Articles | Vivekananda International Foundation

Interaction with Daniel Pipes, President of the Middle East Forum

OOn 10 February 2016, the VIF invited Daniel Pipes, an internationally acclaimed scholar on radical Islam and the President of the Middle East Forum, for an interaction on Islamism and the politico-religious dimensions of the conflict in the Middle E....

February 27, 2016 International Relations and Diplomacy , Interaction , Islamic State , Southeast Asian countries , Sufi Islam , Middle East , Daniel Pipes

GDP numbers-First time, how reliable?

Prof R Vaidyanathan

India’s economic growth for the financial year 2016 has been estimated at 7.6 per cent as compared with the revised estimate of 7.2 per cent in the previous year, aided mostly by growth in the manufacturing sector. However, the GDP growth for th....

February 27, 2016 Economic Studies , India’s economic growth , GDP growth , 2016

Round table Conference on Energy Security on 14-15 May, 2015 - Summary of Recommendations

1.The Round-table recognised that energy access is critical for energy security. It took note of the fact that 80 million households are still to be provided with electricity and energy. This denies them a fair share of economic growt....

February 26, 2016 Energy Security , Energy Security

Interaction with Dr Thomas Bagger, Head of Policy Planning, German Foreign Office

Dr Thomas Bagger, Head of Policy Planning, German Foreign Office, visited the VIF on February 24, 2016 for an interaction that ranged across a wide and varied geostrategic landscape, inter alia, the future of the European Union, German foreign policy....

February 25, 2016 International Relations and Diplomacy , Interaction , NATO , Germany , Thomas Bagger , German Foreign Office

Interaction with a Nepalese Business and Trade Delegation

Leading a twelve-member business and trade delegation from Nepal, Mr. Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal, the Chief Whip of CPN-UML (the second largest political party in Nepal’s consensus government) visited the Vivekananda International Foundation on 22 Feb 201....

February 25, 2016 Neighbourhood Studies , Nepal , Interaction , Indo-Nepal relations , Nepalese Business and Trade Delegation

Defence Budget 2016-17: Needed more Funds and Timely Spending

Brig Gurmeet Kanwal

Unspent Funds At the end of the third quarter of Financial Year (FY) 2015-16, 40 per cent (Rs 37,000 crore out of Rs 93,675 crore) of the capital budget of the armed forces remained unspent. As it will not be possible to spend all of the re....

February 25, 2016 Defence , Defence Budget 2016-17 , Indian Defence

Breakout Moment for Iran

Mayank Anand Purohit

The Iran Nuclear Deal or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was implemented on 16^th January 2016 after Iran completed its obligations for securing suspension of nuclear related sanctions imposed on it. This ends the economic and po....

February 23, 2016 International Relations and Diplomacy , Iran nuclear deal , Iran , Iranian economy

Re-asserting ‘Neighbourhood First’- External Affairs Minister’s Sri Lanka Visit

Anushree Ghisad

Keeping up with the momentum of 2015 which was a historic year in terms of high level bilateral visits, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj paid a successful visit to Sri Lanka on February 5 and 6, 2016, right at the beginning on New Year. She at....

February 22, 2016 Neighbourhood Studies , Sri Lanka , Sri Lanka Visit , MEA , Sushma Swaraj , India-Sri Lanka Relation

Pak-Bangladesh Diplomatic Spat: Tip of the Iceberg

Tilak Devasher, Consultant, VIF

Recent months have seen Pakistan and Bangladesh expelling each other’s diplomats and ‘summoning’ each other’s envoys to lodge ‘strong’ protests. The expulsions and ‘summoning’ are just the tip of the iceberg, reflective of a deeper ma....

February 22, 2016 Neighbourhood Studies , Bangladesh , Pakistan , Pak-Bangladesh , Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh , Bilateral ties

Indian Army: State of War Readiness – A Contemporary Perspective

Brig (retd) Rahul Bhonsle

Overview of State of Readiness There has been much focus on capital procurements regarding artillery guns, fighter aircraft and submarines for fighting wars in the future. These are no doubt essential to ensure that the nation is ready to f....

February 22, 2016 Defence , Indian Army , People’s Liberation Army (PLA) , India - China , Chinese PLA