Asian-African Century with Two Centres of Gravity: Reconciling the Potential of India with China, Already a Peer of the US While China and the United States (US) have recognised the strategic significance of the re-emergence of Asia, India has yet to see itself as one of the two centres of gravity in Asia, as has been the case throughout civilisation, having close trade links with Africa. Mukul Sanwal | March 2016 | Strategic Analysis
The Escalating South China Sea Dispute – Lessons for India For Indian observers, it is useful to extrapolate known Chinese position in the Indian Ocean Region and assess Beijing’s likely strategic behaviour. Indian policymakers might well recognise the fact that once China finds itself in a position of maritime advantage, diplomatic engagement has limited utility as a bargaining tactic. Abhijit Singh | March 01, 2016 | IDSA Comments
Union Budget 2016-17: Deciphering the Defence Budget The underutilisation of allocated funds suggest that the meagre funds available in the modernisation budget after catering for committed liabilities have not been fully utilised. Thus, a thorough introspection for better expenditure management is needed. Vinay Kaushal | March 01, 2016 | IDSA Comments
The China–Pakistan axis: Asia’s new geopolitics by Andrew Small ‘“It is a little naive to think that the trouble with China was essentially due to a dispute over some territories. It had deeper reasons.”—Jawaharlal Nehru’ (p. 68). ‘“China has a good understanding of almost everything in Pakistan, political security or economic, that might affect the bilateral relationship, but there is one piece they just don’t get: Islam”—Pakistani Sinologist, Islamabad’ (p. 81). Satyam Malaviya | March 2016 | Strategic Analysis
Routledge handbook of Chinese media by Gary D. Rawnsley and Ming-yeh T. Rawnsley In the last three decades, the Chinese economy and society have witnessed unprecedented change and development. Since the introduction of the economic reforms in 1978 under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, China has transformed itself from an agrarian, underdeveloped economy to become the second-largest economy in the world, also uplifting its large population out of poverty; 600 million have undergone this transformation.1 Economic reforms have had a very strong impact on many aspects of Chinese society. One sector which has faced massive change is the Chinese media. Gunjan Singh | March 2016 | Strategic Analysis
Nurturing Capital Acquisitions While taking stock of the acquisition proposals and projects is critical for bringing in efficiency in defence procurements, the focus on statistics dissembles some important issues. Amit Cowshish | February 25, 2016 | IDSA Comments
Time to Expose Youth to National Security It is important to generate understanding among the youth about the basic concept of national security and the impact it has on human security and economic growth. V.K. Ahluwalia | February 24, 2016 | IDSA Comments
Analysis Based Forecast of Revised Estimates of Defence Budget 2015-16: Who Bails Out Whom? Sustaining and building defence capabilty is a continuous process. It requires both adequate budget allocations and full, efficient and judicous utilisation of the allocated budget. This does not appear to have happened in the immediate past and the trend appears to continue in the current year. Vinay Kaushal | February 23, 2016 | Issue Brief
Educated Unemployment and Insurgency in Manipur: Issues and Recommendations The problem of educated unemployment is mainly two fold, firstly, scarcity of government jobs, and secondly, the, virtual lack of any other employer in Manipur other than the government. Sushil Kumar Sharma | February 23, 2016 | Policy Brief
Port de Djibouti: China’s First Permanent Naval Base in the Indian Ocean Hitherto, the India-China border dispute was largely a land-air contingency. Now, the PLA Navy’s presence in the IOR adds the third dimension and needs to be factored in future planning and preparations. Mandip Singh | February 22, 2016 | Issue Brief
