9467 results found
The Washington Declaration extends the ambit of US-ROK ties, conjoining the changing nature of the threat that the two countries face on the Korean Pe
The latest U.S. Defense Department report on Chinese military power recounts Beijing’s growing space and counterspace capabilities.
Delhi lacks adequate access to clean water and depends heavily on its neighbours' assistance to solve the issue.
The seminar held in ORF Delhi called for a paradigm shift in understanding the various dimensions of the water crisis facing India
The demand for basic infrastructure and services in Indian cities has increased phenomenally due to rapidly growing populations. Such unmet demands often adversely affect the quality of urban life, the economic productivity, as well as the process of sustainable development. The main purpose of this brief is to highlight the problems involved in improving access to water supply in Indian cities faced with a severe water shortage crisis. A case st
Water security is a growing concern in South Asia today. Growing population, expanding urban centres, widespread pollution and mismanagement are pushing several countries in the region towards a water crisis. Mr. B. G. Verghese, well known journalist, author and expert on water issues, calls for better understanding and cooperation among the countries in South Asia to address the challenge of ensuring adequate and equitable availability of water
Initiating the discussion on "Water Security in South Asia", eminent water expert and noted writer, Mr. B. G. Verghese felt that while water is the key to cooperation in the region, climate change is the most important issue for all South Asian countries.
It is imperative that a transdisciplinary knowledge base of rivers is evolved by combining fluvial geomorphology, engineering, hydrology, hydro⎯geology, ecological sciences, climate sciences, tectonic sciences, ecological economics, law, political sciences, sociology, social anthropology, humanities and culture, institutional theory etc. through a multidisciplinary team.
In the Middle East, which continuously suffers from chronic disorder, water supply systems are increasingly becoming both political lever and objectiv
This brief is largely based on several discussions organised at Observer Research Foundation over a period of time. These discussions were enriched by the presence of some of the well-known experts on water issues in the country, like former Union Minister for Water Resources, Dr. Suresh Prabhu, current High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Tariq Ahmad Karim, Mr. Sunjoy Joshi, Director, Observer Research Foundation, Ms. Clare Shakya, Senior Regional C
Massive populations in many parts of the world, including in India, continue to grapple with lack of access to clean and safe water. This paper studies the case of Delhi. It describes the conditions under which water is produced and supplied to domestic consumers in Delhi and explains the capacity of the water and sewerage agency to discharge its duties. The analysis finds challenges in five aspects related to water supply in Delhi: quantity; qua
This paper highlights the importance of water valuation and pricing for sustainable and efficient water allocation and management in India. An efficient water-pricing mechanism could be a tool to address the impending crisis of water scarcity, which necessitates a robust, objective, and holistic valuation technique. Every unit of water consumed for economic purposes has an ecological footprint, and this opportunity cost or externality factor need
Gender-sensitising the Water Action Agenda would be critical to ensuring truly inclusive transformations
Water futures trading can be an important tool for water-scarce economies. This paper argues that it can help reduce the scarcity value of water (defined here as the value that can be generated if the limit on water availability is relaxed by one unit), even without a physical market. ‘Scarcity value’ measures the degree of deprivation and creates the basis for disputes. The paper argues that water futures trading reduces the scarcity
The Finance Minister can at best provide an enabling environment through the Union Budget and other policy frameworks that lie in his domain. The political and bureaucratic class need to pull in the same direction over the next few years to reverse some of the structural weaknesses.
Effective public policy needs sound public debates. If New Delhi is to have a serious China strategy, it must be predicated upon how best India can al
Samir Saran, President of ORF, in an interview to The Asian Age spoke about different issues including democracy, good governance, communal harmony
The primary objective of the US is to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a launchpad by Al Qaeda
Beijing is not doing as well as it would like us to think. Its economic challenges and isolation have meant it is keener than its put-off partners to achieve some normalcy in ties with other countries.
The Indian military desperately needs to enhance its defence preparedness. However, given the country's fiscal constraints, this must be done by modernising weapons systems, instead of adding more boots on the ground.
सूचना में देरी, ध्यान भटकाने और ग़लत जानकारियां फैलाने क�
In this era of exciting developments in the health sector, where NHM is going to be the mainstay of the Ayushman Bharat through the NHPS initiative wh
China, particularly after the global financial crisis, is on a look-out for markets in Asia, and India offers the largest market. Therefore, China's singular focus on economic issues is understandable, but India should not give into the Chinese demands without a quid pro quo.
India ended 2010 with a flurry of diplomatic activities highlighted by the visits of leaders from all the P-5 countries in the last two months. But, unlike the other four, the visit by the Chinese Premier came in the background of strained relations over a year created by
Historical precedents and contemporary facts on the ground abundantly establish the forces’ feebleness and overwhelming incapacity to tackle the sur
Prolonged turmoil in the West Asia region could result in rising oil prices and interruption in India's trade with the region valued at $120 billion a year. India should have contingency plans in place to deal with unforeseeable consequences of a spreading conflagration.
The US interest in West Asia is declining as domestic economic and political uncertainties make it look more and more inwards. The shale oil and gas boom is transforming energy markets with the US likely to emerge as the world's biggest combined oil and gas producer this year. These trends are reshaping the regional order in West Asia and New Delhi will have to respond pro-actively to preserve and enhance its own interests in a strategically crit
Asian states, particularly Asian economies importing oil as primary customers today, will see a demand for a significant increase in their military fo
At a time when India is struggling to establish itself as a global power, the position taken by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee on the sharing of waters with Bangladesh will only help strengthen the anti-India rhetoric in the neighbouring country.
Unlike mere Arab dictators, Qaddafi is a maverick megalomaniac draped in spectacle and pageantry - never obsequious, but consistent and unpredictable. But no Islamic fundamentalist which some of the West's closest allies are.
Unfortunately countries like ours, generally content with being passive recipients of Western media, do not realize that it is the west which always ends up choosing the enemy (or friend) for us.
If the 20th CCP meet, which began on Sunday, enhances Xi Jinping’s power, it would reinforce trends associated with his tenure: Assertiveness abroad, no compromises on boundary issues, and a willingness to use the military as an instrument of policy
India has seen this movie before and it does not have a happy ending. As the idea of a nuclear deal between the United States and Pakistan gains some traction in Washington, Delhi is unlikely to lose much sleep.
Studies done in ORF estimate that even with everything in our favour, India will be hard put to exceed a thermal coal based capacity beyond 300 GW. In such a scenario, how do we better harness our oil and gas potential and fulfill the great promise that lies hidden in our vast unexplored acreages.
There is hardly any doubt that failing health systems result in poor health outcomes and hamper progress towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC). In Africa, health systems are hobbled by leadership and governance challenges, extreme shortages of health workers, corruption in procurement systems for medical products and technologies, poor information systems, and health financing const
The HAC advocates for a strong Plastics Treaty which would also bring developing countries like India under a similar binding timeline to end plastic
DEWs are yet to be deployed by any country’s military, but are widely seen as a critical part of future warfare.
Shorenstein APARC, in collaboration with Observer Research Foundation, will hold a conference on regionalism and regional integration in South Asia at Stanford University on June 19 and 20, 2008. The conference papers will be issued as an edited volume
China's ruling Communist Party, at its plenum, will deliberate on the economic and social agenda for China over the next five years focusing on financial reforms and how to maintain growth of around seven per cent. Contrast this with India where the new administration appears somnolent.
How is the discrepancy between the Chinese government’s own words and the statistics it released is so pronounced? The answer to this question can b
There is a need for better coordination and cooperation among the armed forces of the two neighbouring countries...
It is hardly a secret that China has tried to intervene in local politics and shape elections in other countries
Whether China succeeds or fails, there will be geopolitical consequences which will be difficult to ignore.
China claims to have purely benign intentions in South Asia. A closer look, however, at Beijing’s actions in the region strongly suggests that it is assiduously securing its national interests, which are likely detrimental to most if not all South Asian nations. In the future, all South Asian countries should be clear-eyed about what precisely Beijing is attempting to achieve in their region, and the potential long-term consequences.
As UPA 2 enters the last lap of its tenure, it is not just the Indian economy that is unravelling. New Delhi's loss of purpose and direction in the last few years has had an equally damaging impact on the diplomatic front.
The bomb was launched, possibly from a customised USAF C-130 Hercules aircraft, to target a maze of caves in and around Achin.
The Observer Research Foundation, CRM held a focus group meeting on the topic 'What do falling Crude Prices mean for India's Fiscal Deficit?' on February 9, 2007. Shri S C Tripathi, former Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India, chaired the discussions.
India has activated the Coast Guard to scan the shared waters, to make sure that none of the surviving Easter Day plotters in Sri Lanka escape out of
