Comment & Briefs

The Turkish republic stands at a crucial juncture today. The latest constitutional amendment will change Turkey’s 94-year old parliamentary system of government. As the constitutional amendment bill awaits referendum, serious questions arise about the direction in which Turkey is heading.

The reaction to President Trump’s utterances and avowed policies on the Mexican border wall and tariff has attracted strong criticism. It is surprising that Trump, who is known to view developments and decide on policies in transactional terms, appears short-sighted and unwilling to view the implications of his policies in a long-term perspective.

Suriname’s national army remains critically deficient in terms of air transport and maritime surveillance aircraft. It is an open question whether country’s armed forces will prove equal to the task of combating transnational organised crime.

Budget is not just all about figures but also a statement of policy. The Defence Budget for 2017-18 contains no hint of any intention of the government to bring about a paradigm shift in the defence policy.

If the defence expenditure relationship to the GDP of 1.65 per cent is maintained, we may see a budget estimate (BE) for defence expenditure of Rs. 285,000 crores, against the current year BE of Rs. 249,099 crores.

While the New Year attack in Istanbul underscores Turkey’s endemic vulnerabilities, India too needs to be on guard. Messaging by the ISIS is often followed by action.

There is a need to go beyond stale issues and have a more meaningful and dispassionate discussion on how to make the best use of the allocations made for defence.

There is a need to rework the Outer Space Treaty and contemporize it to deal more directly with issues of the current era.

The presentation of the Union budget on February 1 is expected to ensure full utilisation of allocated funds and will ensure that ‘New Schemes’ can be processed, approved and contracted from April 1, 2017.

The BEML model of disinvestment needs to be applied to the rest of the Defence Public Sector Undertakings as well as Ordnance Factories.