Forget that fancy word ‘smart city’. A country or community must have uninterrupted electricity 24 hours a day, clean water, knowledge of agricultural pattern to grow crops through the year and no wastage of water. Securing these few resources (water and energy in the form of food and electricity) are essential for sustainable living.It’s when a community does not have these resources that migration to regions occur triggering a domino effect of over population, and a high pressured race to grab resource now under supplied. 

Aamir Khan may have staged a soft power coup in China. His earthy, grassroots advocacy in Dangal of gender rights, set in semi-urban but aspirational India, has struck an emotional chord with a young, curious, tech-savvy generation of the “Middle Kingdom”.Netizens have already set alight Weibo — the Chinese equivalent of Twitter — with fulsome praise of Mr. Khan, and the breezy, non-condescending, but powerful messaging of his film. One viewer has praised the actor as India’s national treasure.

On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Sri Lanka to take part as the chief guest in International Vesak Day celebrations — the most significant day in Buddhist calendar — Chinese President Xi Jinping was giving final touches to the first Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a super-massive infrastructure project connecting China with Europe and Middle East. 30 world leaders have flown to Beijing to take part in Sunday's maiden forum.

The Karnataka government has decided to intercede in the state's airlines business by asking more countries to operate direct flights to Bengaluru. [...] According to the minister, the state has already approached few nations like Australia, Israel and Japan which have consulates in the city for the purpose of pushing their national carriers and private airlines to operate direct routes.

The successful launch of the South Asian Satellite from Sriharikota onboard the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) on Friday not only reiterated the technological prowess of India’s space agency, but was also a landmark in science diplomacy in the region. This is the first time a communication satellite built and launched by India will be put to the common use of South Asian countries. 

What happens when strongmen meet? We know that the world is slowly filling up with populist nationalists, from Manila to Washington. Will they join forces against the sanctimonious, supra-national powers that dismay them all? Or will they compete, as erstwhile tough guys seem most comfortable doing? Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised if they find an entirely different way to frame their international engagement, one sure to puzzle, infuriate and sometimes amuse onlookers.

Indians' relations with Turks have deep roots in history, memory, culture, language and society. Their political relations can be traced back to different phases in past centuries [...] The Topkapı Museum has several items from the country, including a precious gift from a Hindu King in South India. Muslims in India along with the support and cooperation of the Hindus have a history of political and financial support extended to Turkey not less than five times during 1874-1920. 

“Triangular diplomacy”, a term coined by former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger in reference to the confrontation and cooperation between the US, the Soviet Union and China during the cold war, seems to be back again, but in a new form and with new strategic significance. The strategy explained the informal alliance between Washington and Beijing; US president Richard Nixon and Kissinger managed, 45 years ago, to pit Beijing and Moscow against each other by forging a closer partnership with China