Indians at Herod Gate cover Courtesy: Rupa Publications
24 June 2021

Indians At Herod’s Gate: A Jerusalem Tale

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This book by the former Indian Ambassador to Israel, Navtej Sarna, traces the history of a centuries-old Indian hospice, located in Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter. In May 2021, the outbreak of an armed conflict between Hamas and Israel raised tension throughout the walled city, particularly within the Muslim Quarter. This is not the first time the hospice has been caught in armed conflict due to its location. In light of these recent events, the book has become an extremely relevant piece to read.

India-Taiwan Courtesy: Shutterstock
24 June 2021

The India-Taiwan imperative for cybersecurity cooperation

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India and Taiwan face a common cyber threat from China – an extension of their respective territorial disputes with Beijing. This makes it essential for New Delhi and Taipei to initiate informal cybersecurity cooperation. They can begin by focusing on cyberattack attribution, critical infrastructure protection and cyber hygiene.

taukate-pti-2 Courtesy: PTI
24 June 2021

Hurdles in class action

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Incidents such as the recent ONGC barge disaster underline the absence of effective class action suits in India. Tougher action on neglect and liability is vital to assure safety, prevention measures and minimise incidents of negligence. How can India move in the direction of accountability to make it a better abode for employment and business?

ardern modi-3 Courtesy: PMO India
24 June 2021

Upping the India-New Zealand bilateral

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On 23 June 2021, the India-New Zealand Business Council (INZBC) Summit for the year 2021 was held. Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies Programme, participated in the panel discussion and delivered his remarks on ‘Indo-Pacific Strategic Ties’. In his speech, he highlighted India and New Zealand’s voluntary subscription to champion the concept of free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific. He also suggested five policy measures to translate the shared perspective into practical plans and actions for the common good.

ClairViz Courtesy: ClairViz
23 June 2021

ClairViz: A start-up engine for industry 4.0

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ClairViz offers products and services that help manufacturing companies digitally transform their factory floor. It uses its project engineering, design, electrical, automation and software skills to transform them into modern, data-driven facilities. This start-up smartly benefits from government programmes: housed in a state-supported incubator, clients are public sector enterprises mandated to use small and medium entrepreneurs in their supply chains.

Source: Shutterstock Courtesy: Shutterstock
15 June 2021

Shaping the Israel-India-U.S. defense technology partnership

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The idea of a U.S.-India-Israel trilateral cooperation is not unknown, but rather unfulfilled. Diaspora associations have repeatedly raised the idea of a technology triangle amongst the three countries, and in 2020, the three countries explored a potential cooperation in 5G communication technology. On these terms, taking advantage of the bilateral synergies and establishing a start-up corridor between Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley, and Bengaluru, can launch this partnership.

Danish Ismail/Reuters Courtesy: Danish Ismail/Reuters
15 June 2021

Linking demonetisation and stone-pelting

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There have been many reported links between protesters pelting stones at security forces in Kashmir and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with Indian intelligence reports that stone-pelters were paid money by the ISI, and often went on to become militants. This was an important motivation behind the demonetisation of currency notes by the Indian government in 2016. However, this raises the question: has demonetisation really curbed stone-pelting?

DRISHTI AI Courtesy: LinkedIn | Drishti
10 June 2021

Drishti: Foresight to a digital manufacturing future

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Using computer vision and AI to capture factory-wide data of human operators, Drishti Technologies co-relates human actions to line efficiencies, bottlenecks and root-cause analysis. Indian manufacturers operating at the lower end of the automation curve can use this combination to improve productivity, safety and quality by a deep-dive into human-action analytics.

four dimensions of the quad Courtesy: Shutterstock
10 June 2021

Four dimensions of the Quad

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The Quad countries are preparing for an autumn summit in Washington, which will provide an opportunity to discuss multilateral cooperation in various sectors. Four dimensions which merit closer attention and are crucial to the group's future are the Indo-Pacific strategies of European countries and the EU, partnerships with ASEAN and its members, closer India-U.S. ties and maritime security issues in the Pacific.

Source: Shutterstock Courtesy: Shutterstock
10 June 2021

U.S. Defense Budget: Mixed signals for the Indo-Pacific

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On 28 May 2021, the Biden administration submitted a much-delayed Defense Budget to Congress, asking for $715 billion for 2022, a 1.6% increase over the previous year’s $703.7 billion. This marginal increase highlights the U.S.’s shrinking capacities compared with China, which spends less than a third of the U.S. on defence. This Budget is focussed on challenges in the U.S.’s geographic vicinity, not the administration’s resolve to counter the threat of China from a position of strength.