India Archive

The back-to-back visits to India last month by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, in charge of that country’s military-industrial complex, demonstrate the heightened competition for India’s defense import market, currently the largest in the world. India has been the leading global arms importer in recent years, with its weapons purchases totaling $12.7 billion from 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Over that period, 80 percent of India’s defense imports came from Russia, making New Delhi the leading purchaser of Russian arms. But Russian officials fear that various […]

During a visit to New Delhi in July, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed an agreement to continue training Singapore troops at Indian military facilities. In an email interview, Jayati Bhattacharya, a lecturer in the South Asian studies program at the National University of Singapore, discussed India-Singapore relations. WPR: What is the extent of India-Singapore diplomatic, trade and defense ties, and how have they evolved in recent years? Jayati Bhattacharya: The long-standing relationship between Singapore and India has been accelerated and facilitated by the tectonic shift of economic power in the Asia-Pacific region. […]

Officials in India are working to identify what caused the electrical grid failures that led to two massive blackouts Monday and Tuesday. Two experts who spoke with Trend Lines emphasized that the grid failures should also be seen as an opportunity for the country to figure out how to invest and innovate in the power sector so that it can meet the growing needs of the population. “The underlying issue is that there is not enough generation supply to meet the load demand,” said Anjan Bose, a professor in the College of Engineering & Architecture at Washington State University. And […]