Publication Filter

Learning by Doing: The PLA Trains at Home and Abroad by Roy Kamphausen, David Lai and Travis Tanner

Learning by Doing: The PLA Trains at Home and Abroad analyses the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) training exercises and its joint international drills after the year 2000. Drawing on assorted media reports and other sources, the book has created a much-needed structured narrative on the subject. Media coverage, such as that by PLA Daily (China Military Online), has drawn attention to technological developments in PLA’s training exercises, their expanded time, and geographical span over the past decade. The PLA’s joint international drills have also been widely covered.

Reinventing Defence Procurement in India: Lessons from Other Countries and An Integrative Framework

Over the past decade, defence capital acquisition reforms have enhanced standardization, transparency and bigger acquisition budgets. Yet the system grapples with delays, cost escalations and gaps in operational preparedness. This article explores the structure, process and cultural dimensions of the acquisition system, unpacking the underlying linkages between policy, planning, budgeting, strategic direction, and outcomefocused analytical decision-making—factors that influence effectiveness of the procurement system.

The Maoist Threat

As a nation, we have a tendency to react once a crisis overtakes us. This holds good in the case of natural disasters like the annual floods in the North-East, earthquakes, the tsunami, the most recent calamity in Uttarkhand or national security threats like Kargil, 26/11 in Mumbai, and the Chinese intrusion in Eastern Ladakh in April 2013. To this list can be added the chimera of Maoism or Left-wing Extremism (LWE).