Dear
Readers,
It
gives us great pleasure to present to you yet another invigorating and
stimulating issue of the USI Journal, for the 3rd Quarter
of 2023. For over 15 decades, the USI Journal has compiled military and
strategic affairs and has provided a platform to the military officers as well
as other scholars to inculcate the love for writing and reading and share their
knowledge with our members and readers. This issue contains 12 well researched
articles, two review articles, and two short reviews of recent books.
The lead article is on ‘Recalibrating
Defence Indigenisation’ by Lieutenant General NB Singh, PVSM, AVSM,VSM (Retd).
The author argues that achieving technological parity with China by 2045, or
earlier, should be underpinning the strategy to accelerate self-reliance. The
article gives out a road map to accelerate self-reliance, making the ‘Make in
India’, a truly global brand in the stride. This is followed by an article by
Dr Soumya Awasthi, titled ‘Strategic and Geopolitical Shifts: Tehrik-i-Taliban
Pakistan’s surging Resilience and India’s Security Calculus’. The article
highlights that since 2021, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has transformed into a
formidable force and for India’s regional stability, vigilance, strategic
acumen, and prudent military measures are crucial in navigating the complex
dynamics between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the evolving terror landscape.
The third article titled ‘Iran-Saudi
Arabia Relations:Cooperation and Convergence Replacing Hostility and Divergence’
is by Major General Jagatbir Singh, VSM (Retd) who writes about the recently
concluded Iran-Saudi Arabia Agreement in the context of the evolving global and
regional geopolitical scenario, and dwells on the intricacies of the Agreement
as well as the pivotal role played by China, and its implication for neighbours
and India. The next article is by Dr SD Pradhan, former Dy NSA, on ‘Growing
Indian Defence Production Capabilities: From the biggest Importer of Defence
Equipment to an Exporter’. He brings out that India’s progress in increasing
its indigenous defence production capabilities, in recent years, is indeed
remarkable. However, two significant challenges remain, availability of
sufficient investments and the induction of advanced technology, on a continuing
basis, for maintaining a competitive edge in the global defence market.
Colonel Mandeep Singh (Retd) in the
article ‘Of Military History and War Dairies’ writes that the military
histories are used to examine the past and make decisions about the future and,
therefore, it is essential that these are written honestly. Further, timely and
honest generation and maintenance of war diaries is essential so that not only
the military histories are written correctly but the right lessons are learnt from
them. One of the challenges of the current United Nations Peace Operations is
the ‘mis and dis information’ campaign by the armed rebel groups as well as the
not-so-friendly host states to malign the peace operations. This has been
looked into in the next article titled ‘Misinformation and Disinformation in UN
Peace Operations’ by Major General PK Goswami, VSM (Retd). The author brings
out the steps to be taken in a multi-faceted approach to tackle mis and dis
information menace through ‘Training and Strategic Communication’, both, at
operational and tactical level.
The seventh article is the concluding
part of ‘Fifty Years after India’s First Airborne Operation at Poongli Bridge,
Tangail:What we know of its Planning? (Part 2)’, written by Lieutenant Colonel
RS Bangari (Retd) and provides an insight into the planning process of the
airborne operation at Poongli Bridge, along with its execution, to achieve the
desired objectives. This lays the foundation for a more informed debate on
certain highlights and issues that this article brings up. Part 1 of the
article was published in the previous (April - June 2023) issue of the USI
Journal. Dr Irfan Ul Haq, in his article titled ‘South China Sea: Dracophobia
and the Lilliputian Dilemma in a Gulliverian (China) Neighbourhood’ highlights
that the South China Sea holds massive historical significance as the epicentre
of the Indo-Pacific Region and is evolving into the most vibrant and
contentious geopolitical hotspot. It is in this context that the article analyses
the dilemma among the smaller regional neighbours of China.
The next article is the edited version
of the paper which won the first prize for the COAS Gold Medal Essay
Competition for the year 2021-22 in Group II category, titled ‘Fortifying
Indian Army’s response at Tactical Level against People’s Liberation Army’, by
Major Ankita Mishra. This article sheds light on the challenges faced by the
Indian Army in relation to the PLA and the measures to mitigate the
shortcomings and fortifying response against the PLA. Russia and India have
enjoyed a particularly close strategic relationship over the last half century
oftime. The two countries continue to have common interests as they look for a
multipolar world. The article by Major General (Dr) Pawan Anand, AVSM (Retd) on
‘Russia and India: Navigating Uncertain Times’ highlights that there is much to
learn from recent geopolitical experiences of either country, even as they
steer their individual course through an uncertain world situation.
The penultimate article is titled ‘The
New Cold War’ authored jointly by Dr Martand Jha and Ms Anuttama Banerji. It
analyses the New Cold War that is building up between the United States and
China and brings out that India’s has to ensure that this doesn’t impacted
negatively on her strategic, economic, and overall national interests. The last
article of this issue is by Mr Manav Saini, titled ‘Colombo Security Conclave:
Need for Transition towards Sustainable Energy Security’. The article discusses
the development of CSC, its limitations, and explores the importance of
including relevant offshore renewable energy for CSC and the way forward to
make the mini-lateral a more robust organisation.
This is followed with Review Article 1
where, Major General Jagatbir Singh, VSM (Retd) writes about the book ‘War
Despatch 1971’ edited by Brigadier BS Mehta. The reviewer writes that the book
is unique in many ways. It’s a lucid recount of the triumphs and challenges by
a group of officers, from the 28 NDA Course, who fought the 1971 War with grit
and courage in the face of adversity. Review Article 2 is about the book
‘ARMOUR ‘71’ authored by Cavalry Officers Association. Here the reviewer, Major
General VK Singh (Retd) writes that beginning with the politico-diplomatic
perspective of the war, the build up to the war, armour operations in each
theatre, followed by naval and air operations, the canvas of Armour 71 is
undoubtedly wide. The book covers interesting viewpoints and the role of armour
in offensive and defensive operations.
This
issue also carries short reviews of the following books:
n Chinese
Military Legal System: An Analysis
By UC Jha and Kishore Kumar Khera
Reviewed by Gp Capt Sharad Tewari, VM
(Retd)
n The
Eastern Gate: War and Peace in Nagaland, Manipur and India’s Far East
By Sudeep Chakravarti
Reviewed by Dr Jyoti Yadav
As always, we look forward to your
feedback and suggestions. The USI acknowledges the financial assistance
received from the ICSSR for publication of this Journal.
Happy
Reading!
Gp
Capt Sharad Tewari, VM (Retd)
Director Editorial