Mint | It is important to find pathways to make India a casteless nation

I am of the opinion" Ambedkar told the Constituent Assembly, “that in believing that we are a nation, we are cherishing a great delusion. How can people divided into several thousands of castes be a nation? The sooner we realize that we are not as yet a nation in the social and psychological sense of the word, the better for us. For then only we shall realize the necessity of becoming a nation and seriously think of way[s] and means of realizing the goal. The castes are anti-national in the first place because they bring about separation in social life. They are anti-national also because they generate jealousy and antipathy between caste and caste."

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The Hindu | India as a Quad-led biomanufacturing hub

In March 2021, the Quad (Australia, India, Japan, and the United States) set up a Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group to facilitate cooperation, monitor trends, and scout for opportunities related to developments in critical and emerging technologies, that included biotechnology. However, the potential for Quad cooperation in biotechnology remains insufficiently tapped. The establishment of a Quad-led biomanufacturing hub in India will give the necessary fillip to enhance this cooperation.

This article can be read here.

Money Control | Rs 2,000 Note Withdrawal: No demonetisation redux but RBI could have done it better

Like a nightmare resulting from a traumatic experience for a person suffering from PTSD, demonetisation came back to haunt the collective consciousness of this country when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to recall the 2000 rupee note. Sure, there is an element of exaggeration in the previous statement, but the 2016 demonetisation weighs so heavily on the shared experience of the population that a move by the central bank to recall notes inevitably triggers memories of that episode.

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Nikkei Asia | The Quad should have its own biomanufacturing hub in India

Biomanufacturing, which uses microorganisms and cell cultures to produce molecules and materials on a large scale, is rapidly rising in importance for Indo-Pacific nations. The world's response to COVID-19 depended on the rapid production of new vaccines through biomanufacturing. Countries with preexisting manufacturing capabilities became the gatekeepers of vaccine supply. Scaling up biomanufacturing in India will be fraught with challenges, however, but these can be overcome with external support. The Quad group in particular is ideally placed to collaborate and boost India's efforts.

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Moneycontrol | The missing piece in the National Logistics Policy is supply chain financing

India’s logistics industry is poised for a brighter future, thanks to the National Logistics Policy launched in September last year. The policy promises to upgrade the physical and digital infrastructure of the logistics sector and improve service efficiency. However, there is a missing piece in the puzzle that could make all the difference for businesses: the financial infrastructure.

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ThePrint | India should declare that AI will not be used to autonomously launch nuclear weapons

Twenty-five years have elapsed since India carried out six nuclear tests and announced its ambitions to be a nuclear power. Pakistan reacted with seven tests. Worldwide condemnation followed. The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council enforced sanctions. A year later, the Kargil conflict, which was limited in terms of geography and quantum of force, was fought under the nuclear shadow, even though at that time both nations hardly had any operational nuclear weapons capability. Yet it played a role, and to some unknown extent contained the conflict.

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Interstellar | US-China Chip War: What Might The Future Hold?

The US-China geopolitical fault lines in high technology have become sharper than ever, and nowhere has it been more significant than semiconductors. Semiconductors are critical to advanced computing and artificial intelligence (AI) that will form the core of the next-generation industrial revolution. They also have significant implications for advanced and precision weaponry and consumer tech.

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StratNews Global | U.S. Seeks To Deny China Access To Key Semiconductor Technologies

The U.S.-China geopolitical fault lines in high technology have become sharper than ever and nowhere has it been more significant than in the domain of semiconductors. Semiconductors are critical to advanced computing and artificial intelligence (AI) that will form the core of the next-generation industrial revolution. They also have significant implications for advanced and precision weaponry in addition to consumer tech. The deepening of U.S.-China geopolitical rivalry has rendered the widely distributed global semiconductor value chain susceptible to disruption and choking. Consequently, their value as a critical tech has led to an increased securitisation of the domain.

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News18 | Globalising India's DPI for a Common Digital Future

As the current chair of the G20, India has an opportunity to showcase and advocate for the global adoption of its world-class digital public infrastructure (DPI), which could lead to global standards, best practices, and innovation trickling back to India

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ASPI Strategist | The Quad should commit to a biomanufacturing hub in India

A biological revolution is underway in global manufacturing. Products produced from genetic engineering and biomanufacturing techniques are replacing many chemical, industrial and farm-based products. These include biological therapies, alternative proteins, plant-based oils, bioplastics and super strong threads, and more products such as bioconcrete are in development. The upcoming leaders’ summit in Sydney is an opportunity for the members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue to take leadership in manufacturing this critical technology.

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Deccan Herald | ONDC should exercise its gatekeeping privileges to a minimum

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) claims to be an inclusive ecosystem for e-commerce, attempting to break down the moats created by the dominant platforms. However, recent comments by the CEO of the ONDC and the commerce minister's hint at the ONDC playing an assertive gatekeeping role in evaluating the performance of network participants and removing companies that don’t onboard their leading platforms to the network. Such actions would be counterproductive. Transparency and accountability must be built into the structure and operating procedures of the ONDC to ensure that it lives up to its potential of an inclusive networked marketplace.

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ThePrint | Converting cantonments like Yol can reap benefits – only if govt is transparent in its dealings

The government’s plan to disband military cantonments was set in motion on 27 April, when, following a notification from the Ministry of Defence, Himachal Pradesh’s Yol cantonment ceased to exist as one. The decision meant that the identified civil areas of these former cantonments would merge with adjoining civilian municipalities/local bodies while the armed forces would exclusively administer the remaining portions as military stations. The order was projected as a reform meant to do away with an ‘archaic colonial practice’. According to media reports, Nasirabad cantonment in Rajasthan is next in line. It will likely be followed, wherever possible, by the bisection of the existing 62 cantonments across India.

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Money Control | Labour Law Reforms: Tamil Nadu reversing flexible work shifts is lost opportunity for business, workers, jobseekers

Undertaking reforms in India is hard. We have often seen this story play out – a desperately required structural reform is introduced, a powerful minority of interest groups vehemently protest the reform, and the government buckles under pressure and rolls back on the reform. This is how the farm laws saga panned out, for instance, and is now repeating with labour law reforms in Tamil Nadu.

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Hindustan Times | MEA needs more hands on deck quickly. It must consider surge hiring

March was a busy month for Indian diplomacy. The first week featured an Italy State visit, the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting, the Raisina Dialogue, and as many as 33 bilateral engagements. The pace continued in April with the visit of the King of Bhutan to India, the 100th meeting under the G20 framework, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence minister’s meeting, and a mammoth rescue operation from war-torn Sudan. May likely will bring more action.

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Mint | We have a historic opportunity to shape tomorrow’s world order

It is easy to feel disoriented amid the increasingly intense debates over artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy transition, autonomous vehicles, platforms, genomics, quantum computing and other technological marvels of our times. Over the past six months, technology policy has overtaken China and the Indo-Pacific as the primary topics that foreign visitors to Takshashila want to discuss. Over a decade ago, I escaped from the tech policy world into what I thought was the more exciting world of geopolitics and international relations. Today, I find it hard to distinguish the boundaries between those disciplines.

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The Quint | Is Trust a Foregone Conclusion in India-Russia Relations? It's All About China

Of late, observers in India have expressed growing concern regarding Russia’s continued drift toward Beijing, especially following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Moscow visit where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in late March. For instance, former foreign secretary Shyam Saran recently opined that Russia’s vulnerable position vis-a-vis China empowers the latter to restrict the former’s engagement with India. While the possibility of such a prospect should certainly inform Indian policymakers, the issue is slightly more complex than what is highlighted.

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The Quint | A Gap in Strategic Planning: Why India Needs a National Security Doctrine

Japan’s National Security Strategy (NSS), released in December 2022, defied convention and chose to identify China and Russia by name as strategic threats. It also recommended that the country double its defence budget. Several other major powers, such as the United States, France, and Russia, also release similar documents. However, despite being the second most populous country, the fifth largest economy, and a nuclear power with one of the world’s most powerful militaries, India does not publish any such document.

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ThePrint | Poonch ambush had unmistakable Pakistani hand. But here’s why Indian govt is downplaying it

Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir reared its ugly head yet again on 20 April 2023 with the ambush of an Army vehicle near the Line of Control in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district, resulting in the death of five Rashtriya Rifles soldiers. No group has so far claimed responsibility. Many questions about the incident remain unanswered, and the truth may never be publicly known. But that should not prevent concerted efforts to situate the incident in the context of the dynamics that have emerged since the August 2019 revocation of J&K’s special status and its bifurcation into two Union territories.

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ThePrint | MoD protecting Army in Nagaland killings gratifying. SIT acted as handmaiden of state govt

Encounters between perceived insurgents/terrorists and the Indian Armed Forces invariably trigger the bugle of human rights violations and calls for justice. The killing of six innocent miners on 4 December 2021 at Oting in Mon district of Nagaland was one such case. A detachment of India’s elite Para Special Forces led by a Major laid an ambush based on intelligence received from the headquarters and fired at an approaching pick-up truck carrying eight miners returning home from work.

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Managing Fault Lines

Since independence, India’s military leadership has faced formidable challenges in dealing with the country’s religious diversity and colonial heritage. Avoiding the seepage of communal disharmony into the military’s cultural fabric requires a multi-dimensional approach that prioritises education, information tools, and the preservation of institutional values.

This article appeared in the April-June 2023 issue of the Raksha Anirveda magazine. Read the full article here.