India

Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist of the World Bank and head of the British government's economic service, and his team submitted the report titled The Economics of Climate Change in October 2006. The report consolidates the research on the scientific evidence of climate change and concludes that evidence is now overwhelming: climate change is a serious global threat.

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Statistics reveal that the Border Security Force (BSF) has so far, this year, apprehended 8,196 persons who were trying enter India illegally from Bangladesh. The numbers that successfully manage to evade the security forces on the border, is of course, much larger. Apart from the usual suspects, the militants and economic migrants, the recent political turmoil in Bangladesh has also resulted in many Bangladeshi political dissidents and people from the religious minorities attempting to sneak into India to avoid political and religious persecution.

The Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to India signifies an important milestone in bilateral relations. The visit showed that there is a mutual willingness to keep the irritants aside and move forward. Both the powers of Asia have indeed placed greater importance on "stable relations" with each other in the coming days. This was clearly visible in Hu Jintao's "five-point proposals" for developing Sino-Indian relations. The rumours of India-China relations being affected by growing strategic relationship between India and US have been laid to rest for the moment.

As the India-China relationship continues to grow in the new Asian dynamics, Mr. Hu Jintao's maiden visit will indeed help to keep the momentum of improving ties going. The main thrust of both governments will be to establish greater political trust for future co-operation. Two-way trade between India and China is likely to touch US $24 billion this year. There are high expectations on both sides. Manmohan Singh and Hu know each other well. They have met and held talks five times during the last two years.

It may have seemed ironic that Russia, the erstwhile archenemy of western military alliance was hosting, in St Petersburg earlier this year, the summit meeting of G-8, the epitome of western riches and power. But it was truly reflective of the spirit of our times. For India, which was invited along with China and some others as outreach countries, it was an opportunity to share the big stage. A closer look at the dynamics in evidence at the G-8 would suggest that the world strategic landscape is constantly evolving and it would be useful for us to reflect on where exactly are we headed.

The speed and relative ease with which the Indo-US nuclear deal raced through the respective committees of Congress and the margin by which it was assented to by the House of Representatives on 27 July, scarcely four months after it was introduced in Congress, created the expectation that the same scenario would play out in the Senate. These hopes have been belied by the failure of the Senate to pass the Bill before it recessed for the mid-term elections.

Defence planning is essentially a subset of overall national level planning in the political, economic and social spheres and has to be evolved in the context of global and proximate factors affecting the nation. . It has also to take into account the philosophy and ethos animating the national psyche; in other words the historical and cultural forces which have shaped the collective memory and outlook of the people over the centuries.

The global political architecture is undergoing a transformation with power increasingly shifting from the West to the East, according to most political observers.1 The two most populous nations, China and India, are on their way to becoming economic powerhouses and are shedding their reticence in asserting their global profiles.

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