Vivekananda International Foundation | Seeking Harmony in Diversity

‘Strangers No More’, by Sanjay Hazarika, Aleph Book Company, pp. 413, Price Rs 799/-

Book Review

There are three kinds of media people who travel to the North-East of India: the north-easterners who have had to desert the sylvan vales of their region as economic refugees; career adventure journalists who like to get stellar roles in their...

April 13, 2018

National Security and Strategic Studies, North-East Insurgency
Tags: Act East, Act Fast, Armed forces, Government, North-East

‘Sharpening the Arsenal: India’s Evolving Nuclear Deterrence Policy’, Gurmeet Kanwal, Harper Collins Publishers Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2017, pp 268, INR 599

Maj Gen (Retd.) P K Chakravorty

Book Review

The book deals comprehensively with India’s nuclear arsenal and finally suggests as to what must be done to sharpen it in the current environment.

February 9, 2018

National Security and Strategic Studies, Defence
Tags: Defence technology, Nuclear Deterrence Policy, Nuclear Power, TNWs

Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory, Aanchal Malhotra, Harper Collins Publishers, India, Pages 400, Price Rs 799/-.

Rajesh Singh

Book Review

It was Elie Wiesel who had said, “Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilisation, no society, no future.” The Holocaust survivor would know, as would those in India and Pakistan who went through the trauma of...

November 13, 2017

Governance and Political Studies
Tags: 1947, India, Islamic nation, Mahatma Gandhi, Pakistan

India’s National Defence; Gautam Banerjee, Pentagon Press, New Delhi, 2017, pp 278, INR 995

Maj Gen (Retd.) P K Chakravorty

Book Review

The book India’s National Defence defines India’s Defence Reforms and Military Modernisation which it must undertake to meet the strategic challenges of the 21st Century. The book lucidly brings out India’s inability to optimise its military success...

September 26, 2017

National Security and Strategic Studies, Defence
Tags: Defence reforms, DRDO, military modernisation, NSCS, R&D

The New Arthashastra, Ed Gurmeet Kanwal, Harper Collins Publishers, Noida (Uttar Pradesh), 2016, pp 436, INR 799

Maj Gen (Retd.) P K Chakravorty

Book Review

The Arthashastra is an insight into the political thoughts of Kautilya. The book was written around 250 BCE. The most interesting idea presented in the book is the Mandala theory of interstate relations. Mandala represents the universe and our own...

December 26, 2016

National Security and Strategic Studies
Tags: Arthashastra, Cyber warfare, Internal Security, Maritime Security, NSCS, Political thoughts, Security strategy

Review Essay: ‘Deadly Impasse: Indo-Pakistani Relations at the Dawn of a New Century’, Dr Sumit Ganguly

Brig Gurmeet Kanwal

Book Review

The terrorist attack at an army camp in Uri in mid-September 2016 was followed by several surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) by the Special Forces of the Indian Army. Since then, India-Pakistan relations have deteriorated steadily and...

December 1, 2016

Pakistan, Neighbourhood Studies
Tags: Ballistic Missile, India-Pakistan, Indian Army, LoC, POK, SAARC summit, Surgical Strikes

At the Center of The Storm- My Years at the CIA by George Tenet, Former Director CIA & The Great War of Our Time- the CIA’s Fight Against Terrorism- From al Qaida to ISIS by Michael Morell, Former Dy. Director CIA

Ajit Lal, Former Chairman, JIC

Book Review

These two books paint a contemporaneous picture of the CIA’s fight against Islamic terrorism. George Tenet was the Director, CIA from 1997 to 2004, having the unique distinction of serving two Presidents, Clinton and Bush. While Tenet was inducted...

September 12, 2016

National Security and Strategic Studies, Terrorism
Tags: CIA, Intelligence agencies, Islamic terrorism, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan’s security

Modi and the World: The Ring View Inside Out; Ed. by Yamini Chowdhury and Anusua Diya Chowdhury; Bloomsbury Publishers; New Delhi; Pages 317; Price Rs. 499

Lt General R K Sawhney, PVSM, AVSM, Centre Head & Senior Fellow, National Security and Strategic Studies & Internal Security Studies, VIF

RNP Singh

Book Review

Two years two months, 51 foreign trips on six of the seven continents of the world which covered 42 countries and included UN General Assembly meetings and scores of multilateral engagements; the debutant Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stirred the...

August 9, 2016

International Relations and Diplomacy
Tags: Diplomacy, foreign policy, Modinomics, Modi’s engagements, PM Modi, UN General Assembly

Half Lion: How PV Narasimha Rao Transformed India; Vinay Sitapati; Penguin Viking Books

Rajesh Singh

Book Review

When Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao became the country’s Prime Minister, he came with few expectations. His track record as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (then undivided) and many years later as Union Cabinet Minister was mediocre. The party...

July 28, 2016

Governance and Political Studies
Tags: 10 Janpath, Congress leader, Gandhi, Narasimha Rao