Category Archives: Indian Politics

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

Cosmetic Diplomacy

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

How many times have we seen Indian and Pakistani leaders meet, say nice things, pledge their efforts to peace, and witness little change on the ground? There is cricket diplomacy initiated by Gen. Zia-ul-Haq in the mid-1980s when he invited … Continue reading →

Posted in India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, Indian Politics, Terrorism | Tagged , | 6 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

U.S. Wrong on India’s Iran Policy

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The nuclear deal was supposed to be emblematic of a burgeoning strategic relationship between India and the United States. After some forty or so years of frosty relations, the beginning of the 21st Century saw leaders in Washington and Delhi … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Indian Politics, Strategic Relations with the US & West | Leave a comment

Chappell on dot

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Greg Chappell was an obvious failure as  cricket coach to the indian team. But he seems to have read Indian nature and character perfectly well.  Honestly, did he not speak the truth? His take on Indians rings true as much  for … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Politics | Leave a comment

LSE report: platform for Ramachandra Guha’s whole-hearted nonsense

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

These are dispiriting times. So soon after the release of that “India as punching bag” foreign policy agenda contained in the quasi-official ‘Nonalignment 2.0’ (NA 2.0) comes an even more enervating collection of opinion-pieces put together by the London Scool of Economics … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Politics, Internal Security | 2 Comments

Roadmap for Second-rate Power Status for India: Response to Quasi-official foreign policy document– ‘Nonalignment 2.0’

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The title, the membership of the group comprising persons with Nehru-vian liberal/neo-liberal bent of mind (Nandan Nilekani, Shyam Saran; four academics – Sunil Khilnani, Pratap Mehta, Rajiv Kumar, Srinath Raghvan; a newspaper editor, S Varadarajan; and a token military-man, retired … Continue reading →

Posted in 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, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | 7 Comments

Smugglers funding Jaitapur N-protest?

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The Kudankulam nuclear complex is stuck at the pre-commissioning stage because of the protest around those parts organized by NGOs whom Manmohan Singh has identified as being funded by cash-rich American NGOs with the agenda of torpedoing the PM’s ambitious … Continue reading →

Posted in India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Nuclear Policy & Strategy | 1 Comment