In The News

New Delhi's Delicate Balancing Act

Stanley A. Weiss May 3, 2007
As a thriving democracy, India has hundreds of political parties and is led by coalition governments. As a result, the party in power must please many special interests, not the least impoverished farmers who represent a majority, reports Stanley A. Weiss, founder of Business Executives for National Security. The government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is trying to defeat multiple problems...

Agni-III Missile Test: Asia’s Latest Great Power Joins the Game

Gwynne Dyer April 24, 2007
Once a nation test fires a missile, all cities and countries within the weapon’s reach can’t help but take pause to mull all possible messages, intentions and relationships. India successfully tested a missile that could reach the Middle East or China’s major cities of Beijing and Shanghai, a capability that could insert more tension into Asian affairs. Journalist Gwynne Dyer speculates that...

India Cannot Afford Rural Failure

Mira Kamdar April 20, 2007
Buoyant optimism about India’s economic prospects overlooks a critical weakness in the country’s well being. Long accustomed to price supports, India’s farmers confront open markets, government programs that favor large farms, overwhelming debt and changing weather patterns that reduce arable land and water supplies. The story of small farmers, struggling to repay predatory lenders and losing...

India’s Skills Famine

James Surowiecki April 18, 2007
Entrepreneurship in India has captured the attention of onlookers around the world. But despite many success stories, the world’s second most populated nation has run into a big challenge – a shortage of skilled workers. Education opportunities are limited, with only 10 percent of Indians pursuing higher education and 30 percent of the population labeled as illiterate. Yet “India’s impressive...

The World’s Growing Nuclear Club

Humphrey Hawksley April 16, 2007
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), opened for signing in 1968 and in force since 1970, established a nuclear regime intended as temporary until decision could be reached on eliminating nuclear weapons altogether. While the treaty has proven remarkably enduring, its failure to address the ultimate goal and its inability to cope with the nuclear ambitions of North Korea, Iran, Israel,...

China and the US: To Hedge or Engage

David Shambaugh April 11, 2007
Despite extensive cooperation between China and the US, both countries remain suspicious of each other’s intent. The result has been, from the US side, a policy of hedging all the while engaging with China. This arms-length approach may not be good for either country’s interest or the interest of stability in Asia. David Shambaugh and Karl Inderfurth, China and South Asia analysts, respectively,...

India’s Edge Goes Beyond Outsourcing

Anand Giridharadas April 5, 2007
Developments in transportation and communications technology enable greater globalization of more segments of the labor market. For several decades, manufacturing jobs gradually moved from developed countries to areas with low-cost workers. Now workers in the developing world take on more complex tasks in engineering, finance and pharmacology. Boeing, for instance, relies on Indian-developed...