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Defence cooperation: Need for a considered approach |
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| GURMEET KANWAL |
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| Defence diplomacy is a potent instrument for promoting national interests. As India grows in stature, it will need to utilise defence diplomacy to the fullest extent to enhance its national interests. |
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Need to hike defence outlay |
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| The increased allocation for defence in Chinese budget has a message for India |
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| Gurmeet Kanwal |
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While India's defence budget for financial year 2008-09 has been hiked by only five per cent in inflation-adjusted real terms to Rs 1,05,000 crore ($26.4 billion), the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China has been given a 17.6 per cent ($8.23 billion) increase in planned defence expenditure to Yuan 417.77 billion ($58.79 billion). Though China's official defence expenditure (ODE) is now about 1.5 per cent of its GDP |
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Peace in Kashmir: Signs of Hope on the Horizon |
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| Gurmeet Kanwal |
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Despite sporadic incidents of violence and occasional encounters between the security forces and terrorists, militarily the situation in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is now better than it has been since insurgency first reared its ugly head in 1989. A sense of normalcy has returned to the Kashmir Valley with schools, colleges and hospitals open, commerce flourishing and tourists thronging the scenic spots. Over three lakh pilgrims completed the Amarnath Yatra in 2007. Janmashtmi and Dussehra were celebrated with traditional fervour after almost two decades. In the Jammu region too violence is at low ebb. |
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Modernisation of the Indian Army: Steady, but Slow |
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| Gurmeet Kanwal |
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For over a decade now the army’s efforts to modernise have been thwarted due to political neglect and lack of adequate budgetary support. It is well known that that the ongoing Revolution in Military Affairs has passed the Indian army by, as extremely limited funds have been made available for modernisation and a large portion of these funds is surrendered year after year. For Financial Year 2006-07, a sum of Rs 3,000 crore was surrendered as unspent. Nothing exemplified the army’s lack of preparedness for war more than the fact that 155 mm ammunition for the Bofors howitzer had to be imported from South Africa during the Kargil conflict in 1999. |
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