Curated by Malancha Chakrabarty and Stelin Paul
ORF’s long-form research has been at the forefront of critical conversations this year, offering depth, nuance, and fresh perspectives on the issues that shaped 2024. From nearly 200 Issue Briefs and Occasional Briefs published, 10 have been selected for their ability to captivate readers across sectors and domains.
The most-read long form of 2024 provided a deep dive into India’s defence budget, analysing its relevance in the context of regional and global security uncertainties. The second-most popular piece explored the enduring political clout of Pakistan’s military, offering insights into the historical and geopolitical factors behind its dominance. Other key topics included the complexities of the India-China boundary issue, the promise of connectivity corridors in the Middle East, challenges in the Indo-Pacific, and the critical intersections of climate change and global food security.
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 ...
This issue brief assesses the enduring political influence of the military in Pakistan. It delves into the historical, social, and geopolitical factors that have propelled the military's rise in the ...
Quantum computing (QC) forms one of the cornerstones of emerging technologies as we know them today. The technology has seen rapid progress over the years, but practical hurdles remain. The ...
Climate change poses a significant risk to global food security. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and shifting precipitation patterns impact food production, disrupting food supply chains, increasing food prices, and ...
Development cooperation has gained further currency in a post-pandemic world amid staggered economic growth and an increasing gap in financing the Sustainable Development Goals. As a strategic geographic expanse, the ...
India’s 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, which empowered local self-governments (Panchayati Raj Institutions) and reserved one-third of electoral seats in these bodies for women, has elevated women’s participation in rural governance. ...
China’s ‘three warfares’ strategy (TWS)—understood as public opinion, psychological, and legal warfare—has received considerable attention, but most analyses focus on Beijing’s sovereign claim to Taiwan and its maritime claims in ...
Despite the call for a global paradigm shift in water governance—from the traditional reductionist engineering approach to the more holistic integrated river basin governance framework—a change is not yet perceptible ...
This report presents an initial stocktaking of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) announced in 2023 following a meeting in New Delhi between the leaders of India, the US, the ...