Search

World over, uncontrolled fiscal stimulus had got a new legitimacy. And now everyone is standing on the edge of a fiscal cliff. The finance minister seems to have the full support of the UPA chairperson to cut wasteful spending this time around.

Even if the Centre's Rafale deal for the two squadrons comes through, it will only temporarily arrest the decline of squadrons for the IAF. The long-term answer may just lie in the home-grown Advanced Multi-role Combat Aircraft, being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency , Bangalore.

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba is rapidly expanding its presence and influence in the social media networks. The group is using these networks to recruit tech-savvy younger generation not only from Pakistan but also from the Pakistani diaspora.

The Modi government has been diplomatically polite and is in no haste to reach out to Pakistan for bilateral talks yet.

After the marginalisation of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) since 2016 owing to tensions between India and Pakistan, a search for alternative regional collaborations led India to Bimstec.

There is a modicum of double standards being displayed by China — it has had little compunction in assisting Pakistan with the CPEC.

Jayashree Balasubramanian et al., “Leveraging Community Engagement in Swift and Skillful Disaster Response,” ORF Special Report, March 2024, Observer Research Foundation.

How have nuclear weapons affected Indian foreign policy? Has India been able to leverage its status as a nuclear weapons state to further its foreign policy objectives? This issue brief examines these questions by first analysing how India’s foreign policy objectives have been affected by its possession of nuclear weapons. It then posits two strategies that India can pursue to leverage its status as a nuclear weapons state. The first strategy d

India is the world’s largest rice exporter, making it a significant player in the global rice market. A global rice shortage is anticipated amid rising geopolitical tensions and commodity prices. To safeguard domestic consumers from exorbitant price shocks, India has banned the export of non-basmati white rice since July 2023. This paper examines the ban's implications, especially regarding welfare redistribution among basmati and non-basmati f

China's Blue Book sees the US as a pivot to Asia and strengthening of alliances in the region is viewed by the Chinese analyst as being directed to contain China. The Blue Book also notes that India's defence cooperation with the US, Japan, Vietnam and Australia has strengthened it. India has to act with maturity while dealing with the resurgent China.

Can China be meaningfully engaged on issues like the border or the boundary? The answer is a resounding 'no'. The Chinese leadership structure is in flux. All the meaningful rapprochements and border resolutions were carried out either in the Mao or the Deng era. Since then, China's leaders have been too weak and fearful of internal coups to move forward in a meaningful way.

Khalifa Haftar, a former army chief and the current head of the self-styled Libyan National Army, has launched a grab for power.

Since the overthrow of the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been plagued by violence and instability. Internecine fighting for power seems be the new norm in Libya, and the country has gradually slipped into a quagmire of civil war.

A few weeks ago the media were running out of print space and airtime covering the Rahul Mahajan story. Rahul¿s sole claim to fame is that he is the son of a slain ex-minister; his own activities made no difference to most of us then or now. Yet in the midst of innumerable health and other bulletins about this ¿celebrity¿, one of the channels had a constitutional expert voicing his opinion on the episode.

The United States wants a higher strategic relationship with India, which does not include agreeing with Indian views on Pakistan. Our participation in the Bonn conference should bear this in mind.

This special report analyses insights gathered by the author from different sections of the Kashmir public regarding the impact of the abrogation of Article 370 on their lives. The interviews were supplemented by secondary sources, primarily news reports in the national and international media after 5 August 2019, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of India abrogated the enforcement of Article 370 of the Constitution, which sinc

In defining the term 'quality of life', there is no better way to give it a concrete shape than trekking in the woods of an alien land, traversing the streets and bylanes of its cities and staying with people whom you would otherwise never meet in your life.

The Indian Army’s (IA) difficulties with regard to the acquisition of light tanks are as much self-inflicted as they are a product of fiscal constraints. The Army has exerted only half-hearted efforts in developing its light-armoured capabilities—inconsistent with current Army doctrine and in disregard of history. Indeed, the IA has used light armour in high-altitude operations in the past. This paper argues that the IA is hobbled by an infan

Throughout the 1990s, the Anglo-US duo remained obsessed with India's nuclear plans and virtually refused any discussions on Pakistani assistance to terrorism in India. The US also did succeed in delaying our missile programme even as they equipped Pakistan with nuclear capable F-16s.

The NDA Government has launched a fresh gold monetisation scheme, but skeptics aren't convinced that this will succeed where others in the past have failed abysmally. Till the scheme is made much more lucrative and perhaps mandatory in some form, it is doubtful that this scheme will perform better than the earlier ones.

Media's increasing reach cannot be ignored and policymakers and policymaking has to adapt itself to this grind. Media, despite it many vices, serves as a medium for greater appraisal of government policies. But media should understand that sustained attention comes only with sustained credibility.

This brief examines the literacy landscape in India between 1987 and 2017, focusing on the gender gap in four age cohorts: children, youth, working-age adults, and the elderly. It finds that the gender gap in literacy has shrunk substantially for children and youth, but the gap for older adults and the elderly has seen little improvement. A state-level analysis of the gap reveals the same trend for most Indian states. The brief offers recommendat

The US Presidential debates might not change the election result, but the good thing is that the world now knows what exactly a Romney Presidency would look like from a foreign policy point of view and what Obama is likely to do if he wins a second term -with little substantial difference in their foreign policy positions.

Adapting health interventions to the social, economic, political, ecological, and cultural contexts of local communities increases trust and acceptability for policies and programmes. Locally led initiatives entrust local stakeholders with providing insights into grassroots-level realities and community-sensitive approaches. Global and country-wide evidence also highlights that granting authority and accountability to local stakeholders improves

Growing economic protectionism and recurrent geo-economic and geo-political tensions in recent years are testing the resilience of the global economic order. Erstwhile proponents of globalisation such as the United States and the European Union are themselves recoiling from the global value chains that are over-reliant on China. As the localisation of goods and services has become more critical, it calls to question the viability of a globalised

China’s failure to condemn the Ukraine war raised concerns on the future of the rules-based international order not only in the European Union (EU), but also in India and Taiwan. While their respective relationships with China and Russia are characterised by different complexities, the EU, India, and Taiwan are all vulnerable to authoritarian threats. All three recognise that China’s continued rise will have strategic implications for

This monograph makes an assessment of the prospects of India’s inclusion to the export control regimes. It begins by analysing the technical parameters for membership and whether or not India meets them. This includes an examination of India’s domestic export control system — both control list and legal framework. The next chapter delves into the political debates on India’s membership to the four export control regimes. This takes i

Despite last year’s quadrilateral Malabar exercises and the recent announcement of new working groups, Quad cooperation on naval interoperability, critical technologies, and Covid-19 had been manifest previously.

As China’s rise threatens the democratic rules, values, and institutions that have shaped the post-war world order, the United States (US) is increasing its outreach in the Indo-Pacific region. Distant South Asian island nations such as Sri Lanka are today receiving greater attention from the US. This brief seeks to bridge the gap in the literature on the US’s Sri Lanka policy and highlights how the current US government positions Sri Lanka i

As the Indo-Pacific region becomes an arena of strategic contestations, India and Australia’s interests are converging. Two large maritime states from two different continents, India and Australia were mutually indifferent for a long time. Today, however, their relationship is on the upbeat: not only is their bilateral trade on the rise, but they also have common concerns to balance an assertive China and uphold order in the region. By year-end

The importance of Xinjiang Province in China’s Eurasian connectivity initiative—the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB)—has received some coverage in the media. However, these news articles offer only a cursory view of China’s primary motive in pursuing the initiative, that is the ethnic unrest in Xinjiang. This paper argues that the conflict in Xinjiang is a main driving force to pursue SREB and that the initiative is congruent with a broader

Smugglers and security agencies face-off on the India-Bangladesh borders over illegal cattle trade

In the recent history of terrorism, there have been four instances of well-planned, well-executed and well-synchronised multiple explosions by terrorist groups causing large casualties. These are the explosions in Mumbai (Bombay) in March,1993, which killed over 200 innocent civilians, at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu in February,1998,

The increase in the Muslim population since the last census has prompted alarmist coverage in some sections of the media.

Several misconceptions exist in India about Latin America and the Caribbean Islands. India’s knowledge of these countries is restricted to news coverage.

India as an external power is keen to play the role of a credible stabilising factor in the South China Sea region and cannot afford to be ambivalent. The advantages of taking a stand are many. Such a venture in the South China Sea will give India strategic leverage. Hence joining the fray is not an option but an imperative to safeguard our strategic interests and aspirations.

Now that the fate of the Lokpal Bill is hanging in balance, it may be a good time for the polity and the nation as a whole to take a fresh look at the legislation between now and the Budget session of Parliament.

Even as the Indian Air Force gets ready to welcome its new acquisitions, ad hocism should give way to strategic thinking

As Kashmir population becomes increasingly reliant on web, the Indian state ought to focus on addressing the deep-seated Kashmiri grievances.

Balanced urbanisation and rural development is an urgent requirement in China, if it has to fulfill its goals of sustainable development. For this purpose, budgetary allocations and farmers' support have to be tweaked, along with agricultural modernisation.

The next government must recognise that the Bay of Bengal is no longer a backwater but a strategic hub connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans as well as China and the Bay of Bengal. Delhi must match its rhetoric on trans-border connectivity with much needed political will and administrative competence.

When a government yields to every pressure group at home, its capacity to pursue national interests abroad inevitably erodes. The UPA government's diplomacy in the final months of its decade-long tenure is a good example of the costs of violating this canon. The failure to clinch a commercial agreement on Kudankulam with Moscow is not a reflection on India's diplomatic skills.

The defence budget had grown by 17% in 2011-12 and 12% in 2012-13. A mere 1.79% of the GDP, it is a far cry from the stated goal of spending 3% of GDP on defence backed by the Parliamentary Committee on Defence.

Africa's longest running militia is back in focus. Lord's Resistance Army or LRA, active since 1988, has recently become a subject of United States interest as the Obama administration deployed 100 "combat-equipped troops" to Uganda.

The post of Director-General (DG) of Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), believed to be the second most important post in the country's military set-up now, has a designated successor to the outgoing Lt-Gen Zaheerul Islam.

By rebelling against supremo Prabhakaran in an unprecedented way, ¿Col¿ Karuna, LTTE¿s sacked commander for Sri Lanka¿s Eastern Province, has put the clock back in more ways than one. In a way, it has also put the LTTE at the crossroad all over again as never before, coming as it does after the historic Ceasefire Agreement with the Sri Lankan Government, but how far is too early to determine.

In the absence of clear norms on human accountability and attribution for autonomous weapons, we could see states like Pakistan deploy LAWS for operations outside their borders.