India and Bangladesh: A Multi Faceted Relationship
subject: India
subject: Bangladesh
subject: South Asia
description: The physical map of the Indian subcontinent depicts an integrated landmass, bounded by the Pamirs/ Hindukush to the North West and the Himalayas to the North, with the Patkai Range, Naga, and Chin Hills forming a natural border between India’s North-Eastern states and Myanmar. The ends of the Indian Peninsula are bounded by the seas in three directions. This article attempts to review important aspects of the continuously evolving India-Bangladesh relationship—as Bangladesh, today with the second largest GDP in South Asia, journeys through its fifty-first year as an independent nation.
creator: Deb, Alok
source: CLAWS Journal; Vol. 15 No. 1 (2022): Summer 2022; 56-71
source: 2319-5177
publisher: Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
date: 2022-06-30
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
rights: https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/copyright-transfer-form
format: application/pdf
language: eng
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
type: Peer-reviewed Article

India, Vietnam in the Indo-Pacific: A Unifying Construct
subject: India
subject: Vietnam
subject: Indo Pacific
description: Is Indo-Pacific the one overarching forum, evolving from a geopolitical imagination that can bring the two countries closer? If itbe so, then what are the avenues and possibilities that exist in the Indo-Pacific sphere for India and Vietnam, and what are the benefits and drawbacks of subscription to such a concept? Will it be feasible enough to sustain the aspirations as well as concerns of the two countries or there is a need for returning back to basics, and entrusting ASEAN with the centrality which is required for peace and security in the larger Asia-Pacific region. Is China a necessary evil or is it being demonised by the western media? What could be the contours of the evolving geopolitical order when alternatives such as BRICS, SCO, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have been getting attention and subscription from countries across Europe, Africa, and Asia? Has regionalism lost sheen and bilateralism is the only way to deal with larger security and political issues. This paper would address these issues and look for possibilities with regard to India and Vietnam cooperating in the geo-political, and geo-strategic construct which is now known as Indo-Pacific.
creator: Jha, Pankaj K.
source: CLAWS Journal; Vol. 15 No. 1 (2022): Summer 2022; 38-55
source: 2319-5177
publisher: Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
date: 2022-06-30
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
rights: https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/copyright-transfer-form
format: application/pdf
language: eng
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
type: Peer-reviewed Article

India’s Strategic Gameplan vis-à-vis China-Pak Collusive Linkage
subject: China
subject: Pakistan
subject: India
subject: South Asia
description: The basic approach of this article is to discuss an outline optimum strategy or broad game-plan to tackle collusive Sino-Pak threats. The detailed strategy and specific action plan are beyond the scope of this article. However, deliberations and inferences drawn in this article can help refine/validate template for such formulation. It will be appropriate to reiterate that clarity on threat parameters is an essential pre-requisite for planning levels of preparedness, force structures, equipment profile, modernisation and budgetary allocations, hence these are discussed in brief. Reasonable assumptions have been factored in, where necessary, as detailed national security policies are yet to be promulgated.
creator: Singh, K. J.
source: CLAWS Journal; Vol. 15 No. 1 (2022): Summer 2022; 21-37
source: 2319-5177
publisher: Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
date: 2022-06-30
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
rights: https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/copyright-transfer-form
format: application/pdf
language: eng
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
type: Peer-reviewed Article

India’s Strategic Outlook Towards Its Neighbourhood States
subject: India
subject: South Asia
subject: Geopolitics
description: The purpose of the paper is to examine the problematics that the neighbourhood states face, their fault lines, and how they affect thepeace and stability in South Asia in general and towards India in particular. The analysis of the same would lead us to define India’sstrategic outlook and decision-making. It would hence be necessary to cast India’s Strategic outlook in relation to the conceptualisation of the term National Interest, the emerging global order and the fault lines in the new Global Order, and a brief understanding of the phenomenon of nuclear proliferation, collapse of Communism and keeping in mind Huntington’s postulation of the clash of civilisation and its aftereffects as we see in the 21st century.
creator: Sen, Gautam
source: CLAWS Journal; Vol. 15 No. 1 (2022): Summer 2022; 1-20
source: 2319-5177
publisher: Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
date: 2022-06-30
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
rights: https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/copyright-transfer-form
format: application/pdf
language: eng
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
type: Peer-reviewed Article

Note From the Editor
subject: Editorial Note
description: India’s geographical breadth and reach, have ensured an extensive and extended neighborhood which has provided the policymakers with a complex range of difficulties that are almost a microcosm of the challenges confronting the global community as a whole. As a result, India’s foreign policy toward its extended neighborhood, like that of any other country must embrace the goals of improving opportunities for its citizens to maintain and enrich their life by providing them with a safe and secure environment. Keeping this in the background, the CLAWS Journal 2022 Summer issue has selected the theme—“India’s Strategic Neighbourhood”.The phrase “strategic neighborhood” can be defined in a variety of ways. Apart from Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, nations sharing land and maritime borders with India include China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, and this goes beyond the geographical description of South Asia. Several countries outside of this list are also linked to India through close economic and diasporic ties, as well as developments perceived by Indian policymakers as having strategic implications; this category includes countries along the Indian Ocean, the East African coast, the Gulf region, Afghanistan, the Central Asian region, and countries in Southeast Asia
creator: Editor-in-Chief
source: CLAWS Journal; Vol. 15 No. 1 (2022): Summer 2022; v-vi
source: 2319-5177
publisher: Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
date: 2022-06-30
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
rights: https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/copyright-transfer-form
format: application/pdf
language: eng
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

India Versus China: Why They Are Not Friends: Juggernaut Books, New Delhi (2021) ISBN 978-93-9116-508-6, 284 pp.
subject: Book Review
subject: India
subject: China
description: Taking the Eastern Ladakh crisis as the backdrop, Kanti Bajpai, a renowned scholar of international affairs with a special interest in India-China relations, in his book India Versus China: Why They Are Not Friends contextualises the antagonism in the India-China ties by drawing from the past and assessing the implications of it in the present and future. As Bajpai emphatically posits: “Why did these two societies become locked into a conflict that has stubbornly refused to go away?” (p. 1). To which, Bajpai suggests the need for a deeper introspection as proved by the Ladakh crisis, the relations between the two countries “are darker and more complex than most observers appreciate or acknowledge” (ibid.). To be specific, as Bajpai asks in the very title- Why India and China are not Friends?
creator: Jash, Amrita
source: CLAWS Journal; Vol. 14 No. 2 (2021): Winter 2021; 139-142
source: 2319-5177
publisher: Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
date: 2021-12-31
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
rights: https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/copyright-transfer-form
format: application/pdf
language: eng
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Face Off: Analysis of India’s Capability to Fight a Two Front War : KW Publishers, New Delhi (2021) ISBN 978-93-89137-92-7, 616 pp.
subject: Book Review
subject: India
subject: Military Doctrine
subject: China
subject: Pakistan
description: The book Face-Off: Analysis of India’s Capability to Fight a Two-Front War by Ravi Rikhye, a distinguished author with 35 books to his credit and expertise in military matters offers a detailed narration of India’s capability to fight a two-front war. It is a well-researched book that presents cogent arguments on the subject of India’s capability to fight a two-front war.
creator: Bhardwaj, Kulbhushan
source: CLAWS Journal; Vol. 14 No. 2 (2021): Winter 2021; 134-138
source: 2319-5177
publisher: Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
date: 2021-12-31
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
rights: https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/copyright-transfer-form
format: application/pdf
language: eng
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

India-Iran Relations and the Afghanistan Factor
subject: India
subject: Iran
subject: Afghanistan
subject: South Asia
description: Post-America’s chaotic withdrawal and the resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan, India’s development and assistance prospects in the country demand stability under the interim regime. Likewise, New Delhi’s Chabahar port development – an initiative along with Iran – seems to remain stalled until the situation in Afghanistan steadies down. With India not being invited (under Pakistani and Chinese objections) in any of the extended troika meetings initiated by Russia, it is imperative for India to develop a one-to-one discussion with the interim government as the country has invested over US$3 billion for Afghanistan reconstruction and development in various aspects. Towards the end of August, India initiated its first public meeting with the Taliban in Doha wherein Indian concerns on the continuation of its developmental efforts in Afghanistan, progress on Chabahar development (though the issue was not explicitlymentioned), and insistence on Taliban not supporting any terror outfits that may harm Indian national security were the prime areas of discussions amongst others. While Afghanistan remains important for India for a host of reasons, the latter’s continued engagement is crucial in maintaining its relations with Iran with which India has had a tumultuous relationship of late owing to the American sanctions on that country.
creator: Singh, Manjari
source: CLAWS Journal; Vol. 14 No. 2 (2021): Winter 2021; 125-133
source: 2319-5177
publisher: Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
date: 2021-12-31
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
rights: https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/copyright-transfer-form
format: application/pdf
language: eng
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Military Diplomacy: An Appraisal in the Indian Context
subject: Defence Diplomacy
subject: India
subject: South Asia
description: Defence Diplomacy is an integral part of foreign policy and state security, it helps in increasing military cooperation between thecountries and strengthening relations between the states. India’s growing global outreach and vibrancy of its foreign policy can begauged by the fact that it has made substantial efforts in defence and security cooperation, however, India’s defence diplomacy effortsdo not commensurate to its rising global status, since all tools of defence diplomacy have not been used optimally. In this context, thepaper argues for the need to revisit and formulate a strategy that is aligned with India’s foreign policy. It is because defence diplomacy is vital for a state to not only ensure its stable and strong international position but is also significant in shaping a structured and functional security policy.
creator: Singh, Jaswinder
source: CLAWS Journal; Vol. 14 No. 2 (2021): Winter 2021; 108-124
source: 2319-5177
publisher: Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
date: 2021-12-31
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
rights: https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/copyright-transfer-form
format: application/pdf
language: eng
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
type: Peer-reviewed Article

India Needs Smart Frontiers: An Assessment
subject: Border management
subject: India
subject: South Asia
description: In the era of Fourth Industrial Revolution, technology has transformed the ways of doing any business, including warfare. Thehuman element is slowly giving way to machines who would perform major functions including substituting and supplementing rankand file in the Military. Over 22,500 km of India’s frontiers are guarded by various Border Guarding Forces including the CoastGuards to prevent surprise incursions by the adversaries’ State, State-sponsored or Non- State Actors. The Border Guarding Forces act as eyes and ears of the frontiers and can take on basic defensive actions for which colossal manpower is used. For a Military threat, Regular Forces take over the responsibility for the Defense of the Nation. There is a case for optimizing manpower and increasing efficiency by bringing smart systems in delivering constant situational awareness and response solutions. This would also ensure that all stakeholders are networked in real-time. A combination of sensors, electronic and digital platforms, Data and Communication centers, using Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial means, would build a ‘system of systems for Common Operational Picture at Strategic, Operational and Tactical levels. Data/intelligence analysis and automation would be possible if such systems are ubiquitous and part of the overall National security apparatus. The smart frontiers would soon be an inescapable necessity for the Defense of the nation.
creator: Pannu, P. J. S.
source: CLAWS Journal; Vol. 14 No. 2 (2021): Winter 2021; 95-107
source: 2319-5177
publisher: Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
date: 2021-12-31
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Centre For Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India
rights: https://ojs.indrastra.com/index.php/clawsjournal/copyright-transfer-form
format: application/pdf
language: eng
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
type: Peer-reviewed Article