Ali Ahmed’s Work Published in Foreign Policy Journal

IDSA scholar, Mr Ali Ahmed’s analytical piece, ‘India: For an Introspective Turn’ was published in the Foreign Policy Journal.

Excerpt

A statistic noted by the India prime minister as a ‘national shame’ has it that 42 per cent of India’s children are malnourished; twice as high as the rate prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. 59 percent have been found to be stunted. The Hunger and Malnutrition report of the Naandi Foundation has it that 230 million Indians go hungry. In 2010, an Oxford University study had found India to have 410 million Indians in poverty equivalent to that found in war torn Democratic Republic of Congo.

Such statistics are the staple for the Planning Commission. These are marginalized in strategic thinking under the catch-all term for consequential issues of long term import, ‘non-traditional security’. As a result, the facts and figures do not get the attention they deserve, with security experts fixated with traditional security issues. The phrase ‘two front threat’ is now more to fore to highlight India’s military predicament. The formulation ‘two and half front’ genuflects towards the internal security challenge, more for including proxy war rather than acknowledging the problems brought on by neglecting non-traditional security.

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