Comment & Briefs

Though its goal of securing a permanent seat in the Council during the 2011-12 term was ambitious, the efforts that it put in over the last two years were steered in that direction and have yielded favourable results.

Nuclear force development is at present an attractive means for Pakistan to attract international political and financial assistance, while salving the paranoias of its security establishment. Improvement in the state-society relationship could reduce the domestic appeal of endless nuclear expansion as other, more sustainable, resources become available to the state for building economic growth and security.

In its most candid form, the fundamental message is that the growth in the allocation for defence, as indeed for other sectors, may not always be consistent with the past trend or as per the long-term growth rates indicated by the Ministry of Finance.

Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Bangladesh has made clear that the security situation in that country is under control and it is the BNP that has to overcome its mental block to make a new beginning.

Along the short recent journey in discovery of friendly relations, Iran and Egypt have hit roadblocks that are not only ideological in nature but also illustrate their individual compulsions, conflicting national interests and complex regional dynamics.

If the BRICS Development Bank comes up, it will not only be a big moment for BRICS itself, but also for the global financial structure where the role, stake and space of the developing world will grow massively.

For almost the last 50 years, space collaboration has significantly remained intact between France and India. They have worked together on a range of issues from satellite applications, developing small satellites to earth system science and weather satellites.

“Innovation” has become a buzz word in recent science and technology policies of various countries. It has also been given ample importance in the science and technology policies and programmes of India, China and Pakistan. It is interesting to know on what exactly these countries are focusing in their recent science and technology policies and how these new policies and programmes will help them in social development, economic growth, technology innovation and pursuing national interests.

A GDP growth of less than seven per cent combined with the fiscal consolidation path that the Finance Minister has articulated in his budget speech means a lot of pressure on the defence ministry whose plan for current and future expenditure up to 2017 is based on past GDP growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent.

There is a need for an overhaul of the defence planning and budgeting systems to make them outcome oriented, which will lead to the development and maintenance of requisite capability through the defence forces as an entity over a specified long-term horizon.