One great merit of the Indian political system is that it is open-ended. This increases its capacity to absorb shocks. But it has to accommodate so many diverse and conflicting interests and groups that it has little thrust and dynamism. In other words it does not permit of quick or … Read More
The Prime Minister has so far managed to circumvent the demand for India going nuclear with considerable skill. Every time the issue is raised by interested persons and parties, she quietly reiterates the government’s policy and leaves it at that. She has chosen not to state publicly whether in her … Read More
India has not been particularly enthusiastic about a third non-aligned summit in the past. It has not opposed the proposal as such but it has made no secret of its view that a meeting of the heads of non-aligned governments will not serve much purpose in the changed and rapidly … Read More
Mr. Swaran Singh’s first task as Foreign Minister should be to repair the damage that India’s relations with the United States have suffered in recent months. His past record at the Foreign Office gives reason to believe that he can be depended upon to do the job. This may well … Read More
The Israelis are at pains to make it out that the Soviet Union had decided to install Sam-3 missiles and to send its own pilots to man MIG-21s in operational flights in the Nile delta even before they began deep penetration air raids into the UAR last January. But the … Read More
Events have moved fast in India in the six brief years since Mr Nehru’s death on May 27, 1964. The country has witnessed a war with Pakistan, two major droughts, an economic recession, two succession crises, the break-up of the Congress party, the fragmentation of other political organisations, a general … Read More
The Indian political and intellectual elite has generally played the ostrich whenever it came up against the Hindu-Muslim problem in the past two decades. That is why it is taken by surprise every time communal violence breaks out. That is also why it is able to suggest only minor palliatives … Read More
The Chinese satellite has given an edge to the demand that India too must go in for nuclear weapons. The argument briefly is that if New Delhi shirks a decision, it will expose the country to Chinese blackmail and condemn it to technological backwardness. This viewpoint is still being pressed … Read More
It is impossible for anyone to be wholly objective about the tragic developments in Indo-China. Inevitably everyone’s views are coloured to some extent by his ideological predisposition. If, for instance, one is allergic to communism in any shape or form, one is inclined to have a sneaking sympathy with the … Read More
Most of those who are convinced that the Naxalites are not Maoists, in spite of wearing the Maoist label, have come to assume that they are in fact following Che Guevara’s path. This is only partly true. On basic questions of strategy and tactics, there is considerable divergence between Cheist … Read More
