There is a chill in the air between India and Pakistan,  but the relationship between the two largest sub-continental neighbors is warming. The announcement on Monday that cricketing ties between India and Pakistan would resume is an indication of growing warmth between the two countries.

India broke all sporting ties with its western neighbour after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, which New Delhi claims was orchestrated by Pakistan-based terrorist groups in collusion with the country’s intelligence agencies. 

The decision to engage Pakistan in sports marks a major departure from India’s stated position of not resuming any bilateral sporting activities until Islamabad acts against the alleged perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks.

The cricket itinerary that starts from December 25 is very short. The series will consist of three One-Day Internationals and two Twenty-20 matches, but it sends a larger political message to the outside world .

Resumption of sporting activities should also be seen in the context of recent developments in the political and economic fronts. Not long ago, former Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna had a successful visit to Islamabad where he signed a number of agreements – the prominent ones being the easing of visa restrictions, greater people to people interactions and the strengthening of economic ties. Pakistan has already given India Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status. For the first time New Delhi hosted a Pakistani trade fair several months ago. Today, the Indian capital is the proud owner of a Pakistani designer shop, something which has never happened in the last six decades.

Overall, the resumption of cricketing ties was just a matter of time. There is already  speculation that Pakistani players will soon become a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL). After the 2008 Mumbai attack, the IPL stopped accepting Pakistani players out of security concerns in India. At the time, the general mood was also not in favour of inviting players from the other side of the border.

But the mood has changed. Political commentators believe that Monday’s development might be a precursor to the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Islamabad, which has been long overdue.

If politics is the art of the possible, timing is equally important.

Timing was indeed behind Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s massive cabinet reshuffle on Sunday, which brought on board 17 new ministers. Battered by corruption charges, facing a severe credibility crisis and a dimming economic outlook, The reorganization ousted some of the more tainted ministers in his cabinet and replaced them with young faces that gave his team a fresh new look.

Among the incoming cabinet members is Oxford-educated Salman Khurshid, who will take over as Foreign Minister, replacing the lackluster and elderly S M Krishna.

Some of the young leaders—including Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Manish Tiwari, a dynamic spokesperson of the ruling Congress Party—were given portfolios with independent charges.

Many were surprised that Singh welcomed Shashi Tharoor back into government after the former high profile UN official was forced out of government two years ago after an alleged cricket scandal. A highly prolific writer and good communicator, Tharoor reinforces the government’s modern composition and pro-reform agenda.

The reshuffle is widely believed to be the Congress Party’s attempt to shed its negative image and reassert itself before crucial national elections in early 2014.

"It is a combination of youth, experience and relevance to the portfolios that have been entrusted to the ministers. The road ahead is full of challenges. But this is a team, which I hope will be able to meet those challenges,” noted the Prime Minister. Singh also said this would probably be the last reshuffle of the council of ministers before the 2014 general elections. 

Political analysts say that if the cabinet reorganization revives the PM’s pro-reform reputation, it also bears the imprint of Rahul Gandhi, Congress’s rising star, who is widely believed to be positioning himself for a larger role in the party ahead of the general elections. The induction of new faces and the elevation of some of the young ministers is an attempt to prepare a future team for the party which is expected to fight the next elections under Gandhi’s leadership.

Political circles in New Delhi are also abuzz with speculation that the ruling party is preparing itself to overhaul its organizational structure in the coming weeks in order to give Rahul Gandhi a major role in the party, some believe as its working President. 

These changes come at a time when the main opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on the ropes following reports that its President, Nitin Gadkari, was involved in shady financial dealings, thereby undercutting the party’s efforts to paint itself as an alternative to the corruption-ridden Congress Party.  

Nonetheless, skeptics argue that the change in the cabinet has come too late as the government and party’s image is already tainted. They say that had it come a year earlier the reshuffle might have brought some political dividends. At this point, however, the ruling party’s standing has declined too sharply.

But the relaxed body language of Congress leaders during the swearing-in ceremony on Sunday signaled that they are not willing to concede defeat. Political commentators say that with a number of state elections scheduled over the next twelve months, the party cannot appear to be lackluster and demoralized. Many believe that a good showing in the regional elections will serve as a morale booster for the party before the crucial national elections in 2014.

Earlier today, the 80-year-old External Affairs Minister SM Krishna sent his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.  One of the reasons for doing so was to give newer politicians and leaders a chance to lead – which is part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA)’s overall plan to reinvigorate itself after recent scandals, along with other political and economic turmoil to boot.  Krishna’s resignation, however, comes at a time when India has high profile foreign policy matters on its agenda:  the visiting King of Spain is still on a state visit in India and  foreign ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association For Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) are to converge in New Delhi for a ministerial meeting from Sunday onwards.

The prime minister did not take long to accept the resignation and the government simultaneously announced that the union cabinet reshuffle will take place on Sunday morning. The government was earlier planning to hold the swearing-in ceremony for the new ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday evening, but the upcoming diplomatic engagements forced a rescheduling as the country needs a new foreign minister before dignitaries arrive for the IOR-ARC meeting.

Additionally, Krishna was scheduled to embark on two important foreign visits in early November. First, on November 5^th he was expected to travel to Laos for the Asia-Europe Meeting Summit. Later in the month, the FM was expected to attend the Asean-India Summit in Cambodia. It’s likely that Krishna’s successor will make these trips instead.

It is hard to find an example of an Indian foreign minister resigning abruptly when an important visiting foreign dignitary is still in the country and well over a dozen foreign ministers of other countries are expected to visit within days. Several weeks ago, he had engaged with a host of foreign leaders in New York on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly session. Only yesterday Krishna faced a major political setback when the Lokayukta (ombudsman) of his home state of Karnataka ordered a probe into Krishna’s alleged involvement in financial bungling in the Mysore-Bangalore expressway project. The Lokayukta order made his stay in the union cabinet untenable.

The Indian government has an onerous task on its hands: to name new chiefs to its three premier Central agencies – Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The government is likely to announce the appointments very soon.

RAW is India’s external intelligence agency, not unlike the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), albeit the CIA has far more power, funds and personnel at its disposal. IB is India’s internal intelligence agency, while the CBI is an investigative agency. In many ways, IB and the CBI combines the responsibilities and duties of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the U.S.

The importance of these three agencies for the Indian government cannot be overstated. RAW and IB have a direct bearing on Indian national security. Their professional rivalries are legendary and they often times resisting sharing intelligence with each other. In fact, this debilitating factor was criticized at length by the Kargil Review Committee, headed by the late K Subrahmanyam, which was set after the 1999 Kargil War.

In contrast to the secrecy that pervades RAQ and IB, the CBI has been a very visible public presence. Because the CBI, unlike RAW and IB, is a prosecuting agency, it has to maintain a public profile through such activities as holding regular media briefings.

There is another important difference between the CBI on the one hand and RAW and IB on the other. The CBI is a politically-loaded agency and is often seen as a tool of government in power, much to the disdain of the opposition parties.

The CBI’s political clout has increased enormously over the years, particularly in the current tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The UPA II has witnessed some high-profile scams like 2G telecom auctions, massive financial irregularities concerning the Commonwealth Games at Delhi and the coal blocks auction scam, popularly referred to in India as Coalgate. Sitting ministers, members of parliament, political leaders and corporate supports have been fingered in these scams which are investigated by the CBI.

However, recently activist Indian courts, led by the Supreme Court, have been monitoring several important cases being investigated by the CBI. This has strengthened the CBI’s autonomy from the sitting government as the agency has been directed to give regular status reports to the courts directly.

The current chiefs of RAW, IB and CBI – Sanjeev Tripathi, Nehchal Sandhu and Amar Pratap Singh respectively – are all set to retire by the end of the year. Of the three officers, IB’s Sandhu appears to be the only one who is likely to get an extension and even this will only be for three months. Sandhu’s stock is the highest among these officers. His prominence rose sharply after Saudi Arabia deported the terrorist leader, Abu Jundal, in June of this year, which gave India more leverage in dealing with Pakistan. Sandhu’s possible successors include both of the current Special Directors: Ram Niwas Gupta, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from Himachal Pradesh or Yashovardhan Azad, another IPS officer.

The most likely candidate to succeed the current RAW Chief is Alok Joshi. Of the three agencies which are going to see changes at the top, RAW is the only one where the succession process appears to be smooth and hassle-free. Joshi’s resume has one especially noteworthy qualification for the Manmohan Singh government—he previously served as the RAW station head in Nepal, an important country for any Indian government.

There are many individuals contending for the post of CBI Chief. These include Ranjit Sinha, currently the head of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), CBI special director VK Gupta and National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief SC Sinha. The present incumbent, AP Singh, may get a lucrative post-retirement assignment if he is called upon to head the soon-to-be-created investigation wing of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Singh’s seen as extremely qualified for this position because he has handled a large number of high-profile cases like 2G, Commonwealth Games, Coalgate and Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai, ever since he took over as the CBI chief in November 2010. During this time he has also helped improve the CBI’s conviction rate. 

With one eye on the looming election in 2014, the ruling Congress Party has been put its effort to woo the Dalits (former untouchables) on overdrive. From dedicating anthems to their leaders to launching new welfare measures to nudging India Inc. to train and employ Dalit youth, the government is showering unexpected munificence on this disempowered demographic. 

The Sanskrit word “Dalit” means "ground," "suppressed," "crushed," or "broken to pieces." These people, earlier ostracized by society and even banned from entering temples, are now known as Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). Mahatma Gandhi called them “Harijan: or "Children of God."

Earlier this month, in an effort to reach out to the Dalit community, the Congress’s P. L. Punia, Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, released a “Dalit anthem” in New Delhi. Titled “Jai Jai Bhim”, the paean is dedicated to Dalit icon Dr B. R. Ambedkar and chronicles his life from his birth in 1891 to his untiring efforts to uplift the Dalits socially. 

The government is also nudging private companies to train and employ Dalit youth in 27 districts across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. Collectively, these states host over 47 percent of India’s SC/ST population.

The party’s initiative aims to achieve a decisive victory by attracting the Dalits while undercutting its arch rivals -- the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Mulayam Singh-led Samajwadi Party in northern Uttar Pradesh – from doing likewise. The 2014 general elections are just 18 months away and Dalits form a sizeable chunk of the entire electorate, about 20 percent, while comprising 30 percent in certain states like Punjab. The party is clearly eyeing this vote bank.   

While untouchability has been abolished under the Indian Constitution, discrimination and prejudice against Dalits across South Asia --- spread as these people are over swathes of Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan– remains well-entrenched. Since its Independence from British rule in 1947, India has followed a policy of positive discrimination for Dalits to provide them with jobs and education opportunities. However, these concessions are limited to only those Dalits who are “Hindus.”

Interestingly, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s previous attempts to place SC/ ST youths in the corporate sector all came to naught. This is mainly due to the industry’s differing viewpoint on corporate quotas for this segment. Companies feel that equipping such youths with job skills is the state’s duty and therefore argue that Congress is merely shirking from its own responsibilities when it insists that the business world be a part of the industry’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda. The move is also contentious because it hampers industrial efficiency by promoting quotas over meritocracy.

Besides, analysts point out that since 1950, India already put in place a number of laws and social initiatives to benefit the Dalits. Indeed, of the highest paid most sought after jobs in the government sector, those classified as Class 1 jobs, over 10 percent are held by the Dalits.

Meanwhile, the government’s poor track record on social welfare initiatives could be cause for concern. For instance, the much-vaunted Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a job guarantee scheme which legally guarantees one hundred days of employment to adult members of rural households at a statutory minimum wage of US$2.27 per day, is fraught with uncertainty.

The U.S. $7.56 billion scheme was targeted at augmenting the purchasing power of the rural people. But MGNREGA currently finds itself bedeviled by a number of controversies over the cost, corruption, sub-par results, and unintended consequences for India’s poorest citizens.

Neeta Lal is a New Delhi-based senior journalist and columnist. 

At a time when the United States and Iran are at loggerheads over Tehran's nuclear program, Iranian and U.S. delegations were both in New Delhi this week to hold separate meetings with Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.

The Iranian delegate, which was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sayed Abbas Araghchi, was in town on Tuesday to hold the 10^th round of the Indo-Iranian Foreign Office Consolations. The two sides reportedly discussed a host of different bilateral issues, including: India’s wheat exports to Iran, the Chabahar Port in Southeastern Iran, consular access and the release of an Indian fisherman who was being held by Iran after straying too far into its territorial waters, and India’s ongoing request for Iran to cooperate more in New Delhi’s continued investigation into the attack on an Israeli Diplomat’s wife here last winter. Iran’s dialogue with the P5+1 powers was also expected to be discussed.

On Friday, William Burns, the number two at the U.S. State Department, arrived in New Delhi on Friday where he will hold meetings with Foreign Secretary Mathai and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon. Burns is currently on the last leg of a regional trip that has taken him to China, Japan, South Korea, and Burma. According to press reports here, Afghanistan and, interestingly enough, Iran, were the two subjects expected to top the agenda during Friday’s meeting. On Saturday the two sides were expected to delve into a broader array of topics including the East Asia Summit (EAS), democratic reforms in Burma, and the implementation of the Indo-U.S. civil nuclear energy deal.

Indian officials sought to downplay the significance of the consultations between Burns and Mathai over Iran. A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, for instance, said it was normal for the two sides to discuss this issue given how recently Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister had been in town.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna is expected to follow up on Tuesday’s meeting with Iran by visiting Tehran next month.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday has fuelled speculation that a much needed cabinet reshuffle is imminent.  

Singh spent about an hour with the President and is reported to have reviewed various political and economic challenges facing the nation, particularly in the wake of the corruption charges against his cabinet colleagues including Law Minister Salman Khurshid. A section of the ruling Congress Party believes they must continue to defend Khurshid and should, in fact, consider promoting him to a key portfolio like the External Affairs Ministry.

After the prime minister’s hour-long meeting with Pranab Mukherjee, Congress chief and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi also met with President. Mukherjee and Sonia reportedly discussed the corruption allegations made against Sonia’s son- in- law, Robert Vadra. Moreover, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, the Congress party’s presumed prime minister-in-waiting, is also scheduled to meet the President on Wednesday.

Sources said that if the reshuffle does go forward it will take place as soon as Friday, after which time the President is scheduled to leave the capital for a five-day trip to his ancestral home of West Bengal for Durga Puja festivities, a big festival season in Bengal.

Kamraj Plan?

Some speculation, however, that instead of a major reshuffle the Congress Party may instead opt for the more limited “Kamaraj Plan"-- that is, removing the perceived “dead wood” by rotating some of the ministers in the government to the party and vice versa. The Congress may also change two of its chief ministers, namely Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.

There is a further possibility that Rahul Gandhi could be promoted to the Congress Party’s Vice President or Working President and may bring with him an entirely new team of officials to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters. Sources said it is unlikely that the UPA allies would join the cabinet except for Tariq Anwar of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The war of words between social activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has continued to escalate in the aftermath of Kejriwal accusing Law Minister Salman Khurshid of misappropriating Rs 71 lakhs ($ 133,924) of funds that were designated for a charity for disabled people that Khurshid and his wife run.

On Monday, Kejriwal produced a list of the so-called beneficiaries of Khurshid’s trust which, according to the accuser, never received the supposed benefits. Kejriwal then demanded Khurshid’s resignation.

Khurshid has disputed the charges vehemently and appears to have the support of the entire Congress Party behind him. In response to the allegations, Khurshid has gone public with photographs that he claims prove his wife Louise Khurshid's trust distributed equipment to the disabled.  Khurshid also announced his intent to file multiple defamation lawsuits against, India Today Group, whose media outlets initiated the investigation into Khurshid’s trust, and first made the allegations of corruption.

Kejriwal has questioned the authenticity of the photographs, however, saying they were taken at an event that was held after the period in question.

Many members of Khurshid’s Congress Party have come forth to support him. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, for instance, defended Khurshid against the charges and made clear that the Party would not be calling on Khurshid to resign.

Meanwhile, Beni Prasad Verma , the Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh where the trust in question is based, bizarrely dismissed the allegations as inconsequential because the amount in question, Rs 71 lakh, was below the stature of a minister like Khurshid, according to Verma. "If it were a bigger amount, it would be serious. Kejriwal should not bark day and night. A person like Salman Khurshid will not do any scam for Rs 71 lakh... had it been Rs 71 crore, I would take it seriously."

Another Congress leader, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, said that Khurshid has a reputation to be proud of and that the government cannot respond to each and every charge Kejriwal makes given their frequency. "Kejriwal changes his stand by the hour. We cannot respond to each of these charges.”

Still, Kejriwal is demanding that a Special Investigation Team led by retired Supreme Court judges launch a probe into his allegations against Khurshid.

A senior Russian official warned of a “new wave” of terrorism in the region following NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and asked for India’s help in combating it.

"Thousands of terrorists and fundamentalists will seek refuge in Afghanistan as well as the region around the country. It may change the situation drastically around the region and for countries like Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Central Asia. This is a big problem for Russia and India," Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, said during a trip to New Delhi on Sunday, speaking of the period after NATO forces pull out Afghanistan in 2014.

"So we have to control the situation with some political and security monitoring and see what we can do together to stop this invasion of new terrorist wave against us and our citizens," Rogozin added.

It is unclear how Indian officials responded to these overtures.

There is precedent for this type of cooperation between the two countries-- when the Taliban controlled Afghanistan prior to the U.S. invasion in 2001, Russia and India were among the main backers of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance forces. Rogozin’s comments suggest that Moscow is looking to build a similar coalition of regional powers to prevent Taliban forces from retaking Afghanistan. Both Russia and India are threatened by Islamist inspired groups at home, Moscow from the Chechnya secession groups in its northern Caucasus and New Delhi from separationist groups in the Kashmir as well as Pakistan-based terrorist groups that have orchestrated a number of high profile terrorist attacks inside India in recent years, including the 2008 Mumbai attack.

There had been earlier indications that Russia would seek to align itself closer to Pakistan in order to fend off any potential threat it would face from the Taliban returning to power in Afghanistan. Russian officials have been quietly traveling to Pakistan over the course of 2012 to prepare for Vladimir Putin to travel to Islamabad this month. However, Putin abruptly cancelled what would have been the first modern Russian head-of-state visit to Pakistan just days before the trip was supposed to take place.

Although Russian officials said the trip had never been officially announced and the Russian Prime Minister was simple overbooked, many observers speculated that Putin had decided to forgo the trip to allay India’s concerns over it. Putin did send his Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov to Islamabad in his place and Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of staff of Pakistan’s Army, went ahead with a pre-planned visit to Russia during the first week of October.

While in New Delhi on Sunday Rogozin seemed to rule out the possibility of Russia seeking closer ties with Pakistan as a hedge against the Taliban. "You must understand that we do not deal with your enemies. We don't deliver any arms to them.... If you see otherwise, you may spit on my face," Rogozin told local reporters. 

The deputy prime minister also pledged to undertake more joint defense ventures with India in the future like the one that produced the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. Rogozin also sought to assuage India’s concerns over Russia’s continued delay in delivering a refitted aircraft carrier to India. The carrier was initially scheduled to be transferred to India in 2008 but Russia later said it wouldn’t be ready until December of this year. Last week Moscow told India that the carrier now won’t be ready for delivery until the end of 2013 after the ship encountered difficulties during sea trials.

Zachary Keck is Assistant Editor of The Diplomat. You can follow him on Twitter: @ZacharyKeck.

India and Australia are set to make a major announcement when Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard arrives in New Delhi to hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 15. Specifically, they reportedly will begin formal negotiations on a nuclear energy cooperation agreement to better facilitate uranium sales between the two countries.

Diplomatic sources here said the actual signing of an Indo-Australian nuclear deal will be a long-term goal that might take years to be realized. However, this month’s announcement will provide a much needed boost to India-Australia relations that have suffered from Australia’s continued refusal to sell uranium to India. Inking a nuclear agreement will go a long way towards resolving this issue.

Gillard has played a key role in reversing Australia’s policy on uranium sales to India, starting with her decision in late 2011 to lift a decades-old ban on selling uranium to India in December of last year. For its part, India has been engaged with various parts of the Australian government, urging it to review Australia’s nuclear policy with India particularly since India was granted a waiver by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in 2008.

The eventual nuclear deal with Australia will be a game changer for India’s nuclear industry as Australia is believed to hold around 40 percent of the world’s known uranium reserves. Australia has long sold uranium to a number of countries-- including the U.S., China, Japan and Taiwan-- but has refused to cooperate with India in the nuclear realm because India is not a signatory to the NPT and has made clear it has no intention of becoming one in the foreseeable future.

A handful of other agreements are expected to be signed during Gillard’s upcoming visit, and the two sides will also discuss ways to better protect Indian students studying in Australia. There have been numerous incidents in recent years of Indian students being brutally attacked in Australia, resulting in the deaths of 34 Indian students between the years of 2004 and 2010, according to the Federation of Indian Students of Australia.