'We should build a military with the capability to fight today's war on priority -- balancing it with the requirements of the future,' says Lieutenant General Anil Chait, one of the Indian Army's most cerebral thinkers who recently retired as chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, in his agenda for the new defence minister.
Even as India battles the COVID-19 threat on a war footing, it cannot lose sight of the threat building up in Kashmir, cautions Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
'The Pakistanis were not the mujahids or terrorists as claimed initially.' .'They were trained soldiers who held state of the art anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down our airplanes.'
'Searching for the target with bare eyes was like searching for the needle in the haystack, but due to the technology, we had a clear picture of the seven tents perched against the rocky background on our scopes.'
Kapil Dev's historic World Cup win wasn't the only highlight of 1983. Sukanya Verma looks back how the year treated Bollywood.
Beyond the British and Russian strands interwoven into the Indian Navy's equipment profile and the strong drive towards indigenisation evident today, its future in aircraft carriers appears increasingly linked with America.
'The logical step is to challenge the very legitimacy of the Chinese claim over Tibet,' recommends Inspector General Gurdip Singh Uban (retd).
'Russia is the only country that can act as facilitator for any eventual Chinese-Indian rapprochement,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Responding to a question on the meeting between Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and United States President Donald Trump in the US, Rawat said that Pakistan can do anything to get money.
'Offensive operations to capture objectives across the LoC to eliminate terrorist launch pads and deny the use of the most dangerous routes of infiltration, are likely to be limited to brigade-level attacks.' 'These limited operations are unlikely to escalate to war across the international boundary,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'With over 50 per cent of medical seats reserved for those who have the ability to pay a fee ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore for a five-year MBBS course and quotas in accordance with affirmative policies in government colleges, the band of seats available for the not-so-rich and non-OBCs is very narrow.'
The time has come to recommend Field Marshal Cariappa for the award of Bharat Ratna. If others can get it, I see no reason why he should not,' the army chief said.
In another 2-3 weeks, coronavirus will chariot India to overtake the United States. In March, Modi had exhorted the nation to celebrate India's impending success over the virus by clanging metal plates. Make no mistake, India is losing this momentous war under his captaincy, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Deborah Lee James will travel to India later this month as part of a maiden visit to four Asian countries that would also take her to Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines and will discuss the situation in the South China sea as well as the growing threat of terrorism.
'It is my opinion that not releasing the Balakote Battle Damage Assessment immediately post strike was a phenomenal blunder, perception battle wise,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd), India's former air adviser in Pakistan.
'By causing military humiliation of India it intends to send a signal to other Asian countries to toe the Chinese line,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
"CCP's (Chinese Communist Party) territorial aggression is also apparent on its Indian border where China has attempted to seize control of the Line of Actual Control by force," US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien said in a remark on China early this week in Utah.
'During my nearly three decades of military service, both in war and peace, I have usefully drawn upon Gandhiji's storehouse of wisdom.' 'When military intelligence jobs require tightrope walking on the edge of moral and ethical dilemmas, I have looked up to Gandhiji,' notes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
'The military aim in a future conflict, if it can't be avoided, should be to cause maximum damage to the adversary's war waging capability and capture limited amount of territory as a bargaining counter,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
You may be popular initially because of politics and ideology but if the economy slows down, you will be losing your popularity: Nouriel Roubini.
Even though the Health Ministry and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have been insisting that there is 'no solid evidence' of community transmission so far, the government has started scaling up health infrastructure to deal with any situation.
China on Friday said many world leaders and over 10 foreign military forces will participate in its huge WWII memorial parade on September 3 in Beijing to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of China's resistance against Japan.
'2,000 years later, we all want the same thing -- we want to live a healthy life, a life that has quality.' 'And Chanakya tells you exactly how to do that.'
Sanjeev Nayyar offers a roster of things to do to see the India of our dreams.
'It is important to understand that when it comes to setting examples of truth, honesty and ethical conduct, leaders need to be true to their principles or values 100 per cent of the time.'
'In one instance of the Pakistani army's violation of the Ceasefire, I ordered a far tougher response designed to deter the enemy.' 'I warned that 'unexpected damage' to their forces will be inflicted if they continued with such ceasefire violations.' A fascinating excerpt from Lieutenant General K Himalay Singh's Making of a General: A Himalayan Echo.
Mehdi Masroor Biswas, who is alleged to have been operating a pro-Islamic State twitter account, has been dubbed by his interrogators as an extremely radicalised youth who believes that beheading of the 'enemy' and making abducted women sex slaves was nothing wrong.
'We can't be outliers. We can't be bystanders. We have to be players.' 'The Taliban also need India to balance the winners in this game.'
'We have to keep that in mind and have plan A B C D because the trust factor with Pakistan or China is very low.'
'The danger today is that out of sheer fatigue and exasperation, the US might cut loose and exit from Afghanistan leaving it to the region to cope with the debris, which it is ill-equipped to handle,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The Chinese -- up to the highest leadership -- will avoid a conflict because they know they will be badly licked.' 'The reputation they have painstakingly built over the last two-three decades of being a global power will be destroyed.'
Given the uncertainties around gold's future course, stagger your purchases and buy on declines, says Sanjay Kumar Singh.
According to the report, Russia tops the table with 6,375 warheads, followed by the United States with 5,800, and the United Kingdom with 215 warheads.
'When you don't have food to eat, will you be worried about the virus or the next meal?'
The US military efforts in Afghanistan were akin to filling a bucket that had gaping holes, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
China is going to be an indispensable partner in Russia's ongoing crisis with the US, while on its part, China cannot remain indifferent if Russia gets crushed by the US, lest it loses 'strategic depth', observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Though a pyrrhic victory for the BJP, the party he chose to align himself against his former mentor Banerjee, it nevertheless is being seen as a morale booster for the saffron party as his former party, the Trinamool Congress under Banerjee's leadership, has garnered an overwhelming 213 seats out of 292 seats which went to polls.
'Modi is a symbol of Asia Rising; and, for the first time in decades, a non-white has the potential to be the most compelling global leader.'
'The response to savagery and mass injustice is never a persistent howl.' 'There will be, among the victims, those who choose to forget the scars, those who go on living, those who challenge the overall environment of sentimentality.' 'And the more effort you put into including these other voices, into assimilating these spoilsports, the more balanced your depiction of the tragedy in question will be,' observes Sreehari Nair.
The aftermath of Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan has led to an argument that there was no religion as Hinduism in Chola times.
Instead, there was only Saivism, Vaishnavism, etc, and that the Cholas were Saivites, and hence not Hindus, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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