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Prime Minister Modi has come to symbolise an aspirational India who has been chosen as "an agent of change rather than continuity." Experts think it is unfair to judge him in such a short time. His success depends on whether the rhetoric of the elections would translate into governance.

The rise of Narendra Modi from the Gujarat chief ministerial chair to that of the prime minister of the world's largest democracy within a short period of 18 months as a phenomenon is being studied, analysed and written about across the world but there is more to come.

Modi's strategy to navigate the impossible trinity of US, China and Europe-Russia is clear. Engage with the US, Japan and Germany aggressively and integrate into their value chains. Keep expectations low but exchange lofty targets with the Chinese and the Russians.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun yet another important foreign visit, this time to all the five Central Asian republics. It is a well-timed visit. India cannot possibly replace or compete with China and Russia, but it can definitely improve its visibility in the region and provide much needed room for strategic manoeuvrability.

During his visit, PM Modi and President Mohamed Muizzu reviewed the entire gamut of relations and agreed to strengthen the multifaceted relationship by implementing the Joint Vision Document

For any nation, development of infrastructure is essential to ensure growth. India has lagged on this front for some time now and the Modi government plans to give a major push to infrastructure. The government is in the process of preparing an ambitious infrastructure programme for the next 10 years.

Posturing for domestic audiences on Pakistan in election year is easy. But dealing with the challenges emanating from an increasingly unstable Pakistan will not be. And if we don't draw the right lessons from Manmohan Singh's failures, there will be no end to the tragedy of India's Pakistan policy.

Dr. Manmohan Singh's recent successful visit to Japan and his sixth annual summit meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister formed one more significant milestone on the road to strengthening and consolidating India's partnership with Japan.

As Manmohan Singh meets Myanmar's President in the sidelines of the Bimstec summit, this will give an opportunity for the two leaders to further deepen bilateral ties. As part of the two neighbours growing relations, a border security pact is expected to be signed during Dr Singh's visit.

India has to be realistic enough to understand that heightened engagement between India and China in BRICS or any other multilateral fora has serious limitations - limitations imposed by the underlying Chinese objective of keeping India bogged down in South Asia as a regional power.

Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, has made an impressive case for "economic statesmanship" which he said would ensure inclusive growth and stability in India as well as globally.

Though India and China failed to resolve the issue of the stapled visa for those hailing from Arunachal Pradesh, there was substantial progress in other areas. The memorandum of understanding speaks about nine deals signed during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit, his sixth bilateral summit with the U.S. leader in nine years in office, will not be of great significance because the circumstances of what go into a successful summit do not exist. That has to do with the paralysis of governance in New Delhi, but equally the distemper that afflicts Washington.

Russia is considering supplying Hydrocarbons to India through pipelines and both countries have commissioned joint study groups to analyse the feasibility of the project.

To convert Modi's vision of more governance and less government into a quantifiable experience requires a change in the prevailing mindset of electronic governance as an exclusive issue of hardware and connectivity. The approach has to be reoriented towards intelligence, analytics, real-time data points, interlinked cross-tabulation and smart solutions.

The composite dialogue between India and Pakistan has reached a critical juncture. In the past 20 months, there have been countless discussions on a variety of issues that have been plaguing the relationship between the two neighbours.

The divergent and cautious responses to the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor pose a new challenge for Indian diplomacy

While technocentric threats pose evolved security problems that need to be addressed, overhauling the police force is essential to move forward.

Starting with the challenges faced by Indian petroleum sector in its hydrocarbon discoveries, the scenario remains to be unimpressive even after nine rounds of NELP bidding. Out of sedimentary basin area of 3.14 million km2 only 22 per cent has been well explored, while similar percentage is poorly explored.

Recent years have highlighted the global headwinds against China's increasingly aggressive moves in the Indo-Pacific region. Vulnerabilities associated with an overdependence on the country for several critical goods, including electronics, have exacerbated prevailing anti-China sentiments. This has provided the impetus for diversifying electronics supply chains, an opportunity India is well positioned to leverage. This brief assesses Ind

This paper examines the various constraints faced by India’s small and marginal farmers, which severely affect the productivity of their lands, and thus their incomes. These obstacles cover the gamut of farming activities, from production to storage, and accessing markets. A recent government survey has said that four of every ten of the country’s farmers disliked farming, and would prefer another occupation if given a choice. While the gover

India’s recent economic growth has been closely intertwined with the movement of workers, students, and professionals, most of them to countries of the Global North and West Asia. This paper makes a case for strategic domestic interventions, at least in the short to medium term, to ease the barriers to the global mobility of Indian citizens. These can include effective migration management and the creation of a comprehensive emigration and over

This brief assesses the recent trends in India’s defence exports and analyses the institutional and policy frameworks that have enabled a change in the country’s approach towards defence exports, resulting in an upward trajectory. It offers specific policy recommendations to allow India to pursue its target of US$5 billion in defence export revenue. However, a discussion on the types and forms of weapons, platforms, systems, or sub-systems ex

On March 13, 2006, the Union Home Minister announced a 14-point policy on Naxalism in the Lok Sabha as outlined in a booklet, 'Status Paper on the Naxal Problem'. In an effort to counter political criticism and allay the oft- repeated concerns of knowledgeable and informed circles,

Government agencies at the city, state and central level are paying greater attention to sustainable transport as the way forward for India’s mobility sector. However, for sustainability measures to have lasting outcomes in policy and practice, institutional reforms are urgently needed. The National Urban Transport Policy, which governs India’s urban mobility policymaking, was amended in 2014 to create city-specific, low-carbon mobility solut

It is easy to be cynical about the elections in Iran to choose a new president. After all, the elected president does not dominate Iran's complex political system. That privilege belongs to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This does necessarily mean the current elections are inconsequential.

Thailand is one of the few developing countries in the world that have successfully implemented Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Beginning three decades ago, Thailand’s UHC first covered the poor, then the near-poor, the formal sector employees, and the children and the elderly, through various publicly funded and contributory schemes until it reached 71 percent of the entire population in 2000. The government elected in 2001 implemented full-p

Brigadier V R P Sarathy (retd) initiated a discussion on Political Developments in Pakistan and Impact on India on Saturday 22, 2007 in ORF Chennai. He started his discussion on Pakistan's political development with Stephen P. Cohen's words: 'Pakistan is cursed by history but blessed by geography - always at the right place at the wrong time'.

The BJP, which benefited the most from the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi temple dispute catapulting it to power in 1998, would be faced with a serious dilemma in either case of the two possible judgments of the Allahabad High Court on September 24.

There has been a large degree of unpredictability with which political movements have gained weight in the region, making providing humanitarian aid to affected areas very difficult, according to the chief of the International Committee of Red Cross.

Russia recently witnessed the re-election of its long-serving president. A constitutionally mandated term limit suggests this would be Vladimir Putin’s last presidential term. As Russia enters a period of power transition, it is likely that a number of political actors will become relevant during this phase. This brief looks at the groups that form the opposition—those operating within the formal institutions and the major players outside it�

India and Sri Lanka are perhaps at the best phase yet of their bilateral relations. Since the onset of the political and economic crisis in Sri Lanka in 2022, both countries have seen a new vigour in their outreach and connectivity efforts, fuelled by their respective geopolitical and economic aspirations. This paper outlines key connectivity initiatives between the two countries and records their progress. It finds that, for India, the primary m

Although mired in a state of conflict for the past two decades, the year 2011 has turned out to be particularly bad for Somalia. The United Nations declared famine in regions of Bakool and Lower Shabelle on July 20.

The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, announced on November 14, 2003 that the forthcoming mid-term elections to the State Legislature would be fought on the issue of ¿crushing¿ the Naxalites. He declared in Hyderabad, in the presence of the national media, that Naxalite violence was hampering development and progress in the State.

Delhi must pay close attention to several pioneering initiatives undertaken by a number of Indian states to address service delivery challenges.

For a person who knows his business economics well, the Railway Minister obviously realises that he will need money to make that happen. That is why his speech contained so many references to the need for budgetary support from the government.

With the decisive verdicts in these Assembly elections, and more Assembly elections slated in Uttar Pradesh and a host of others States before 2014 general elections, the voter has put Governments and leaders on notice, when it comes to performance and accountability.

The Bay of Bengal has emerged as a key arena for Sino-Indian competition due to its proximity to vital sea lanes, rich resource potential, and strategic geography. This paper analyses how China and India employ port development initiatives in the Bay littorals—Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar—to secure their economic interests, extend geopolitical influence, and mitigate strategic vulnerabilities. Through case studies, the paper highlights

While India’s malnutrition rates have improved over the recent years, the country is still home to the largest number of stunted and wasted children in the world. To combat the dismal state of nutrition in the country, the government launched the Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment (POSHAN) Abhiyaan (‘movement’) in 2017, a flagship mission that aims at a convergence mechanism for the country’s response to malnut

The Electric Vehicle (EV) segment in India has gathered momentum in recent years, but a mismatch in intent and action has resulted in limited on-ground adoption of EVs. However, the expected growth of the automobile sector (especially in the personal-mobility space), due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and people’s increased understanding of vehicular emissions, creates immense scope for the exponential growth of the EVs industry in India. Ess

Instead of restructuring its existing combat forces, the army is merely tinkering around with the problem by shaving off marginal costs.

New Delhi’s diplomacy outreach must take charge of the story as the side that frames the question often controls the answer