Now that the much-awaited Paris (COP-21) Summit has come to an end with a broad consensus on the post-2020 – termed a historic breakthrough – the next steps towards planning and implementation would be taken in an incremental fashion. Amidst fears of derailment of talks due to differences between the developed and developing countries, the least developed and island nations played a crucial role in pressing hard their demands and making sure that an agreement is reached.
The Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh experienced the worst deluge during the months of November and December in 2015, due to freak weather conditions that developed in the Indian Ocean. On December 1, 2015 Chennai (Tamil Nadu’s capital city) received record 490 mm of rain over 24 hours.
Environmental securityis a much-debated concept that is yet to be integrated completely with security studies due to theoretical, analytical, methodological and contextual disagreements over the interconnectedness between environmental issues and security. Though environmental security is a border-less issue that affects everyone across the globe, the perspectives on the concept are contextual and shifting.
India is all set to host the first ever SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) disaster management exercise – called the South Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise (SAADMEx) – between November 23 and 26.
One of the pivotal points of discussion between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the latter’s visit to India earlier in October was climate change and clean energy.
The delay in India’s declaration of its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) has raised many questions with regard to its long-term climate goals. For the time being, the governmentisfocussed on fulfilling the INDC requirement without compromising too much on some of the traditionally held positions (by the previous governments). The “red lines” that have long dominated India’s negotiating position on climate change are likely to shift slightly because of three reasons.
In the recently concluded General Election in Sri Lanka,defeat of former Lankan Supremo Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) has been more conspicuous than the victorious forces. This is his second defeat in a row after the Presidential election rout early this year. Although he has won from his electoral district, his alliance has faltered in sweeping expected number of seats required to support his bid to become the country’s next Prime Minister.He accepted defeat a few hours before the official results were set to be declared.
The Asian Century is a departure from the Atlantic epoch in all forays. The focus is now on littoral states who aim to secure the freedom of navigation on the high seas. As Robert D. Kaplan explains, the difference between the 20th century and 21st is in the geography; Europe was a landscape and Asia is a seascape. This implies a shift in grand strategies and military doctrines from army to naval or rather air-sea domains of military and political influence.
On 13th August, 2015, Mr. Shwe Mann, the speaker of the lower house of Myanmar parliament was ousted from his role as the Chairman of the reigning Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP). Reports indicate that this was an outcome of the power struggle between Mr. Shwe Mann and President Thein Sein. Mr. Shwe Mann’s increasing political popularity in Myanmar and his close ties with the opposition leader were seen as grounds for his ouster.
Multilateral organizations of all hues and designs abound in the rapidly globalizing international system. All multilateral entities define and redefine their existential purposes, rendering both a spatial and temporal understanding. And, the Commonwealth has always had to fight its colonial image to prove its sustainability with changing times. As an air of obscurity hangs over the Commonwealth group of nations, it needs to prove its mettle in finding the common purpose of thought and action among its member countries.
