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Resources are constraining the modernisation drives of India's three services. The government has not been able to check the growth of manpower in the Army and paramilitary forces. This has a direct repercussion on the modernisation plans of the military.

While allocations for the defence forces have been prioritized, the country's policymakers still grapple with the question: Despite spending billions, how strong is our Defence?

The defence component of the national budget accounts for 14% of central government expenditure, but gets less than 5% of media space. Virtually no discussion on the issue takes place in Parliament either. A call for increased resources for national defence usually goes out only when defence spending by Pakistan and China makes headlines.

An all inclusive Defexpo would not only add greater character but also help the Indian companies explore the markets through a comparative framework and in turn enhance their manufacturing capabilities in the long term.

Many more reforms are needed to boost consumer confidence. People have to have faith in their future earning capacity and only then they will start buying.

The process of subverting democracy and politicians began at the beginning of Pakistan.

Democracies have not always been true to the ideals they promote and it is precisely because of their ambitions that such ideals have taken a backseat

Demonetisation is still hurting India's monetary stability, and govt/RBI have been unusually poor stewards of the macro-economy

With the November 8 announcement, about 85 per cent of your bodily functions merely in the hope that the system will be cleansed with Demonetisation

Though the Planning Commission went by the Tendulkar formula, Rs 32 and Rs 24 look extremely low at today's prices and high inflation, and especially if we take into account that these amounts include other items of daily life like education and health.

Justice for the Palestinians and security for Israel are more elusive than ever

The manner in which to determine the relationship between India and Africa is two-fold: micro analysis and macro analysis. This includes focusing on economic and energy diplomacy, political and security engagement and pan-African projects and strategies, says Dr. Arndt Michael of the University of Freiburg, Germany.

New Delhi declared unequivocal support for “all peoples striving for decolonisation”, only to keep conspicuously quiet.

Terrorism in Chechnya has three major trajectories ' first, the terrorist campaign of the Chechens and others who are a part of the international terrorist network and who derive legitimacy from Islamic fundamentalism and whose fight is not just against the alleged oppression of the Russian state, but also to establish Islamic rule in Chechnya and to facilitate its integration with the pan-Islamic world.

Despite the Chinese government's repeated stress on disaster reduction and regards it as an important factor to realise the overall goal of sustainable development, more needs to be done on disaster management and prevention.

This brief seeks to understand the importance of Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) initiatives in the Bay of Bengal undertaken by the BIMSTEC countries individually, and the dynamics of their collaboration as a subregional forum. It opens with an analysis of the turbulent nature of the Bay of Bengal, because of which disaster management gains paramount importance for the littoral states. The aim is to understand the BIMSTEC countries’

As Pakistan struggles to prod the Taliban to act on militant groups, its dual policy of supporting extremist groups has come back to haunt it

While arguments over methodologies and calculations will find its way to the courts, the telecom regulator believes that symmetry in tariffs will bring about symmetry in traffic.

The contest between China and Japan over tiny islands, Senkaku in Tokyo and Diaoyu in Beijing, has brought the militaries of the two nations face to face on a routine basis. Japan and South Korea and Japan and Russia are also squabbling over small islets in the Sea of Japan.

Following the defeat of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in the House of Councillors' election, Prime Minister Naoto Kan's position has become much weaker and looks very much similar to that of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007.

Hitting at the neutrality of armed forces will do more damage than good

It has taken the sweeping 'brand Modi' poll campaign to tell the Dravidian polity in southern Tamil Nadu that their forgotten, traditional political and electoral campaign was always right -- and that they better return to the grassroots.

एक उदात्त प्रयत्न असले तरी, हे विधेयक कायद्यातील पक्षपातीपणा आणि वैयक्तिक गोपनीयतेचे उल्लंघन याबद्दल चिंता व्यक्त करत आहे.

AUKUS fits into a growing network of minilaterials crisscrossing the Indo-Pacific and rooted in shared strategic interests.

The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) of Stanford University and the Observer Research Foundation, had co-sponsored a conference entitled "Does South Asia exist? - Prospects for Regionalism in South Asia." As the title suggests there was considerable and intense debate on this subject during the two-day conference.

Does the United Nations really matter when it comes to war and peace in the 21st century? To ask this question when long promised reform of the UN seems at hand ¿ the report of the High Level Panel appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan will be out on Thursday ¿ and India is stepping up its efforts to become a part of an expanded UN Security Council sounds heretical.

On the eve of the February 18 elections, no two people in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi were agreed on the certainty of elections taking place. Elections cannot take place, it was argued then, because the establishment will not risk an open-ended process which might produce inconvenient results. In the Pakistani context, the establishment has always meant the Army, the bureaucracy, big landlords and the United States.

With the IMF being viewed by developing countries with skepticism, the G8 unrepresentative of current global realities and the UN too large, the G20 has done well to fill the gap in an effective global governance model. And the effectiveness of the G20 as an international body would be greatly determined by the structure it chooses to pursue.

If the selection for MMRCA so far has shown emphases on technicalities, the final selection should primarily be based on more concrete benefits that either company offers. The final MMRCA award would also reflect the abilities of the MoD in processing such complex contracts in the future.

The United States (US) is recalibrating its strategy in the Indian Ocean, driven by the region’s rapidly evolving geopolitical and geostrategic landscape. The US approach has moved from unilateral dominance to a more collaborative strategy that emphasises shared leadership through a technology-driven security paradigm. This paradigm supports a rule-based order where regional stakeholders are empowered to adopt more significant roles. The founda

To explain the causes of the present unsatisfactory situation many in India would argue that a self-absorbed India has neglected its neighbourhood

While the Government continues to celebrate the armed forces’ performance for electoral gains, it will do well to remember that the basic tenet of warfare is that the man behind the gun matters more than the gun. Its failure to grant non-functional upgrade is all the more hurtful

World renowned management professor and author, Dr. Jagdish Sheth, delivered a lecture on "The Tectonic Shift: The New Geoeconomic Reality" at Observer Research Foundation. Dr. Sheth, Professor of Marketing in the Goizueta Business School, Atlanta, USA, and the author of 'Chindia Rising: How China and India will benefit your business' forecast a new geo-economic reality in the world driven by markets of emerging nations.

The navy has been undertaking anti-piracy operations in the region with significantly greater purpose than at any time since 2008

In September 2002, the Bush administration officially introduced its national security strategy report. In response to the devastating attacks on the epicentre of America's financial and defence establishment, President Bush outlined the fundamental tenets of a strategy that was authored to contend with changes caused due to the "profound transformation" in the current security environment. President Bush proclaimed that, in order to protect Amer

This brief examines the historical dimension of the tensions between Japan and South Korea and its implications on the current breakdown in their bilateral relationship. It argues that the battle over historical memory has led to lasting animosity between the two countries, contributing to serious problems in their defence ties and creating space for China to expand its influence in the region. The brief explores why efforts to overcome the histo

India’s ties with Europe have grown notwithstanding its stance on Russia over Ukraine

Indians may be suspicious of China and the Chinese of India. But it is the West which does not want to accept the strategic consequences of a rising Asia.

The EC is a child of political happenstance and jugaad, not thoughtful institutional strategy.

A discussion with Dr. Sonika Gupta on “China: Thirty Years After Tiananmen” at ORF, Chennai, on 3 August 2019, questioned whether the ongoing Hong Kong protests could be seen as a continuation of Tiananmen?

South Asia is one of the most populous region in the world, representing about 24 per cent of the world's population. Most countries in the region are in various stages of economic development, and aspire for regional economic integration.

China and India talking RCEP is a good beginning, but there is a long way ahead

Domestic climate of social peace and stability needed to turn the tide

EdTech उद्योगावर नव्याने लक्ष केंद्रित करून महिलांच्या शिक्षणाच्या प्रवेशातील लिंगभेद दूर करण्यासाठी वापरणे आवश्यक आहे.

This brief discusses the education component of cooperation between India and the countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). It argues that nurturing the education link within BIMSTEC can play a transformative role in augmenting people-to-people contact and cementing a more fruitful regional connectivity. While progress has been achieved—to which India has contributed considerably�