Corruption, No. 1 national security threat, is eating into the vitals of the state, enfeebling internal security and crimping foreign policy.  India confronts several pressing national security threats. But only one of them — political corruption — poses an existential threat to the state, which in reality has degenerated into a republic of mega-scandals. The pervasive misuse of public office for private gain is an evil, eating into the vitals...

As pressure builds on China and India to accept greater obligations to cut down carbon emissions, both countries have asserted that measures to combat climate change need to factor in the principle of equitable access to development opportunities.Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said developing countries have to strike a balance between growth objectives and emission mitigation as experts reminded that developed nations have over-used their fair share.“I want to reiterate that...

India continued to be the largest recipient of remittances in 2010, with the figure rising from $49.6 billion in 2009 to $55 billion. It was also the country with the second largest number of emigrants (those migrating abroad) after Mexico, according to the World Bank's just-released Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011. Interestingly, even as 11.4 million people from India went abroad, 5.4 million came into the country, making India No. 10...

Negotiators from China and Japan clashed over the Kyoto Protocol at the UN climate change meet here, highlighting the uncertain future of the only treaty that puts legally binding emission targets on industrialised nations. Noting that some countries do not "like" the Kyoto Protocol, deputy head of China's delegation, Huang Huikang said, "Now we are even more worried about the KP (Kyoto Protocol)...they even want to kill the KP." "There must be...

India wants an eight-point pledge from the US and other developed countries at Cancun before yielding to their demand that developing nations must agree to international consultation and analysis (ICA) for monitoring domestic climate actions. A strategy paper on New Delhi's stand at the conference says that India has agreed, in principle, to the idea of ICA but with specific riders in place. And specifies that the details would be put...