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!  

The violent Sunni insurgency in Iraq (2014), no doubt, has different implications for different countries in the region. The purpose of this article, however, is not to discuss all these implications. The article is limited to the role of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq and its implications for Iran.

ISIS and Vested Interests

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 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 production of fissile material and initiating negotiations

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.

On May 16, 2014, the world’s biggest democracy and Asia’s rapidly rising power, India announced results of history’s longest and biggest multiparty democratic elections. Held in nine phases spreading across April-May 2014, the country chose to bring in power the government of Narendra Damodardas Modi, leader of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)- known for his unconventional but successful policies.

In an attempt to clip Pakistan’s terror charity Jamaat ud Dawa’s (JuD) financial wings further, the U.S. Department of the Treasury on 25 June (2014 once again targeted the leadership and financial networks of the organization. The JuD (formerly Markaz Dawat-ul-Irshad-MDI) which is a social charily front for the deadly Jihad group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has been operating with impunity inside Pakistan since its inception.

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.