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The government has been firefighting since FY 2019 using mostly Band-Aids of the cheapest kinds.
With the South Korea-Japan spat escalating, it is unlikely that the US can play a mediatory role. The fallout of such dispute will affect the world economy
Over the next two decades, as most Indian cities will urbanise, we have a window of opportunity of making the cities “Tall, Green and Walkable”.
The Delhi Government's Bhagidari programme with all its pitfalls and challenges comes as a refreshing idea in the context of urban governance. Given its potential to transform state-ctizen interface, there is need to give it statutory backing. Also, there is enough space for forther improvement of the programme.
US President Barack Obama's popularity, as well as that of his party, has gone up after his shrewd handling of the lame-duck Congress session. Commentators are now calling him the 'comeback kid' just as they did Clinton in 1994.
Emerging technologies have the potential to reshape our world. These innovations, also called disruptive technologies, have started to seep into the area of finding solutions for mobility. Is existing infrastructure prepared for such technological advancements? These and related themes were discussed in a roundtable organised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) on 8 February 2016. The roundtable, Urban Transportation and Disruptive Technologies
The next Russian nuclear reactor plant is likely to come up in Andhra Pradesh, according to Russian Consul-General at Chennai Sergei Kotov. Initiating a discussion on "President Putin's Visit and India-Russia Relations" at ORF Chennai Chapter on January 3, Kotov confirmed that the next plant will not be constructed in Tamil Nadu.
The next steps towards peace with Pakistan need to be thought out carefully to prevent the dialogue process from getting derailed or losing steam - two possibilities which seem to be staring in the face of policy makers on either side of the border.
The Indo-US nuclear deal has been signed. The next step is to get it passed through the US Congress and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). This also entails amending the laws, so that India can receive the same benefits as those states that are a party to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).
What can and must be done is to reduce the incentives for avoiding or evading tax.
THE politician's lust for power is a significant factor that has allowed the People's War Group (PWG) Naxalites to grow and gain in strength. Routinely, several political leaders at various levels have sought the rebels' support to win elections. In April 2003, a local legislator in Warangal district went to pay "homage" to a PWG leader killed in a police encounter, Polam Sudarshan Reddy "Ramakrishna",
NGOs that deter economic progress or infrastructure growth have to be actively discouraged. The agenda and priorities have to be Indian and not determined in some remote western city. The government, in turn, has to be transparent and active in providing solutions to environmental and human problems.
While acknowledging the fact that many of the larger NGOs have done phenomenal work in public welfare, a social activist in Chennai has said the motives behind the initiatives of some of them in the country have become questionable.
A suicide terrorist attack on 26 August in the capital city of Nigeria turned global attention on a little-known terrorist group which has potential of emerging as a threat to Western interests in Africa.
Nigeria voted on April 16th, 2011 for a new president. The result: political violence killing over 500 with the number only increasing and thousands of Nigerians injured and internally displaced.
Should Prime Minister Narendra Modi return to power in 2019, we know the foundations upon which new policies would be built. Should he lose the 2019 e
The top priority of any nation in the post-9/11 era is to defend its territorial integrity. This goal faces a real threat from terrorists originating or based in foreign countries, said Mr Andrew T. Simkin, the Consul-General of the US in Chennai.
As India and the ASEAN celebrate 25 years of their partnership, it is a politically opportune moment to upgrade India’s regional profile.
Saudi Arabia's Nitaqat system has achieved some early success. It has been able to generate jobs for the Saudi population. But its long term success is open to question. It remains to be seen whether 'Saudization' will be successfully implemented long term through quotas and threats of punishment.
Just because China now seems to be in a hurry to move on the border issue should not be cause for New Delhi to reciprocate. We need to weigh the issues carefully and see what serves our interest the best. Anyway, we are not likely to see a final resolution of the border issue in a hurry
The integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India is the ultimate solution to the Kashmir problem, said Dr. Subha Chandran at an interaction on 'Jammu & Kashmir: Internal Threats and External Interests' at the ORF Chennai Chapter.
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"
The recent 'off-the-record' comment by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against "about 25% Bnagladeshis" has dented the India-Bangladesh relations. There is a need for us to show more sensitivity while dealing with Bangladesh, a country that has gone out of its way to improve its relationship with India.
Karsten Geier, head of the Cyber Policy Coordination Staff at the German Federal Foreign Office's interview on CyFy 2016
As the Afghan government struggles to govern effectively — the country gets ready to hold parliamentary elections on 20 October.
The current refugee crisis in Europe is unlikely to end soon as one third of Syria's 20 million population are potential migrants, if the situation in the country itself will not change, says Jakob von Weizsaecker, Member of the European Parliament.
Shock waves sent out by election of the new leader must have also shaken some otherwise clear minds.
Like a bad dream, the Dr AQ Khan episode has returned to haunt the world. There are a number of reasons why it will do so in the coming days. First, it is one of the most serious crimes committed against humanity.
Deploying the "national security" argument against reform in the intelligence agencies is a fig leaf for defending cronyism, incompetence, inefficiency, and corruption. A proper regulatory mechanism can only strengthen national security, not weaken it. It is time to bring in facts and lessons from global best practices to this debate.
India's challenges in negotiating a new framework for internet governance do not lend themselves to the old clichés of Indian diplomacy. Instead, India must strive to find the appropriate balance between the multiple antinomies that define the debate.
As the NDA government recalibrates India's Kashmir and Pakistan policies, Delhi must do a much better job explaining the logic behind the cancellation of the foreign secretary talks, widely seen as abrupt.It must let the international community, especially Pakistan's friends, including the US, China and Saudi Arabia, know India is not abandoning the peace process with Islamabad.
The intolerant liberal in India considers all alternative opinion to be moronic and the right-wing ideologue describes opposition to their stated position as blasphemy. Both are unwilling to listen to the other, much less understand and accept a civilised debate. Consequently, both are equally dangerous.
As India evolves its cyber-fibre, it has many lessons to absorb from the Snowden episode. On the one hand, enforcement is a sine qua non of any law. On the other hand, the government needs to realise that cyberSpace is not your normal run-of-the-mill state highway that state agencies can regulate, patrol and police.
Bhutan's honeymoon with democracy seems to be facing its first challenge, that too from unexpected quarters. For a nation that boasts of measuring its national wealth in terms of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and not conventionally in GDP.
What the US gets wrong – and India gets right – about the Indo-Pacific
Thinking India can induce enough private investment just because of the size of its market is a big mistake
The absence of a standard formulation on the no-first-use of nuclear weapons in the latest Chinese defence white paper has raised questions about a likely evolution in Beijing's nuclear doctrine.
Noises of peace are once again emanating in Maoist insurgency hit-Nepal. The Maoists have expressed their desire to sit at the negotiating table, while, at the same time, creating a blood bath in different parts of the Himalayan Kingdom.
The LEO satellite constellation has important implications for transcontinental communications. It can be used for meeting the 25 million Indian diasp
Mr Efraim Halevy, a former Mossad chief and National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel, addressed the ORF faculty on developments in West Asia
Observer Research Foundation organized a day-long interaction between some of India?s well-known experts and commentators on the north-east on November 18, 2004. The primary objective of the Interaction was to collectively introspect on some of the issues which have troubling the region for more than half-a-century.
Pyongyang’s recent live-fire drills could set in motion a series of events with far-reaching consequences for regional stability, diplomacy, and the
