India has put its first successful step in the arena of ballistic missile defence by conducting a successful but a surprise test of new interceptor missile in late November over the Bay of Bengal. This missile, named as AXO (Atmospheric Intercept System), was fired from the Wheeler Islands off Chandipur in Orissa. In fact, AXO is a modified version of Prithvi-II specially manufactured for this test. It intercepted another surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missile.

With a growing economy and increasing population, India’s energy demands are mounting. The household sector is the largest consumer of energy in India, accounting for 40-50 per cent of the total energy consumption in the country. In rural areas, the domestic sector accounts for nearly 80 per cent of total energy consumption. It has been estimated that with the current rate of consumption, India would require over 450 million tones of coal, 94 million tones of oil and 220 million units of electricity by 2006 to sustain its energy needs.

Despite many pioneering works in the developed countries, defence economics has few takers in the developing world including India, where the relevance of the subject has not been comprehended until now. Even at present, many security analysts question the utility of application of economic principles in the strategic sector!

The Maoists (also known as Naxalites) in India are emboldened by the recent success of their Nepalese counterpart, who emerged as a legitimate power center after a decade of protracted people’s war. The effects are already visible in Bihar, the neighboring Indian State. Despite convoluted security arrangement by the Bihar Police, partial successful of the Bandh (general strike) on Oct. 30, 2006, by the Maoists indicated that they are capable enough to strike at their will.

Several new developments point to the fact that New Delhi is undeterred by any pressures from the western world and has followed an independent foreign policy, driven more by realpolitik and less by the moral high ground of democracy, to engage the military regime in Myanmar. New Delhi has thus made great friends in Myanmar.

Havana meet has certainly removed, though for the time being, the chill in India and Pakistan bilateral relation. Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf had agreed to restart the peace process that has been stalled following the July 11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai. The apprehension regarding the break down of composite dialogue process has come to an end.

Consider this: The reputation of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, regarded a premier institute for thousands of medical and health care professionals, students and researchers, has been tarnished by a deadly dengue outbreak. How ironic it may sound, the sprawling premise, cramped with quarters and not far from an active but stagnant drain, actually serves as a haven for mosquitoes and other disease-carrying vectors.

The eastern Indian state of Orissa will turn to a mass of barren and desert like lands in another 150 years, warned Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO). This is an alarming finding considering that the whole world is observing this year as the year of deserts and desertification with the theme, "Let's stop dry lands from turning deserts". Desertification is a process of productivity loss of lands. When severe, it leads to permanent damages.

North Korea’s defiance has culminated in a seismic wave of around 4.2 in the Richter scale, but its politico-strategic ramifications are beyond calculation. The episode has provided sufficient fodder for the strategic community to interpret vividly the nomenclature of clandestine proliferation, possible actions and reactions of the stakeholders, and the current state of the global nuclear order. However, it should be understood that Pyongyang’s case is not a single phenomenon.

Democracy and Nuclear issues cannot go hand in hand. While civilization flourishes through public participation – a distinct principle of democracy, nuclear (as a weapon) eradicates a large number of populations when it is used. Therefore, nuclear is anti-thesis to democratic principles. Any discussion on nuclear related issue, may it be national security, production of nuclear energy and its derivatives, are bound to be anti-democratic, which has been maintained its status quo in all nuclear capable countries around the world.