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This year marks the 15th year since India and the European Union (EU) agreed on a Strategic Partnership in 2004. Over the years, despite robust bilateral relations between individual European states and India, the EU-India relations have largely been in the area of potential rather than accomplishment. This brief evaluates the emerging security partnership by focusing on three key areas, viz. peacekeeping, nuclear issues, and maritime security. I

Despite global calls to increase women in policing, the progress remains regrettably slow

A no-deal Brexit would be economically disastrous for the UK and might even lead to shortage of medicines and food in the short- to medium-term. However that is not Boris Johnson’s concern at the moment.

Critique of BRICS is logical and natural but can be unfair without careful examination of its evolution and contribution

The nature of the world order that eventually emerges will determine the future of BRICS and not the other way round.

Has the emergence of BRICS had an impact on IBSA, was the question posed by Mr M Ganapathi, former Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India.

BRICS as an institution must nurture independent growth trajectories of member nations keeping their individual interest at the forefront.

New Delhi should also be aware that a US-China trade spat opens up new possibilities for India, both vis-à-vis Beijing and Washington, and it should not be hesitant to exploit them

Think tanks from five BRICS countries, participating in the 5th Academic Forum meeting in Durban, have announced the setting up of the BRICS Think Tanks Council (BTTC).

Nurturing youth capital and well-being is not only a moral imperative but also an economic necessity

The digital divide is a manifestation of exclusion, poverty and inequality and continues to be exacerbated due to the effects of unemployment, poorly functioning digital skilling programmes and socio-cultural norms in some economies, depriving women equal access to digital services. Digital skills provide the poor a catalyst to break out of the cycle of poverty and empower themselves. A three-pronged digital skills strategy is required for develo

Sustainable magic requires that the magician remain credible.

This brief underlines the immense potential for increased cross-border trade, tourism, and people-to-people interactions between India and its Southeast Asian neighbours. In particular, it evaluates the importance of India–Thailand relations, emphasising the present state of the India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway (IMT-TH). Although India and Thailand share a maritime boundary along India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Th

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seemed to be the chief protagonist of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of India becoming a $5 trillion econo

The attempt to woo FIIs and FPIs may look like an innovative step to mobilise investment from abroad, yet this is a gamble which may or may not pay of

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s fifth budget faces global challenges. She should leverage them and meet them head-on

There is scope to do more for the vital constituencies of women and children

Sitharaman’s Budget seeks to inject efficiencies into the regulatory system.

The challenge is not ‘to build back better’ but ‘to build forward better’ where the nature and climate nexus lies within the development parad

Visiting Pakistani journalists informed a select gathering at Observer Research Foundation that the ongoing turmoil in their country was the result of a transition from military dictatorship to coalition politics in the democratic setup.

Most participants at an ORF conference on urban development and creation of 100 smart cities in India felt that creation of smart cities is an extremely challenging exercise and for this, careful planning and effective project implementation are required.

After years of conceiving the idea of Strategic Oil Reserve, the Indian government seems to be moving in the right direction in a resolute manner. Recent statements by both the Prime Minister and the Petroleum Minister about building strategic storage facilities to gear up the country to meet oil emergencies

Member states of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) continue to grapple with a host of security issues, including the burgeoning ISIS threat and the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. In the recent months, the region has witnessed the immense social, political, economic and geo-strategic implications of terrorism and displacement. BIMSTEC’s counterterrorism initiatives must therefore be scr

New Delhi must take full advantage of the geopolitical opportunity that the Japanese connection offers us. As democracies, both India and Japan are open societies and committed to a liberal world order. Through visits and agreements, the two sides have now laid the infrastructure for their strategic partnership.

A user-centric bottom-up approach to ethics in AI could be the answer to regulating AI innovation that is usually too fast and dynamic for a central r

Both India and Africa strongly acknowledge that peace and security is intrinsically linked to development, and that terrorism poses the biggest threat

During its G20 presidency, India should engage with governments and policymakers and address the regulatory constraints faced by this sector to keep i

The creation of a competent national indicator framework will be central to the tracking — and eventual attainment — of India’s sustainable development goals. Through an analytical study of India’s past efforts relating to the MDGs and its initial preparations for the SDGs, this paper identifies specific hurdles that must be overcome in building a health indicator architecture that is both globally relevant and aligned with national

In terms of the existing institutional mechanisms, South Korea somewhat lags behind Japan, but one should remember that India-South Korea partnership is only about 40 years old and during this rather short period, what the two countries have achieved is quite remarkable.

When technology becomes important for a country’s development, governments should balance the advance of technology with openness and autonomy.

The ORF-hosted BRICS Academic Forum's recommendations to the 4th BRICS Leaders Summit, to be held in New Delhi on March 29, seek to set the agendas for global governance reforms and sustainable development and map out a new geography of cooperation.

The seventh of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims “to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. Such quest for energy security is echoed in subregional strategies as well; in the BIMSTEC region, it is a key priority. As the gap in electricity supply and demand increases in the countries of BIMSTEC, trans-border cooperation can help diversify energy sources, reduce the average cos

Rather than relying on a single nation to handle the majority of HADR engagements in the Bay of Bengal region, a unified regional approach should be e

Despite the importance of capacity building in India’s development cooperation programme with African countries, a comprehensive assessment of India

The data landscape across the G20 remains highly uneven, with some countries being able to effectively harness D4D while others experience significant