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Three court orders in two days, one of them overseas, and the Maldives Government and the leadership of President Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik seem to be in full control of the evolving political situation.

After managing well the crisis over the Election Commission in Maldives, the government now will have to initiate legal and political measures to institutionalise facilitating mechanisms for smooth transition. Again, the initiative would lie with President Yameen.

Putting at rest avoidable speculation about the Opposition being behind Monday's blast on the presidential speedboat, the Maldivian Government has ruled out the possibility of an assassination attempt, saying a mechanical issue was the probable cause.

If one thing is becoming increasingly clear in 'democratised' Maldives, it is that street-protests can change Governments and constitutions, policies and national priorities. It is thus that the nation found street-protests heralding 'multi-party' democracy,

That the Maldivian Government of President Mohammed 'Anni' Nasheed has taken the economic reforms process seriously, risking its electoral future, has been known for some time now.

In Maldives, despite a last-minute 'cancellation' of the third round of talks between the Government and the MDP leader of the combined Opposition, there is nothing to suggest that the current reconciliation process has derailed, irrecoverably.

In an ambitious legislative move aimed at attracting big-time investments spread across the archipelago, the Maldivian Government of President Abdulla Yameen has got the Parliament to pass a new law for setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

As was only to be expected, the WikiLeaks whistle-blower's accounts of US diplomatic exchanges within has something to say of little Maldives too, and it has also the potential to embarrass, if not harass, the incumbent Government of President Mohammed Nasheed.

Though there is a feeling of political stability now with the Government of President Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik in Maldives, it has also flagged news issues that could challenge the internals of the uneasy coalition that he has been heading.

India has been understanding of the Maldivian government’s new policy, but it expects the island nation to respect Indian sensitivities and equally uphold its commitment to bilateral ties

Birds provide multiple benefits to the world’s ecosystems. In recent years, experts have raised the alarm about deteriorating bird populations, with some species becoming extinct and others threatened to dangerous levels. This decline in avian populations is primarily attributed to urbanisation. Concerted efforts are required to conserve birds and their habitats in cities. The Government of India, state governments, urban local bodies, non-gove

Despite the high number of casualties suffered in the Maoist attacks, the government's action unfortunately depends on the 'paradox of numbers'. And it clearly mirrors the phenomenon of "lumpy adjustment" instead of the needed incremental steps.

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of the literature on private health aid and official health assistance between 2000 and 2022. It provides an overview of the sites and themes in the literature pertaining to development assistance in health, and collates the significant policy recommendations presented therein. Several crucial findings emerge from the bibliometric analysis: 44.2 percent of the 489 papers/articles assessed focused on low

Combined with the Maldives government's demonstrated preparations for a face-off, the tone and tenor of the Opposition's preparations for the May Day rally, and their call for the civil society to chip in, indicate a possible repeat of the 'December 23 movement' protests (2011-12) that led to President Nasheed's exit.

Living conditions in fast-growing rural areas across India are deteriorating due not only to the impact of urbanisation but the lack of capacity of the local governments to manage such transitions. This brief makes the case for changing the administration status of such areas from “rural” to “urban”, establishing urban governance mechanisms therein, and making them resilient. For identification of such areas, the state government’s opin

By transferring Rs 1.76 lakh crore from the RBI’s surplus funds, the government is determined to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of the GDP because doing that seems to be its top priority, rather than spending more on infrastructure, welfare programmes and centrally sponsored development schemes.

The ministers in Baburam Bhattarai cabinet resigned en masse just before midnight on May 3 to pave the way for the formation of a new national consensus government.

On November 26, 2008, 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai undid in less than 60 hours what governments of two sovereign nations had been struggling for over four years to achieve-peace and stability in the region. These terrorists were from Pakistan, recruited, trained and armed by Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), a terrorist group with visible presence across the country.

The Himalayan nation is far from resolving its governance woes more than five years after the democratisation and a change of elected government. If charges of corruption against government functionaries were not enough,

Analysts attribute the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021 to various factors. These include geopolitical shifts, and the Taliban’s tactics of warfare. However, fewer attempts have been made to understand the Taliban’s victory through internal mobilisation. This brief attempts to fill the gap, and examines the role of identity, grievance, and greed in the Taliban’s mobilisation and its contribution to a successful insurgency. It out

Emphasising that majority of Taliban cadre can be won over for establishing peace in their war-torn country, Afghan government spokespersons said the peace initiative would become successful once ordinary Afghans realise that international forces are not going to remain in the country indefinitely.

The government must redeem its earlier commitment to reduce the FD to 2.5% of the GDP over five years.

In an apparent turnaround for Indian foreign policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London in April underscores a change of approach towards a forum generally considered as a non-entity in Indian strategic circles. As a rising power, India is looking at engaging in avenues where its status is recognised, especially during this period of unprecedented global structural ch

New Delhi is yet to get its defence engagement with Jakarta in shape. Through the decade-long UPA rule, Delhi and Jakarta had been talking about expanding bilateral defence cooperation. But progress had been rather slow thanks to the government's dysfunctional defence policies.

The best news in years is that India’s government finally seems to recognize the scale of the problems it faces.

The flop black money amnesty scheme is a huge setback for a government which was committed to bringing back black money. What is worrisome is that other nations have succeeded while India has failed abysmally in this exercise.

The Modi government's real challenge in Nepal is not China. It is the tragic failure of Delhi's own engagement with Kathmandu. Despite geographic proximity, cultural intimacy, economic interdependence and shared political values, India has stumbled in Nepal.

The Government's honeymoon is perhaps already over and realistically it has another 6 to 12 months to start putting flesh on the bare-bone schemes and ideas announced this past year. If these do not eventuate, one may well witness emptier stadiums abroad and hear shriller voices at home.

EGoMs were a useful device that helped decide many contentious issues in India in the past. It was pioneered by the Vajpayee government. It may be useful for the Modi Govt to note that 18 "leading small groups", four presided by President Xi Jinping, exist in the Chinese system as well.

Modi government has stirred a hornet’s nest in imposing a one-day ban on NDTV India on clearly specious grounds that need to be looked into

Experience has shown us that governmental systems run by bureaucrats cannot be reformed by them. Reform and restructuring is something only the political class can bring. But the Modi government has sought to rely on the bureaucracy. The result is a seriously underperforming government.

For the next government, tough rhetoric on the boundary question is no substitute for coping with the multiple challenges arising from China's new status as a first-rate power. With China emerging as the second-largest economy in the world, comprehensive commercial cooperation with Beijing is an imperative that no Indian government can ignore.

In the post BRICS narrative, Modi government’s recent policy towards Pakistan has been described as a "game changer" but has it's own limitations

Other than neighbouring countries, any future Indian government's principal focus will be on the vast swathe that begins in Sri Lanka and ends in Sydney, and can be described under a variety of rubrics: Look East, Indian Ocean Region, the Indo-Pacific. Countries such as Japan, Indonesia and Singapore present India big windows as it strives to become an economic and maritime power.

The question remains as to how the Modi government will choose to address nuclear liability issue, balancing both the supplier and the domestic concerns. Dilution of the Liability Act is not an option, which is an important lesson learnt globally.

New Indian Prime Minister and Sri Lankan President should attempt to take forward the fishers' talks, promised to be continued/revived by their respective Heads of Government at their Delhi meeting, and then have their officials create the structures and super-structures aimed at implementing those decisions.

We need to restructure government and administration in each of India's 568 districts. The District Collector/Deputy Commissioner, like his ICS predecessor, must become the executive head of the district with all branches of government subject to his/her authority and power. This must particularly include the police.

The Modi government should have put in place systems, structures and strategies that would make it politically very difficult for any future government to slide back to the pusillanimous policy on Pakistan.

The government's focus on big ticket investment in irrigation projects without caring for its impact on production capacity defeats the very purpose of investing in agriculture projects. There is a need for monumental policy shift to fight the agrarian crisis

The recent Indian government's decision to equip 800 police stations in 80 cities with radiation monitors is a clear indication of how serious the threats posed by chemical, biological and radioactive (CBR) weapons is being taken.

The Indian parliamentary delegation's visit to Sri Lanka was not expected to fast-track a solution to the ethnic issue. Yet, it has facilitated continued Indian engagement on the subject with various stake-holders, the Government, the TNA and the UNP Opposition.

As the Pakistani People's Party (PPP) Government struggles to get the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) passed into legislation, an international team of IMF experts are scheduled to meet with political parties this week to be the mediators for a much-needed consensus.

The Mumbai serial train blasts that killed over 200 persons on July 11, 2006 is the most serious attack on the Indian state and its people since the attack on Parliament in December 2001. To assure the people that they will be protected, the government should immediately formulate a National Counter-Terrorism Strategy, create a separate Ministry of Internal Security affairs.

Municipal governance has once again taken centre stage in Indian polity. There is a current re-shaping of narratives within the national government to make local governance effective. It is realised that deficit in the delivery of urban services results in chaos, which forms the basis for citizens doubting the functioning of the local government.

The internal security situation in southern Thailand, which has seen a recrudescence of long dormant Muslim anger against the Government since the beginning of this year, has again taken a turn for the worse with the death of six Muslims allegedly due to firing by the security forces outside a police station in the Narathiwat province on October 25,2004,

Myanmar is on the cusp of a new era of reforms and development. With the civilian Government showing much interest in the forward looking economic alleviation agenda and Aung San Suu Kyi's appointment as the Leader of the Opposition,

The military-led government in Myanmar, emerging from over a half century of absolutist rule, stands blemished following reports about the killing of over 49 Rohingya Muslims in the north-western part of the country.

The country has already seen three years of Thein Sein government, a critical phase in the history of Myanmar, which back then was on the throes of transition to democracy.

According to a recent report by a US Government commission, Myanmar is among the worst countries when it comes to religious freedom. However, there seems to be no debate on the issue and even the international community is treating it as an internal matter,