Modi would find the Eurasian dynamics at odds with his vision of containing China along with the United States. He will have to display pragmatism for building greater convergence with China and Russia.
To reconnect with the Eurasian market, India needs to explore the option of a direct land-link through China, i.e., reviving the traditional Ladakh-Xinjiang axis as the natural gateway to Eurasia.
There are also grey areas to the extent that the professional and hierarchical relationship which the Consultants will have with regular IFS officers is yet to be clearly outlined.
East and Southeast Asia are known to get affected by various diseases routinely. Particularly, various waterborne and other diseases likely malaria and dengue fever commonly affect the regions. There is a concern that global warming may translate into explosive growth of mosquito-borne diseases. In addition to this, growing number of natural disasters are found escalating the health related challenges. All this eventually poses a threat to health, economic and human security.
While the attack on the chemical warehouse in France and the accident in the Taiwanese park are not cases of chemical terrorism in a classical sense, they can be analysed against the backdrop of a ‘chemical incident’.
Do the successors of Monnet have the moral strength to move in the right direction rather than act like petty minded accountants who want to balance the books at any cost?
If the experience of the Afghan–trained mujahids is anything to go by, the threat posed by returnees from Syria and Iraq has the potential to be far more lethal especially since the numbers involved are much higher.
While the Indonesian military played a crucial role in counter-terrorism since the late 1940s, the fall of Suharto in 1998 and democratisation led to the Police dominating this task, especially after the first Bali bombings in 2002. Lately, however, the Indonesian military has reclaimed part of this role, mainly due to the rising threat from the Islamic State.
Converting the Services` HQs as departments of the government within the scope of Allocation of Business Rules, with responsibility to Parliament for obtaining defence appropriations, may be in the long-term interests of the country.
