1962: The War That Wasn’t, by Kunal Verma The title of the book is self-explanatory. And the tone and tenor thereof is an implied challenge to the conventional wisdom, and thesis, propounded in India’s China War, written by British scribe Neville Maxwell in the 1970s. According to Verma, in 1949, ‘China was not a player as far as India’s national security was concerned.’ None, except Sardar Patel, could read, or anticipate, China and its plan of action. Hence, the 1962 India–China conflict is ‘least understood’. Exactly a month before his death, however, Patel wrote a warning letter to the Indian Prime Minister, Nehru. Abhijit Bhattacharyya April 2016 Journal of Defence Studies
Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper: An Indian Perspective Australia’s comprehensive strategic approach towards the Indo-Pacific region and a renewed interest in the Indian Ocean has served to rekindle its relationship with India. Australia’s recently released 2016 Defence White Paper (DWP 2016) demonstrates that a growing convergence in strategic approaches can be discerned as Australia looks West and India begins to ‘Act East’. Udai Bhanu Singh April 2016 Journal of Defence Studies
DPP-2016: An Analytical Overview Introduction of the ‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’ procurement category, the revamped ‘Make’ procedure, structural change in AAP, and higher and flexible indigenous content requirement in certain procurement categories are all likely to deepen the involvement of domestic industry in defence production. Laxman Kumar Behera April 12, 2016 Special Feature
Transfer of Defence Technology: A Critical Analysis ‘Transfer of Technology’ does not magically elevate defence production capabilities to cutting-edge levels and help attain future self-reliance because technology sellers employ restrictive trade practices to prevent such an eventuality. Kevin A. Desouza April 12, 2016 IDSA Comments
Discontinuance of National Five Year Plans – Time to Revaluate Defence Planning Defence planning has had a troubled history since its inception, in spite of several experiments with the structures and processes of planning. It will, therefore, be in the fitness of things to re-evaluate the existing architecture of planning. Amit Cowshish April 11, 2016 IDSA Comments
Kautilya’s Arthashastra: Restoring its Rightful Place in the Field of International Relations India’s rise in the twenty-first century has resulted in renewed attention on the country, especially in the sphere of strategic thought. This focus has brought into limelight ancient India’s pioneering text on polity called Kautilya’s Arthashastra (KA).Contingent with that is a growing interest in exploring the relevance of KA in the contemporary world. Malay Mishra April 2016 Journal of Defence Studies
Reorganisation of Defence Outlay for 2016–17: A Tepid Affair Beginning 2016–17, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will present four detailed demands for grant (DDGs)1 instead of eight that it had been presenting to the Lok Sabha2 in the past. It is not that its area of responsibility has shrunk. The reason why the number of demands has come down is that the budgetary outlays earlier spread over eight demands have now been compressed into four. Amit Cowshish April 2016 Journal of Defence Studies
The Clarion Call from the Atolls: Marshall Islands Puts the Nuclear Powers on Notice The pivotal question is whether a judicial intervention, in the absence of any political stimulus, can make a meaningful difference to the disarmament movement. A. Vinod Kumar April 06, 2016 Issue Brief
Modi’s Visit to Saudi Arabia Despite political differences over regional issues, India and Saudi Arabia are intensifying cooperation on issues of mutual interest such as terrorism, piracy, security cooperation, and intelligence sharing. Prasanta Kumar Pradhan April 06, 2016 IDSA Comments
Palestine and US Presidential Candidates None of the candidates from either major party has articulated a clear and unconditionally supportive long-term view in favour of the Palestinian cause. Gautam Sen April 05, 2016 IDSA Comments
