In an interview with NBR, Raymond Vickery Jr. (Albright Stonebridge Group) discusses the budget’s key announcements and provides insights on its potential to spur economic growth and attract foreign direct investment. He argues that the 2013–14 budget differs in important ways from the one announced in March 2012.

Dr. Madhukar Pai discusses promising recent developments in the global efforts to eliminate TB. He shares updates on significant breakthroughs in the field of diagnostics, a new FDA-approved TB drug, and renewed government efforts to work with the private sector on controlling TB in India, which struggles with the highest burden of TB in the world.

To get more insight on the reforms needed to India’s healthcare, NBR spoke with Victoria Fan, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development who wrote her Harvard School of Public Health dissertation on health systems in India. Dr. Fan provides an assessment on the state of India’s health system, the potential for Universal Health Coverage, and how the changing nature of disease in India affects public health functions, among other key issues.

On the 50th anniversary of the Sino-Indian Border War, Strategic Asia author Arun Sahgal (Institute of National Security Studies) discusses the lessons learned from the conflict and explains how the dispute still shapes relations between the two rising powers 50 years later.

To assess what recently announced reforms may mean for India's economic outlook and political process, NBR spoke with Arvind Subramanian, a senior fellow at both the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Center for Global Development.

In the second half of a two-part interview on China’s advancing naval and air forces, Strategic Asia author Andrew S. Erickson (U.S. Naval War College) discusses the capabilities and strategic implications of several of China’s most sophisticated systems, including its improving submarine force and low-observable aircraft programs.

In his new book, The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate, Robert Kaplan (Stratfor Global Intelligence) contends current global conflicts, including wars, political instability, and clashes over religion, can be better understood and even forecasted through close examination of the maps that chart our world. In this Q&A, NBR’s Abraham Denmark asks Kaplan how this theory relates to the Asia-Pacific, and what challenges geography will play for the United States’ policy toward the region.

Asia is looking toward North America to help diversify energy imports and fill growing demand. James Slutz discusses the implications of North American oil and natural gas exports to Asia on U.S. energy and foreign policy.

As India rapidly rises as a major global power, does its foreign policy need an overhaul? Jagannath Panda (IDSA) examines this question, including how India should manage its policy partnerships with the U.S., China, and multilateral organizations.

According to the 2011 census, India’s urban growth has surpassed rural growth for the first time in 90 years. Ananya Roy (University of California, Berkeley) discusses the impact of India’s move toward urbanization on city planning and design and what this trend implies for growing metropolises globally.