After flashing in fury about an year back and eventually loosing much of its sheen and venom thereafter, the threat of CAATSA is alive, dangling yet again like the proverbial ‘Sword of Damocles’ over the fate of India’s purchase of S-400 system from Russia. This work is an attempt to analyse this issue in all its dimensions.
The Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC spoke on the “Role of the Indian Army (IA) in dealing with the Contemporary National Security Challenges” during the Vimarsh series of lecture organised by VIF on 24 Feb 2021. He spoke about the developing security mosaic, how it is shapingthe Indian Army and the contribution of IA towards nation building.
As part of Vimarsh series of lectures on 21 Jan 2021, Admiral Karambir Singh, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff spoke on “Changing Contours of Competition and Conflict - Implications for Indian Navy”.
The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) invited Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC, for a public discourse on “National Security Challenges and Air Power”. The talk was organised under the aegis of Vimarsha, a platform offered by the VIF to enable eminent persons, academicians, media personnel et al to engage directly with policy thinkers over a wide range of contemporary and historical issues.
India’s economic growth is accelerating at a steady pace with a glimpse of its true potential to become the world’s fastest-growing economy soon. In 2019, India ranked as the second-largest online market, after China. According to data by Statista, in 2020, India had 700 million internet subscribers across the nation; as a projection, these numbers will grow to over 974 million internet users by 2025.
The US Department of Defence (DoD) Annual Report of 2020 on China Military Power released in September 2020 brings out China’s meteoric military progress in recent years. The report states that China is already ahead of the United States in certain areas such as shipbuilding, land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missiles, and integrated air defence system.
Over the last seventy years, Jammu & Kashmir has seen political machinations, violence, cross-border terrorism, instability and economic stagnation. On August 5, 2019, the Indian Government decided to amend Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and usher the state into a new era of peace and development, paving the way for complete integration with the national mainstream. Following the momentous decision, there has understandably been a great deal of interest in Jammu & Kashmir due to its reorganization as a Union Territory.
Left-wing extremism, also called Naxalism, or Maoism has been around since the late 60s. After 60 years, the movement may be down but not out. The UPA government had described the Maoist movement as the greatest internal security threat. In the last few years, the government has been proactive in dealing with the Naxalist violence. A judicious mix of security and developmental measures have put considerable pressure on the movement. According to government figures, there has been a significant decline in moist violence since 2014.
India’s security dilemmas are complex, with two hostile powers on its frontiers and a large number of internal fault lines which are vulnerable and have been exploited by the adversaries in the past. The Indian Army Doctrine of 2018 defines ‘the collusive external threat from adversaries as well as the internal instability due to state/non-state sponsored proxy war’ as the primary security challenge to India.
Conceptualising the foundations of national defence and organising a conformingly robust military structure is a humungous task of extremely complexities. Even nations who possess pristine strategic vision and deep rooted military culture find it practically impossible to home on to the right equation between their political goals, military power and optimal resource allocation.