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On 1 July 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) of India celebrated #5YearsOfDigitalIndia. Given the recent call by the prime minister for Atmanirbhar Bharat (‘self-reliant India’) the IT minister found the occasion apt for trumpeting a crowning jewel of Digital India—the Unified Payment Interface that was launched almost four years ago. This indigenous innovation has prepared India for both the restrictions o
Political parties appear to lack imagination. In this age of information technology, they need to apply their mind to devise innovative ways of arousing popular interest in public issues. There is a serious disconnect between the political representatives and the people.
The premise of this Budget seems to be a market oriented growth strategy - wholly fair given that the government will struggle to fund the growth needs of the country otherwise. One should hope this budget has set the controls for a larger shift in the government's approach towards administration and efficacy.
The highest allocations being given to the housing and transport sectors indicates that the government’s priority during 2023-24 is to provide shelt
What the people want of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and indeed expect, is an economic revolution that will change their lives and those of their children. To this end, Modi's actions, so far, add up to several IOUs, and a number of promises in the form of temporary measures pushed through in the form of ordinances.
If the dreams of this Union Budget have to become a reality, two important aspects need to be addressed -- transparency and efficiency, says former Revenue Secretary Sivaraman.
Drawing on his immense knowledge as a former UN career diplomat, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, suggested enforcement of various instruments of the United Nations to force Pakistan to comply with its counterterrorism commitments.
कैरिकॉम (कैरेबियाई कम्युनिटी) के लिए सुरक्षा परिषद में स
Continuity rather than change may well be the mark of the second Bush administration's foreign policy.It was billed as `the liberty speech.' George W. Bush, beginning his second term as President, said: ""It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.""
It is important to reign in the growing shift towards building larger stockpiles with the demise of international agreements.
The Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh, which had killed 1133 workers and injured more than 1800, was symbolic of a much deeper crisis, not limited to Bangladesh, according to Prof. Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the Centre of Policy Dialogue, Dhaka.
From 'being the Congress's most trusted alliance partner' during the UPA years, the CBI has now morphed into the BJP's instrumentality of 'fixing' political opponents. Prima facie it appears to be the case and analysts think one will see more empirical evidence of an aggressive CBI in the coming weeks as the BJP feels the pressure on rising intolerance in the country.
More than half of the world’s coffee is made by women.
The policy decision to decarbonise capital flows are important in driving the necessary shift towards a more sustainable and resilient global order, b
Sustainable finance emerged as a key issue to tackle climate change at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference and is spurring a global transition to net zero. A peculiar feature of the race to net zero is that it cannot be achieved unless all countries can meet their targets, and any positive step towards it will benefit all countries. The drive to achieve carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions needs to be targeted through a range of
Natural gas is an efficient bridge fuel between high-emission fuels and renewable energy systems. Due to limited conventional natural gas reserves, India imports more than half of its natural gas requirements. Increased production of natural gas from domestically available resources could help India reduce gas imports, achieve national emission intensity targets, and honour international climate commitments. Marine gas hydrates ar
Peace and war are not the only options in any bilateral relationship. Numerous issues, more or less serious, emerge between two countries which demand
After the Ladakh intrusion, Delhi has sensibly stepped up the conversation on LAC management with Beijing. The recent violence on the LoC demands the same with Islamabad. When he meets Nawaz Sharif in New York next month, Manmohan Singh must seek Pakistan's renewed political support for the LoC ceasefire and an agreement to translate that commitment into a military reality.
Reveals continuing limitation of politics and Imran Khan’s failure to change it
The current phase of disturbances in Tibet began when five monks in the monastery town of Derge in Gansu province on 27 January demanding the independence of Tibet and return of the Dalai Lama demonstrated outside the monastery attracting crowds of villagers
Protests broke out in Tunisia after opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi was assassinated outside his home on 25 July, 2013. His assassination is not the first in recent months.
Is the UN biding its time by bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table while still not according it official recognition?
India is all set to begin serious efforts to secure a permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC). Two years of non-permanent membership after 19 long years with rotating Presidency of the Council twice over the next two years will mark India's innings.
India will repent at leisure if it gives up the race for the UNSC seat now only to find, after some years, that countries with lesser weight but greater perseverance have left us irretrievably a rung lower in the international hierarchy.
This report is part of the Observer Research Foundation’s “Financing Green Transitions” series which aims to find potential linkages between private capital, in all its forms, and climate action projects. The series will primarily examine domestic and international barriers to private capital entry for mitigation oriented climate projects, while also examining potential avenues for private capital flow entry towards adaptation and resilienc
The upcoming elections in UP reinforces the centrality of identity politics as parties continue to employ community outreach strategies
UP being the second most indebted state with a debt of ₹327, 470 crore will have a bigger budget deficit after the loan waiver.
If Mayawati plays her cards correctly she will dictate terms in the upcoming UP elections.
As things stand at present, the UPA-II has to get its mandate renewed. The Congress party's alliance with the RLD and the induction of RLD leader Ajit Singh as a Cabinet minister looking after Civil Aviation last year, in fact, may have no meaning if that alliance is not put to optimum use in the post-electoral scene in UP.
India's nuclear doctrine and strategy still continues to harp on the mantra of "minimum credible deterrent", even though Pakistan has now overtaken India in the number of nuclear warheads it possesses. Some analysts say that there are no signs that the Pakistani buildup is slowing down.
While economic growth remains the main focus, elevated inflation may ask for some attention.
In the month of August this year, India has recorded about 60,000 to 70,000 Covid-19 positive cases every day, and the total number of cases has cross
The Observer Research Foundation (ORF) India-China Centre (Kolkata) in association with the University of Calcutta, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (Kolkata), and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, supported a seminar on Urban Experiences: India, China and the Chinese Indians. The seminar was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Kolkata on August 5, 2008 at the Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities, Calc
While it is expected that urban development authorities will deal in land and use its planning powers and land bank to raise resources, turning into a
Jagmohan's address to the ORF faculty included a discussion on six important topics, namely slums and illegal constructions, human settlement patterns, culturally significant towns, cities and climate change, pattern of governance after the enactment of the Constitution (seventy-fourth amendment) Act, and resource mobilisation for city development
Acknowledging health as a central component of urban planning and governance will help achieve health SDGs and ensure policy coherence.
Vehicular congestion and insufficient parking facilities are significant emerging challenges for India’s mega and metropolitan cities, severely impairing mobility. Although curtailed by constitutional mandates, many Indian cities are seeking to resolve the issue through parking policies, focusing on regulations, pricing as a management tool, new technologies, and off-street parking provisions. This brief assesses the parking policies of Ahmedab
A country's development is judged by visitors from the general atmosphere and ambience of its big cities and not by the number of five star hotels and their posh lobbies
The BRTS falls between two stools. It monopolises rare road space and heavily congests non-BRTS lanes.
ORF and GIZ, Germany, have jointly initiated an Urban Workshop Series 2013 to facilitate interaction among key national and international stakeholders and offer and discuss critical inputs that are urgently needed for effective policy-making in India and other emerging economies.
Indian cities have long struggled with the challenge of inadequate housing amidst rapid urbanisation and worsening urban poverty. Government policies have failed to fill the gap, focused as they are on ownership housing alone and neglecting rental housing. The 2015 draft National Urban Rental Housing Policy and 2019 draft Model Tenancy Act aim to rectify this situation. For these policies to be successful, however—and for India to realise its g
A more holistic approach needs to be adopted, keeping the aspirations and apprehensions of the local communities in mind while employing sustainable u
A striking feature of India's urbanisation is the phenomenal size of population of some urban centres. As per Census 2011, there are 53 cities/urban agglomerations in the country that have recorded a population of more than a million. In some of these centres, the population is as high as 18.4 million.
With its transition from a middle income to a developed country, China is facing several challenges. Inconsistent and changing categories of administrative divisions create problems in the governance of urban centres.
