'The race is now on for Indian IT firms to develop their AI prowess and focus on a software-first approach to services as the people element becomes more complicated with Trump's expected new regulations.'
Ten former Indian ambassadors, including four former foreign secretaries, who met at the Observer Research Foundation on Thursday have issued a statement that 'the 26/11 Mumbai attacks were clearly carried out by terrorists from Pakistan with the knowledge and support of sections of the Pakistan military and the ISI.'
Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said in New Delhi that, "Both India and Russia are keen to expand nuclear cooperation. All the preparatory work has been done." He was inaugurating an international conference on "Changing Patterns of Indo-Russian Cooperation" organised by the Observer Research Foundation. He said that India and Russia already have an "excellent relationship" and India considers relations with Russia very important.
The solution to globalisation is decentralisation and the solution to multilateralism is reformed multilateralism, not a 1945-version of multilateralism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.
The company further said, "We humbly respect the Supreme Court of India and if we make false advertisements or propaganda, we would not have any objections if honourable court imposes a fine of crores or even give us a death sentence."
"It may be a wild thought now. But the first Green Revolution came about as a result of very high water guzzling cropping systems from the irrigated regions of the country. But the NREGA holds the trigger for a second Green Revolution from the rain-fed areas, but using water conserving technologies and working with the smaller and poorer farmers while the first revolution came from the big farmers," Dr. Sharma said.
Describing climate change as one of the most serious security challenges the world is going to face, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, on Friday called for urgent United Nations reforms and making India and Brazil as permanent members of the Security Council.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Atul Gupta on Saturday said that the state's immune system has weakened affecting the self-correction processes in the government.
A candid dialogue between India and Pakistan's security establishments and intelligence services is the only way to move forward for both countries in securing peace, said Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan's former national security advisor and ex-ambassador to United States. While giving the first memorial lecture in memory of R.K Mishra, founder of Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, Durrani sketched the plan for bridging the gap between two countries.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the Bhopal tragedy have brought back into focus the issue of industrial accidents, contractual liabilities and questions of operator liability, notes Manoj Kumar and Lydia Powell in an Observer Research Foundation study, which will be published in a three-part series. Here goes the first part:
Despite the historic victory of Barack Obama in the Presidential elections and 'the change' he has promised, Unites State's foreign policy would continue to be guided by its national interest as it has been since World War II, feels former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra.Chairing a discussion on 'Indo-US Nuclear Deal: Impact on Asian Security Framework' at Observer Research Foundation, Mishra said the Bush administration had been working on two key US strategies.
'The choice is clear: We either embrace this transformation and cement our global leadership, or hesitate, lose ground, and fade into irrelevance.'
'We have to keep a watch because India-Sri Lanka has a history that whenever there has been a change in government, either the connectivity projects have been questioned or cancelled or revived.'
In the second part of a three-part series, Manoj Kumar and Lydia Powell, in an Observer Research Foundation study, discuss at length the various loopholes in the Nuclear Liability Bill, whose amended version was recently passed by the Lok Sabha.
Making a presentation on Indian Real Estate Sector: Slumdog or Millionaire at an event hosted by the Observer Research Foundation, Sameer Nayar, managing director and head of real estate (Asia Pacific), Credit Suisse, said that land use laws in India are the most antiquated.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
According to the book, Musharraf's crackdown on jihadi groups was only for the consumption of the media and the public. In reality, he had no intention to ban terrorist organisations or their activities in Pakistan.
'We would like India to play a much more vigorous role. Of course, there are constraints and inhibitions, but it is still possible for India to play a meaningful and proactive role.'
The former deputy secretary of state said the US president should make it clear to his Pakistani counterpart that support to terrorism and incursions across LoC is 'absolutely unacceptable'.
The external affairs minister also recalled how Pandit Nehru was hesitant in taking assistance from the United States following the 1962 war with China as he was unsure how it would be seen.
'The dominance of her party also meant that the institutions became lopsided -- whether it was the bureaucracy or the courts or the military.' 'She centralised power to the extent that you would see her representatives or her party office bearers having overly represented in these institutions.' 'That perhaps would have been the biggest blunder that she committed.'
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
'We cannot forget what happened in the past, and there is no room for complacency,' says Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
There is a growing sentiment in the world and the global South in a way embodies it. But there's also political resistance, he said.
Looking at the history of women representation in Lok Sabha, the percentage remained about 5 till the 1970s and it was only in 2009 that it could reach a double-digit figure.
'Religion and extremism is going to be a big force, a very important force, in Bangladesh's politics.'
Shiv Sena workers on Friday assaulted and blackened the face of an RTI activist at Latur in Marathwada region, after he "exposed" an illegal construction case.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton from the Australian side will meet with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
'If there is a push towards a Marxist oriented government it will be dangerous.' 'We have seen this in Nepal and Myanmar and it will be a concern for India if it is surrounded by countries with such political dispensations.'
Ravi Shastri said that UAE in 2014 had shown that it is well capable of handling a tournament of this magnitude.
India's role as a leader of the global south may require it to give up its ambition to serve as a bridge between the warring halves of the international community, points out Mihir S Sharma.
'The future of BRICS is under stress as Chinese attempts to expand the platform are being resisted by India and Brazil.' 'Beijing is focused on a quick expansion with the aim of giving the platform a distinctly anti-Western orientation, which New Delhi and Brasilia seem to have no interest in,' notes Harsh V Pant.
Shiv Sena has sacked party workers who blackened the face of a Right to Information activist in Latur in Marathwada region, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray said in Mumbai on Saturday.
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