Sustainable gardening Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
10 October 2014

The UN and sustainability

The UN and the global finance industry are making gradual but concerted efforts to align business interests and ecological sustainability. A growing number of companies are combining profit-making with social responsibility. There is still a long way to go, but the UN system has created useful mechanisms of change

Chinese-President-Xi-Jinping-with-chinese-soldiers-300x216 Courtesy: newshence.com
8 October 2014

Chumar incursion: a message to Xi?

The reason behind a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) contingent intruding into eastern Ladakh around the time of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India, still needs to be decoded. It is not unlikely that domestic rivals, including possible ‘rogue’ elements within the PLA, could have decided to embarrass Xi — angry with his historic crackdown on corruption among Chinese officials

kudankulam Courtesy: Wikimedia.org
1 October 2014

Decoding the India-U.S. nuclear deal

Bringing U.S. nuclear technology to India is a goal identified in the countries’ joint vision statement. Although public discourse on the India-U.S. nuclear deal has focussed on the liability clause, the pact’s success also depends on resolving other factors such as local sourcing, technology transfer and project delays

Modi obama Courtesy: Ministry of External Affairs
30 September 2014

India-U.S. must move past deal-led ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.S. is unlikely to reset bilateral relations. The relationship remains determined by bickering over trade and investment deals, such as the impasse at the WTO and the disputes over IPR. To become real strategic partners, both countries must move beyond these transactional exchanges

Untitled Courtesy: GoI
30 September 2014

Time to refocus on the LBA

Although the Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh was discussed when Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina met on the sidelines of the UNGA, a timeline for ratification was not clarified. But both leaders have the numbers in their governments to move forward this critical agreement and must do so with urgency

india china Courtesy: Wikipedia
23 September 2014

India-China: evolving geoeconomics

The trade deficit and border issues have usually overshadowed the public discourse between India and China. However, below this surface, bilateral business and financial engagement is growing. India will have to engage judiciously with China to ensure that the resulting geoeconomic benefits remain in our favour