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| Interaction with Enrique Salem, CEO of Symantec | February 24, 2010 | Round Table |
Questions and comments raised during the discussion that followed included the vulnerabilities of various operating systems, the inadequacies of antiviruses to deal with targeted attacks, the threats posed by identity theft, privacy issues, software piracy and other related issues. In his closing remarks, Dr. Arvind Gupta, who chaired the discussion, dwelt on the issue of affordability of products such as anti-virus software as being an important factor in their usage. He also spoke of the need to revitalise intergovernmental efforts, which had been languishing for sometime, to ensure the security and stability of cyberspace. Among those who took part in the interaction were officials from the government, the Armed Forces, IDSA scholars and CERT-In. Prepared by Dr. Cherian Samuel, Associate Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. |
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| IDSA-IFS Second Bilateral Seminar | March 02, 2010 to March 03, 2010 | Bilateral |
Venue: Seminar Hall, IDSA
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| Visit of the Canadian National Security Programme | February 25, 2010 | Round Table |
The Canadian National Security Programme visited IDSA on February 25, 2010. The delegation comprising 20 members of Colonel and equivalent ranks was led by the Commandant, Brig. Gen. D.C. Hilton. It was accompanied by the Senior Mentor and the Academic Adviser. The Canadian Forces’ National Security Programme (NSP) is the senior professional military programme offered to officers in the Canadian Forces. It can be equated to India’s National Defence College. The NSP is a ten month in-house course designed to prepare senior officers for employment as strategic level leaders and joint task force commanders and senior staff. The NSP consists of several core areas of study, one of which is a Field Research Exercise (FSE) set in an international venue. The International FSE focuses on countries that are important to Canada’s national security, foreign, defence and trade policies. India was identified as the location for the 2010 FSE due to its status as a regional leader and its increasing impact and influence globally. At IDSA, the delegation was briefed on India’s overall security perspective and its perspective on China, Pakistan and Afghanistan by Col. Raj Shukla, Air Cmde. (Retd.) Ramesh Phadke, Col. (Retd.) Ali Ahmed and Lt. Col. D.P.K. Pillay, respectively. The briefing was followed by a discussion. The questions ranged from what would be the tipping point of India’s ascent to great power status to prospects of mediation in the Kashmir issue. Air Cmde. (Retd.) Phadke chaired the session. The session concluded with an exchange of mementoes. Prepared by Ali Ahmed, Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. |
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| Eminent Persons' Lecture Series - India, China and the United States: The Triangle that isn't | March 08, 2010 | V. P. Dutta | Speeches and Lectures |
Venue: IDSA Auditorium In the series of IDSA-organized eminent persons’ lectures, Professor V.P. Dutt delivered his lecture on India, China and the United States: The Triangle that isn't on March 8, 2010. Shri N.S. Sisodia, The Director General of IDSA, chaired the session. He invited Professor V.P. Dutt to deliver his lecture saying that the given topic covers the relations of three countries. In the matrix of relations of these countries, a triangle could mean either two countries uniting against one country or one country could be exploiting the mutual fears of the other two. Shri Sisodia pointed out that while some argue that a China-India-United States triangle exists, Professor Dutt would however be arguing that this triangle does not exist. Professor V.P. Dutt began by elaborating upon two overarching and continued features of Chinese understanding of statecraft, which trace their genesis to ancient Confucian thought. He said that the Confucian thought on statecraft is marked by concern for absolute power and welfare of the public. Both are interlinked as sustenance and continuance of the absolute power or rule is contingent upon public welfare. According to this thesis, a ruler must look after the public well; otherwise the public has the right to overthrow him. Professor Dutt argued that this remains the most enduring precept in the history of Chinese philosophy. Chinese rulers have always taken note of this principle to the best of their abilities and capabilities. Mao’s China constitutes no exception in this precept. The guiding philosophy of the present day rulers is development, more development, and continuous development. In their view, only continued emphasis on development can sustain the CCP’s rule over China. Having laid down this philosophical backdrop, Professor Dutt argued that China would remain a benign dictatorship for a long time contrary to what many Western thinkers have predicted about development leading China towards liberal democracy. He further argued that the CCP came to power riding the crest of nationalism. Nationalism was a modern injection in the traditional framework of Confucian ideology. Thus, today, development and nationalism are the two guiding principles of CCP rule. And these two principles leave an imprint on China’s foreign relations also. Professor Dutt argued, “History evolves, so do the relations of nations.” China declared the Soviet Union, its ideological ally, ‘the principal contradiction’ during the Cultural Revolution and later began to look for a rapprochement with the United States. Since then, their economic interdependence has uninterruptedly increased. China’s attack on Vietnam in 1979 made only a minor dent in their relations. But after the 1989 Tiananmen Square episode, the United States looked around for allies perhaps thinking that it could not rely on China beyond a point. However, neither of these two incidents could choke off the pace of growing interdependence, nor would any other incident do in the future. Today, the state of economic interdependence is such that neither can hurt the other without hurting itself. In a nutshell, their bilateral relations are under the shadow of ‘financial terror’. Both countries are committed to take care of each other’s core interests but the ‘new nationalism’ in China is unhappy with the leadership for China’s overdependence on the United States. These nationalistic sentiments are accusing the Chinese leadership of being too harsh on their own people, while being too soft with outsiders. He characterized the Sino-US bilateral relations as one of two people sleeping in the same bed but dreaming different dreams. While America wants to hold on to its present position, many Chinese dream of their country becoming a superpower. There are differences between them and some may become even sharper. The Taiwan problem may aggravate, so may some other economic problems. But at the same time, we should not blind ourselves to the fundamental nature of their relationship of economic interdependence. Professor Dutt cautioned that India should not overestimate the influence of the shared ideas of democracy on its bilateral relations with the United States. Pakistan continues to remain important to the United States. America’s close cooperation with Pakistan hurts India, even if the United States does not intend to do so. China also plays an important role in the affairs of Afghanistan and Pakistan with the Chinese speaking the same language on the Taliban as the Americans do. He argued that the United States is not likely to make India the mainstay of its presence even in Asia, not to speak of the world. This illusion should not cloud our understanding. Professor Dutt summed up his lecture wondering whether China will become as intoxicated by power as the United States did. The larger philosophical question he raised at the end was why every great power forgets the lessons of the past. Report prepared by Prashant Kumar Singh, Research Assistant, IDSA |
East Asia | India, United States of America (USA), China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Intelligence Orientation Course | February 22, 2010 to February 26, 2010 | Training Capsules |
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| India's Nuclear Policy | February 17, 2010 | 1500 to 1700 h | Book Discussion Forum |
Venue: Seminar Hall No 1, IDSA |
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| State of International Studies in India | February 16, 2010 | 0930 to 1300 hrs | Other |
Venue: Seminar Hall 1, IDSA Dr. Muthiah Alagappa will present the report of a seminar jointly organised by the East West Centre and the Lew Kwan Yew Institute of Public Policy, Singapore
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| Eminent Persons' Lecture Series - Left-Wing Extremism in India | March 05, 2010 | Gopal K. Pillai | Speeches and Lectures |
Venue: Seminar Hall 1, IDSA  On March 5, 2010, as part of its Eminent Persons’ Lecture Series, IDSA organized a lecture by Home Secretary Gopal K. Pillai on “Left Wing Extremism in India”. Pillai shared with the distinguished audience his own perspective on the Naxal movement, which is considered to be one of the most serious internal security threats faced by India today. The origins of the Naxal movement can be traced back to the 1960s when Naxalites started operating from various parts of the country. However, Naxalism emerged as a real security threat when armed groups like the Peoples’ War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre joined hands in 2004 and formed the Communist Party of India (Maoists) -- CPI (M) -- to fight against the Indian state. In fact, one of the basic objectives of the Naxal movement, as identified by Pillai during the course of the lecture, is the overthrow of the state in India. Naxals do not believe in parliamentary democracy and in fact consider parliament a pigsty. While projecting the state as well as its armed forces as the ‘enemy’, the Naxal movement calls upon its members to take up arms and defeat the enemy decisively. The movement believes that the state is merely an agent of the elitist class and does not really cater to the interests of the lower stratas of society. While discussing the methodology of the CPI-Maoists, Pillai argued that the members of the Naxal movement initially try to infiltrate and develop their bases in underdeveloped areas where there exist some sort of an administrative vacuum. Once these bases become strong enough, the Naxalites start expanding their influence in the surrounding areas as well. While taking advantage of the feeling of neglect among the people, the Naxalites start educating them about their exploitation by the Indian state and how to bring an end to such exploitation through an armed struggle. According to Pillai, many youths get inspired by the radical ideas advocated by the Naxal movement and try to achieve these goals. However, once they realize that the movement is not as ideal as they had initially expected, they try to come out of it. Pillai also stated that the violence profile of extremism in India is going up every year. In fact the year 2009 was the bloodiest of all. He warns that the coming years will see more and more violence. This is so because the Indian state has decided not to give in to extremists’ demands and instead tackle them head on. During his lecture, Pillai asserted that the armed cadres and weapons of the Naxalites have been slowly built up by the CPI-Maoists. Such cadres have three basic modules. Among these, the real armed cadre is the back bone of Naxal armed forces. At the same time, it is also the most sophisticated one. However, this cadre base is still used as a reserve cadre. Unfortunately, the Indian government has not been able to catch hold of even five per cent of the real armed cadres of the Naxalite movement. While emphasizing that all the three cadres of the movement are highly modernized and well trained, Pillai stated that the CPI-Maoists carry out excellent post mortem of their operations with military like precision, which helps them improve their future armed operations. According to Pillai, since the Naxal movement does not believe in peaceful discussion and emphasizes on armed struggle, the Indian government has not been able to bring about much results through dialogue. However, he hopes that the Naxalites will feel the pressure within one or two years once the Indian government starts putting its act together. The desired results have not been achieved so far particularly because the police force, which should have been in the forefront of the fight against Naxalism, has been highly neglected and it is particularly ineffective in the Naxal affected areas. Pillai also threw light on certain aspects of police reforms in India. According to him, although a huge amount has been allocated by the Finance Commission recently for the purpose of police training, the police force is still in a pretty bad shape. In many areas, the actual number of police personnel is much lower than the posts sanctioned. Thus, a huge number of police posts lie vacant. According to Pillai, at a time when unemployment is still a big issue in India, many youths can take up the police profession. He also mentioned that if enough youths from Naxal affected areas can be recruited into the police, law and order can be improved in those areas to some extent. Pillai also stated that in recent years the intelligence gathering system in Naxal affected areas has improved and that is why the government has been able to catch hold of a few CPI-Maoists politburo members in the last few months. While explaining the reasons behind the origin of the Naxal movement in India, Pillai talked about the loopholes in the Indian forest conservation act, the mining act, land acquisition law, power plant law, etc. He personally believes that until and unless necessary measures are adopted by the government in reforming these acts, it will not be possible to uproot the Naxal movement or any other extremist movement from India. While concluding his speech, Pillai offered the audience a hopeful picture by stating that with the police reforms being undertaken at present, the Indian government will be able to take control of the civil administration within 7 to 10 years and minimize the influence of the Naxal movement to a large extent. This report has been prepared by Pranamita Baruah, Research Assistant, IDSA. |
Terrorism & Internal Security | Left-Wing Extremism | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| China’s expanding relations with Africa | February 15, 2010 | 1500 hrs | Round Table |
Dr. Chris Alden, Reader, International Relations Department, London School of Economics and Political Science |
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| 12th Asian Security Conference: Asian Strategic Futures 2030 : Trends, Scenarios and Alternatives | February 11, 2010 to February 13, 2010 | Conference | Asian Security Conference | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
