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Even as India achieved statistical elimination of leprosy at the national level in 2005, the target continues to be part of the country’s policy documents. But what is “elimination”, to begin with? The policy documents are unclear of its operational definition, of whether it is at the national level, the state level or the district level. Despite lack of clarity, the political leadership has not failed to indulge in the rhetoric of “lepro

There are multiple concerns around the audit of CSR and a discomfort with the lack of audit and oversight required for CSR activities. "Comply or explain" simply has not worked in the case of other existing regulatory frameworks that deal with corporate governance issues. It is time to realise that in India, only a few are in a position to ask, while nobody is in any hurry to explain.

We can only speculate on the causes of their present westward shift in the Daulat Beg Oldi area. But one thing is clear: the central locomotive of Chinese policy remains Tibet. Despite massive investments in the region, large numbers of Tibetans remain disaffected.

France and India have shared a common belief in the importance of multilateralism and have a common respect for international rules and regulations. These shared beliefs can form the basis for a cooperation agenda.

BRICS countries have tried to move internet governance debates by taking strong stands at the global level. India too, has flirted with the idea, time and again. If nothing else, the biggest takeaway from this grouping needs to be the commitment to putting across new ideas to the global community.

COVID-19, which is a highly infectious disease of zoonotic origin, serves as a serious reminder that human-nature interactions need to be based on sustainable development pathways. The recent surge in zoonotic infections in different parts of the world—among them, H1N1, Nipah virus, Zika virus, and Lyme disease—can be attributed to the intensification of human-animal contact through wildlife trade and livestock production. Reducing the rates

The fragility of the Himalayan ecosystem was recently highlighted by incidents of land sinking in Joshimath, a small hill town in India’s Uttarakhand. This crisis has generated intense debate on aspects of development and environmental sustainability in the region, including the exploitation of Himalayan natural wealth and the strain placed on the vulnerable area by the tourism industry. This brief argues that the Himalayan region needs

No amount of advanced technology can compensate for low morale and training, weak command, poor tactics and strategy

Three quick lessons can be drawn from the recent coup attempt in Bangladesh. These are growing unrest among political and military circles against the Awami League government for its policies towards India and fundamentalism;

India's military leadership should look to Nepal to understand how insurgencies can be peacefully terminated instead of just looking for more potent ways of neutralising separatists.

In the backdrop of President George Bush's forthcoming visit next month and India's closer integration with the global economy, we need to start paying greater attention to the US economy, which has effectively functioned as the sole engine powering the global economy for the past decade and a half.

This paper examines two types of waste on which India can explore transboundary waste-trade opportunities and challenges: farm-produce waste and municipal solid waste. Using lessons learnt from trade between other countries, the paper argues that while India can augment its economy through increased waste exports or imports, certain conditions must be met for India to benefit from sustained international waste trade practices. The paper recommend

India has moved away from the idealism of the past in its engagement with the global multilateral order

Religious terrorism isn’t about poverty, local issues, schools one studies in or the religious milieu in which someone grows up.

Could the private talent, which has demonstrated private success, be institutionalised for achieving similar success in global public affairs? This rhetorical question merits consideration because the governance record of multilateral institutions has been pretty lacklustre, particularly in matters related to global commons.

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba is more than likely to spearhead a reprisal attack to avenge the killing of its mentor and patron, al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The group will extend its focus to western targets, specially the US, in the days ahead.

India spends over Rs 400,000 crores every year on schemes, projects and programmes broadly falling within the category of social welfare. Embedding appropriate technology in social welfare programmes can give poor Indians a real chance of empowerment.

World over, uncontrolled fiscal stimulus had got a new legitimacy. And now everyone is standing on the edge of a fiscal cliff. The finance minister seems to have the full support of the UPA chairperson to cut wasteful spending this time around.

Even if the Centre's Rafale deal for the two squadrons comes through, it will only temporarily arrest the decline of squadrons for the IAF. The long-term answer may just lie in the home-grown Advanced Multi-role Combat Aircraft, being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency , Bangalore.

The visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to India this week, so early in the Modi innings, is a good sign as both leaderships seem anxious to be able to better deal with the many challenges ahead. Clearly, China is challenging other major powers for a role in India at a time when its economy needs to grow at 10 per cent to recover from three years of economic slowdown.

The growing vulnerability of the elderly is evident from National Crime Record Bureau's recent move to tabulate data on crimes against senior citizens, beginning from 2014. Predictably, big cities have been found to be the most unsafe for them, with Delhi topping the list.

The problem that ‘public message attribution’ seeks to fix may already be possible through internal controls built into the WhatsApp platform.

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba is rapidly expanding its presence and influence in the social media networks. The group is using these networks to recruit tech-savvy younger generation not only from Pakistan but also from the Pakistani diaspora.

The Modi government has been diplomatically polite and is in no haste to reach out to Pakistan for bilateral talks yet.

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, the terrorist group behind the Mumbai 2008 attacks and operating from Pakistan, is likely to continue with its terror campaign against the security forces in India, according to a study on LeT done by Dr Subrahmanian and his team at the University of Maryland.

After the marginalisation of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) since 2016 owing to tensions between India and Pakistan, a search for alternative regional collaborations led India to Bimstec.

There is a modicum of double standards being displayed by China — it has had little compunction in assisting Pakistan with the CPEC.

Canada’s world-class energy resources and national interests in global energy diplomacy must be articulated coherently and to the fullest

Jayashree Balasubramanian et al., “Leveraging Community Engagement in Swift and Skillful Disaster Response,” ORF Special Report, March 2024, Observer Research Foundation.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) constitutes 23.82 percent of the global disease burden but less than one percent of health expenditure.[1] The region has a severe shortage of trained medical personnel[2] and health delivery has low coverage. This brief outlines the most crucial challenges facing SSA’s healthcare system, and describes the footprint of Indian health companies in the region, especially in the context of the failure of the public sector t

Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Global South is being threatened by the mounting challenges facing developing countries due to the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, and receding aid from traditional donor countries. As the achievement of the SDGs remains more relevant than ever, this brief proposes the creation of a Global South Development Assistance Committee (D

How have nuclear weapons affected Indian foreign policy? Has India been able to leverage its status as a nuclear weapons state to further its foreign policy objectives? This issue brief examines these questions by first analysing how India’s foreign policy objectives have been affected by its possession of nuclear weapons. It then posits two strategies that India can pursue to leverage its status as a nuclear weapons state. The first strategy d

The global macroeconomy has undergone unprecedented change in recent years, particularly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the G20 had an effective coordinating role in steering the global economy through the 2008 global financial crisis, its role in engineering an inclusive and sustainable recovery from the pandemic has been more mixed. Incomes in the advanced G20 economies are on track to return to pre-pandemic levels by end-2022 but have

Amongst India’s stated priorities in its G20 Presidency are reforming multilateral institutions, climate action alongside energy transition, digital transformation and governance, sustainable economic growth, and women’s empowerment. In many of these concerns, countries in the Global North and Global South have serious divergences, thereby hampering progress towards consensus and unified action. To remove some of the deadlocks

India is the world’s largest rice exporter, making it a significant player in the global rice market. A global rice shortage is anticipated amid rising geopolitical tensions and commodity prices. To safeguard domestic consumers from exorbitant price shocks, India has banned the export of non-basmati white rice since July 2023. This paper examines the ban's implications, especially regarding welfare redistribution among basmati and non-basmati f

China's Blue Book sees the US as a pivot to Asia and strengthening of alliances in the region is viewed by the Chinese analyst as being directed to contain China. The Blue Book also notes that India's defence cooperation with the US, Japan, Vietnam and Australia has strengthened it. India has to act with maturity while dealing with the resurgent China.

Can China be meaningfully engaged on issues like the border or the boundary? The answer is a resounding 'no'. The Chinese leadership structure is in flux. All the meaningful rapprochements and border resolutions were carried out either in the Mao or the Deng era. Since then, China's leaders have been too weak and fearful of internal coups to move forward in a meaningful way.