By Piyush Verma and Andrei Covatariu
The COP31 presidency has proposed raising electricity’s share of global final energy demand, yet AI is largely missing from climate and energy planning. At COP31 in Antalya this November, that needs to change.
By Udaibir Das
Technology changes the form of money. The institution behind the promise still sets its quality.
By Dhruva Jaishankar
As official EU-India relations have surged ahead over the past year, the non-governmental sector will quickly need to catch up.
By Piyush Verma
This diplomatic moment offers an opportunity built on the India-Indonesia relationship: closer cooperation with the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum, or IBSA.
By Brian Webster, Alan Gelb, and Anit Mukherjee
Shifting the payment of social transfers from cash to direct deposit via bank or mobile money accounts can directly improve efficiency for governments and convenience for beneficiaries. It may also produce positive spillovers such as boosting financial inclusion and empowering women. But do these spillovers materialize, and under what circumstances?
Chairman Huizenga, Ranking Member Kamlager-Dove, and Members of the Subcommittee: It is a privilege to appear before you today. I am grateful to House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) Chairman Brian Mast and Ranking Member Gregory Meeks for their invitation.
My name is Dhruva Jaishankar, and I am Executive Director of the Observer Research Foundation America (ORF America), a public policy think tank based in Washington DC affiliated with the Observer Research Foundation in India. My father is the External Affairs Minister of India, the counterpart to the U.S. Secretary of State. However, I appear today in my capacity as a private Indian citizen. My testimony reflects my personal views as an international relations analyst, and not those of my employer or the Government of India.
I would like to highlight three points in today’s hearing:
The strengthening U.S.-India strategic partnership since 1998 has been premised on converging interests. These related to: (i) mutually-beneficial economic opportunities in both countries and (ii) strategic coordination, particularly in the Indo-Pacific amid China’s rise and growing assertiveness and, more recently, in stabilizing the Middle East.
The progress made in consolidating the U.S.-India partnership is currently at a political standstill, primarily due to differences over (i) trade and tariffs and (ii) renewed U.S. engagement with Pakistan’s military leadership. Additional differences involving Russia, regional strategies, and both countries’ domestic policies exist, but are manageable.
The present situation risks jeopardizing mutually-beneficial cooperation on (i) the ambitious bilateral agenda outlined by President Trump and Prime Minister Modi in February 2025 on trade, technology, energy, and defense cooperation and (ii) strategic cooperation between the two countries in the Quad, in the Middle East, and on global affairs: from the Western Hemisphere and Africa to AI and critical minerals.
By Udaibir Das
The Trevor Manuel G20 Africa Expert Panel Report reframes Africa’s constraints as a single system of mispricing, debt compression and governance asymmetry. Its proposals for refinancing, collective bargaining and International Monetary Fund quota reform mark the first coordinated attempt to shift power within the international financial architecture.
By Udaibir Das
Ubuntu economics does not invoke moral claims. It advances a structural argument: Africa’s demographic momentum, mineral endowments and ecological assets are central to global prosperity, and instability in the region imposes system-wide costs. The reform frameworks are now primarily in place. The question is whether the political and institutional conditions of 2026 permit their implementation.
Energy for Billions: India’s Turnaround and the World’s Future is both a personal memoir and a national chronicle — the story of one man’s journey from a small, unelectrified home in a rural village in India to the global stage of energy and climate diplomacy, and of a nation’s extraordinary transformation from scarcity to leadership in clean energy.
In this deeply engaging narrative, Dr. Piyush Verma blends personal reflection with policy insight to tell the story of India’s energy revolution — a decade that redefined what is possible for emerging economies.
He traces how bold reforms, innovative governance, and inclusive development turned the world’s most populous democracy into a beacon for sustainable growth.
Moving seamlessly between lived experience and global perspective, Energy for Billions captures the courage and conviction behind India’s clean energy milestones — from rural electrification and renewable expansion to its bold 2047 energy independence and 2070 net-zero ambitions. It examines how people, policies, and partnerships together shaped one of the greatest developmental turnarounds during the last decade.
This book is not just about energy systems — it is about courage, leadership, and the will to transform. India’s journey shows that when a billion people are empowered by vision and conviction, they don’t simply light their homes — they illuminate the world.
A personal and national journey — tracing Dr. Verma’s path from growing up without electricity in rural India to shaping global energy policy, mirroring India’s own rise from scarcity to sustainability.
A decade of transformation — capturing India’s breakthroughs in renewable energy, electrification, and governance reform that turned the country into one of the world’s clean energy leaders.
A vision for the future — looking ahead to India’s 2047 energy independence and 2070 net-zero goals, and the lessons its journey offers for the Global South and the world.
Written in simple, engaging language, the book is designed for anyone — not just energy professionals — to understand where energy truly sits in our society, how it shapes our economy, and why it defines our collective future. It connects the human experience with systemic change, making complex transitions both relatable and real.
By Piyush Verma and Telmen Altanshagai
Mongolia is not just a customer or supplier—but a co-partner in building new regional supply-chains, new corridors and new resource-alliances. It speaks to a future where India is not simply plugged into global energy markets, but co-creating them.
By Udaibir Das
While stability prevails in institutional titles, resilience prevails in policy content. This shift influences the oversight and allocation of approximately $470tn in global financial assets. This has structural implications and affects public accountability.
By Dhruva Jaishankar and Ammar Nainar
Once a quiet backstage function of the armed forces, defence diplomacy has emerged as one of India's sharpest tools of statecraft. From joint exercises and training missions to disaster relief and maritime surveillance, India's military now operates far beyond the battlefield: building trust, shaping partnerships, and projecting the country's strategic interests on a rapidly shifting global stage.
By Julianne Smith and Lindsey Ford
American allies are rapidly transforming their relationships whether Washington likes it or not; these networks can either serve or undermine U.S. interests depending on how Washington engages with them. If the United States fails to reset ties with Asian and European partners, it risks being left on the sidelines of a rapidly changing world order.
By Udaibir Das
What began as a spread on a bond has become a spread across the sovereign balance sheet. The 2025 annual meetings have made clear that incremental adjustments will not suffice. Until new institutions and norms emerge, sovereigns will continue to pay in basis points and in ownership and discover that what the premium buys is not sovereignty, but postponement.
By Udaibir Das
In a climate emergency, redundancy might be precisely what resilience requires. The sovereignty premium is that insurance price. Whether it’s worth paying depends on how much autonomy matters versus efficiency – and whether choice exists at all.
By Piyush Verma and Abhinav Jindal
India’s bid to host COP 33 is a clear signal of geopolitical intent. It positions the world’s largest democracy, the most populous nation and the fourth-largest economy as a bridge between developed and developing worlds.
Edited Volume
By Elie Alhajjar, Raj Shekhar, Divyansh Kaushik, Honson Tran, Megha Shrivastava, Zeena Nisar, Ingrid Erickson, Urmi Tat, Resham Sethi, Priyanshu Gupta, Katelyn Radack, Mandeep Rai, Neeraj Jain, Vaibhav Garg, Jatin Patni, and Wm. Matthew Kennedy
Editors: Andreas Kuehn and Anulekha Nandi
By Divyansh Kaushik and Lindsey Ford
The recent bilateral crisis has caused significant damage, but it has not destroyed the fundamental calculation that brought TRUST into being: the United States and India need each other to maintain democratic technological leadership against authoritarian competition.
By Piyush Verma
By working more closely with India, South Africa, and Indonesia, Brazil can move faster at home, bargain better abroad, and ensure the Global South is not just present but powerful at the table where tomorrow’s rules are written.
By Dhruva Jaishankar
A strong transatlantic bond that for almost eight decades had evolved into a highly integrated defense and economic system among the world’s leading industrial economies – institutionalized under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and G7 – now faces new stresses.
By Anit Mukherjee
With only two months left for the start of the leaders’ summit in Belém, the future of climate action seems to be based more on hope than conviction. A positive outcome from COP30 will require stronger commitment from the global community than what we have seen until now.
By Udaibir Das
Financial surveillance fails when it matters most. Every major financial disruption – from the 1997 Asian crisis to the 2008 financial crisis or recent geopolitical shocks from wars, sanctions and trade realignments – has exposed how blind spots persist in national systems, regional arrangements and global oversight.
Observer Research Foundation America, 1100 17th St. NW, Suite 501, Washington DC 20036 USA
