Very often, western observers play down the existence and influence of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami inside Bangladesh’s territory. Investigations into several terror strikes in Bangladesh that occurred between May 2004 and December 2005 have revealed, instead unearthed, a lethal nexus between these two Pakistan-based terror groups and a couple of mainstream political parties (Pro-Islamic Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in Bangladesh.

Yet again, India’s defence budget has escaped larger national attention this year. The defence component of the national budget accounts for 14% of central government expenditure but gets less than 5% of media space, the bulk of which goes towards data released by the government with sporadic analyses by experts. Virtually no discussion on the issue takes place in Parliament either. A call for increased resources for national defence usually only goes out when defence spending by Pakistan and China makes headlines.

Most of the military power states in the world aspire to become a nuclear power, especially in this highly competitive world. The most recent participant in the race to become a nuclear state is Myanmar. A report in the `Sydney Morning Herald' in early August quotes two Myanmarese defectors as saying that the Myanmar junta was secretly building a nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction facility with North Korea's help and with the aim of acquiring its first nuclear bomb in five years.

India’s External Affairs Minister, Mr Natwar Singh, while attending the ASEAN - plus 3 meetings and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Jakarta in July 2004, had noted that India was ready to provide security in the Malacca Straits and stressed that it was in India's national interest to ensure that the Strait remained a crime-free sea-lane.

The dwindling Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) Karnataka State Committee may get a fresh issue to revive and consolidate after Arcelor Mittal and POSCO’s interest for investments in that State. Land acquisition, displacement and minority issues may dominate their agenda. Recent Industrialization programme in the state could be a major issue for the Maoists to seek public support. The Karantaka State government has decided to acquire one lakh acres of land in June 2009 in and around all the second tier cities excluding around 2,000 acres adjoining Bangalore.

Three names have been doing the rounds in India these days: Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri, David Coleman Headley (a.k.a Dauod Geelani) and Tahawur Hussein Rana; one hardcore veteran Jehadi and two motivated ‘would be’ terrorists. They are in the news for plotting major assaults in India. Among them, Ilyas Kashmiri who was rumored to be dead early this year, in fact, survived three drone attacks in Pakistan’s Waziristan region, belongs to the Al Qaeda- Harkat-Ul- Jihad- Al-Islami (HuJI) lineage and heads Al Qaeda’s deadly 311 brigade. He still carries head money of US $ 600,000 dollars.

After the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress National Meeting in 2007, China started focusing on South Asia, specifically India. Both have been favourably disposed towards multilateralism, with India joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as an observer and China joining the SAARC summit in April 2008, also as an observer. Besides, people-to-people diplomacy expanded with mutual tourist visits. 

Of late, the menace of computer ‘hacking’ has become a punishable offence if it compromises national security and is no longer an act of fun or profit. Of course, not all acts of hacking will amount to terrorism. This could be regarded as terrorist action only if the hacking is designed to disrupt the government’s activities, advance anti-national causes, or intimidate its citizens. A threat or real use of it is a potential act of terrorism, or rather, it can be regarded as cyber-crime or cyber-terrorism in a broader context.

Chandrayan-1 has created history. It has proved instrumental towards finding water on the surface of the moon. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has proved its competence once again, but this time, it should also thank its stars, and this is not because there is something amiss with its capabilities but because of the lack of maturity shown by some segments of society earlier when Chandrayan-1 had permanently lost its contact with the earth.

India’s announcement on voluntary reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has accelerated otherwise snail-paced negotiation on a deal to be reached in Copenhagen this December. It is a welcome step but a tactical move. From the solitude of obstructing, as many argue, to all-inclusive Copenhagen, India has sent a signal of relief to the climate negotiators, mostly representatives of developed countries. If the world sees this Indian move as a surprise, they are wrong.