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ONE TRILLION TONS: THE ICEBERG, ANTARCTICA AND CLIMATE CHANGE
The second week of July 2017 saw an event that can only be described as a ‘mammoth moment’ taking place, as a trillion ton iceberg broke off from western Antarctica. The size of the iceberg has been pegged at more than three times the size of the greater London area. Scientists who had been monitoring […]
RE-CONVERGING INDIA-INDONESIA ‘STRATEGIC TRIDENTS’: ECONOMICS, SECURITY AND GEOPOLITICS
“In a dim, distant, unrecorded age We had met, thou and I, – When my speech became entangled in thine And my life in thy life” This prose by Rabindranath Tagore in his celebrated poem ‘To Java’ written in Bengali captures the essence of forgotten relations between India and Indonesia, subtly referring to […]
IMPLEMENTING SDG 14: TAKEAWAYS FROM THE OCEAN CONFERENCE
The high-level United Nations (UN) conference to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14) was held at UN Headquarters, New York from 5 to 9 June 2017. The event was specially convened to build international momentum for the implementation of SDG 14 and coincided with the World Oceans Day, celebrated every […]
INDIA-JAPAN ASIA AFRICA GROWTH CORRIDOR: AN ASSESSMENT
The Asia Africa Growth Corridor is an initiative of India and Japan, the stated objective of which is improving economic connectivity between Asia and Africa through industrial networks and capacity building measures. The origin of the idea can be traced back to the November 2016 Joint Statement issued by India and Japan during Prime Minister […]
THE ROHINGYA ‘REFUGEES’: REGIONAL RESPONSES AND RAMIFICATIONS
Introduction Rohingyas constitute an ethnic Muslim minority in Myanmar, and are considered ‘illegal immigrants’ from Bangladesh. They are deprived of citizenship rights, face religious persecution, and are economically and socially segregated in the Buddhist-dominated country. Since the 1970s, thousands of Rohingyas have fled Myanmar. Many cross the land border into Bangladesh while a significant number […]
INDIA-BANGLADESH MARITIME TRADE: PROTOCOL ON INLAND WATER TRANSIT AND TRADE (PIWTT)
Introduction After the 1971 India-Pakistan War leading to the creation of Bangladesh, India and Bangladesh signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship, in 1972. Since then, more than 50 bilateral institutional mechanisms were forged between the two countries. Evidently, issues concerning the sharing of river waters, illegal migration, and border security are still outstanding. At […]
THE CHANGING CONTOURS OF UNDERWATER MARITIME WARFARE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
The recent developments in the South China Sea(SCS) have unnerved the neighbours that surround it, and stake holders around the world are concerned about the happenings. Whether it was the half-hearted effort to get a code of conduct in place some fifteen years ago; or the sustained efforts by China through cartographic aggression to […]
PIRACY IN THE GULF OF ADEN: ISN’T IT TIME ALREADY FOR THE WARSHIPS TO HEAD HOME?
On 13 March pirates hijacked an oil tanker, named Aris 13, off the Somali coast, when the tanker was carrying fuel from Djibouti to Mogadishu. It is interesting, however, to note that this was the first successful hijacking of a commercial ship by Somali pirates since 2012. Even more interesting is the fact that, […]
PROPOSED CHINESE LAW ON MARITIME TRAFFIC SAFETY: INTERPRETATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
On February 14, 2017, the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council of China sought public comments on a new draft legislation, proposed to replace the existing Maritime Safety Law of 1983. Coming in the backdrop of the rather uneasy peace in the South China Sea, certain provisions of the draft legislation garnered significant […]
CHINA’S AIRCRAFT CARRIER: ‘DREADNOUGHT’ OR ‘DOCTRINAL DILEMMA’?
Within five years after the China commissioned its first Soviet-origin aircraft carrier Liaoning in September 2012, it launched its first-ever domestic carrier – the Type 001A – on 26 April 2017. The new carrier is likely to be commissioned in 2020 as Shadong. Even though the Liaoning and the Type 001A are medium-sized conventionally […]
THE INDIAN NAVY AND INDIA’S OVERSEAS CITIZENS: OPERATIONS SUKOON AND RAHAT
The primary role of any government is to safeguard its people at home and abroad. India has a significant number of its citizens living in different parts of the world. The security of these overseas citizens is a moral obligation of India. But there are instances when this obligation to security has been inadequate. […]