Category Policy Update

Defence

India–Bhutan: Defence Infrastructure and Training Cooperation

Bhutan, one of the most important countries from a Geostrategic angle, is located between Tibet and North-East India and also to the nearest points of the Chumbi Valley of Tibet, Sikkim and the Eastern borders at the same time the proximity of Bhutan from the Siliguri corridor which is the connecting point of the seven north eastern states of India is crucial for both India and Bhutan.

The Hallyu Ascendancy and India's Soft Power Ceiling: A Geocultural Analysis for India-South Korea Bilateral Relations

The Hallyu Ascendancy and India’s Soft Power Ceiling: A Geocultural Analysis for India-South Korea Bilateral Relations

The Korean wave, etymologically known as the hallyu, refers to the soft power of the Korean popular culture that originated in Southeast Asia, first in mainland China and eventually spreading across Asia in the late 1990s. The transnational cultural influence of the K-wave in the postmodern era is one of a kind due to the decisive yet dominant nature of ‘compressed modernity’. South Korea experienced a century's worth of economic growth-led cultural influence within the span of a few decades. The phenomenon of ‘Miracle on the Han River’ transformed a war-ravaged South Korea that was one of the 25 poorest countries in the world in the 1960s into an advanced economy built on technology and innovation, with the help of the International Development Association of the World Bank. 

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DFPGYF Diplomacy, Foreign Policy & Geopolitics Youth Fellowship- Cohort 2.0.

DFPGYF Diplomacy, Foreign Policy & Geopolitics Youth Fellowship- Cohort 2.0 | An Online International Autumn School Program | A Four-Month Immersive Online Introductory Leadership Certificate Training Fellowship Program | July-October 2025 | IMPRI

National Action Plan to Combat Desertification (NAPCD)

National Action Plan to Combat Desertification (NAPCD)- Policy Update 2025

Background India introduced the National Action Plan to Combat Desertification (NAPCD) in 2001 after joining the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The plan was not just a policy decision, it was also a response to a reality that…

NAMASTE Scheme

The National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) Scheme – 2023

Despite the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (PEMSR Act, 2013) legally banning the dehumanizing practice of manual scavenging in India, the crisis persists. Deadly accidents during sewer and septic tank cleaning tragically demonstrate the failure of implementation, showing that this decades-old scourge remains a fatal reality.

Taking this matter into consideration, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) in convergence with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme in July 2023. The scheme is to be implemented with an outlay of Rs. 349.70 crore, over the three-year period up to 2025-26, in all 4800+ Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of the country.

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