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Given India’s position in the region and its history of supporting democratic traditions, Delhi is likely to exert pressure for the restoration of democracy.

The race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine is gaining ground in many parts of the world. This brief examines the challenges that India must hurdle to successfully manufacture and distribute a vaccine. It argues for a fair and equitable distribution of vaccine with an aim to save the maximum number of lives. It suggests a multi-parameter model based on age, co-morbidity, income and profession to justify one’s claim for vaccine. The imperative is to

The former Governor of Chhattisgarh, Lt Gen (Retd) K M Seth, called for a national strategy and national level coordinated action plan to successfully deal with Naxalites of the CPI (Maoist). He was making a presentation on Naxalism in India, at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, on April 13, 2007.

A number of countries, including India, have either announced or are already implementing sustainable finance taxonomies that help mobilise capital for sustainable development and climate action. This brief examines the challenges to implementing sustainable finance taxonomies, including lack of harmonisation and standardisation, unavailability of data, lack of capacity, and financial burdens on companies applying these taxonomies. The brief prop

Experts warn that while governments are getting better at managing cyber and internet threats, adversaries may go after private sector systems, in the absence of active public-private cooperation.

India's reliance on outer space has become critical in its social and economic growth stories in addition to its transformative impact in the national security context. With growing reliance comes vulnerability to adversarial attempts to harm India's capabilities, particularly from the new threat of cyber warfare. Even as countries including India have debated the need to develop certain counter-space capabilities, such as demonstration of an ASA

Cyber attacks are not a security challenge that can easily be eliminated. No kind of infrastructure is absolutely impregnable and the adverse impacts can at best be minimised by emphasising on risk containments, according to experts.

India needs to effectively counter the menace of China-Pakistan cyber collaboration as it has not just national security implications, but indeed implications for India’s democracy as a whole

The increasing dependence on the internet across the spectrum is pushing some states to adopt measures to exert their sovereignty over cyberspace. Certain global events have also acted as a catalyst for states to pursue cyber sovereignty. The involvement of multiple stakeholders and the borderless character of the virtual world have made sovereignty a complex affair in this domain. This brief seeks to illuminate the concept of ‘cyber so

Although it may look like a "sudden development", Chinese observers pointed out that a "quiet but significant" shift in China-India relations had already been underway in the past few months.

As the world grapples with uncertainty in the post-COVID-19 era, China appears to be focusing on bolstering its rural economy. China claims to have brought nearly 100 million people out of poverty since 2012, but the regime feels that unbalanced development can jeopardise the gains of poverty alleviation. The widening economic gap could also foment unrest in the rural areas. Additionally, the government believes that the reliance on grain

In September this year, the Government of India banned the manufacture, sale and distribution of 328 Fixed-Dose Combination drugs (FDCs) after a protracted legal battle with manufacturers. The ban followed a report by a Supreme Court-mandated experts’ panel that not only was there no therapeutic justification for the ingredients in these drugs, but they can in fact pose health risks. This paper argues that the move against “irrational” and

Defence needs to be viewed as an integral part of national planning so as to comprehensively quantify the overall requirement to meet our legitimate security needs and strategic aspirations.

An all inclusive Defexpo would not only add greater character but also help the Indian companies explore the markets through a comparative framework and in turn enhance their manufacturing capabilities in the long term.

India will be hosting the next India-Africa Forum Summit in 2014 and it is trying to implement as many decisions of the earlier two Summits as possible, according to a senior official at the MEA.

This paper examines the moral, ecological, and developmental imperatives of trans-species coexistence in urban India in the context of the 2025 Supreme Court rulings on Delhi’s stray dogs. Using the “prudent predator” thesis of Lawrence Slobodkin, it argues that humanity’s ecological imprudence, manifested in unrestrained urban expansion and biodiversity loss, threatens both planetary resilience and human prosperity. Drawing on Arne Naess

With Iraq back on the chess-board of international diplomacy, there is Once again the talk of democratizing individual West Asian nations, if not West Asia as a region. Going by the neighbourhood experience in recent times, it has also raised the question if West Asia is ready to be democratized, if it is not through the barrel of the American gun.

Access to, and development of indigenous digital platforms and cutting-edge technologies is imperative for robust socio-economic development and national security. In turn, such process needs to be democratised, and undertaken in a sustainable manner. India is a first mover in this novel idea of democratising technology and developing Digital Public Goods. Operationalised in the digital infrastructure called India Stack, India’s strategy aims t

Now in the fourth phase, China is rebalancing by emphasising consumption and promoting an innovation-based economy. This is a forty year timespan, not the half-decade process under Mao.

Various Indian states have attempted to implement their respective deradicalisation programmes to counter radicalised thought amongst those identified as being at-risk, as well as those contemplating on joining, or are returning after having joined terror groups. Maharashtra and Kerala, for example, claim that their programmes are a success. Yet little is known regarding the structure of these deradicalisation programmes, their implementation, th

Despite the positive signs in India-Russia ties, one must be careful not to overestimate their significance when considered alongside some long-term trends in international affairs such as the relations of the US and its closest challengers China and Russia.

Nepal's former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has stressed on the need to develop "a joint approach" with India to exploit the huge hydro power potential of the country. He said Nepal has the potential of generating over one lakh megawatts of power.

In Devas Multimedia Pvt. Ltd v. Antrix Corporation Ltd, the Supreme Court of India has upheld the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order winding up Devas Multimedia Ltd on the grounds of fraud. Antrix is the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and Devas is a multimedia services company. The decision comes at a crucial time, as foreign investors of Devas are endeavouring to attach Indian assets

Asim Munir’s power grab in Pakistan makes South Asia a more dangerous neighbourhood. The Pak military is no longer a state within a state. It is the state

There is a strong feeling that the signing of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between Japan and India has not led to the full utilisation of the potential that exists for larger trade and investment. Further efforts should therefore be undertaken to realise those ends.

Terrorism in Chechnya has three major trajectories ' first, the terrorist campaign of the Chechens and others who are a part of the international terrorist network and who derive legitimacy from Islamic fundamentalism and whose fight is not just against the alleged oppression of the Russian state, but also to establish Islamic rule in Chechnya and to facilitate its integration with the pan-Islamic world.

E-commerce has made massive inroads in India’s retail sector: 220 million people are expected to shop online by 2025, and the industry is predicted to grow to INR 13,97,800 crore (US$200 billion) by 2027. Yet, about 90 percent of grocery retail trade in India are still driven by small-format traders and neighbourhood kirana (grocery) stores. The evolving retail scenario and changing consumer demands mean that these kirana stores must swiftly em

The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) of Stanford University and the Observer Research Foundation, had co-sponsored a conference entitled "Does South Asia exist? - Prospects for Regionalism in South Asia." As the title suggests there was considerable and intense debate on this subject during the two-day conference.

Taking more and more titles and power may actually be a sign that Xi Jinping is not being able push through his policies in the way he wants.

This paper explores the ways in which UAVs are increasingly integrating themselves in civilian life, outlines the policy implications of this rapid proliferation, and identifies specific policy blind spots India must address.

Mark Lynas is right. Completely divorced from research and data Indian activism today is a cesspool of myths and misconceptions

A discussion with Dr. Sonika Gupta on “China: Thirty Years After Tiananmen” at ORF, Chennai, on 3 August 2019, questioned whether the ongoing Hong Kong protests could be seen as a continuation of Tiananmen?

It is interesting to note the accommodations that China made in its educational system to inspire its exponential growth in economic and defence capability. Its educational reforms aimed at transitioning China from a manufacturing hub to a leader in innovation. Today China has the largest network of primary education in the world.

Leaving Moscow to engage with North Korea may also free China of the burden of having to justify its relations with North Korea in light of Beijing’s increasing business interests with the West

The Chinese president has purged the top Chinese Communist Party hierarchy of even a semblance of diversity

Control of China through cooperation could be a more effective policy given the size and closed nature of China's society