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Nepal's Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai will make an important visit to New Delhi starting October 20. Given the strain in relationship between his own party, the UCPN (Maoist), and India on multiple issues during the tenure of his party President Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda as the premier.

The United Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN-M or the Maoists), the single largest party in Nepal's Constituent Assembly, held its much-awaited sixth plenum at Palungtar in Gorkha district on November 21.

The Iran nuclear deal could mark a strategic realignment between the US and its traditional Sunni allies in the region. The Arab countries have been vocal in criticising Washington's policies in Egypt, Syria and Iraq, which they say have given an upper hand to "Iranian allies".

China’s bid to ‘internationalise’ the issue could push India to hurt its larger neighbour’s interests.

The possible return of the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, is a challenge. But don’t count India out

New digital age won't be as much fun if we don't talk about privacy. Privacy should not be limited to headline grabbing revelations about surveillance, Snowden and Sony; these conversations need to be mainstreamed to every citizen-consumer.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's recent decision to give the US a miss needs to be seen in the context of the changing narratives of internet governance and the control for cyber resources.

With the news of back channel negotiations between the Taliban and the United States coming to light, the Karzai government's fear of the hijacking of the reconciliation process with the Taliban by foreign partners might not be ill found.

No government can tread the path of a single-minded focus on GDP growth. But wanton populism is no answer either, as the widening fiscal deficit must be trimmed.

The US threats and its troop presence in South Korea are alleged to have contributed to North Korean insecurity, but its drive to develop more nuclear weaponry cannot be understood without taking into account domestic dynamics. To bring about a genuine change in North Korea's behaviour, its internal dynamics will have to be considered.

Choice of Antonio Guterres, for UN Secretary-General’s job, may have greater consequences for Sri Lanka than may have been considered/thought of previously

The Delhi Government's Bhagidari programme with all its pitfalls and challenges comes as a refreshing idea in the context of urban governance. Given its potential to transform state-ctizen interface, there is need to give it statutory backing. Also, there is enough space for forther improvement of the programme.

Ties between Qatar and the three GCC members went downhill after uprisings in Arab countries that began in Tunisia, the beginning of the so-called “Arab Spring”.

Nigeria voted on April 16th, 2011 for a new president. The result: political violence killing over 500 with the number only increasing and thousands of Nigerians injured and internally displaced.

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.

The Modi government has declared that virtually everyone who opposes its policies in Jammu and Kashmir is a terrorist. This makes it difficult to find a way out of the Kashmir miasma.

There is disquiet among India’s policy making circles that are being done to address a domestic constituency in aftermath of surgical strikes in PoK.

Bhutan's honeymoon with democracy seems to be facing its first challenge, that too from unexpected quarters. For a nation that boasts of measuring its national wealth in terms of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and not conventionally in GDP.

Frustration is understandable, but there’s evidence that Gandhian tactics are changing minds in the U.S.

That economic diplomacy through the Northeast has over-shadowed security-related concerns in India's regional diplomacy is a major departure from the past. Connectivity has been identified as a priority area of the Modi government.

What Delhi needs is a strategy that will generate some influence for India in shaping the future of the critical northwest sub-region. Such a strategy will necessarily involve sustained dialogue with Pakistan, a recalibration of the Afghan policy, encouragement to the peace talks between Kabul and Rawalpindi and the readiness to engage all powers who have a stake in the region's stability.

India is commonly — and rightly — considered as a reluctant democracy promoter. But while sceptical about the motives behind Western attempts to promote democracy and about the effects of their democracy promotion efforts, India has since the mid-2000s moved warily to involve itself in “democracy assistance”. This article argues that New Delhi has engaged in these activities in the context of a wider shift in strategy, in parallel with t

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.

Deterrence 3.0 has to create a new consensus for a multipolar nuclear world, a world not of nuclear parity but asymmetry in terms of both sizes and nature of arsenals.

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.

Obama's China policy, motivated by an increasing level of interdependence, will involve constructive engagement with China. However, simultaneously, the US will also seek to ensure that their image of being a great power in Pacific-Asia does not change, according to US scholar Prof. Ronald W. Pruessen.

New Delhi's knee-jerk political protestations against Barack Obama's remarks on the stalled economic reforms in India have missed out on far more important comments from the President of the United States about Jammu and Kashmir.

The first meeting of the ORF-Pacific Council Task Force on India-US Relations was held at Jamnagar on March 18-19, 2004.

Tax heavens will exist as long as corrupt corporations and looting dictators do. The only way in which tax heavens can be countered is through technological development, and systems like Swift, which increase transparency of transactions, suggested noted investment analyst Mr. K. Arunachalam.

A week ago, oil giant Chevron-Texaco's Nigerian unit decided to keep its production of 23,000 barrels a day shut till its oil facilities attacked and damaged by members of the Ijaw tribe are found to be in order. Disruption of oil operations, hostage taking, inter-ethnic clashes are not new for Nigeria¿s oil-rich Niger Delta.

In mid-June, the oil giant Shell was forced to declare force majeure in its Nigeria unit excusing it from liability and contractual obligations due to sabotage by local militias on its oil pipelines.

While New Delhi wants the boundary issue to be resolved first, China wants to focus on other areas of cooperation and is in no hurry to move forward on the contentious issue

Indian customs officials reportedly intercepted a Malta-flagged merchant ship carrying a computer numerical control machine en route from China to Pakistan.

It would be premature to blame any one party or organisation for the violence in Muzaffarnagar. Though it is apparent that, once the violence erupted, parties have been trying to make political capital from it. Primary blame must fall on the Samajwadi Party which has been ruling the state for the past one year.