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The Observer Research Foundation hosted an exciting, in-depth interaction with Nepalese Maoist leaders Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai on November 18, 2006. Addressing their first international audience together from the same platform, the Maoist leaders put before the distinguished gathering, which included political leaders, former diplomats and members of the academia and media, their vision about a new Nepal which they would like to bui

Japanese are leaders in global technology dealing with energy efficiency and energy savings. As a result, Japan has lowest energy intensity amongst all countries. This situation was brought about in a dramatic change after the 1974 oil shock.

Democracy is about winning elections, forming stable governments, governing efficiently and ensuring justice.

The COVID-19 pandemic is taking an enormous toll on health systems across the world. A growing concern is that efforts to manage the pandemic are undermining care for serious non-Covid illnesses such as cancer. In the UK and US, for example, it is estimated that delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment due to COVID-19 will lead to excess cancer deaths in the range of tens of thousands within a year. In India, where health systems are weak, it is

Moscow took serious note of the event and President Dmitry Medvedev sent his envoy to the northwest region Ilya Klebanov and Deputy General-Prosecutor Aleksandr Gutsan to Kaliningrad for an emergency meeting

War on terror was the rationale for the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. What was the rationale for the destruction of Libya and now persistent destabilization of Syria?

The rape of the young medical student in Delhi, who was returning from a movie with a friend, is not only a failure of the law and order system but also traditional India's incapacity to accommodate the 21st century nation.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) placed itself in a highly embarrassing situation with its decision to ban the usage of 'obscene' words in text messages. Stiff resistance from users,

Knowledge assessment is essential to policymaking, including for health. This report measures awareness of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance, and finds crucial gaps in understanding on many issues. In a survey among visitors to a science museum in Kolkata, the authors found, for example, more than six of every 10 respondents (67 percent) believing that antibiotics can be used to treat viral infections. This report highlights the need to de

In many parts of the world, including India, Public Credit Guarantee Programmes (PCGP) improve access to credit for small enterprises that are unable to obtain assistance from mainstream financers. This brief discusses the relevance of PCGPs in India, their mechanisms, features, and efficiency. Although these programmes have improved access to credit for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), there are concerns regarding their efficiency an

The commitment of states towards achieving gender equality as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development received a renewed boost during the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023, with a marked shift in the discourse from women’s development to ‘women-led’ development. This article uses the Public Financial Management (PFM) lens to emphasise the role of governments in achieving gender-related outcomes. While proposing an outcom

The problem of female foeticide and sex selection was highlighted as a big public health concern at a seminar on 'Public Health Concerns and Reforms' organised by ORF and RLS in Delhi. It was said that India could witness elimination of 9-10% girls in the times to come.

According to the 2020/21 Global Education Monitoring Report, India has the weakest public perception of the government as the primary provider of school education. This issue brief analyses what such low public support for government education provision indicates and discusses the implications in terms of educational equity. It highlights how the hierarchical Indian education system, in which a family’s ability to pay decides the course

The Centre having addressed issues in terms of suppliers' liability through parliamentary legislation in the case of nuclear power projects, the nation will have to now decide if it wants growth with risks or would be happy with riskless regression.

Some of the country's most prominent scientists, academicians, policy makers and industry leaders have pledged to come together to explore ways to strengthen research-oriented higher studies in engineering education in India. At a panel discussion on 'India's Leadership in Manufacturing: Role of Engineering Education' organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India's leading

A study done in 2010 by Observer Research Foundation for the Integrated Defence Staff, Government of India, Navigating Near: Non Traditional Security Threats to In dia, 2022', highlighted the huge deficiency that India faces and also recommendations to address some of the gaps

The results of the Assembly elections in five States, including Punjab, will be out on 6 March. It remains to be seen whether Punjab will stick to history and vote out the incumbent Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP government or whether history will be made and the latter will be re-elected.

New Delhi and Islamabad dominated dialogue have failed to come up with any solution to vexed issues like Kashmir. May be sub-regions like Punjab and other border provinces like Rajasthan-Sind.

Army and the intelligence agencies have always shaped the political process in Pakistan and things won't be any different after the 2007 general election ---- President Pervez Musharraf is all set for his re-election in 2007. He has already declared his intention to be re-elected by the present set of elected representatives.

As India assumes the G20 presidency, it has the opportunity to further the cause of mutually beneficial, rules-based international trade at a time when the world is facing a series of multiple and overlapping political and economic crises. This paper opens by describing a confluence of factors that together open a window of opportunity for India’s presidency to advance pragmatic engagement on trade, specifically in shoring up the multilateral t

The US would be foolish to deepen the new Cold War atmosphere by trying to isolate Russia over Ukraine developments. As for China, that option is simply not open to them any more. The reason is that the Americans need cooperation from Moscow to deal with Syria, Iran and Afghanistan.

Russian President Putin's Eurocentric approach and having a Europeanist as his primary foreign policy advisor seem to be impacting on his policy towards Asia. The clout that the Orientalists and Indologists once had in the Kremlin is well and truly gone, and the relationship is that much weaker for it.

The Russian President’s actions this week may yield tactical gains but hardly pass the test for strategic victory

Putin can now underline to the rest of the world how Russians are solidly behind his policies regardless how they seem to outsiders.

When more than a third of the world's population does not live to see 40 on average, it is clear that securing the right to life for these people should be the only priority of global developmental processes. Can there ever be any shared values, if there is no agreement on the fundamental right to life?

India's new GDP data speaks of robust growth (6.9%) rather than of policy paralysis and industrial decline in 2013-14. But even Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian is not convinced by the new data. Because, other indicators do not seem to corroborate the high rate of growth, especially when imports actually declined last year.

Left-wing extremists, Naxalites of the People's War Group (PWG), have traveled a long away from fielding hand-held, traditional farm tools as weapons. Their sagacity is, indeed, amazing. Perhaps, to state in a lighter vein, they would give a complex to India's defence technologists, if not put them to shame.

ATTACKING the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, on October 1, 2003, is most spectacular act that Naxalites of the People's War (formerly People's War Group or PWG) have carried out till date. The rebels have not only proved that they have the ability to strike at locations far away from their traditionally known strongholds but also that they were poised to expand their influence beyond the state boundaries.

The striking capability and influence of the People¿s War Group (PWG) Naxalites¿ has steadily been declining in their flagship North Telengana Special Zone (NTSZ) area since the past few years. The death of some experienced, capable and important leaders of the NTSZ, especially in the past couple of years, in security force operations has weakened the Naxalites there.

Karnataka has emerged as the latest Indian State to witness violence involving the Naxalites, known variously as Left-wing extremists or Maoists at home and abroad. In an encounter with the police on November 17, 2003 a woman Naxalite of the People¿s War Group (PWG) was killed in Bollattu village, near Karkala, Udupi district, on the State¿s western flank close to the coast.

The latest Quad meeting underscored continued growth, but when will the four countries seriously confront the matter of direct security cooperation?

The Quad’s growing effort to shape international norms and rules in the Indo-Pacific is taking place in an environment fraught with multiple challenges. China’s assertive rise as well as internal differences within the group pose significant risks to the plurilateral platform’s mission of creating a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific. Focusing on the Quad’s cybersecurity cooperation, this brief examines the various internal and e

No accurate estimate is as yet available on the human losses and material damage suffered by the Al Qaeda and other jihadi terrorist organisations belonging to Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front (IIF) as a result of the earthquake, which struck Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan on October 8, 2005.

The Government and the people of Pakistan have been coping, as best as they can, with the help of a flood of international assistance, with the colossal tragedy which struck them on October 8, 2005, in the form of a massive earthquake which has devastated practically the whole of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and large parts of the district of Manshera and other areas in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Quantum computing (QC) forms one of the cornerstones of emerging technologies as we know them today. The technology has seen rapid progress over the years, but practical hurdles remain. The recent boom in Artificial Intelligence and the corresponding boost it has provided to classical algorithms also presents an additional hurdle for quantum algorithms. Countries like the United States, China, and Canada have made significant strides in QC and ha

The Aadhar project remains complex - a herculean task. The UK government shelved its identity card project because it was untested and the technology not secure, and because of the risks to the safety and security of citizens. With India in the midst of an election, it remains to be seen what will happen when a new government is formed,

The conclusion on August 21 of the fourth round of the India-Japan strategic dialogue at Foreign Minister level provides the peg to assess the current state of India-Japan relations. These relations are headed in the right direction, but it has taken time to change their compass and the pace has been tardy.

The Third R. K. Mishra Memorial Lecture was delivered by His Excellency Mr. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, on October 5, 2011 in New Delhi. Outlining his vision for a peaceful and stable South Asia, President Karzai stressed that all the regional players would have to work together towards achieving this goal. This is the text of the lecture and proceedings of the event.

Pakistan has not given up the use of terrorist groups like Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) to achieve its foreign policy objectives in India and Afghanistan, a policy which threatens to make Asia, and the world, more unsafe in the years to come. JuD, parent body of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), is a highly organised, trans-national terrorist group based in Pakistan which has links not only with Pakistan Army and its intelligence agency,

Radiological sources are used extensively in civilian sectors including for medical, industrial, agricultural and research purposes.  While the positive benefits are well-recognised, concerns about terrorists using these materials to develop a “dirty bomb” are also well-known.  Because of the extensive use of radiological materials in the civilian sector, these are easily accessible. The absence of an overarching regime covering radioactive

The chance of an all-out two-front war with nuclear-armed Pakistan and China are near zero; local skirmishes are always possible. The difference between planning for all-out war and a limited one is hundreds of thousands of crores of the taxpayer's precious money .

Rahul Gandhi, during his recent 75-minute talk at the CII, may have left enough hints - and some more pronounced than the rest -on the need for the party to 're-invent' itself and re-visit some of the policies, including those of the 'economic reforms era'.

A report by a London consultancy firm on the way the cookie might crumble within the Congress Party has caused pundits to carry neatly folded clippings of the document and make appearances at parties with the sort of glint in their eyes which comes from knowledge.