Moneycontrol | Drones are changing warfare. India needs to move fast

Joint venture and not self-reliance is the best way forward. We also require a culture of collaboration between military and industry. Read full article here.

Mint | Remodel higher education: Just fixing exams won’t help

The supply of professional education cannot keep up with demand unless there is a much greater role for private and for-profit institutions.

Read full article here.

NDTV World | Greater Expectations: Why China Is Going Nuclear 'Faster Than Ever'

Recent data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that the world's nuclear powers are continuing to expand investment in strengthening their arsenals. While the total number of warheads around the world is declining, the number of operational nuclear warheads is increasing. The US and Russia, of course, account for an overwhelming majority of nuclear warheads. Read the full article here.

The Free Press Journal | The Strategic Import of Pelosi Meeting the Dalai Lama

The last time then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went on a diplomatic mission, the world almost changed. It was August 2, 2022, and despite the stiff resistance from China, and a token opposition from President Joe Biden, Pelosi went ahead with her visit to Taiwan, a country China claims is its territory. Beijing’s retaliation was quick and unequivocal — several military exercises that may have given both the Taiwanese and Biden more than a few moments of anxiety. Read the full article here.

ThePrint | Modi 3.0 must improve civil-military relations. Bring NSS, relieve CDS of extra duties

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the results have certainly strengthened India’s democratic credentials. The future course charted by the central government, led for the third time by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be revealed through its policies and actions, indicating the extent of acceptance of the broad political contours of the electoral verdict, albeit subjectively interpreted. Read the full article here.

Mint | India's employment challenge: 20 million jobs need to be created each year

A number of analysts attribute the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) underperformance in the general election to voter unhappiness with the Narendra Modi government over unemployment, job reservations and farmer livelihoods. 

The Agnipath scheme of military recruitment came in for criticism during the election campaign and many political commentators expect that the new government will be compelled to make changes to it. We should view interpretations of election results with some scepticism, but it does appear that the issue of inadequate employment opportunities has bubbled up to the surface of our political ocean.

Read the full article here.

Indian Express | Agnipath 2.0: A solution for armed forces and applicants

The future of the Agnipath scheme is a pressing concern for the new government at the Centre. The narrative that this scheme dampened the NDA’s prospects gained momentum during the election campaign. The spokesperson of the JD(U), a key NDA partner, has publicly stated that the scheme upset some sections and needs to be modified. Despite these political rumblings, there is a noticeable lack of specific alternatives to address the original problems that led to the crafting of the Agnipath scheme. This article proposes an “inverse induction model” as a solution to make Agnipath 2.0 meet its operational, political, and fiscal objectives. Read the full article here.

The Hindu | China’s ‘grey-zone’ warfare tactics against Taiwan

The story so far: Since the new Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te has assumed office, all eyes have been on the rocky start to his tenure. While China’s belligerent response to Mr. Lai’s “pro-independence” and “secessionist” statements was striking, it has now resorted to a sophisticated ploy to respond to Mr. Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). This is often referred to as ‘grey-zone’ warfare, which comprises elements that frustrate Taiwan in a sustained manner. Read the full article here.

Hindustan Times | Developed country ambitions need deep structural reforms

India’s impressive growth performance has raised hopes of it becoming a developed country in the not-too-distant future. The Prime Minister has set 2047, the centenary year of Independence, as the aspirational target year. However, leapfrogging from being a low middle-income economy to becoming a developed country in the next 25 years requires raising the country’s per capita income by more than five times, from $2,600 to $10,205. This effectively translates into a per capita income growth at 7.5% per year and an aggregate Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at 9%. Read the full article here.

Mint | Private sector participation in LVM3 production could mean a space sector boom

In a recent keynote address at a US- India Business Council event, the chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), S. Somnath, spoke about the retirement of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) Space Shuttle programme in 2011. For three decades, the Space Shuttle had ferried astronauts and satellites, even aided in building the International Space Station (ISS).  Read the full article here.

Indian Express | Chinese armed forces have been upgrading. India must keep up

As part of the reforms in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) since 2015, China has focussed on preparing for combat keeping conditions of the “Information Age” in mind. It is doing so by integrating its services, arms and systems into a joint, network-centric fighting force. The PLA Western Theater Command (WTC) has played a proactive role in securing China’s southern and southwestern borders, preparing for conventional and non-conventional warfighting, and acclimatising its personnel to the rough terrains and harsh altitudes of Xinjiang and Tibet. India is one of the principal operational directions in which the WTC is mandated to act. India needs to assess the WTC’s operational structure, training mandates and warfighting priorities, especially the theatre’s “multi-domain integrated joint operations” (MDIJO) efforts. Read the full article here.

Firstpost | Agnikul’s first test flight: Time for private sector to be wings of Indian space industry

Agnikul’s first rocket, Agnibaan SOrTeD, completed its maiden suborbital test flight, marking a significant milestone for the Indian private space industry.

Accessing space is now easier than ever, creating new growth and innovation opportunities. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has developed the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle ( SSLV ) to enable quick and flexible on-demand launches, complementing its existing fleet of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (GSLV) for heavier payloads. Read the full article here.

Outlook | Dr. Jagdish Chandra Asthana Could Have Been a Good Policy Analyst

In Munnabhai MBBS (2003), the medical college dean, Dr. Jagdish Chandra Asthana (played by Boman Irani), cautions against feeling empathetic towards patients. Empathy, he reasons, can impair the doctor’s ability to provide the best treatment for the patient. In the world of public policy, the doctor is correct. If we’re keen to develop better policies, we must avoid empathy and replace it with compassion as a guide. Here’s why. Read the full article here.

The Diplomat | China’s Energy Intensity and Carbon Intensity Targets Are All But Unachievable

On May 29, China’s State Council released its 2024-2025 action plan for energy conservation and carbon reduction, setting targets to decrease energy intensity (energy consumption per unit of GDP) by 2.5 percent and carbon intensity (carbon emissions per unit of GDP) by 3.9 percent in 2024. However, these goals appear insufficient to meet China’s previous commitments of reducing carbon intensity by 18 percent and energy intensity by 13.5 percent between 2020 and 2025 as part of its international climate pledges.  Read the full article here.

ThePrint | Even if Agnipath is scrapped, India needs tough reforms to cut ballooning defence pensions

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s letter to President Droupadi Murmu on the “discriminatory” Agnipath scheme shows its importance in this Lok Sabha election. The BJP government introduced the scheme in 2022, where soldiers enrolled for four years are christened as Agniveers. Political parties across the spectrum have held differing postures on the scheme.

The Congress’ election manifesto stated that the party would “abolish the Agnipath programme and direct the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard) to resume normal recruitment to achieve the full sanctioned strength”. The BJP manifesto, on the other hand, maintains that the four-year enlistment programme will benefit a large section of the young and employable population. It has also stated that it is open to changes in the scheme after a review conducted by the Services. In the psychological framework of the electoral campaign, the issue is dovetailed within the larger issue of significant unemployment at the national level. Read the full article here.

The Diplomat | Zelenskyy Finally Calls out China’s Role in Russia’s War on Ukraine

For far too long, Ukraine has treaded carefully around China’s role in the ongoing war with Russia. Despite mounting evidence of Beijing’s support for Moscow, both materially and diplomatically, Kyiv has been reluctant to criticize China directly. However, during the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy finally broke his silence, openly accusing China of aiding Russia in undermining peace efforts.  Read the full article here.

Mint | The world should take up China's nuclear no-first-use treaty proposal

The world is too distracted with ongoing wars and high-stakes election campaigns to pay attention to a remarkable proposal from China. At the United Nations Conference on Disarmament held in Geneva this February, one of Beijing’s senior officials dealing with nuclear weapons policy declared that “nuclear-weapon states should negotiate and conclude a treaty on no-first-use of nuclear weapons against each other or make a political statement in this regard." Read the full article here.

Takshashila Blog | What did the China-Japan-ROK Summit Achieve?

Earlier this week, a trilateral summit brought together South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss a range of regional and global issues. Originating from the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) framework, the meeting, slated to be held annually, was held for the first time since 2019.

All three countries sought to revive trade and security dialogues hampered by global tensions. The Chinese premier called it a “new beginning”, calling for promotion of multilateralism and fighting trade protectionism amid rising tensions following the US decision to hike tariffs on specific Chinese goods this month. Li expressed the need for greater “openness and inclusiveness, to gather more momentum for cooperation, in line with principles of non-exclusivity and non-discrimination, with an open attitude and transparent measures.”

Read the full blog here.

The Indian Express | Aadhaar, PAN, Paytm, KYC — how fintech regulation is hurting the consumer

In the evolving landscape of fintech or financial technology, India stands at the crossroads of innovation and regulation. What began as a quest for stability and oversight has devolved into a dystopian odyssey, where good intentions pave the road to chaos, and unintended consequences lurk around every corner.

Our story today commences with a modest trigger — the cautious instructions of the RBI to Kotak Bank, halting new digital customer onboarding and suspending credit card issuances. The regulatory zeal, ostensibly aimed at preempting potential outages, lacks a tangible basis for outage events. It’s reminiscent of the regulatory crackdowns of the past, where rigid checks were imposed without a clear understanding of the underlying issues, like the one on HDFC a few years ago or on Paytm recently. This knee-jerk reaction to largely hypothetical scenarios reflects a systemic failure to distinguish between proactive risk management and reactive overreach.

Read the full article here.

Firstpost | How India is moving fast to becoming semiconductor ‘aatmanirbhar’

The India Semiconductor Mission’s (ISM) ambitious goal to establish a robust domestic chip design and manufacturing ecosystem is gradually achieving fruition. The Union government recently approved three semiconductor units, including India’s first fabrication plant by Tata Electronics Private Limited, in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation in Dholera, Gujarat. Read the full article here.