Countries are searching for ways to ensure economic security and technological sovereignty amid growing competition over scarce resources. Among these resources, playing an increasing role are critical minerals, including rare-earth elements, that underpin semiconductors, green technologies, and next-generation industries—thereby powering economic growth. Recognising the importance ...
Current policies in India have increased the number of women in employment and improved their economic visibility. However, these policies and schemes have yet to impact women’s economic stakeholdership and, thereby, the broader goals of social justice. Most of them facilitate credit access, skilling, and ...
The Asian vector of Russian foreign policy has been gaining prominence since the turn of the century, driven by both, Asia’s rising political and economic weight and Moscow’s growing tensions with the West. This shift has strengthened Russia’s relations with Asian states, especially China. However, ...
Food systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region face various structural vulnerabilities and external shocks due to the region’s high dependence on food imports, exposure to geopolitical tensions, resource scarcity, and rising fiscal pressures, which have made food supply chains increasingly fragile. ...
In an era marked by conflict, tension, and rivalry, the unfolding global power dynamics are adversely impacting the interests of the European Union (EU). This paper argues that the EU recognises the need to reassess and reshape its external engagements, framed by the principle of ...
India's digital transformation has created critical hardware supply chain vulnerabilities that pose threats to national security across telecommunications, energy, defence, and financial infrastructure. With 80 percent of electronic components imported from China and Hong Kong, documented incidents in India, including power grid intrusions and defence ...
The escalating heat challenge facing the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will only worsen in the coming years. As they rapidly urbanise and diversify their economies towards non-oil activities, the urban heat island effect intensifies too, increasing demand for cooling. All these will continue to ...
A hidden constant in India-China dynamics is the question of Tibet, which India has so far studiously steered clear of explicitly raising for fear that it could jeopardise the bilateral relationship; there are also territorial vulnerabilities to consider. Since 2014, however, and with China’s changed ...
Women play a pivotal yet often unrecognised role across all stages of the agricultural value chain, spanning production, processing, marketing, and distribution. In India and many developing economies of the Global South, women constitute a large proportion of the agricultural workforce as farmers. However, despite ...
Climate change is posing unprecedented threats to food and nutritional security across the world, including in India, undermining the pillars of agricultural production, food availability, and nutritional outcomes. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, declining soil fertility, and increasing biotic stresses have serious implications for agricultural productivity ...
Dr Nilanjan Ghosh heads Development Studies at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and serves as the operational and executive head of ORF’s Kolkata Centre. He was the Director of ORF’s Centre for New Economic Diplomacy. With over two decades of ...
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Dr. Soumya Bhowmick is a Fellow at the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy (CNED) at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). He completed industry- endorsed Ph.D. studies at BML Munjal University as a SYLFF Research Grantee (Tokyo Foundation), focusing on inclusive ...
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