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The November 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai the commercial capital of an economically resurgent India?left a deep and indelible impact on the Indian security psyche. The attacks exposed the lackadaisical attitude of the Government, at both the Central and state level, towards coastal security and the sheer illpreparedness of the country to combat such terror threats from the seas.
India’s attempts at strengthening its intelligence infrastructure and capabilities have historically been reactive and incremental, rather than holistic and sustainable. This was seen, for instance, in the aftermath of the Kargil War, and following the terror attacks on Mumbai in November 2008. India has rarely undertaken proactive reforms and done little to implement corrective measures subsequent to these crises. This brief offers recommendat
Unless India takes up urban planning with the seriousness it deserves, the future of some of the mega projects of the incumbent government such as the
Economic decisions and reforms are not a sprint, but a relay race where different types of economic reforms are required at various stages of a nation
Why have the informal workers not been able to form a pressure group, or demand for better rights to housing or living in Mumbai?
A Brahmaputra-class guided missile warship, the Betwa was in the process of undocking when the unfortunate incident occurred, killing two sailors and injuring another fifteen.
Union Defence Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee stressed the need for the corporate sector to adopt a greater role in India¿s defence sector. He was delivering the first annual lecture of the ORF Mumbai Chapter of Observer Research Foundation (ORF), on March 12, 2005.
The Mumbai blasts were an act of war against the Indian state; it would be naïve to term it as anything else. It was an act of terror to kill as many Indians as possible. It was an act enabled, to a large measure, by a growing perception among the terrorist groups, especially those operating from Pakistan, that the Indian state was soft and indolent.
Two years after the Mumbai attack, and despite the intense global crackdown, one of the world's most networked, resourceful and dangerous terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), remains operational in Pakistan, and ready to hit again.
Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, the terrorist group behind the Mumbai 2008 attacks and operating from Pakistan, is likely to continue with its terror campaign against the security forces in India, according to a study on LeT done by Dr Subrahmanian and his team at the University of Maryland.
In the recent history of terrorism, there have been four instances of well-planned, well-executed and well-synchronised multiple explosions by terrorist groups causing large casualties. These are the explosions in Mumbai (Bombay) in March,1993, which killed over 200 innocent civilians, at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu in February,1998,
With metro rail adding one more layer to urban mass transit, an autonomous UMTA is necessary to increase the modal share of public transport in urban
An ORF study report on the neglect of the Mumbai river Mithi, and how it can be reclaimed effectively was jointly released by Mr. Suresh Prabhu, former Union Minister of Environment and Forests, and Mr. Rajendra Singh, the Ramon Magsaysay Award winner and a noted water activist.
As part of the Maritime Security Programme which was launched by then Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash on 19th May 2006 at ORF Chennai, Observer Research Foundation, the National Maritime Foundation and the College of Naval Warfare, ORF Mumbai joined hands to conduct an International seminar at ORF Mumbai on 11th and 12th January 2007.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev added some flair to the normally staid Indo-Russian diplomatic engagements by visiting the Taj Mahal and "rekindling Russia's Bollywood love affair" with a trip to a film studio in Mumbai.
On November 26, 2008, 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai undid in less than 60 hours what governments of two sovereign nations had been struggling for over four years to achieve-peace and stability in the region. These terrorists were from Pakistan, recruited, trained and armed by Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), a terrorist group with visible presence across the country.
The report prepared by National Investigating Agency (NIA) on David Coleman Headley, after interrogating him for 34 hours (June 3-9, 2010), show that he was not recruited by Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) but by ISI to help in planning the Mumbai attack.
BRTS recently received its first major setback in India, with the city of Pune abandoning its BRTS project by allowing private vehicles to enter the B
In the aftermath of the serial train blasts in Mumbai on July 11, in which 179 people were killed and 772 wounded, the question uppermost in public mind is ¿why has India become the most affected target of terrorism?¿ Ever since June 1985, when Air India¿s ¿Kanishka¿ was blown up over the Ireland coast, India¿s share of terrorists¿ incidents and civilian casualties has risen to become the highest in the world.
New Delhi's focus in the talks with Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik is on the bilateral agenda- especially justice for the plotters of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. But it is in India's interest to widen the conversation to include the latest developments in Afghanistan where Islamabad has begun to make some big moves.
Buenos Aires and Mumbai are among the least green cities in the world, with only about 1.8 square metres per capita of green space.
Confusion over municipal property tax collection in Mumbai is a lesson for ULBs across India
There is an urgent need for breaking the vicious cycle to improve the quality of life in Indian cities.
As cities emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, they cannot afford a setback in the struggle to build more equitable and resilient urban areas. They must
It appears that as long as Mumbai continues to be the capital of Maharashtra — acute regional imbalances are likely to continue.
The unrealistic expectations in India from Li Keqiang's visit to Delhi and Mumbai next week are likely to be tempered when weighed against the Chinese premier's agenda in Pakistan.
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
In the aftermath of the serial train blasts in Mumbai on July 11, the question uppermost in public mind has been, ''Why has India become the most affected target? Are we in a no-win situation against terrorism?''
The recent spate of top IAS transfers in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region has exposed Maharashtra’s haphazard handling of the pandemic
A slew of reforms announced for Mumbai’s public transport buses can potentially change BEST’s fortunes, but doubts prevail.
India is witnessing a phenomenal increase in urbanisation and it is essential that this process is studied and analysed thoroughly to provide for a better quality of life, said Mr. Strobe Talbott, President of the Brookings Institution, while formally releasing ORF Mumbai Vision 2015: Agenda for Urban Renewal, published by Observer Research Foundation in ORF Mumbai on September 20.
Solutions to the problem are pretty obvious. The first step is to set the policy right. Governments have to begin by scrapping the rent laws as they s
It is not the first time that the Pakistan army has accused the R&AW of fomenting trouble in Pakistan. India should be cautious of what lies behind this seemingly sudden provocation. The Pakistan army prepares the ground for a major attack against India and its assets by raising the pitch of allegations to whip up public support at home. This has been the case in the past, including the Mumbai attacks of 2008.
While it is imperative to address the vulnerabilities exposed by past terrorist attacks — it is even more critical is to anticipate and game the nex
Figures speak for themselves in India’s most populous city. Census 2011 data revealed that nearly 42% of Mumbai’s total population of nearly 1.3 c
Pakistan has shown inadequate political will to act against the Mumbai conspirators and has found tactical refuge in legal niceties to take minimum action
In 2019, the Indian Railways (IR) recorded zero fatalities from accidents caused by operational errors. However, many people continue to meet with train-related mishaps that are beyond the IR’s control; many of these accidents result in death. The IR’s experience in preventing deaths in accidents caused by operational errors (technically called “consequential accidents”) offers lessons on minimising all railways-related fatalities. This p
For starters, trade talks between the two countries resumed after a hiatus of nearly three years. The talks were suspended following the Mumbai attacks. But the thaw emanating from the latest bout of 'cricket diplomacy' has paved the way for cooperation in the sphere of trade.
Speaking at an interaction on 'Trends in Indian Foreign Policy', organized by Observer Research Foundation (ORF), ORF Mumbai Chapter, Prof. S D Muni of Jawaharlal Nehru University, ... more
The latest terrorist attack on Mumbai and careless comments by an Indian minister on the scrapping of aids by the United States may set back ties with Pakistan.
Vehicular congestion and insufficient parking facilities are significant emerging challenges for India’s mega and metropolitan cities, severely impairing mobility. Although curtailed by constitutional mandates, many Indian cities are seeking to resolve the issue through parking policies, focusing on regulations, pricing as a management tool, new technologies, and off-street parking provisions. This brief assesses the parking policies of Ahmedab
The demand for basic infrastructure and services in Indian cities has increased phenomenally due to rapidly growing populations. Such unmet demands often adversely affect the quality of urban life, the economic productivity, as well as the process of sustainable development. The main purpose of this brief is to highlight the problems involved in improving access to water supply in Indian cities faced with a severe water shortage crisis. A case st
In a municipality of 55 members in Dhule, 16 are Muslims, affiliated to all the mainstream parties in Mumbai. These councillors are virtual middlemen for state leaders, in whose electoral interest they try to keep the local flock.
While superficial similarities between the recent Gurdaspur attack and the Mumbai attack may be apparent, there are major differences in the manner both planned and executed. The scale of the attack itself suggests that it certainly doesn't seem to have had the support of the highest echelons of power as in the Mumbai attack.
There is reluctance in offering absolute autonomy to institutes in something as basic as issuing degrees. When it comes to financial autonomy, it is a
The eighth anniversary of 26/11, the terror strikes in Mumbai, provides a fit opportunity to review the state of the country’s coastal security
सार्वजनिक वाहतुकीला चालना मिळावी आणि वाहतूक समस्येवर उपाय सापडावा, म्हणून आपण शहरांतील रस्त्यांकडे स्थावर मालमत्ता म्हणून गांभार्याने पाहायला हवे.
