News
If India wants to become a superpower, it has to stop trying to become the next China
India is currently in the midst of two large but different endeavours. The first is to complete the unfinished agenda of the previous decade, providing the country with the modern infrastructure, rural amenities, social services, and connectivity that any developed economy needs.
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Kashmir: Who’ll Buy What Pakistan is Selling?
For nearly quarter of a century now, that is ever since terrorism enveloped the state of Jammu and Kashmir around 1989-90, India has downplayed the Pakistan’s diplomatic propaganda campaign against it. Except for pro forma rebuttals in the UN to Pakistani provocations and the occasional statement by the MEA spokesperson, India has preferred to not join issue with Pakistan in a sustained sort of manner.
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Making India’s first federated tax effective
Expectations are unrealistically high from the long delayed move to amend the Constitution and levy a common Goods and Service Tax (a value added tax) across the Union and all state governments. Truly, this tax can bind India far better than Bollywood or the All India Services have done thus far.
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India and africa's partnership for access to medicines
Prime Minister Modi’s recently concluded four-nation tour to Africa is primarily regarded as part of his larger energy diplomacy outreach. However, what is often overlooked are the enormous investment opportunities that African markets offer — especially in the midst of stagnating markets elsewhere. The agenda for this visit was centred on two themes: (a) mutual economic interests, and (b) common development aspirations. The pharmaceutical sector presents a meeting point for both goals — of exporting medicines to Africa, as well as creating manufacturing bases in Africa.
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Rising presence of Daesh in India
Until very recently in India, there have been several interpretations of threat perceptions of Daesh or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This was primarily because few Indian Muslims joined the outfit in Syria or Iraq and there has been, so far, no attack conducted by it within the country. As a result, some do not view it as a major threat while there are others who remain wary, particularly considering the outfit’s export of terror ideology worldwide.
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What’s the Real Story in Turkey?
I was in Ahmedabad when the attempted or rather failed ‘coup de tat’ took place in Turkey. I was to speak at a corporate function about India’s national security. However, my hosts requested me to first specifically speak for a few minutes on Turkey because ostensibly most of the audience could not join the dots about what exactly was happening in that country. I readily obliged because that’s a country you can’t fail to know if you have any pretensions like me of being a strategic commentator.
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Indian military has remained committed to democracy
In our much-storied history, which our hyper-nationalists will possibly claim is the most ancient, there has been just one recorded instance where a commander-in-chief of the army overthrew the government of the day and seized power. This issue finds some resonance today in the context of the attempted coup in Turkey. Many ask, could this happen here, although the answer is pretty unambiguous that it cannot and will not.
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Critical time for globalisation
This month marks the 25th year of economic reforms and the beginning of the era of globalisation in India. It has benefited millions and has also resulted in malls full of goods. Many people have managed to get jobs at salaries undreamt of in the past. Thus few would wish to see liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation reversed. Imported fruits to fancy cars, appliances and cosmetics are available in India for those with money.
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The great 21st century data rush
In the digital age, data is currency and information is the energy that drives the 21st century economy. Today, 46.1 percent of the world’s population is online. These 3.4 billion Internet users collectively generate a significant amount of commercial and personal data that can be stored, collated, and analyded. This data is the lifeline that charts users’ online identities: It can also be monetised by Internet service providers, social media platforms, and end user applications.
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Why India must be flexible on FTA with EU
The EU-India FTA (free trade agreement) negotiations have been ongoing for more than nine years. The two-way trade in goods stood at $98.5 billion in 2014-15, and India received $24.91 billion in FDI equity inflows from the European Union (EU) between April 2012 and May 2015. The EU has been India’s largest trading partner and the two-way trade is likely to swell significantly if the parties could firm up the long-pending FTA, officially called the Broad-based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA).
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