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INS Vikramaditya being inducted into the Indian Navy (Source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- Indian Navy) Source- The National Interest Author- C.Raja Mohan On a March 2015 trip to Seychelles and Mauritius, Narendra Modi outlined a bold framework that overturned the political approach that India had taken towards the Indian Ocean for half a century.  Beginning in the late 1960s, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked all major powers to withdraw from the Indian Ocean out of concern for great power rivalry. This approach fit with India’s self-perception as a non-aligned and Third World state, and its desire to be economically self reliant and to distance itself from the British Raj, which had long been the central security provider in the Indian Ocean. The context which gave rise to the Gandhi approach began to change in the 1990s, as India embarked on a policy of economic globalization and ended its military isolation. India’s new maritime imperatives did not, however, ...

INS Satpura- F48 (Source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- United States Navy)  Source- The Diplomat Author- Prashanth Parameswaran This week, Indian warships visited Cambodia and Thailand as part of a two-month long operational deployment in surrounding waters in pursuit of India’s ‘Act East’ Policy. According to a June 23 press release by the Indian embassy in Bangkok seen by The Diplomat, the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh entered the two Southeast Asian countries as part of a broader operational deployment to Southeast Asia and the Southern Indian Ocean. The ships had been on a 45-day deployment, which included port calls to Jakarta (Indonesia), Fremantle (Australia), and Singapore, where they participated in the bilateral exercise SIMBEX-15 with the Royal Singapore Navy. The visits, the press release said, were “in pursuance of India’s ‘Act East’ policy.” As I have written before, India’s ‘Act East’ policy u...

Pagodas of Bagan Burma ( Source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Corto Maltese) Source- The Diplomat  Author- Vibhanshu Shankar The Indian army’s cross-border strike against insurgents over the border with Myanmar has received significant attention over the past few weeks. Lost amidst the debates about the rise of a potential new Indian ‘doctrine’ and endless details about the operation itself has been the effect that such incidents – as well as the posturing that results from them – can have on the relationship between New Delhi and Naypyidaw. Indeed, an assessment of the overall Indo-Myanmar relationship suggests the need for greater Indian humility, rather than hubris, in its relationship with its Southeast Asian neighbor. By focusing too much on the operation itself, some have missed two valuable points. First, India-Myanmar ties have reached a strategic depth. This alignment is based on a new understanding of shifting inter-regional geopolitics and a shared sense...

What 11 most successful people did as teenagers http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/What-11-extremely-successful-people-were-doing-as-teenagers/listshow/47825051.cms via@timesofindia

Source- Want China Times With the domestic market increasingly saturated, Chinese handset makers have turned their focus on India with its similarly huge population but it has proved a tough market to crack, according to a technology blog on web portal Sina. Although brands including ZTE, Huawei, Coolpad, Lenovo and Xiaomi have successfully snatched up the medium and low-end market in China from HTC and Samsung, they face tough home-grown rivals in India. Indian company Micromax recently clinched the No. 1 spot in its home market with a 22% market share, overtaking Samsung's dominance this year. Although Micromax's phones are mostly produced by Chinese contract manufacturers with chips supplied by China's Spreadtrum Communications, it knows the Indian market better and has products that are more price competitive than Chinese competitors, Sina said. In other words, local manufacturers are leveraging their knowledge of the domestic market in the same way ...

Credits- Art of Living Source- Eurasia Review Author- Sanghamitra Kalita / South Asia Monitor Over the last decade, many scholars and analysts have assessed the emergence of India as a major global player in the context of military capabilities, economic growth and political dynamism. This has often resulted in the overlooking of India’s credentials for developing its soft power existing in the form of culture, values and policies. This new form of power called ‘soft power’ has gained credence in International relations discourse in the post-Cold War era. The term ‘soft power’ which was coined by Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye, is the ability to obtain what one wants through attraction rather than coercion or payments. The smart power, according to Nye, is the combination of hard power and soft power. The concept of power is the mainstay of the traditional approaches to security studies in International Relations. Power is the ability of actor A to influence ...

JMSDF P3C Orion ( Source- Wikimedia Commons / Author: Namazu- tron) Source- The Diplomat  Author- Shannon Tiezzi A Japanese surveillance plane flew over disputed waters in the South China Sea on Tuesday, as part of joint drills with the Philippines. As The Diplomat reported previously, the Philippines is holding separate drills with the United States and Japan this week, with both exercises held near the South China Sea. The Japan-Philippine drill, only the second ever between the two countries, simulated maritime search and rescue operations, part of the drill’s larger focus on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. As part of the drill, a Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (MSDF) P3-C Orion surveillance plane flew past Reed Bank, an area claimed by both China and the Philippines. The Japanese plane carried three Philippine crew members on board as guests, and was accompanied by a Philippine patrol aircraft, Reuters reported. Philippine Marine Colonel...