Strengthening India’s External Intelligence Infrastructure: An Assessment

In absence of a national security strategy (NSS), the task of intelligence agencies in India has failed to be systemic. India’s intelligence infrastructure lacks a holistic view and very less effort has been put to reorganize intelligence infrastructure on the basis of contemporary threat perceptions. Without a strong security infrastructure country cannot eye towards becoming a regional power. Due to a rigid security system, India has a disparate intelligence mechanism in service. While little effort has gone towards synergizing all sources of intelligence and request dissemination in real time/ near real time basis. This paper attempts to outline a number of points, which would help to develop a more superior external intelligence infrastructure.

SHANTANU K. BANSAL
August 2016

"Kashmir Jihadism and Threat to India" Terrorism Monitor

It is increasingly evident that each time the relations between India and Pakistan improve, India-focused jihadist groups from across the Pakistani border attempt to disrupt it with attacks in the Indian states of Kashmir, Punjab, and elsewhere. The inevitable aim of these is to upset the possibility of amicable dialogue between these two populous and nuclear-armed nations. 

 

MLM: Burhan Muzafar Wani: The Viral Poster Boy of Kashmir Jihad

January 11, 2016

Hizbul Mujahideen’s (HM) newly recruited commander, Burhan-ud-Din Muzaffar Wani, has taken Kashmir’s militant landscape by storm by using his social media skills and guns. One of his recent photographs featured the 21-year-old commander surrounded by at least ten other militants of roughly the same age carrying guns; the image went viral on social media applications (such as Facebook and WhatsApp) and is considered to have marked a new phase of the Kashmir conflict. In an audiovisual message, Wani also encouraged disaffected Kashmiri youths to join the ongoing militancy.

ANIMESH ROUL

Indian Youth and the Rise of Islamic State

How big a threat does the Islamic State (IS), also known as the Daesh, pose for India? One answer could be found in what Salman Mohiuddin, an active IS recruiter arrested in Hyderabad in January 2015, told his interrogators. Mohiuddin said that he was scheming to “proceed to Syria to join the IS and later return to wage war against India” (Indian Express, November 19 2015).

SARRAL SHARMA

Negotiating Loss and Damage at Paris Climate Conference

Logically, the frequency of occurrences of tropical cyclones (typhoons) or unexpected weather during last quarter of each year would have accelerated some sort of resolve on issues in climate cauldron especially loss and damage during UN sponsored climate talks. The tropical cyclone Koppu (Lando) slammed the island nation-Philippines just a day before the Bonn Climate Change Conference (October 19-23). Strom Patricia, strongest hurricane ever recorded at sea, though receded on landfall, could have brought huge losses in Mexico, a day after the Conference.

AVILASH ROUL

The World of Committees and Task Forces

In India, attempts at reforming complicated sectors like national defence invariably start with the constitution of committees/task forces. Afterwards, the leadership battles conflicting positions on recommendations, leading to either shelving such reports or, at best, partial implementation that is more ad hoc than preferred solutions. A survey of committees constituted between 2002 and 2015 justifies this assessment.

"Accommodating corporate aspirations would be the biggest task before V K Atre Task Force on Strategic Partners"

DEBA R MOHANTY

Terrorism in South Asia: Perception of Differences

‘There is no such thing as good or bad terrorism.’ This statement is often repeated easily but seldom put into practice by the western world in its fight against terrorism.  The policies to deal with the terrorist acts are different when one analyzes the strategies of the western countries and South Asia. Soon after the attacks of 9/11, the US declared war against Iraq and Afghanistan. Similarly, when Paris was attacked on 13/11, Francios Hollande declared that France is at war with ISIS.

NEHA KUMAR TIWARI

Will India Survive in Paris Climate Negotiation?

First ever comment to the First Draft- which can be termed as Paris Protocol- came from India as ‘lopsided’ to bring climate justice, ‘inadequate’ for developing countries and ‘lenient’ to developed countries. Usually, after Bonn Intercessional Conference, which commence during June every year, the negotiation on climate change gets movement.

AVILASH ROUL