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Examining the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: Issues and Challenges
Effective implementation of the CCTS will enable Indian enterprises to demonstrate their commitment to low-carbon production processes using green technologies, which can reduce CBAM costs and expand green energy-intensive export opportunities in the EU market.Critical Mineral Supply Chains: Trilateral Perspectives from Japan, India...
The Indo-Pacific countries should use their domestic capacities optimally and participate in global supply chains with a diverse range of partner countries in mining, processing, assembling, and final-use activities. India is currently discussing trilateral cooperation with France and Japan.Decoding India’s FTA Journey: What does the Future Hold?
As the global trade policy has moved away from World Trade Organisation (WTO) led multilateralism, towards Regional Trade Agreements, this blog tries to understand the evolution of India’s Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) strategy.2024: Brazil’s G20 Year
Brazil gears up to lead the G20 with a three-point agenda focusing on combating hunger, poverty, and inequality; sustainable development; and global governance reform.Quad-ASEAN Technology Cooperation for Critical Minerals Supply Chains
As a part of CSEP's ongoing work on securing critical minerals for India’s green technology and net-zero transition, this analysis incorporates emerging thoughts on Quad-ASEAN cooperation in creating resilient regional supply chains.Diplomacy in a Changing World
Shivshankar Menon explores the shifting tides of diplomacy. This piece examines the evolving landscape of international relations in a changing world.The Poor Should Control Carbon Emissions, But the Rich Must Eliminate Them
If the world must achieve zero emissions by 2050, it’s impractical and unfair to require all countries to reach that goal simultaneously.Policy Analysis: Mine Closure in India
In India, existing mine closure legislation lacks provisions to adequately address the socio-economic and cultural aspects, highlighting the need for an improved policy paradigm.BIMSTEC at 25: Fostering Sustainable Regional Cooperation
Bhavyanshi Sinha's interview of Sreeradha Datta offers a comprehensive view of the current and future prospects of BIMSTEC as a regional initiative.Projecting Critical Mineral Needs for India’s Renewable Electricity...
For critical minerals, especially those with no known domestic resources, mineral-wise strategies are required to ensure their robust access for India’s manufacturing needs and climate change mitigation ambitions.Nepali Migrant Workers in India: A Rite of Passage to Adulthood
While Nepal has experienced significant political and social transformations, the economic conditions and precarity that force Nepali men to migrate in the first place have not changed.Cross-Cultural Connections Across South Asia
Anindita Sinh interviews Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai, on her book, "India, Sri Lanka and the SAARC Region: History, Popular Culture and Heritage" and the unorthodox approach to interpreting culture and connectivity in South Asia.More of the same? India’s Strategic Balance
In this episode of the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs, Constantino Xavier discusses India’s foreign policy and its relationship with Russia.Mining Matters Episode 3: Underlining the Critical Role of Critical...
Ranjan Mathai, Former Foreign Secretary of India, joins Ganesh Sivamani to discuss what India must do to secure its domestic and international supply chains of ‘critical minerals’.An Indian View on ASEAN
This is an edited and revised adaptation of remarks by Shivshankar Menon from the E-Launch and Discussion of The State of Southeast Asia: 2023 Survey Report conducted by the ASEAN Studies Centre at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, on February 9, 2023.How India Budgets to Become a Leading Power
Constantino Xavier and Riya Sinha comment on the MEA Budget and how India can become a leading power in an increasingly uncertain, competitive and complex international arena.Beyond the Imphal and Kohima Campaigns: Japan and Northeast India
In this edition of Sambandh Scholars Speak, Anindita Sinh interviews Mayumi Murayama on her book, Northeast India and Japan: Engagement through Connectivity, co-edited with Sanjoy Hazarika and Preeti Gill.New Economic Ways between South and Southeast Asia
The Sambandh blog looks at new approaches to strengthening trade and revitalising economic links between South Asia and Southeast Asia.Decoding the Pashtuns in the Afghanistan–Pakistan Region
Riya Sinha interviews Tilak Devasher, Member, National Security Advisory Board of India, and Consultant, Vivekananda International Foundation, on his fourth book, The Pashtuns: A Contested History.The Media in Afghanistan: Local Perceptions of Regional Players
In this edition of Sambandh Scholars Speak, Nitika Nayar interviews Hazrat Bahar, on his book chapter, “Image of China in Afghan Media."It is Unfair to Push Poor Countries to Reach Zero Carbon Emissions too...
Rahul Tongia argues about the need to shift the conversation from futuristic Net-Zero ambitions toward practical and equitable emissions trajectories in this year's COP.Fresh Perspectives on Border Studies: A Regional Account
If South Asia gets connected to Central Asia, three South Asian countries will reap maximum benefits - India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.Follow-up Thoughts on India’s Grid 2030: A Glass Half Cloudy
India should aggressively go down the RE path, but not focus on just RE. Energy efficiency, smart systems, energy security, local manufacturing, livelihoods, fiscal balances, etc. are all very important.Mining Matters Episode 2: Mining for Growth and Development – A...
Ganesh Sivamani discusses the Indian mining sector, and how it can become a catalyst for the country’s growth and development with Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice-President (Corporate Services), Tata Steel.Climate Change in Bangladesh: Global Players vs Local Activism
Social and ecological change in Bangladesh today has been profoundly shaped by colonialism and its legacies, so recognition of this helps us to better understand climate change today.New Mining Techniques: Exploring the Deep Sea
Ishita Kapoor's blog explores the possibility of deep sea bed mining while also safeguarding the fragile ecosystem of ocean beds.Mining Matters Episode 1: Exploration – A Geologist’s Perspective
In the first episode of Mining Matters, “Exploration – A Geologist’s Perspective”, Ishita Kapoor discusses various issues relating to exploration, auctions and sustainability, including the environment and affected communities, with Dr Nik Senapati, President of the Australia India Business Council in Queensland.Sikkim and the Geostrategic Lessons from Himalayan History
The Indo-Sikkim Treaty of 1950 was a recognition of the fact that Tibet’s occupation by China had compromised India’s strategic interests and Sikkim had become of particular relevance to the future security of India.In Dialogue with Jaimini Bhagwati on “The Geoeconomic Effects of the...
Jaimini Bhagwati, Distinguished Fellow, CSEP, and former Indian Foreign Service officer, talks to Constantino Xavier, Fellow, CSEP about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine crises on India's economic interests in the short and medium term.New Narratives from the North-East: Domestic Politics and Regional...
Jahnavi Mukul's interview of Sanjoy Hazarika sheds light on the historical perspective and political developments in the North East India by exploring the overarching question of the NER’s difference with the rest of India.In Dialogue with Shivshankar Menon on the Russia-Ukraine War
In the first episode of In Dialogue, Shivshankar Menon, Distinguished Fellow, CSEP, and former NSA, talks to Constantino Xavier, Fellow, CSEP, about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis, India’s stand, and the implications in the Indo-pacific region.India’s China Conundrum: Learning from the Past?
Tibet today has ceased to be a factor in India-China relations and India can no longer leverage its past relationship with Tibet for resolution of the present problem with China .Ladakh’s Transformation from a Connecting Bridge to a Borderland
The Sambandh blog attempts to understand the complex history of Ladakh and its transformation from being a bridge between the plains of India and Central Asia, to becoming a deeply contested and heavily guarded territory between China and India.Union Budget 2022-23: Key Takeaways by CSEP Scholars
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2022-23 on February 1. CSEP scholars Rakesh Mohan, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Vikram Singh Mehta, and Jaimini Bhagwati analyse the Budget and reflect on some of the key takeaways.Jungle Passports: Navigating the India-Bangladesh Borderlands
The Sambandh blog explores the mobility and the equilibrium surrounding the lives of the Muslim and Garo Christian communities in the volatile India - Banladesh border zones.From Insurgent Group to Interim Government: Taliban’s Legitimacy and...
India is surrounded by neighbours increasingly confronted by conflict and civil war. Understanding how rebel groups build legitimacy and come to govern large civilian populations is critical for New Delhi to craft suitable and innovative policy responses.The Kashmir Back Channel 2004 – 2007: Prospects for India-Pakistan...
India and Pakistan have, in the past, entered a dialogue process in the wake of intensely violent periods. The Kashmir talks that began in 2004 are an example.Ethnic Rebellion: Armed Struggle in Myanmar’s Borderlands
Riya Sinha interviews David Brenner on the dynamics of conflict and explores how to engage with EAOs (Ethnic Armed Organisations) in constructive ways in the Myanmar borderland.Paradiplomacy in Northeast India: Assam Acts East
Hazarika’s Paradigms of Paradiplomacy in the Northeast is pioneering in shedding light on the paradiplomatic efforts made by these North-eastern states, with a particular focus on Assam.The Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka’s Emerging Maritime Identity
The blog explores Sri Lanka’s non-aligned strategy over the years, and the country’s multipronged approach to secure its interests.Balancing India’s electricity grid in 2030: A detailed, granular...
India has some of the most aggressive RE targets in the world. How can we offer solutions to balance the electricity grid and osupply and demand?One Year of CSEP: Essential Reading on Economic Growth and Finance
On the one-year anniversary of CSEP, we bring you eight essential readings on the Indian economy.Leveraging India’s Northeast Region for Regional Connectivity
Riya Sinha interviews Sanjay Kathuria and Priya Mathur on the changing scenario of the Northeast Region (NER) of India.Still Non-Aligned? Sri Lankan Politics and Foreign Policy
How Sri Lanka's internal politics and socio-economic changes under the Rajapaksas-led government inform Colombo's foreign policyNepal’s Turn to China: Opportunities and Challenges
Amish Raj Mulmi on his new book, All Roads Lead North: Nepal’s Turn to China, and how Nepal views its northern neighbourPartition and Pragmatism in India-Pakistan Relations
In Pallavi Raghavan's new book, we find out how a history of India-Pakistan cooperation 70 years ago matters to foreign policy nowIn India-Bhutan Borderlands, An Informal Exchange Rate System Thrives
In this edition, Saneet Chakradeo interviews Ankur Sharma on the parallel currency market in India-Bhutan borderlandsPartitions and the Periphery: India, Burma, and Patkai borderlands
In this edition, Nitika Nayar interviews Bérénice Guyot-Réchard on her recent work on India and Burma's 'unfinished partition'.Upstream-downstream politics: South Asia’s water discourse
In this edition, we interview Sunil Amrith on his book Unruly Waters: How Mountain Rivers and Monsoons Have Shaped South Asia’s History.Deconstructing China’s infrastructure investments in Nepal
In this edition, we interview Galen Murton, and Austin Lord, on their article, ‘Trans-Himalayan power corridors: Infrastructural politics and China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Nepal’India-Pakistan relations and Indian think tanks
In this edition, we interview Stuti Bhatnagar on her book “India's Pakistan Policy: How Think Tanks Are Shaping Foreign Relations.”Sustaining trade routes in the Himalayan borderlands
In this edition, Riya Sinha interviews Dr. Tina Harris, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Amsterdam, on her book chapter, “The Mobile and Material in Himalayan Borderlands.”Infrastructure across the India-Nepal borderlands: A photo-essay
This visual essay covers fieldwork and findings on how land acquisition and related challenges have delayed strategic infrastructure projects.2020 reading list: Scholars at CSEP recommend
We have curated a list of non-fiction must-reads, handpicked by our scholars, here at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress. Happy reading!Beyond binaries: The coming together of Indian non-profit and for-profit...
The study looks at the evolving dynamics of the civil society/non-profit sector and examines variations in governance, changes in funding etc. which influence positive outcomes, while also looking at what constitutes positive outcomes.Buddhism and the India-China rivalry in the Himalayas
Himalayan geopolitics is defined by a complex web of political and cultural ties among the diverse sects of Buddhism.India-Bhutan hydropower cooperation: Perceptions and politics
There is growing public concern in Bhutan regarding India’s increasing development cooperation in the country over the last few years.Reforms in the mining sector: Comments and recommendations
The Ministry of Mines issued a notice on proposed reforms in the mining sector under nine different categories. This blog piece gives recommendations and suggestions in response to these reforms as well as additional comments on making the mining sector a catalyst for economic growth and development.India needs to strengthen, not dilute, environmental assessments
The Indian government’s proposed EIA draft has been criticised for diluting the environment assessment process. What are good international precedents that India can follow?India’s energy transition: Coal is down but not out
The coal transition is already underway. There may be a lot of uncertainty, but what is even more certain is that the future will not look like the past – and it shouldn’t. The future should be cleaner, more inclusive, more efficient, and more secure, not to mention cost-effective.Reviving energy cooperation in South Asia
Mirza Sadaqat Huda’s book offers unique insights into addressing the underlying problems in regional energy cooperation.Why India’s push for private-sector coal mining won’t raise carbon...
After decades of public-sector dominance, and controls that relegated the private sector to minority status in coal mining, India recently launched commercial coal mining via coal mine auctions. Proponents argue this will help bring in not just more capital and improved technology, but also improve the quality of production and output; critics worry this will lock ...Bhutan’s democratic transition and ties to India
In this edition, Dr. Constantino Xavier interviews Dr. Sonam Kinga on his book “Democratic Transition in Bhutan: Political Contests as Moral Battles” published in October 2019 by Routledge India. The Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan offer comparative insights on how traditional Hindu and Buddhist monarchies have witnessed different political fates. ...Mughal empire and the making of a region: Locating South Asia in early...
In this edition, Sofia Shehana Basheer interviews Dr. Manjeet S. Pardesi on his recent work on South Asian international history. The paper titled “Mughal Hegemony and the Emergence of South Asia as a “Region” for Regional Order-building” was published in the European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 25(1) in 2019. Regions have ...Conflict, conservation, and cooperation across the India-Bhutan border
In this edition of our blog series, Umika Chanana interviews Dr. Anwesha Dutta on her article “Forest becomes frontline: Conservation and counter-insurgency in a space of violent conflict in Assam, Northeast India” published in Political Geography Vol. 77, 2020. In the article [1], Dr. Anwesha Dutta construes the evolution of separatist movements that stimulates ...COVID-19 is an opportunity to clean up India’s coal power plants
The arrival of COVID-19 in India led to a lockdown requiring 1.3 billion people to stay at home. Economic activity, at least in the first two versions of the lockdown, almost came to a standstill. By many standards, this was the world’s strictest lockdown. Total demand of grid electricity between March 25 ...Interpreting the India-Nepal border dispute
On May 8, India’s defence minister virtually inaugurated a new 80 km-long road in the Himalayas, connecting to the border with China, at the Lipulekh pass. The Nepali government protested immediately, contending that the road crosses territory that it claims and accusing India of changing the status quo without diplomatic consultations. Among ...Interview: On India’s neighbourhood, regional institutions and...
Q. Given your expertise in South Asia, by making use of the framework established within comparative politics how do you make sense of India’s South Asian policies in recent times? To what extent does it differ for various regional settings such as BIMSTEC, BBIN, and SAARC? Constantino Xavier: The big puzzle that ...Linking border-making and sovereignty in postcolonial South Asia
In this edition of the Sambandh blog, Riya Sinha interviews Dr. Elisabeth Leake and Dr. Daniel Haines on their article, Lines of (In)Convenience: Sovereignty and Border-Making in Postcolonial South Asia, 1947-1965, published in the Journal of Asian Studies. The article combines archival history methodology with conceptual insights from political geography and critical ...India and Bangladesh: Border enclaves and ‘acts of belonging’
For decades, India-Bangladesh relations were marred by the question of a comprehensive settlement of the land boundary between both countries, an important aspect of which included facilitating the belated exchange of border enclaves. These were pockets of land embedded entirely in the foreign territory of its neighbour complicating the state’s administrative control ...District Mineral Foundation funds can help COVID-19 hit mining areas
The Prime Minister of India held a meeting on April 30, 2020 to consider reforms in the mines and coal sector to jump-start the Indian economy in the backdrop of COVID-19. The mining sector, which is a primary supplier of raw materials to the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, is being considered to ...How India-China rivalry affects secondary state behaviour in South Asia
Saneet Chakradeo interviews Rohan Mukherjee and Darren Lim on their article “Hedging in South Asia: balancing economic and security interests amid Sino-Indian competition” published in International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 2019. Q. In your article [1], you write on the concept of hedging, which describes the behaviour of secondary states amidst competition ...Are slums more vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Mumbai
India has been highly susceptible to the spread of pandemics. The 1918 pandemic caused devastation across the country, with an excess mortality of 4.5%. While a century has passed since then, the present conditions of dense living and a weak public healthcare system makes the possibility of the rapid spread of the ...The road from India to Nepal: Development assistance and connectivity...
Regional connectivity in South Asia faces challenges that are unique to the region. According to a recent Policy Brief under our regional connectivity initiative, Sambandh, South Asia is arguably the least connected region in the world. Nepal is unique owing to various factors ranging from its terrain, its strategic location as the common ...India and Myanmar: The role of domestic calculations in the boundary...
In this edition of our blog series on issues related to India’s neighborhood connectivity, Nidhi Varma interviews Avinash Paliwal, on his recent work “A Cat’s Paw of Indian Reactionaries”? Strategic Rivalry and Domestic Politics at the India–China–Myanmar Tri-Junction published in Asian Security, 2020. Avinash is the Deputy Director of the South Asia Institute and Lecturer ...Utilising District Mineral Foundation funds to fight the COVID-19 crisis...
In wake the of the growing COVID-19 crisis and the strain on healthcare resources, India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26 announced that District Mineral Foundation (DMF) funds can be used by state governments to augment healthcare. This includes supplementing healthcare facilities, screening and testing requirements, and any other support that ...The early days of a global pandemic: A timeline of COVID-19 spread and...
The COVID-19 pandemic has sent shockwaves throughout the global economy. Some economies have been affected more severely than others. It started with a few deaths in Wuhan, China, with the earliest reported case on November 17, 2019. By December 31, 2019, when the Chinese authorities first reported it to the World Health ...COVID-19 | Does India have enough doctors? An analysis of growing COVID-19...
Coronavirus cases are quickly increasing across the globe, with just 580 reported cases (on January 22, 2020), in the span of a few weeks, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases have increased to over half a million across the world. The surge in coronavirus cases has crippled health systems in many ...COVID-19 | Is India’s health infrastructure equipped to handle an...
With growing number of coronavirus cases in India (and worldwide), policymakers have sprung into action – more information is being disseminated about preventive measures such as hand washing and not touching the face. Social distancing has been suggested as a tool to “flatten the curve”, or in other words, prevent the health ...Fuzzy frames: Mobile borders versus rigid boundaries in India’s...
In the first of our blog series on issues related to India’s neighbourhood connectivity, Nidhi Varma interviews Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, Visiting Research Associate, Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi on his recent work in antiAtlas Journal “Informal Markets and Fuzzy Flows in Fragile Border Zones.” Q: In your article,[1] you examine the differences ...How to hasten the energy transition in the developing world
Emerging economies are expected to experience the highest growth in energy demand in the coming decades, mostly because they are starting from a low or modest base. This means their future energy trajectories must be at an intersection of inclusive, affordable, and sustainable growth. However, for all the potential that advanced energy technologies ...Sustainable and inclusive growth in South Asia
On November 4, 2019, Brookings India hosted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a panel discussion around reforms based on inclusive and sustainable growth in South Asia with a particular focus on India. The IMF paper, titled “Is South Asia Ready for Take Off? A Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Agenda“, was presented ...Performance of the Supreme Court and tenure of Chief Justices of India: An...
This is a tentative and an exploratory analysis to assess the productivity of the Supreme Court of India (SC) under different Chief Justices of India (CJI) in terms of accomplished adjudications, which is its core function. In particular, we study the number of judgements passed by the apex court per day during ...Women’s Reservation Bill: What can India learn from other countries?
Globally, women remain vastly underrepresented in local and national politics. As of 2018, according to the Inter Parliamentary Union, only 24%[i] of parliamentarians are women. Can public policy, in general, and affirmative action, in particular, result in political inclusion of women? Data from the International Institute for Democratic and Electoral Assistance, Stockholm ...The persistence of memory: The burden of Alzheimer’s disease in...
Between 2001 and 2011, India’s elderly population increased from 70 million to 104 million (Census estimates). In 2011, the population over 60 years of age comprised 8.6% of the total population. With falling population growth rates this share is only expected to increase further in the coming decades. As the population ages, ...Women’s Political Participation and Development
On July 29th, 2019, Brookings India hosted Sonia Bhalotra for a Development Seminar on Women’s Political Participation and Development. She presented two co-authored papers, “Women Legislators and Economic Performance” (2018)[1] and “Maternal Mortality and Women’s Political Participation” (2018)[2]. The two discussants for the event were Atishi, leader of Aam Aadmi Party and a ...Assessing gender in the North East
On July 19, 2019, Brookings India hosted a Development Seminar on gender in the North East, under its Property Rights Initiative and Gender Secretariat Initiative, which is a platform for developing and discussing research that fuels impact on policy related to gender in India. Patricia Mukhim, veteran journalist and editor of Shillong ...Missing women patients: Gender discrimination in access to healthcare
Gender discrimination in access to healthcare has not been systematically studied in India or many other developing countries. This is primarily due to a lack of reliable data. In this paper, we use extensive data collected on clinical appointments from a large public-funded tertiary care hospital with a robust hospital information system ...From the iPhone to Huawei: The new geopolitics of technology
In meetings in various international capitals this summer from a gathering of defense ministers in Singapore to a meeting of economic policy heavyweights and CEOs in Paris discussions frequently revolved around the impact of technology. Of course, technological developments have long had implications for the global economy and international security, whether the ...India 2024: A green India
India faces a variety of challenges related to energy and the environment. Here are several initiatives that the next government could contemplate early on in its term. Integrate Energy and Environmental Policy The various ministries currently engaged with energy and the environment should be collapsed into one omnibus Ministry of Energy and ...India 2024: An energised India
Providing affordable and accessible energy to every citizen while ensuring energy security has been the cornerstone of India’s energy policy. Over the years, this policy has been shaped by numerous socio-economic and political factors including the dichotomy between a nationalised Indian energy sector (upstream and downstream) and a more ‘liberated’ economy; centre-state ...India 2024: A sustainable India
How things change in five years. We have seen many positive steps, some with effort, some part of broader global trends. Nearly all homes in India today have an electricity connection, and the prices of solar power have crashed to a level where newspapers talk of “grid parity.” Carbon is a universal ...India 2024: A productive India
India’s policy default in the energy sector has been a focus on infrastructure addition with the goal of sufficiency. This made sense based on the deficits it was facing after Independence, especially in the electricity sector. Reliable and assured energy is also a prerequisite for robust industrial and manufacturing growth. But now, ...India 2024: A clean India
India continues to suffer from a number of systemic challenges, many dating back decades, when it comes to governance, the delivery of services, and financial sustainability. The next government should focus its efforts on a few areas. Cut Out Middlemen Today, a major scourge on governance in India – including in the ...Why women candidates are more likely to run as independents
In a democratic polity, political representation is an inherent aspect of political participation. In this view, whether or not women are able to exercise political participation depends, to a large extent, on the terms of their inclusion and the extent to which the rules of the game enable or allow for their ...What India’s 65 million ‘missing women’ mean for the...
As the largest democracy in the world, India has boasted a consistent record of free and fair elections. A democratic government derives its legitimacy and power to implement policy from the “consent of the governed”. But if a significant chunk of the population is “missing”, does it reflect the true consent of ...The four “I”s undermining democracy
It will be an important year for democracy around the world. In April and May, India heads to the polls in what will be the largest organized political activity in history. Israel, Indonesia, and Ukraine just held very contentious elections while Spain, Australia, Canada, Tunisia, Argentina, Sri Lanka, and the European Parliament ...Teenage girls in India: Aspirations and reality
There are 80 million teenage girls in India. A clear understanding of their current realities and their aspirations is essential in order to design effective policies for them. However, a key impediment for data-driven policy design, in order to address the needs of teenage girls in India, is the absence of any ...Studying international relations in India
Thank you for asking me to the All India International and Area Studies Convention 2019. You have chosen an ambitious topic: “Ascending India: Reflections on Global and Regional Dimensions” and have a packed agenda in the next three days. I must confess to being a bit surprised at being asked to speak ...Maritime connectivity and security in the Indo-Pacific
Thank you for the kind invitation to address this august gathering in Bhubaneshwar today, and my Congratulations to Ambassador Lalit Mansingh and his colleagues at the Kalinga International Foundation on this wonderful new initiative. There are perhaps few better places than Odisha to discuss India’s growing role in world affairs. After all ...Around the halls: Brookings experts on what to watch at the COP 24 climate...
The 24th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) begins Monday, December 3, in Katowice, Poland. Normally the host plays a big leadership role. This is the third time Poland has physically hosted the COP more than any other country, except Germany (which hosts the ...Connecting India: How roads, teledensity and electricity have improved...
Connectivity is a prime factor in determining livability, employment and growth in a country. In this view, a well-connected India provides the prospect of a better India from better access to services to better livelihoods and opportunities. Setting out to understand how connectivity in India had improved over time, we decided to ...Increasing private practitioner engagement with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that is most prevalent in South Asia. It is caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis and primarily affects the lungs. A small fraction of infected individuals develop symptoms and the capability of transmission. In 2015, India accounted for 2.2 million of the 9 million tuberculosis cases in ...India’s strategic landscape: An assessment
In trying to assess the strategic environment in which India finds itself in 2018, it may be useful to make eight broad observations. One, the Indian economy is growing. In 2018, according to the International Monetary Fund, India surpassed France to have the world’s sixth largest gross domestic product (GDP). In the ...Understanding India, its energy needs and ambitions, and the global...
At least one newspaper headline this year declared that renewable energy in India is now cheaper than coal and that coal is surely on its way out. However, recent research from my Brookings colleague Samantha Gross and me shows that the transition will not be nearly as smooth as some imagine. Renewable ...Using technology to improve the efficacy of school feeding programmes
Heralded as the world’s largest school feeding programme, the Mid-Day Meal Programme in India reaches out to over 120 million children in over 1.26 million schools. State governments, along with funding from the national government, supply free lunches to children in primary and upper primary classes on working days in government schools. ...India rising: Soft power and the world’s largest democracy
Arguably, few phrases are as misused in international relations as “soft power.” When he coined the term, Joseph Nye captured the important and (at the time) poorly-studied phenomenon in international affairs of “getting others to want the outcomes that you want,” predicated on the attractiveness of one’s culture, political values, and foreign ...The ascent of Artificial Intelligence: How will AI change the...
Do machines make mistakes? How often and at what cost? When can we truly trust machines? From SIRI to self-driving cars, Google’s search algorithms to autonomous weapons and drones, the past few decades have witnessed some of the fastest, almost meteoric, rises in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Today, as different nation-states make choices ...The World Cup exposes the limits of globalization
International soccer, often known around the world as football, is undoubtedly a beneficiary and a symbol of globalization. Over 70 percent of players at this year’s FIFA World Cup play professionally for clubs outside their native countries. Chinese sponsors have shelled out $835 million on the event, contributing more than a third ...Embarrassment of riches? The rise of RE in India and steps to manage...
Does India have ‘too much’ electricity capacity? Every electricity grid operates in a balance between supply and demand, usually with a slight surplus of capacity to meet eventualities and uncertainty too much surplus becomes expensive. Surplus has two sides: either the demand is lower than projected, or supply is higher than required ...Transition to electric vehicles in Karnataka and India: What’s real,...
The recent policy push for electrifying mobility in India has spurred a host of national and sub-national policies, private sector investment in technology and infrastructure, and business models piloted or deployed in the electric vehicles (EV) segment. Many plans are based on targets or manufacturing, and there are few conversations about holistic ...Artificial intelligence and data analytics in India
Advances in artificial intelligence and data analytics are propelling innovation in many parts of the world.[1] China, for example, has committed $150 billion towards its goal of becoming a world leader by 2030.[2] And while the United States government is investing only $1.1 billion in non-classified AI research, its private sector is ...Brookings India consortium brings together researchers analysing National...
The National Family Health Survey 2015-16 conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provides information at an individual, household, district, state, and country level about various metrics related to health. The survey’s 800,000+ household observations are appropriately weighted by the International Institute of Population Sciences to provide accurate statistics at ...Manufacturing jobs: Implications for productivity and inequality
Declining shares of manufacturing jobs in overall employment have been a concern for policymakers for years in advanced and some developing economies. This concern stems from the widely held belief that manufacturing plays a unique role as a catalyst for productivity growth and income convergence and a source of well-paid jobs for ...Regulating a Digital Economy: An Indian Perspective
The “fourth industrial revolution” which has been characterised by end-to-end digitalisation has led to unprecedented increases in connectivity and data flows. By 2017, Asia had the largest number of internet users in the world, with 1.9 billion people online. Joshua Meltzer, Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution, spoke ...Is inflation dead? Development Seminar challenges conventional wisdom on...
Inflation in the U.S. has averaged 1.9 per cent between 1996 and 2009 while mean inflation rate in 21 advanced economies (AE), excluding the U.S., has averaged some 25 basis points lower than that. During a Brookings India Development Seminar, Surjit Bhalla, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council and Chairman, ...How to solve issue of rising non-performing assets in Indian public sector...
The Indian banking system is beleaguered with non-performing assets (NPAs). According to the Reserve Bank of India’s Financial Stability Report of December 2017, they currently stand at 10.2 per cent of all assets, while stressed assets, which are believed to be NPAs in effect, stand at 12.8 per cent. Related frauds amount ...Aid wars: U.S.-Soviet competition in India
The issue of development aid has significant contemporary relevance. Today, many longstanding donor countries like the United States debate the efficacy of aid, while new donors such as China and India explore the possibility of using economic assistance for political purposes. As David Engerman, Professor of History at Brandeis University, shows in ...Commercial coal mining in India: A possible but not irrefutable game...
The recent Cabinet decision to open up coal mining to commercial miners, who will now have the freedom to sell coal in the open market, is an interesting development. For decades since its nationalisation, the public sector Coal India Limited (CIL) has dominated coal production in India, producing some 82 per cent ...Is future planning of electricity grid keeping India’s pace of...
A seminar and discussion at Brookings India recently focused on the impact of electrification on the electricity demand growth and also included insights from global experiences and the possible policy implications for India. Key speaker at this event was Johannes Urpelainen of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Founding Director ...Facebook Chat on India-US relations
Q: Dhruva, according to you which sectors will be the focus of the India-U.S. dialogue? Dhruva: Thanks for your question. The India-U.S. agenda is very broad, and will remain so. In the official meetings this weekend a lot will come up, including trade, immigration, security, etc. I suspect the meeting between Modi ...Growing the U.S.-India economic relationship: The only way forward
The June 26 White House meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and United States President Donald Trump will be an opportunity to reaffirm America’s commitment to deeper bilateral economic ties and to signal support for India, an economic and demographic powerhouse in Asia. While starkly different, the two leaders are ...Trump’s Paris Agreement withdrawal: What it means and what comes...
Today, President Donald Trump announced that he will withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change. It was adopted in 2015 by 195 nations, with 147 ratifying it including the United States, which is the world’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter. Experts offer their analyses on what the ...Dhruva Jaishankar on how the H-1B visa controversy will affect India
https://twitter.com/ABCNews24/status/826396780057079808 Brookings India Fellow for Foreign Policy Dhruva Jaishankar spoke to ABC News on the future of Indian workers on highly skilled visas (H-1B) in the US under President Donald Trump. Mr Jaishankar said: “There has been a lot of criticism of this programme within the US, irrespective of Donald Trump, including ...Australia-India relations: poised for take off
Relations between India and the United States before the redefining changes of the past two decades were possibly best summarised in the title of a book by the American diplomat Dennis Kux: Estranged Democracies. But that phrase could just as easily have applied, more recently, to India and Australia. Despite their having ...It’s time to resuscitate the Asia-Pacific Quad
2016 was quite a year. The Middle East continued its violent downward spiral; a failed coup in Turkey erased the last vestiges of democracy in that country; the new president of the Philippines launched a bloody, nation-wide vigilante war on drugs; North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test, and its biggest to ...If State Elections were General
On December 11, the results of five Indian state elections – in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram – were announced. These will be the last state elections before the 2019 Indian general election, about which speculation will now begin in earnest. Predicting national elections is a notoriously difficult exercise; the ...“Modi government has been hardening stance against Pakistan for a...
Brookings India Foreign Policy Fellow Dhruva Jaishankar was part of a panel discussion on NDTV on the next steps for India post the Uri attacks where 18 Indian Army soldiers were killed. Anchor: Politics does guide the decisions of all governments everywhere in the world. You can’t divorce politics from governance. How much ...Indian Ocean region: A pivot for India’s growth
“[Matsya said] ‘I have saved you from this cataclysm’ [and Manu] set about his work of creating all beings in proper and exact order.” –The Mahabharata, iii.186 The Indian Ocean matters today, arguably more than ever. It is a major conduit for international trade, especially energy. Its littoral is vast, densely populated, ...“Trump’s anti-trade rhetoric does not create an opening for...
In an interview to The Quint on July 22, Foreign Policy Fellow Dhruva Jaishankar offered a comprehensive analysis of the U.S. Presidential election campaign, and the ramifications of the election for India and the rest of the world. The current state of affairs in the Republican and Democratic Parties He started with ...India-U.S. | Looking back: Highs, lows, and steady progress
India and the United States have come a long way since 2008, the year that Barack Obama was elected U.S. President. Earlier that same year, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the unusual step of putting the future of his government on the line over a matter of foreign policy – specifically, ...What China’s rise means for India
As a rising power, China is determined to have an independent say in the economic, political, and security order around her and in the world. What does China’s rise mean for India?
Priorities for India’s health policy
India’s health care sector is poised at a crossroads, and the direction taken now will be critical in determining its trajectory for years to come. In a recent Brookings India paper on the Indian government’s health care policy, Shamika Ravi and Rahul Ahluwalia argue that it should prioritize expanding and effectively delivering those aspects ...All eyes on Pakistan’s commitment to peace in the region
WPS Sidhu argues that Pakistan walking away from the Ufa Agreement talks will be seen as Pakistan walking away from terrorism talks This interview first appeared on CNN-IBN channel. Watch the full discussion here. Key highlights This government is not going to allow Pakistan to meet Kashmir separatists on its own Pakistan pulling ...Watching how Modi’s UAE visit translates on ground
WPS Sidhu outlines important issues to watch in India-UAE relations, from investments to countering terrorism, Indian workers rights and diplomacy in the Middle East region. Watch the full interview on CNN-IBN here. The bottomline is, first, the amount of investment that comes into India. We know the UAE has one of the biggest sovereign ...UAE visit part of Modi’s Look East, Link West strategy
WPS Sidhu would like to wait and watch out the India-UAE cooperation on counter-terrorism is actually going to play out This interview first appeared on 17 August 2015 on CNN-IBN. Watch the full interview here. What is your assessment of the India-UAE counter-terrorism cooperation talks? In many ways it is unprecedented but ...How great power competition has changed
Power is now more evenly distributed in the international system. As a result, there is rising geopolitical competition among great powers. Shivshankar Menon lays out the several consequences of this increased competition.The Iran deal: Implications for U.S.-India relations
Should the deal with Iran on nuclear non-proliferation be concluded this summer, it would also vindicate India’s preference for diplomacy over military action to address contentious issues, particularly in the Middle East.No Imminent Renewables “Death Spiral” for India’s...
Rahul Tongia explains the challenges facing utility companies in India from distributed generation of renewables and a tiered pricing system in need of reform.Smart Grids in India: Separating Hype from Hope
Rahul Tongia discusses why Smart Grids in India have become a distinct possibility, instead of a science experiment, and why they can succeed now.
Why Renewable Energy Is Harder in India than in Other Countries
Rahul Tongia discusses the challenges of renewable energy sources in India and offers recommendations to help better integrate renewables into the grid.
The Concept of Strategic Balance: Relevance and Reality – An Asian...
Introduction: The concept of strategic balance was developed by the two superpowers in the context of East-West nuclear contestation during the Cold War. It was primarily inspired by the advent of nuclear weapons, though it also drew on the unique history, particularly of the two world wars and the massive destruction suffered ...Contemporary Geopolitics
Senior Fellow WPS Sidhu made presentations at The Université Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), as part of the teaching and research multidisciplinary project set up around the “Institut des Etudes sur la guerre et la paix,” an international Chair devoted to the study of contemporary geostrategic issues. The three lectures focused on: Nuclear Disorder ...