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Begin New Search Political Geography India Publishing Institution Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations

41. India’s Liberal Agenda

Author:
Gateway House
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
This report examines whether traditional liberalism stands a chance in today’s India, where the individual’s role has been nearly subsumed by a dominant state seeking to be benefactor.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
India

42. India-Japan: Technological Roadblocks

Author:
Karan Pradhan
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
Policy Perspectives from Gateway House give an overview of a global issue that has implications for India’s policy-making and business community. This edition examines the gaps in India’s high technology trade with Japan and outlines ways to begin a more profitable relationship with the country
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Science and Technology, Bilateral Relations, and Business
Political Geography:
Japan, South Asia, and India

43. Shale gas: Negotiating new energy, export finance and environmental equations

Author:
Karan Pradhan
Publication Date:
07-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
ndia is the second largest (after Mexico) client of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, with an $8.5 billion line of credit. The energy and petrochemicals sectors are the major beneficiaries. The discovery of shale gas and the development of related technology in the U.S., however, are likely to change the nature of the exports of energy products and technology to India. The financing to procure them will also be different, because the U.S is willing to compete with China on financial terms. Moreover, the shift from oil and compressed natural gas to shale can have a cascading negative impact on India’s environment, if opportunities in tapping alternative energy sources are neglected. Indian policy must balance the benefits of securing new technology and better financing for shale gas exploration within the country and from imports, with a firm commitment to renewable energy initiatives within the country.
Topic:
Environment, Gas, Finance, Exports, and Energy
Political Geography:
China, South Asia, India, and United States of America

44. The domestic dimensions of India’s international economic crisis

Author:
Karan Pradhan
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
As recently as three years ago, India was being hailed by the international community as an upcoming economic superpower along with China. Now, however, the country finds itself wading through a severe economic slowdown and at the precipice of a potential balance of payment crisis. The rupee plummeted to historic levels before a recent rally provided momentary relief. The declining foreign exchange reserves have led some experts to compare the situation with India’s 1991 crisis; a few even suggested that the country needs to consider seeking International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans. The Indian government’s economic mismanagement is largely to blame and there is no substitute for good governance. However, India’s business community has abdicated its role of providing the government with an independent opinion and pushing for critical reforms. Corporate India can play a leading role in pulling the country out of this mire by altering its own approach towards government inaction. This would include reforming Indian chambers of commerce and advocating for key measures such as stimulating domestic investment, better coordination between centre and state, and rethinking India’s energy policy. These largely domestic measures will have a wide-ranging impact on India’s international economic policy and financial standing.
Topic:
Reform, Finance, Economy, Business, and Economic Crisis
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

45. The India-Australia security engagement: Opportunities and challenges

Author:
David Brewster
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
India wants to take a leading strategic role throughout the Indian Ocean region and expand its strategic reach further into the Pacific. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has commented, India now sees itself as a “net security provider” to the region. But what will this mean in terms of India’s regional relationships? Over the last decade or more, India has spent a lot of money on modernising its defence forces. This includes buying aircraft carriers, submarines, and aircraft that will give India the ability to project power at longer distances. But India has given relatively less attention to developing closer security partnerships in the region, particularly with the middle states of the Indian Ocean. In many ways, the recognition of India as a regional leader will depend on the quality of these relationships. One of these relationships – between India and Australia – will become increasingly important to both countries. Indeed, there is an opportunity for them to develop a strategic partnership that effectively spans the Indo-Pacific. The two countries are the leading maritime powers among Indian Ocean states, they share many values and traditions, and their strategic interests are becoming increasingly aligned. Although the two countries have for long operated in largely separate strategic spheres, these are now converging. India has strategic interests throughout the Indo-Pacific and Australia is taking a much greater interest in the Indian Ocean region and in India, in particular. The shared strategic concerns include maritime security, the stability of the region, and the role of China. But while there are many opportunities to develop a close strategic partnership, there will also be challenges for both sides.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, Partnerships, Engagement, and Regional Politics
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, Australia, and Indo-Pacific

46. India’s Strategic Imperative in the South Pacific

Author:
Tevita Motulalo
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
As the global centre of gravity shifts to the Indo-Pacific, triggered in part by Chinese expansion and the U.S.’s Pacific “rebalancing,” an expanding Indian engagement with the South Pacific becomes a geoeconomic and geostrategic imperative. The South Pacific sits at the “pivot” of the Pacific rebalancing. It is a largely stable region with a relatively small population; it has abundant resources (the Exclusive Economic Zone of the country of Kiribati alone is 3.5 million square kilometres, greater than the total land and maritime EEZ area of India); it is at the crossroads of vibrant and growing maritime trade routes; and it is increasingly strategically located. Under the “one country, one vote” rule of most international fora, the 14 Pacific Island Countries (PICs) play a significant role in deciding international institutional legitimacy, which is increasingly important for India as it seeks a greater role in global affairs. There is enormous scope for closer economic, political, and strategic ties between India and the South Pacific. Ties between the two are already friendly and age-old, with myriad cultural compatibilities. But if India continues to neglect the region, it will become increasingly difficult for India to maintain, or to regain, a toehold, while other powers like China manoeuvre for, and establish, entrenched positions. Just one example of India’s low-key engagement in the region: it has only two High Commissions in the 14 PICs. One is in Fiji, because of its sizable Indian diaspora, the other is in Papua New Guinea, because of trade and minerals. India routinely goes unrepresented at regional meetings held in the other 12 PICs. In contrast, China has a major diplomatic mission in almost every PIC. India and the PICs are natural partners which only need to 6 build the right bridges to come together to make the South Pacific and thereby the greater Indo-Pacific more economically, politically, and strategically secure. Others have already realised the region’s potential and are moving fast. The question is: Will India catch the South Pacific wave, or be washed over by it?
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Economy, Regional Integration, and Strategic Engagement
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and South Pacific

47. Intellectual Property Rights: Innovation, Accessibility and Public Interest

Author:
Trupti Sarode and Malik Hirani
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
The Supreme Court of India’s judgment in the Novartis case has intensified concerns and dilemmas surrounding the prevailing global intellectual property rights (IPR) regime. In reality, the Supreme Court has only upheld an Indian law which conforms to the WTO framework. This case has done more than just highlight concerns about the affordability and accessibility of life-saving drugs. It has prompted an assessment of the global IPR framework in areas of entertainment, and communication and agricultural technologies among others. The verdict has underscored the need for new business models that can cater to humanitarian compulsions of accessibility and also nurture the knowledge commons in ways that boost greater innovation and invention.
Topic:
Intellectual Property/Copyright, Business, Innovation, and Public Health
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

48. BRICS: The new Syndicate

Author:
Gateway House
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
This bi-annual report includes features written exclusively (unless mentioned otherwise) for Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations by various contributors, and Gateway House staff, from January-July 2012.
Topic:
Global Political Economy
Political Geography:
Russia, China, India, and Brazil

49. India and the BRICS

Author:
Gateway House
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
Over the last decade, countries known under the emerging markets acronym of BRICS, have begun to seriously define their common interests and values. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have held three summits so far – in Russia, Brazil and China. On March 29, they will meet again, this time in New Delhi, with the goal of addressing the global economic condition, reforming financial and regulatory institutions and improving cooperation with each other on a host of international issues from starting a BRICS development bank to interchanging high tech skills. While these issues directly impact them, they also affect much of the developing world. Though different in size and resources, the BRICS nations as a group are massive: they account for 45% of the world population, 25% of global GDP and 50% of recent global growth. Together, they have the potential to create a future model for others. As an independent market-focused Indian think tank, Gateway House has been deeply invested in the future of India and its BRICS counterparts. What is the best way to develop affordable housing for large population nations? What is the best way to secure long term, manageable energy supplies? Can healthcare be delivered more efficiently, en masse, and to remote regions? How much sustained growth is required to making one of these large nations succeed? How can the inflation-growth trade-off be managed? Is there a better way to produce and deliver food than with only large scale enterprise? Can the BRICS be lenders of best resort for each other? How to best take advantage of the globalization of technology? The summaries of research papers in this booklet begin to offer some answers. In “India-Brazil: Pioneers of a new development agenda,” researcher Estefanía Marchán examines the possibilities for India to bring affordable housing technology to Brazil, while Brazil offers its experience with programmes to develop profitable small farms and deliver cash payments with modern networks to the poor. Marchan then looks at how the lessons from India-Brazil cooperation might be passed on with good results to Africa. In “India-Russia: Taking each other seriously,” Russia Studies research fellow Katherine Foshko looks at why a once-healthy India-Russia relationship has gone into quietude and suggests that a tech revival should be advanced. “Information technology in particular is an area where India should capitalize on the plethora of educated and talented Russian professionals and Russia can benefit from the size as well as the expertise of the Indian labor pool,” she writes. Similarly, K. N. Vaidyanathan, the former executive director of India’s Securities and Exchange Board and senior Geo-economics Fellow, makes a case that India’s careful, deliberate approach to permitting financial derivatives on its exchanges protected it from the ravages of the 2008 global crash. It has created a model for BRICS and other developing countries, which are seeking to grow while insulating their financial markets from global shocks. Renu Modi, an professor at the University of Mumbai who directed its African Studies Center, points out that while South Africa might have been inducted into the BRIC’s club as a “gift”, its greater as a gateway to the 1-billion-person African continent. There are also cautionary notes. The two largest nations, Indian and China, are both experiencing slower growth, but their outcomes couldn’t be more different, write Gateway House executive director Manjeet Kripalani and adviser Bob Dowling. China is engineering a slowdown to encourage a consumer economy but India is heading for a dangerous stall that must be reversed. Meanwhile, researcher Samir N. Kapadia explains that while China is a friendly banker to BRICS, its lending comes with strings attached.
Topic:
Development, GDP, Economy, and BRICS
Political Geography:
Russia, China, South Asia, India, South Africa, and Brazil

50. 9/11: Ten Years Later

Author:
Gateway House
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
On September 12, 2001, a day after 9/11, the Times of India published a story titled, ―India hopes U.S. will now pressurise Pak.‖ At the time, this relayed a common national sentiment – India may finally get the United States to become a close ally against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, and help India in eradicating terrorism. Ten years hence, neither has the U.S. taken a position against Pakistan, nor has India prepared itself better to fight terrorism and insurgency on its home ground. A massive explosion at the Delhi High Court this week left at least 14 dead and some 60 injured. It served as a horrific reminder that India continues to be at the receiving end of terrorism. This is the third major terrorist attack in Delhi since 9/11, following the one on Parliament on December 2001 and another at the Sarojini Nagar Market in October 2005. Mumbai has seen similar attacks with the serial blasts in March 1993, train bombings in July 2006, the 26/11 attacks of November 2008 and coordinate attacks of July 2011. Many more such incidents have taken place across the country in smaller cities like Jaipur and Pune. Yet, rather than designing and executing ways to secure our borders, we remain enamored with the effects of 9/11 and anniversaries of attacks in London, Madrid, and elsewhere. The government‘s response is the same – they had some intelligence, law enforcement was in a state of alert, but there was no actionable intelligence, and of course, somewhere along the chain of command between the Home Minister and the constable on the street, our counter-terrorism strategy was never converted into skills or systems that would prove useful. The usually communicative, media-friendly politicians have no comment to give, reflecting only their incapability or worse, indifference. The media gives it due importance for 24 hours, then in the absence of any new information from the government or the public, moves on to other news-worthy items.
Topic:
Security, Terrorism, Counter-terrorism, and 9/11
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, India, and United States of America