Category Insights

Insights, a blog published by IMPRI.

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Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023

For over ten years, India maintained a law aimed at allowing mineral development of its seabed, yet for the same period, very little occurred. The Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act was enacted in 2002 and took effect in 2010, providing the government with a legal structure for mining in territorial waters, the continental shelf, and the Exclusive Economic Zone. However, when the Ministry of Mines was questioned about this in Parliament, their response was straightforward: no mining operation had ever started under the previous system. The Ministry was direct about the reason as well. It stated clearly that the distribution process allowed excessive discretion and failed to provide a fair, transparent method for assigning operating rights.

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National Credit Framework (NCrF) 2023: Implementation and Way Forward

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 called for removing the 'hard separation' between school, higher and vocational education. It proposed an Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) to facilitate the accumulation and mobility of credits (Ministry of Education, 2020). To operationalise this vision, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship constituted a High-Level Committee in November 2021 to develop a common credit framework for general and vocational education (Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2021; University Grants Commission, 2023).

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Protecting the Diaspora: Evacuation Planning for a Volatile Gulf

Policy UpdateAsmatwali Background India’s diaspora in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries numbers approximately 9.7 million out of a total overseas Indian population of 35.4 million, according to data submitted to Parliament by the Minister of State for External Affairs,…

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The Pakistan-Saudi Defence Pact and India’s Gulf Diplomacy

Policy UpdateAsmatwali Background On 17 September 2025, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) in Riyadh, formalising decades of informal Pakistan-Saudi security cooperation into a…

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India-Saudi Arabia High-Level Task Force on Investment (2023): Advancing the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership

Policy UpdateHimanshi Singh Background The old buyer-seller connection has given way to a comprehensive strategic partnership in the bilateral relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and India. India signed a deal with the Kingdom to create the Strategic Partnership…

ASEAN

ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Plan of Action (2026–2030): Strengthening Indo-Pacific Cooperation, Connectivity and Regional Security

India-ASEAN relations have grown into one of the central drivers of Indo-Pacific stability and economic integration. Over three decades, bilateral engagement has moved from early dialogue mechanisms to a full Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.This evolution began with India's inclusion as a Sectoral Partner in 1992, a step that signaled New Delhi's turn toward Southeast Asia following its domestic economic reforms. India was elevated to Full Dialogue Partner status in 1996, which laid the groundwork for annual summit-level interactions established in 2002.The relationship reached formal Strategic Partnership status in 2012 at the Commemorative Summit in New Delhi, and was elevated further to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership status at the 19th ASEAN-India Summit in Phnom Penh in 2022.

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