Comment & Briefs

The MoD Order mentions that the IFAs are expected to give due attention to macro- management issues, highlighting the need for them to be involved in the planning and plan-review process. These are laudable objectives, but a well-knit mechanism for their implementation does not seem to exist at present.

India needs to capitalise on the emerging Iranian gas supply market and the current low price scenario, before rival consumers snap up Iranian exports or prices go up. Developing broader relations that entail incorporating gas supplies from Iran would give India greater leverage at a time when other countries in South Asia are emerging as key gas importers.

India and Germany have complementarities that can make them effective partners. However, converting these complementarities into possibilities will depend on creating conducive environment for greater German investment and a better understanding of the German world view.

There is a need for India to participate in Project Loon to increase its ‘internet footprint’. The project perfectly fits into the scheme of ‘Digital India’. It could also lead to surge in India’s interest in near-space technologies.

The AKP needs to go over the fundamentals of its decade long success in the country before it charts its future course. Its success in the previous decade was built on the pillars of national consolidation, economic growth and religious tolerance.

The Vienna Conference was far from a gathering of powers with common goals. The key powers involved have yet to reach the conclusion that it is in their interest to end the multiple wars raging in Syria.

The wellbeing of veterans and their transition to a second career by ensuring implementable policy initiatives is a national obligation. This not only has a welfare agenda but also an economic sense to it​.

Touted as the most spectacular diplomatic exercise hosted by India since the 1983 Non Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, this meeting provides opportunity for India to rejuvenate relations with the continent.

Africa needs not only maritime administration frameworks and the local capacity to enforce regulations, but also a model for sustainable blue-economy development that does not result in the destruction of its natural maritime habitat. In this, it can use India’s assistance.

It is now abundantly clear that Russia has emerged as the most important player in Syria. With the US on the defensive, the coalition that Russia is forging with Iran and Iraq is likely to get stronger.