Australia wants India to support its “rules based order”, but does New Delhi want the same rules?

Geopolitical rivalry between big powers sometimes yields odd results.

Watered-down regulation of the “bidi” industry has created disastrous consequences for smokers and the country alike.

Aircraft carriers have a strategic and demonstrative impact no fortified island can replicate.

Unnecessary panic was sparked after social and traditional media alike disseminated distorted information.

Even fiction can attract fringe outrage in a bid to capitalise on prime-time attention.

As India looks to act East in response to China’s rise, investment in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands might make more sense than expensive floating status symbols.

Despite a new agreement after a spike in ceasefire violations, Kashmir continues to divide India–Pakistan relations.

The Indian Prime Minister intended to reassure, and hinted only obliquely at some of the challenges confronting India and the region.

More than 1800 children languish in Indian jails with their imprisoned mothers, often as a consequence of bureaucratic incompetence. 

The meeting between Modi and Xi was not a step towards a lasting thaw in relations between Beijing and Delhi.

New Delhi must gear up for a sustained struggle to ensure openness, transparency, and a healthy balance of power.

In cinema-crazy India, actors can easily be more popular than most politicians.

Popularity in north India may be hard-won by the BJP.

Imposing capital punishment is no fix for a chronic lack of trust in police and the courts.

A new deal for amphibious aircraft shows just how far ties between the two countries have come.

Tax exemption allows Indian states to exercise moral authority over cinema, and to promote select actors and producers.

Little has changed since 2012 when a gang rape in Delhi sparked global outrage.

During the Doklam crisis, New Dehli apparently tried to send a signal to Beijing with its nuclear missile submarine.

Access to naval facilities in Oman could see a greater Indian naval presence in the Persian Gulf.

Violent protests against the release of the film Padmaavat have fuelled fears about free speech and religious intolerance.

Last year saw a surge in testing and deployment of both ballistic and cruise missile technology throughout the Indo-Pacific.

India's position on ASEAN reflects an ambition to create a bulwark against the emergence of a Sino-centric regional order.

Often derided for a lack of charisma, Rahul Gandhi proved an unexpectedly strong campaigner in his first test as leader.

The demolition of a mosque in Ayodhya has cast a long shadow over India's politics.

India’s media is expanding – but the room for critical voices is shrinking.

It is sobering that Indian diplomats are talking of the Quad as a way to stiffen Australia’s spine.

Organising a loose strategic coalition might upset Beijing, but that's no reason not to forge ahead.

Tillerson’s speech also signaled a significant hardening of US attitudes towards China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Questions regarding the actual depth of India-Japan defence relations have resurfaced.

Helping to address the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is pivotal to maintaining the credibility of India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ and ‘Act East’ policies.

While the security architecture of Asia in some flux, the future of the India-Japan relationship is looking very healthy indeed.

Almost 30 years after India and China agreed relations would not be held hostage to the territorial dispute, it remains a source of mistrust and hostility.

If Make in India can deliver an employment bonanza, Modi’s prospects in the 2019 elections could shift from strong contender to virtual shoe-in.

Delhi’s political rhetoric about its dominant position in the Indian Ocean ignore the facts.

In response to China, Delhi is re-framing all its Indian Ocean engagements - political, military and diplomatic.

The superficial reading is that China essentially forced India into a humiliating backdown.

On Pakistan, Trump has said out loud what has until now been largely debated and threatened in private.

There is a strong feeling in Delhi that China disregards India's aspirations to be a great power and is trampling on India's strategic space.

A growing political-military nexus between China and Pakistan, as currently seems likely, will further aggravate security competition with India.

The stakes – who gets to construct the legal, economic, and military architecture of an integrated Indo-Pacific region – are enormous. Without bold policy from the US and India, the answer will be China.

The proclivity for extremism in Asia has spread beyond the ‘usual suspects’.

The India-China standoff at the Doklam tri-junction area, now in its second month, is the most serious crisis between the two countries in 30 years.

Vietnam regards naval activity by larger nations like India and the US in the area as a useful deterrent against China.

The resurgence of Jaish-e-Mohammed is dangerous for India. Only time will tell whether it is also a bad omen for Pakistan.

Some of the most important progress in US-India relations in recent years has been on Indo-Pacific issues.

Australia has a perfect right to form associations, groupings, dialogues and alliances with whomever it chooses. But wise statecraft does not deal only with entitlements and rights.

The view that India is reluctant to engage Australia in a multilateral naval setting because it is wary of Canberra’s strategic credentials lacks merit.

If India does not move to protect its equities, South Asia could soon fall under the sway of China's rapidly expanding maritime power.

Though it was clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not be attending, China expected at least a ministerial level summit participation from India.