Comment & Briefs

It may perhaps be useful to examine some features of India’s Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) for streamlining of the capital acquisition process for defence procurement. After all, the DPP may well be the only procurement regulation in the world that discriminates against its own domestic bidders

India has unprecedented opportunity to follow a foreign policy to meet its developmental aspirations and security needs, both of which are complementary. Sustained economic growth is essential for India to follow a proactive foreign policy.

The prospects for new states becoming SCO members seem remote. The new clause that requires all heads of the member states to sign the membership document is the main obstacle and the members appear careful about the intentions and behaviors of the observers-states as they see expansion could against the organizational interests.

It is painfully clear that no serious attempt is being made to resolve the Syrian crisis. There seems to be a certain fatigue in the international community combined with a belief that it is beyond human ingenuity to bring an end to the crisis; the world has to learn to live with it.

Invitation to the SAARC leader to attend Prime Minister-elect’s swearing in ceremony has electrified diplomatic atmosphere in South Asia. In this context Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit and his scheduled meeting with the Indian Prime Minister has generated a lot of interest. Given the strong mandate, Mr. Modi is in a strong position to put his stamp on the further evolution of Indo-Pakistan relations right from the beginning of his tenure.

A country’s response to external threats and internal security challenges is based on its defence preparedness, advance planning for contingencies and the political will. The new government will have to make key decisions on different aspects of defence reforms. This Policy Brief puts forward some suggestions.

A Sino-Japanese conflict is not in the US interest and certainly not in Japan’s. Stability in the regional security landscape cannot be solely guaranteed by reaffirming the US-Japan security alliance, which provides space for the US to flaunt its military might through deployment.

Ministry of Defence which accounts for 13-14 per cent of the central government expenditure, if one also takes into account the expenditure on defence pensions, could come under some pressure to prepare an action plan as the outcome of what it does is often intangible, undisclosable, or simply unmeasurable. The author puts forward some suggestions.

The IDSA policy brief looks into the complexity of internal security challenges and how best to deal with it. The brief suggests building a Centre-State synergy to cope with contemporary trends like increasing urbanization, growth of mega cities, demographic shift, rising expectations of the youth and social media.

The rhetoric and the politics surrounding illegal immigration issue is neither new nor is the stance of the BJP on illegal immigration unknown. It has always made a distinction between the Hindus and Muslims emigrating from Bangladesh considering the former as refugees and terming the later as illegal immigrants.