Deconstructing the Joint Statement
Diplomatic and political naivety, coupled with enormous pressure from a clueless America helplessly flailing its superpower muscle in the Af-Pak region, and of course that old disease that all Indian Prime Ministers’ suffer from – a sense of manifest destiny to normalise relations with Pakistan – have led to a Joint Statement by the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers in Sharm-el-Sheikh which is full of concessions, compromises and climb-downs by India.
Tackling or Trailing the Taliban : An Assessment
Due to the long and porous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the situation in the region could worsen with Taliban groups from both sides joining hands to fight the US and Pakistani forces
Indo-Pak Joint Statement: India puts faith in Pakistan’s sincerity
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Gilani and Indian Prime Minster Manmohan Singh signed a joint statement on July 16, 2009 at Sharm el-Sheikh inEgypt on the margins of theNAM summit. In India the statement has been seen as a softening of India’s stand towards Pakistan. In Pakistan it has been seen as a “victory” for Pakistani diplomacy.
Moon Mission Malfunction
It is a dream project not only for India’s space research organization (ISRO) but for all Indians. With the successful launch of the Moon Mission, ISRO had put India into the bracket of deep-space achievers. The world took serious note of India’ space programme when in October 2008 ISRO successfully launched its satellite Chandrayan-1 towards the moon. If the 1998 Pokharan nuclear tests had helped India demonstrate its ‘hard power’ status, the success of the moon mission indirectly played a significant role towards establishing the ‘soft power’ credentials of the country.
Outsourcing and Vendor Development in the Indian Ordnance Factories
Ordnance factories are the oldest and largest single organisation in India's defence industrial set up. The organisation is found to be inefficient and uncompetitive from the angles of market share, capacity utilisation, timely delivery of demands, cost of equipment produced, level of technology handled and the volume of exports. While the organisation may retain its structure, it could significantly improve its efficiency and competitiveness by selective use of 'outsourcing' of its production activities in an organised manner.
Saving India-U.S. Partnership
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the U.S.-India Business Council in Washington D.C. on 17th June rekindling hope that India-U.S. relations could regain some of the traction lost under the Obama administration. She is now on a visit to India and it would be keenly watched for the actions she would take to match her words, especially since there is a growing uneasiness at the U.S. insensitivity to some of India’s important concerns. And the list of issues that could poison India-U.S. relations is getting longer.
Community Participation in Border Management
India's territorial borders, both land and sea, suffer from diverse physical, ethnic and cultural contradictions. While the state has a major role in securing war frontier, the populations along territorial peripheries, too, can play an important role in securing our interests. The people living in these areas are the most important ingredient towards a secure and safe border area. This would entail reconceptualising the concept of border guarding to effective border management, where local people became the centre of gravity of all actions.
Keynote Address at the Eleventh Asian Security Conference
All-out wars are no longer the norm for settling disputes among states. Rapid globalisation has led to profound changes by creating interdependence amongst states and people making inter-state wars an era of bygone years. Liberal policies are increasingly connecting Asia to the world economy and building high stakes for peace and world order. India is committed to building a strong, non-discriminatory international norms and institutes to strengthen world peace and stability.
Joint Logistics: The Way Forward
Joint logistics is an emerging imperative in the Indian operational context. The author argues that there is a tremendous scope for integration of logistics amongst the three services. A number of areas such as automation of common logistic processes, modes of transportation, certain provisioning and procurement policies and medical services have been identified. There is an urgent need to identify the commonality in processes and practices to initiate the process of jointmanship in the field of military logistics.
Chinese Naval Strategy in the Twenty First Century: The Turn to Mahan
In order to gauge the likely direction of Chinese foreign and security policy, it is important to follow Chinese commentary on how Beijing should manage its ascent to 'peaceful rise' which is claimed to be replete with references to 'history' and 'strategic theory'. The past does not predetermine the future, but by no means is it inconsequential.
