News
New foreign trade policy: Going for the big push
After a long delay, the government has finally announced the much awaited new foreign trade policy (FTP) 2015-2020. The thrust of the new policy is on export promotion, reducing trade transactions costs, e-commerce, services exports and ease of doing business. This policy is in sync with the government's key initiatives of Make in India and other big ideas like Digital India.
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Border paradox
As it looks at the southwestern frontiers with India and its neighbours in the subcontinent, China stares at a paradox. China has ambitious plans to develop mega trans-border projects with Myanmar in the east and Pakistan in the west. China has already built a twin pipeline system running from Myanmar’s Bay of Bengal coast to the Yunnan province.
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Modi's Sagar Mala*
As he swings across the Indian Ocean this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biggest challenge is not about countering China. After all, Beijing is far away and India is right in the middle of the Indian Ocean. In the near term, the tyranny of geography will limit the scope and intensity of Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean. Modi's real problem is in Delhi, afflicted by a condition called continentalism, which has proved rather difficult to overcome.
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Why gender would have more of a role in Clinton's 2016 Presidential campaign
When Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for the President last time, her campaign struggled to address the matter of her gender in a balanced manner. She seemed conflicted between acknowledging her identity as a woman running for the most important office in the world and establishing her identity as a competent politician capable of handling the top job.
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New digital age and importance of privacy of data
New digital age won’t be as much fun if we don’t talk about privacy. Privacy should not be limited to headline grabbing revelations about surveillance, Snowden and Sony; these conversations need to be mainstreamed to every citizen-consumer.
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PM needs to focus on infrastructure for growth
While India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world today, a major obstacle for sustaining its real GDP growth has been the lack of adequate infrastructure, which can support the growth process. Low levels of public investment have made India's physical infrastructure incompatible and without improving the rate of infrastructure investment, the overall growth rate would remain modest.
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Religious fundamentalism: Six major questions
This may appear to be an oversimplification, but a month after the January 7 Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris, there are six major questions we need to ask ourselves. Are terror killings acceptable? No, whatever be the cause. The second is the right to freedom of expression. A definite and loud yes. The right to criticise?
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World War II: Time to mark India's contributions
Little noticed in the joint statement issued by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj earlier this week in Beijing along with her Chinese and Russian counterparts was a brief paragraph urging all nations to mark the 70th anniversary of Allied victory in the Second World War.
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Obama visit: The economic fallout
The visit of US President Barack Obama to India for the 66th Republic Day was laden with 'symbolism' which can be decoded as 'US is ready to acknowledge India's rising economic power'. India is after all the third biggest economy in the world and is poised to grow at 7 to 8 per cent according to International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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Global nation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept his promise to the overseas Indian communities during his visits to the United States and Australia on making it easier for them to travel to India and participate in its national life. In issuing an ordinance this week to merge two separate schemes — Overseas Citizen of India and the Person of Indian Origin — Modi has implemented a decision that was first announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2011. With much greater sensitivity to the diaspora and its needs than the Congress leadership, Modi was quick to make Singh's proposal his own.
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