Rediffmail Courtesy: Rediffmail
6 December 2018

Modi a better CM than PM?

Academic and columnist M.D. Nalapat, in this interview with Manjeet Kripalani, speaks of how a tardy bureaucracy has brought about “a too-cautious” policy towards the U.S. and China as opposed to the former Gujarat chief minister’s greater openness in consulting people before handing over policy implementation to the bureaucracy. He also discusses the prime minister’s shrewd approach to South Asia, the dependable warmth of the Japanese and a range of other topics

nd18_cover_large Courtesy: Foreign Affairs
3 December 2018

Beijing’s Nuclear Option

Experts estimate the likelihood of a U.S.-Chinese nuclear crisis as “somewhere between nil and zero.” This assurance is misguided. The United States' signature approach to conventional warfare would be a potential recipe for nuclear escalation.

7295_Mars-MarCO-InSight-Lander-CubeSats-Illustration-PIA19388-full2 Courtesy: NASA
29 November 2018

Emergence of the interplanetary telecom industry

The NASA InSight mission has demonstrated that cube satellites can, after all, endure interplanetary travel. Such miniaturisation of technology looks set to disrupt the obsolete 20th century approach to space exploration. It will give rise to an interplanetary telecom industry, which is indispensable for the support of human presence on Mars

b52-bomber-over-ocean-600x400 Courtesy: Competitive India
29 November 2018

Maritime security: a decade after 26/11

Ten years after the 26/11 terror attack, India’s maritime security is much stronger, with better inter-agency coordination and improved security structure. The Indian Navy was made responsible for maritime security overall, but no fool-proof and unambiguous command and control structure exists as yet.

32015837878_7c9f57e917_o Courtesy: MEA/Flickr
29 November 2018

ASEAN-India Connectivity

The following remarks were given by Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, Gateway House as a speaker at the ASEAN-India Business Summit on November 27, 2018.

W020161205495849938669 Courtesy: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China
22 November 2018

Laos: balancing Asian powers

Laos has come a long way from being an exotic kingdom and scene of violent conflict to relative political stability and pragmatic external relations. With External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj currently on a visit to Laos, this is the time for the two countries to focus on scaling up bilateral cooperation

NTNU_blacksmokers_800x300 Courtesy: NTNU
22 November 2018

Oceanic Industry 4.0

The emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution depends on the availability of rare- earth minerals, which occur extensively on the ocean floor of the Indo-Pacific. The technology to exploit this is available only to some countries currently: the global agreement on this must be fair and safeguard India’s future interests, says the author of this blog

44462476151_09bdc8fc7f_o Courtesy: Flickr / Paul Kagame
15 November 2018

China, Africa and the art of mutual benefit

China’s footprint in the African continent is growing because it is a zealous summiteer. And now, in response to ‘debt-trap’ criticism, it also appears to be stressing private sector investment in Africa over loans and credit. Are there any takeaways for India in this?

chinese-poverty.1515419981 Courtesy: Fair Planet
13 November 2018

China’s poverty reduction vs others’

China recently celebrated 40 years since it began its successful poverty reduction effort, at a conference in Beijing. While lauding China's efforts, experts do recognise that different formulations work for different countries