‘Wilayat Khurasan’: Islamic State Consolidates Position in AfPak Region'

Amid a series of government denials from Pakistan and Afghanistan regarding the presence of the Islamic State militant group in these countries and its ongoing outreach activities there, its expansion was corroborated by none other than the Islamic State’s spokesperson, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, on January 26, 2015 (The Nation [Lahore] September 5, 2014; Dawn [Karachi

Gloomy State of Water Management in Odisha

It can be argued that water resources development and management in Odisha is governed by whims rather than institutions. The election manifesto (2014) of the party ruling the state presently  promised to add 10.00 lakh hectare (ha.) land of irrigation coverage in next five years. This is the only document which can be referred to as 'perspective plan in water sector' so far.

AVILASH ROUL

The Call of the Islamic State Resonates across South Asia

The so-called Islamic State (IS) has effectively replaced Al Qaeda and its affiliates at the vanguard of the global jihadist movement. Under the leadership of Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi, the movement remains determined to build upon its powerbase in Iraq and Syria and unite the entire Muslim world under its version of the Islamic Caliphate. In his Ramadan address in October 2014, Baghdadi laid out plans for the expansion of IS networks into what it calls Khorasan – parts of the Indian subcontinent and its near-neighborhood.

ANIMESH ROUL

UNSCR 1540: The Missing Links, and A Committed Partner

January 27, 2015

The UNSCR 1540 is a visionary approach to address the threat of WMD proliferation beyond the state-centric approach. It amalgamates the entire range of multilateral obligations and controls relating to WMD-related technology and material. However, it has to bridge a few missing links at the methodological and attitudinal levels to prove optimum and universal.

Biosafety, Biosecurity and Code of Ethics

The dual use research in life sciences has raised serious concerns for bio-safety and bio-security today as there exists possibilities of misuse of knowledge, information, products and technologies to promote bio-terrorism or bio-warfare activities. Misuse may pose consequential threat to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, material or national security. India has strict and robust regulations on bio-safety and bio-security policies that provide adequate safeguards for responsible conduct and oversight of life sciences research. However, safety measures are far from satisfactory and the implementation agencies are weak. There is an acute shortage of technically-trained manpower and machinery to strictly enforce the regulatory system.

B.M. Gandhi
January 2015