Moving towards Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence manufacturing Sainya Sandesh Mar 2021 India has traditionally been amongst the largest importer of defence weapons. As per data, India in 2020, had the world’s third largest defence budget, after the US and China, and was the second largest importer of defence armaments, catering to 9.2% of global weapon imports. This, despite the […]
India and strategic autonomy Bharat Shakti 31 Mar 2021 India’s growing participation in the QUAD as also its increased proximity to the US is being dubbed as India losing its strategic autonomy. India has also been blamed for making other forums, BRICS and SCO, of which China and Russia are members, ineffective. In an editorial last week, the Global […]
Increasing cyber threat The Excelsior 10 Mar 2021 The New York Times (NYT) in a recent article blamed a Chinese hacker group called ‘RedEcho’ for the failure in Mumbai’s power grid on 12 Oct last year which led to a power failure, stopped trains on tracks and hampered those working from home. The NYT claimed that this was possibly […]
The battle with Twitter The Excelsior 22 Feb 2021 Post the launch of a hashtag titled ‘farmer genocide’ the Indian government, on 31st Jan, approached twitter and asked it to delete 257 accounts stating that these were ‘spreading misinformation’ and possessed the potential of ‘leading to imminent violence affecting public order in the country.’ On 04 Feb, the government […]
Post the defence budget The Excelsior 14 Feb 2021 The budget speech by the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, had no mention of the defence outlay. This left many wondering whether the budget did cater for the growing security threats that the country faces, especially since the Chinese intruded into Ladakh. The Chinese had, by their actions, proved existing government […]
Dealing with the perception battle The Statesman 09 Feb 2021 Comments on twitter by a former porn star, Mia Khalifa, pop singer, Rihanna, and a school dropout, self-styled environmentalist, Greta Thunberg, on supporting farmers agitation in India led to a massive response by the Indian government and known Indian personalities. These pro-agitation comments were supported by politicians from UK […]
Does Indian foreign policy need a rethink? 29 Jan 2021 Chatham House, an international affairs think tank in UK stated in a recent report, ‘While giving India the attention it deserves, the UK government needs to accept that gaining direct national benefit from the relationship, whether economically or diplomatically, will be difficult.’ It questions India’s diplomatic policies by stating, […]
Vijay Diwas and Flag Day Sainya Sandesh Dec 2020 December has two major events, concerning the armed forces. The first is the ‘Armed Forces Flag Day’ which falls on 07 Dec and the second is ‘Vijay Diwas’ which is on 16th Dec. The armed forces flag day in a digitised world has lost much of its significance and fails […]
Exploiting military diplomacy CENJOWS 15 Dec 2020 The successful visit of the army chief, General MM Naravane, to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, last week, brought to fore benefits of military diplomacy for India. Pakistan, where the army rules the country, has always adopted military diplomacy as a means of conveying government directions. Bajwa was even present when Imran […]
Indian security paradigm CENJOWS 20 Nov 2020 The Prime Minister stated while addressing troops at Longewala, ‘”History of the world tells us that only those nations have remained safe and advanced who had the ability to take on invaders.’ He added, ‘No force in the world can prevent our brave soldiers from defending our borders. The world today knows […]