For the Indian climate crusaders, 2007 has become more important for three reasons. First, the entry of climate change as an agenda item to the United Nations Security Council on April 18. Now, the Nobel Peace Prize to the scientific community - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former US Vice-President Al Gore for making people aware of climate change. It’s argued that the issue would become everybody’s business to know, manage and resolve after the prestigious award.
India’s forest land, rich in natural resources like forest derivatives and minerals, is undoubtedly the cauldron of various degrees of conflict. From civil wars in Chhattisgarh to armed conflict in the East, it has created internal security more volatile than ever before in India. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has a special wing to neutralise this ‘internal security’ with solid policing. The growing number of conflicts in the forest area have threatened the forest resources and the livelihood of inhabitants.
Contesting claims over territorial supremacy by rival insurgent groups have not only resulted in a violent conflict between the insurgents’ themselves but, it also has the potential to generate misunderstanding between communities they claim to represent. This is exactly the present state of affairs in India’s northeastern state of Manipur where several such groups have turned this beautiful land into their fiefdom.
Despite many pioneering works in developed countries, defence economics has few takers in the developing world, including India, where the subject's relevance has not been comprehended until now. Even at present, many security analysts question the utility of the application of economic principles in the strategic sector!
Several new developments point to the fact that New Delhi is undeterred by any pressures from the Western world and has followed an independent foreign policy driven more by realpolitik and less by the moral high ground of democracy to engage the military regime in Myanmar. New Delhi has thus made great friends in Myanmar.