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From initiating schemes to aid migrant workers to deciding on budget allocations, information is integral to the development of effective state respon
Emphasising that majority of Taliban cadre can be won over for establishing peace in their war-torn country, Afghan government spokespersons said the peace initiative would become successful once ordinary Afghans realise that international forces are not going to remain in the country indefinitely.
PM Modi must shed the self-acquired role of the sole, vote gatherer. He needed this image to overcome inner-party contestation and become the Prime Minister. Today, this image is a handicap. On this score, ironically, Modi could usefully emulate the laidback, apolitical Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
The Fourth Finance Commission recommended devolution comes at a critical juncture of Centre-State fiscal relations that was looking increasingly unsustainable. Yet, with it, lies a different set of challenges and the Centre is expected to play an even greater role to aid States to spend money effectively while managing newer forms of inequality that are bound to emerge out of the new direction.
Disappointed at the lack of progress in resolving the Kashmir issue through the Indo-Pak composite dialogue, Gen Pervez Musharraf is reported to have said, ¿Let me give another bombshell, I propose, one way of moving forward.... Take three towns, Srinagar, Kupwara and Baramula. Let all the military move out of the cities to the outskirts. (We) will ensure there is no militancy inside....
The form of engagement between India and Africa should be defined by the idea of long-term mutual benefit and sustenance, and not merely by development and aid-giving.
Myanmar's unsettled scores on the border front once again took an ugly turn when its border guards police exchanged crossfire with its Bangladesh counterpart for three days from 28 May. A Bangladesh border guard personnel was said to be killed.
The world frets as Aung San Suu Kyi is tried on multiple grounds. Has the tombstone of Myanmar democracy been laid?
Maldives Dhivehi Rayyethunge Party (DRP) chief, Mr. Thasmeen Ali, has said that the first government under the new Constitution, the government of President Nasheed, did not display courage and patience to follow the path of democratic governance.
Only a small trickle of INDCs has been submitted by other countries. So there isn't much by way of international examples for India to consider. The EU has said it will reduce its carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. Mexico has submitted both conditional and unconditional INDCs.
To sequence Indian priorities on the FDI question is fairly simple. Consumer-centrism is paramount. Competitive SME sector growth, which will lead to job creation as well as value addition, is a strategic economic priority, which in turn can be aided by a strong e-commerce industry as has been witnessed in China.
Travelling by horse back is the fastest mode of communication in the tribal-inhabited remote and interior forest areas of this (East Godavari) district,¿ said my guide during a visit to the Naxalite-Maoist-affected parts of the Andhra-Orissa Border Special Guerrilla Zone (AOBSZ).
As India's most influential voice on foreign affairs in the run-up to Independence and its chief diplomat for the first 17 years of the republic, Nehru said and did things that can't be stuffed into one box labelled "Nehruvian".
Nepal's balancing act between the two development and infrastructural projects—the MCC aided by the USA and the BRI promoted by China—can hinder i
Mr. Prachanda has been provided with a new found cushion with the restoration of Indo-Neap ties and laid ground for much-needed political room for manoeuvre.
While acknowledging the fact that many of the larger NGOs have done phenomenal work in public welfare, a social activist in Chennai has said the motives behind the initiatives of some of them in the country have become questionable.
The top priority of any nation in the post-9/11 era is to defend its territorial integrity. This goal faces a real threat from terrorists originating or based in foreign countries, said Mr Andrew T. Simkin, the Consul-General of the US in Chennai.
The integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India is the ultimate solution to the Kashmir problem, said Dr. Subha Chandran at an interaction on 'Jammu & Kashmir: Internal Threats and External Interests' at the ORF Chennai Chapter.
Natural and man-made disasters continue to plague the Indo-Pacific region; therefore, greater attention should be paid in addressing these problem are
A nuclear expert has said Article IV of the NPT, which allows signatory countries to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, offers nations enough leeway to engage in weapon development in the absence of a comprehensive inspection mechanism and enforceable sanctions.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Delhi, NSA A.K. Doval said there is a need for collective response by countries to tackle terrorism as it will be very difficult for countries individually to fight terror effectively. He called for a Comprehensive United Nations Convention against Terrorism.
Highlighting the inevitability of Nuclear power being an essential requirement to address India's growing Energy security needs in the time to come, Mr Shashidhar Reddy, Vice Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.
Alleging the Assad regime's involvement in the last week's chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs, President Barrack Obama said that he has decided to take military action against Syria by launching limited military strike.
Myanmar hosted US President Barack Obama this week in Nay Pyi Taw for the ASEAN and East Asia Summit. Obama, who visited the former 'paraiah State' for the second time in three years, said that the reforms in Myanmar were real but incomplete.
Though the Japanese financial aid to Myanmar was used for purposes other than serving the interests of the people, the debt should be considered odious, and waived off to free the people from the woes of the debt incurred to aid their repression.
Both Kathmandu and New Delhi will need to leverage their political will and expand cooperation to ensure that both countries reap benefits from closer
Despite being labelled as dependents, older women, especially from low-income households, contribute significantly through unpaid and paid work, witho
Kautilya said that the worst enemy is the enemy within. In Arthshastra, he stated, ¿Arrows may not kill a soldier but skillful intrigue can kill even those in the womb.¿
The March 16-visit of US Secretary of State Condeleza Rice to New Delhi is an unprecedented, landmark visit at the most opportune time', said the Indian Foreign Secretary, Mr Shyam Saran, while Inaugurating the ORF-Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Dialogue on East and South East Asia, at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), on March 17, 2005.
The killing of Osama bin Laden is undoubtedly a military defeat for al Qaeda but on the ideological front, there is still some way to go before it can be said with surety that the global terrorist movement has been put to rest.
The present generation of the Pakistani army is not so much Islamic as political and materialistic, said Professor Stephen Cohen, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution and renowned authority on Pakistan Army. Speaking at the USI as part of a joint ORF-USI lecture, Profession Cohen said the Pakistani army was only using Islam for its political objectives and this has not compromised the professional orientation of the army.
Waziristan last month ostensibly to hunt down al Qaida and Talibanelements has been a visible failure which could dramatically alterthe already existing fault lines in the force divided betweenloyalty to Musharraf, nation and religion.South Waziristan is one of the seven areas -Khyber, Kurram,Orakzai, Mohmand, Bajaur, North and South Waziristan - which wereclubbed together as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)by the British who wanted
Well known Pakistani economist Akbar Zaidi discussed various aspects of Pakistan?s economy with special emphasis on the period since the 1980s, at a round table conference at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, on February 23, 2004.
The 12-point resolution approved by Pakistan's Parliament said that Islamabad must maintain "neutrality" in the Yemen conflict. Pakistan has good reasons to have rejected what could have become a quagmire for its forces. But, it has angered Pakistan's friends, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates.
The outcome of the February 18 elections was predetermined and the situation would only get worse as a consequence, said well-known media personality and commentator Saeed Naqvi at a talk organised by Observer Research Foundation on the Situation in Pakistan on the eve of elections on Saturday (Feb. 16).
Ethnic divisions will deepen in Pakistan along with popular sentiments against the military in the near future, says renowned area specialist Dr Selig Harrison. "In 10 years, there will be a different landscape in Pakistan," he said addressing the faculty members of Observer Research Foundation here on February 6.
The on-going electricity crisis in Pakistan and the country-wide protests that followed have laid bare the weaknesses in the country's energy policy.
Can Pakistan help the US tame the Taliban so that Trump can withdraw US forces from Afghanistan? That’s the price the US demands in exchange for aid for Pakistan’s floundering economy, but success is far from assured
A spectacular dogfight scoreline is tantalising, but still leaves a lot unsaid about the future of AI and autonomous warfare.
Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, has made an impressive case for "economic statesmanship" which he said would ensure inclusive growth and stability in India as well as globally.
This paper examines the various constraints faced by India’s small and marginal farmers, which severely affect the productivity of their lands, and thus their incomes. These obstacles cover the gamut of farming activities, from production to storage, and accessing markets. A recent government survey has said that four of every ten of the country’s farmers disliked farming, and would prefer another occupation if given a choice. While the gover
There has been a large degree of unpredictability with which political movements have gained weight in the region, making providing humanitarian aid to affected areas very difficult, according to the chief of the International Committee of Red Cross.
The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, announced on November 14, 2003 that the forthcoming mid-term elections to the State Legislature would be fought on the issue of ¿crushing¿ the Naxalites. He declared in Hyderabad, in the presence of the national media, that Naxalite violence was hampering development and progress in the State.
Nearly 100 million people are said to have been lifted out of poverty in China since 2012, coinciding with President Xi Jinping's reign as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Indeed, closing the income gap is a stated goal of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and part of the CCP's objectives till 2035. As resentment of the rich has grown, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Xi has encouraged the wealthy to embrace austeri
Sri Lanka is considering a power-sharing mechanism at the Centre, said Prof. G.L. Peiris, Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister, while delivering the second R.K. Mishra Memorial Lecture in New Delhi.
The US faces deepening political divisions and discontent with governance. This portends a volatile electoral race with significant domestic and inter
Amid all the developments, considerable attention needs to be paid on the appointment of the new CDS in the aftermath of the demise of General Bipin R
The very nature of this tax needs to be assessed to understand either why it is not paid or why recovery is poor.
The problem of female foeticide and sex selection was highlighted as a big public health concern at a seminar on 'Public Health Concerns and Reforms' organised by ORF and RLS in Delhi. It was said that India could witness elimination of 9-10% girls in the times to come.
ATTACKING the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, on October 1, 2003, is most spectacular act that Naxalites of the People's War (formerly People's War Group or PWG) have carried out till date. The rebels have not only proved that they have the ability to strike at locations far away from their traditionally known strongholds but also that they were poised to expand their influence beyond the state boundaries.
