nehru Courtesy: Free Press Journal
2 May 2019

Tracing Indian merchants in Japan

Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s coronation on May 1, marking the dawn of the Reiwa Era, is a milestone also for the Indian merchant diaspora, which began arriving during the reign of the Meiji Emperor in the 1870s. The strength of the India-Japan bilateral relationship lies in the 150-year-old narratives of these family-run firms and the success of many Indo-Japanese  collaborations

Cryptocurrency-Bitcoin-Blockchian Courtesy: exit.al
2 May 2019

Chronicling strikes on digital black markets

Digital black markets or “dark net marketplaces” which facilitate the transaction of contraband and illegal services, pose a silent, relatively unnoticed threat to the economy. Hackers, organised criminal networks and terrorist groups use these sites, their advanced security features enabling anonymity when executing cybercrimes. This infographic looks at some of the security crackdowns that have eliminated only some of these sites as they have proved to be resilient

DSC_0155 Courtesy: Gateway House
25 April 2019

Egypt, India’s Africa pivot

Egypt, which is the 2019 chair of the African Union, is critically positioned to exert a geostrategic influence across Africa. In a conversation with Gateway House, Egyptian ambassador to India, Dr Heba Salaheldin Elmarassi, spoke on a wide range of issues that link India and Egypt, including trade, investment and security, North Africa’s political turbulence and the expanding Chinese footprint in the continent

Maldives-618x412 Courtesy: Dying Regime / Flickr
25 April 2019

A power change in Maldives

Maldives’ new president, Ibrahim Solih, has had two election wins in a span of six months – his own in September 2018 and his Maldivian Democratic Party’s landslide victory in the Majlis elections about three weeks ago. An analysis of what this win says about democratic politics in Maldives, improved relations with India and the complex equation it shares with China

Jorhat :Polling officer checking electronic voting machine (EVM) and documents after collecting from the respective center  on the eve of the 1st phase of Assam State Assembly election 2016 at Jorhat in Assam on Sunday. PTI Photo(PTI4_3_2016_000067A) Courtesy: PTI
18 April 2019

The cyber security imperative for India’s elections

The growing use of technology in the election process has made cyber security a crucial issue. Instances of the spread of fake news, manipulation of voter behaviour and hacking show how digital technology can be misused. These issues need to be addressed in the long term

9780199489640 Courtesy: Oxford University Press
18 April 2019

When India played peacemaker

This account of India’s foreign policy under Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi is an accomplished body of research into a period, usually studied primarily for India’s Non Aligned Movement. The author suggests that Nehru’s larger Asian, more global, view for India has therefore gone unnoticed

IMG_6024 Courtesy: Gateway House
17 April 2019

Realising Japan’s G20 priorities

Naoyuki Yoshino, Dean, Asian Development Bank Institute, outlined some of the issues that will concern Japan, which is president of the G20 this year. He was in Mumbai for the India-Japan dialogue, organised by Gateway House recently

IMG_20190411_090307__01__01_Norita SAN (1) Courtesy: Gateway House
11 April 2019

Japan’s Buddhist trail in Bombay

At the turn of the 20th century, British India was home to about 3,000 Japanese expatriates, and Bombay and its presidency had well-established trade ties with Imperial Japan – until the Second World War brought it all to an end. The city never regained its substantial Japanese resident population, but the few monuments that remain point to rich political and religious linkages

regan Courtesy: Pacom
11 April 2019

Canada in the Indo-Pacific

Canada, which has been slow to respond to a changing trans-Pacific neighbourhood, can join India and the ASEAN member states to embark on a trilateral dialogue on the Indo-Pacific’s importance in terms of political, strategic and other domains. An alignment in outlook can strengthen the security and prosperity of a region, currently mired in U.S.-China rivalries