Category Archives: civil-military relations

Playing Favourites

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

On the weekend prior to demitting office, General V.K. Singh, using the media, publicly firebombed the government one last time as Chief of Army Staff (COAS). Separately interviewed by the main television channels intent on wringing the last few drops … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Indian Army, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Military Acquisitions | 2 Comments

Lavoy — Nukes in S Asia; India in Afghanistan, please!

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

A Pentagon team headed by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence Peter Lavoy is in town. At a dinner hosted last night by the newly credentialed US Ambassador Nancy Powell, Lavoy rvealed that his team was in Delhi to plead … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, civil-military relations, Geopolitics, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Special Forces, Strategic Relations with the US & West | Tagged | 7 Comments

India, an example?

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Constitution last Sunday, speaker after opposition speaker pointed out that while democratic norms have been tenuously maintained, the promise of social and economic equity is nowhere near being achieved for the … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Indian Politics, Internal Security | 4 Comments

Rethinking Indian Policies Towards Pakistan

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The transcript of my talk and subsequent interaction at the Atlantic Council, Washington DC, took place mid-November 2011, but the subject is ever-green and topical now with the Indian and Pak govts seeking to forge economic and trade ties, etc., … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Indian Politics, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Terrorism | 1 Comment

Entitlement syndrome

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Pratibha Devi Singh Patil (excuse me, but shouldn’t that be Pratibha Patil Devi Singh, unless Mr. Devi Singh has accepted his wife’s surname?) until elevated to the presidency of the country five years ago by reason of the ruling Congress … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Indian Politics, Internal Security | 10 Comments

Israelis — doers, ‘karmyogis’ Vs Indians, talkers

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Earlier this week there was sustained interaction with an Israeli team of former militarymen, policy persons, and researchers including a fighter pilot from the July 1981 sortie that preemptively took out the Iraqi reactor — Osiraq, that was about to go … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons | 2 Comments

Fanciful coup détat story

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

It is a pity Indian Express ran with the potential coup détat story that to journalists may have seemed fleshy but that any professional militaryman or domain expert would have warned them was hollow. (It is always advisable, in the circumstances, to … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Indian Army, Indian Politics, Internal Security | 2 Comments

A Sting in the General’s tale

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

It is hard to say when it is that the military stopped being the paragons of propriety in a social milieu increasingly bereft of basic values that people once saw reflected in men in olive green (or in air force … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Defence Industry, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Military Acquisitions | 1 Comment

The costs of military bloat

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherji in his budget speech announced defence allocations of Rs 1.93 lakh crores with a set aside of Rs 79,579 crores for capital acquisitions adding, portentously in Parliament, that if needed the defence spend would be increased … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions | 5 Comments

The defence budget and getting military priorities right

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The existing year-to-year defence budgeting scheme means that the armed services cannot be sure their capital acquisitions plans will be funded as per their preferred time-frame. This is because the government commits itself financially, but only notionally, to the entire … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions | 1 Comment