During the Asian-African Conference Commemoration Summit in Jakarta, the Indonesian president in his opening address put the record straight that "The view that the world economic problems can only be solved by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank is an out-dated view." One can hardly hear such a scathing attack from an incumbent leader against the financial-troikas in Asia.

On May 16, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would tweet: ‘First Indian Prime Minister is visiting Mongolia after 60 years of our diplomatic relation’. If China is repositioning itself in the Silk Route (ancient India was a major link too) through larger economic thrust, India has to travel in the same breadth and length with the teachings and philosophy of Buddhism in North and East Asia, as Buddhism flourished prior to the Silk Route era.

The decision to buy 36 Rafale fighters exposes the complex institutional mechanisms in defence procurement.

Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government came to power in India in 2014, the nomenclature of policies has been either Sanskritised or Indianised. With a tech-savvy Prime Minister on the steering wheel, the government is communicating with the general public through catchy one-liners that are quite apt for character-restricted social media like Twitter. Latest in this catchy pronouncement is the Foreign Secretary’s 'SAARC Yatra', as he rounded up tours of four neighbouring countries in the first week of March.   

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.

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.

The 'POTUS' – The President of the United States left India after witnessing a colourful 66th Republic Day celebrations on January 26  as the chief guest.  Despite a brief spoil sport played by nature on the Day, the shortened three-day visit (Jan 25-27) of the US President to New Delhi has created an uneasy ripple in Beijing.

The 20th Conference of Parties (COP) to UN sponsored Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is going to be held from 1 to 12 December in Lima, Peru. Since the US-China bilateral climate deal on the sideline of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) early this month, the world has eerily been watching India's 'breaking news' short of indication of targeted greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. Between APEC and COP 20 (Lima), the 18th SAARC summit (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation:26-27 November) in Nepal provides a breathing space for India.

The issue of children engaged in armed conflict has often caught the attention of academics, policy-makers, and rights advocacy groups around the world. Ironically, however, it has completely escaped the same attention of the government agencies in terms of formulating legislation or policies which could end or at least control this dangerous phenomenon. India is a case in point.

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?