Articles in Vol 23.1

Indian Hypocrisy and Security
By: RSN Singh | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 15 Aug , 2015
For any cogent action against a potential or a festering problem, the rudimentary requirement for decision makers is to be convinced that there is a problem, and then define its import. This...

NTRO: India’s Technical Intelligence Agency
By: RS Bedi VrC | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 23 Apr , 2015
In the Indian Defence Review issue of Oct–Dec 2007, Shri B Raman, wrote an article on Indian Intelligence which I read with great interest—especially since the National Technical Research...

Indian Energy Security
By: Ashish Puntambekar | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 09 Feb , 2014
Talking about energy security has become a fashion. Every now and then there is a conference on the subject or someone writes a scholarly article. The flavour of the season could be “equity...

How India can acquire great power status?
By: Bharat Verma | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Jun , 2013
Due to New Delhi’s slavish use of ‘carrot’ since Independence, without any equilibrium with the ‘stick’, the great power potential of India lies in tatters. In fact it threatens to...

Unending Threats to India’s Borders
By: Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 22 Sep , 2012
With a landmass of sub-continental proportions, India occupies a predominant strategic position in Southern Asia and dominates the northern Indian Ocean with a coastline that is 7,683 km long,...

Indian Navy: challenges beyond the horizon
By: Vice Adm RN Ganesh | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 06 Feb , 2012
The Currency of Power: In the mid-1980s many commentators predicted the end of the role of military force as the “currency of power”. Subsequent decades were however marked by global changes...

Indo-French Friendship to Partnership-I
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 31 Jan , 2012
Historical Background: To grasp the intricacies of Indo-French relations in the field of defence and security, it is necessary to first have a look at some issues which may seem unrelated, but...

India Russia: Strategic Relations
By: Air Marshal Narayan Menon | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 03 Dec , 2011
The India-Russia strategic relations with its embedded military ties have been, in the past 15 years, buffeted by the turbulence of international upheavals and domestic events. The collapse of...

India-China Relations: Some Reflections
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 21 Feb , 2011
India’s China policy has been marked by friendship, sentimentalism, fear, diffidence, brinksmanship, wishful thinking and engagement. This mixture of attitudes reflects the complexity of the...

Peep at the Nautical Crystal Ball
By: Vice Admiral Arun Kumar Singh | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 24 Jan , 2011
The Indian Ocean Region (IOR), encompasses 56 littoral and hinterland nations with 33 percent of the world’s population, but only 25 percent of the land mass. The IOR, has numerous unresolved...

Iran-US Confrontation
By: Vikram Sood | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 05 Jan , 2011
The world has watched most of the last year and the one preceding, the Iran-US confrontation, at times with baited breath as the two seemed to be on hair trigger alert from time to time. The...

Offsets in US Military Sales
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 05 Jan , 2011
According to some estimates, India is likely to spend close to USD 100 billion on capital acquisitions during the current plan period of 2007-12. Presently, imports account for nearly 70 percent...

Indian Energy Security-II
By: Ashish Puntambekar | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
The Indian Need India is growing fast. Last year, a survey of some 600 companies by the NCAER found that an astonishing 96 percent of them were operating at close to their optimal levels of...

Indian Energy Security-III
By: Ashish Puntambekar | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
The Pipelines SPV The pipelines Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV 2) will be a consortium of Indian energy companies and strategic investors some of whom will be investing primarily for tax purposes....

Operation Nandigram: The Inside Story
By: VK Shashikumar | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
A Primitive Territorial Conflict Nandigram is like any other town in Marxist West Bengal. Even the new in-your-face CPI (M) flags look familiar. Narrow proletarian streets, packed with walking...

Military Power: The Task Ahead
By: Lt Gen SC Sardeshpande | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
Power means the sum total of capabilities, with the help of which things can be manipulated to one’s own advantage, be it individual or nation. Along the strands of capabilities is the power...

Indian Defence Offset Regime: Need for Reforms
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
In any highly competitive trade environment, every seller has to make his offer irresistible and more lucrative than those of others. This is the basic canon of marketing. International defence...

Offset Banking
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
Offset banking implies generation and accumulation of offset credits prior to the award of the main contract. A bank of offset credits is created in anticipation of getting contracts to defray...

Defence Offset Facilitation Agency
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
Defence Offset Facilitation Agency (DOFA) has been established under the Department of Defence Production (DDP) as a single window agency to facilitate implementation of the offset policy of the...

Commonly used terms in Defence Offsets
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 29 Dec , 2010
Offsets can broadly be termed as formal arrangements of trade, wherein a foreign supplier undertakes specified programmes with a view to compensate the buyer as regards his procurement...