Search

Today, the Government(s) should not be looking into questions like 'Why Telangana?'. It has lost the luxury of thought process already. Instead, it should be looking at the when and how of it.

Sixty years ago, China provided India with actual map coordinates which delimited its claim line in eastern Ladakh. And the claim line shows the Chinese side is today trying to encroach westward, further into India.

New Delhi today is articulating a new voice on the global stage and is confidently able to steer through some of the evident contradictions in its approach.

George Perkovich is of the view that India is not a major power today though it definitely enjoys a substantial measure of autonomy. The essence of his argument can be summarised as follows:

Bangladesh was one of the few countries in the world to sustain a positive economic growth rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, however, it is experiencing symptoms that could stall such impressive record: rising divergences in the government’s fiscal balance; the precarious Balance of Payments situation; rapidly declining foreign exchange reserves; demand-supply gaps in the energy markets; and inflationary tendencies. The exogenous shocks

Most central banks across the globe are today seized with the idea of cryptocurrency, with countries like Sweden and China already embarking on their pilot projects. This paper argues that most of the proposed architectures for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) are not designed to mimic the paper currency in its digital form. It proposes an architecture that largely retains all the properties of a paper currency, with only one limitation—i

America’s global hegemony is the sum total of its domination in various regions of the world like Europe, Middle East, or East Asia. Today when the Americans look at East Asia, they see a hugely enriched and militarily powerful China increasingly challenging them.

India, today, has the heft to influence the geopolitical dynamic around it. In pushing for improved relations with one, India's ability to enhance ties with the other two will significantly improve. Masterly inactivity, on the other hand, would surely make India lose ground with all the three.

Even after the decolonisation of Africa, the continent was unable to formulate, let alone implement its own agenda because of its deep political and economic vulnerabilities. This situation has changed in the last two decades, and today, Africa is witnessing political and economic resurgence. Its leaders realise that the time has come for African development to be owned and driven by the African people themselves. There is a new enthusiasm for th

From Agra to air-link, it has been one long U-turn for the Pakistani leadership of President Pervez Musharaff. Today, he readily agrees to address peripheral issues affecting relations with India, and has even ¿unilaterally¿ announced the restoration of over-flights for Indian craft. Going a step further, he has mooted the conferment of Nishan-e-Pakistan, the nation¿s highest civilian title on Prime Minister Vajpayee, if and when the latter ma

Today, machines reflect regressive, patriarchal ideas that have proven to be harmful to society. If this continues, technology may no longer usher us into a post-gender world.

There are two epicentres of terrorism today. One is in the AfPak region, a byproduct of the Cold War. Another epicentre which has risen in the recent times is in West Asia, which in some ways represents the first post-Cold War conflict between various competing forces.

Today the two biggest countries in the world - the US and China - are playing in the world arena on their own terms. Jobs are, indeed, something to be worried about because not only is there a threat of a deflationary spiral in the US but there is also a huge fiscal deficit. This means austerity (decline in demand) and job losses.

Gandhiji would surely condemn the corruption that plagues India today. But unlike Anna Hazare, he would steer us towards the more preliminary question of, how did we get here?

Pakistan is today dangling between hope and despair, propelled largely by President Pervez Musharraf's inability, and refusal, to gauge public sentiments for free and fair elections in the coming months. Discontentment, once confined to media and courtrooms, has spilled out into the streets, creating a stifling atmosphere of anxiety and doubt across the country. Political, economic and social differences have sharpened in the past eight years. Re

The distribution of military and economic power in the world today resembles an irregular pyramid. The face of the pyramid depicting the military dimension of power rests on a narrow base, while that representing its economic dimension is much wider. Economic power is more broadly diffused among the major states than is the case with military power.

Popularity of India as an education destination for Bhutanese students is a reference-point for close bilateral ties. Today, as many as one third of Bhutan's student population are pursuing higher education in India,

This paper assesses United States (US) presidents Donald J. Trump’s (2017-21) and Joe Biden’s (2021-present) respective records on the India-US technology partnership. During the Trump years, this domain of bilateral cooperation saw the finalisation of foundational agreements, including those on force interoperability, and new precedents on US arms export designations for India. While these agreements pertained mostly to defence technology, t

During a roundtable with a delegation of EU Members of Parliament, the ORF Director pointed out the great chance the international community has today in setting up electricity generating plants in India with green technology.

Eventually, it has to be a mutual settlement with full understanding between the two parties. They need to come to a compromise, in the highest traditions of the country. There is ample land available land at the site which could accommodate both the construction of a new temple as well as a new masjid.

The Narendra Modi government's 'Make in India' campaign, on the whole, seems out of sync with today's world where it doesn't matter where a product is made because even high exporting countries like China basically assembles parts made elsewhere in the world.

Arguably the most ambitious health insurance programme in the world today, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) gives India the chance to transform its healthcare infrastructure. Launched in September 2018 and foreshadowing the general elections of 2019, PMJAY is equal-parts political and economic. It aims to address the healthcare needs of India’s poorest 100 million households and has the potential to deliver what its predecessors ove

The new generation challenge for our diplomats and policy makers today is to capture the American mindspace. This is a task that requires subtlety, but its crucial asset is the human capital connect that we have established with the US.

New Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, known for his low profile political career, is now being called upon to manage his party (Democratic Party of Japan) that is driven more by internal power struggle than policies per se.

With the traditional liberal order appearing agile, new questions on international security and peacemaking have come to the fore. In the current context, global players are according Afghanistan greater strategic importance. As NATO troops continue to make headway in that region into the safe havens of ISIS, and with US posturing purportedly getting more robust, China’s role in Afghanistan merits scrutiny. Even though China’s involvement, mi

China, a late entrant in Latin America, has now emerged as the region’s major economic partner. Bilateral trade between the two stands today at more than USD 200 billion. By augmenting investments and trade in Latin America, Beijing has managed to project itself as an alternative to the United States, which had previously enjoyed overarching influence in the region. The US’ inability to lead Latin America into a path of sustainable econ

The 13th round of military commander’s talks between India and China will take place at Moldo today.

Arguably the most significant global phenomenon of the past four decades has been the economic and strategic rise of China. Today analysts are confronting questions of whether China will replace the United States as the world’s biggest power, if it will do so peacefully or through confrontation and conflict, how it will subvert the existing system of global rules and institutions, and whether a new form of bipolarity would emerge to accommodate

China’s communist party has survived where others have failed — a testament to its capacity to adapt and reinvent itself with the times. Mao’s successors put ideology aside and focused instead on economic growth.  Yet today, under Xi Jinping’s leadership, there is much lip-service paid to the ideology of the communist past, even while key communist principles like collectivism are actively undermined. With a slowing down economy, communi

Even today, renewable energy sources definitely cannot replace fossil fuel that is getting scarce over time. Given this theoretical underpinning, why do we have a negative price for crude oil?

Prolonged periods of military rule in Pakistan have enabled the military to penetrate all structures of the Pakistani state. Political parties, the judiciary, bureaucracy, and the media — today all have their share of pro-khaki elements. Therefore, a military coup d’etat is no longer the only way to unseat a democratically elected political leader who may have differences with the Army. Indeed, if former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had compl

If the Pakistan-TTP talks succeed Pakistan may actually metamorphose from a hybrid theocracy to a complete theocracy, as Ayesha Siddiqa argues, because the Taliban, good or bad, want implementation of the Sharia. Thus all would depend on how far Pakistan's military and civilian leadership want to go to accommodate Taliban demands or prefer to wage war against TTP.

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.

The IFS is criticised in some western circles because it resists efforts to incorporate India into the West's sphere of political and intellectual influence. Some who are attacking the MEA today want this resistance to end.

The rapidly changing battlefield—framed by emerging transnational threats and the rising influence of public opinion—has transformed military diplomacy; today the focus is shifting from traditional combat to joint multinational operations and non-combat activities. Since the early 21st century, China has modernised its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and expanded military diplomacy to protect the country’s interests. Using civil-military f

Charismatic, centralised leadership, like Mr Modi's today and Indira Gandhi's earlier, whilst have a huge advantage in national elections, cannot single-handedly carry a local election. Delhi is likely to make this point to leaders yet again.

The relative degree of success of President Barack Obama's visit to India will depend on the extent to which the tough US demands on defence trade be eased to accommodate India's strategic needs without compromising national interests from both sides.

Though the Planning Commission went by the Tendulkar formula, Rs 32 and Rs 24 look extremely low at today's prices and high inflation, and especially if we take into account that these amounts include other items of daily life like education and health.

Along with proposing new measures and initiatives, the Narendra Modi government should focus on completing the already proposed projects that would benefit the region like the implementation of the Kaladan Multimodal transit project with Myanmar.

Restricting the flow of information, either by stopping broadcasts or banning physical books, is today an analogue problem. Given the porous digital borders, the government would find it difficult to block the documentary.

Controversies over the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala and Koodamkulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu, development issues regarding Sangur and Nandigram in West Bengal have exposed the political double talk on the excuse of people's concerns.

Mark Lynas is right. Completely divorced from research and data Indian activism today is a cesspool of myths and misconceptions

It is interesting to note the accommodations that China made in its educational system to inspire its exponential growth in economic and defence capability. Its educational reforms aimed at transitioning China from a manufacturing hub to a leader in innovation. Today China has the largest network of primary education in the world.

In India there has been no consistency in policies to deal with terrorism. Political consensus is missing even today. A strong, responsible political leadership, thus, is paramount to the drafting and implementation of an effective, strong and permanent counter-terrorism law.

It were thousands of village pradhans who had to be "empowered" as the nodal points most in contact with the people. Legislators and policy makers have to develop institutional mechanisms to liaise with the Pradhans who implement policy at the village level.

The importance of today's Africa for India is self-evident. India's ambitions of being a global power cannot be achieved without the support of the African continent consisting of 55 countries. Nowhere is the importance of African countries felt more than on the issue of the expansion of the UN Security Council.

Surveillance as a tool of governance holds more relevance today than ever before, as information technology grows by the day and collects more biometric data. Biometric data—either first-generation (static biological data) or second-generation (dynamic socio-spatial biological data)—is extracted from the biological and social aspects of individuals and used in surveillance for purposes of national security, civic responsibility, and business

China has often showed a lack of willingness to abide by not only established international law but also certain norms that the global community has fostered over the years. It has flouted the decision issued by an arbitration court at The Hague regarding its claims in the South China Sea; it has also appropriated intellectual property.  In the 1970s when the Western economies were taking the lead in setting global norms while balancing the thre

In today’s digital economy, the United States (US) remains a market leader in many digital technologies; meanwhile, China is fast catching up. In Europe, foreign technology companies have a strong presence, often creating dependencies that can undermine digital sovereignty. Digitisation, therefore, is high on the European Union’s (EU) political agenda. This paper analyses recent key policy responses by the EU, and finds that the union