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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.

The Indo-Pacific region is becoming the world's new strategic and economic ‘centre of gravity’. Indeed, the accelerated trajectory of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) in recent years highlights the region’s growing importance. The Quad countries have committed to a rules-based order and a free and open Indo-Pacific, and are aiming to develop resilience across domains, such as in the maritime space, to counter and deter aggressive

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

The immediate concerted European response in the aftermath of Madrid blasts on March 11, 2004 was the creation of the post of a Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, who would directly work under the European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana. In fact, the idea of effective counter-terror coordination and intelligence sharing

The immediate concerted European response in the aftermath of Madrid blasts on March 11, 2004 was the creation of the post of a Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, who would directly work under the European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana. In fact, the idea of effective counter-terror coordination and intelligence sharing

स्वीडनचे 2023 चे अध्यक्षपद हे एका गंभीर टप्प्यावर आले आहे कारण युरोपला अनेक आव्हानांचा सामना करावा लागत आहे.

दोन्ही भागीदारांनी परस्पर सुरक्षा आणि सहकार्य वाढवण्यासाठी विद्यमान राजनैतिक माध्यमांचा वापर केला पाहिजे.

Whether France can be a trusted partner in managing China is a question that many have asked after the fiasco of Macron’s visit.

Presenting the Interim Budget 2024-’25 on 1 February, the finance minister announced an allocation of INR 6,21,541 crore (approx. US$75 billion) for the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Representing 1.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 13 percent of Central Government Expenditure (CGE), MoD’s new budget is an increase of 4.7 percent over the previous outlays. This brief examines the MoD’s latest budget and contextualises it in the curr

As China pursues its expansionist ambitions in the greater South China Sea, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is working to enhance his country’s ability to exercise its sovereignty and sovereign rights. Towards this end, Manila is expanding its strategic options through robust external partnerships and national policy recalibrations to secure its lawful waters in what it calls the West Philippine Sea. There are concerns, however, abou

India’s West Asia engagement must focus on strengthening its presence as an economic and security partner

Their established ties rest on a foundation of common values and goals

The metaverse is a real-time, three-dimensional world that is accessible through Virtual Reality (VR) head-mounted display. Called ‘the next Internet’, the metaverse is multi-technology and incorporates hardware infrastructure with immersive technology, blockchain technology, computer vision, and ubiquitous interfaces. Globally, metaverse is still in the nascent stage as stakeholders work to figure out its innovative and practical app

Social media is becoming an increasingly useful tool for radicalisation and the recruitment and mobilisation of individuals for extremist activities. India, with its unique socio-political landscape, is particularly susceptible to the misuse of social media. This brief explores the challenges posed by social media extremism in India and globally. It examines the psychological and societal impacts of platforms like X, the interplay between local a

While New Delhi must be mindful of export restrictions, the US-India semiconductor accord marks a major shift in the US’s high-technology strategy

The Iran nuclear issue is touching yet another point of criticality. The build-up was evident to the naked eye, the crescendo almost predictable. It was six weeks ago that Secretary of Iran¿s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, expressed Teheran's frustration that EU-3 (Britain, France and Germany) was stonewalling in the negotiations, meandering into blind alleys, lost in thoughts.

Initiated in 1970, the FMR experienced a resurgence in 2016, finding a place within the broader Act East Policy of New Delhi.

Microfinance, which began in India 50 years ago, extends credit, insurance, loans, access to savings accounts, and money transfers to small business owners and entrepreneurs, especially those not served by the conventional banking system, or indeed the rest of the financial sector. This paper traces the history of microfinance in India and evaluates its impact. It finds that although the microfinance sector has emerged as a salient player in Indi

Defence structures around the world are seeing a technological upheaving as new and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) are being added to military arsenals. However, military AI largely lacks precision and is often developed without any threat-modelling which takes gender into account, examples of which are already being seen in civilian applications of AI. Translated into a conflict environment, deploying such AI systems cou

As the world confronts multiple challenges which are intricately connected, our path for development stands at a crucial juncture. In the context of the embroiling polycrisis, progress on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) has been steady but fragile with major and persistent challenges. Financing for Agenda 2030 has emerged as a major bottleneck with several developing economies, especially the least developed countries (LDCs), low-income

India’s target of achieving 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 might appear ambitious, but it is crucial as it will have a positive impact on the country’s economic growth, energy security and the fight against climate change. Financing is emerging as the key challenge to this vision, slowing down the pace of growth; as of December 2019, over 50 percent of the 2022 target is yet to be achieved. This brief outlines India’s existing

Over three years since the February 2021 coup in Myanmar, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has made little progress in helping resolve the crisis despite releasing a ‘Five-Point Consensus’ (5PC) in April 2021. The political crisis that followed the coup poses a challenge for the ASEAN, which must now deliberate on ensuring not only the early implementation of the 5PC but also whether, and how, it should continue to abide by

As Delhi and Washington try to develop separate, special relationships with Beijing, there is a danger of misreading each other's intentions. Both India and the US want a secure Afghanistan and moderate Pakistan, but their approaches are not always in sync. An honest conversation between Joe Biden and the Indian leaders is critical at this juncture to prevent misperceptions from derailing India-US security cooperation in Asia.

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked rapid digitalisation worldwide, with work-from-home interactions, online payments, and online consultations for various services becoming acceptable practices. While this shift in the manner and nature of work brought enormous benefits, crucially in terms of access, it has also increased the kind of cyber security threats that countries face, with vulnerabilities felt particularly in the health and financial sectors.

With the SAARC summit only days away, the focus should be as much on re-positioning India, both in the regional and emerging global context, as on terrorism and security. Prime Minister Vajpayee set the mood a fortnight ago by referring to a 'common currency' for, and hydro-power cooperation among member-nations.

The Union Finance Minister surprised many with his social sector-centric budget. No one expected the Modi government to go for enhancing the MNREGA by Rs 5000 crore or to have a huge kitty of subsidies ($37 billion) aimed at the poor. There seems to be a vision towards giving India a universal social security system for all and especially the poor.

The NIA raids have had a salutary effect, but a lot more needs to be done to shut down the funding networks and penalise and reduce to penury of the conflict entrepreneurs.

Globalisation has made the farm-to-fork journey complex, and with it comes the potential for food contamination in local contexts to spiral into global crises. A largely reactive food safety approach, the rapid growth in urbanisation, and climate change events are linked to the spread of food-borne illnesses, which affect hundreds of millions of people in low- and middle-income countries. This brief argues that building resilient food safety syst

Across the SCO there is conflict at various levels that complicates India’s engagement, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to simmering Sino-Indian tensions.

The U.S. initiative to have Masood Azhar blacklisted at the UN Security Council marks a new turn

As a rising India engages the world with confidence in an increasingly challenging environment, informed contestations on foreign policy should be the norm.

As India and Taiwan complete 30 years of informal relations this year, there is scope to deepen cooperation in the domains of trade, technology, digitalisation, and security. This paper offers a framework for India’s engagement with Taiwan, identifies the pillars of their current relationship and areas for future collaboration, and explores the limitations and challenges. The dual-track engagement—proactive engagement and soft balancing with

Nearly 20 million people in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen are facing what has been described as the largest food crisis in the world in 70 years. Conflict is the main reason behind these famines, abetted by drought, climate change, poverty, and the existing vulnerability of the people in these countries. Security issues have led to a dramatic decline in agricultural production and have adversely affected the supply and distribution of

On August 12, 2016 the Observer Research Foundation convened the first in a series of multistakeholder roundtables on encryption. This report is the outcome of the discussion of issues and proposal of solutions conducted at the roundtable. Being a complex, technical-legal question around access to data for law enforcement, encryption has long been a contested issue. Creating best-in-class regulation on encryption will require targeted interventio

France has continued to remain one of India’s trusted strategic partners, with cooperation extending across many issues.

The trilateral partnership has the potential to emerge as an action-oriented minilateral in the broader Indo-Pacific.

This paper evaluates deficiencies in India’s naval shipbuilding programme, and identifies factors that adversely impact naval warship construction in the country. It argues that despite considerable effort, India’s shipbuilding endeavours continue to suffer from systemic deficits that cannot be addressed through ad hoc policy interventions and short-term solutions. Through an assessment of strengths and weaknesses of India’s defence shipyar

Beginning in 2017, the first Trump Administration steered United States (US)-China relations from engagement to competition. Thereafter, Biden largely built on this policy, while giving indications of moving towards a phase of “competitive co-existence”. Under Biden, the US sought to reassure China that it was adopting a strategy of “de-risking” and not “de-coupling,” and its goal was to adopt a technology export regime that would als

Most leading air forces around the world were quick to learn from the experiences of the US Air Force between the Vietnam War in the 1960s and the Gulf War three decades later. This resulted in the widespread adoption by these forces of Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) beginning in the mid-1990s. Only a few of these air arms, however, have matched the overall effectiveness of US air power, which combines aircraft survivability with weapon range,

Nomenclature notwithstanding, the evolution of an Indian National Security Industrial Complex (NSIC) must be watched with interest and caution.

The 2023 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report highlights a surge in drug production in Myanmar, posing serious security challenges. The cultivation of poppy, key for heroin production, increased by 33 percent in 2022, reversing a downward trend seen since 2014. Experts attribute the rise largely to livelihood challenges: Myanmar’s economy contracted by 18 percent in 2021, with only a modest rebound in 2022, and there are the compound

As global food production faces the negative consequences of climate change, best practices in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) must be promoted to achieve food security. This requires adequate financial and human resources to be channeled to the upscaling of CSA activities in high-impact, priority areas. Considering India and Africa’s complementary sectoral priorities and their similar roles in evolving global food markets, various opportunitie

India’s engagement with Southeast Asia entered a new phase following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third consecutive electoral victory in June 2024. With the ‘Act East’ policy too, marking its 10th anniversary in 2024, New Delhi has intensified its regional outreach through an unprecedented series of high-level diplomatic exchanges, security partnerships, and strategic dialogues. This brief examines how this surge in engagement is both a

The countries of BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, are working to translate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into action plans to ensure access to adequate and nutritious food. They are transforming their food systems based on their priorities and capacities to fulfill, in particular, the 2030 SDG Goal 2 that aims to “end hunger, achieve food security, and promote sustainable

The alignment of G20 policies with the Sustainable Development Goals, and emphasis on energy security, is high on India’s climate agenda.