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Crowdfunding is a concept that refers to an open call for finances, often for innovative or unique projects and campaigns. Crowdfunding platforms act as intermediators between supporter and project, investor and investee, or lender and lendee. The platforms intermediate this process by arranging the payment process between the parties. This brief outlines the benefits of crowdfunding for improving access to financing for small and medium enterpri

If one thing needs to change after the coronavirus, it’s the relationship between the state and migrant workers.

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.

Commander of the US Seventh Fleet, Vice Admiral Scott H. Swift, feels that dialogues and frank discussions are the best solution to the ongoing disputes in the Indo-Pacific region.

The US's war in Iraq is over but it has ended in a fiasco. Iraq is unstable and Iran is emerging as the strongest force in the region.

India, like much of the rest of the world, is faced with the twin but opposing conditions of economic potential and social concerns that need to be negotiated to realise the digital dividends from artificial intelligence (AI) and achieve sustainable and balanced growth. AI systems involve layers of technological dependencies that necessitate and enable social and institutional interdependency between stakeholders, enabling conditions, and resourc

Social media’s impact on mainstream media, and the way people communicate with one another and disseminate information, has become a subject of serious study for journalists, academics and policymakers alike. While it has been a significant equaliser as a vehicle by which the fundamental right to freedom of expression is guaranteed everyone irrespective of class, creed or geography, these very same platforms are also becoming spaces where—in

E-commerce has made massive inroads in India’s retail sector: 220 million people are expected to shop online by 2025, and the industry is predicted to grow to INR 13,97,800 crore (US$200 billion) by 2027. Yet, about 90 percent of grocery retail trade in India are still driven by small-format traders and neighbourhood kirana (grocery) stores. The evolving retail scenario and changing consumer demands mean that these kirana stores must swiftly em

With the idea to dispel doubts about the India story abroad, Observer Research Foundation brought together the spokespersons of the two rival parties, the ruling Congress Party and the Opposition BJP, at a platform arranged by the US India Business Council (USIBC) in Washington on 18 September.

As Pakistan struggles to prod the Taliban to act on militant groups, its dual policy of supporting extremist groups has come back to haunt it

It has taken the sweeping 'brand Modi' poll campaign to tell the Dravidian polity in southern Tamil Nadu that their forgotten, traditional political and electoral campaign was always right -- and that they better return to the grassroots.

AUKUS fits into a growing network of minilaterials crisscrossing the Indo-Pacific and rooted in shared strategic interests.

The moment finance minister Pranab Mukherjee announced a mere 4% nominal increase in defence budget pegged at Rs 1,47,344 crore for 2010-11, members of Indian strategic community started showing their frustrations.

The President-elect Donald Trump has already confirmed that Lieutenant General Michael Flynn will serve as the next National Security Advisor

The US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal makes it an untrustworthy partner in any subsequent negotiations. The era of American leadership in the non-proliferation order is over

While the Government continues to celebrate the armed forces’ performance for electoral gains, it will do well to remember that the basic tenet of warfare is that the man behind the gun matters more than the gun. Its failure to grant non-functional upgrade is all the more hurtful

There are unlimited possibilities for strengthening maritime cooperation with Bangladesh and Myanmar - ranging from joint scientific research to environmental monitoring and from major trans-border projects to trilateral naval exercises. If Delhi decides to play for small stakes in the Bay of Bengal, it will deal itself out of the emerging great game in the east.

The benefits of strengthening physical connectivity in a geographically contiguous region are increasingly being recognised. These links are expected to increase economic activity and people-to-people interaction, leading in turn to regional and sub-regional integration. In this backdrop, the Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) signed among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal is expected to facilitate cross-border movement of vehicles, thereby reducing

India's ranking in the World Bank's ease of doing business index is 134. Ease of doing business has ease of settling commercial disputes at its centre. With the Arbitration and Conciliation (amendment) Bill coming in place, India could play a greater role in shaping the way forward.

This brief discusses the education component of cooperation between India and the countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). It argues that nurturing the education link within BIMSTEC can play a transformative role in augmenting people-to-people contact and cementing a more fruitful regional connectivity. While progress has been achieved—to which India has contributed considerably�

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.

Saying that there is a proven link between the two types of terrorists - sectarian and Taliban -- Maj. Gen. Mahmud Durrani stresses the need for carrying out educational reforms and popularising a counter-narrative to Taliban's interpretation of Islam.

These are not cheerful times for South Block in its dealings with neighbours or nations as distant as Italy. But there is a whole range of countries, in the Arab world which have traditionally been warm to New Delhi and who have been sending senior envoys to plead their respective cases and seek Indian support bilaterally and in multilateral forums.

Even though the Egyptian army has refrained from taking over governance in the interim period, analysts say the fear of repeating the same mistakes are legitimate. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether or not this political transition will have a long-lasting impact on Egypt's nascent democracy.

A day after the Myanmar elections, conflict started between the army and a faction of the Karen ethnic armed group, pushing thousands of Karen villagers into Thailand. This incident does not suggest smooth beginning for the country's political transition and the possibility of more such conflicts cannot be ruled out

In recent years, more governments have been giving greater attention to developing their countries’ electric vehicles (EV) sector as a strategy for minimising the harm that mass transportation can cause to human health and the environment. This paper tells the story of India’s EV initiative. It offers an overview of the national mission to push the manufacture and adoption of EVs; appraises the policies introduced by governments of select sta

India and the countries of Africa share common challenges in their education systems, among them, weak teacher capacities and lack of basic infrastructure. In India, technological interventions have been able to address some of the challenges at scale. Africa has met with less success in this regard, as governments prioritise the provision of hardware without addressing the systemic issues that hamper the adoption of such technologies. Cu

A single deft move in the 18th century secured the British empire in India many advantages over the advancing Russians. By sending five English dray horses along with a blue velvet upholstered coach to Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore, upstream from Kutch, the British discovered that the Indus was navigable all the way up.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has already made inroads into healthcare. The increasing availability of healthcare data has allowed for the deployment of powerful AI techniques to assist drug development as well as clinical practice. These run the gamut from machine learning (ML) techniques that analyse structured data, to natural language processing (NLP) that can extract meaningful information from unstructured data, such as doctors’ notes. Thi

After improving between 2000 and 2013, hunger levels have significantly worsened in Africa in the years since. While global food insecurity is currently at an all-time high, Africa's record in addressing undernutrition was not impressive even in the pre-pandemic era when growth rates were higher. There are several challenges to food security in Africa, including short-term external shocks such as the pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war, and long-

But the problem now is that the conflict is being cast in binaries, making compromise difficult

This brief analyses the similarities and differences between the weaponisation of oil and that of gas. Discourse around the weaponisation of energy has increased since 1973, after oil-producing Arab countries attempted to use oil to pressure Europe and the United States to abandon their military aid to Israel. The subject has received renewed interest following recent events, such as the energy tensions between the European Union and the Russian

The week’s roundups on the energy sector.

The week’s roundups from the energy sector.

Flexibility and transparency critical for a gas-based economy; last mile pipelines get a boost in India — and other news and analyses from the energy sector.