Vipaasana

       Evolving the defence strategy of any country depending on the changing geopolitical circumstances becomes crucial to remain sovereign in this multipolar highly globalised world.      India has the distinction of rising as one of the major global power in defence sector in quite a short time. The US which was supporting Pakistan in 1970's and who despised India and imposed sanctions when we became nuclear was quick to change its side after the 9/11 attack. Since then trade and defence ties with the US has been on an upsurge.      4 major US agreements bring any country closer to the US in terms of defence and cooperation. The General Security of Military Information agreement(GSOMIA) allows the militaries to share the intelligence gathered. Logistics exchange memorandum of agreement(LEMOA) which allows access to designated military facilities for refuelling and replenishment. Communication and information Security memorandum of agreement(CISMOA) or COMCASA which allows transf

     West Asia has remained a bone of contention for quite a long time now. Conflicts in this region can have a global spillover if not contained. It becomes important for any country to have a global interest in peace for securing its own future.      Afghanistan has a geo strategic location in West Asia and is an oil producing State. For India, Afghanistan acts as a crucial link to Central Asian Republics and to counterbalance the influence of Pakistan and China in the region. The recent US-Taliban deal has left out India as a stakeholder and mainly concentrates on the western interests. The US is desperate to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan which was deployed after the 9/11 attacks. The deployment of troops has been widely resented by the US public. The US has ignored the civilian government and has made an agreement with the Taliban to withdraw its troops provided that the Taliban does not allow the Afghan soil to be used for terrorism activities mainly against US and its west

       Air pollution has become one of the serious concerns around the globe. In India, Delhi has been annually experiencing severe air pollution every winter threatening the health of its residents. The issue should be taken seriously as over a period of time, it becomes a matter of life and death.      There are many causes for pollution in the NCR region. The burning of stubble in Punjab and Haryana will send particulate matter towards the NCR. The vehicular emissions especially from diesel vehicles and unregulated construction activities add a lot of particulate matter to the air. Usage of conventional forms of cooking and garbage burning will also contribute its share.     T here is smog formation in the atmosphere during winter. When there is inversion of temperature, smog accumulates in the lower troposphere. The wind around the NCR during winter is very still and this leads to the stagnation of the accumulated pollution in the troposphere near the surface severely affecting the

       Pakistan has been acknowledged internationally as a hotspot of terror financing since it was put under the grey list of Financial action was force(FATF) in 2018. This was a major blow to Pakistan's international reputation.      FATF is an intergovernmental organisation formed in 1989, headquartered in Paris, which monitored and sanctioned money laundering. But since 9/11, the mandate of FATF has expanded to include tackling of terrorist financing. There is empirical evidence that money laundering is associated with organised crime. The Golden crescent is a region in Asia which includes Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran popular for illicit drug production. The illegal money is then laundered to finance terrorism activities around the globe.      Countries that are considered as a safe haven to money laundering and terror financing are kept under the grey list. When a country is put under grey list, directives are given by FATF to those countries to implement it within a given t

       In the world of diplomacy, there are no permanent friends or foes. The relationship between each country and the world keeps on evolving with the hard and soft power exhibited by the countries over a period of time.      Quad is an informal grouping of 4 countries including India, Australia, US and Japan. It was formed basically to protect geo-strategic interests and the freedom of navigation in international waters in general and Indo-pacific in particular. The growing expansion of China through its "Belt and road initiative" and "The string of Pearls" has been seen in suspicion and as a threat to the freedom of navigation.      Malabar exercise is an annual naval exercise between India, US and the Japan. Till recently, India was reluctant to include Australia in this exercise as this would amount to a formal military grouping of the informal Quad. India was cautious not to give China, its neighbour, to see it as an active participant in containing China'

       Caste has been  discriminating people for various reasons since the later Vedic period. Originally one caste was attributed to a particular community based on their occupations which were then further subdivided into a number of jaatis.      Each jaati came to be associated with a particular occupation. This was also the time when the codification of Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras began and the upper caste began dominating over the lower caste to keep the latter in subservience. The process of discrimination has continued till this day.      The ace bowler, Muttaiah Muralidharan belongs to one such family of a caste considered to be inferior which migrated to Srilanka during the colonial rule to work in tea plantations as indentured labourers. These Tamil speaking people were termed as the hill people. The Srilankan Tamilians living in Northern and Eastern parts of Srilanka considered the hill Tamilians in Central Srilanka to be of subservient caste and hence discriminated agai

     With time, any country changes its political, economic, cultural, social and ethical outlook. The change in economy experienced in India is different from the rest of the world. The transition has been quite unpredictable creating discrepancies in employment and growth.      As a young independent nation, we started out as a mixed economy tilted towards socialism. One reason to adopt this kind of strategy was to protect the nascent domestic industries from powerful foreign competition and to become self reliant. The other being that the Indian industries at that time were not well diversified and had only a few industries in cotton, jute and iron and steel industry.      Usually, a country progresses from underdeveloped to developing to developed in stages. Initially the primary sector involving the agricultural and allied activities would contribute to the majority of the GDP(simply growth). As the growth happens, the share of agricultural GDP reduces and secondary sector involvi