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The monsoon session of Parliament began on Monday August 1, 2011. The eigth session of the 15th Lok Sabha (Lower House) and the 223rd session of Rajya Sabha (Upper House) are expected to produce more legislative business compared to the performance of the two Houses in the recent past.

On 26 May, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi assumed office after he was sworn-in as the country's 15th Prime Minister by President Pranab Mukherjee.

For almost two years now, or nearly two-third of the ruling UPA-II's time in power, the two Houses of Parliament have been witnessing logjams, walkouts and adjournments with very little legislative business being conducted.

From all accounts, the two-day visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal on August 2-3 was a success. It was also a demonstration of the BJP-led government's neighbourhood policy which seems to be at the core of country's foreign policy.

In next four months, there is going to be a new government in New Delhi. The upcoming general elections are likely to be one of the most bitter and hard-fought battles in country's over six decades of Independence.

The controversy over the proposed single entrance examination for all engineering studies, including those at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), has brought serious issues into the open.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was sworn-in on May 26, has completed 100 days in power.

A battered UPA-II, battling to shrug off the 'policy paralysis' tag, appears to be regaining confidence after it managed to get its presidential and vice-presidential candidates elected.

Are national parties on decline? Can a non-Congress, non-BJP coalition come to power in New Delhi after the next General Elections due in 2014? Or even before, if a political crisis or coalition-accident leads to mid-term elections?

The civil aviation sector can create lots of jobs — India can expect four million people to be employed by the industry, by 2030.

This brief examines India’s defence procurement record for fundamental platforms, weapons, and systems, as well as planned acquisitions and projects under development. The new Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP 2020) assumes greater salience not only against India’s chequered acquisition history, but also the increasingly constrained resource environment and deteriorating regional security scenario. The brief offers a set of broad recommendat

India may well be considered a middle power aspiring to be a great power of global importance. India¿s ruling class has successfully shrugged off its initial aversion to perceive power as a category having a place of its own outside the ideological fortress of morality.

Author and economic analyst M.R. Venkatesh says the controversies and court cases relating to the 2-G scam might have impeded FDI inflow. It shows that even agreements made with the Government in India are not fool-proof, he argues.

Prof. S.D. Muni, a Sri Lankan expert, says that it was unlikely that the 13th Amendment would be implemented, but the spirit of the amendment, i.e., accommodation, would play a much larger role relative to Rajapaksa's rule.

Maritime security concerns of nations, big and small, are for real. Livelihood issues too are for real. Neither can be compromised in the face of the other.

A host of issues that were crucial to the interests of developing countries, and to a large extent India's, were off the table at Bali. For instance, rich country farm subsidies. The US has still not budged from its position vis-à-vis farm subsidies, despite years of push from poor countries, including in Africa.

There is a lot riding on the relationship for both New Delhi and Canberra given that both have a inherent interest in balancing China and ensuring a stable Indo-Pacific strategic order.

The Manmohan Singh government will sponsor a $5.4-billion policy to provide free generic drugs - a decision that could change the healthcare woes in India for millions of poor people.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, extremist groups find workarounds to the digital blockade as ordinary citizens endure restricted access

The chief economist of BP Group, Mr. Christof Ruehl, says the industrial sector is less flexible in India than in China and that this could drive the energy demand in 2012-2035 period. He also predicts that China's industrialisation will continue even if it changes its economy structure.

Indian investments in Africa, from both public and private sector entities, have increased considerably in the last decade. Yet despite the growing importance of Indian investments in Africa, only a few empirical studies have been carried out on the subject. This paper undertakes a disaggregated analysis of Indian foreign direct investment outflows to Africa from 2008 to 2016, and presents three main findings. First, it confirms earlier analyses

Perth hosted the second edition of the Indian Ocean Dialogue from September 5-7. Eighty-seven officials and representatives from think tanks and civil societies participated in the proceedings. The dialogue concluded with the release of the Perth Consensus.

Observer Research Foundation, with support from the Ministry of External Affairs, hosted the Indian Ocean Dialogue 2014. The event witnessed participation of delegates from the far corners of the Indian Ocean and beyond, capturing the vastness and diversity of the region.

A decade and more after the ¿reforms regimen¿ caused a rethink of the ¿national agenda¿, the Indian polity may be at the crossroads again. If cascading fiscal compulsion was behind the earlier re-think, this time round it has more to do with the evolving polity and ageing personalities.

While Non-Congress parties spare no opportunity to accuse the Congress Party of psychophancy and a feudal culture, regional parties are not far behind. In fact, they have perfected the art of dynastic politics, beating the Congress Party.

India was among the few governments that did not sign the NETmundial outcome statement. It certainly seems that the weight and development of a billion people sits heavy on the shoulders of the government. The question is: does it need to lead them to the world wide web, or can they find it themselves?

The Indian subcontinent could be hit by water shortages in few years as increasing populations and growing development demands are placing tremendous pressure on the Indus Basin, according a recently released report, on Indus Basin

UK's Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai, Mr Bharat Joshi, has said that Indian investments in the UK have created over 5000 jobs while UK investments in Chennai alone have generated several thousands.

Transformative change is disruptive. We have been slow in embedding credible instruments to mitigate the cost of disruption.

The Gorkhas, a Nepali military community, have long been recruited by the Indian Army into its Gorkha regiments. Gorkha youth are keen to join the Indian Army since its perks and payments are superior to those of the Nepali Army. However, India's new short-term military enlistment scheme, Agnipath, could alter this association. This brief discusses the impacts of the Agnipath scheme on military labour migration from Nepal to India, and on

Anulekha Nandi, Basu Chandola, Anirban Sarma, Eds., India’s AI Imperative Building National Competencies in a New World Order, January 2025, Observer Research Foundation.

The deep-seated contradictions among member states on regional security and terrorism, combined with growing Chinese influence, have compelled New Delhi to perform a strategic balancing act.

While China currently enjoys enormous power in the Indo-Pacific region, a more assertive India could potentially challenge this status quo.

With the advent of globalisation and increased interconnectivity, it has become less difficult for offenders in India to escape to foreign jurisdictions and avoid prosecution in the country. The importance of extraditing fugitives and bringing them before Indian courts cannot be stressed enough. Apart from providing timely justice and grievance redressal, it also serves as a deterrent against potential fugitives. However, India’s success rate i

Nuclear cooperation has brought a new dimension to India’s diplomacy in the 21st century. India’s status as a responsible nuclear power is predicated upon the civil relationships in the nuclear domain that it has established with major powers. This, despite not being a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and operating outside the ambit of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This brief analyses the impact of key agreements with different count

India has a role to play in global climate diplomacy, with its large population, fast-growing economy, and vulnerabilities to the consequences of climate change. Utilising a review of existing literature, this brief evaluates the country’s involvement in international climate forums in the past decade, its negotiation strategies and policy coherence, and their effectiveness. It finds that India’s strategy for climate diplomacy has aimed for a

There are calls for India to declare a net-zero year and offset its carbon emissions by various processes of absorption and removal of greenhouse gases. For India, such calls are irrational; despite international pressure, it has avoided making pledges or setting hard targets beyond its commitments at the Paris climate conference in 2015. This brief argues that “net zero” is not possible with India’s current levels of reliance on coal. Its

Despite significant improvements in India’s near-seas security architecture, the country’s coastal security project remains a work in progress. Recent developments show there have been more than a few “misses” in the near-littorals. This report attempts to document India’s enduring coastal vulnerabilities, identifying reasons why a number of promising initiatives have not added up to a system of efficient littoral management, and explai

In the past decade, India has successfully demonstrated the three pillars of effective deterrence—capability, credibility, and communication—in its strategic posture towards China. It has bolstered its defence diplomacy with key partners in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and across the broader Indo-Pacific region, through regular joint military exercises, military officers exchange programmes, frequent high-level diplomatic visits, and the co

Maldivian President Yameen Abdullah Gayoom’s rejection of the Supreme Court’s decision to release the jailed opposition leaders to ensure a free and fair presidential elections later this year has brought to head the country’s brewing estrangement with its traditional ally, India. India faces a dilemma: How must it deal with the situation in Maldives? This report examines India’s options in the context of China’s expanding power in the