Former foreign secretary of India, Shyam Saran has an excellent piece in Business Standard where he argues that staying back in Afghanistan and strengthening its presence there is the right strategy for India. He examines the ‘exit strategy’ from Afghanistan for the U.S. put forth by Henry Kissinger at a recent conference in Geneva. According […]
India’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram during a speech at the conference of State police chiefs and Inspector-Generals of police cautioned against the emerging phenomenon of ‘saffron terror’. The Home Minister’s comments have proved controversial with the Opposition Party, Bharatiya Janata Dal (BJP) demanding an apology. Semantics apart, Home Minister Chidambaram’s comment was not frivolous. [Photo: […]
The world is watching in shock as Pakistan grapples with one of the worst floods in history. This week the UN estimated that the floods in southern Pakistan have displaced about a million people in a matter of two days. The massive floods began almost a month ago and have since displaced about 20 million […]
Two new reports – by Morgan Stanley and the Asian Development Bank – offer optimistic, albeit caveat-filled, appraisals of India’s long-term economic outlook. But whether the country can fulfill its potential is still an open question.
Following reports that the editor of Indian magazine Naveena Netrikkan has been arrested and tortured, press freedom organizations are calling for his release. Mr. A.S. Mani was reportedly arrested, imprisoned and tortured after reporting on police corruption in the Indian state of Chennai, in Tamil Nadu. Reporters Without Borders issued the transcript of an interview […]
The recent approval by the Government of India for caste based census has aroused concerns among political parties as well as social scientists and ethnographers. For the self-proclaimed ‘modernists’ such regressive measures are likely to heighten caste consciousness among Indians. While the pragmatists argue that data on caste can help the government to better target […]
A recent assessment by Pakistan’s top spy agency has concluded that Islamic militants pose a greater internal security threat to Pakistan than the Indian Army
Two events last week exemplify the growing U.S. populist backlash against India’s economic rise.
Contrary frequent assertions that the development of physical infrastructure is the key to ensuring India’s future, two important speeches last week underscore how the country’s destiny actually lies in the aggressive nurturing of its human capital potential.
Looks like it is oil spill season. Even as the news and uproar about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is still fresh, there has been a fresh spill, albeit smaller, off the coast of Mumbai. This one was caused when two Panamanian flagged cargo ships – MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-111 – […]
A satirical take on the ‘War on Terror,’ Tere Bin Laden earns its radical chops simply for being a completely Indian production on a story entirely based in Pakistan.
India desperately needs to enact momentous labor and educational reforms in order to capitalize on its demographic dividend and secure its economic future. Whether the country’s political class can muster the requisite will to do so, however, is a perilously open question.
An important conceptual shift has occurred over the past few months in U.S. policy vis-à-vis New Delhi, heralded in two recent addresses by senior Obama administration officials.
A pen and ink and suminagashi print of the 2007 arrest of the retired general and former Director of Pakistan’s spy agency, Hamid Gul. Lt. Gen Gul is thought to have managed ISI’s coordination with the Afghan Taliban in order to develop strategic depth in Afghanistan to counter any Indian intervention in that country.
The Burmese junta leader, General Than Shwe, is on a five-day visit to India starting today. He will hold high-level meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other Indian officials mostly on matters relating to trade and strategic affairs. The military dictator has been condemned by human rights groups and numerous countries for imprisoning Aung […]