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Mainstreaming gender in urbanisation can be a useful tool in understanding and tackling exclusionary growth and access to resources in urban spaces more generally.

The borders that divide countries into geographical entities also serve as channels of interconnection between the very same territories. Borders divide and connect, at the same time; they present both opportunities and challenges: How do sovereign nations realise the potential of cross-border engagement, while managing the various issues that arise out of opening up these borders? This is a challenge that is true for the BBIN countries —

The strategic location of India’s North Eastern Region (NER) offers ample opportunities for enhancing the country’s economic ties. However, supply-chain constraints at the regional level hamper the trade-growth linkages, as do trade barriers, social unrest, and inadequate infrastructure. Enhancing and improving commercial exchanges with neighbouring countries, such as Bangladesh and Myanmar, will strengthen bilateral and regional networks. Th

The euro zone's recovery is obstructed by its own structural weaknesses. And the idea of a crisis relapse cannot be discounted as yet and the consequences of it are hard to fathom. The euro zone may also need to abandon its optimistic view.

Contemporary India–Australia relations can be best described as being loaded in intent but limited in action. Over the years, pledges of “common destiny” have repeatedly been made, only to remain unfulfilled. The 2018 release by the Australian government of its India Economic Strategy 2035 is an attempt to lay down a vision for capturing the opportunities offered by India’s market. Among these opportunities is mining. This brief discusses

Maharashtra imposed alcohol prohibition in the Chandrapur district in April 2015. However, in 2021, the state government annulled the liquor ban as evidence indicated that the district administration had failed to comprehensively implement it, with several social and economic consequences that compromised the wellbeing of Chandrapur. Experiments in prohibition in India and the US show that it is nearly impossible for such widespread socia

This brief examines the efficacy of the inclusion of private capital in development finance, using the cases of certain countries that have met with success in utilising such a strategy. It underlines the experiences of institutions like the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the United States International Development Finance Corporation (US-IDFC) that use innovative financial tools to support international financial institution

Among the most severe consequences of climate change is the global rise in average temperatures, and the resultant increase in the frequency and intensity of heatwaves. Cities are particularly vulnerable to heatwaves as their high built density absorbs and retains heat, leading to higher temperatures than the surrounding areas and causing the ‘heat island’ effect. India’s northwest region routinely experiences abnormally hot days during the

Why was the controversial barrage built on the Ganga just upstream of the India-Bangladesh border? What has the construction led to?

Regional parties should not think of federalism merely in terms of anti-Congressism. This seems to be the tendency, with regional satraps like Mamata Banerjee and Jayalalithaa hyphenating regional concerns with their own political goals.

Microfinance, which began in India 50 years ago, extends credit, insurance, loans, access to savings accounts, and money transfers to small business owners and entrepreneurs, especially those not served by the conventional banking system, or indeed the rest of the financial sector. This paper traces the history of microfinance in India and evaluates its impact. It finds that although the microfinance sector has emerged as a salient player in Indi

Out of the 660,000 habitations in India with a population of 100 or more, only 33,000 have a commercial bank branch. That's approximately one branch for every 20 habitations.

Financial inclusion is critical to achieving the economic empowerment of women—one of the targets under the fifth Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality. In India, one in every five women lack access to a bank account. Although the country’s programmes promoting financial inclusion have increased the percentage of women having access to a bank account, wide gaps remain in account use, and access to savings and credit. Women c

In many African countries—some of the most unbanked areas in the world—digital banking applications are redefining what it is to bank in economies with shallow penetration of the formal banking sector, representing an innovative force that is breaking new ground in the long-standing challenge of financial inclusion. This brief explores the emerging world of fintech in the context of Africa, outlining why financial technology applications are

Climate change has emerged amongst India’s most formidable challenges to sustained GDP growth. To accelerate the implementation of the country’s commitments under the Paris Agreement and advance its progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, finance is key. India needs to develop a comprehensive strategy and an integrated policy approach that aligns the country’s financial systems with the long-term needs of the economy while incor

The existence of an embedded financial network of militant organisations in Bangladesh will seriously undermine the global effort to neutralise global terrorist networks entrenched in the region.

Accumulated non-performing assets (NPAs) in the Indian banking system, specifically in the public sector banks (PSBs), have adverse effects on credit disbursement. An increasing amount of bad loans have prompted the banks to be extra cautious, which has dried the credit channel. Two components are key in resolving the NPA problem: the immediate task of resolving the current accumulation in the PSBs, and the more important long-term task of ensuri

For Bangladesh and India, the imminent expiry of the deal presents opportunities for exploring the appropriate mechanisms for governing flows in river basins

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

New Delhi’s top-most priority should be to ensure timely, non-discriminatory relief distribution

Conflict resolution and political problem-solving in other countries are not traits that Chinese diplomats excel at. It remains to be seen how China walks this tightrope in Afghanistan, which remains a fractured crucible of contradictory ethnic and political interests

Over the past decade, Mumbai’s civil society has raised concerns over the way in which the municipal corporation appears to be prioritising rapid development at the cost of the city’s public space. Indeed, the city has lost significant areas of its open spaces owing to various reasons, among them archaic policies, unrealistic goals, and the labyrinthine division of power and jurisdiction between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and othe

The Taliban, ably helped by Pakistan, the US’s frontline ally in its global war on terror, has badly dented the notion of US invincibility. Despite President Joe Biden’s efforts in recent months to reassure allies that “America is back”, there is a wariness about both US commitment and its competence.

If there is one thing on which all the ¿Dravidian parties¿ of Tamil Nadu stand united today, it is their criticism of the Union budget, presented by fellow Tamil leader Palaniappan Chidambaram. In doing so the DMK, the PMK and the MDMK, allies of the Congress at the Centre, have restricted their criticism to the proposed tax on the daily withdrawal of money from one¿s own bank account.

Starting this week, ORF brings you the main events that have taken place in the week gone by in India's neighbourhood, from Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka

To ensure that the role of "big money" in influencing elections and policies is banished from the Indian polity, state funding, small donations, public subsidies, membership fees along with strict disclosure and reporting requirements must be encouraged and assiduously pursued.

संयुक्त राष्ट्रांच्या अजेंडा-२०३०मध्ये शहरे सुरक्षित, शाश्वत व सक्षम करणे हे ध्येय आहे. त्यासाठी जी-२० राष्ट्रगटाच्या धर्तीवर सिटी-२० गट बनणे आवश्यक आहे.

शाश्वत आणि सर्वसमावेशक समुदाय निर्माण करण्यासाठी G20 ला आपल्या कृषी-अन्न प्रणालींमध्ये गुंतवणुकीचा वेग वाढवण्यासाठी आपली सहयोगात्मक वचनबद्धता पूर्ण करणे आवश्यक आहे.

Donald Trump’s engagement with the Kashmir issue has a lot to do with his need to secure Pakistan’s backing for his Afghanistan policy.

The Commonwealth Games was planned to showcase a modern India. But it has actually set back India's urban modernisation plans through disproportionate focus.

Those who want us to join the Western bandwagon and condemn Russia seem oblivious to their own stand when it comes to supporting India against China and Pakistan.

The trajectories of India’s neighbours like Bangladesh are driven more by their own agency than their adjacency to India

The 2625 kg GSAT-7, developed at a cost of INR 185 crores, will be India's first dedicated satellite for maritime communications, providing UHF, S-band, C-band, and Ku band relay capacity over the Indian landmass and surrounding seas.

Discussions between the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) also saw a general agreement that the Taliban victory in Afghanistan will lead to a civil war with disastrous consequences for Pakistan

Bangladesh's bilateral relations with India got a major boost with its Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Tripura on January 11 and 12. Sheikh Hasina visited the north-eastern Indian State to attend the convocation of the Tripura Central University at Agartala.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented stress on India’s urban public health infrastructure, underscoring the need for urban planning to account for increased demand for health amenities during crises. This paper evaluates the city of Mumbai’s 1991 and 2034 development plans and finds inherent infrastructural inadequacies. It calls on urban-policymakers to complement development plans with robust dynamic health strategies that conside

This is the biggest protest campaign in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban regime. This is bloody, widespread and countrywide.This also shows that they are fed up with the United States and they just needed a spark to vent their feelings.

India, despite being at the receiving end of many terror attacks, has had domestic successes that do not find mention in the prevailing counter-terror discourse

As if COVID-19 was not enough, Amphan has not merely damaged infrastructure, rendered many homeless, and affected small businesses — but has imposed a cost on the West Bengal economy whose indelible impacts will be felt in the long-run.

During a discussion on "Urban Middle Classes and the Ascent of New Politics in India" at ORF, it was noted that success should not be measured in terms of the ability to ensure successful electoral outcomes but as an attempt to make better societies.

Across India’s burgeoning cities, the supply of affordable homes is highly inadequate to keep pace with the growing need; as a result, slums and other informally built areas, where living conditions are extremely poor, have grown. In 2015 the Indian government implemented a national housing programme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban) or PMAY (U) to bridge the gap in affordable housing. This report evaluates the progress of PMAY (U), and finds