attacks in the future. The possibility of 'copy cat' attacks cannot be ruled out. It will be difficult to prevent or monitor the sale of pressure cookers or other utensils. Tracking the locally available incendiary materials could be a better and more effective counter action.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, there has been a surge in cases of online child sexual abuse and exploitation (OCSAE) in many parts of the world. This brief discusses the cases of India and Australia. It examines their efforts to combat the increased incidence of OCSAE resulting from greater use of the internet as movement was restricted in response to the pandemic. The brief focuses on India and Australia as bo

India is experiencing a surge in power demand owing to an expanding economy. Even as the country has embraced the idea of transitioning to clean renewable energy, its current demand for electricity can only be met by addressing the concerns surrounding coal-fired power plants. The goal of going green might be a medium- to long-term strategy that should be diligently pursued to avoid future crises. In the short term, however, focus should

The application of emerging technologies in humanitarian assistance has increased in recent years, and they have proven effective in delivering life-saving interventions to populations in need. In a fast-changing technological landscape, the use of such tools is only expected to increase further. At the same time, however, the use of technologies brings certain challenges, such as misuse of data and the spread of misinformation. This brie

Beyond trust in digital platforms, a key factor affecting adoption of platforms is that of “value co-creation”

ATTACKING the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, on October 1, 2003, is most spectacular act that Naxalites of the People's War (formerly People's War Group or PWG) have carried out till date. The rebels have not only proved that they have the ability to strike at locations far away from their traditionally known strongholds but also that they were poised to expand their influence beyond the state boundaries.

Why there is more to the Q2 GDP estimates than what is immediately discernable

In November 2022, Qatar will become the first state in West Asia and the Arab world to host the coveted FIFA football World Cup. Doha’s winning the hosting rights has brought the country—home to only 2.9 million people, more than eight out of every ten of whom are foreign workers—out of the shadow of its large, and more powerful regional neighbours such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This brief views thi

The Quad’s growing effort to shape international norms and rules in the Indo-Pacific is taking place in an environment fraught with multiple challenges. China’s assertive rise as well as internal differences within the group pose significant risks to the plurilateral platform’s mission of creating a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific. Focusing on the Quad’s cybersecurity cooperation, this brief examines the various internal and e

The chance of an all-out two-front war with nuclear-armed Pakistan and China are near zero; local skirmishes are always possible. The difference between planning for all-out war and a limited one is hundreds of thousands of crores of the taxpayer's precious money .

India can work with regional financial institutions to expand successful Africa Summits, economic outreach, and improve LOC delivery through collabora

In the light of the fact that India is not a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it is important for the country to forge a deal in RCEP. In the current scenario, there have been increasing attempts by Indo-Pacific region members to voice growing concerns regarding Non Tariff barriers hindering trade prospects in the regional bloc.

The international community has been engaged in negotiations around climate finance for three decades now, and working definitions continue to assign the role of funder to advanced economies, and that of recipient, to emerging ones. This brief makes a case for expanding such narrow definitions. It calls on countries such as India to re-imagine not only the idea of climate finance but also the mechanisms of raising funds and the channels f

PM Modi and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed are putting in place the building blocks for a prosperous Arabian Sea community

2024 could turn out to be a pivotal year for development finance as it would be interesting to see how countries direct their ODA allocations alongsid

This paper analyses the initiatives for regional integration in East Africa and the challenges that are being faced in this regard. The paper also examines the development initiatives taken by India in the region. Following the European withdrawal, statesmen ushering in independent Africa were faced with the dire prospect of addressing the many problems their colonial overlords had left upon them. Independent Africa was left in abject poverty

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly proliferating the healthcare landscape and has immense promise for improving health outcomes in a resource-constrained setting like India. With emerging technology still finding its footing in the healthcare industry in the country, there are systemic roadblocks to hurdle before AI can be made transformative up to the last mile of public health. AI also carries immense challenges for India’s mostly t

This report tracks the changes to India’s business regulatory framework in the first 40 days of the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 virus. The Union and state governments have been highly proactive in creating spaces for doing business while managing the ongoing health crisis. The governments have attempted to modify the business-related legal infrastructure within the confines imposed through the lockdown. While under normal circumstan

Central business districts (CBDs) dominate economic activity in large cities. In India’s capital, New Delhi, for example, Connaught Place is a CBD. Firms relocate to CBDs due to the ease of doing business in such areas owing to retail agglomeration, functional grouping, labour pooling, and the ability to attract talent. However, recent phenomenon such as an increase in remote working, the rise in real estate costs, and the expansion of city lim

An analysis of how online gaming could have a positive effect on the mental health of an individual.

This brief outlines a framework for India if it is to play a more proactive role in integrating and reimagining its immediate neighbourhood, in particular with reference to the economic relations with its BIMSTEC partners. The analysis is done in the context of important economic and strategic developments in the Asia-Pacific region in the recent years. It describes how India can navigate between competing economic and geo-strategic imperatives b

The Union government should only have a “golden share” to nudge decision making towards equitable and sustainable outcomes — not hold a hammer.

The local insurgent groups together with the growing discontent amongst common Afghans can pose a risk to the Taliban’s unity in the long term

With a Taliban working in close tandem with Pakistan-backed militant groups, the spillover of violence into Kashmir might be a distinct possibility

Traditional development financing is proving insufficient to address overlapping global challenges, such as climate change and fragile contexts. This brief explores new thinking in development finance through two examples. The first is Islamic climate finance, which constitutes less than 2 percent of global Islamic finance. The brief identifies policy priorities and proposes dedicated Islamic climate-finance windows (e.g., in the Green Climate Fu

Even as globalisation has succeeded in creating a closely connected world, its biggest failure may yet be that it could not produce a stable world. Today there is a widely held view that organising the world regionally may be complementary to globalisation, if not serve as a replacement altogether. Other analysts consider the relationship as more tangled, debating whether to view regionalism as a stepping stone to globalisation or as a stumbling

European bloc politics could well extend to the Indo-Pacific this time, with China in view

To give gainful employment to those migrants who do not want to go back to the cities as it happened during demonetisation is a big challenge for the

To give gainful employment to those migrants who do not want to go back to the cities as it happened during demonetisation is a big challenge for the

The early years, particularly the first 1,000 days, are a critical period in a child’s development, with lifelong impacts. Evidence shows that one of the most effective strategies for economic growth is investing in the developmental growth of at-risk young children. However, early childhood development (ECD) programmes are severely challenged by the sheer scale of need in the face of early childhood care and education losses due to COVID-19 me

The outbreak of COVID19 has riddled a man’s life with a range of uncertainties; the uncertainty of keeping one’s job (or, receive a pay-cut), the

Since August 2021 when the US withdrew from Afghanistan, ceasefire violations at the India-Pakistan Line of Control (LoC) and killings of minorities in J&K have been reported. Indeed, the fall of Kabul to the Taliban has bolstered the anti-India establishment and the terrorist groups in Pakistan—putting the February 2021 ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan under stress. India's conventional military response of the type of the 'S

Focusing on agency and self-efficacy of people, encouraging risk communication at local levels, showing coordination among authorities, and focusing o

There is a need to establish a mechanism that regulates water valuation to achieve a fair and efficient allocation of resources amidst growing water s

The lessons learnt from COVID-19 management and vaccine distribution challenges

SAARC conjures up an image of jamborees and no results. The South Asian Association of Regional cooperation with its seven members ( India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh) remains one of the most dysfunctional trade blocs and there is hardly any freedom of movement of goods, services and people. The next (13th) SAARC summit is going to be held in Dhaka in the beginning of January 2005.

For Indian Foreign Policy radicals, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, whose leaders are meeting this week in Beijing, is about an undying dream from the past - building an eastern bloc against the West.