Comments
Short commentary by ORF America experts on current issues. These comments represent the views of the author(s). ORF America does not hold institutional positions on any issues. Comments from previous years can be found here.
By Piyush Verma
By meeting clean energy targets ahead of schedule, expanding nuclear and hydrogen capacity, and securing critical mineral supply chains, India is positioning itself as a model for climate-conscious growth that does not compromise on economic or strategic goals.
By Jiwon Lim
Despite a rapidly evolving cyber landscape, India’s cyber security focus marginalizes the trust building and assessment abilities that make up a reporting framework.
By Anit Mukherjee and Caroline Arkalji
The consecutive presidencies of Indonesia, India, Brazil, and South Africa within the G20 offers a blueprint for how the Global South can continue shaping global governance at a time of geopolitical uncertainty and a rapid rebalancing of the globalization process itself.
By Dhruva Jaishankar
Over the past few months, relations between the United States and India have gone from stable and promising to tense and turbulent..
By Hansika Nath
Clean technology has emerged as a key area of convergence in trade talks between India and the EU.
By Marta Bengoa
What began as April's "Liberation Day" announcement has evolved into a complex framework of negotiated settlements that, while avoiding the most severe outcomes initially threatened, creates new economic distortions across multiple trading relationships.
By Megha Shrivastava
India’s growing digital infrastructure and AI talent pool offer the United States a strategic opportunity to offset its compute shortfall, but realizing this potential demands deeper bilateral alignment on infrastructure, talent, and governance.
By Piyush Verma
While challenges remain in terms of generation mix, grid integration, infrastructure resilience and storage capacity, India’s clean energy milestone sends a clear message: ambitious goals, backed by policy, innovation, and investment, can deliver real-world impact.
By Sarah Box
The AI Action Plan is a clear signpost towards American dominance in AI and its impact will be felt globally. The hope is that it will indeed lead to the industrial and information revolution and cultural renaissance anticipated by the administration, and that this is not a winner-take-all race but one that allies and partners can share in.
By Jeffrey D. Bean
While largely domestically orientated, Trump’s AI Action Plan has significant implications for U.S. allies and partners, both in terms of commercial engagement and national security considerations.
By Resham Sethi
Global AI governance must empower LMICs to lead and shape health innovation through inclusive, context-driven collaboration.
By Jeffrey D. Bean
Given the deep disagreements on responsible state behavior in cyberspace among different states, the 2021-2025 UN OEWG achieving consensus represents a significant breakthrough. That said, the agreement reflected at least five positive developments in global cyber governance.
By Naina Sharma
As China rapidly advances its drone capabilities, cooperation between India and the United States will be vital for both international standard setting and for both countries’ national security.
By Anit Mukherjee
The BRICS Leader’s Declaration lays out in detail the process for a revision of quotas at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, representation of the Global South in the governance of artificial intelligence and other transformative technologies that will shape the future, and increasing the accessibility and affordability of climate finance.
By Ashita Jain
The India-UK FTA reflects a significant shift in India’s digital trade approach. The commitments it makes, particularly on customs duties on electronic transmissions, data flows, and source code protection, will serve as benchmarks in India’s ongoing negotiations with the EU and the United States.
By Lindsey Ford
There is much that feels reassuringly familiar about the joint statement that came out of the July 1 Quad meeting in DC, which maintains significant continuity in its overall tone and content. However, a close review also points to notable shifts that could erode the group’s regional influence over time.
By Ammar Nainar
Despite trade and tariff wars and continuing security tensions in Europe, the Middle East, and Indian subcontinent, Quad cooperation continues. But the trends this year also reflect a new and more focused agenda for Quad cooperation in the second Trump administration, including maritime, economic, and technology security, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
By Elsa Debargue and Jeffrey D. Bean
The Pall Mall Process is a work in progress, and only time will tell if it proves durable and successful. However, it does hint at a potential turning point in current cyber governance efforts by adapting to the realities of a decentralized, privatized, and often invisible marketplace of digital intrusion.
By Lindsey Ford
The ongoing crisis in the Middle East — which involved Israeli and then U.S. strikes on Iranian targets, including nuclear facilities, as well as Iranian retaliation against Israel and U.S. bases — carries some important lessons for potential crises between India and Pakistan.
By Anit Mukherjee and Caroline Arkalji
In the run up to the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, countries are reevaluating the role of biofuels in supporting efforts to accelerate the clean energy transition, particularly in the transportation sector, which accounts for nearly one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.
By Katherine Salinas
The repercussions of unregulated AI are unfolding in real time, with potentially life-altering consequences for millions of people.
By Dhruva Jaishankar
The sudden whiplash in public sentiment in some quarters in India is notable and will moderate the appetite in New Delhi for cooperation with Washington.
By Marta Bengoa
What emerges from the London talks is not a coherent policy framework but rather a series of tactical compromises that fail to address underlying strategic challenges.
By Jeffrey D. Bean
All in all, the United States’ oscillating policy on AI diffusion reflects an ongoing struggle in how best to simultaneously retain U.S. leadership in semiconductors and advance compute for AI at both a market level and in national defense applications, while blocking adversaries’ access to advanced AI chips and the capability to manufacture them.
By Dhruva Jaishankar and Medha Prasanna
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) — at the center of the United Nations system — faces twin crises. One is a crisis of legitimacy. The second is a crisis of effectiveness and relevance.
By Caroline Arkalji
While India is globally recognized for its highly skilled engineering talent, it lags behind its peers in terms of a large, technically trained labor force needed to attract manufacturing investment at scale. To compete, India must align its technical education more closely with industry needs and emphasize skills critical to modern manufacturing.
By Lindsey Ford
Trump’s eagerness to claim credit for defusing the India-Pakistan crisis, and his follow-on offer of facilitating broader talks between the two sides, kicked off a renewed debate about the bounds of Washington’s ability to play peacemaker in South Asia.
By Dhruva Jaishankar
Relations between India and Pakistan had been in deep freeze since 2019: there will now be fewer constituencies than ever in India in favor of normalization.
By Dhruva Jaishankar and Ammar Nainar
As observers struggle to make sense of Trump’s second presidential term, it is worth considering three parallel debates that are shaping these outcomes.
By Neeraj Jain
Artificial Intelligence must be deployed in Open Transaction Networks (OTNs) to ensure scalable and equitable digital participation across socio-economic segments.