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This brief examines the evolution of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ concept in the context of the dynamic role of “regions” in international relations. It argues that the conception of these theatres is a consequence of power relations; that as power dynamics change, so does the conceptualisation of regions. This would also explain why the boundaries of regions can be arbitrary—why, for instance, the Asia-Pacific stops at Myanmar and does not inclu

The Brazilian economy is in a new period of transition. Its challenges today are of tax incentives in order to steer foreign investments towards the domestic shores and curbing rising inequality and urban-rural divide.

Is the United States in the process of creating a brand new Muslim bloc? If that be the case, it would know that the execution of the plan necessarily involves the cessation of Kosovo from Serbia in the name of "Self-Determination". This, Russia will not allow at any cost. Belgrade is Moscow's Slav ally. And, in a complex way, the Albanian-Serb and the Washington-Moscow stand-off links up with the global scramble for energy source

Never before has India story looked more credible than it does today with the world in turmoil and India standing out as a beacon of hope.

COVID-19 is the flash point which can tip us over the edge. But it was always touch and go. India needs a reset towards resilience.

India's external balance is changing fast with new equations being worked out. We need to set our house in order - refurbish our political apparatus, rebuild the crumbling state of our institutions and reorient and revamp our governance capacities.

ASAT weapons, while useful to knock out communications and imaging satellites, are not all that effective against those flying at higher orbits.

The dispute could actually be the harbinger of a new and nervous era, a geopolitical side-effect of the terrible COVID-19 pandemic which is racking the world.

India's urgent requirements for hydrocarbons seem to be prompting it to look for proverbial strange bedfellows. Shrugging off the ideological baggage of the Cold War era and the Nehruvian idealism, India is all set to pursue a realistic foreign policy.

The problem is that no political economy sensitive plan to implement these reforms has emerged.

This paper projects the nationwide and state-wise size of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) market under various GDP growth scenarios. The market sizes under these scenarios are expressed in monetary values at the scale of both sub-national units and the Indian economy as a whole. With the help of transactions and market share data from Phonepe, a UPI company, the paper estimates the national and state-wise base case scenario market volu

Why does India have so few available options to manage security threats? In crisis management, Indian policy-makers have faced all-or-nothing choices, either passively absorbing provocations, or overreacting with massive mobilisations and threats of general war. In wartime, with the notable exception of the 1971 war, India has generally fought to degrade enemy military capabilities rather than to achieve decisive operational effects. This paper a

Nepal's outgoing Ambassador in India, HE Mr Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, gave an impassioned call to all countries in the South Asian region to cooperate in curbing, if not eliminating, the culture of violence and fighting insurrectionists. 'Weapons do not respect sovereign borders'

The Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) was imposed on non-agricultural commodity derivatives trading in India from 1 July 2013. This paper investigates the impact of the CTT on some of the efficiency parameters of the commodity derivative markets in India. The authors analysed daily trading data from January 2006 to December 2019 of Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) of India for five non-agricultural commodities: aluminium, copper, crude oil, gold, and

There is no doubt that Iranian security policy is now bent on laying out on the table and publicising its entire gamut of strategic and tactical playing cards for all to see

THE DISTURBING aspects of Arab democracy, wrote a columnist in Haaretz recently, "are its implications for Israel." These were listed: advent of democracy in Arab countries would make Israel lose its unique character and the "shared values" with America emanating from it; given the freedom of choice, Arab voters might elect Islamist "extremists"; Arab opinion, as per the most recent Arab Human Development Report

Now that India has successfully demonstrated its ASAT capability, it should play an important role in mitigating problems such as space debris, space traffic management, orbital frequency issues and other issues.

India is the world’s largest rice exporter, making it a significant player in the global rice market. A global rice shortage is anticipated amid rising geopolitical tensions and commodity prices. To safeguard domestic consumers from exorbitant price shocks, India has banned the export of non-basmati white rice since July 2023. This paper examines the ban's implications, especially regarding welfare redistribution among basmati and non-basmati f

By transferring Rs 1.76 lakh crore from the RBI’s surplus funds, the government is determined to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of the GDP because doing that seems to be its top priority, rather than spending more on infrastructure, welfare programmes and centrally sponsored development schemes.

While it may be necessary to keep channels to Pakistan open, so long as the Pakistan military remains the arbiter of Pakistan's destiny, it may be prudent to keep in mind what may be in store for both India and Afghanistan.

The landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in the November 8 elections is a harbinger of changing times in Myanmar. Winning clear majority, bagging more than 2/3rds of seats, the NLD has been placed in a position to steer reforms in the country.

There is a lot of disturbing news regarding the Indian economy today which is likely to spoil the outlook for 2012. One of them is regarding the rise in inequality.

The recent shrinking of the trade deficit to $6.7 billion in September (from $10.9 billion in August) has cheered the UPA government. However, we need to be cautious about favourable signs like a reduction of the trade deficit. Because though it is going to reduce one of the disturbing parameters that are slowing down growth, it could also be indicative of slack industrial activity.

The first two governors of the RBI worked under the Raj.

How far inflation control will be successful, only time can tell and we have to wait and watch. Inflation is very bad especially for the poor. But inflation cannot be controlled by interest rates alone. By being overly hawkish, the RBI Governor is not going to help industry which is starved of investment.

Inflation targeting has become a bone of contention in India. While some economists say a certain level of inflation is a necessary evil, others argue RBI's target is very low and would require monetary tightening. What is required is a balance between fiscal and monetary policy.

In August 2019, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its final guidelines for a regulatory sandbox for fintech firms.[1] Technology innovations are disrupting the traditional financial sector, and the RBI’s regulatory sandbox exercise is an attempt to be more agile and absorb some of this disruption. ‘Sandboxes’ give regulators a chance to work with fintech innovators, mitigate potential risks and develop evidence-based policy, while fi

Over four billion people do not have access to Internet; that makes a huge two-thirds of the global population. In India, around four of every five people lack this basic resource. Various access technologies are being developed in different parts of the world to bridge the digital divide. Amongst these technologies, the emergence of small satellites carries immense promise. These satellites are used for applications ranging from remote sensing t

As long as humanity has been going into space, efforts have been made to disrupt space capabilities. What is new, however, is the proliferation of counterspace capabilities beyond the Cold War superpowers, as well as the increased importance of space for many countries. This means that not only has the incentive to interrupt countries’ ability to utilise space grown, but so have the tools for responding accordingly. This brief examines what ‘

Space debris, traffic management and orbital frequency being issues that concern both India and the US, this ideally should be on the agenda in future US-India endeavours. It might be good for both the countries if they can engage in shaping this debate that would give them ownership of the issue.

With the U.S. having shut down one of its major Space situational awareness networks, major Spacefaring powers need to make it a priority to contemplate possible solutions to track satellites and orbital debris on a continued basis.

Space, as a true global commons, must be protected for safe, secure and uninterrupted access. India and China, along with other Spacefaring powers, must therefore utilise every opportunity to push for developing norms of responsible behavior, including strengthening measures in the area of active debris removal and on-orbit satellite servicing.

This brief examines state responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, taking the cases of India, Israel, Brazil, Hungary and the United States. It studies the language utilised by the government leaders in these countries and finds extensive war-time semantics. The brief explores the interrelationship of such rhetoric with the legitimisation of extreme measures through the construction of an issue as an “existential threat”— a process analysts call

Even this is optimistic and we could as well be seeing sub 5 per cent growth.

Curbing drunken driving requires that drivers, a small fraction of all travellers, be targeted. Most travellers are passengers.

The problem with imposing sanctions on a country which has the world's third largest proven reserves of oil and second largest conventional natural gas reserves is that the implications are felt globally. The price of oil is highly correlated throughout the world due to market arbitrage.

This paper dissects the persistent credit crunch that has provoked recent debates on the autonomy of India’s central bank. It tracks the trajectory of the liquidity squeeze, beginning with the wariness of public sector banks to provide credit to high-risk sectors as bad loans mounted. Yet these banks were continuing to provide loans to the NBFCs (non-banking financial companies), which were in turn extending loans to the high-risk sectors (such

Located at the centre of the Indian Ocean, the Chagos Archipelago is a group of 55 tiny islands that, since 1965, has been administered by the United Kingdom as a British Indian Ocean Territory. Its biggest island, Diego Garcia, is host to a highly important US military air base. Sovereignty over the archipelago has recently emerged as an issue of contestation between Mauritius and the UK, and the presence of American military troops has only ser

The proverbial Global South seems to be showing a fragmented approach to the crisis

Trump is the proverbial black swan which was not anticipated – a low probability, high-impact presence which is disrupting American politics, its alliance systems and its governance structures.

Like the proverbial phoenix of Greek mythology that rose from its ashes, the Taliban is resurrecting in Afghanistan. The good news is that the ¿rising Taliban¿, on the one hand, is supposed to be moderate, and on the other hand, seems to have severed its links with Al Qaeda. The bad news is that it is still the Taliban.

Climate change is one of the most significant challenges defining the 21st century, and ways to deal with it occupy an important space in current policymaking discourse. Central banks in different parts of the world have recently started playing a part in articulating strategies to combat climate change. This brief explores the position of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in this regard. It outlines the physical and transition risks associated wit

Antony has done India a huge favour by absorbing pressure from different lobbies and allowing IAF to select the best possible fighter aircraft.