Former minister Shashi Tharoor’s breezy visit to London last week was symbolic in the extreme: as he told British academics of India’s need to project soft power, a desert storm for democracy swirled in the Middle East.

While Indian women draped in bright kimonos tried their hand in making Japanese tea and turning paper pieces into origami art, their Japanese counterparts enjoyed the traditional Malayalam Thiruvathirakali dance and Chittara paintings of the Western Ghats.

India needs to do more to leverage its formidable strengths in 'soft power' abroad and exploit its capacity to provide global leadership in the area art of culture, according to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.

As India asserts itself within the ever-evolving global power dynamic, India is having a vibrant discussion about public diplomacy and nation-branding, and how to engage in channels of public diplomacy as a means to project its emergence. One such platform for this discussion is found in the India Future of Change initiative.

The U.S. Department of State and the NBA announced yesterday that they will tip off their 2011 sports envoy program next week with a trip to India that will feature the Mystics' Katie Smith and NBA Hall of Famer Gervin.

The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the NBA announced a "sports envoy" program today, tipping off with with a Feb. 22-March 2 mission to India. Hall of Fame player George Gervin...and women's NBA star Katie Smith will visit Mumbai and New Delhi...

"Indian cinema is very popular in Moscow and we love the imaginative dance choreographies in Indian movies. It is natural that the audience here will appreciate ballet," said Irina Kazaryan, head of the international department of the Grand Moscow Classical Ballet.

A common history stood in the backdrop as music strengthened the bond between two nations. A day after the qawwals had stirred up emotions in Ajmer, singers Shankar Mahadevan and Shafqat Amanat Ali raised the peace pitch even higher at the Purana Qila on Sunday evening...