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India’s fighter jet procurement just got trickier with Trump’s F-35 offer, raising questions on operational fit, strategic autonomy, and geopoliti

While the MMRDA envisioned the Bandra Kurla Complex as a robust, well-structured entity, there is a critical need for connecting transportation arteri

शहरी भागातील आव्हानांवर उपाय शोधून आणि काही धोरणे आखून भ

Although the current public health threat posed by the avian flu is low due, the virus’s genetic changes and cross-species infections raise concerns

By adopting certain strategies and addressing the multidimensional challenges in urban areas, India can reduce MMR and develop equitable maternal heal

The recent spate of top IAS transfers in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region has exposed Maharashtra’s haphazard handling of the pandemic

The consequences of reckless urban planning in Mumbai — earlier intermittent — have now aggravated.

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's decision to go for the European option in the 42000 crores MMRCA deal is going to hurt India in politico-strategic terms compared to any possible significant gains. Not just numerical superiority and costs but more importantly the strategic benefits should have been the guiding factors in making the decision on MMRCA.

For India's current administration, beset with corruption scandals, letting technical merits alone determine the MMRCA decision was probably the politically easiest choice. But its strategic merits are somewhat less clear.

By moving the Mumbai High Court for rent-exemption for the MMRDA ground, and at the same time paying up-front when compelled to do, Team Anna has showed what they are worth in terms of public morals and fiscal accountability.

Mumbai today has a plethora of institutions - BMC, MMRDA, MSRDC, MVRC, etc. At last count, there were 23 institutions directly or indirectly 'planning' for Mumbaikars. There is an urgent need to 'de-institutionalise' urban planning.

While India will spend around $200bn-plus in the next 10 years, future contracts like the MMRCA should pave the way for opportunities for Indian firms to upgrade their design, development, production and innovation capabilities. India must ensure that arms deals are not a one-way traffic for suppliers.

Governments chose the G2G route to avoid the perceived malpractices of an open competition, this route raises issues around possibility of malpractice in the commercial advantages to single vendors and the elimination of competition. Several revelations have emerged from the controversy over the Rafale order.

The question of municipal leadership is of great significance in urban governance in India. There are various models of the position of chief executive of an urban local body (ULB), predominantly tilting towards the ‘strong mayor’ model either through ‘presidentialisation’ of the office or through a ‘mayor-in-council’[1] system. In India, it is the ‘state appointed municipal commissioner’ model that holds sway, sitting over a popu

India has recorded notable progress in maternal and child health in the recent years. The state of Madhya Pradesh (MP), however, has performed sub-optimally compared to most states and union territories (UTs) of India. MP’s annual reduction in maternal mortality rate (MMR), for example, is at 5.8 percent, compared to the national average of 7.5 percent; the yearly drop in neonatal mortality rate (NMR) is at 0.6 percent, far below the national a