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The Union Budget provides a boost to the energy transition but fails to address the critical need to synergise climate adaptation with India’s devel
The budget has prioritised capital expenditure for addressing the needs of public infrastructure along with some focussed welfare initiatives in cruci
The Finance Minister announced allocations for various sectors in the Budget. But these are a regular feature of every Budget. What was different in this Budget? Almost nothing except that there has been fiscal consolidation. Obviously, it is not going to satisfy the common man, farmers, industry or foreign investors.
The Modi Government's first real annual Budget is perhaps its most important test after flunking the Delhi Assembly examination. While businessmen will be watching it to gauge the intentions and determination of the Government to create a pro-business atmosphere, it will be equally eagerly watched by the armed forces community for its modernisation targets.
Though the Budget has increased financial incentives to the RE industry, it does not reflect an unambiguous focus on the energy transition of the coun
The Finance Minister has chosen to walk the conservative path, hoping to stimulate investment and growth through small half-measures. Expect high rates of inflation in FY 13 and greater pressure on the fiscal deficit despite white paper on black money.
This was a budget without many surprises. Maybe we have evolved to being an economy, in which the budget is a mundane, technical exercise, of interest to economists and accountants, but of little immediate consequence for those who live in the real world.
While the coverage of Budgets in the media and research reports are mainly limited to high interest items like income-tax, sales tax, excise, inflation etc., the "Part A" of the budget, which is an indicator of government intention and priority, remains relatively under explored.
The accompanying politico-administrative changes apart, Elections-2004 has caused the mid-course review of the economic reforms, seeking to introduce the missing "human face", about which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had begun talking about while in the Opposition.
The challenge is not ‘to build back better’ but ‘to build forward better’ where the nature and climate nexus lies within the development parad
Visiting Pakistani journalists informed a select gathering at Observer Research Foundation that the ongoing turmoil in their country was the result of a transition from military dictatorship to coalition politics in the democratic setup.
Most participants at an ORF conference on urban development and creation of 100 smart cities in India felt that creation of smart cities is an extremely challenging exercise and for this, careful planning and effective project implementation are required.
After years of conceiving the idea of Strategic Oil Reserve, the Indian government seems to be moving in the right direction in a resolute manner. Recent statements by both the Prime Minister and the Petroleum Minister about building strategic storage facilities to gear up the country to meet oil emergencies
New Delhi must take full advantage of the geopolitical opportunity that the Japanese connection offers us. As democracies, both India and Japan are open societies and committed to a liberal world order. Through visits and agreements, the two sides have now laid the infrastructure for their strategic partnership.
Both India and Africa strongly acknowledge that peace and security is intrinsically linked to development, and that terrorism poses the biggest threat
In terms of the existing institutional mechanisms, South Korea somewhat lags behind Japan, but one should remember that India-South Korea partnership is only about 40 years old and during this rather short period, what the two countries have achieved is quite remarkable.
When technology becomes important for a country’s development, governments should balance the advance of technology with openness and autonomy.
The ORF-hosted BRICS Academic Forum's recommendations to the 4th BRICS Leaders Summit, to be held in New Delhi on March 29, seek to set the agendas for global governance reforms and sustainable development and map out a new geography of cooperation.
Despite the importance of capacity building in India’s development cooperation programme with African countries, a comprehensive assessment of India
A major problem in developing connectivity projects has been the lack of higher direction. By virtue of being strategic, these tasks ought to be done in special quick time. But, more often than not, they end up mired in all kinds of problems. At the best of times inter-ministerial and centre-state coordination is poor.
India’s G20 presidency can play a huge role in building inclusive and women-friendly cities
With interests of Australia and India "converging" in the evolving geostrategic environment of Asia, both countries have the capacity to develop into a "real" strategic partnership, according to the Australian High Commissioner, Mr Peter Varghese.
India’s power sector requires sustained efforts to achieve the power generating capacity target of approximately 1.2 terawatts by 2047. It needs such capacity to meet the demands of economic growth and achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 7 of providing universal electricity access. At the same time, the country also needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to meet commitments to global climate action agreements. This paper revi
The G20 can steward inclusive approaches to digital transformation, directing international development cooperation, and strengthening multilateralism
Both during times of normalcy and crises, governments depend on increasingly digitised identity systems. Such systems, however, have been considered controversial since the use of IBM machines to facilitate the Holocaust. Since then, more contemporary identity systems have tried to ensure that they do not violate citizens’ essential rights. This requires multi-stakeholder coordination, a network paradigm, a focus on open standards rather than s
Eventually, it has to be a mutual settlement with full understanding between the two parties. They need to come to a compromise, in the highest traditions of the country. There is ample land available land at the site which could accommodate both the construction of a new temple as well as a new masjid.
Both India and Australia can work together and be partners in development to create solutions for the world. Communication, collaboration and consiste
A four-member Chiang Mai-based delegation from the Burmese Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) visited ORF on 26 November, 2007. The delegation consisted of Dr. Lian H. Sakhong (General Secretary); Harn Yawnghwe (Director - National Reconciliation Programme); Saw David Taw (Joint General-Secretary); and Dr. Sui-Khar (Team Leader - Foreign Affairs Committee).
America is different: different in its impulses, in its terms of debate, in its responses. A young country, struggling to acquire an identity, moving away from a melting pot approach to a multicultural one¿in theory if not always in practice; religious in traditional terms despite trappings of post-modernity,
The final announcement of the results of the US Presidential elections are expected to be announced only after the completion of the counting of the provisional votes in the State of Ohio, which may take some days unless Senator John Kerry decides to concede victory to George Bush without waiting for the completion of the counting.
The Indo-German relationship is undergoing a transformation but areas such as lesser ease of doing business, bureaucratic hurdles and red tapism need further attention to improve economic relations, according to Mr Achim Fabig, Consul-General of the Republic of Germany, in Chennai.
Decisive and ruthless crackdown on jihadis is the need of the hour, not more empty rhetoric ---- Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), headed by Hafiz Saeed based in Pakistan, is a threat to India's security and sovereignty and must therefore be branded as 'enemy of the nation'. There need not be a legal provision to do so. The Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is empowered to take such a decision.
Probably the most common response to the criticism that has been leveled at the P5+1-Iran negotiations over the past year is: "but what's the alternative?"
The current series of notifications issued by the Central Government has the potential to create a 'police raj', under the Intelligence Bureau, when that may not be the intention even of the Union Home Ministry.
If there is one thing that the weekend reshuffle of Ministers and portfolios may have done for the image of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Government, it is to put the recent past behind in terms of political charges of corruption and non-performance.
Several challenges and threats may hinder achieving two percent growth for the world economy. For instance, the plans of IMF and Central Bank to raise the interest rate are likely to result in wiping out efforts to achieve the target. Also the investment is witnessing lower volatility.
The most critical area for India's response to climate change must be adaptation. It needs to invest in actions against the imminent threats posed by climate change irrespective of how the global discourse progresses. Investments must be made through innovative channels, using a mixture of capacity-building programmes, awareness campaigns, traditional solutions, and new technologies.
An ORF Mumbai-SPGRC workshop has decided to launch a city-wide, age-appropriate awareness campaign to curb rising gender-related crimes in Greater Mumbai municipal corporation schools. It would try to sensitise children about sexual harassment and other gender-related crimes.
The Narendra Modi government's 'Make in India' campaign, on the whole, seems out of sync with today's world where it doesn't matter where a product is made because even high exporting countries like China basically assembles parts made elsewhere in the world.
The Press Council chairman is spot on as far as the media's coverage of Muslim terror is concerned. He is equally right on the market driven focus on Formula 1, Lady Gaga, Mettallic group, bollywood gossip, fashion, etc in a country where the majority are poor.
In early 2020 the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) published an India-centric propaganda material called Voice of Hind. This special report examines the first issue of the publication, which openly recruits Indian Muslims by manipulating the fears and grievances they harbour owing to certain political developments in the country. The analysis uses theories of social psychology, inter-group conflict discourse, and communications theory to pr
