Regular introspection is the key to the continued good health of an organisation. Complacency breeds degeneration. Hence, issues that affect the wellbeing of the forces must be debated objectively to evolve timely corrective measures. The military is a social organisation, consisting of living human beings who yearn for empathy, love and respect of their countrymen. When mistreated, soldiers wonder if the nation understands their trials and tribulations. The organisational structure of the Indian army is like a steep pyramid. Supersession is inevitable and hits hard. On analysing this sensitive issue, the book recommends that the officers who are superseded must be handled with due compassion. The tower of the Indian army is built on the twin pillars of committed leadership and motivated soldiers. Both are intrinsically linked and are mutually contingent. The book highlights the need to diligently follow well-evolved norms for the continued sustenance of the army. Finally, whereas the welfare of ex-servicemen is the hallmark of all great nations, it is equally important for the veterans to help in nation-building programmes.

The designated role of an engineer regiment is to further the commander's plans by providing mobility to own forces by constructing bridges, tracks, helipads and breaching minefields; while denying the same to the enemy by creating obstacles such as laying mine-fields and demolition of bridges. However, the ground situation is entirely different. Engineer regiments are regularly called upon to undertake tasks that can only be termed as unusual. 113 Engineer Regiment was raised in Nagaland on 01 Apr 1967. In addition to taking part in counter-insurgency operations and Indo-Pak War 1971, the regiment has earned laurels in a multitude of aid to civil authority tasks. However, what sets this regiment apart are two unique achievements - sinking two deep shafts in Pokhran that facilitated India's entry into the exclusive thermo-nuclear club and provision of combat engineering support to operations in Siachen glacier with innovative expedients. This book is a chronicle of the indomitable spirit, tenacity and ingenuity of the one and only 113 Engineer Regiment.

Papers presented at a seminar organized by India Habitat Centre on September 19-20, 1998.

Transformation should lie at the heart of our new approach to defense. The development of transformational capabilities, processes, and force structures should be given strategic focus to meet the principal challenges under our defense strategy. India is already ceased with the necessity of transformation albeit without any documented national security guidelines or operating instructions, which are legislated or have the validation of at least the 'Cabinet Committee on Security'(CCS). In other words the first step would be to create a draft security strategy based on many assumptions, like the foreign policy or the cumulative emerging threat scenario as appreciated by the Defence Intelligence Agency(DIA). This well researched book is a result of the project allotted by the USI under the Field Marshal K. M. Cariappa chair. The book is therefore more as an idea or a theoretical construct, basically to bring in more clarity to the various options available for this great transformation of the Indian military. The author has deliberated upon various landmarks of transformation milestones achieved so far by the three services and given recommendations to further build upon ongoing modernization plan and shift to a higher plane of transformational activities.

In 1998, my husband got posted in Kashmir, The terrorist hub; where life is a mere toy. I went to Srinagar for summer vacation and the Kargil war broke. A hair-raiser account of an army wife's life. The nation is so very ignorant about her life. It is high time to let them know. Yes! It is the story of every army wife who goes through nightmares. Her fate has been written by the blood of her soldier husband. Her husband's olive green vardi is synonymous with a kafan. And we army wives not only have to accept this bitter truth but also live with it forever. Their sacrifice and suffering cannot be compared to anything.

On 11 May 1998 the Indian government tested five nuclear devices some forty kilometres from Pokaran. Seventeen days later Pakistan tested nuclear devices of its own. About three months after the tests, Amitav Ghosh went to the Pokaran area, after which he visited Kashmir as part of the defence minister s entourage. He also went to the Siachen glacier in the Karakoram mountains where Indian and Pakistani soldiers have been exchanging fire since 1983. Ghosh then travelled through Pakistan and Nepal. Countdown is partly a result of these journeys and conversations with many hundreds of people of the subcontinent.

?Even if bilateral trade between India and China goes beyond $100 billion in the coming years, China?s posture towards India is adversarial and will perhaps remain so in the future, with Beijing viewing New Delhi through the prism of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile? A rising China, inflexible on boundary dispute resolution and with strong tentacles across South Asia and beyond, could encroach on India?s strategic space and lead to a potential crisis this decade.? In April 2013, Indian troops sighted an advance patrol of the Chinese People?s Liberation Army (PLA) 19 km deep within Indian territory, a considerable distance from the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border claim line that was drawn up after the 1962 war between the two countries ? a war that still traumatizes the mind of India?s political and military establishment. Protracted negotiations led to the withdrawal of Chinese troops, but the incursion laid bare the intent of the world?s largest standing army. Despite recent advances in the bilateral relationship, highlighted by the nearly $70 billion trade between the two countries, China continues to regard Indian interests as secondary, and India as a regional adversary. In this breakthrough work, seasoned journalist and author of the bestselling Indian Mujahideen Shishir Gupta details the various advances made by Beijing, particularly the PLA, in encircling India and stifling the latter?s bid to break out as an aspiring superpower. Gupta discusses Indian political, diplomatic and military responses to China?s assertion in the subcontinent and beyond, and the various course corrections India must undergo in its foreign and defence policies to counter China?s might and influence on matters of India?s national security. In describing how India must realize and counter China?s clout over its friends and enemies if it is to achieve superpower status, Gupta sheds new light on Indo-China relations. The Himalayan Face-Off: Chinese Assertion and the Indian Riposte is an important reminder of the realigned geopolitics of the modern world, where the two most populous nations on the planet are essentially battling each other over their share of the global pie ? sometimes on the world?s highest battlegrounds. '