Earlier this year, the chief ministers of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh had demanded special financial packages for their respective states from the Centre. Special Packages for both states were announced in the Union Budget 2024-25. The issues catered in the package ranged from subjects like Irrigation, Flood Mitigation, Purvodaya: Vikas Bhi, Virasat Bhi, Airports, Medical Colleges, Sports Infrastructure, Highways, Industrial Corridors and Tourism development. Special Packages refer to the support provided to states facing geographical and socio-economic challenges, offering them additional financial assistance and other benefits.
Category: Analysis
China’s Economic Policy for 2025
On December 9, 2024, the Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) convened a meeting to discuss the country’s economic policy priorities for the year 2025 and the broader and deeper challenges facing the Chinese economy. The headline of the readout is “CPC Central Committee Political Bureau Holds Meeting to Analyze and Research 2025 Economic Work, Study and Deploy Party Conduct, Clean Governance and Anti-Corruption Work, CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping Presides Over Meeting.
The Impact of Water Scarcity, Climate Change and Conflict in Syria
This article critically examines the nexus between water scarcity, climate change, and conflict in Syria, drawing from key academic and policy sources. The analysis highlights the multifaceted drivers of the Syrian crisis, including long-standing political, economic, and environmental challenges. Specifically, it explores how climatic stressors exacerbated by global warming have contributed to instability and conflict in the region while discussing policy interventions aimed at mitigating the adverse impacts of water insecurity. The Syrian conflict, which began in 2012, has been influenced by a complex array of factors including political repression, economic disruption, and social grievances.
The Role of Women in Terrorism Financing
Terrorism is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon characterised by the use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political, ideological, or religious aims. Changing government policy, gaining independence for a territory, furthering religious views, or promoting a certain ideology are some of the objectives that motivate terrorism. The primary objective of terrorism is to evoke fear and panic in people who are not the direct victims. This kind of anxiety has the power to topple governments, undermine public trust in the government, and destabilise nations. Terrorist acts are often designed to attract media attention and spread the group’s message to a broader audience.
Fall of Dictators and Unfinished Revolutions in the Middle East
The Middle East in 2011 witnessed a wave of revolutions that was called the Arab Spring, through which people rose in revolt against decades-old dictatorships and oppressive regimes. For the first time, social media played a greater role in mobilising people and raising their voices over the world. Among the Middle East, one country receiving great traction to the movement was Libya. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has ruled the nation for 42 years. Although the regime was infamous for human rights violations, suppressed dissent and censorship, the country remained politically stable and economically in good flowing condition.
Assad’s Fall: An Outcome of the US-Russia Extended Cold War
Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and now Syria, the list of nations now in chaos after the fall of its governments is growing. There is a common pattern to the beginning of political storms in all these nations, which is the external interference in their domestic affairs by the United States. This model of toppling governments and replacing it with friendly options have failed everywhere. But the US is not reluctant to meddle with the affairs of other nations and especially when it comes to Asia, where they have geopolitical interests.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s Takeover of Syria is Another Chapter in Islamist Revival
Last week, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, one of the better-known rebel groups by another name – the Commission for the Liberation of the Levant, took over Damascus. They took Aleppo again and captured the mighty 46th Regiment of the Syrian Army. Second, HTS seized Hamam, the country’s second-largest city, thereby securing its largest territorial gains to date. The victory has wide-ranging implications on the world level, despite HTS’ attempts at rebranding itself as a “post-jihadist” entity committed to the fight against transnational Islam.
COP29: Disappointment at Baku
The multilateral UN Framework on Climate Change, which was established to address climate change, once again revealed disappointing results from the pledges made by developed countries at its COP29 climate financing summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. The unsettling start from the Azerbaijani president’s stirring statement that fossil fuels are a “gift from God” kicked off the meeting drawing disparagement from figures such as Greta Thunberg who referred Azerbaijan as “an authoritarian petro-state.”
Decoding the Economy of an Isolationist Country
Being one of the most isolated, secretive, dark and censored countries in the world, North Korea continues to baffle audiences and surpass trends of journalistic opportunity. It has one of the largest militaries in the world, a staggering domestic infrastructure and much speculation as to what goes on inside the closed-to-exhibition country. The citizens aren’t allowed to venture outside and no official economic data has been published since 1965, which is both scary and bold at the same time.
Which Road is the Belt and Road Initiative Leading to?
A huge surprise is that the true scale of the debt – thought to be at hundreds of billions of dollars – is not known. Many of the loans are covered in secrecy. As this fares dangerously for the future of the world entirely, there is still an angle of security to it as the BRI might not be dead, but evolving into an alligator underwater.