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    • Title Date Date Unique Author Body Research Area Topics Thumb
    Contemporary Technology in Peacekeeping Operations July-September 2020 Swaim Prakash Singh

    Since the Cold War, United Nations peacekeeping has evolved from monitoring peace treaties to multidimensional peacekeeping operations tasked with rebuilding states and their institutions during and after conflict. In June 2014, An Expert Panel on Technology and Innovation in UN Peacekeeping recommended investigating how innovative technology can strengthen peacekeeping missions. The report suggested greater use of advanced technologies, such as increased use of ground and airborne sensors and other technical data sources, advanced data analytics, and information fusion to aid in data integration. Since then, the United Nations has continuously pursued efforts in this field. India, during its tenure of the presidency of the UN Security Council in August 2021, raised three significant issues. These were ‘Accountability of Crimes against UN Peacekeepers’, ‘Technology for Peacekeeping’ and ‘UNITE Aware Situational Awareness Technology Platform’.

    This article attempts to highlight these issues with possible solutions from contemporary technology that can be used on a larger scale by UN security forces in various missions for maintaining peace, situational awareness with rapid decision-making and conflict resolution. In addition, this article highlights the importance of sticking to the basics to arrive at specific solutions. It also presents a perspective on exploring United Nations Peacekeeping Missions in Africa as a potential market for self-reliance under the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.

    		Africa, Latin America, Caribbean & UN Solar Energy, Peacekeeping
    UN Peacekeeping and Ambiguity in Normative UN Norms July-September 2022 A.K. Bardalai

    When UN peacekeeping missions get deployed, adherence to the UN norms helps the missions get legitimacy, earn credibility, and find better acceptance in society. The UN norms namely the three principles of peacekeeping, which were conceptualised in 1958 have further evolved with different interpretations making the norms ambiguous impacting the performance of the UN peacekeeping operations.

    		 Africa, Latin America, Caribbean & UN UN Peacekeeping
    Multidimensional Peacekeeping Protection Mandate and Recalibration of the UN Military Peacekeepers July-September 2022 Kulwant Kumar Sharma

    The United Nations has introduced a layered approach to UN peacekeeping operations (PKOs) with wide-ranging enablers based on many reviews. Accordingly, a new resolution on the protection of civilians (POC) was adopted by the UN Security Council in 1999. The study attempts to understand the complexities of multidimensional PKOs, POC, 2019 policy, specific role of the UN military force and the need for new structuring and training of the UN military presence in the mission areas. A systematic reviews based study, looks at the multidimensional peacekeeping as an offshoot of the international theory of multilateralism. The study has analysed the 2019 POC policy in detail and infers that each regulation and guideline needs careful preparation by all peacekeeping components. The same has been analysed in connection with special application to the UN military, to understand the role in the execution of protection mandate. There is a need to re-orient UN peacekeeping military forces to this challenging role, which can only be accomplished by an integration of all resources and understanding protection mandates of other humanitarian components.

    		Africa, Latin America, Caribbean & UN United Nations, Peacekeeping, UN Peacekeeping
    China-Pakistan Ties and Kashmir: History and Geopolitics Priyanka Singh

    China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the multi-billion dollar flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has brought the Sino-Pakistan partnership at the centre stage of contemporary strategic discourse. Against this backdrop, the monograph is an attempt to understand how the decades-strong Sino-Pak relationship has evolved intertwined around the issue of Kashmir. It collates/ examines the approaches/policies on the Kashmir issue adopted by the two countries, individually and in combination, before listing out implications and options for India.

    About the Author

    Dr. Priyanka Singh is Associate Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi and associated with the South Asia Centre. She holds an Honours degree in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, and a PhD from the University of Lucknow. Her PhD thesis was titled: “Indo-US Relations in the Last Decade - 1990-2000: Shifting Paradigms”. Her broader research interests include: Sino- Pakistan ties, China-Pakistan-Afghanistan triangular geopolitics, India-US relations, US engagement in Pakistan, Kashmir, CPEC, and the Cross Line of Control Confidence Building Measures between India and Pakistan. She is the editor of the book The Role of Media in Promoting Regional Understanding in South Asia (Pentagon Press, 2016), and co-editor of Proliferation and Emerging Nuclear Order in the Twenty-First Century (Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2009) and Saving Afghanistan (Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2009).

    		South Asia Pakistan-China Relations, Jammu and Kashmir system/files/thumb_image/2015/monograph77.jpg
    India–Namibia Relations Get a Boost August 22, 2022 Bulbul Prakash

    The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Namibia, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, visited India to attend the 17th CII EXIM Bank Conclave on India–Africa Growth Partnership, which was held on 19–20 July 2022. While the two-day conclave was attended by 40 ministers from 17 African countries, Namibia was one of the five countries which had a dedicated Country Session during the Conclave, apart from the Republic of The Gambia, Zambia, Mauritius and Gabon. Issues related to energy, infrastructure, agriculture and health were discussed during the session.1

    Ms Ndaitwah met Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav. India and Namibia signed three Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) related to wildlife conservation, sustainable biodiversity utilisation and employment of diplomatic spouses or dependants. As part of the wildlife pact, India is expected to get eight African cheetahs for captive breeding in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park in August 2022, making it the world's first agreement for the transcontinental transfer of such a large number of carnivorous animals. The MoU between the National Forensic Science University (NFSU) and the Namibian Police Forensic Science Institute (NPFSI) will see India offering Namibia customised training in the fields of forensic science, cybersecurity, digital forensics, wildlife crime investigation, and homeland security.2

    Historical Aspects

    India was one of the first countries to support the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) party, founded in 1960, which led the country to independence from South Africa in 1990.3 The first SWAPO embassy abroad was established in India in 1986. It started a chain of diplomatic recognition by other countries and the inevitable process leading to Namibia's independence.4

    At the Non-Aligned Movement conference in 1986, in Zimbabwe, the 'AFRICA Fund' was established to offer financial help to southern African liberation organisations. The AFRICA Fund Committee held its first summit in January 1987 in New Delhi. Namibia’s anti-colonial struggle gained from such efforts. When the country secured independence in 1990, Prime Minister VP Singh and Rajiv Gandhi, the then leader of the opposition, attended the celebrations at Windhoek.5

    Subsequent high-level visits included those by President Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1995 and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998. Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba visited India in 2009 which resulted in the signing of a number of agreements including those on defence cooperation, peaceful uses of nuclear energy, Pan-African e-Network and mineral resources.6 President Hage G. Geingob participated in the 3rd India–Africa Forum Summit held in New Delhi in 2015.

    This was followed by the highly successful visit of President Pranab Mukherjee to Namibia in 2016. India signed two MoUs during the visit, on capacity-building for civil servants and establishing the India–Namibia Centre of Excellence in Information Technology (INCEIT), at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). INCEIT is now offering IT programmes on subjects such as Big Data Technologies, among others, to Namibian students.

    Economic and Commercial Relations

    In the last two decades, strengthening economic cooperation has been the focus of India–Africa relations.7 Significant potential for economic cooperation with Namibia exists in diverse areas such as skill development, affordable housing, and agriculture and minerals, particularly gold and diamonds.

    India–Namibia bilateral trade was worth US$ 251.88 million in 2021–22.8 The Namibia Trade Commission Office was established in Chennai in 2021 by the India Africa Trade Council (IATC) in partnership with the India Namibia Trade Forum (INTF). According to  the present Indian High Commissioner to Namibia, India is currently the second largest exporter to Namibia, after South Africa.9

    The pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors have emerged as key arenas of cooperation. India was among the first countries to provide Covid-19 vaccinations, PPE kits, and other supplies to Namibia to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic.10 India is a world leader when it comes to providing affordable healthcare services and pharmaceutical products. India’s low-cost pharmaceutical industry gives opportunities for Namibia to produce medicines domestically. Namibia also offers a great avenue for Indian companies in agricultural, food processing and animal husbandry industries. The southern African country has benefitted from the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme, which provides training via innovative technical cooperation. Since its inception, the initiative has provided scholarships to over 1,200 Namibians.11

    Apart from the federal level, state governments are also pursuing cooperation. The Madhya Pradesh government, for instance, began the process of setting up a diamond park in Panna in 2021 and to send students to Namibia to learn the intrinsic details of the diamond sector. Namibia, the world's sixth largest producer of rough diamonds, issued trading licences to Indian firms as far back as 2008. Finestar Jewellery & Diamonds, an Indian firm, opened its factory in Namibia in July 2022.

    India’s diamond imports from Namibia over the last five years, accounted for more than half of the country’s total imports of the commodity, as indicated in the table below.



    Year

    2017–18

    2018–19

    2019–20

    2020–21

    2021–22

    Import of non-industrial diamonds (unworked) from Namibia (in US$ Million)

     

    53.62

     

    44.72

     

    14.89

     

    15.16

     

    0.81

    Total Import to country

    (in US$ Million)

    62.20

    53.55

    28.54

    30.23

    45.99

    Source: Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India

    Defence Cooperation

    Defence collaboration between India and Namibia dates back to the mid-1990s, when an Indian Air Force Technical Team (IAFTT) was stationed in Namibia to train the Namibian Air Force helicopter pilots and hone their technical skills.12 In 2011, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) delivered one Cheetah and two Chetak helicopters to the Namibian Air Force.13 The HAL has provided training to Namibian pilots and ground crew in addition to the supply of necessary equipment and spare parts.

    India has also sent military observers to Namibia (1989–91) as part of the UN Transition Assistance Group with the mandate to ensure free and fair elections. Namibia, along with 16 other African countries, participated in the first Africa–India Field Training Exercise (AFINDEX) held from 18 March to 27 March 2019 at the Aundh Military station in Pune. The exercise aims to train participating contingents in Humanitarian Mine Assistance (HMA) and Peace Keeping Operations (PKO) under the United Nations Charter through practical and comprehensive discussions and tactical exercises.

    Nuclear Cooperation

    In 2021, Namibia emerged as the world's second largest producer of uranium from mines.14 India signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with Namibia in 2009, after it got exemption from Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in September 2008. However, given that Namibia is a signatory to the Treaty of Pelindaba on the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, uranium exports to India—a non-signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)—have not materialised as yet. During former President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Namibia in 2016, India was assured that legal implications of supplying uranium for peaceful civilian nuclear use were being studied.15 Given that India has an ambitious nuclear energy programme, made up of both indigenously developed reactors and those expected to be set up by foreign companies, a forward movement on this issue will open up economic opportunities to Namibia.

    Conclusion

    Namibia is one of the most peaceful nations in Africa, without any recent inter-group conflict or war. With the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement in place since 2018, Namibia will have access to a wider market. India is also interested in strengthening economic and trading links with African countries through the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), of which Namibia is a member. While Africa benefits from India's growing interest in the region, Namibia has the potential to be a key partner.

    Views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Manohar Parrrikar IDSA or of the Government of India.

    		 Africa, Latin America, Caribbean & UN India-Africa Relations, India, Africa system/files/thumb_image/2015/ind-namibia-t.jpg
    NATO Eastward Expansion and Russian Security March 2022 O.N. Mehrotra

    The United States of America (USA) and its military allies made various attempts and agreed on a mechanism of consultation between representatives of members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Russia before taking the decision on expansion of NATO eastward in view of Russia’s objection to such a move. But they failed to nullify Russia’s national security concerns and apprehensions which emerged because of the proposed NATO expansion. In fact, it was difficult for the West to convince Moscow about the need of NATO expansion amidst the profound changes brought about in the nature of relations between Russia and its Western neighbours as well as the USA in the post-Cold War period. Though President Boris Yeltsin of Russia agreed to allow the expansion of NATO, Moscow has never missed an opportunity to express its disapproval on the expansion of NATO because it undermines Russia’s national security.
    China’s Quest for Foreign Technology: Beyond Espionage March 2022 Abhishek Verma

    One of the major drivers of China’s growth has been technological advancements either through indigenous innovations or technology imports through legal, illegal and extra-legal means. Gradually, the Chinese thought process has given way to the idea of technological dominance to challenge the great powers including the United States. The volume China’s Quest for Foreign Technology: Beyond Espionage edited by William C. Hannas and Didi Kirsten Tatlow with contributions from seventeen specialists reflects upon China’s rise as a neo-totalitarian technological power.
    Stepping Away from the Abyss: A Gradual Approach Towards a New Security System in the Persian Gulf March 2022 Javad Heiran-Nia

    In a recently published book, Stepping Away from the Abyss: A Gradual Approach Towards a New Security System in the Persian Gulf, co-edited by Luigi Narbone and Abdolrasool Divsallar, the contributors provide a fresh analysis about the prospects for cooperation among local, regional, and international actors in the Persian Gulf.

    This book contains a collection of articles by experts in the field, which is organized in four sections: Framing the Future Regional Security System, Enhancing Multilateral Approaches to the Restructuring of the Security System, De-escalating Risks of Military Outbreaks and Exploring the Potential of Non-Traditional Security Instruments.
    Forgotten Kashmir: The Other Side of the Line of Control March 2022 Muneeb Yousuf

    The political dispute over the territory of Kashmir is an intricate problem confronting the modern South Asian leadership. The intricacies of the conflict have led to voluminous writings on the region and evident from them is a greater focus on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) as compared to the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The ‘escape’ of Pakistan–occupied Kashmir from the scholarly radar has begun to change only recently. For instance, Nosheen Ali’s book Delusional States: Feeling Rule and Development in Pakistan’s Northern Frontier focuses on political predicament in Gilgit-Baltistan,1 and more recently, Javid Hayat’s Azad Jammu and Kashmir: Polity, Politics, and Power-Sharing examines the absence of permanent institutional governance structures in PoK.

    		 Terrorism & Internal Security Jammu and Kashmir
    China Risen? Studying Chinese Global Power March 2022 Avinash Godbole

    It would be an understatement to say that there has been a significant rise in the number of academic and media writings on China in the past decade or so. Globally, Rush Doshi’s work has been well received. Thomas Orlik’s book on China’s economy is a significant one, and Kishore Mahbubani continues to challenge assumptions with works like Has China Won? In China’s Good War, Rana Mitter reminds us as to how China uses episodes from history to suit the political objectives of the present era. Even in India, in the past couple of years alone, there have been significant books published on China and its rise. Ananth Krishnan’s India’s China Challenge, Professor Kanti Bajpai’s timely work comparing India and China and their power gap and the two books by former foreign secretary Mr. Vijay Gokhale have all been well received.

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