3485 results found
The story of 2019, whatever the outcome of parliamentary elections, will essentially be about India adjusting its engagements in its neighbourhood.
A regionally integrated grid is central to South Asia’s clean energy transition. Cross-border electricity trade (CBET) in the Bangladesh–Bhutan–India–Nepal (BBIN) subregion has nearly tripled from 7.8 TWh in 2013 to 21 TWh in 2024, yet remains far below its potential. An integrated grid can harness the region’s diverse clean energy resources, lower system costs, enhance energy security, and support decarbonisation. Recent milestones, in
New Delhi must stop viewing its foreign relations with Colombo from the Chennai prism alone just as it was a mistake to view our relations with Bangladesh through Kolkata's priorities. Tamil aspirations in Sri Lanka are important but there are other abiding interests too.
As a follow-up to the impeachment motion passed by Parliament by a two-thirds majority, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has sacked the nation's Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranayake.
In the heat and dust kicked off by issues such as the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, Sri Lanka missed what could well have emerged as a national discourse on an issue of equal, if not greater import.
The question of full statehood for Delhi has occupied the national limelight since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s landslide victory in the assembly elections of 2015. To be sure, the demand for statehood for Delhi has been on the slow burner since the time of the country’s independence; however, it was in the past three years that it gained considerable pace. While the last seven decades have witnessed nearly all major national parties advocatin
A healthy respect for China's power under Xi and an appreciation of what it means for international relations, rather than romantic notions about building an Eastern Bloc against the West, must guide Indian diplomacy in Durban.
Large numbers of people, most of them women, are trafficked in the Bay of Bengal region. Despite these countries having anti-trafficking laws in place in line with the United Nations Trafficking in Persons Protocol, the incidence of the criminal activity continues unabated. This brief gives an overview of human trafficking in the Bay of Bengal region, particularly around the contiguous zone of India–Nepal–Bangladesh, which has become a hub of
India’s marine fisheries sector plays a critical role in coastal livelihoods, food security, and the country’s emerging blue economy. However, the governance of marine fisheries remains fragmented due to variations in Marine Fishing Regulation Acts (MFRAs) implemented by coastal states and Union Territories. These differences in seasonal bans, gear regulations, licensing systems, enforcement capacity, and penalties complicate coordinated mana
The question of municipal leadership is of great significance in urban governance in India. There are various models of the position of chief executive of an urban local body (ULB), predominantly tilting towards the ‘strong mayor’ model either through ‘presidentialisation’ of the office or through a ‘mayor-in-council’[1] system. In India, it is the ‘state appointed municipal commissioner’ model that holds sway, sitting over a popu
Safer cities are a product of technology, policing, community participation, education, and planning and architectural design. In the policy frame, focus should be on inclusive development, participatory approaches, identity mainstreaming, and sustainable urban development to create a more equal and tolerant urban society.
This return to business as usual is reflective of the wariness on both sides to escalate the crisis further and prevent it from metastasising into a new front of conflict.
With multiple fires burning around India, what is astounding is not India’s seeming inability to manage those fires but its remarkable success in insulating itself from those flames
The Observer Research Foundation and Saferworld, UK, with support from the UK Department of International Development, hosted a workshop in New Delhi in August 2014 with the objective of identifying priorities to help secure an inclusive agreement on the SDGs. This Policy Perspective presents a summary of key issues raised by participants from India, China, Brazil, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the African Union.
The view from Dhaka was summed up in a journal thus: ¿The cumulative case against a dependable relationship between India and Bangladesh is a very strong one¿ since Bangladesh suffers from ¿a serious lack of bargaining power¿ and hence needs ¿a viable strategy of alliances with China, Burma, Nepal and Pakistan¿. Adventurism is its logical outcome.
The apparent hydrological paradox is natural, but its impact is man-made.
The emergence of the Tehrik-E-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) as the largest religious political party in the country has introduced a new, aggressive element in Pakistan’s polity. Although the TLP does not have an armed militant wing, it has demonstrated both its street power and the strength of its electoral base only six years since it was set up in 2015. Exploiting deeply emotional issues like the finality of Prophethood and Blasphemy against the Pr
Investigations into the recent terrorist attacks and the subsequent chain of arrests and seizures in different parts of India, particularly rural Maharashtra, have revealed a growing alliance between jihadi groups operating from Pakistan and Bangladesh with ideologically extreme groups in India.
That is the latest position of the Government of Begum Khaleda Zia, the Bangladesh Prime Minister, in the face of growing international pressure spearheaded by the member-countries of the European Union (EU) to act against terrorist groups operating from Bangladeshi territory.
A near-bankrupt Pakistan has only two choices. It can go to the IMF and suffer reforms. Or it can carry on with its lies, vagaries and economic wet dreams
Taliban, Rawalpindi declared victory too soon. The game now depends on Trump’s calculations
Kunduz has a large ethnic mix of Pashtun, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and others - all of whom wish to hold the province. The recent move to capture Kunduz by the Taliban is significant in many ways. It is the first major engagement by the Taliban after Mullah Akhtar Mansour succeeded Mullah Omar.
India and Bangladesh must seize the opportunity to further enhance connectivity and trade ties
India’s decision to abolish cantonments after carving out the military areas, announced in April 2023, has been met with scepticism and support. Cantonments, primarily created during the British rule to station and house the military, evolved to include civilians as residents and staff to provide support and logistic services. Over time, cantonment boards, with some civilian members, were created to manage the civil areas, but the rights of civ
Despite a seemingly endless supply of and demand for private credit, the rapid expansion of the market has been a cause of concern for some regulators and executives. Should investors be worried? This brief explores certain aspects of private credit that warrant a close look—including the retailisation of the market and the current interest rate environment. It highlights the implications for financial stability, including the potential for fin
The fall in the value of the dollar would be worrying the central bankers in China because the value of their reserves also declines simultaneously. The promotion of the SDR agenda by the Chinese is certainly no coincidence given the position of the dollar today.
The Smart Cities Mission in India, launched in 2015, is a unique experiment undertaken with the aim of improving people’s quality of life in cities. It bypasses traditional institutional approaches and employs innovative methods to achieve its targets. This brief provides an overview of the work initiated under the mission since its inception and explores the gains so far. It documents sectoral reforms and conducts a critical appraisal of the m
The Indian government’s “Smart Cities Mission” aims to drive economic growth and improve quality of life through “smart” solutions for the delivery of infrastructure and services. This is expected to transform living spaces, enhance quality of life, and provide employment opportunities, in turn helping reduce crime rates and promoting law and order. Among the challenges to the “Smart Cities” programme is terrorism—especially in ur
The Centre has chipped in by banning the export of beef and cows, thereby minimising the incentive for cow slaughter.
It is hoped that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India not only heightens bilateral relations between the two countries but also benefits the entire region
For reasons to do with history and strategy, India will not abandon Russia.
China’s external economic engagement in smart city development under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its digital sub-initiative, Digital Silk Road (DSR), is reshaping the geo-economic and geopolitical landscape of the Indo-Pacific. Between 2017 and 2023, Chinese state and private companies invested, loaned, or contracted over US$22 billion in digital infrastructure under the DSR framework, spanning telecommunications, artificial intellig
The Digital Silk Road (DSR), part of the Belt and Road Initiative, symbolises China’s approach to expanding information exchanges and digital cooperation with emerging markets and developing economies. Under the DSR, several private corporations and state-owned enterprises supported by Chinese state banks are offering inexpensive technological contracts and rapidly building digital infrastructure projects. This brief examines the operationalisa
Russia is now the world’s most heavily sanctioned country, with unprecedented punitive action targeting its energy exports, central bank, and other sectors. Given Russia’s economic resilience amid such economic restrictions and India’s dependence on Russia for its defence and energy requirements, this issue brief highlights the economic rationale for New Delhi to maintain existing trade ties with Moscow despite continued geopolitical pressu
India’s rising urbanisation in recent years has triggered unbridled construction activities to meet the needs of the growing populations in these cities. Not all of these constructions abide by existing laws, however, leading to adverse consequences on governance systems, the environment, people’s health, transportation services, and overall citizen well-being. In extreme cases, illegal constructions have resulted in loss of lives and propert
As the Indo-Pacific region grows in prominence, all the members of the CSC, which are democracies, will continue to play their cards based on domestic and external benefits.
Kabul fiasco will affect US’ ability to mobilise coalitions against a common cause
With the territorial defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, analysts are pondering the kind of organisational form the group would take next. The influence of the so-called Islamic State in South Asia may be minimal, but India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, have all had the shadow of ISIS’ global footprint land on their doorstep. This brief sheds light on how the influence of ISIS spread across South Asia, specifically after 2014, when pro-I
Defining safety in urban spaces as just one of physical protection is self-defeating as it presupposes the existence of only reactive action. The construction of safety in sheer physical terms reduces, and often completely eliminates, the possibility of proactive action.
What are the gains that diplomacy on counter-terrorism, resolutions of the UN Security Council and other such multilateral instruments bring to the table?
The success of the Indian covert actions in 1971 that led to the liberation of Bangladesh has a legendary place in India’s security consciousness. This paper retells the story of India’s covert actions in East Pakistan between January and December 1971. It lays down some essential rules and principles for successful covert actions that remain applicable even today. These include the need for a culture of covert action that guides the developm
In August 2021, Kabul fell to the Taliban, marking their return nearly 20 years since they first ruled Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. This report examines the prospects of restarting India’s engagements in Afghanistan under the current Taliban regime. It builds on the insights shared during an exclusive, virtual roundtable organised by ORF’s Centre for New Economic Diplomacy (CNED) in September 2021, and makes a case for India to consider the
The proverbial Global South seems to be showing a fragmented approach to the crisis
The global climate finance architecture tends to restrain emerging economies from mobilising and accessing global private commercial capital for energy transition. This brief explores the different global financial regulations that influence climate capital flows between countries, and argues that institutions must enhance their role in facilitating the optimal allocation of capital. It evaluates the role of Multilateral Development Banks from a
Closer home, the Great Power Game will be played in the unstable fields of Ayatollahs' Iran, a Talibanised Afghanistan, whose leaders have their own world view, and a Sunni radicalised nuclearised Pakistan. The main contestants will be China and the US and our strategic planners may have to start planning for an uncertain future.
The Government of Karnataka, in May 2025, decreed the Karnataka Act No. 36 of 2025, The Greater Bengaluru Governance Act (GBGA), 2024 for the Greater Bengaluru Area. This was in view of urban governance issues arising in the megacity of Bengaluru, for which the existing urban governance structure had become obsolete. Having replaced the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Act of 2020, the GBGA, it is hoped, will introduce greater coordinati
