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In Sri Lanka, whoever wins or loses the parliamentary polls, and whoever forms the government afterward, it's President Maithripala Sirisena who would be at the centre of all post-poll politics over the ethnic issue, political solution and 'accountability issues' of the UNHRC kind.

If Narenda Modi could turn around Gujarat's agriculture so dramatically, he can be instrumental in turning around agricultural productivity, marketing and storage in all States. He has to act quickly. Otherwise, there would be more problems of large scale migration from the rural to cities.

All that the government has to do is to focus on providing basic goods -- high quality primary education and healthcare, toilets and housing for all. When there is so much money in India in private and public hands, why is it taking so long for the government to do something to change the lives of millions of people?

Though India dreams of replicating the shale gas successes of the US, it cannot enjoy the luxury of easily acquiring land for shale gas operations. In the US, landowners, besides owning surface rights, also own mineral rights. Consequently, they receive huge financial incentives directly from oil and gas companies.

In an ironic situation, President Obama finds his own party, the Democrats, his key opponents while, the Republicans, his greatest allies as he pushes for the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement.

Taliban's origins are very much in the Pakistan's State agencies and hence it cannot be called a non-State actor. It is too large and too fragmented to be taken up as one enemy. For PM Nawaz Sheriff to declare that there is 'no good or bad Taliban' is just an empty rhetoric and still part of the same old double-speak.

Conflicts in the Middle East have been exacerbated by competition over natural resources. Within the United States, there is growing bipartisan interest in reducing dependence on foreign oil.

There is a renewed interested in the idea of India taking a leadership role in the Commonwealth to infuse a new lease of life into an organisation which for many in Delhi has long back outlived its usefulness.

Arguably the most ambitious health insurance programme in the world today, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) gives India the chance to transform its healthcare infrastructure. Launched in September 2018 and foreshadowing the general elections of 2019, PMJAY is equal-parts political and economic. It aims to address the healthcare needs of India’s poorest 100 million households and has the potential to deliver what its predecessors ove

The post-pandemic Indian economy could resurrect itself by prioritising Sustainable Development – as the SDGs not only embody various capitals, but also hold immense potential for business opportunities. This needs to be realised through global partnerships and more private sector involvement in the domestic economy.

Compared to India and Norway, South Africa may have entered Sri Lanka first and re-entered now to a relatively positive start, or so it seemed. Their timing now proves to be wrong, and their proposals thus may not either be heard, or acted upon.

The contradictions in the path of India's global rise and its accompanying stature as an important player in international affairs, while it grapples with issues of food security, rising prices, inflation and governance challenges, were highlighted by senior academician Dr. Mira Kamdar at a talk titled "Can the Centre hold?" at Observer Research Foundation recently (February 17).

For digital economy to deliver on it's promise we need to avoid technological determinism and put people back at centre as the recipients of economic change

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s. International trade has been severely impacted due to, among others, budgetary shortfalls, reduced access to medical equipment, and an overall decline in economic activity. Even before the pandemic hit, international trade was held hostage by trade wars in a deeply polarised world; COVID-19 further exposed the faultlines of the globa

Given the quantity of investments, China can’t afford to have the OBOR initiative fail. Sceptics like India can use that to persuade China to make modifications.

The compulsion of states to trawl ever increasing volumes of data must also be understood. Besides criminal activities like child pornography, money laundering and online fraud, the Internet is also an important vehicle for the jihadist terrorist. A great deal of recruitment and motivation takes place online.

2004 is a significant year for Europe. In May of this year, the European Union (EU) will induct ten new members, eight of which were part of the former Communist regime of the Soviet Union. While four of these East European states (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) are struggling with mounting budget deficits and contemplating awkward spending cuts, France and Germany (the dominant European powers) are immersed in a deep economic

A civil nuclear agreement is one of the key outcomes New Delhi is pushing for in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan that starts on August 30. Recently, in Naypidaw, Myanmar, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj called on her Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida to "bring talks on civil nuclear agreement to their logical conclusion".

In China, villages have the same facilities in housing, water, drainage, medical care as in towns. If the government of India wishes to reduce the migratory flows, then each village has to be transformed to a small town ? at least in infrastructure.

Canada's Deputy NSA Claude Vigneault says his country's decade-old presence in Afghanistan as part of American coalition has given them a better sense of India's security concerns and is keen to collaborate with it.

This paper highlights the risks that emerging economies are exposed to given the extended use of Unconventional Monetary Policies in advanced economies. It also explores how financial resilience of emerging economies can be increased to ensure stable economic growth.

The new generation challenge for our diplomats and policy makers today is to capture the American mindspace. This is a task that requires subtlety, but its crucial asset is the human capital connect that we have established with the US.

Since France has said that it will not be continually involved in African intervention, the solution to security problems in Africa must come from the Africans themselves. The establishment of a pan-African force to react to crisis with support from Europe has been suggested by France.

Beware the vaccine diplomacy model of China, focus on rapid vaccination at home.

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.

The Nepalese government¿s offer of surrender and rehabilitation to Maoist insurgents¿announced by Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa on December 18, 2003¿¿whose deadline concluded on the eve of the eighth anniversary of the Maoist ¿People¿s War¿, on February 12, 2004, has met with partial success.

The UPA's cash transfer scheme, delivering over Rs.3.2 lakh crore in subsidies and welfare programmes to the poor directly to their bank accounts, if executed well would not only reduce poverty faster would curb a lot of the wasteful spending that has fattened vested interests at all levels.

Cultural entrepreneurship promotes a country’s heritage, resources and creative talents through products, services, and experiences. It shapes the country’s cultural economy; enables economic growth, innovation, and sociocultural development; and, when exported, contributes towards building soft power. India, with a millennia-old heritage, indigenous knowledge systems, and practices, has the potential to become a leading cultural and

Capacity building is a central feature of India’s outreach to Africa. Over the last seven decades, the Indian government has provided numerous scholarships to African students through the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation scheme. India has also established several technical institutes throughout the continent. However, assessments of India’s capacity-building initiatives remain limited. Th

There is an urgent need to accept the reality of cattle trade across the Indo-Bangladesh border and the challenge is to bring about a change in the mindset of people on this issue, according experts and former policy makers.

The Centre's Notification of the Cauvery Award should encourage Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to work with the Centre and the other two riparian stake-holders to revive the proposal to build an additional reservoir to store the excess waters, to be shared among them.

Chemical-Biological and Radiological (CBR) threats are being increasingly perceived as the new face of terrorism. The possibility of non-state actors employing non-conventional weapons using CBR materials.

The quinquennial National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is typically the venue for political leadership changes and any restructuring of the country’s military apparatus. However, the 20th CCP Congress in October 2022 saw Chinese President Xi Jinping consolidate his control over the state and military. This brief seeks to understand what Xi’s third term as CCP chief and Central Military Commission chair will mean for t

His role is not just about tri-service cooperation, but also to ensure that acquisitions do not exceed capital allocations

Indian Vice-President Hamid Ansari's recent State visit, coming after the visit by another important Minister (for Commerce and Industry), Anand Sharma, to Bangladesh, has highlighted New Delhi'sefforts and sincerity at improving the burgeoning relationship with its neighbour even more.

There is a need to fix the BRICS, by altering growth strategies, reducing external dependence, securing domestic demand and investments, providing jobs to the unemployed, and aiming at lowering untenable inequality.

The BRICS is growing more relevant and increasingly institutionalised. Economic growth rates continue to outpace the rest of the developing world. According to the UNDP, Brazil, China and India's combined GDP will be greater than the combined GDP of the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany and Italy by 2020.

In two sets of visits to the Central Asian region in 2013 and 2014, Xi Jinping set a scorching pace for Modi to follow. Unfortunately for India, even a super-star Prime Minister cannot do the impossible. He lacks the vast investible resources that China has already deployed and is deploying in the region.

Days before the historic talks between the separatist amalgam, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference under the leadership of Maulana Ansari, and the Government of India, there is widespread speculation as to the outcome of the same. After all this is the first time

The labour laws certainly represent a small step but the introduction of even small reforms in labour legislations was long awaited to keep at bay the rising discontent among domestic as well as foreign entrepreneurs from India's manufacturing sector.

While the debate on federalism is likely to continue before a consensus can be arrived at for amending the Constitution to strike a fresh balance between the States and Centre, it is worthwhile to explore possibilities for pushing the developmental agenda meant essentially for the people.

There is need for greater transparency in the Free Trade Agreement negotiations. There could be more information sharing with civil society groups and the general public so that the content of the negotiations would get public approval faster, making it easier to conclude the FTA.