Comment & Briefs

Self-reliance in defence may be better realised if India’s military instrument were to be shaped by political guidance and geopolitical considerations instead of being carried away by the contemporary winds of COVID-19.

The movement of the Baloch people is likely to continue because of the strong undercurrent of popular disaffection in the province against the Pakistan state, and the sustained enthusiasm of the people to fight for their freedom, autonomy and rights

The pandemic continues to amplify the crisis in West Asia, making it hard for governments to cope with it individually. In the absence of a coordinated effort at the regional level, the road to economic recovery will be long and uneven.

While both India and the US face similar fiscal constraints, the approach towards military manpower cost in the two countries significantly diverge. The prevailing debate in India about the imperative to greater economic efficiency in military manpower cost would benefit from a holistic examination of approaches undertaken by the US in managing its manpower expenditure.

South Africa has utilised the opportunity provided by the COVID-19 pandemic to consolidate its regional leadership and augment connections with major external partners like India.

The uncertainty brought about by the pandemic would at best have a limited and short-term impact on the US-Iran hostilities. For the time being, the chances of escalation may be limited but the rivalry is here to stay.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities of the international system, particularly those of multilateral institutions. When the much spoken borderless threat became a reality, the multilateral institutions were found not only unprepared but acting in a self-destructive mode.

Although the new measures announced to fast-track the defence sector are significant, they do not add up to a comprehensive and overarching reforms package.

An informed scenario would be to release the weight of unsustainable debts, allowing the developing countries to focus on domestic sustainable development aimed at achieving climate neutrality, instead of developed countries’ over-emphasis on fossil fuel in their economic recovery packages.

Inclusion of new clauses in the draft DPP-2020 and changes made in some of the existing ones are intended to make the SCD more comprehensive. However, there is a scope for bringing about textual clarity in the new as well as some of the existing clauses of the SCD, especially those which have been modified.