Author: Uday Kumar Varma

Diplomacy once travelled at the pace of caravans, ships, and sealed letters carried across oceans. Today it moves through semiconductor supply chains, quantum laboratories, artificial intelligence frameworks, clean-energy grids, and strategic technology partner­ships. The grammar of power is chang­ing. Nations are no longer judged solely by the size of their armies or territorial reach, but increasingly by their capacity to innovate, collaborate scientifically, secure technological ecosystems, and shape the infrastructures of the future. It is against this shifting global land­scape that the recent five-nation tour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi acquires significance beyond conventional diplomacy. Public discourse naturally focused on…

Modern wars no longer remain confined to the geography in which they are fought. They trav­el—through pipelines, shipping lanes, financial markets, and into the everyday economies of nations far removed from the battlefield. The war between Rus­sia and Ukraine has already demonstrat­ed how energy can be weaponised, with gas supplies, sanctions, and price shocks reverberating across continents. The more recent tensions between the United States and Iran underline the same real­ity from another theatre: that even the threat of disruption in critical arteries such as the Strait of Hormuz—through which a significant share of global oil flows—can unsettle markets worldwide.…

The India AI Impact Summit 2026 concluded at Bharat Mandapam with the en­dorsement of the New Delhi Declaration by 88 countries and inter­national organisations—among them the United States, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Bra­zil, Russia, the European Union, and IFAD. The moment marked more than the conclusion of a diplomatic gather­ing. It signalled a subtle recalibration in the global geography of artificial intel­ligence governance. It represented an important repositioning of India in the global conversation on artificial intel­ligence. This was the largest AI summit con­vened to date and the first of comparable scale hosted in the Global South.…

Image Courtesy: PIB SCIENCE DIPLOMACY When the world’s climate nego­tiators assembled in Belém, at the threshold of the Ama­zon rainforest in Brazil, the moment seemed laden with historical and moral significance. COP30 was heralded as the “COP of Truth”—a forum where sci­ence, urgency, and political will would finally converge. The choice of Belém was deliberate: few places embody the stakes of the climate crisis as starkly as the Amazon, a living regulator of the planet’s climate now under unprecedent­ed stress. Yet as the conference drew to a close, a sense of unease lingered. What many had hoped would be a…

As India prepares to unveil its annual India International Sci­ence Festival between Decem­ber 6 and 9 in Panchkula, Haryana, the moment is ripe to reflect on a larger phenomenon. Science and technology in India have begun to transcend their domestic role; they are quietly emerg­ing as a defining arm of diplomacy and global influence. Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has travelled far, from being a technol­ogy importer to becoming an innova­tor, manufacturer, and strategic partner. The theme of the festival—“Science to Prosperity: Towards a Self-Reliant In­dia”—speaks not merely of national self-sufficiency, but of a confident…