Is Indian Military Aviation Reorienting? For the first time in the history of military aviation in India, helicopters have surpassed fighter aircraft in terms of sheer numbers. Are the Indian Armed Forces reorienting for helicopter dominated air operations? Kishore Kumar Khera May 07, 2019 Issue Brief
IEDs and the Maoist insurgency Are the Maoists focusing more on IED-based blasts and in the process minimizing their own casualties instead of attempting to win a war of attrition by inflicting tactical and psychological blows to the security forces? Uddipan Mukherjee May 07, 2019 IDSA Comments
ISIS eyeing India in comeback plan The Sri Lanka Easter bombings has allowed ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi to launch a public relations offensive and enunciate a dangerous new strategy. Adil Rasheed May 06, 2019 IDSA Comments
China’s vulnerability to terrorism behind its support for Azhar ban It is neither the Wuhan spirit nor India’s zero tolerance on terrorism but China’s own vulnerability to terror that caused Beijing to ultimately take on board New Delhi’s concerns on terrorism. Abanti Bhattacharya May 06, 2019 IDSA Comments
What pales the counter-terrorism regime What pales the counter-terrorism regime is not that its procedures are cumbersome or that its working is not transparent, but that it only selectively raises the cost for those who inflict terror. Arpita Anant May 06, 2019 IDSA Comments
India’s Policy Response to China’s Investment and Aid to Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives: Challenges and Prospects Regional strategic dynamics in South Asia is in a state of flux since the announcement of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China emphasises on the economic aspect of investment in infrastructures and energy projects, but strategic underpinning are very much apparent. China loan has created indebtedness in these countries and has helped Beijing to gain strategic foothold in the region which India considers as core to its security. India’s aid programme though focuses on the neighbourhood, it remains small compared to China and suffers from delivery deficit. Smruti S. Pattanaik May 2019 Strategic Analysis
The BRI and Sino-Indian Geo-Economic Competition in Bangladesh: Coping Strategy of a Small State This article explains the Sino-Indian geo-economic competition in Bangladesh in the wake of the former’s launching of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. Beijing intends to fund various large-scale infrastructure projects in Bangladesh under the BRI which has prompted India to make its own offer of economic assistance to counter the Chinese initiative. The Sino-Indian competition has created challenges and opportunities for Bangladesh. Dhaka is pursuing a balanced policy to manage the competition and advance its own interests. Bhumitra Chakma May 2019 Strategic Analysis
A Road Through Pakistan, and What This Means for India Pakistan’s largest donor has been the United States of America, granting around $ 70 bn in aid. In 2015, China, as part of its One Belt One Road global ambitions, promised Pakistan $ 46 bn (since revised to $ 60 bn), for a road running from its border to the port of Gwadar. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is being seen as a ‘fate-changer’ for Pakistan. CPEC could change Pakistan’s fate in more ways than one; this article explores the domestic and regional consequences of China’s involvement in Pakistan, and what this will mean for South Asia and for India. S. Akbar Zaidi May 2019 Strategic Analysis
Sino-Indian Dynamics in Littoral Asia – The View from New Delhi China’s growing stakes in the Indian Ocean, in particular the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) expanding profile in South Asia, has caused deep concern in India, where many believe Chinese naval deployments have shrunk New Delhi’s traditional sphere of influence. China’s inroads in India’s strategic backwaters— in particular, growing PLAN submarine forays—are viewed with suspicion in New Delhi, where many are convinced of the need for a counter-China strategy. Abhijit Singh May 2019 Strategic Analysis
The BRI and India’s Neighbourhood Chinese President Xi Jinping initially proposed to build an ‘economic belt’ and a ‘21st-century Maritime Silk Road’ in 2013 which were formalised as the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) in a document—‘Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-century Maritime Silk Road’—released by the National Reform and Development Commission in 2015. Bhumitra Chakma May 2019 Strategic Analysis