Maritime India’s Global Destiny
With the 21st century being heralded as the 'century of the seas', there is much need for India to reclaim its historically dominant maritime position in civilian and military endeavours.
With the 21st century being heralded as the 'century of the seas', there is much need for India to reclaim its historically dominant maritime position in civilian and military endeavours.
Globalization appears to be giving way to a wave of nationalist protectionism. At this juncture, it is vital to focus on alternative visions of globalization anchored in concern for the environment, human rights, and economic democracy. The World Social Forum in Montreal from 9-14 August will gather more than 5000 people from across the world and serve as a window to the diverse endeavours in favour of a pro-local globalization based on trans-national solidarity.
The fall in oil prices means it is now cheaper for ONGC to acquire discovered oil fields than to explore on its own. To profit from the changed dynamic, India needs to go big on a ‘buy’ strategy.
Society is currently floating on the expectation that the world is entering a period of sustained economic growth. However, there is mounting evidence that the existing models of economic growth cannot continue.
The Indian Space Programme has a mandate to focus on its launch- and earth-oriented capabilities. In the past decade, it has attempted some non-conventional experimental projects under the labels “‘low-cost” and “technology demonstrator”. However the effect of these experimental space projects on India’s techno-economic growth will be realised only if the central government gives the project greater status and funding.
Does India plan to remodel its Andaman & Nicobar Islands as a launching pad for future security operations to check growing Chinese inroads in the Indian Ocean Region? Development of the islands has long been ignored to India’s detriment, and their strategic position in the Indian Ocean, underutilised.
Narendra Modi’s landslide victory in India's 2014 general elections, despite his hardline nationalist image, was viewed as a localised phenomenon. But two years later, voters across the world from Europe to Philippines seem to be tilting towards leaders with the same nationalist tag.
Discussions at the Global Security Forum 2016 at Bratislava, Slovakia were reflective of some of the most pressing contemporary global security concerns; differences between NATO and Russia, the rise of China, turmoil in Iraq and Syria etc.
The success of the U.S. Defense Secretary's recent visit to India is indicative of the deepening India-U.S. defence relationship. It has become clear that Indo-U.S. maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean is steaming ahead; while other geopolitical differences, like the sale of aircraft to Pakistan, seem unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
After decades of passivity, India is beginning to assert itself in the maritime arena. There is a whiff of salt in the usually 'sea-blind' corridors of Delhi, where the Modi government clearly sees the linkage between the possession of maritime wherewithal, both civilian and military, and the furthering of national prosperity, through ever-increasing trade.