Comment & Briefs

India’s niche military and intelligence technologies in the field of cyber, space, robotics and jamming can have potential deterrence value and a ‘war minus’ option against Pakistan.

Recent events has exposed the absence of any sort of strategic clarity at the political level and sheer lack of options at the diplomatic level on how India should deal with Pakistan.

There have reportedly been 57 ceasefire violations of the LoC this year, which, according to the MoD, are 80 per cent more than the same period last year, and the number of infiltration attempts have doubled.

Islamabad remains sanguine that as long as it can leverage both cross border terrorism as well as conventional asymmetry by playing the nuclear card, it can easily manage relations with India.

The China-ASEAN strategic partnership marked its 10th year recently but given China’s maritime assertiveness in South China Sea, mistrust remains between China and ASEAN, prompting many to review China’s rise.

After wining the elections, Hassan Rouhani has insisted that Iran is ‘ready to show more transparency’ over its nuclear programme, but has also affirmed that it has ‘inalienable rights’ to enrich uranium as a member of the NPT.

The paper sketches the trajectory of the Maoist movement in India, keeping in view the CPI (Maoist)’s history (including organisation and proliferation), ideology, strategy and tactics.

The Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS), an association of peasants, bonded labours and the tribal, is a classic case of a popular movement being hijacked by the Maoists to get their foothold in Koraput, Malkanagiri and Rayagada districts of Odisha.

Several issues have been raised in the last one year, one such issue concerns the need for amending the policy to enable the MoD to demand offsets in specific area(s) rather than being driven by the vendors.

The court verdict has made Jamaat’s political future uncertain but it will continue to indulge in political activities and campaign for the BNP candidates in the forthcoming elections.