Vivekananda International Foundation | Seeking Harmony in Diversity

D.P. Srivastava, Forgotten Kashmir: The Other Side of the Line of Control. Noida, Harper Collins, 2021. 439pp.

Whereas Kashmir has been the focus of national and international attention for over seven decades, Pak-occupied Kashmir (POK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) have eluded attention. This is because the ‘Other Kashmir’ across the LOC has been kept under iron curtain by successive Pakistan governments. Pakistan assumed direct control of Gilgit-Baltistan in 1947-48 and re-designated the area as Northern Areas. At the same time, it called Pak-occupied Kashmir as ‘Azad Kashmir’, but in actual practice this territory has been Azad (free) only in name.

December 02, 2021 Books/Book Review

India’s Energy Transition in a Carbon-Constrained World: The Role of Nuclear Power - Overview and Key Recommendations

The concern for climate change has spurred an intense debate on energy transition to a low carbon economy. Climate change is an existential problem facing humanity. While the developed world has contributed most to global warming, its consequences will be felt by all countries. The worst affected will be those least equipped to deal with it. Vivekananda International Foundation has undertaken a study of energy choices available to India keeping in mind our development perspective.

October 30, 2021 VIF Report

India in Space Domain - Pathbreaking Developments

Maj Gen P K Mallick, VSM (Retd)

… in global politics, a new arms race in the form of military-oriented applications for space is becoming dominant .. space assets therefore are attractive targets for adversaries .. capability to use space for commercial, scientific and military purposes has become a critical factor of national power …

October 29, 2021 Issue Brief

Vimarsh on India’s Drug Challenge

On the 11th of October 2021, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) as part of its Vimarsh Dialogue series organised a presentation by Shri Jayant Misra, IRS (Retd) and former Chairman of the Settlement Commission, on India’s Drug Challenge. Dr Arvind Gupta, Director VIF, welcomed the speaker and delivered his opening remarks. The Director mentioned a recent report by the National Drugs Dependence Treatment Centre at AIIMS, in which the study showed that 2.8% of India's population are frequent cannabis users, and one crore of the population are sedative users.

October 29, 2021 Event Report

Repositioning National Cadet Corps to Drive Youth Development and Social Change

Maj Gen M Indrabalan, ADG, NCC (B&J)

… time and national resources deployed for mentoring and guiding the present generation of youth through the revamped NCC’s stables will definitely start yielding much larger outcomes …

October 25, 2021 Issue Brief

Implications of China’s Hydro-Hegemony on River Yarlung Tsangpo: Another Lever of China’s Expansionist Tactics into India’s East

PK Khup Hangzo, Associate Fellow, VIF

On 11 March 2021, China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, endorsed a plan to build a ‘super dam’ on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in southeastern Tibet. According to Chinese media reports, the dam will have an installed capacity of around 60 Gigawatt (GW), the world’s largest, and will be built at The Great Bend section of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Nyingchi Prefecture’s Medog County close to the Indian border.

October 12, 2021 Paper

Tracking the Money Trail: Islamic Terror Groups in South Asia

Rhea Sinha

South Asia has been plagued by Islamic terrorism for decades. An increasingly hostile political environment and the prolonged conflict in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Jammu & Kashmir has enabled terror organisations to thrive because of the complicity of governments and corruption. The tenacious endurance of such terror groups would not be possible without financial systems. Money is described as ‘the lifeblood’ of terrorist organisations. As terrorism becomes an enduring feature of modern life there is an increasing need to examine the ‘New Economy of Terror’.

September 15, 2021 Issue Brief

Deterrence Theory– Is it Applicable in Cyber Domain?

Maj Gen P K Mallick, VSM (Retd)

… effective cyber deterrence policies require regular, sustained disruption of malicious cyber activity. Such disruption can be technical, legal, logistical, financial, diplomatic, and, in some extreme cases, kinetic. Increasing the scope, scale and tempo of disruption activities should impose high costs on adversaries …

September 09, 2021 Paper

Book Discussion on ‘Indus Basin Uninterrupted- A History of Territory and Politics from Alexander to Nehru’ By Uttam Kumar Sinha

On 17th August, 2021, Vivekananda International Foundation organized a book discussion on ‘Indus Basin Uninterrupted- A History and Politics from Alexander to Nehru’ By Dr Uttam Kumar Sinha. The opening remarks were given by Dr Arvind Gupta, Director VIF, in which he described the book as a ‘truly fascinating story of the Indus water river basin’. He also applauded the author for going back into the history and starting from the time of Alexander bringing the readers to the time of 1960 when India and Pakistan signed a treaty called the Indus Water Treaty.

August 26, 2021 Event Report

Cyber Weapons – A Weapon of War?

Maj Gen P K Mallick, VSM (Retd)

… cyber weapons will be used individually and blended simultaneously with conventional kinetic weapons as force multipliers … for both attacker and defender, it is difficult to predict; cyber weapons often achieve things other than their intended purpose … strategic calculation for attackers thus becomes considerably more complex ... over-reliance by strategists and scholars on such imprecise terminology has significant risks for misinterpretation and premature prescription ...

August 24, 2021 Paper