Comment & Briefs

This is the right time to raise a fundamental question about Obama’s policy towards Syria: Is there a coherent, consistent policy, based on a reasonably accurate assessment of the ground realities in Syria? The answer is a definite no.

India-Australia relation is entering a new orbit and setting a path of strategic convergence. But there are equally other significant issues of cooperation that can bolster Modi’s vision for inclusive development and better governance including Australia’s successes at preserving its ecosystem, water resources distribution and renewable energy.

The government’s ‘Act East Policy’ needs to legitimise the ‘Indo-Pacific’ concept. Interestingly, only a few months after the release of the 2013 White Paper, Australia released a Country Strategy Document on India which identified the Indian Navy as possessing the most potential for a close maritime partnership

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death will be a serious setback to Daesh as it is different from Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups that did not proclaim a ‘caliphate’. As the history of Islam shows, the proclamation of a new ‘caliph’ can be problematic.

The Prime Minister must reach out to Myanmar in unconventional ways and remove any antipathy among the people who once, like other neighbours, had began to perceive India as a big military threat.

The fall of the wall also coincided with the collapse of the USSR and end of the Cold War. Theoverall changes since 1989 have been largely a remarkable success with the majority of citizens in the former socialist countries not wanting to go back to the earlier economic and political system.

For the mantra to become an all-pervasive reality in defence acquisitions in India will be to multiply manifold the onset, frequency, range and depthof its industry engagements.

The Wagah incident is not going to wake-up Pakistan to the existential threat posed by jihadist terror groups. There is neither going to be any change in its attitude towards using terrorism as an instrument of state policy, nor its inimical attitude towards India.

The effort to set right the operating environment has to start with creating a mechanism to review the existing devolution of power comprehensively based on clearly defined principles and not in an ad hoc manner.

This Brief analyses industry demands and reviews existing regulations in IT and defence procurement markets, culminating with suggestions on a possible way forward for reforms that can avoid adverse implications of industry demands, particularly in view of their potential conflict with important policies fostering indigenisation.