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Aiming to secure their marine resources in the Bay of Bengal, India and Bangladesh settled their maritime boundary in 2014. Despite the delimitation, however, fishers from both countries continue to commit unlawful forays into each other's sovereign waters, leading to the enforcement of punitive measures against those accused or convicted. Such incidents not only jeopardise the fishers’ livelihoods, but repeated occurrences also nettle relation

This paper analyses the patterns of virtual water trade (VWT) in agricultural products across the globe—VWT is the flow of water embedded in goods and services when they are traded—and the implications for alleviating water scarcity. Virtual water trade has been crucial in ameliorating water scarcity in virtual water-importing nations. At the same time, it has led to per capita water availability declining at a more rapid rate among the net v

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 crucial factor that can help transform India-China bilateral is Modi himself. For the first time, the Chinese will interact with an Indian leader who can be politically strong in safeguarding India's sovereign interests, while at the same time being very welcoming in embracing China economically.

In 2015, the United Nations agreed to end hunger in all forms by 2030. While India has committed itself as a stakeholder in the 2030 agenda for development, its own record in reducing hunger has been less than satisfactory. Latest data from the National Family Health Survey-4 show an improvement in nutritional indicators of children under-five. However, there are huge differences across states and social groups. Nutrition should thus remain high

A dedicated fishing ministry would be able to deal with fishermen's problems holistically. India can thus begin her correctives at home, and without reference to either the neighbourhood seas or the nations that own them.

With festivals fast approaching, time may be running out on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's self-set December deadline for her Government to host the third round of talks between fishers' representatives from the State and Sri Lanka.

Climate change is the biggest development challenge that would demand sustained, meaningful investments and collective efforts, rather than individual action. The Amazon CEO’s fund could set the foundation for much greater climate action.

President Pervez Musharraf wrested power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup on October 12, 1999. In the five years since then, Pakistan has found itself increasingly enmeshed in sectarian violence, economic disaster, political collapse and diplomatic isolation.

For Modi, Nawaz Sharif's willingness to show up at the launch of his government is a political bonus. If Modi is luckier than Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he might make some sustainable progress with Pakistan.

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.

Now a mobile App for water management? And, the rapidly dropping price of wireless consumer technology such as WiFi and Bluetooth could turn these individual nodes into a data-rich network.

The devastating floods in Pakistan have not only destroyed lives and property across the country but also seriously undermined the civilian government's reputation among the people.

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.

India-Bangladesh relations got a major boost following the meeting between India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mohammad Ali this week.

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

‘Indo-Pacific’ is being used loosely to mean different things to different nations

India is now being recognized as the fastest growing country in Asia. Even PM Modi recently said that Indian economy is doing much better now. But India's soft underbelly should not be forgotten -- India has the highest number of malnourished children under- five years of age in the world.

A number of initiatives have been recently undertaken to improve the tourism sector in India. These include the introduction of tourist police at key tourist sites in Delhi and the decision to set up an inter-ministerial group to facilitate better co-ordination between the tourism and civil aviation ministries.

India's smaller neighbours are not as concerned about the reach, if any, of outside powers in the region. In this sense, the neighbourhood?s concerns about India are distinct from India's own concerns.

In China’s view, disengagement is a done thing; if New Delhi thinks otherwise, the onus is on it to do what it can.

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.

Since September 11, 2001, Pakistan has been widely, and publicly, acclaimed as an ally in the Global War on Terrorism by the United States. Early this year, the Bush Administration presented a Bill titled Targeting Terrorists More Effectively Act of 2005 to the Congress for budgetary approval.

The luxury bus leaves downtown Cam hotel to Qassion mountains for a panoramic view of the world's oldest, continuously inhabited city, Damascus. The picture has to be sketched because outside Syria everyone is counting on the level of chaos we did not see.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could not have been more categorical when he said, in his Independence Day speech on August 15, that Pakistan was only making half-hearted attempts to dismantle terrorist infrastructure.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a full-fledged international armed conflict, and the Ukrainian president has issued a call to people across the world to join the country’s battle through the International Legion of Territorial Defence (ILTD). At the time of writing, 500 Indians have submitted applications to join the ILTD, and one is already in the force. This brief contextualises the rise of Indians fighting ‘foreign’ war

It is absolutely necessary that the central government must consult the state concerned, take care of its grievances, and take it on board while making a decision. At the same time an effective foreign policy requires that the Centre will be in a position to draw the line and assert that the national interest must trump any other interest.

There is no doubt that federalism and the increasing role of states in foreign policy is a reality and not something detrimental. It is important, however, to deal with this reality in a mature and pro-active manner.

In an unpredictable global environment, India needs to shape a domestic consensus in matters of Indian foreign policy.

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

As the US Presidential elections unfold, Republican candidates would be thoroughly tested on their merit of thinking creatively on issue-based solutions to global challenges and exploring facets of diplomacy and non-military aspects of foreign policies in contrast to the focus on military interventionism and a hawkish vision of American policies abroad.

Delhi appears set for a regime change, probably by the BJP-led coalition. However, there is unlikely to be any major change in Indian Foreign Policy. There might be more rhetoric, but not much in substance and action. In all probability, it will be a foreign policy which is realist and pragmatic.

In not agreeing to have a parliamentary resolution against Sri Lanka, the Parliament has demonstrated where politics ends and policy-making on a sensitive area as external affairs and neighbourhood relations begin.

The most recent Tokyo Conference on the Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka was held at Washington D.C., on February 17, 2004, as a follow-up meet to discuss the international community¿s support for Sri Lanka¿s peace process.

Observer Research Foundation organised a lecture by Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary, Government of India, on "Indian Foreign Policy: The Challenges Ahead" on Tuesday April 10, at the ORF Delhi campus.

Launching the new book of Dr. C. Raja Mohan, 'Modi's World' on Friday, Indian Foreign Secretary Dr. S. Jaishankar explained the changes brought out by the foreign policy of the Modi government.

Indian Foreign Secretary Ms Nirupama Rao has suggested joint management of fisheries resources, alternative methods of fishing and examining alternative livelihood to resolve the fisheries disputes between countries in the South Asian region.

Though Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh's Bangladesh visit was kept low key, the timely interactions she had in Dhaka helped India shed its image of a reluctant neighbour besides helping her make a realistic assessment of the situation there and evaluate possible fallouts on regional stability.

India's total trade deficit with the world now is USD 13472.18 millions. A major component of Indian exports is agricultural commodities. The northeastern region performs well in horticulture. However, challenges to the produce finally turning into exports remain unaddressed for long.