India\'s National Security : Annual Review 2008
Contents: Editorial board. Contributors. Preface. I. National security review: 1. National security environment/Satish Kumar. 2. India\'s neighbourhood: i. Afghanistan: deepening crisis and impact on India\'s security/Kamal Davar. ii. Politics in Nepal/K.V. Rajan. iii. Bangladesh: a watershed year/Veena Sikri. iv. Myanmar: strategic engagement/K. Yhome. 3. India\'s engagement with Asia, Africa and Latin America/INSAR Research Staff. 4. China\'s defence modernization: current trends/G.G. Dwivedi. 5. Pakistan: searching for stability/Wilson John. 6. India\'s defence cooperation with other countries/Gurpreet S. Khurana. 7. India\'s economic security: concepts and components/Chandrajit Banerjee. 8. India\'s defence and security initiatives/INSAR Research Staff. II. National security threats and challenges: 9. India and its invisible Jihad/Praveen Swami. 10. Challenges facing the Indian military/V.K. Kapoor. 11. Aerospace challenges of India/Jasjit Singh. 12. India\'s Look East Policy: achievements and challenges/Nagesh Kumar. 13. China\'s strategic thinking and evolving military doctrine/Gurmeet Kanwal. 14. Security scenario in the Gulf region/Ranjit Gupta. 15. India\'s energy security/V. Raghuraman and Saurabh Gupta. 16. Climate change: implications for India\'s economic and energy security/V. Raghuraman and Suman Kumar. 17. The promise of nanotechnology/Dipankar Banerjee. III. Military profiles of leading countries. Index.
"In the midst of a deteriorating global security environment, India has managed to strengthen its partnership with all major countries of the world. The essence of this partnership is defence cooperation, military ties and cooperation in science and technology. India has made consistent progress in these areas with the the United States, Europe and the Russian Federation. Even with China, India has remained engaged in the fields of military and economic cooperation, with the trade sector showing very promising results. It has further strengthened its ties with countries of East/Southeast Asia, Central Asia and West/Southwest Asia, particularly focusing its attention on defence cooperation, energy security and trade promotion. It has taken new steps to deepen its ties with Africa and Latin America.
But India is not completely free of anxieties with regard to external threats. The foremost of these is from China. The defense modernization of China aims at laying "a solid foundation" by 2010, making "major progress" by 2020, and being "capable of winning informationized wars" by 2050. Given this scenario, China\'s procrastination is resolving the boundary dispute with India creates uneasiness in the Indian mind.
Pakistan\'s proven hostility towards India is yet to be unproved. Pakistan has successfully used the instrument of terrorism against India. Multiple sources of power in Pakistan send confusing signals to India about Pakistan\'s intentions. Pakistani sponsored terrorism in beginning to be indigenized, while its external sources of support remain intact and alive.
Sadly, India has not been able to cope with the challenges of internal security. Whether it is the dissidence and violence in Jammu and Kashmir or the insurgencies in the Northeast, the progress towards conflict resolution is very slow. The Left Wing Extremism has expanded its ambit with every passing year. Islamic extremism is a new virus which, if allowed to take roots in the Indian soil, has disastrous possibilities. All these and other critical issues are discussed in great detail in this volume." (jacket)
