Latest news with #Indo-SovietTreaty
Fashion Value Chain
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Fashion Value Chain
Dr. Ashok Kumar Mittal Joins Indian Parliamentary Delegation to Russia
Dr. Ashok Kumar Mittal, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, and Founder Chancellor of Lovely Professional University, is participating as a distinguished member of the Indian Parliamentary Delegation visiting the Russian Federation on May 23 and 24. The cross-party delegation represents a unified Indian voice on the global stage, reaffirming the nation's commitment to combating terrorism and strengthening its longstanding relationship with Russia. Dr. Ashok Kumar Mittal Joins Indian Parliamentary Delegation to Russia The visit comes as part of India's broader diplomatic outreach following the 22 April Pahalgam terrorist attack, under an initiative known as Operation Sindoor, a national effort to build international consensus against terrorism. The delegation includes Members of Parliament from across political parties, including BJP, DMK, and AAP, demonstrating collective political resolve on a matter of pressing national and global importance. In Moscow, Indian MPs held high-level discussions with representatives from both houses of the Russian Parliament. Key topics included counter-terrorism cooperation, inter-parliamentary dialogue, and regional economic connectivity. Dr. Ashok Kumar Mittal commented, 'We exchanged views on urgent global challenges, particularly the rising threat of terrorism. Such international dialogues are critical in building partnerships that promote peace and security. Russia has been a consistent and trusted partner of India, and this visit reaffirms our mutual determination to confront forces that undermine global harmony.' The Russian side expressed strong solidarity with India following the Pahalgam attack and voiced support for a unified global stance against extremism. India and Russia share a decades-long strategic partnership anchored in mutual trust, aligned geopolitical interests, and robust defence collaboration, from the Indo-Soviet Treaty of 1971 to the co-development of the BrahMos missile system. This relationship has helped spur bilateral trade to $65 billion in FY 2023-24. Their close cooperation in multilateral platforms such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) further reflects a joint push for a multipolar global order and a united front against cross-border terrorism.
The Hindu
09-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
books to read post pahalgam
In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attacks, New Delhi has unleashed a raft of measures against Pakistan, both diplomatic and economic. It has followed it up with military strikes on the terrorist infrastructure of groups based in Pakistan, to act as a deterrent against future attacks. For an informed and grounded view on how to deal with Pakistan and the scourge of terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir in the longer term, there are a number of books that give a view of policy-making with the added advantage of personal experience, archival documents and research. Diplomatic archiving At 90 plus, Avtar Singh Bhasin is a one-man institution on diplomatic archiving. He has compiled official documents into volumes on India's relations with a number of countries, including India's neighbours like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China and Pakistan. His latest work, Negotiating India's Landmark Agreements, stands out as a treasure trove of nuggets. According to his list, the five most important agreements India has signed are the following: the 1954 Panchsheel Agreement between India and China; Indo-Soviet Treaty, 1971; the Simla Pact, 1972; India-Sri Lanka Accord, 1987; and the India-U.S. Civil Nuclear Energy Agreement, 2008. Those focused on the current situation between India and Pakistan would learn much from Bhasin's painstaking research into how the Simla Accord came about, including the role of the Soviet Union. In a previous book, India and Pakistan: Neighbours at Odds, Bhasin analysed the Indus Waters Treaty at length. Pakistan has threatened to suspend the Simla Pact in response to India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. The Kashmir angle Amarjit Singh Dulat, a former Intelligence Bureau officer and adviser to Farooq Abdullah when he was chief minister of J&K, presents a bird's eye view of the policy-making in Delhi and Srinagar during the worst of the Kashmir insurgency in the 1990s and 2000s. The Chief Minister and the Spy: An Unlikely Friendship takes on more importance after the Pahalgam attack, which may portend a new, more brutal turn in the Kashmir insurgency. Unlike a previous work on the same subject, Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years, written with Aditya Sinha, which restricts itself to a few years, the new book goes from Sheikh Abdullah's struggle pre-Partition and stretches to Omar Abdullah's election victory in 2024. Dulat attempts to explain events that moulded Dr. Abdullah's personality and his politics that aligned him closely to the idea of a secular India. What also comes through is Dr. Abdullah's hardline position on militant demands, including a detailed account of the kidnapping of the then Home Minister and later Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's daughter, Rubaiyya Sayeed in 1989. He also writes about the hostage-taking aboard IC-814 in 1999. Dulat recounts Dr. Abdullah's strong opposition to New Delhi's decision to release terrorists in exchange for hostages in both cases. History has proved him correct on this as both decisions gave militancy in J&K a fillip. A controversy Ironically, the book that is clearly 'The Spy's' almost-hagiographic tribute to 'The Chief Minister' has led to a controversy for showing Dr. Abdullah in a poor light over his response to the amendments to Article 370. A closer read indicates an unnecessary storm over a few lines, although it does raise questions about the veracity of other quotes in the book, and whether Dulat simply recreated conversations from memory without recourse to more detailed note-taking. Both Dulat and Bhasin's books remind us that there are very few people left in office with first-hand knowledge of dealing with militancy in Kashmir in the 1990s, and dealing with Pakistan when Delhi and Islamabad still conducted bilateral dialogue. One such person is National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the man at the centre of today's strategic planning post-Pahalgam. A number of superbly written accounts from the ground have been penned by diplomats once posted in Islamabad, including Ajay Bisaria's Anger Management with a play-by-play account of the 2019 Pulwama attacks and Balakot strikes. Another good book is Sharat Sabharwal's India's Pakistan Conundrum that deals with the dividends of bringing international pressure on Pakistan post the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Ruchi Ghanashyam's An Indian Woman in Islamabad: 1997-2000 goes into the details of how the 1999 IC-814 crisis was managed with Pakistan. General Musharraf had only just taken over in a military coup. The book also includes a riveting first-person account from her husband and fellow diplomat R. Ghanashyam, the first Indian diplomat on the Kandahar tarmac during the crisis.
Hindustan Times
01-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Navigating India-Russia relations in the Trump era
In an international system increasingly shaped by transactional politics, shifting alliances, and strategic recalibrations, the India-Russia partnership has emerged as a resilient pillar of continuity. With Donald Trump's return to the White House in a hypothetical second term, the global order once again leans toward unpredictability. For India, this is both a challenge and an opportunity — to strengthen its traditional ties with Moscow, while continuing to pursue a multi-aligned foreign policy that safeguards its national interests. India and Russia have shared a durable partnership rooted in Cold War camaraderie, cemented in the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty and formalised into a 'special and privileged strategic partnership' in 2010. While many bilateral relationships globally have wavered under geopolitical pressure, India-Russia ties have adapted and endured — anchored primarily in defence, energy, and strategic trust. Even as the US and Russia drifted apart during the post-Crimea years, India managed to maintain strong relations with both. Now, with Trump 2.0 possibly reshaping the US-Russia dynamic, India finds itself with more room to manoeuvre. Trump's foreign policy doctrine, focused heavily on America First and cutting transactional deals, reduces ideological friction between Washington and Moscow. This could potentially ease pressure on India to reduce defence engagements with Russia, including controversial deals like the S-400 missile system, which have previously attracted US CAATSA threats. However, this also comes with a price: a reinvigorated Russia-China axis. As Moscow leans further toward Beijing, New Delhi is forced to rethink its strategic calculus. Defence remains the bedrock of India-Russia cooperation. Over 60% of India's military equipment still comes from Russian-origin systems. The continued deployment of the S-400 systems, scheduled for full activation by 2025, represents India's willingness to push back against western pressure in favour of national defence imperatives. Joint defence production is also thriving — the BrahMos cruise missile, a hallmark of Indo-Russian collaboration, is now being exported to third countries such as the Philippines, showcasing the partnership's global reach. Meanwhile, the indigenous manufacturing of AK-203 assault rifles in Amethi furthers India's quest for defence self-reliance while reinforcing bilateral industrial ties. Negotiations for additional Su-30MKI fighter jets and the lease of a third Russian nuclear-powered submarine (Chakra III) highlight the deep trust and long-term commitment on both sides. Economic ties, once seen as the weak link in the relationship, are now surging. Bilateral trade reached a record $66 billion in 2024 — a fivefold increase in just five years, largely driven by India's aggressive purchase of discounted Russian crude amidst western sanctions following the Ukraine conflict. Russia has become India's second-largest crude supplier. This surge not only meets India's growing energy needs but also reinforces its strategic autonomy — a principle central to New Delhi's foreign policy doctrine. Investments in Russian Arctic LNG projects and the expansion of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant further underscore India's long-term commitment to diversifying its energy mix with Russian support. But India knows the relationship cannot survive on oil and arms alone. Efforts are underway to diversify the economic partnership into pharmaceuticals, IT, and the digital economy. In addition, various unexplored sectors such as agriculture, food processing, rare earth exploration, and mining are being examined as part of India-Russia trade diversification. The target is to reach $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. Infrastructure and connectivity initiatives such as the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and the proposed Chennai–Vladivostok maritime route aim to cut shipping costs and time by up to 30%, bypassing traditional chokepoints and opening new gateways to Central Asia and Europe. Still, geopolitical complexities loom large. Russia's growing reliance on China — with whom it reached over $200 billion in trade in 2024 — complicates India's strategic outlook. As Russia and China draw closer, India must ensure that its own interests are not marginalised. The limited but growing Russia-Pakistan defence ties also raise eyebrows in New Delhi, though they remain relatively minor in scale. India's response is pragmatic: Strengthen Quad and Indo-Pacific partnerships with the US, Japan, and Australia, while doubling down on BRICS and SCO diplomacy to maintain Russia's relevance as a counterbalance to China in Eurasia. In this evolving matrix, India is betting on emerging areas of collaboration to future-proof the relationship. Space cooperation is high on the agenda — Russia continues to support India's Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, and both sides are exploring joint ventures in AI, cybersecurity, and quantum computing. Investment in infrastructure projects in Russia's Far East and increased people-to-people contacts, including academic exchanges and cultural programmes, are building a more multidimensional relationship. Trump 2.0 may bring greater unpredictability to global diplomacy, but it also offers India a strategic breather. If Washington, under Trump's leadership, continues to soften its stance on Russia, India will no longer be caught in the crossfire between its defence partner and its Indo-Pacific ally. Still, New Delhi is aware that it cannot take Moscow's goodwill for granted. The key lies in crafting a flexible, forward-looking partnership — one that is not nostalgic for the past, but calibrated for the future. India's foreign policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to rest on strategic autonomy and multi-alignment. The relationship with Russia is not just about ideology or alignment but about interests — in defence, energy, innovation, and connectivity. As the global order tilts toward multipolarity and transactional diplomacy under Trump's second term, India's ability to maintain strong ties with both Washington and Moscow will be a testament to its growing diplomatic maturity and global ambition. The India-Russia equation, far from being a Cold War relic, is a living, evolving partnership — one that still holds strategic relevance in an increasingly volatile world. This article is authored by Pravesh Kumar Gupta, associate fellow (Eurasia), Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi.
