| Title: | 237 : India and China: Marking Paths on the Space Highways |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs) at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | India's ongoing mission to Mars and China's project of placing a rover on the Moon's surface by mid-December 2013 have raised speculation about an emerging space race between these two Asian neighbours. In reality, the space programmes of the two increasingly science-savvy countries have had different trajectories. However, both New Delhi and Beijing have often spoken against militarisation of space and sought to harness space-related applications for economic or social development at home. These commonalities may influence not only the discourse but also the actions of these two countries in the longer term, depending on the future course of global politics. |
| Date: | 12 December 2013 |
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| Title: | 236 : India’s State Elections: A BJP Sweep and New Politics of Urban India |
| Author/s: | Robin Jeffrey is Visiting Research Professor at the ISAS, Ronojoy Sen is Senior Research Fellow at ISAS |
| Abstract: | The results of four state elections, announced on 8 December 2013, emphasise demographic and social changes that are affecting India more rapidly and profoundly than at any time since independence in 1947. They also foretell very deep problems for the Congress Party which leads India’s coalition government and which must go to the polls before May next year. It’s only in the small Northeast state of Mizoram, where the results were announced on December 9, that the Congress managed its sole victory. |
| Date: | 12 December 2013 |
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| Title: | 235 : Afghan National Security Force: Upcoming Challenges and Implications for South Asia |
| Author/s: | Jayant Singh, Research Assistant at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | The ongoing drawdown of American troops in Afghanistan foreshadows the culmination of what has been the longest US military engagement since Vietnam. This ‘retrograde’ process, which is due for completion towards the end of 2014, will ultimately see the US spend anywhere between US$ 4 trillion and US$ 6 trillion on conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, with a major portion of this sum still pending payment. In an era of budget cuts, sequesters, debt-ceiling and government shutdowns, these conflicts have added US$ 2 trillion to the United States’ national debt and burdened the nation with long-term financial obligations. Given the high cost of engagement, the US and its coalition partners would want to protect their legacy in Afghanistan and safeguard it from reversal following the drawdown in 2014. |
| Date: | 3 December 2013 |
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| Title: | 234 : Threat of Indian Mujahideen: The Long View |
| Author/s: | Shanthie Mariet D'Souza is Research Fellow at the ISAS, Bibhu Prasad Routray |
| Abstract: | The explosions in Patna in India on 27 October 2013, targeting a political rally, once again brought the Indian Mujahideen into media focus. Far from being a localised group trying to exploit local grievances, the Indian Mujahideen is fast emerging as both a formidable group within India and also an example for terrorist formations elsewhere. |
| Date: | 28 November 2013 |
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| Title: | 233 : A New Way to Manage an Old Dispute |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs) at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | China and India have now travelled the proverbial extra mile towards each other to proclaim that a qualitatively new ‘Panchsheel’ spirit is attainable in their chequered relationship. When ‘Panchsheel’ – the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence – were enunciated by China and India, acting in concert in 1954, there was not much asymmetry between their respective national strengths. Today, while both China and India are nuclear-armed space powers, China overshadows India in a big way in the economic domain and is ahead in a number of aspects of military preparedness. It is this contrast in time and political space that brings the latest Sino-Indian Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) into the futurist focus. This aspect of the Sino-Indian summit held in Beijing on 23 October 2013 stands scrutiny as a sign of renewed statesmanship. But the hopeful sign must still pass the test of realpolitik until the two countries resolve their basic border dispute. |
| Date: | 6 November 2013 |
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| Title: | 232 : Back to the Basics in Indo-Pak Puzzle |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs) at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | The issue of inviolability of the India-Pakistan Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir is once again in prime focus ÔÇô this time, in the context of the latest meeting between the Prime Ministers of these two South Asian neighbours. While not being entirely clouded by the Indian media discourse on a ÔÇÿSecond KargilÔÇÖ, the new India-Pakistan move for peace and tranquillity along the LOC requires much sunshine diplomacy from both the civil and military officials of the two sides. |
| Date: | 14 October 2013 |
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| Title: | 231 : Manmohan Singh Meets Obama: Firming up Indo-US Strategic Partnership |
| Author/s: | S D Muni, Visiting Research Professor at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama had their third summit at the White House in Washington on 27 September 2013. This would probably be their last summit, unless Dr Singh gets a third prime ministerial term after the Indian general elections expected to be held by April-May 2014. President Obama made a special gesture to make Dr Singh's visit memorable. He organised a working lunch at the White House - only second such lunch so far by him for a visiting head of state/government. And, he personally walked down the White House portico ignoring the set protocol to see Dr Singh off. US First Lady Michelle Obama also extended a special courtesy to Dr Singh's wife, Mrs Gursharan Kaur, by hosting her over tea at the White House while the two leaders were engaged in official deliberations. |
| Date: | 8 October 2013 |
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| Title: | 230 : A Common Economic Recipe for India and Pakistan |
| Author/s: | Shahid Javed Burki, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Both India and Pakistan are passing through delicate political times. India is getting ready to hold the next general election no later than the spring of next year when the term of the current government expires. Pakistan, having held elections in May 2013, has a new government in place. In both cases the government will be tested in the field of economics. How the performance of the two governments will be judged is a question that is being debated in the two countries. The Indian Government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has chosen to allow its performance to be determined essentially by the prices that people have to pay for the items of everyday consumption. Inflation has been relatively high in recent months. The new Pakistani Government, headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, seems half-inclined to treat the level of prices as an important test for his ability to restore economic health to the country. In adopting these policy decisions, the two governments are making serious political mistakes. Their electoral appeal will be determined by the rates of growth of their national economies and not by the modest changes in the level of prices. |
| Date: | 4 October 2013 |
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| Title: | 229 : Ordinance Confusion in Election Season |
| Author/s: | Robin Jeffrey, Visiting Research Professor at the ISAS, Ronojoy Sen IS Senior Research Fellow at ISAS |
| Abstract: | It is festival season in India, but it's more than that. Election season is in the air. You can hear it, see it and almost taste it. Five state elections are due before the end of 2013, and the big one, the national general election for 543 seats to the Lower House of Parliament, is due by May next year. These elections are awaited with rare anticipation, because in spite of widespread cynicism, there's a sense that changes in government are in the offing and that a lot of careers hang in the balance. |
| Date: | 4 October 2013 |
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| Title: | 228 : A ‘Power-Sharing’ Moment in Sri Lanka |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs) at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | The outcome of the latest elections to Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council can indeed catalyse the search for an equitable political settlement of the troubled ethnic equations within the framework of a truly united country. For this to happen, the Sri Lankan leaders across the ethnic divide face the formidable task of harmonising President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s agenda of ‘political empowerment and reconciliation’ with the Tamil National Alliance’s focus on parity (as different from secession) . |
| Date: | 30 September 2013 |
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| Title: | 227 : Karzai’s Diplomacy of Hopes and Wishes |
| Author/s: | Sajjad Ashraf, Consultant at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Speaking to reporters before leaving Kabul for Islamabad towards the end of August 2013, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai sounded resigned when he said: “I will travel to Pakistan hoping to get a result out of it. I’m hopeful, but not sure, I will only go with hopes; and wish they materialise”. |
| Date: | 12 September 2013 |
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| Title: | 226 : India’s Food Security Bill: Grave Digger or Game Changer? |
| Author/s: | Amitendu Palit |
| Abstract: | The much - debated National Food Security Bill, 2013, was passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha – the Lower and Upper Houses of the Indian Parliament – on 26 August 2013 and 2 September 2013 respectively. The Bill is the latest legislation in a series of measures (e.g. Right to Information (RTI) Act, Forest Rights Act, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)) aiming to establish rights - based economic governance in India for achieving inclusive growth. The objective of the Bill is to legally entitle 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population to a minimum supply of foodgrains at subsidised prices. With around 800 million people expected to receive subsidised food, the programme is arguably one of t he largest targeted food security schemes in the world |
| Date: | 4 September 2013 |
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| Title: | 225 : Musharraf’s Indictment: Going through the Act? |
| Author/s: | Sajjad Ashraf, Consultant at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | In a country where a military officer could not be charged for a traffic offence, a Pakistani court has now indicted former military strongman General Pervez Musharraf in the case relating to the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. |
| Date: | 30 August 2013 |
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| Title: | 224 : Pakistan and the New Ethos of Muslim Middle Class |
| Author/s: | Shahid Javed Burki, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Revolutions confuse and confound even those who bring them about. They also puzzle those who watch them unfold from some distance. This is certainly the case with the rapid changes occurring in the Muslim world. The change is not only affecting the Middle East but also the Muslims in South Asia. And it is being brought about by the rise of the middle class. Economists have been studying for quite some time the role the middle class plays in shaping and reshaping economic systems and structures. It is now the right moment for other social scientists, in particular those who study politics, to catch up with them. |
| Date: | 30 August 2013 |
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| Title: | 223 : India-Pakistan Dilemma: To Talk or Not to Talk |
| Author/s: | Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | August 2013 was a bad month for India-Pakistan amity. Sixty-six years ago that month British India was bifurcated into two independent and sovereign countries: India and Pakistan. That partition was accompanied by unspeakable violence. As the writer Sadat Hasan Manto poignantly describes in his remarkable short story, ‘Toba Tek Singh’, also utter and inhuman mindlessness. The feelings that occasion generated were bred of deep-seated distrust. Thereafter, it led to several bloody wars between the two nations. To this day the strength and power of those negative sentiments have not fully abated. However, from time to time silver linings do appear amidst the dark clouds. One such example lay in the immediate aftermath of Nawaz Sharif’s assumption of office as Prime Minister of Pakistan in June this year. But, sadly, like others before it, it was soon to be engulfed in the gathering storm. To the olive branch that Nawaz Sharif then held out, the reaction of his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, was positive. For a brief shining moment, hope appeared to have surfaced, but only to be submerged once again in a sea of mutual recrimination. |
| Date: | 21 August 2013 |
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| Title: | 222 : Pressures on the Indian Rupee |
| Author/s: | S Narayan, Head of Research and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | The Indian rupee fell to an all-time low of close to 64 to the US dollar on Tuesday 20 August 2013, and the Indian media as well as well as the analysts have been extremely critical of the policies announced by the Government of India. The Government, on its part, is pointing to the exit of funds across all emerging markets as US yields are set to rise, and is putting all the blame on external factors. |
| Date: | 21 August 2013 |
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| Title: | 221 : The Changing Moods on the Sino-Indian Front |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs) at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | The goodwill call by a Chinese naval hospital-ship at India’s Mumbai port on 8 August 2013 has followed the Sino-Indian agreement on “an early conclusion of negotiations” for a border defence cooperation pact. These two developments have occurred in the context of a serious episode of military standoff in April-May and the Chinese Premier’s subsequent visit to India. These changing dynamics in the Sino-Indian relationship are explored in the light of China’s military prowess and India’s concerns. |
| Date: | 2 August 2013 |
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| Title: | 220 : John Kerry’s Islamabad Visit: A Possible Thaw? |
| Author/s: | Shahid Javed Burki, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | With a new government in place in Islamabad and with the United States needing Pakistan’s help in winding down its operations in Afghanistan, there is some hope that relations between the two countries can be restored to some kind of normalcy. This was the expectation that took the US Secretary of State John Kerry on a two-day visit to Islamabad on 30-31 July 2013. Judging by the statements made by the two sides, it appears that the downward slide in relations that began in January 2011 has been arrested but much remains to be done. This paper explores what was achieved during the Kerry visit and what kind of trajectory the two countries are likely to follow as they move forward. |
| Date: | 2 August 2013 |
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| Title: | 219 : Reading the West Bengal Panchayat Poll Results |
| Author/s: | Ronojoy Sen, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Elections to the panchayat - comprising the three tiers of village, block and district of a state in India - often go unnoticed at the national level. That the recent panchayat elections in West Bengal, which were won convincingly by the governing Trinamool Congress Party, made news is due to several reasons. |
| Date: | 2 August 2013 |
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| Title: | 218 : Birth Pangs of ‘Telangana State’ in India |
| Author/s: | S Parthasarathy |
| Abstract: | The creation of a new southern Indian state of Telangana, consisting of 10 districts, has at last been announced. The new state is to be carved out of the 23 districts in the present state of Andhra Pradesh. It has taken over 50 years for the Telangana demand to be conceded, perhaps the longest time taken in similar cases in post-colonial independent India. It will be the 29th state in the Indian Union. |
| Date: | 2 August 2013 |
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| Title: | 217 : Biden’s Visit to India: Pushing the Asia-Pacific ‘Pivot’ |
| Author/s: | S D Muni |
| Abstract: | Biden’s Visit to India: Pushing the Asia - Pacific ‘Pivot’ S D Muni 1 The visit by the US Vice - President Joseph R Biden , Jr to India in July (22 - 25) 2013 may be seen in the context of the US efforts to reinforce its commitment to the “pivot”/ “ rebalancing ” strategy for the Asia - Pacific region. The reinforcement of this commitment is required to address both the domestic doubts as well as external anxieties. Within the US , while there is widespread bipartisan support for the strategy, doubts ling er about its direction and the capability to implement it. On 23 July , four members of the US Congress addressed a letter to the newly appointed National Security Advis o r Susan Rice asking for an “inter - agency” review of the “Asia - Pacific Strategy”, “in or der to better define the ends - ways - means of the Administration’s strategic objectives in the region”. 2 Within Asia - Pacific region, many countries have anxieties if the US would remain fully committed to this strategy in view of it s budgetary constraints un der the proposed ‘sequestration’ and moves to work out strategic understanding with China |
| Date: | 29 July 2013 |
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| Title: | 216 : Prospects for Border Trade in Mizoram |
| Author/s: | Laldinkima Sailo, Research Assistant at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | In his recent budget speech, India’s Finance Minister P Chidambaram said: “Combining the Look East Policy and the interest of the Northeastern states, I propose to seek the assistance of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to build roads in the Northeastern states and connect them to Myanmar”.2 Prior to this, New Delhi had expressed interest in building the India-Myanmar-Thailand highway, which would go a long way in the economic integration of India’s Northeast with Southeast and East Asia. This may, however, be a while in the making; and the benefits that would accrue to India’s Northeast from such projects are yet to be articulated. If implemented, Mr Chidambaram’s plan could have a significant impact on the border regions of the Northeast, particularly in areas where border trade flourishes. |
| Date: | 25 July 2013 |
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| Title: | 215 : South Asia: A Story of Key Development Indices |
| Author/s: | Riaz Hassan is Visiting Research Professor at the ISAS, Ishraq Ahmed was until recently a Research Assistant at ISAS |
| Abstract: | South Asia is now home to almost one-quarter of the world's population. Consequently, the development trends in South Asian countries have not only regional but also global ramifications. In particular, the spectacular economic growth in India, the largest South Asian country, over the past two decades has made it a global economic power-house. The Indian economy is currently the third largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity (PPP), after the United States and China. What are the developmental consequences of this surging economic growth for India's 1.2 billion people? Has economic growth benefited the living conditions of its citizens? |
| Date: | 25 July 2013 |
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| Title: | 214 : India: A Destination Nightmare for Tourists? Implications of Sexual Violence |
| Author/s: | Rahul Advani, Research Assistant at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | In the past few weeks, there were two significant rape cases involving foreign tourists in India. The first featured an American tourist who was gang-raped on 4 June 2013 by a group of men in a hill resort in the town of Manali in Himachal Pradesh. The 31-year-old woman was leaving the Vashishth Temple site at around one oÔÇÖclock in the morning that day. After failing to get a taxi to take her back to her hotel, she accepted a ride from a group of men who took her to a wooded area where they raped and robbed her. Subsequently, three men have been arrested in connection with the incident. |
| Date: | 10 July 2013 |
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| Title: | 213 : Countering Left-Wing Extremism in India: Conceptual Ambiguity and Operational Disconnect |
| Author/s: | Bibhu Prasad Routray and Shanthie Mariet D'Souza is Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | The inability to craft an effective national policy to deal with the surge of left-wing extremism (LWE) is a subject of intense policy debate and mounting public concern in India. A short-sighted counter-insurgency (COIN) strategy, an apathetic political class, an unresponsive state machinery, bureaucratic inertia, problems of coordination (between the centre and state governments)and the growing disconnect between a prospering and an impoverished India, have been flagged as some of the factors that contribute to the lack of an effective strategy and the near-unassailability of the extremists. At the heart of such inadequacies, however, is the persistent conceptual ambiguity regarding the nature of the movement and the threat it poses to the Indian state. Authorities have been periodically compelled to revisit their strategies after each successful extremist attack. And yet, a comprehensive and unified national strategy providing a long-term solution to LWE remains a far-fetched goal. The 25 May 2013 extremist attack in the state of Chhattisgarh provided yet another opportunity to rethink and reset the COIN strategy. Whether the new strategy would end the ambiguity and explore alternate mechanisms for conflict resolution, however, remains to be seen. |
| Date: | 8 July 2013 |
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| Title: | 212 : Bangladesh: Evolving Political Situation |
| Author/s: | Imtiaz Ahmed |
| Abstract: | Bangladesh is in the midst of contradictory pulls: whereas economic indicators point to robust development, polarisation and violence are threatening the sustainability of democratic politics. The moot question now is whether such contradictory pulls can be reconciled for the sake of greater economic development and the institutionalisation of democracy. Although the national election is due in less than eight months and there is no sign of a compromise between the ruling Awami League (AL) and the opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP), yet there is hope that the tenure of the current regime will end not with a ÔÇÿhardÔÇÖ but rather ÔÇÿsoftÔÇÖ landing. Let us have a closer look. |
| Date: | 5 July 2013 |
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| Title: | 211 : Election Year in Bhutan – Litmus Test of Happiness? |
| Author/s: | Siegfried O Wolf |
| Abstract: | On 23 April 2013, the people of Bhutan went to the polls to elect a new upper house, or National Council (NC), for the second time ever in their country’s history. This marked the beginning of the national parliamentary election process, which will conclude before the end of July this year after the second round of polls for the lower house – the National Assembly (NA) – is held. The NA was dissolved on 20 April and has to be reconstituted within 90 days. Based on a first assessment, one can state that, besides some weather-related concerns and hurdles, the NC elections were held relatively smoothly. Most importantly, they were not disturbed by any ‘politically motivated’ violent incident of significance or by undue interference by any state institutions or other actors. In short, the elections were free and fair. |
| Date: | 2 July 2013 |
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| Title: | 210 : Regional Security Cooperation in South Asia: The China Factor |
| Author/s: | Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | In this vast swathe of the Asian region, China and India are two global ‘mega states’, home to a third of the world’s population. They are both rising stars in the contemporary international firmament, particularly against the backdrop of America’s and the West’s perceived ‘elegant decline’, as Robert Kaplan would have us believe. Theirs is a relationship that could largely define the politics of our age. It is an acknowledgment of the importance of this relationship that caused India to be the country that Premier Li Keqiang chose to make his first foreign visit. |
| Date: | 2 July 2013 |
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| Title: | 209 : The Prospects for Modi’s Prime Ministerial Ambitions |
| Author/s: | Robin Jeffrey is Visiting Research Professor at ISAS, Ronojoy Sen is Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | What does the rise and rise of Narendra Modi mean for India? The question consumes vast amounts of Indian newsprint and electricity as it rockets around the newspaper-reading, all-a-twittering public. There are at least three views of Modi, the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat. One is that he is India's best hope for substantial economic and political change. A second is that he is an ardent communalist and the tool of the worst sorts of global capitalism. A third view is agnostic about how good or bad he is, but holds that his reputation makes him too divisive to win a national election. On 9 June, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appointed Modi as chairman of its national election committee to prepare for next year's general elections. This move suggested that the BJP would later project Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. |
| Date: | 20 June 2013 |
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| Title: | 208 : A Tale of Two Leaders |
| Author/s: | S Narayan, Head of Research and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Veteran political leader L K Advani’s resignation last week from even the primary membership of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India and the withdrawal of that resignation a couple of days later made national news. This came close on the heels of the appointment of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as Chairman of the BJP’s Election Campaign Committee. The ruling Congress party has refrained from commenting about these developments, stating that these are internal party matters of the BJP. Internally, Congress should be quite pleased at the dissension in the ranks of the BJP and at the announcement by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that his party would not like to align with the BJP in the forthcoming general election, if they projected Narendra Modi as the leader. Nitish Kumar has made a call for a third front, free of BJP and the Congress, which has had only lukewarm support so far. |
| Date: | 3 June 2013 |
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| Title: | 207 : President Karzai’s Visit to India: Setting Policy Markers for post-2014 Afghanistan |
| Author/s: | Shanthie Mariet D'Souza |
| Abstract: | President Karzai’s three-day official visit in May 2013 to India with a wish list of military equipment has reignited speculation regarding an increased Indian military presence in post-2014 Afghanistan. Amid frayed Afghanistan-Pakistan relations, difficulty in the negotiations of a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Afghanistan and the United States, waning international interest in the Afghan war and dwindling financial assistance to the conflict-ravaged country, uncertainties loom large on the prospects of peace and stability in Afghanistan. President Karzai who, prior to the 2014 drawdown of international forces and the presidential elections in Afghanistan, is continuing his effort to bring a negotiated end to the war and reclaim the sovereign status of his country and thereby mark his legacy, is seeking help from a trusted ally and friend. While much of what happens in the coming months will test the intent and capacity of New Delhi to come to Karzai's aid, it will also define how India perceives its role in post-2014 Afghanistan and how prepared it is to confront the future of Afghanistan in pursuance of its national interests and strategic objectives. |
| Date: | 3 June 2013 |
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| Title: | 206 : An Unusual Sino-Indian Summit and After |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana, Editor (Current Affairs) at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's recent state visit to India, 19-22 May 2013, was neither a classical charm offensive in diplomacy nor a post-modern crisis-busting political journey. What he did achieve was to place the political and economic "concerns" of space-faring China and India at the centre-stage of their discussions. This has raised the possibility of a 'new model' of Sino-Indian dialogue, driven by a sense of optimism after their recent military standoff eased. At another level, though, there is still a lot of circumspection, if not also scepticism. India, for its part, must begin addressing its asymmetric equation with China across the entire spectrum. |
| Date: | 3 June 2013 |
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| Title: | 205 : The Maoist Attack in Chhattisgarh |
| Author/s: | Ronojoy Sen is Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS, Robin Jeffrey is Visiting Research Professor at ISAS |
| Abstract: | The ambush of a convoy of cars returning from a political rally and the murder of 27 people on 25 May 2013 in Chhattisgarh state in central India brings together various threads that make up "the Maoist movement" that has been an intermittent feature of rural life for 50 years. The list of victims makes this clear. Among the dead were the leader of the Congress Party in Chhattisgarh state, Nand Kumar Patel, and Mahendra Karma. Karma was the architect of the Salwa Judum, a controversial and bloody movement of anti-Maoist vigilantes begun in 2005 and later declared illegal by the Indian Supreme Court. Not surprisingly, Karma was high on the Maoists' hit list. Among the wounded is V C Shukla, 83, from an old Congress family and the reviled Minister of Information and Broadcasting during Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's 1975-7 "emergency". |
| Date: | 31 May 2013 |
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| Title: | 204 : India-China Talks: Full-Scope Security is Potential Issue |
| Author/s: | P S Suryanarayana |
| Abstract: | China’s new leader Xi Jinping has called for steps to “deepen” “military and security trust” in Sino-Indian relations. In his first meeting with India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Durban on 27 March 2013, the Chinese President struck a cordial and upbeat note. Reciprocating these sentiments, Dr Singh suggested that a “joint mechanism” be set up to protect the rights of lower riparian India in the context of China’s ongoing efforts to harness waters of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra). The economic logic of such a ‘mechanism’, if set up, will supplement the political logic of the existing forum of Special Representatives who are trying to settle the Sino-Indian border dispute. In addition, India and China are already engaged in overall economic dialogue. In panoramic strategic terms, therefore, a potential Sino-Indian agenda focused on economic and military concerns can help address full-scope security issues. Full-scope security, as a term being conceived in political diplomacy, is adapted from the idea of full-scope safeguards in civil-nuclear diplomacy. |
| Date: | 10 April 2013 |
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| Title: | 203 : Drug Patents in India: Turf Battles |
| Author/s: | Amitendu Palit, Head (Partnerships & Programmes) and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | The debate on India’s intellectual property (IP) regime and its implications for pharmaceutical innovations and generic drugs has come into sharp focus following the Supreme Court of India’s recent judgement on the global pharmaceutical major Novartis’s appeal for patenting and exclusive marketing of Glivec in India. Glivec is a drug administered on patients suffering from Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), a rare form of blood cancer. The Court judged that Glivec does not satisfy the patentability criteria of ‘enhanced efficacy’ as mentioned in Section 3(d) of the Patents Act of 2005 and hence Novartis cannot be granted patent on Glivec in India. The decision has been widely hailed as a victory for domestic manufacturers, particularly generic drug producers. Generic drugs are those that are introduced after patents expire on their original formulations. Novartis’s patenting of Glivec in India would have implied that Indian producers could not have produced generic versions of the drug, which they are able to do now. |
| Date: | 8 April 2013 |
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| Title: | 202 : Asia and President Obama’s Second Term |
| Author/s: | Shahid Javed Burki, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | How will Asia fare during President Barack Obama’s second term as President? The change in the national security team in Washington would have some relevance but under President Barack Obama the real decision-making is done at the White House. It may, therefore, not matter much that a new cast of characters is now in place to conduct United States’ foreign policy. At the same time, the regime will function without much friction since those in senior national security positions are of the same mind as President Obama. The president has gone from a “team of rivals”2 he recruited for his first term to a team of the likeminded for his second term. Implementing basic policy decisions should, therefore, proceed smoothly. This paper explores what the new players are likely to bring to their desks and how America might, in President Obama’s second term, attempt to shape the world. |
| Date: | 5 April 2013 |
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| Title: | 201 : The Expanding Shadow of States over Centre in India |
| Author/s: | S Narayan, Head of Research and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Recent developments in Tamil Nadu politics over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue have highlighted the pressures that regional issues can bring to bear on national politics. There have been agitations in colleges and universities against the alleged human rights violations by the Sri Lankan Army towards the end of the operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. There are posters in Chennai and in other towns in Tamil Nadu, alleging that Prabakaran's son was shot down in cold blood, and demanding a commission of inquiry. |
| Date: | 5 April 2013 |
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| Title: | 200 : Zero Dark Thirty and US-Pakistan Relations: A Hostile Future? |
| Author/s: | Riaz Hassan, Visiting Research Professor at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Since its release in December 2012 the film Zero Dark Thirty has received critical acclaim for dramatising a complex and traumatic event in recent American national life as a cinematic narrative. Its portrayal of political violence and the role of torture ÔÇô euphemistically called ÔÇ×enhanced interrogation techniquesÔǃ ÔÇô is vivid, arresting, confronting and horrifying. For its cinematic achievements the film received five Oscar nominations including the best film of the year. |
| Date: | 27 March 2013 |
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| Title: | 199 : Reading between the Lines of Indian Budget |
| Author/s: | S Narayan, Head of Research and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Indian media, including the television news channels and the English-language press, have analysed and dissected the Indian Budget 2013-2014 down to its last ligament, and, at the end of it, decided that it was not as good as it should have been nor as bad as it could have been. Relevant data will help dispel such ambiguity. |
| Date: | 4 March 2013 |
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| Title: | 198 : Expanding India-ASEAN Connectivity |
| Author/s: | S Narayan, Head of Research and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | The last decade has witnessed a sea change in the relationship between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Several significant economic and political developments have contributed to this. |
| Date: | 28 February 2013 |
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| Title: | 197 : Social Safety Nets in Bangladesh |
| Author/s: | Ishraq Ahmed, Research Associate at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Spending on social programmes to alleviate poverty and address the overall economic needs of the vulnerable segments of the population has been an integral part of the Bangladesh Government’s strategy to tackle poverty. The social programmes/social protection programmes include components of social insurance, labour market policies and social assistance. Social Safety Net Programmes (SSNPs) in Bangladesh – which fall under the aegis of social assistance programmes – are a set of public measures to protect those who are vulnerable to various social and economic hardships arising from significant declines in income and welfare due to loss of cultivable land, crop failure, unemployment, sickness, maternity and old age or death of income-earning members. Up until the 1990s, spending on social safety nets had constituted less than one per cent of GDP. Spending has been increasing in recent years due to a consistent GDP growth of about five per cent a year. Annual expenditure on safety net programmes amounts to around US $1.64 billion, which is approximately 1.6 per cent of the GDP as of 2011. |
| Date: | 6 February 2013 |
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| Title: | 196 : Bangladesh Enters Election Year: Perspectives on Polls and Politics |
| Author/s: | Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Senior Research Fellow at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | The Bangladeshi is an intensely political person. It is his, or, as is somewhat more apt in Bangladesh given the gender of its leadership, her historical heritage. This extrapolation is easily derived from behaviour-pattern dating way back to Bengal's past. Unsurprisingly, therefore, elections in Bangladesh generate considerable heat and dust! This January the nation of nearly 160 million entered its election year. The government, a 14-party coalition led by the Awami League (AL) and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has now completed exactly four years in office. The timeline for election would be anytime this year starting October. In parliamentary systems, it is the government's prerogative to call for elections even before the expiry of its term (in this case, five years). |
| Date: | 17 January 2013 |
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| Title: | 195 : Putin in New Delhi: Re-booting Traditional Ties |
| Author/s: | S D Muni, Visiting Research Professor at the ISAS |
| Abstract: | Indo-Russian relations have changed drastically as a result of changing global dynamics after the end of the Cold War and in response to the imperatives of rising domestic and regional aspirations of both the countries. A number of bilateral issues have also weighed adversely on the momentum of Indo-Russian relations, though both countries realise that they have much to gain from maintaining a robust bilateral engagement and a balanced global partnership. President Putin's visit to India to mark the 13th institutionalised annual summit of the two countries was a firm step towards re-energising India-Russia relationship. |
| Date: | 8 January 2013 |
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