Search

A two-day deliberations by 20 experts from India, China and U.K, have underlined the need for a collective regional action to ensure environmental security in South Asia. The meeting was organised by Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with Royal United Services Institute, London and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing.

Address by Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister, at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, on November 3, 2011 on Colombia's Agenda for Domestic Prosperity.

The UPA's policy failures on Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have generated much bemoaning in Delhi's national security establishment about the breakdown of the rules of the republic that made the conduct of foreign policy the sole responsibility of the Centre. A closer look reveals that it is not the states that are exercising a veto over foreign policy decisions.

Renewed proximity with India can help Sri Lanka reduce its dependence on foreign reserves, while giving Delhi the leverage to push for benefits

My revered teacher late professor Matin Zuberi had once remarked that major states in global affairs, real or aspiring, end up possessing superfluous arsenals often times through superficially planned and mostly ad hoc manners.

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed most economies into recession and heightened inequalities within and across countries. Mitigating current challenges requires greater solidarity, innovative thinking, and more effective international development cooperation. This paper makes a case for triangular cooperation as an instrument of development cooperation in current times. It outlines its advantages, examines the challenges involved in such partnerships,

The year 2015 marks an important date in international history - the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. It is also the 50th anniversary of normalisation of relations between South Korea and Japan. And, it is a chance that both Japan and South Korea should grab with an aim to re-normalise their relations.

The United States and Luxembourg have adopted domestic space laws granting certain legal rights to space mining companies. These moves have initiated a debate on the future of this industry, as well as the passing of relevant laws governing outer space and its resources. This paper makes an assessment of commercial space mining activities in the broader context of the emerging space economy. It finds that entrepreneurs are increasingly looking at

It is commonly recognised in Jerusalem, and elsewhere that the Likud PM, Mr. Benjamin Netaniyahu, nurses an adversarial chemistry with the US President. He went ahead with Jewish settlements in a most insulting reception to US Vice President, Joe Biden.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) appears to be gaining momentum in formulating collective strategies to combat non-traditional security threats in the subregion. This brief describes how BIMSTEC had focused on bilateralism or trilateralism from its inception in 1997 until 2015, thereby failing to pursue a more comprehensive and long-term approach to addressing the common threats to their

Utilising connections and collective action to accelerate social advantages, increasing youth inclusion and gender balance are crucial.

This paper highlights the increasing importance of Community Driven Development (CDD) in the delivery of public services to the poorest sections and enhancing access, voice and accountability in developing countries. Community participation in the delivery of ‘public services’ to the poorest sections of the population in developing countries has often been regarded as an effective mechanism to enhance access, voice and accountability.

Open defecation (OD), an age-old practice in India, impacts the health of individuals as well as their communities. To tackle the problem, the Government of India launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in 2014, aimed at making the country open-defecation free (ODF) by October 2019 by giving more attention to community-based approaches. However, while such approaches have helped solve the sanitation riddle in many countries, curbing OD in India

The foreign minister said the boundary issue between the two countries has not prevented mutually beneficial and functional cooperation in a number of areas

Senior Supreme Court lawyer and ORF trustee Lalit Bhasin moots a comprehensive law to replace the obsolete Aircraft Act of 1934

The Centre could start well with the creation of an independent 'fisheries ministry'. In the emerging situation, such a ministry may have to comprehensively address all issues of maritime concerns and interests.

While India has successfully lifted millions out of poverty over the past few decades, the issue remains among the foremost challenges confronting the country. One of the first crucial steps to solving the problem of poverty is to measure its extent. Although there is some agreement on the multidimensional nature of poverty and the inability of unidimensional measures to capture its true magnitude, a national or global consensus on a single pover

Participants from India and the United States shared their respective viewpoints on the political, economic, and security environment to identify areas of mutual interest in East Asia. The discussion focused on identifying current and future challenges & opportunities in the bilateral relationship

THE United Nations Security Council (UNSC) achieved the almost impossible recently by adopting a unanimous resolution on providing access to humanitarian aid to Syria, breaking a deadlock that pitted Russia and China against the Western powers.

It is usually only the politically naive who are optimistic about the future of India's relations with Pakistan. The terms "enduring rivalry", "protracted discord" and "communal conflict in armour" have become part of the global political vocabulary because of the depressing saga of India-Pakistan ties.

The intersecting impacts of COVID-19 and climate change are compounding the vulnerabilities of coastal communities.  This paper examines the disastrous effects of cyclone Amphan in the Bengal delta region of the Indian Sundarbans amidst a countrywide lockdown triggered by the pandemic, and their cascading consequences for a rural community inhabiting this climate hotspot. It highlights the livelihood crisis experienced by internal rural-urban mi

The Congress' brain storming session at Jaipur seemed to suggest that the party is now in a mood to take big risks in the months ahead. The diesel price hike clearly was the most risky one, politically speaking.

Let's manage the digital volcano. 2017 is the year of the user — a good time to pole vault, exponentially.

India's Northeast remains disconnected from the rest of the country. This disconnect is not just in the geographical realm, but also at the level of the superstructure. With the advent of newer forms of communication, many research organisations or think tanks have come up to to study the eight States in the region.

Senior leader of the CPN-UML, K P Sharma Oli, feels that the Constituent Assembly of Nepal is unlikely to complete its task by the August 31 deadline and another extension is unavoidable.

In the backdrop of the ever-evolving global situations and demands of sustainable development, there is now an increasing need to widen the scope of the discourse on the Centre-State relations, expanding to include new areas of concerns and the various arms of the State.

Ms Menaka Guruswamy, Supreme Court lawyer, who has been associated with Constitution making in Nepal, outlined four major areas of divergence in Nepalese Constitution. Federalism is one such area which is highly contested.

A constitutional crisis that was threatening to undo all the achievements of the popular struggle against the Nepalese monarchy and establishment of a republic was averted on Sunday.

China has been less harmed by the tariff war than was expected, and it has been remarkably resistant to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is the only economy in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook update that is likely to have a positive growth rate of 1 per cent in 2020. This has probably reinforced Xi’s belief that a strong one-party state is better able to handle the challenges. He has also pushed state-owned market enterprises to follow market rules

The Chinese are now seeking to finesse a situation where their continued economic growth requires them to open up their service and financial sectors in the world, while preventing their adversaries from using this to undermine the CPC control of China.

The internal dynamics of Jammu and Kashmir have assumed significance in the context of the ongoing India-Pakistan normalisation process, on the one hand, and the Centre's continuing efforts at peace-building with non-militant political groups in the State, on the other. Often, efforts aimed at understanding the complexities of the issues are bogged down by the past, or are confined to the 'Indian angle'. There is very little reference to Pakistan

The earth's geological past has seen violent climate shifts. The extinction of the dinosaurs, the Neolithic Revolution that followed the retreat of the last ice age, and the sudden demise of ancient civilizations, has been linked to climate change. While mankind has been altering the planetary environment ever since the Neolithic Revolution, it is only after the Industrial Revolution that it has attained the weight of numbers and technological ca

The present paper analyses the existing security relations and strategic perceptions of India and Nepal and attempts to identify the common and divergent perceptions existing, if any. It tries to understand the reasons for the erosion of mutuality and its impact on Indo- Nepal relationship.

Even as China becomes a maritime power to reckon with, Beijing has no desire to give up on its continental aspirations. Chinese President Xi Jinping's continuing tour of Central Asia this past week showcased the nation's rise at the heart of the Eurasian landmass.

Bangladesh’s Indo-Pacific Outlook, released in April 2023, is a projection of its interests in the region, and a testament to its political nonalignment and commitment to economic development. Its focus on upholding the rule of law and maintaining regional stability makes it a conducive partner for neighbouring countries and major powers in the Indo-Pacific. Bangladesh enjoys close ties with China, Japan, and the US, and a special relationship

The stage is set for a new terrorist confederation with the sole agenda of wreaking havoc across the heartland of India in the months to come. Ignorance or indifference to the clear signs of such an alliance - visible from Bangalore to Delhi, via Ayodhya, Nalgonda, Mulund and Varanasi - would prove suicidal for India.

The extant scholarship on India’s nuclear doctrine, while problematising the credibility deficit in the strategy of massive retaliation, fails to provide a policy alternative. This study examines the alternative of flexible response available for India and makes an assessment of whether it provides a solution to this problem in India’s nuclear doctrine. Even when flexible response is often cited in India’s strategic circles as a likely alte

India may have to apply capital controls in the future like Brazil has done to regulate the inflow of FIIs, and there could be more effective intervention in the currency market by the RBI to stabilise the rupee to promote export growth.

For Russia and even Central Asian countries, China can act as a catalyst to market their hydrocarbon resources to South Asia and beyond, opening an opportunity for gas exports too. Russia's $400 billion gas deal with China is a case in point.

On a proposal by Vietnam recently, ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), the overseas investment arm of ONGC, has decided to stay invested in Block 128. The decision was taken after Hanoi offered to provide additional data to make future exploration economically feasible and discovering hydrocarbons commercially viable.

The details of the proposed loss and damage funds need to be worked out

COP27 हे भारताला हवामान न्यायासाठी रॅली करण्यासाठी आणि आगामी G20 अध्यक्षपदाच्या काळात त्याचा हवामान अजेंडा पुढे नेण्यासाठी एक व्यासपीठ म्हणून काम करू शकते.

While President Barack Obama is pursuing his two-pronged approach in Afghanistan that involves talking to the Taliban and handling over the security to the Afghan National Army (ANA).