232 results found
The tariff war is not the only issue hindering cooperation. Differences over Taiwan and the South China Sea, the basic lack of trust in the relationship is acting as a dampener across the board.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are showing promise in addressing the complex and interrelated challenges facing the world. During the pandemic, for example, AI voice enablement helped in broadcasting advisories in the vernacular and acted as a fact-checking tool. Yet, most AI systems are designed and developed in countries of the Global North. Policymakers in developing economies remain wary of AI systems, especially for use in soci
Given his limited choices in stabilising Afghanistan, which include supporting a national election, US President-elect Donald Trump will find India to be a reliable and trusted partner in this process
The Observer Research Foundation’s first Tech Huddle was held on 23 November 2023 and focused on the governance of artificial intelligence (AI) in India, highlighting the rapid growth and adoption of AI as well as the complexities associated with developing regulatory frameworks for it. AI governance is in its infancy, both globally and in India, and grapples with issues such as the explainability of AI systems as well as the embedded biases, s
Pakistan trusted and gave too much independence, which was misused by AQ Khan to the detriment of Pakistan's national security and international embarrassment, says Brig. Khan....
The U.K. proposal emphasizes a bottom-up approach and stresses trust-building. It’s a critical first step.
Where it may have been useful for Beijing to encourage strategic trust, it has instead only invoked a sense of unease and even fear.
Pakistan is today dangling between hope and despair, propelled largely by President Pervez Musharraf's inability, and refusal, to gauge public sentiments for free and fair elections in the coming months. Discontentment, once confined to media and courtrooms, has spilled out into the streets, creating a stifling atmosphere of anxiety and doubt across the country. Political, economic and social differences have sharpened in the past eight years. Re
By not backing the political demand of the RJD ally for the exit of then Election Commissioners, B B Tandon and N Gopalswamy, the Centre and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have silenced avoidable criticism of the constitutional body entrusted with the task of ensuring common man¿s continued faith in parliamentary democracy.
It is unlikely that the trust deficit between Afghanistan and Pakistan will reduce in the near future despite Chinese mediation.
Since the early 2000s, China's debt profile in Sri Lanka has increased rapidly, with estimates indicating that over 20% of the overall debt stock is owed to China. Beijing's lending has been opaque on high-interest loans and has often contributed to several white elephant projects. Much of this lending comes from Chinese policy banks, such as China Exim Bank and China Development Bank that is entrusted to further Beijing's economic and commercial
The Chinese side noted that the explosion incident and back-to-back targeted killings triggered serious concerns among consumers in Arab countries about the security of electronic products produced in or whose supply chains are controlled by the West.
This paper examines China and India’s economic engagements at the bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral levels. The evaluation is made in the context of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the mega-regional trade agreement in the east in which both nations are parties. The paper argues that irrespective of the nature of the two countries’ relationship, at its core is not cooperation, but mutual mistrust aggravated by Ch
China finds that its trustworthiness among ordinary Aussies has plummeted from 52 per cent to just 23 per cent in two years.
The last few decades have witnessed a rise in the use and accumulation of data, often called ‘the oil of the 21st century’. Meanwhile, existing laws and regulations are inadequate in dealing with these changing data consumption patterns; this is true for India. Wrongdoings by tech companies can often go unpunished, including predatory pricing, abuse of dominance, and exclusionary conduct. This brief discusses India’s antitrust laws and regu
Senior Supreme Court lawyer and ORF trustee Lalit Bhasin moots a comprehensive law to replace the obsolete Aircraft Act of 1934
It is sad that caught unawares, the nation is finding new ways to explain away the current puzzle that Jammu and Kashmir once again has become. Issues such as 'trust deficit' and 'governance deficit',
This Issue Brief seeks to outline the history of corporate funding in India, legislation governing corporate funding, institutional innovations in corporate funding like electoral trusts, and international experiences and their relevance in the Indian context. Given the increasing clamour for transparent and accountable corporate funding of political parties, the Brief also explores the perils of over-reliance on corporate funding.
If India wants strategic dividends from arms acquisitions, it must craft its acquisition policy in a prudent manner with the aim of bringing in knowledge that necessitates a higher degree of trust with the US. It should go beyond economics to factor in larger strategic considerations.
Israel being India's most trusted ally in West Asia and among the three or four closest friends in the world, Prime Minister Modi's visit to Israel needs to be a standalone, a single country trip. The India-Israel relationship is important enough, even sacred enough, to merit that respect.
The US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal makes it an untrustworthy partner in any subsequent negotiations. The era of American leadership in the non-proliferation order is over
The Modi government's biggest challenge is battling a legacy of distrust. The dominant political discourse in India remains deeply suspicious of market liberalization.
Whether France can be a trusted partner in managing China is a question that many have asked after the fiasco of Macron’s visit.
Interstate (River) Water Disputes (ISWDs) are a continuing challenge to federal water governance in India. Rooted in constitutional, historico-geographical, and institutional ambiguities, they tend to become prolonged conflicts between the states that share river basins. This paper examines the constitutional complexities, contentious political federalism, and identity-based electoral political dynamics that fuel ISWDs. It discusses the River
On August 12, 2016 the Observer Research Foundation convened the first in a series of multistakeholder roundtables on encryption. This report is the outcome of the discussion of issues and proposal of solutions conducted at the roundtable. Being a complex, technical-legal question around access to data for law enforcement, encryption has long been a contested issue. Creating best-in-class regulation on encryption will require targeted interventio
France has continued to remain one of India’s trusted strategic partners, with cooperation extending across many issues.
India lacks resources and direct access to Afghanistan, but it can derive some comfort from the fact that, if the past is any guide, you can always trust Islamabad to give us the opening through its propensity to overreach.
The 2011 anti-corruption movement in India—characterised by a huge trust deficit in the political class—was the culmination of several such localised movements that marked the birth of a new civil society in contemporary urban India. This paper studies the profusion of middle-class-led associations in Mumbai fighting for good governance, and their increased political mobilisation in the city. It argues that a new civil society bypasses electe
The Davos model of globalization is in need of a successor that New Delhi could potentially offer
As a country committed to social objectives, Indian policy makers consider the allocation of commercial forms of energy too important to be left entirely to the market. India¿s mistrust of the market arises from social and commercial concerns that are entirely justifiable, but the multitude of administrative mechanisms introduced to replace the market mechanism often work at cross-purposes.
The strong strategic and political foundation as well as the trust between India and France provide for accelerated defense and security ties in the coming years.
Farooq Sobhan, President of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute and former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, addressed the ORF Faculty on March 12, 2008. In his speech, he stressed on building a strong relationship between India and Bangladesh by encouraging greater connectivity and investments. Both countries, he felt, should leave behind the baggage of mistrust and neglect and recognise that they can gain much through a closer relationship.
The India-Russia military technical relationship has withstood the test of time. Despite strains since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the relationship has remained highly critical both in terms of the level of trust between the two states and the imperatives of sustaining a military-technical relationship to counter the growth of Chinese power. A more synergistic military-technical is possible, and Moscow and New Delhi must explore ways to con
The Indo-US strategic partnership is still evolving. At present, it seems that political sensitivity, deep-seated distrust, bureaucratic and procedural hurdles and some short-sighted domestic policies in both countries are stalling this process.
Much like the Indo-U.S. strategic partnership, Indo-U.S. cyber engagement appears to have plateaued and could benefit from a tailored reset. Adopting various measures to ensure trust in defence hardware is essential to both India and the United States, and should therefore be explored as a mechanism for deeper cooperation.
Viewed through the prism of recent difficulties in India-US engagement, the focus of PM Modi?s US visit was in the nature of the leadership of the two nations getting to know each other, as well as aimed at building trust and fostering commitment between them, says former Secretary in the MEA, Mr. M. Ganapathi.
The problem for the US in assuring an orderly withdrawal and to decide on how much force to leave behind is the utter lack of trust between Afghanistan, Pakistan and itself. It is difficult to accurately anticipate how the situation will evolve in 2015 after the Americans go home, but whatever it is, it will not be a simple uncomplicated situation and may not be all that warm and friendly for Pakistan.
The Modi government has been diplomatically polite and is in no haste to reach out to Pakistan for bilateral talks yet.
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
The crucial question is this: Is it time to look beyond institutions, which are supposed to repositories of our trust but routinely betray them, and look at means of self governance?
Nawaz Sharif's return as the Prime Minister of Pakistan in early June this year marks a signpost from where a more meaningful relationship between India and Pakistan could be forged. The bilateral relationship had of late been mired in mistrust and often meaningless rhetoric. The previous civilian government in Pakistan was paralysed by its own ineptitude. An equally incoherent position in New Delhi has allowed the crucial relationship to drift.
After a long spell of mistrust among political actors, the peace process in Nepal has returned to a constructive and progressive stage. This week the Maoist-led government of Dr Baburam Bhattarai ordered the Nepal Army and the Armed Police Force to take total charge of Maoist cantonments, the former fighters and their weapons.
Mr. Brajesh Mishra, former National Security Advisor and now Trustee of Observer Research Foundation, recently gave an interview to Mr. Karan Thapar. The interview was televised by CNN-IBN. Given below is the text of the interview"
ORF has launched a new, bold and impressive logo as it completed 25 glorious years. The logo was unveiled by the senior-most Trustee and Honourary Secretary Mr. Baljit Kapur at the 26th Foundation Day. Also present were Trustees Mrs Renuka Mishra and Mr Lalit Bhasin and Director Sunjoy Joshi.
The outcome of Pakistan's elections has not been particularly surprising. Nawaz Sharief's PML-N is likely to form government soon. Having a trusted hand like Sharif at the helm is a plus point, but he would have to undertake a herculean labour to transform Pakistan's condition. If he fails, there will only be despair.
At an Interaction of the ORF Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation on 5 January 2008, Mr K J M Varma, until recently the Special Correspondent of the Press Trust of India (PTI) at Islamabad, spoke on 'Pakistan after Benazir Bhutto'
Pessimism towards a foreseeable settlement of the India-China border dispute is not unfounded. At the political level, there is a "trust deficit" which impedes cooperation. Despite the existence of multi-tiered mechanisms to facilitate resolution, there has hardly been any progress on the issue in recent years. This paper identifies the obstacles and explores how a peaceful settlement of the India-China border dispute could be arrived at in the f
Amidst the growing distrust of the US and the absence of domestic capabilities to confront a rising Iran, the Saudis are determined to strengthen their regional alliances, especially the historic partnership with Pakistan.
The national identity of Pakistan is rooted in the ‘two-nation theory’—the very basis of the creation of the country—which says that the Hindus and Muslims of the subcontinent were two different nations and therefore, the Muslims were entitled to a separate homeland where Islam would be practiced as state religion. Does Pakistan’s quest for identity, however, mean neglecting the non-Islamic culture present in the country? This brief cal
Clock is ticking fast for the LTTE whose chief along with his son and some of his trusted colleagues has taken a refuge among the civilians in a No Fire Zone. Sri Lankan military intelligence has reported that LTTE's Intelligence Chief Pottu Amman has taken over the command of the dying
