The establishment of a BRICS Development Bank will be among the prime topics of discussion at the BRICS Summit on March 26. Gateway House’s Akshay Mathur interviews former Indian Ambassador and Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, on the prospects and viability of alternate financial architectures.
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The steps taken by the Indian government to enable private sector involvement in ASEAN have been hesitant. After the recent ASEAN summit in New Delhi, it is time for greater coordination of Indian private industry with government-to-government interaction, which will benefit all members, including India.
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The move by the Maldives to renege on Bangalore-based GMR’s $500 million investment is a classic case of geopolitics trumping geoeconomics. This is an appropriate time for India to boost its diplomatic efforts by including the Ministry of Commerce in initiatives taken by the Ministry of External Affairs.
The Chinese have learned from Russia’s past mistakes at reforming state-owned enterprises (SOE), and some well-connected politicians have reaped the economic benefits that followed. Will the new administration in Beijing reform China’s SOEs or maintain the large role of government in industry?
Courtesy: Pete Souza/The White House
Despite U.S. President Barack Obama’s re-election, a number of issues like the U.S.’s national debt, unemployment and the military withdrawal from Afghanistan need to be addressed. With these multiple national and global imperatives crowding his agenda, will Obama have any time for India?
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The electoral races in the US reflect the split down the middle in political affiliations of the people. Yet, no major change is expected. This election is about whether the wealthy in the United States can be asked to pay taxes at the same if not slightly higher rates as the middle class.
Rajat Gupta, former chief of McKinsey & Co., was sentenced to two years in jail for insider trading and a fine of $5 million. Whether that will send a deterrent message to corporate boardrooms, which prosecutors claim, is unclear.
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All the major economic forces in the world have come together in Africa in a new version of the Great Game. The competition for the continent’s resources will ultimately harm Africa unless Africa uses this opportunity to its advantage and to address its own serious problems.
As India looks to diversify its sources for energy imports and grapples with food security issues, it is looking more towards Latin America. Gateway House interviews Ambassador Deepak Bhojwani to discuss India’s prospects with this increasingly significant region.
Courtesy: gandhiserve.org
Gandhi’s little-known work on what it means to be truly civilized may be crucial to the future of our species. There seems to be an absence of a moral framework that serves as the basis of our pursuit of wealth & pleasure. Can such a framework guide us through contemporary economic and identity-related conflicts?
