News
We need intelligence upgrades
The business of intelligence is as old as history and expected to thrive in the future as well, despite its conflicting images from time to time. As long as the state has its ambitions and fears, intelligence collection will continue. Wars may have an end but in the business of espionage there is neither an end nor any winners.
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Mumbai terror attack: Six years later, are we ready?
Six years ago most of us sat and watched a carnage in Mumbai being enacted on our TV screens. It seemed like a bad dream as we watched terrorists in action and nothing could have brought home the impact of terrorist action as those endless hours. We heard, unbelieving, some of our media giving running commentaries as the commandos launched their search and destroyed their mission. This was war and we knew where it came from.
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India must adjust to the rise of China
The decision to invite US President Barack Obama to be the chief guest at the 66th Republic Day marks out in the clearest terms Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strategic outlook. Having personally had to deal with the Chumur episode during the visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping in September, Modi is familiar with just how the assertive leader of China is seeking to redraw the geopolitical landscape of Asia.
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Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: A new banking alternative
By all accounts, poor infrastructure is the biggest stumbling block for achieving higher economic growth. Lack of roads, highways, power, ports, airports and water has acted as the main deterrent to attracting foreign direct investment, especially in the South Asian region.
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India's FDI dreams
Billions of dollars in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) have been assured to India thanks to Prime Minister Modi's successful foreign tours and the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Hopefully countries with more wealth and technology than us will help us create jobs. But in his efforts at gathering FDI, the Prime Minister is not any different from the previous government which also staged many road shows with union and state ministers, politicians and even the prime minister going abroad to woo foreign investors.
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Modi and the Middle East: Towards a Link West Policy
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's irrepressible rhetoric is marked by a passion for alliteration, temptation for recasting well known abbreviations and the use of juxtaposition to make important points.
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India: Hope for economic turnaround
There is hope in the air about the much awaited economic turnaround. The second quarterly GDP growth rate (April to June 2014) was at 5.7 per cent which has kindled expectations that good days are ahead! There is hope that India will once again be the most attractive destination for investors. Indeed in Asia specially, India is fast becoming one of the best investment destinations because of the improved growth prospects. Japan has recently pledged $35 billion investment for India. Is it true that India is really turning around under Prime Minister Narendra Modi?
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Is Pakistan On Way from Failing to Failed State?
A theatre of the absurd is on display in Islamabad with the street-fighters of Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri breaching the barricades to storm the Parliament and lay siege to the Prime Minister’s House. The denouement of this clear collapse of state authority in the face of a marauding mob is not yet clear. What is clear is that democracy has been grievously damaged, the civilian government has been reduced to a mockery and the political and administrative system has been brought to the verge of a meltdown.
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Playing the East
If Prime Minister Narendra Modi plays his cards well with Japanese and Chinese leaders in the next few days, he can mobilise the world's third- and second-largest economies in accelerating India's development and make New Delhi an important player in the unfolding Great Game to the east.
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Bubbles and Other Troubles: Risks from Ultra Easy Monetary Policy
In May 2013, Ben Bernanke’s hint of ’tapering’ or slowing down the pace of the Federal Reserve’s unconventional monetary policy called Quantitative Easing (QE) caused nothing short of turmoil within emerging market economies (EMEs). Rapid outflow of capital and a concomitant deterioration of current account deficit resulted in sharp depreciation of currencies and an overall worsening of the respective domestic macroeconomies. By September 2013, the Indian rupee and the Brazilian real had fallen by more than 15 percent each. Inequity markets, Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index and Turkey’s BIST 100 shed nearly 20 percent each during this period
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