In 2012, India will host two significant events. First, in December, the India-ASEAN Summit will be held at New Delhi to mark the 10th anniversary of their summit-level dialogue; and second, India and Vietnam will be celebrating 40 years of establishing their diplomatic relations. Both events gain salience in the broader context of the beginning of the third decade of India’s Look East Policy which has witnessed phenomenal growth in bilateral and multilateral relations with the ASEAN countries. 

The latest Sukhoi T-50 prototype, PAK-FA, a twin-engine fifth-generation stealth jet fighter, aborted a takeoff at the recently held MAKS Air Show outside Moscow on 21 August 2011 after four days of successful demo flights. While two prototypes of PAK-FA have cumulatively made 48 flights since 29 January 2010, it will be important to know the reasons for this mishap. 

The Pentagon releasing annual reports on Chinese Military Power is not new. However, for all these years, the Pentagon’s basic mandate has been to contextualize the Chinese threat to US interests. Interestingly, in its latest report to Congress, titled "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China, 2010," the Pentagon highlights some issues of concern for India regarding certain Chinese military investments.

Union Home Minister, P.Chidambaram on 15 June 2011, revealed that the Maoist/Naxalite violence had dropped by over 40 per cent, and he credited this change to the success of the “two-pronged strategy”, a combination of the development programme and police actions being adopted by the Maoist affected provinces. He stressed that 80 policemen have been killed so far this year by Maoists as compared to 177 during this time last year. Civilian casualties, too, have come down to 190 from 296 in the previous year.

India, today, stands at a threshold in leveraging its economic and military growth in consonant with its national security goals. This situation has earned both a national identity and an international status, where economic and military strength are major determinants. Ironically, India’s growing global status coincided with two major international developments: One is the disintegration of the erstwhile Soviet Union, and the second one is the end of the Cold War.

The Indian Navy announced plans to dispatch a flotilla of four warships to the Asia Pacific region in March-April this year. These vessels will make goodwill visits to ports in the region and also engage in joint exercises with a number of regional navies: Singaporean Navy for the exercise Simbex in South China Sea; Malabar with the US Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) off the Okinawa coast; and Indra with Russian Navy off Vladivostok.

Both India and the United States are stable democracies. From America’s standpoint, post-World War II, a new democratic regime in India was counted upon as a strategic ally for containing Soviet influence in Asia. Yet, India refused to be an ally of the US. Strongly allied with Britain through both World Wars, the United States had a policy of ambivalence towards colonial India. F.D.Roosevelt and Truman paid scant attention to the cause of Indian independence and did not press hard Churchill or Atlee, the British Premiers during World War II to give independence to India.

The newly unveiled U.S. Nuclear Posture Review focuses on five key objectives; one of them is preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. The report underscores nuclear terrorism as ‘today’s most immediate and extreme danger.” 

What is Nuclear Terrorism and how serious is the threat? Is it an overrated nightmare? Some facts here: 

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks has been sentenced to death by the court yesterday, May 6. Kasab was found guilty earlier this week and convicted for mindless murder and waging war against the country.

The most surprising aspect of the trial was the acquittal of the other two accused, Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed for lack of evidence. Both of them are Indian nationals and accused of having surveyed Mumbai and drawn maps of the targets at the behest of Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The new Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) was officially released by the defence minister on January 13, 2011. This bulky document—281 pages long and revised eight times in the last nine years—comes into effect on January 1, 2011.

The defence minister, in a press release on the same day, stated that the intent of DPP-2011 was to expand the Indian defence industrial base, encourage indigenous defence production, and reduce defence imports. It is to be noted that he unveiled India’s first defence production policy on January 14, which emphasised the same objectives.