India’s Foreign Policy

The 2012-2013 annual report of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) begins with the statement that “India’s foreign policy (is) rooted in national ethos”. This seemingly innocuous sentence is indicative of all that is wrong with policy formulation at the MEA. It is not ambiguous and pompous concepts such as a national ‘ethos’ that should guide foreign policy (what does it even mean?) but something much more real and tangible – national interest. If the Union Government gets pushed around on matters of foreign policy, there is a two-fold reason for it; coalition politics and vague goals.

BRICS: India’s Costly Timepass

The five countries have been unable to take even one meaningful tangible economic initiative since their inception. The much hyped BRICS Bank has expectedly emerged with a whimper as have so many previous such attempts at creating alternatives to the Bretton Woods twins. Extending the Putin analogy, the Indian elephant would do well to keep its eyes firmly on the ongoing dance of the eagle and the dragon and working to distance the two from each other.

India’s 8% Enigma

So, according to an expert estimate, PSUs alone have investible surplus of Rs 2.5 lakh crore, of which Coal India has got Rs 60,000 crore. If the government is not able to coerce even PSUs, it has much less chance of coaxing business tycoons invest in the country.

Things These Friends Do:The New Normals

By Zafar Choudhary   Going by Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh’s arguably valid parameter of judgement, the current level of relations between India and Pakistan is though tense but back to normal. Jaipur Literature Festival, Justice Verma’s report and whether Modi should be BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate replacing ‘aggressive patriotism’ in the news channel studio spaces [...]

From Maoist China to Maoists at Home

Our military and paramilitary forces can only fight the enemy―at home or on the border. They have done quite a good job. The problem is with the people who chalk out foreign and security policies; it is these people who remain wedded to discredited doctrines like socialism and NAM (India attended the recent conference at Tehran, straining the ties with the world’s most powerful country, the US). From Maoist China to the Maoists in the jungles of Dantewada, it has been the same story.

Dark Clouds and the Silver Lining

There are some grounds for optimism, the most important of them being the spread of communication. The social media has emerged a big weapon against the duplicity of ruling politicians and their poodle intellectuals. No longer are people willing to unquestioningly accept their dubious theories and misleading interpretations. But, even after 65 years of Independence, we have to go a long way to emancipate ourselves from the tyranny of the PIC.

The TIME Cover – The Underachiever: India Needs a Reboot

We should overlook this agenda driven yellow journalism, and, instead, put our house in order soonest for our own national good.

Putting Connectivity in Place to Act East

India and Myanmar have turned a new leaf with Dr Man Mohan Singh’s visit to Myanmar. As Myanmar begins its journey towards democratisation and opening up to the world, there is a growing interest by China and the West too in investing in the geo strategic, political and economic potential of Myanmar. The US has [...]

Making a Difference in Myanmar

India stood behind Myanmar since its resumption of ties in 1991 in an era of sanctions discarding global concerns. However, it has failed to generate enough interest in the hermit state to bolster its geo strategic needs, trade and transit.

Claptrap 2.0, Analysing Nonalignment 2.0

Ravi Shanker Kapoor When eight public intellectuals join hands to bring out a paper to “to identify the basic principles that should guide India’s foreign and strategic policy over the next decade,” one has to take a serious look at the document. But ‘Nonalignment 2.0: A Foreign and Strategic Policy for India in the Twenty [...]

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