Opinion

This month’s G20 Summit in Johannesburg marked several his toric firsts. For starters, it was the group’s first-ever summit in Africa, and the first to include the African Union as a full-fledged member. It also set less encouraging precedents: it was the first meeting boycotted...

By DK Giri   The 20th G-20 meeting in the South African capital was marked by quite a few significant developments as well as a departure from its tradition: that was the leaders’ Declaration issued after the Summit. It was overshadowed and was almost at...

By Chandra Bhusan   Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had declared the 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as the “COP of truth”. And truth, indeed, was unmistakable in Belém. The meeting made it clear...

By Santosh Kumar Mohapatra On 1 November, Kerala scripted a historic chapter in India's development narrative by officially declaring itself free from extreme poverty—becoming the first state to do so. Kerala’s declaration of freedom from extreme poverty is both an inspiration and an invitation—to policymakers,...

By Avilash Roul Has the 30th edition of UN climate summit, COP30, delivered as projected at the beginning of the summit? Certainly, the trust in the Paris Agreement has been maintained and partially achieved. Faith in multilateralism has been sustained despite the absence of the...

By Dr Sanjib Kumar Karmee Agriculture continues to be the backbone of India’s economy, providing livelihood to around 70% of rural population. Today, the agricultural sector stands at a critical crossroads. On one hand, the country is facing soil degradation, declining fertility, and mounting pressure...

By Brahma Chellaney US President Donald Trump’s first social-media post of 2018, during his initial presidential term, highlighted his mounting frustration with Pakistan. Over the preceding 15 years, he lamented, the United States had “foolishly” handed the country more than $33 billion in aid, and...

By Melvin Durai While driving the other day, I spotted a bumper sticker that said, “Has anyone tried unplugging the country and plugging it back in?” If only it were possible to do that. Many people around the world would want to unplug their countries...

Two major events this summer – the Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF) in Monaco, and the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice – reflected the growing recognition that protecting the ocean is not only an environmental issue, but also a political, economic, financial, and...

India’s major economic reforms were spurred by a foreign exchange crisis. It was the summer of 1991 when foreign exchange reserves went to nearly zero. An emergency loan from the IMF was taken, and a slew of reforms were initiated. Exchange rates, import duties and...