In an interview with CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy, Deba Mohanty, Vice President, Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict said that he was hopeful of more reforms beyond the move to hike FDI. Below is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18.

Latha Venkatesh: There was a lot of publicity for the move to allow 49 percent FDI for manufacturing defence equipment. Have you noticed any other reform measures and procedures that the new government has initiated?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal in August this year sparked a united political front in the Himalayan nation – a rare eventuality given the intra and inter-party rivalry in the country. The visit also took place at a crucial juncture when Nepal is faced with major challenges to draft a new constitution by the second constituent assembly (CA). The visit marked an important step towards strengthening the bilateral ties, which, of late, has been marred by apathy and indecisiveness.

The recent visit of Chinese President, Xi Jinping to India raised much expectation amongst the Indian people. It was Mr. Xi’s first India trip since he assumed the post of President and after the Narendra Modi led government came to power in May 2014.

Over the years, the 'taken for granted attitude' of Indian policy-makers have distanced India to such an extent from Nepal that contiguous border between the two countries seem unfathomable since the mid-1990s.  It took a prime minister of India 17 long years to dismantle the distance and reach out to the Nepalese youth. The recent two-day high-profile visit by Indian Prime Minister to the Himalayan nation speaks volume of the sense, sensitiveness, confidence and consequences of bilateral relations that India wants to nurture with Nepal.

What doesn't get measured, doesn't get managed. This is the sad story of environmental deterioration around the world which has been religiously and rigorously measuring gross national product (GNP) to ascertain the growth of a nation. But, a tiny Himalayan country has deviated from such calculation of national progress. The Gross National Happiness (GNH), as Bhutan's economic path to development, has less talked about in mainstream economics. And, this is not a fairytale!  

A new Bank is added to the lexicon of world development finance. Rather than welcoming it, the merchants of poverty eradication engage in propagating its unbecoming. A completely one sided views are floating since the announcement of BRICS New Development Bank adopted in Brazil during BRICS Sixth Summit. It is a shocker to the world even after month-long soccer carnival. The question remains that weather BRIC's New Development Bank (NDB) would be able to deliver as its founding members aspire?

After the tragic downing of flight MH17, the US along with some major European countries has called for “hard-hitting sanctions” on Russia. The UK is pushing for the tough “Tier 3” sanctions against Russia that could cover areas such as financial services, trade and energy exports. However, there are growing concerns that the strongest-possible sanctions will be blocked by EU member states because of French arms sales as well as German dependence on fossil fuels from Russia.

A recent New York Times editorial (India’s Role in the Nuclear Race), has recommended that the issue of India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) be restricted till India “proves itself willing to take a leading role in halting the spread of the world’s most lethal weapons.” The editorial has premised India’s NSG membership upon fulfillment of three conditions: Signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), halting

Twitter, an online social networking and microblogging service was born in 2006. Interestingly, in a short span of time it has emerged as one of the most popular mediums of influence. This service at times also gets described as ‘SMS of Internet’.  Like any other internet based services this amenity too has both positives and negatives. To judge the relevance of any such service it is also important to check the category of users using such services and their approach behind using it.

In a remarkable display of faith in regional cooperation, the new Prime Minister in Delhi invited all the heads of governments and their representatives of SAARC and Mauritius to his swearing-in. Interestingly, except for a common dinner hosted by the President of India, the SAARC leaders never met as a group. Are we looking forward to a robust, frequent, effective, and efficient regional dialogue on a myriad of issues regarding South Asia, especially on the environment front? Too early to predict, but we shall be hopeful.