Both the Chinese government and the Tibetans are in agreement over the impending issues relating to the adverse impact of climate change on Tibet while the India-specific data on glacier melt is as yet inconclusive. There is, however, a difference of perception in Sino-Tibetan discourse over the capitalist model of economic development being undertaken by China which is at variance with the cultural practices of Tibetans, informed and regulated as they are with the Buddhist values of oneness with nature. Nomadism is also fundamental to the preservation of the ecology of Tibet.

• P. K. Gautam
• September 2010
• Strategic Analysis

Rivers are more than what Samuel T. Coleridge poetically expressed in Kubla Khan: ‘meandering with mazy motion’ and falling into the ‘sunless sea’. Rivers are life-givers, carrying a mystic and sacred quality about them. That they are oft described as being ‘mighty’—the mighty Amazon; the mighty Nile; the mighty Brahamaputra; the mighty Murray; the mighty Mississippi and Missouri—is hardly mystifying. Civilizations have grown around it and flourished. In contemporary politics the salience of rivers cannot be overlooked both in terms of being drivers of cooperation and conflict.

• Uttam Kumar Sinha
• September 2010
• Strategic Analysis

Like in the 1950s, the word ‘riparian’ is back again in the India–Pakistan lexicon, becoming this time intensely political, emotional and divisive. This development is both instructive and unsettling. It is instructive to note how the current water realties of the two countries, which have changed significantly since the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in 1960, will now determine the treaty's future. With growing populations, inadequate water management techniques and the impact of global warming, water resources are under pressure.

• Uttam Kumar Sinha
• July 2010
• Strategic Analysis

Climate change has acquired high priority in the United Kingdom's foreign policy. It has in recent years raised the issue of climate change at various international forums, such as G-8, the European Union and the UN Security Council. This article examines how and why climate change has become one of the core components of UK foreign policy, and in so doing analyses the interconnections between foreign policy and climate change, and interactions between domestic and international politics.

• Uttam Kumar Sinha
• May 2010
• Strategic Analysis

This research article examines the rationale for Iran, Pakistan, and India entering into a trade agreement to meet their economic, political, and strategic needs as well as the constraints and challenges that still hamper such an agreement from realizing its full potential. Using the gas pipeline project as a case study, the issues of energy security (as the independent variable) and of economic interdependence (as the dependent variable) highlight the importance of cooperation among these countries.

• Anjali Sahay , Jalil Roshandel
• January 2010
• Strategic Analysis

India is being subjected to increasing pressure from the developed countries to cut down on its carbon emissions on the grounds that it is the fifth largest consumer of energy. This comes even as there are forecasts that India's energy consumption will increase incrementally as it tries to address the challenges of its social and development goals by increasing and sustaining economic growth at around 8–10 per cent of its GDP.

• Shebonti Ray Dadwal
• January 2010
• Strategic Analysis

Though global warming and climate change is a real concern and needs to be addressed, it is concerns over energy security that are driving the West's policy and debate on climate change. With the traditional oil and gas market changing in favour of the developing countries, the developed countries are concerned about retaining their preferential access to energy resources.

• Shebonti Ray Dadwal
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

Climate change is hugely challenging. But there is an unmistakable straightforwardness to it – reduce emissions to reduce global warming. In many ways, this reflects the sum total of the paradoxes that define our reality and the contradictions and hypocrisy of coping and dealing with it. Climate change raises all the right concerns from effectively all the right quarters. But concerns require actions and that is where the debate starts, the positions get entrenched and more often than not words and gestures become hollow and empty.

• Uttam Kumar Sinha
• November 2009
• Strategic Analysis

The Road to Copenhagen in December 2009 has two visible signposts. One that reads, ‘The time for climate change action is now’, the other that warns, ‘The road is bumpy’. The first signpost expresses the apocalyptic language that the earth's rising temperatures are poised to set off irreversible consequences if concrete steps are not taken quickly. It suggests that the climate is nearing tipping point. The second signpost forewarns that arriving at a bold, equitable, and binding treaty will not be easy and that the politics of climate change will undermine the science of climate change.

• Uttam Kumar Sinha
• September 2009
• Strategic Analysis

That there is a freshwater crisis today is an irrefutable fact. That there is also a water policy that is in perpetual crisis is an equally undeniable fact. Continued population growth and the impact of global warming along with over-consumption, inadequate conservation, and wastage are putting enormous pressure on water resources. Water covers most of the planet but only 3 per cent is fresh water, of which a mere 1 per cent is readily accessible for human consumption. What it means is that less than 0.007 per cent of all the water on earth is available to drink.

• Uttam Kumar Sinha
• July 2009
• Strategic Analysis

TAPI has the potential to be a game changer for Turkmenistan. To boost confidence among potential investors, Turkmenistan needs to adopt best global practices in its gas sector.

• Sanket Sudhir Kulkarni
• September 02, 2016
• Comment

The longer the price of oil remains depressed, India, like other major oil importers, will not only increase its dependence on crude imports, but it will also become more dependent on OPEC.

• Shebonti Ray Dadwal
• January 18, 2016
• Comment

The fact that the developed countries succeeded in making all commitments non-binding makes the Paris Agreement almost toothless.

• Shebonti Ray Dadwal , Satyam Malaviya
• December 18, 2015
• Comment

India needs to capitalise on the emerging Iranian gas supply market and the current low price scenario, before rival consumers snap up Iranian exports or prices go up. Developing broader relations that entail incorporating gas supplies from Iran would give India greater leverage at a time when other countries in South Asia are emerging as key gas importers.

• Shebonti Ray Dadwal
• November 10, 2015
• Comment

Often criticised as an obstructionist or stubborn negotiator, India now holds considerable credibility as a leader when it comes to climate change related pledges.

• Satyam Malaviya
• September 03, 2015
• Comment

This fresh move on the Indian Prime Minister’s part is perhaps meant to signal to Pakistan that if the latter continues with its hostilities and political rhetoric towards India, then India and other countries may consider an alternative arrangement.

• Sanket Sudhir Kulkarni
• August 27, 2015
• Comment

Nepal should raise Ecological Task Force (ETF) units to assist in tasks related to ecological reconstruction.

• P. K. Gautam
• April 29, 2015
• Comment

Kautilya argues that when the treasury gets depleted, concerted efforts become necessary for its replenishment and even recommends extraordinary measures in emergency situations. But the guiding principle should be what the people consider as beneficial to themselves.

• P. K. Gautam
• April 17, 2015
• Comment

Signing of the SAARC agreement is merely the first step in the process of regional energy cooperation. To make this initiative work, governments in the region need to synchronise their efforts on a range of technical, institutional and political issues.

• Sanket Sudhir Kulkarni
• January 05, 2015
• Comment

Is India now looking at energy through the strategic prism? Its recent signing of the TAPI deal is certainly indicative of that.

• Shebonti Ray Dadwal
• December 05, 2014
• Comment