75 results found
By adopting a more eco-centric approach, the call to confer legal ‘personhood’ to rivers could be the first step to protect them
A VERY recent multiauthored paper titled ‘Mapping the world’s free-flowing rivers’ has been published in the journal Nature.
China's export of cheap clean energy equipment is a public good as relatively poor countries can now afford large clean energy projects
The key drivers of RE adoption by discoms are resource endowment and government policy push. In other words “nature” and “nurture” are key to
The 70th anniversary of Russia-India relations is an opportune time to make a comprehensive assessment of the current state of their cooperation, keeping in mind the long history of friendship between the two countries. In the last few years, India and Russia have been struggling to retain the legacy of their long-term relationship while moving beyond the traditional spheres of cooperation to reach new heights. To expand their bilateral agenda,
Strengthening institutional mechanisms and accommodating political sensitivities are key to finding a long-term solution for Interstate Water Disputes
Mr. Strobe Talbott, President of Brookings Institution and former US deputy secretary of state, said that the improvement in Indo-US relations is not as real as it should be. Mr. Talbott was delivering a talk at the ORF Mumbai University on February 10, 2005.
A deeper analysis of the working of the party structures and leadership style is necessary to unravel the fundamental factors that create the breeding
In a reforms-minded India, where subsidies have become a 'bad word' for some policy-planners, questions will be asked on making a massive project on inter-linking of rivers to pay for itself, post facto.
China and India both face the twin problem of floods and droughts. While building dams has been the typical way of dealing with this problem, both the countries are exploring the more controversial project for water transfer between river basins, with China taking the lead with its South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP).
The COVID-19 pandemic has once again highlighted the increasing frequency of spillover of infectious disease from wild animals into humans. The SARS coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) almost certainly “jumped” into humans from bats, evolved towards efficient human-to-human transmission, and caused a global pandemic. Ecological changes such as deforestation, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change are important drivers of disease
Safeguarding rivers and river dolphins helps driving progress under SDG 14 — life below water. But it contributes to many more.
The new paradigm could involve interpreting the rights of the river where humans are at the periphery and the regulatory mechanisms are designed by ke
The Virtual Water alternative presents itself essentially due to the highly tradeable nature of agriculture products.
Rivers are the world’s most important ecosystems, not simply a source of water and energy
The Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) programme in India — an ambitious project, envisioned on a massive scale — will attempt to link 37 rivers, through 30 links, covering a distance of 15,000 km that will transfer 174 trillion litres of water a year.
The depth of this engagement is unmatched and the drivers of this partnership have been growing at an unprecedented rate
With the incorporation of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 4D Printing, additive manufacturing is to be one of the primary
Although Bangladesh and India have excelled in cooperation on several fronts, water sharing remains a bone of contention.
There is no easy answer to the question of how best to balance all the competing water use priorities of the Ganga. But one thing is clear: as long as rivers are seen merely as pipes for conveying water, and challenges of distribution are addressed primarily through engineering rather than policy, then no solution will be appropriate.
Digital labour platforms—or online marketplaces that connect work providers and work seekers—will undoubtedly help shape the future of work. This brief studies the platforms targeted at online gig workers (or freelancers), who use them to find digital work opportunities in their home market or elsewhere, and then produce and deliver their services remotely. The brief explains the underlying technological and economic drivers and how the Covid
Chinese maps do not show China’s territory extending to the point where the Galwan and Shyok rivers meet but the attempt to create new ‘facts on the ground’ suggests a new assertiveness.
Evidence suggests that China’s approach to its nuclear strategy is evolving. It is vital to understand the drivers of these changes.
Both climate risks and non-climatic drivers need to factored in to curb food and water shortages induced by climate change in vulnerable regions of th
The pandemic will cause global FDI is to fall under the $1 trillion mark for the first time.
The gig economy is part of a crucial transformation occurring in India’s work landscape, and ride-hailing companies are examples of platforms on which “gigs” can be found. The Indian ride-hailing market was projected to grow by 15.5 percent until 2023; the COVID-19 pandemic, however, has disrupted the trajectory. The drivers of these companies—numbering approximately four million—are considered as “independent contractors” and thus
Presenting the Interim Budget 2024-’25 on 1 February, the finance minister announced an allocation of INR 6,21,541 crore (approx. US$75 billion) for the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Representing 1.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 13 percent of Central Government Expenditure (CGE), MoD’s new budget is an increase of 4.7 percent over the previous outlays. This brief examines the MoD’s latest budget and contextualises it in the curr
China’s tech giants and venture capital funds are making increasing amounts of investment in startups abroad. Startups, being key drivers of digital innovation, are attractive investment targets; the capital can in turn help them grow and scale. These Chinese investments, however, are also the subject of increasing concern, amidst heightening global competition around digital technologies. Investments can lead to a sell-out of technology, an in
This paper analyses India’s participation in more than two decades of global climate politics. India has transitioned from a protest voice on the fringes of global climate policy to one that is actively shaping international efforts to combat climate change. Analysis of the drivers behind India’s negotiating positions on climate change thus far has focused on the competing motives of equity and co-benefits, which has however been insufficient
After President Donald Trump’s 2017 visit to Asia, the Indo-Pacific region assumed greater significance in the United States’ foreign policy calculus, as articulated in the ‘Indo-Pacific Strategy Report’ released by the US Department of Defence. On 31 December 2018, Trump passed the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA), which authorises US$1.5 billion in spending for a range of US programmes in East Asia and Southeast Asia to “develop
Even a cursory look at the drivers of Indian defence exports reveals the salience of simplified industrial licensing, easing of export restrictions, and issuance of no-objection certificates
Child-friendly cities’ is an emerging concept in the urban management sector in many countries across the globe, including India, where it complements government schemes that aim to develop India’s urban spaces as centres of human capital development, knowledge hubs, and drivers of growth and prosperity. These flagship missions include, for example, the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMR
It is hard to deny the benefits acquired from hydropower, however, the local environmental compromises cannot be dismissed.
This brief analyses the efforts of India and Bangladesh to strengthen their defence cooperation, in the context of the series of agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India in April 2017. Some quarters in both countries are sceptical about the agreements, citing the ineffectual Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace—often referred to as a ‘defenc
Needs Based Sharing Model and hydro diplomacy were among the many solutions that were suggested by experts at a discussion on "River of Conflict or Rivers of Peace - Water Sharing between India and China'' at Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata.
Reports that the Centre is considering the winding up of the Task Force on the possibly over-ambitious project for the inter-linking of rivers need to be received with concern. It is nobody's case that the report, or the project, should be accepted in toto,
Over the last thirty years, Kashmir has become a conflict economy, in which conflict entrepreneurs thrive. An entire ecosystem has developed that feeds into and upon this conflict economy. And the Jamaat has been one of the primary drivers and beneficiaries of this ecosystem.
To reverse the adverse effects of industrialisation and rapid urbanisation on water bodies, India must implement sufficient and sustainable measures t
The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is one of the most vibrant, distinct, intricate mountain systems in the world. An estimated 210 million people live within these mountain systems, and some 1.3 billion people who live downstream of the HKH rely on the freshwater obtained directly or indirectly from the rivers and tributaries of the region. Recent data shows that significant areas of glaciers in the HKH region are retreating at an alarming rat
Land use on floodplains needs better regulation so that rivers have space to flood and contribute ecosystem services
Despite being the ‘factory of the world,’ many of China’s industrial sectors are energy-intensive and have low value-add. At the same time, global firms are increasingly moving towards sophisticated low-cost manufacturing techniques for higher productivity gains. As a result, the Chinese Communist Party is keen to upgrade the country’s industrial base to compete in the more advanced segments, such as information technology, through the �
A stronger focus on SDGs in the context of soft power and trade enhancement will be one of the major drivers of Sino-Indian partnership in the near fu
