This year there are two days for World Water Day celebration! On March 20, the UN observed as the water day due to reasons unknown but could be drawn out of the long weekend. In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated March 22 as ‘World Water Day’ to draw international attention to the critical need of safe drinking water worldwide.

The defence budget outlays for 2008-09 (at Rs.1,05,600 crores) has witnessed an increase of ten percent at current prices and a 14.1 percent jump vis-à-vis last year’s revised estimates at Rs. 92,500 crores. Provisions for larger defence efforts, normally not included in the defence budget (for example, outlays for civil defence, coast guard, etc.) could put the figure at Rs. 1, 25,000 crore or possibly more.

Budgetary outlays for national defence need a careful autopsy for a general understanding, which has otherwise been kept out of a national debate. This apathy must change for the very simple reason that a subject which accounts for 14 percent of the total government expenditure and is not kept under planned category, needs to be examined properly. First, defence expenditure has witnessed only a modest hike this year.

The threat of emerging infectious diseases is a product of the globalisation process. Changing lifestyles, patterns of behaviour and several such complex factors have led to the emergence and spread of disease in India. The outbreak of diseases like SARS, Japanese encephalitis, dengue, chikungunya, malaria and bird flu, etc., in recent times, have critically influenced human lives in India. Added to this, is the spectre of biological terrorism. This can potentially make a state vulnerable to threats.

As the investigations into Las Vegas Ricin poisoning continue with the Centers for Disease Control issued a health advisory already, the mystery over two vials of poison found in the Von Bergendorff’s Motel room still haunts Police, FBI and U.S. Homeland Security agents. Police claimed to have found guns, "anarchist-type" fiction (with the ricin section highlighted) and castor beans from Bergendorff’s room who has been under medical supervision since mid February.

Apart from its nuclear bravado, Iran is simultaneously exploring new grounds up above in the sky for expanding military influence and that is, space. In early February this year, Iran fired a sounding rocket into the outer space to mark the opening of its first space centre. Such rockets are usually instrument-carrying crafts designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during their sub-orbital flight. Iran also proposes to move a step further by launching their first home-produced satellite "Omid" (Hope) in March 2009.

While water war syndrome is being contested in the internatioanl security discourse, the real water conflict remains as an active flashpoint within the national boundary. On November 6, 2007 some 30,000 farmers stormed Hirakud reservoir on Mahanadi River in Sambalpur in Orissa. The reason is water from the reservoir originally meant for irrigation, is being increasingly given to industries. The mass agitation was faced with police high-handedness injuring many. The November agitation has a state wise political ramification.

Northeast India has earned a dubious distinction of being home to Asia's longest running insurgency. Geo-strategic locations of the region surrounded by Bhutan and China (Tibet) in north, Myanmar in east and south and Bangladesh in south and west and approximately 4000 square kilometres of porous international borders further accentuating the security threat. For the last two months, the intensification of insurgency incidents has put a question mark on the various security efforts in Northeast region.

It would be too simple an explanation to categorize or brand recent Kandhamal incident as just ethnic or communal clashes. It could be anything from a pre–meditated design to a collision of socio-political-religious factors to the involvement of extremist forces. But it cannot be the result of a small religious tiff. The trap of violence in Kandhamal reflects the failure of civil society over some of the crucial issues of the mankind.

China’s October 24 launch of its Chang-e 1 (Moon Goddess) Moon survey satellite has been heralded by the Chinese government as a “giant leap” for China’s peaceful exploration of outer space. But the launch of Chang-e, as well as subsequent Chinese Moon missions, to very likely include manned Moon activities, should also be viewed as a major step into space for China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which controls all of China’s space activities.