Spotlights
Article-370: Why not discuss and not simply debate abrogation?
By: Daya Sagar | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 08 Jul , 2014
The subjects and jurisdictions of the Center (Union) and States have been classified under Article 246 of Indian Constitution (1950) as (1) UNION list, (2) State list and (3) Concurrent List...
Siachen Again!
By: Lt Gen Mukesh Sabharwal | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 07 Jul , 2014
De-militarisation is a process that consists of several logical steps: ceasefire, authentication, demarcation, withdrawal, re-deployment and verification. It is a concept that formal and informal...
Tawang is not part of China!
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 05 Jul , 2014
The Dalai Lama took refuge in India on March 31, 1959. He crossed the Indian border at Khenzimane at the bottom of the famous Thagla ridge in West Kameng Frontier Division of the North-East...
Shortage of Officers in the Services
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 23.2 Apr-Jul 2008 | Date: 02 Jul , 2014
Currently, the Indian Army is facing a shortage of 11,238 officers, a huge 24.1 percent of its authorization of 46,615 officers. The other two services face similar problems. The situation seems...
Dauntless and Born Leader of Men in Crisis - L/Nk Karam Singh
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 28 Jun , 2014
Lance Naik Karam Singh was born on 15 September 1915, in Barnala, Punjab. He was enrolled in 1 SIKH on 15 September 1941. During the Jammu & Kashmir operations in the summer of 1948 the Indian...
Indian Army: Enhancing Night Capability
By: Raveen Janu | Issue: Courtesy: CLAWS | Date: 26 Jun , 2014
.Across its spectrum, future conflict will occur in a continuous 24 hour engagement cycle to enable a Force to maintain the tempo of operations. An essential component of progressing operations...
India's foreign policy has become a delicate balancing act
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Courtesy: Mail Today | Date: 25 Jun , 2014
The complexity of our foreign relations is illustrated by certain realities of our external political, economic, defence and popular ties. In the case of our major partners individually, the...
Employing Special Forces: A Response to Popular Fallacies
By: Saikat Datta | Issue: Vol. 29.2 Apr-Jun 2014 | Date: 20 Jun , 2014
In his article on ‘Special Operations Forces: Understanding the Dynamics of Change’ (refer IDR Jan-Mar ’14 Vol. 29.1) Brigadier Deepak Sinha (Retd.) makes an excellent case for setting up a...
When Nehru lied in Parliament
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 20 Jun , 2014
On October 6, 1957, a Chinese newspaper Kuang-ming Jih-pao reported: The Sinkiang-Tibet – the highest highway in the world – has been completed. During the past few days, a number of trucks...
The three dangers to India
By: Bharat Verma | Issue: Vol 22.3 Jul-Sep 2007 | Date: 18 Jun , 2014
Very few policy makers in India dare to acknowledge the danger to the nation’s territorial integrity. The security and integrity of the nation has become hostage to vote-bank politics. Democracy...
Indian Navy: The quest for blue waters
By: Sandeep Sethi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 14 Jun , 2014
More than a century ago, Alfred Mahan, an influential geo-political figure of the times and a close confidant of President Theodore Roosevelt, strongly advocated the efficacy of ‘seapower’. He...
Pakistan's Fault Line
By: Bharat Verma | Issue: Vol 22.1 Jan - Mar 2007 | Date: 09 Jun , 2014
The so-called land of the pure, Pakistan, on its creation in 1947 had approximately 13 percent minorities residing within an Islamic population of 76 million. In its unholy fervour to achieve...
Private Sector in Defence Production
By: Maj Gen Mrinal Suman | Issue: Vol 22.3 Jul-Sep 2007 | Date: 04 Jun , 2014
The Government of India has been reiterating its commitment to achieve the much-publicised target of procuring 70 per cent of its defence requirements from indigenous sources by 2010. Despite its...
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Northern Areas
By: Bhashyam Kasturi | Issue: Vol 14.3 Jul-Sep 1999 | Date: 30 May , 2014
The Northern Areas form a large chunk of territory annexed by Pakistan in 1947. It provided the bulk of the manpower for the intrusions in Kargil, consisting of the Northern Light Infantry of the...
Diplomatic engagement in a post nuclear use environment
By: Ali Ahmed | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 27 May , 2014
Strike corps exercises are usually well covered by the media. Inevitably mentioned in write ups from reporters over the past decade since Exercise Poorna Vijay has been the nuclear backdrop. The...
Misreading India's Strategic Culture
By: Brig K Kuldip Singh | Issue: Book Excerpts: Kurukshetra to Kargil | Date: 24 May , 2014
Use of military terms in non-military fields, particularly after the Second World War, has been quite in vogue. The usage of military expressions like art of war, strategy, leadership, battlefield...
Government should give due consideration to selection of defence minister
By: Lt Gen Harwant Singh | Issue: Courtesy: HT (Chd edition) | Date: 23 May , 2014
There are many contenders for ministerial berths in the new government at the centre. Prime minister has the onerous task of putting the right man in the right job. There will be pressure on him...
The Saga of Subedar Major (Honorary Captain) Bidhi Chand, Sardar Bahadur, ADC
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Book Excerpt: The Gallant Dogras | Date: 22 May , 2014
The first Subedar Major of 38 Dogras retired on 1 April 1909 after 33½ years service. He had held the post of SM from 2 February 1891. He belonged to the Katoch clan and claimed aristocratic...
Foreign ties will blossom under the new Modi government
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Courtesy: Mail Today | Date: 20 May , 2014
The BJP’s massive electoral victory brings us foreign policy gains. The prospect of a strong and stable government in India makes our external image more positive. Modi’s personality gives us...
Spy vs Spy: When R&AW lost
By: B Raman | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 14 May , 2014
A spook spends his working life in a cloistered world—protecting himself, his relatives, his feelings and his joys and sorrows from unwanted curiosity. The special bonds that one develops in this...