The Year of Friendly Exchanges between India and the People’s Republic of China kicked off with the 17th Special Representatives’ Meeting on the Boundary Question in New Delhi on 10-11 February 2014 to forge closer and stronger ties between the two neighbours.
For the third year running, Maoists, also known as Naxalites (Indian version of left-wing-extremism), related fatalities and incidents have come down in the affected provinces of India. The Maoist conflict review reports indicated that in the year 2013, a total of 1,129 incidents took place, as compared to 1,415 incidents in 2012. Similarly, the number of fatalities across the country came down to 394 in the review period from 415 in the previous year.
December 20, 2013, will be marked as a proud day for India and its military scientific and industrial sectors as the indigenously designed and developed Tejas (India’s light multi-role fighter aircraft, known as LCA) gets its second and most important initial operational clearance (IOC).
The protracted rivalry between India and Pakistan had reached its lowest ebb and virtually plumbed new depths when both countries detonated a series of nuclear devices way back in May 1998. This overt gesture and successive developments (such as Kargil) made the region a major nuclear flashpoint in the world. After six years, two warring neighbours have decided to sit across the table to hammer out the much-needed confidence-building measures (CBMs).
India’s external affairs minister, Mr Salman Khurshid, went to Sri Lanka to replace Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) conclave in November 2013. This decision by the government of India speaks volumes about how regional politics and associated narrow political compulsions adversely impact national security policymaking.