National Unity Government in Sri Lanka: An Assessment At the close of two years, the National Unity Government (NUG) of Sri Lanka has failed to maintain the confidence and trust of the people it enjoyed during the first three months of its tenure. Having said that, political crisis or instability in Sri Lanka remains unlikely. The NUG is likely to complete its full term, but it will not be a cakewalk. Gulbin Sultana IDSA Occasional Papers
Hypersonic Weapons Hypersonic weapons are weapons that move at speeds of Mach 5 or more. Presently, hypersonic weapon technology is a work in progress and these weapons are yet to become fully operational for military deployment. Ajey Lele IDSA Occasional Papers
Enhancing Energy Security in Rural Tanzania: Examples of Decentralized Rural Energy Approaches from India This paper argues that decentralized electrification without local participation is unlikely to yield the desired nation-wide impact, especially for the rural communities. This suggests that the energy policy and institutional arrangements of Tanzania need to find more space for local community participation in rural electrification initiatives. Ian Sanghavi IDSA Occasional Papers
Defence Research and Development: International Approaches for Analysing the Indian Programme The Occasional Paper attempts to analyse the performance of India's defence research and development machinery and especially that of the DRDO. The Paper concludes by bringing out the lessons and concurrently suggesting the way ahead for India. Ranjit Ghosh IDSA Occasional Papers
From Looks to Action: Thailand-India Strategic Convergence and Defence Cooperation After 67 years of diplomatic relations and two decades of collaboration in connecting India with Southeast Asia in January of 2012, Thailand and India finally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Defence Cooperation. This effort to deepen defence and military ties between the two countries emerged relatively late when compared with those between India and most other Southeast Asian countries. Sasiwan Chingchit IDSA Occasional Papers
Maldives Revisited This Occasional Paper is a brief first-hand personal account of the Tevents, discussions, decisions and the action taken in November 1988 by the Government of India to provide help to the Government of Maldives to quell an attempted coup. Arun Kumar Banerjee IDSA Occasional Papers
India and Bhutan: The Strategic Imperative Prime Minister Narendra Modi seemed aware about the nuances Pthat underpin India's cultural and political obligations in Asia. By making Bhutan as his first visit abroad followed by a visit to Nepal, he has effectively invoked the deeper imperatives to revitalize India's national interests. P. Stobdan IDSA Occasional Papers
Defence Innovations in India: The Fault Lines The Occasional Paper examines India's defence innovation performance, especially of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the defence industry. The paper argues that the innovation performance of these two players is constrained by lack of a higher organisational structure which could provide direction and required thrust to the indigenous R&D. Laxman Kumar Behera IDSA Occasional Papers
India’s Nuclear Triad: A Net Assessment This paper discusses such delivery mechanisms commonly known together as nuclear triad in the Indian context. The paper has four major parts. The first part attempts to set the context for the overall discussion. The second, third and fourth parts deals with the evaluation about missile forces, aerial platforms and submarine based platforms for nuclear weapon delivery on the targets. Ajey Lele , Parveen Bhardwaj IDSA Occasional Papers
Critical Assessment of China’s Vulnerabilities in Tibet The paper looks at the critical vulnerabilities of China in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). Ever since China captured and annexed Tibet in 1950, it has been unable to integrate the Tibetan people with the mainland. The author looks at these criticalities from an Indian viewpoint and draws some key assessments for China watchers in India with regard to policy on Tibet. Mandip Singh IDSA Occasional Papers