...One such effort is introduction of short films and documentaries made by the External Affairs Ministry. Such films and documentaries produced by the MEA's public diplomacy division will now be shown on Air India flights. This could be an alternative for the travelers who might want to switch over from Bollywood and Hollywood films.

The growing realization in India, at least outside the government, is that engagement shouldn’t be merely state or personality driven. India’s government should take note of this, and ease visa restrictions on citizens from neighboring countries. It’s time to showcase India’s soft power, rather than relying on the External Affairs Ministry.

At a seminar — The Arab Spring, meaning causes and implications — Navdeep Suri, joint secretary, Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of External Affairs encouraged Indian Embassies in various countries to join Facebook and other social networking sites.

Yes, India’s soft image, its perceived internal disarray, its inability to guard its borders, its inclination to shun hard decisions, its readiness to make concessions out of a pronounced sense of vulnerability, historical pressures on it by Western powers and the conflict with China...

Powered by the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the 'India Is' Global Video Challenge, invites the world to both share their perspectives, and vote for contestant 2-minute video shorts. 'India Is' contestants, are eligible to win and receive up to US $7500 in prizes.

Competitors, be it hard currency (trade) or hardware and software (information technology), India and China are, and have reasons to be, competing in exercising their soft power as well. Inheritors of ancient cultures that have influenced others for centuries, both vigorously "export" them as part of "soft diplomacy".

Ms Khar and her government seem to be playing to the tune of the military establishment’s obsession with India and the inroads it has made by projecting ‘soft’ power in Afghanistan. That has allowed New Delhi to re-establish the historical friendship with Kabul, a development that has hardened the Pakistani GHQ’s approach to supporting Taliban proxies to control Afghanistan.

Even if the politics of India-United States ties sometimes falls short of the hoop, the two nations continue to score slam-dunks in terms of bilateral sport diplomacy. This week the U.S. State Department announced that the second round of people-to-people exchanges under its Sports Visitor programme...