Lately, the United States and some European nations have lifted oil and other financial sanctions on Iran and have also released roughly $100 billion of its assets after international inspectors concluded that Iran had complied on its promises to dismantle large sections of its nuclear programme. To signal that the relations are now moving towards friendship, just few hour before the implementation of the nuclear accord five Americans were released from Iran’s prison.

How big a threat does the Islamic State (IS), also known as the Daesh, pose for India? One answer could be found in what Salman Mohiuddin, an active IS recruiter arrested in Hyderabad in January 2015, told his interrogators. Mohiuddin said that he was scheming to “proceed to Syria to join the IS and later return to wage war against India” (Indian Express, November 19 2015).

Logically, the frequency of occurrences of tropical cyclones (typhoons) or unexpected weather during last quarter of each year would have accelerated some sort of resolve on issues in climate cauldron especially loss and damage during UN sponsored climate talks. The tropical cyclone Koppu (Lando) slammed the island nation-Philippines just a day before the Bonn Climate Change Conference (October 19-23). Strom Patricia, strongest hurricane ever recorded at sea, though receded on landfall, could have brought huge losses in Mexico, a day after the Conference.

Accommodating corporate aspirations would be the biggest task before V K Atre Task Force on Strategic Partners.

In India, attempts at reforming complicated sectors like national defence invariably start with constitution of committees / task forces and thereafter the leadership battles conflicting positions on recommendations, leading to either shelving of such reports or at best partial implementation that are more ad-hoc than preferred solutions. A survey of committees constituted between 2002 and 2015 justifies this assessment.