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The political scene in Nepal got even more complex with the Maoists now backtracking on their decision not to take part in the formation of the new government. The Maoists had made a public declaration to keep away from government formation after their presidential

Even as the war between LTTE and the Sri Lankan army is taking a heavy humanitarian toll, European Union decided to retain its GSP+ trade preferences for Sri Lanka till the time it completes its humanitarian probe in the troubled region.

The week saw the President of Sri Lanka taking decision to proscribe the LTTE if it fails to release the remaining Tamils of the North living in its captivity, before 2009. According to an estimate,

Sri Lanka imposed a ban on LTTE following the organisation¿s failure to release 2,50,000 civilians from its hold. The civilians are often caught in the crossfire taking place between LTTE and the Sri Lankan armed forces. Besides, in the absence of basic necessities,

Clock is ticking fast for the LTTE whose chief along with his son and some of his trusted colleagues has taken a refuge among the civilians in a No Fire Zone. Sri Lankan military intelligence has reported that LTTE's Intelligence Chief Pottu Amman has taken over the command of the dying

In Sri Lanka, everybody is uncertain about the future. Nobody knows what happens next. Take for instance, the victory march of Sri Lankan Army (SLA) which was once again bogged down by the LTTE's resurgence. Though the week started with the forward march of the Sri Lanka defence forces after the killing of the three senior female LTTE leaders at sea including Lt. Colonel Kalai Arasi,

Former General Sarath Fonseka, who played a major role in decimating the LTTE, has formally announced his presidential candidature for the elections to be held in January 2010. He is all set to take on the current presidential incumbent and his former mentor Mahinda Rajapaksa as a common opposition candidate.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to South Korea has further strengthened and expanded India-Korea strategic and economic ties. Modi's call to take the bilateral relationship to a higher level was responded positively by the South Korean leadership.

Global data governance is at a crossroads—intensely contested by nations and industry players seeking to shape rules of the road to benefit their strategic interests. India has placed itself at the heart of the battle, its foreign policy vision fuelled by the principle of ‘data sovereignty’—a broad notion that supports the assertion of sovereign writ over data generated by citizens within a country’s physical boundaries. While this visi

There are genuine concerns that if steps are not taken to halt the current trend toward space weaponization, space could become an active warfighting domain.

After the coming UNHRC session, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group is set to meet in London in April, when they are bound to flag the issue. The Indian position at London would have to be reflective of the position that it might have to take at Geneva only weeks earlier.

The events in Sri Lanka yesterday have shocked many around the world. An Easter day attack on three churches and an equal number of hotels, in such coordinated fashion, sounds surreal, even bizarre. Latest reports say over 200 people are dead and over 500 injured. It suggests the attacks were planned in meticulous fashion to inflict maximum damage. While no organization has stepped forward to take responsibility, there is speculation that this mi

New Delhi must stop viewing its foreign relations with Colombo from the Chennai prism alone just as it was a mistake to view our relations with Bangladesh through Kolkata's priorities. Tamil aspirations in Sri Lanka are important but there are other abiding interests too.

The sweeping victory for the Tamil National Alliance in Saturday's first-ever Northern Provincial Council in Sri Lanka has a message for various stake-holders nearer home and afar.

By focusing excessively on 'war crimes' and issues of accountability, the international community (West) may have taken Sri Lanka away from the political negotiations for power-devolution to the Provinces, particularly the Tamil Province(s).

At the UNHRC session next month, India should take the initiative to work out a consensus resolution, where not just the Sri Lanka-related 'accountability' concerns of the West but also the competing counter-concerns of 'friends of Sri Lanka' are also addressed.

No other dispute, including the sensitive 'ethnic row', impacts as much on India-Sri Lanka relations than the 'fishing issue', particularly over the medium and long terms. Much as the Government of India is keen on seeing a negotiated settlement to the ethnic issue, the political solution would still have to be thrashed out by the stake-holders in Sri Lanka.

Reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping had proposed trilateral talks involving the shared Indian neighbour at a meeting with visiting Sri Lankan counterpart Maithripala Sirisena should make New Delhi sit up and take notice.

Now there is a consistent and continuing apprehension about the West coming up with a draft at the Geneva session that will have greater acceptability in the UNHRC already. It is here India may be called upon to take a position all over again.

The increasing effort at marginalisation of Sri Lanka in the international arena, with hopes that a vote against the country at UNHRC could well shame the Government into taking pro-active measures at an early political solution are misplaced, at best.

Independent of the fate of the UNHRC vote this time, the recent referendum in distant Crimea should be a shocking eye-opener to Sri Lankan stake-holders of the 'ethnic issue', 'accountability calls' and all attendant concerns.

India's abstention from voting at the UNHRC session in Geneva means that India has now re-positioned itself to re-engage the Sri Lankan stake-holders in a constructive way, as articulated by Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid long before the vote.

With the international community refusing to take its focus off the human rights situation in Sri Lanka even in the midst of developments in West Asia and North Africa, there are now expectations that it could well be Colombo's turn to be called to account for, though to be at a lesser degree.

With the international community reacting on expected lines on the Report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the matter could now be expected to be taken up by the West in forums where they have a say.

In April 2022, Sri Lanka’s sovereign debt default —with China being the largest bilateral creditor—trained the spotlight on the impact of Beijing’s lending on Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. Yet, Sri Lanka’s debacle is a result of far more complex, interrelated factors than indebtedness to China. At the same time, there has been a significant rise in servicing of loans from China over the years, and Beijing is indeed an important

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

Delhi, India's national capital, has long been the subject of a quandary: Should it be granted full statehood, or maximum autonomy commensurate with its megalopolis status? is paper takes a tour of select national capitals to understand how other nations have arranged their governance and handled competing jurisdictions and functions. Lessons are drawn from this examination of other capitals, and recommendations are put forth towards a more sensi

Following the two national conventions held by the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, the race to the White House has gained more steam. It was an opportune time to take the debate on the US Presidential election

As a new phase begins in the tragic history of Afghanistan, sulking can't be Delhi's strategy. India must keep an open mind, engage all the major Afghan formations, intensify the dialogue with all the regional and international stakeholders, and find ways to influence the outcomes.

Two sets of people are upset with the way India is pursuing the peace process with Pakistan. In the first group are those in Kashmir who are, quite abruptly, faced with the reality of being irrelevant in the entire process. The second group is in Islamabad which is not quite sure about the direction the process is taking and is therefore discomfited.

The Indo-US bus, stalled since 2009, is moving again. It has new tyres, engine and a coat of paint, and its cocky new Indian driver is determined to take it in his chosen direction: not just towards a particular country but the world at large.

Shared concerns over China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific are pushing Japan and the Philippines to foster a strategic partnership, particularly in the maritime domain. This brief examines the evolving dynamics of the Tokyo-Manila strategic relationship in the context of a tenuous Indo-Pacific. It traces the evolution of Japan’s defence engagement from post-Second World War pacifism to taking on a more proactive regional security

Given India's high stakes in the Indian Ocean, it is important for it to ponder the possibility of using both soft and hard power resources to create dependencies for the other countries, and the same time, seek possibilities to engage with China.

This paper examines India’s ‘two-front’ dilemma in view of its conflicts with China and Pakistan, and the possibility that these two adversaries could join forces. The author studies historical events that could help outline the strategies that have been undertaken by certain countries to combat the combined power of multiple adversaries, usually exceeding their own. These include the Napoleonic strategy and the Israeli experience. In analy

Taking care of the urgent requirements, the new Cabinet Committee on Security of the Modi government should insist on a radical overhaul of the national security system before funding new acquisitions.

India’s August 2021 presidency of the United Nations Security Council allowed New Delhi to exhibit clout, creativity, and diplomacy, as it pushed for its inclusion in the Council permanently. Such a push reignites the “responsible stakeholder” debate in Washington and other Western capitals, particularly to gauge India’s rise against the interests of the US and its allies. This brief argues that the West needs to reassess India in a renew

As Modi resets ties with the Maldives with Sushma Swaraj's visit, he also has an opportunity to rethink the current Nepal policy which has entered a turbulent phase in the last few weeks. Nepal's election of a new PM, K.P. Sharma Oli, is a good moment to take a fresh look at the differences between Delhi and Kathmandu.

The statistics in the socio economic caste census is a stark reminder that most rural poor in India do not belong to the 'middle class' at all. It is important to face up to the stark reality. Emphasis and implementation of Digital India, Make in India, Smart cities' programmes ought to take into account the problems faced by the poor.

The Observer Research Foundation and Saferworld, UK, with support from the UK Department of International Development, hosted a workshop in New Delhi in August 2014 with the objective of identifying priorities to help secure an inclusive agreement on the SDGs. This Policy Perspective presents a summary of key issues raised by participants from India, China, Brazil, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the African Union.

Having the Union Cabinet now accepted a new globally identifiable symbol for the Indian Rupee, designed by Udayakumar, New Delhi may need to consider ways to take the horse to where it should belong, if it, together with the cart, has to be a driving force.

Though realism suggests India cannot directly influence the evolution of the Syrian situation, India must more actively partake in the international debate on Syria and step up its political engagement with all major states in the region, said experts at a brainstorming on Syria.

Taiwan is facing an existential identity crisis, one whose consequences can go well beyond the region. The island exists between two sovereignties: it has domestic sovereignty and is secure in its identity as a democracy and an economic powerhouse; at the same time, it has an uncertain international sovereignty and is insecure in a larger battle with China about that identity. From a traditional international-relations perspective, Taiwan meets e

Recent political developments suggest that the Taliban is taking measures to gain important political points while not committing to anything concrete. The US-Afghan rift has not only created confusion regarding the future of the country but also given the Taliban some breathing Space.

By all accounts, the new Taliban is more aggressive, well armed and trained, in collaboration with Al Qaeda and other terrorist elements, determined to take over, to begin with, southern Afghanistan, despite the presence of coalition forces.

The Centre cannot be seen as taking tentative steps if and when the talks commenced, and get enmeshed in complications from the Law and Order (a State subject) to issues of tribal welfare, industrial investments, development, etc.

The quad -- India, Australia, Japan, and the United States -- should take care to prevent the possible dangers in China's rise from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. It should use the wide menu of options for quadrilateral cooperation to bargain for diplomatic resolution of China's disputes with its neighbours.

Innovative approaches will require regulatory processes to include all stakeholders.

As India’s landmark Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 completes its decadal anniversary, the country continues to grapple with the problem of poor learning outcomes in schools. This brief argues that the RTE Act must now move beyond “easy to measure” metrics and focus on the quality of learning. Moreover, since states across India have varying requirements, the law must work towards increasing the scope for decentralisation. The brief take

October is a month of special concern and tension in both Indonesia and Thailand due to the third anniversary of the Bali explosions of October 12, 2002, and the first anniversary of the terrible tragedy on October 25 last year, in which 78 Muslim youth, taken into custody by the security forces for participating in a big protest demonstration (1,300 protesters) outside the Tak Bai police station in the Narathiwat province of southern Thailand, a

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should take care when detailing the reasons why constitutional reforms are needed. While talking about the external threats, he should be very careful not to unnecessarily cause provocations to either China or North Korea.