SONY DSC Courtesy: Arsen.Shnurkov/Wikimedia Commons
31 January 2014

African Union: accelerating agriculture

At the just-concluded African Union Summit in Ethiopia, speakers discussed the urgent need to focus on agriculture – which remains central to the African economies – by increasing investments and productivity. The summit was a time for reflection on the state of a sector that can transform the continent

Mandela UN NMF Photo Matthew Willman UN Courtesy: Matthew Willman/UN/NMF Photo/
6 December 2013

Honouring Nelson Mandela

In 1993, Nelson Mandela said: “We will have to go on striving to prove that King was right…when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war.” By learning from the tenacity of this striving, rather than by measuring outcomes, we can best honour Mandela

west asia W123 Wikimedia Courtesy: W123/WikimediaCommons
6 December 2013

Orienting to the new West Asia

Whether backdoor geopolitics rather than careful negotiations brought about the interim agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme, the next six months will determine its fate. Reactions have ranged from a furious and mistrustful Israel to collective relief by many countries, and a worried India welcoming the agreement

food sedurity Courtesy: Rigues/Flickr
8 November 2013

Food security and WTO

A recent UN report praises governments for promoting the right to food. At the same time, India’s Food Security Act will encounter resistance at the WTO meeting in Bali in December. Can India play an exemplary role in the global power struggle over food security?

ind jap Courtesy: generalising/Flickr
6 November 2013

The new Indo-Pacific core

The India-Japan alliance needs to be viewed through a prism broader than that of "containing" China, and by treating the Indian and Pacific oceans as a single entity. Such an alliance has the potential to strengthen the geopolitical security of India and Japan, along with that of all their allies and associates

Ior arc meaindia Courtesy: Ministry of External Affairs, India
5 November 2013

India: Regional net security provider

In the coming years, India’s greatest strategic challenge in the Indian Ocean region may not be the development of power projection but the quality of the strategic relationships that it can build in the region. The extents to which India will be recognised as a regional leader depend on these relationships.