“Strategic” Relations Suit India

India has established strategic partnerships with several countries. What exactly “strategic partnership” means is not defined or explained officially. Foreign policy experts try to define the term, but there is no definitive version as the exper....

Interaction with CIISS on Political Change Over in China

A five-member delegation from the CIISS (China Institute for International Strategic Studies), a think tank with strong military background, visited the Foundation on December 19, 2012 for an exchange of views with a select panel of VIF scholars and ....

Rowdy Rehman

If ever there was any delusion among Indian policy makers of Pakistan’s changed policy towards India, or any expectation of receiving satisfaction on bringing the planners and perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks to justice, the visit of rowdy Rehman ....

Going by The Script

All those who have criticized the Indian government’s decision to invite Pakistan’s interior minister Rahman Malik to the country to operationalize the revised liberalised visa regime have missed several pertinent points. If Indian ministers of e....

Acquiring the Heritage Tag – is it enough?

Early December 2012 a United Nations Committee ‘tasked with protecting the world’s oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, craftsmanship and knowledge of nature’ added twenty new items to the world List of the Intangible Cultural He....

Politics of Secularism: Who is Secular in India?

I may be permitted to start this paper with a personal statement because some controversial issues would be raised in the paper and I want it to be understood in advance that personally I am deeply committed to secularism. I sincerely believe that th....

Dealing with the Neighbour from Hell - The Prime Minister Must Not Visit Pakistan

To the insistent clamour that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must visit Pakistan in the near future, this is a rejoinder, and a plea not to be emotional in our approach to relations with Pakistan. An analysis of the argument in favour of a visit shows....

The Divided Oceans

The security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region, which American‘re-balancing’ towards Asia and Barack Obama’s tour of some Asian countries so early into his second presidency seek to address, are many and complex. Territorial disputes remain....

Obama's visit to Myanmar: Implications for India

President Barack Obama’s visit to Myanmar last month was recognition of measures taken by the current regime towards opening up of Myanmar. The visit has largely been viewed as a part of the Asia Pacific ‘pivot’ announced by the US President i....

We, the Living! Need to Revise Land Use Policies

In Delhi along the Yamuna River a stretch of 371 hectares, that is, approximately 927 acres, has come under cremation ground, samadhi, etc., of people perceived as the leaders of the nation. These include Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur....

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