Articles in Courtesy: IDSA
Need for incorporating a limitation of liability clause in defence contracts
By: Amit Cowshish | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 18 May , 2017
In a verdict pronounced on May 2, 2017, the Delhi High Court awarded Rs 55 lakh to a serving officer of the Indian Air Force by way of compensation for ‘infraction of his fundamental right to...
Ways and Means to Choke Maoist Finances
By: PV Ramana | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 12 May , 2017
“Effective choking of fund flow to LWE [Left Wing Extremist] groups”, also known as Naxalites, and especially to the Communist Party of India (Maoist), or Maoists in short, was reportedly...
Severing Gilgit-Baltistan’s Kashmir link
By: Dr Priyanka Singh | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 21 Apr , 2017
In late March 2017, a motion tabled in the British Parliament titled “Annexation of Gilgit-Baltistan by Pakistan as its fifth frontier” stridently condemned Pakistan for attempting to...
Mother of All Bombs: A New Age Weapon of Mass Destruction?
By: Gp Capt Ajey Lele (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 18 Apr , 2017
The term Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) was probably used in the print media for the first time following the uproar over Germany’s aerial bombardment of the Basque city of Guernica in April...
CPEC and the Future of Gilgit Baltistan
By: Zainab Akhter | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 15 Apr , 2017
Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), formerly known as the Northern Areas, which is an integral part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir but currently under Pakistani occupation, has come into prominence...
Will Khan Sheikhoun Reshape the War in Syria?
By: Md. Muddassir Quamar | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 12 Apr , 2017
Late on April 6, the United States carried out missile attacks on the Shayrat airbase outside Homs in Syria targeting “aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage...
Sheikh Hasina’s Visit to India: an opportunity to broaden the relationship
By: Smruti S Pattanaik | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 09 Apr , 2017
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India starting on April 7 has generated an animated debate in Bangladesh. Security analysts, retired bureaucrats and opinion makers have raised concerns...
China’s Growing Military Ties with Nepal
By: Nihar R Nayak | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 04 Apr , 2017
The Chinese Defence Minister and State Councillor General Chang Wanquan undertook a three-day official visit to Kathmandu from March 23 to 25, 2017. Chang led a 19-member high-level military...
India and China Need to Move Past Tensions
By: M S Prathibha | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 30 Mar , 2017
The ritual bickering between India and China has once again been brought to the fore, this time over the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. The March 10 dismissal by the Ministry of...
Was there ever an Arab Spring?
By: KP Fabian | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 26 Mar , 2017
The unfolding tragedy in the Arab world began as the Dignity Revolution in Tunisia in December 2010. It led to the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, ruler since the bloodless coup of...
Examining the Case for Complete Transfer of Technology
By: Kevin A Desouza | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 24 Mar , 2017
A common refrain in the Indian defence sector is that all defence procurement contracts should contain the clause for full Transfer of Technology (ToT).1 India’s Defence Procurement Procedure...
Dual Charge – An Opportunity to Fix Financial Management in Defence
By: Amit Cowshish | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 22 Mar , 2017
In what is clearly a stop-gap arrangement, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is back to holding additional charge of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the second time in less than three years,...
Prospects of US–German Relations under Trump
By: Gautam Sen | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 17 Mar , 2017
Chancellor Angela Merkel will be engaging in her first substantive summit discussions with President Donald Trump shortly. Both countries are at a sensitive stage in their bilateral relationship....
Defence Expenditure: A Challenge for Defence Economists
By: Amit Cowshish | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 15 Mar , 2017
The only sub-theme that vies for pride of place alongside the debate on the alleged shenanigans of an inept civilian bureaucracy is the gross inadequacy of defence outlays. Governments have come...
North Korea’s ‘Chemistry’ with WMDs
By: Gp Capt Ajey Lele (Retd.) | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 07 Mar , 2017
Post the 2003 Iraq war, the debate regarding weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was confined mostly to the realm of nuclear weapons for more than a decade. The perception that WMDs are not for...
Whither the Mexican Air Force Combat Fleet?
By: Dr Sanjay Badri-Maharaj | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 04 Mar , 2017
In September 2016, it was reported that the Mexican Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Mexicana – FAM) has retired the last of its tiny force of F-5E fighters.1 While these reports may be exaggerated, it...
Rebooting the Defence Budget
By: Amit Cowshish | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 01 Mar , 2017
It may sound harsh but the changes made in the structure of the defence budget for the second year running appear quite aimless. In the process, however, these disruptive changes have raised two...
Trump and Israeli Settlements Expansion
By: Gautam Sen | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 24 Feb , 2017
US President Donald Trump voiced mild criticism of the Israeli government’s expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, at a dinner with a Jewish magnate on February 08, 2017. Thereafter...
An Analysis of the Internal Security Budget 2017-18
By: Dr Pushpita Das | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 22 Feb , 2017
Beginning with the spike in budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2009-10 following the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008, the MHA has been witnessing a steady...
India’s Participation in CPEC: The Ifs and Buts
By: Dr Priyanka Singh | Issue: Courtesy: IDSA | Date: 20 Feb , 2017
At the recently concluded Raisina Dialogue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that “only by respecting the sovereignty of countries involved, can regional connectivity corridors fulfil their...