Comment & Briefs

It is administratively easy and politically appealing to debar an errant entity, but the unintended consequences of debarment can be challenging to handle in high-technology areas such as defence

While broad agreement at the top leadership level has been easy to achieve, negotiations relating to defence equipment and technology cooperation have proved to be difficult, shaped as these are by a complex interplay of variables like cost-competitiveness, technology transfer and domestic politics.

India must jettison the attempt to maintain a balance between China and the US and instead take advantage of China’s internal and external vulnerabilities to gain an upper hand in the asymmetric power equation that has developed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent tour of Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa increased to 26 the number of African countries visited by very senior leaders, thus contributing to a significant reduction in India’s visibility deficit in the continent.

The Brief argues that MoD’s total allocations should be considered for any discussion on defence expenditure since the official defence expenditure does not capture all the expenses that the government incurs on national defence efforts.

The Defence Planning Committee needs to activate its ‘Plan and Capability Development’ Sub-committee and task them to review the 13th Defence Plan in a time bound manner.

Whenever a civilian government has attempted to improve relations with India, it has either had to backtrack on promises made or the Pakistan Army ensures that, through its actions at the LoC and inside J&K, these promises stand scuttled.

The best way forward for India is to initiate talks with Bangladesh and seek a mutually acceptable political solution for the issue of illegal immigrants.

India’s quest for being recognized even as a regional power, let alone a global power, requires a balanced and simultaneous growth of its economic and military capabilities.

The upper riparian China is uniquely positioned to influence the flow of Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra into lower riparian India. In the absence of a water sharing treaty, the Chinese decision to build more dams on Yarlung/Brahmaputra and continued evasiveness on its long-term plans would remain an issue of major concern for India.