| Title: | 271: Indo-Pak Trade and Political Balance |
| Author/s: | Chandrani Sarma, Research Assistant, ISAS |
| Abstract: | Throughout history, improvement in political relations between nations tends to result in better bilateral trade and vice versa. Take famous examples of neighbouring countries like Brazil-Argentina, France-Germany. Total bilateral trade between Brazil and Argentina is more than US$ 30 billion today. Brazil accounts for the largest share of Argentine imports and Argentina is the third-largest importer from Brazil, behind only the United States and China. These two countries that today share very close ties over trade, culture, and tourism were once at war nearly two centuries ago. France and Germany at war with each other, even before the World wars, decided to let go of enmity in the 1950s. Now, Germany is France's most important trading partner with bilateral trade worth some EUR 161 billion in 2012. |
| Date: | 21 November 2014 |
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| Title: | 270: Sri Lanka and Europe: Then and Now |
| Author/s: | Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Principal Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | Sri Lanka, earlier called Ceylon, has been part and parcel of the South Asian sub-continental ethos for thousands of years. It dates back to the epic Ramayana when it was said to be the Kingdom of Ravana who was alleged to have been the abductor of the saintly Sita, the wife of the god-king Rama (Revisionist history now tends to take a more benign view of the Lankan monarch, doubtless coloured somewhat by contemporary religious-ethnic politics). Among the Europeans, the Portuguese were the first to arrive on the Lankan shores, founding Colombo in 1517. The Sinhalese soon moved their capital to the more secure Kandy. Their King in 1638 invited in the Dutch to supplant the Portuguese. This the Dutch accomplished. They also founded the 'Dutch East India Company', mostly manned by their legacy of the mixed race they left behind, the Eurasian Burghers. Apprehensive during the French control of the Netherlands at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, and in line with a burgeoning interest in sub-continental India, the British moved in. In 1803 they occupied Kandy, and snuffed out Lankan independence. |
| Date: | 30 October 2014 |
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| Title: | 269: A New Kind of Partnership: Social Media and Governance in the Modi Era |
| Author/s: | Rahul Advani, Research Assistant, ISAS |
| Abstract: | he day after his “keynote address at the Internet.org summit”2 in New Delhi on 9 October 2014, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the online social networking service ‘Facebook’, met India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the possibilities of how and where social media could play a part in the implementation of various government policies relating to health, education, tourism etc. In particular, one of the results of the discussion was the agreement that Facebook would assist the Government of India in its mission of achieving a clean India in five years. Launched on 2 October 2014, the ‘Swachh Bharat’ (Clean India) campaign, which aims to reduce littering and improve the state of sanitation in the country, has harped on by Modi recently, including during his recent visits to New York and Washington. |
| Date: | 30 October 2014 |
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| Title: | 268: India ‘Looking East’ via Military Diplomacy |
| Author/s: | Jayant Singh, Research Assistant, ISAS |
| Abstract: | India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his first term in office, has taken his proactive style of governance to the foreign office. Recall the Prime Minister’s inauguration ceremony when Modi caught many political commentators off-guard by inviting leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for his swearing-in. Since then, officials at South Block – seat of India’s Ministry of External Affairs – have been kept busy with a series of diplomatic commitments, both in India’s backyard and further abroad. As the new government’s foreign policy agenda crystallises, it appears that military diplomacy has found new footing in the foreign office. New Delhi is keen to strengthen defence relations with “Friendly Foreign Countries”. |
| Date: | 29 October 2014 |
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| Title: | 267: ‘Make in India’ – The Future of Indian Manufacturing |
| Author/s: | Deeparghya Mukherjee, Visiting Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | India’s new government assumed office over five months ago and the succeeding months have thus far been testimony to some significant announcements by the charismatic Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The ‘Make in India’ initiative is one such serious step of the new government. This paper attempts to analyse the initiative in the perspective of India’s current economic challenges and the possible direction that India’s manufacturing sector may take going forward. |
| Date: | 29 October 2014 |
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| Title: | 266: Strong Showing by BJP in Maharashtra and Haryana |
| Author/s: | Ronojoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | The results of the latest Assembly elections in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Haryana have not come as a surprise. Given the performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the two states in the 2014 national election, it was expected that the BJP would emerge as the single largest party in both states. But the number of seats won by the party and the decimation of the Congress, which was in power in both Maharashtra and Haryana, surprised many. In Maharashtra, the BJP, which contested on its own for the first time in 25 years, won 123 seats in the 288-member Assembly, up from 46 seats in 2009; in Haryana the jump was even more dramatic for the BJP from 4 out of 90 seats in 2009 to 47 seats. The decline for the Congress was equally steep. In Maharashtra the Congress's seat tally nearly halved from 82 in 2009 to 42 while in Haryana it fell from 40 to 15. |
| Date: | 24 October 2014 |
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| Title: | 265: Modi’s Major-Power Diplomacy |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs), ISAS |
| Abstract: | he flurry of summit talks that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi held with the highestranking leaders of Japan, China, and the United States in September 2014 is likely to determine New Delhi’s place in Asia’s emerging Arc of Power Politics at this moment. This arc has been conceptualised as a confluence of these four countries which have differential interests. Modi’s major-power diplomacy, as evident on this occasion, turned into a balancing act of interacting with Japan and the US, often seen as China’s rivals, in the context of a Sino-Indian military standoff. In the event, Modi’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping acquired the aura of success, with the military standoff ending peacefully. |
| Date: | 8 October 2014 |
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| Title: | 264 : Indian Economy Looks Up, In a New ‘Start’ |
| Author/s: | Amitendu Palit |
| Abstract: | Four months after a new government assumed office in India on 26 May 2014, the country's economy presents an improved outlook. Challenges, nonetheless, remain. This paper examines the macroeconomic developments and the risk to the outlook |
| Date: | 2 October 2014 |
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| Title: | 263: A New Defining Moment in India-China Dialogue |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs), ISAS |
| Abstract: | The strategic significance of economic diplomacy pulsates in the Sino-Indian Joint Statement issued on 19 September 2014 following extensive talks between India‟s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Ahmedabad and New Delhi in India. This marks a clear re-configuration of the difficult but dynamic engagement between these two mega-state Asian neighbours, known for their tense eyeball-to-eyeball military , face-off‟, albeit without bloodshed, across the Himalayas in recent years. The reconfigured Sino-Indian engagement is designed to build “a closer developmental partnership” as a core feature of the existing “Strategic and Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Prosperity” in the bilateral sphere. |
| Date: | 19 September 2014 |
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| Title: | 262: Europe and Pakistan: A Partnership in Progress |
| Author/s: | Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Principal Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | The European Union is increasingly seen in South Asia as the citadel of 'soft power'. But the way the two regions relate tends to go far beyond. There is a burgeoning political and economic relationship. That is, in many ways, defining their interactions. Pakistan, a country strategically placed in South Asia, is of importance to Europe. This is increasingly becoming evident. |
| Date: | 19 September 2014 |
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| Title: | 261: Obama’s ‘War on Terror’: A South Asian View |
| Author/s: | Shahid Javed Burki, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | For a politician who built his 2008 presidential campaign on a no - war platform, it is a painful decision to reverse a course he has diligently sought to pursue. On 10 September 2014, a day before the 13 th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, American President Barack Obama committed himself to another war. This was done in a televised address to his nation. He made a sober ass essment of the situation created not only for his country but for the entire international community by the new threat from an Islamic extremist movement that had morphed several times since the United States invaded Iraq under the direction of President G eorge W Bush. |
| Date: | 19 September 2014 |
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| Title: | 260: By-Election Blow for BJP |
| Author/s: | Ronojoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | Less than a month after a setback in a round of by-elections in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suffered greater embarrassment in another set of bypolls, the results of which were announced on 16 September 2014. Of particular significance was the BJP's performance in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) where it won only three out of 11 Assembly seats, 10 of which were earlier held by the party. The big winner in UP was the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) which won eight seats disproving critics who had written the party off. Elsewhere too, the BJP did much worse than expected, losing three out of four seats in Rajasthan and three out of nine seats in Gujarat. The results have come as a surprise since in all three states the BJP had done exceptionally well in the national elections held earlier this year, winning 71 out of 80 seats in UP and completing a clean sweep in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The only real bright spot for the BJP in the latest round of bypolls was the seat it won in West Bengal, making it the first time in 13 years that the party will have a representative in the state Assembly. |
| Date: | 19 September 2014 |
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| Title: | 259: India’s Consolidating Media: Three Growing Tigers and ‘Generational Roulette’ |
| Author/s: | Robin Jeffrey, Visiting Research Professor, ISAS |
| Abstract: | The resignation of two of India’s best known journalists from The Hindu, the Chennai-based daily newspaper, in mid-July dramatised changes rapidly reshaping India’s media. |
| Date: | 24 July 2014 |
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| Title: | 258: Sino-Indian Dialogue: Re-Configuring the Basic Agenda |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs), ISAS |
| Abstract: | China has outpaced the other major powers in engaging the Narendra Modi - led India on a fast - track . Mr Modi became Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014. Within a few weeks thereafter , Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mr Modi met at the Brazilian port city of Fortaleza on 14 July 2014 (local time) . I t is noteworthy that the meeting was indeed Prime Minister Modi's first face - to - face 'live' conversation with the chief executive of a ny P5 Member. P5 is the political acronym for the powerful Five Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States . India aspires to attain the same status . |
| Date: | 22 July 2014 |
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| Title: | 257: The BRICS New Development Bank: Beginning of ‘New Development’? |
| Author/s: | Amitendu Palit, Head (Partnerships & Programmes) and Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | The Wikipedia has a new entry: NDB. The term featured on the Wikipedia within a few hours of its taking birth. This would surely have been one of the fastest entries in the Internet Encyclopedia . For the uninitiated, the NDB is the New Development Bank, formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank. After being discussed for quite a few years, and amidst growing s cepticism that it would never see the light of the day, the NDB was the first ‘un finished’ business the BRICS Heads of State and Government took up in their meeting last week at Fortaleza in Brazil. The NDB was formed with an initial authori sed capital of US$ 100 billion and an initial subscription capital of US$ 50 billion. |
| Date: | 22 July 2014 |
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| Title: | 256: Modi Government’s First Indian Budget |
| Author/s: | S Narayan, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | As days pass, India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is seen to be increasingly defensive about the Narendra Modi Government’s first Budget. Commentators have spoken about continuity of the previous U nited Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government’s thinking, lack of big -bang reforms agenda, a plethora of schemes that do not appear to be fully funded, and the lack of a clear articulation of vision. Corporate leaders complain that the spectre of retrospective taxation has not been lifted. There is no clear focus for manufacturing or for tackling inflation, t wo of the more important worries of the Indian economy |
| Date: | 15 July 2014 |
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| Title: | 255: Pakistan’s Anti-Terror Offensive: The Zarb-e-Azb Operation |
| Author/s: | Shahid Javed Burki, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | The long-awaited – and several-times postponed – an ti-terror military operation in Pakistan’s North Waziristan began on Sunday, 15 June 2014. The announcement that the operation had been launched first came from the military, not the civilian administration. “On the direction of the government, the Armed Forces of Pakistan hav e launched a comprehensive operation against the foreign and local terrorists who are hi ding in sanctuaries in North Waziristan. The operation has been named Zarb-e-Azb ”, said the statement issued from the Army headquar ters in Rawalpindi”. 2 Azb was the name of the sword used by Prophet Muha mmad in various battles associated with the early spread of Islam. Zarb mea ns “to hit”. |
| Date: | 20 June 2014 |
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| Title: | 254: Signs of India under Global Re-Focus |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs), ISAS |
| Abstract: | A flurry of quick new glances at India from different sections of the international community reflects a surge of interest in a country freshly under Narendra Modi’s leadership of anticipatory assertiveness. The re-emerging importance of India is evident from at least four new developments – the Chinese President’s Special Envoy Wang Yi’s talks with Mr Modi in New Delhi on 9 June 2014; the fleeting but firm focus on India at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in late-May and early-June; the unusual presence of several South Asian leaders at Mr Modi’s prime ministerial inauguration on 26 May; and earlier US President Barack Obama’s invitation to the new Indian leader to visit Washington. It is now up to India to make the best of this renewed global attention by focusing on the country’s economy and diplomacy. And the current signals from New Delhi do indicate that such priorities have been recognised. Moving forward, strategic stability in India and its neighbourhood is possible. |
| Date: | 13 June 2014 |
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| Title: | 253: US Trade-Aid Balance-Implications for Pakistan and the Region |
| Author/s: | Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Principal Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | In Pakistan’s early development stages, from the early-1950s to well into the late-1960s, economic growth was considered important. The strategy followed was influenced by the Harrod Domar model. It was one of promoting rapid industrialisation under the ownership and control of the rising capitalist class, with assistance from the government at home, and friendly foreign states. It was presumed that the benefits of growth would ‘trickle down’ to the more depressed sections of the community. In the words of Dr Mahbubul Huq, the Pakistani planners believed that “it is well to recognise that economic growth is a brutal, sordid process. There are no short-cuts to it. The essence of it lies in the labourer producing more than he is allowed to consume for his immediate needs, and to invest and re-invest the surplus thus obtained”. The formulation of detailed development plans, with specific output targets and carefully designed investment profits, has often been a necessary condition for the receipt of bilateral and multilateral foreign aid. |
| Date: | 10 June 2014 |
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| Title: | 252: Pakistan: Military versus the Media |
| Author/s: | Shahid Javed Burki, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | Pakistan's government headed by Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif has had deal to with a variety of problems in the first year of his third term in office. These relate to the development of a political order which could define the role of Islam and that of the military in governance. A new battle front opened up for this administration as it was nearing the completion of its first year. This was the result of an assassination-attempt on a well-known TV anchor on 19 April 2014. Hamid Mir of Geo, a popular TV channel, was the target of some assassins-to-be. He was fired upon and injured as he was going by car to the Karachi studio of his employer. Geo is by far the most popular cable channel in Pakistan. It is watched by about one-half of those in the country who get their news and information from this particular medium. Soon after the attack, Amir Mir, the anchor's brother and also a journalist, went on the air and accused the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) and its Director General, Lt Gen Zaheer-ul-Islam, for planning and executing the assassination attempt |
| Date: | 4 June 2014 |
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| Title: | 251: India’s New Neighbourhood-Test |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs), ISAS |
| Abstract: | India’s political landscape is likely to be dominated by a new leader, Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in ways that the international community is yet to decipher. For now, as Mr Modi assumes the mantle of Prime Minister after a landslide electoral triumph, India’s neighbours might look out for signs whether he would pursue a Hindutva agenda (centred on the ‘supremacy’ of the country’s Hindu-majority) contrary to the policypriorities he articulated during the recent poll campaign. India’s neighbours are also likely to watch whether he will implement the BJP’s pledge to “revise and update” India’s nuclear security doctrine and make it more ‘credible’ and ‘practical’. However, Mr Modi’s leadership credentials in the macro-economic domain of an Indian province, and the gradual and the emergence of provinces as stakeholders in the country's foreign policy, can also become factors in his diplomacy in India's neighbourhood and beyond. |
| Date: | 29 April 2014 |
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| Title: | 250: Time for a ‘Reset’ of Pakistan-India Ties |
| Author/s: | Shahid Javed Burki, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | For long Pakistan's relations with India, its sibling, were based on two considerations: Pakistan's claim over Kashmir and its perception that there were powerful elements within the Indian establishment who, even almost seven decades after Partition, were not reconciled to the division of the Indian subcontinent. What have been called the ideas of Pakistan and India are based on very different definitions of nationhood by the founding fathers of the two states. For India, its future depends on its ability to accommodate dozens of different religious, linguistic and social groups within one nation. Pakistan, on the other hand, was created to provide a homeland for the Muslims of British India. |
| Date: | 29 April 2014 |
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| Title: | 249: Modi Triumphs in India’s National Elections |
| Author/s: | Ronojoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | The results of the general elections in India were a surprise to most people. While most opinion polls had predicted a victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that it leads, not even BJP members had anticipated the scale of the party's victory. The BJP alone has won 282 seats and the NDA 336 out of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament). Two things stand out in the verdict. This is the first time in 30 years that a party won a majority on its own; this is also the worst-ever showing by India's grand old party, the Indian National Congress, which won a mere 44 seats, 70 less than its previous all-time low in 1999. |
| Date: | 29 April 2014 |
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| Title: | 248: Prospects for West Bengal in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections |
| Author/s: | Ronojoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | For over three decades beginning in 1977, West Bengal presented a fairly settled picture in terms of electoral politics. In election after election, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI[M])-led Left Front kept winning at the national, state and local levels. This began to change from 2008 onwards culminating in the defeat of the Left Front in the 2011 West Bengal state elections. |
| Date: | 29 April 2014 |
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| Title: | 247: Economic Despondency and Indian Elections |
| Author/s: | Amitendu Palit, Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | Economic issues are expected to be decisive in determining the outcome of India's 16th general election. Most opinion polls point to the depressing economic situation in the country and its adverse impact on the prospects of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the elections. The economy, according to most analysts, might actually be the main villain in taking the Congress down, if it actually does. |
| Date: | 29 April 2014 |
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| Title: | 246: India’s New Gesture to Sri Lanka: From Diaspora Politics to Realpolitik |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs), ISAS |
| Abstract: | India’s latest decision to abstain from voting – in the United Nations Human Rights Council – for a “comprehensive investigation” of the situation in Sri Lanka signifies a potential shift in New Delhi’s neighbourhood diplomacy. While the first principles of Westphalian interstate relations and a degree of geopolitical pragmatism govern this action, it is too early to foresee whether and, if so, how this will play out in India’s foreign policy after the April-May general election this year. |
| Date: | 2 April 2014 |
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| Title: | 245: Youth and Aam Aadmi Party |
| Author/s: | Rahul Advani, Research Assistant, ISAS |
| Abstract: | In the space of just over a year, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in India has already witnessed a meteoric rise to power, having transformed from a civil society movement into a full-fledged political party with more than a million members. Its stunning performance in the Delhi Assembly elections in December 2013, securing 28 seats, just four less than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was all the more impressive, considering that it was the first-ever election for the party. Since then, the party's journey has been more than a little shaky. Ending its 49 day-stint as a minority government in Delhi was party leader Arvind Kejriwal's resignation from the position of Chief Minister. Whether this move signals a more troubled fate for the party's future remains to be seen (though an NDTV opinion poll found '49 per cent' of its respondents saying that 'Mr Kejriwal's resignation has improved his party's prospects in the Lok Sabha elections', due in April-May 2014). |
| Date: | 28 March 2014 |
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| Title: | 244: CPI-Bonds in India: A Troubled Take-off |
| Author/s: | Chandrani Sarma, Research Assistant, ISAS |
| Abstract: | On 23 December 2013 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced the Inflation National Savings Securities-Cumulative (IINSS-C), or CPI-indexed bonds. The deadline to buy these bonds was 31 December 2013 and they could be availed of at any State Bank of India (SBI) branch, associate banks, nationalised banks, the three private banks (HDFC, ICICI, and AXIS) and Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd. (SHCIL). The range for investment is between Rs 5,000 and Rs 500,000. The interest rate on these bonds is linked to the combined-CPI (Base 2010 = 100) and comprises two parts: the fixed rate (1.5%) and the CPI inflation rate, based on 3-month lag CPI, which will be compounded with the principal on a half-yearly basis. The principal amount will be adjusted with the CPI inflation rate and then interest is calculated on this adjusted principal using the coupon rate of 1.5%. The tenure is fixed at 10 years and the full amount will be paid only at the time of maturity. |
| Date: | 13 March 2014 |
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| Title: | 243: Power-Rivalry in Asia: New Arms Race and Lessons from Ukraine |
| Author/s: | Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Principal Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | Asia was originally a Greek construct, dating back to the classical times, beyond Alexander the Great. It is vast, varied, complex and diverse. There is no discernible common thread that binds it together. Still, it is seen to be a continent on the rise. This perception is helping to lend it a common identity. However, the fact remains that one does not usually feel the sense of being an Asian, as one does of being an American, a European, or an African. |
| Date: | 13 March 2014 |
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| Title: | 242: Indo-Russian Defence Trade: A Recipe for Revival |
| Author/s: | Jayant Singh, Research Assistant, ISAS |
| Abstract: | Defence trade has been the cornerstone of the Indo-Russian strategic partnership since the 1950s. Today, with Russian military sales to India steadily declining, the defining aspect of their bilateral relationship is threatening to become a heavy burden for both partners. Furthermore, Russian concern over this loss of market share is fast giving way to discontent. Recent reports have the Russians complaining that Indian military tenders are designed to the benefit of some and to the detriment of others, specifically Russia. |
| Date: | 20 February 2014 |
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| Title: | 241: The Road Ahead for Aam Aadmi Party |
| Author/s: | Ronojoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | There were very few who had foreseen the stunning debut of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or the Common Man's Party in the 2013 state elections in Delhi, where it won 28 of the 70 seats and nearly 30 per cent of the votes, and its subsequent formation of government. But now it is accepted that AAP, which grew out of the anti-corruption movement spearheaded by activist Anna Hazare and was officially formed as a party in end-2012, has brought about a churning in Indian politics the likes of which have not been seen in recent years. |
| Date: | 20 January 2014 |
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| Title: | 240: Sino-Indian Panchsheel and Japan’s Overture to India |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs), ISAS |
| Abstract: | With 2014 designated as the “Year of Friendly Exchanges between India and China”, the two mega-state Asian neighbours will commemorate later this year the 60th anniversary of the enunciation of Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (Panchsheel). Interestingly, however, New Delhi’s diplomatic calendar in the early part of January 2014 has been dominated by Japan’s overtures to India in the defence domain and by the crisis over the treatment of an Indian diplomat in the United States. Moreover, China, despite speaking of the upcoming Panchsheel anniversary, has emphasised the primacy of Sino-Russian and Sino-American relations (with India not seen in this hall of primacy). So, a relevant question is whether China’s bid to fashion a “new model of major-country relations” with the US will overshadow the mantra of Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in the Chinese discourse. Regardless of whether this happens, India and China can seek a mutually beneficial ‘new normal’ in their relationship. |
| Date: | 17 January 2014 |
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| Title: | 239: Showcasing of Indian Cinema: Global Success of Dhoom3 |
| Author/s: | Rahul Advani, Research Assistant, ISAS |
| Abstract: | Long considered one of India's biggest cultural exports, Hindi films have been able to penetrate global consciousness in ways that most tourism ministries could only dream of. They are one of the most popular forms of entertainment not only within South As ia but also in countries outside with large South Asian D iaspora populations such as the United Kingdom and the United States. Even in countries as diverse as Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt and Iran, Hindi films have garnered strong following among lo cal audiences through their unique brand of entertainment. However, the highly romantic depictions of love, ostentatious wedding sequences and melodramatic family feuds that such films are known and loved around the world for may become less and less visib le in the future. Hindi film studios are beginning to create and market their films in an increasingly Hollywood - like way in the hope of building bigger international audiences and generating even greater revenue from overseas releases. |
| Date: | 17 January 2014 |
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| Title: | 238: Employment in India – Latest Data and Implications |
| Author/s: | S Narayan, Head of Research and Visiting Senior Research Fellow, ISAS |
| Abstract: | In 2013, the National Sample Survey Organization of India released key results of a large sample survey relating to employment and unemployment. These surveys are normally carried out once in five years, and the last survey was carried out for the years 2009-10. Normally, the next survey would be due in 2015-16. There are some interesting data that have been revealed in the survey for 2009-10. |
| Date: | 10 January 2014 |
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