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The elections are over and the transition towards a democratic government in Myanmar is currently underway. However, the sailing isn’t as smooth. The NLD and the military are in agreement but are cautious at the same time. Myanmar promises to be a car driven by two drivers.
Courtesy: Flickr / Robert Scoble
The controversy surrounding Facebook’s Free Basics in India highlights a key dilemma currently faced by policy makers and private entrepreneurs who wish to foster, not just ‘inclusion’, but business models which foster economic democracy.
Courtesy: Wikipedia
Is China actively building up its maritime presence in the Arabian Sea, to dominate vital sea lanes and perhaps encircle India with a chain of naval bases? There can be little doubt that China views Gwadar as a potentially useful asset. China, however, will know better than anyone that Gwadar has two considerable limitations.
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Low GDP growth numbers and the tumbling Shanghai Composite are not enough to judge China’s economic management strategy. It is the long-term, structural, and geoeconomic challenges that will determine the country’s economic future
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India could save $80 billion annually if oil prices stay at the current 12-year low. Policy-makers must use this opportunity to lock-in energy prices for the long-term. Financial markets, through futures and options, offer a way to make these savings permanent, and the Ministry of Finance must formulate ground rules for hedging.
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India’s merchandise exports have now contracted for 13 months in a row, reflecting the global slowdown and impact of China’s economic recalibration. But, therein lay new opportunities and challenges for India’s economic diplomacy
Courtesy: Flickr / Foreign and Commonwealth Office
By executing an influential Shia cleric among 47 other prisoners, Saudi Arabia has increased the possibility of prolonging conflict in West Asia. The country’s actions have stirred up its differences with Iran, thereby diminishing the possibility of finding political solutions to the civil wars in Syria and Yemen.
Courtesy: Wikipedia
Village-scale solar powered minigrids are the most promising path for India to meet its linked aims of GDP growth and access to electricity for all. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is already active on this front, but a comprehensive and standardised national minigrid policy that facilitates private sector involvement and eases financing, will allow this model to flourish
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If India enters the Afghanistan-Pakistan Trade and Transit Agreement, as external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said at conference in Islamabad in December, it will boost regional trade and connectivity—both priorities of the Modi government. But Pakistan stridently opposes India’s entry into the agreement. What are the alternatives?
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Despite the Venezuelan opposition's victory in the December 6 legislative elections, 2016 will likely see a rise in political confrontations and a deepening economic crisis in Venezuela. The India-Venezuela bilateral will remain mostly unaffected and continue to be focused on oil.