A stack of one thousand rupee notes. Courtesy: 123RF
9 November 2016

How ‘hawala’ impacts national security

On November 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to India, the demonetisation of high-value currency notes, he specifically referred to the use of Hawala and fake Indian currency notes for terrorist financing. The hawala system to move funds globally for terrorist financing is huge, secretive, and layered—and a challenge for national security agencies.

half lion Courtesy: Penguin Books Limited
21 October 2016

Understanding P.V. Narasimha Rao

An earnestly, but objectively written, biography of the late prime minister gives credit where it has been denied: PVN was the principal architect of the economic reforms that put the country on a destiny-changing path of growth, while being up against a restless party, hostile Parliament, and an apathetic public.

Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speak during their presidential town hall debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., October 9, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Courtesy: Reuters
13 October 2016

U.S. Elections: shifting geopolitics for West Asia

This excerpt was transcribed from The Gateway House Podcast episode, 'U.S. Elections: Trump’s down but not out' which is part of the special miniseries on the U.S. election and its foreign policy implications. In the episode, Ambassador Neelam Deo discussed the larger foreign policy implications mentioned by the presidential candidates at the second Presidential debate on Sunday night

14th July 1904 Courtesy: Consulate General of France in Mumbai
6 October 2016

Mumbai’s historic diplomatic enclave

A vibrant foreign diplomatic corp that has been present in Mumbai for the last 200 years has contributed both to its political and economic life and imparted a social and cultural cachet

great derangement Courtesy: Allen Lane
27 September 2016

The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable

An obsession with the narrow and the personal has prevented us from integrating climate change into the literature of our time. In his latest work, Amitav Ghosh forces us to confront the realities of ecological decay by examining how climate change is dealt with in fiction and in politics.