Courtesy: Gateway House
India has rapidly transitioned from a cash-based economy to one reliant on digital payment systems. This has resulted in financial inclusion and greater transparency, but also expanded the system’s vulnerability to cybercrimes. This paper analyses India’s digital payments industry, maps the potential threat vectors and recommends measures to strengthen the cybersecurity of digital payment systems
Courtesy: Gateway House
The global energy scenario has changed in every way – be it in demand, supply or energy type – in the last two decades. The only unchanged component has been the currency of energy trade: the U.S. Dollar. Lately, though, the Chinese Yuan has emerged as a challenger. Can the Indian Rupee be a third contender?
Courtesy: Gateway House
The United Nations’ 2015 Paris Agreement called for the immediate sequestration of atmospheric anthropogenic greenhouse gases to help avert serious environmental degradation. India can take the lead in this because it is the second largest emitter of methane. Of all the natural greenhouse gases, methane is the hardiest. Technological advances are making it possible to crack methane into gaseous hydrogen and solid carbon on a commercial scale. Methane cracking can provide a steady supply of hydrogen for futuristic transportation and solid carbon materials — graphene, carbon nanotubes, synthetic diamonds — which are integral to the marine, aerospace and space industries. The commercial benefits apart, methane cracking will also go a long way in meeting the Paris Agreement’s climate change mitigation objectives. This paper offers some concrete recommendations that can help the government of India shape national legislation and global geoeconomic strategies
Courtesy: Select Fund
In a policy brief for Japan's G20 Presidency in 2019, Purvaja Modak, Akshay Mathur and K.N. Vaidyanathan discuss the need to encourage the development and adoption of processes and methods that can quantify the costs of using natural resources
Courtesy: Gateway House & CIGI
The use of climate intervention technologies has not taken into sufficient account the social dimensions of climate intervention research, which includes citizen participation and pooling of knowledge resources. To fill this lacuna, Canada and India can examine what participation in climate intervention research means in the context of an African country to be able to evolve a more international view; urge both countries to conduct national policy discussions on climate intervention research; and increase public awareness of climate intervention technologies
Courtesy: Gateway House & CIGI
The use of terrestrial geoengineering techniques, such as carbon capture, is necessary to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius, as per the Paris Agreement’s targets. Terrestrial geoengineering is different from atmospheric climate engineering: the latter does not remove the very source of the increased greenhouse effect, which are anthropogenic greenhouse gases. India and Canada must collaborate on carbon capture and propose multilateral regulations for unethical atmospheric climate engineering
Courtesy: Gateway House & CIGI
The virtual computer world holds tremendous potential for harm infliction, and cybercrime is a growing concern for India and Canada. Both countries have cracked down on digital black markets, where transactions for contraband and illegal services take place, but such cooperation can be further deepened through advanced use of technology and informal collaboration, for example, thereby also contributing to international security at the multilateral level
Courtesy: Gateway House & CIGI
India and Canada share the same vulnerabilities when it comes to cyber security. They have been victims of suspected Chinese hackers and have mutual concerns about terrorism and election manipulation. This paper makes four recommendations on how the two countries can cooperate to build trust and further their strategic and economic interests
Courtesy: Gateway House
America is increasingly using sanctions as a geopolitical tool against its rivals, Russia, Iran and Venezuela. These countries are important partners for India, which needs to find ways around unilateral American sanctions.
Courtesy: T20 Argentina 2018
In a policy brief for Argentina's G20 Presidency in 2018, K.N. Vaidyanathan, Akshay Mathur and Purvaja Modak discuss the challenge and propose policy recommendations for transparency in cross-border financial transactions