#SecurityScan 32: From Steady Progress in Make in India to one year of Russia-Ukraine war and more

This article is a summary of important events that have taken place in last one week affecting, India's national security.



Internal Security

In a first, CRPF to hold annual Raising Day in Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh; Amit Shah to attend.

Make in India Makes Steady Progress

Germany keen on a govt-to-govt deal to jointly manufacture submarines

Germany is keen to pursue the government-to-government route for jointly manufacturing advanced conventional submarines for an Indian Navy requirement, with the matter likely to be taken up at high-level bilateral meetings later this week during Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to India.

Godrej Aerospace to manufacture 8 modules of DRDO turbojet engine

Commenting on the milestone, Maneck Behramkamdin, AVP & Business Head, Godrej Aerospace said: "We are thrilled to have won the project to manufacture the DRDO Engine modules, which is a testament to our capabilities and expertise in the aerospace sector. This achievement reinforces our commitment to making India self-reliant in aerospace manufacturing thereby, contributing to the country's economic growth.

BEL signs MoUs with ADA, DRDO for Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft programme

The MoU aims at leveraging the complementary strengths and capabilities of BEL and ADA, wherein both the parties will co-operate for the design, development, qualification, production and supply of Internal Weapon Bay Computer and other Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) for AMCA and provide lifetime product support to the Indian Air Force

Bharat Dynamics receives export order worth USD 255 million

According to information available, BDL entered into MoU with UK company Thales on Tuesday to set up manufacturing facilities for laser-guided rocket and its major components in India. In addition, an agreement was signed by BDL with EDGE Group entity, AL TARIQ, UAE, to jointly produce an all-weather, day or night, long-range precision guided munition (LR-PGM) kits in India.

Axiscades, Mangal Industries tie-up to service global aerospace, defence clients

Axiscades Technologies on Monday said it has partnered with Mangal Industries, a company of Amara Raja Group, to service global clients in the area of aerospace, defense, medical and heavy engineering. Both the companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect.

Dr S Jaishankar, No Holds Barred | ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash

India's External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar's illustrious career as a Diplomat spans 38 years including tenures as India's Ambassador in China, the Czech Republic, the USA, Singapore and finally, as Foreign Secretary. He was picked by Prime Minister Modi himself, to be part of his cabinet in 2019 as External Affairs Minister. The articulate Dr S. Jaishankar, in an interesting conversation with Smita Prakash shares his journey from being a diplomat to entering politics. He talks about his father whose career growth as a Cabinet Secretary was halted by Indira Gandhi due to internal politics.

He slams the opposition over allegations of being accommodative of China and explains the steps taken by the government to strengthen the security at the LAC. He also reveals how some foreign powers are collaborating to create a false narrative against India as the election approaches.

Khalistan ideologue, associates of criminal gangs among 6 arrested by NIA during nationwide raids

The NIA investigations have so far shown that many criminals, who were leading gangsters in India, had fled to countries like Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia, Philippines and Australia and were planning their terror and criminal acts from there, in association with criminals lodged in jails in different states.

External Security

China's Influence Activities in India-Beijing has utilized a wide range of tools to influence domestic politics in India.

In recent years, China has increasingly tried to meddle in Indian politics and society, using disinformation on social media platforms to try and wield influence directly or indirectly. Over the past decade, Beijing has embarked upon a similar strategy to wield influence within politics, local discourse, societies, online discussions, universities, and media in several countries. To do this, China uses media and information tools. Beijing is expanding state media outlets, leveraging international social media platforms, using training programs for foreign journalists, and signing content-sharing deals with media in other countries to extend its sphere of influence. It also uses more traditional methods—including using the United Front Work Department (UFWD), a major intelligence agency within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—to wield influence with the Chinese diaspora, foreign politicians, businesses, and universities abroad.

Views of National Security Council and cabinet committee for security affairs should be taken for its usage in the Indian context.


India’s BrahMos missile sale to South-east Asia





India stands to gain geopolitically from the sale of the supersonic cruise missile to South-east Asian states locked in territorial disputes with China.

According to Swedish think-tank Sipri (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), India is the world’s largest importer of arms. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is also one of the world’s smallest exporters of military equipment.Between 2017 and 2021, India imported a staggering US$15.4 billion (S$20.6 billion) in military kit. But its defence exports amounted to a piddling US$302 million, making it a veritable minnow in the global arms business.

Indian Army recruitment rules changed in pursuit of right mix of brain and brawn

Army Recruitment Officer Colonel G Suresh said the other tests - physical endurance and medical tests - will be held after the written examination. Colonel Suresh said the other major change in the recruitment process has been that the aspirants will have to pay fees of Rs 500 to appear in the written examination.

The Indian Army has tweaked the Agnipath scheme to include pre-skilled youth, ITI/Polytechnics graduates in the technical category with the aim to increase eligibility criteria for Agniveers. The changes are being introduced to cut time spent on training of individuals, media reports said. The Army said that the tweaks are likely to make the scheme open to more candidates.

China Grey-Zone Aggression Should be met head on

Months, years even, go by without the public being bothered by anything untoward in the skies, then four suspicious flying objects show up in a couple of weeks. All have been spotted in US airspace and all have been shot down. And what an impact they’ve had.

This is the grey zone between war and peace, a space aggressively and expertly inhabited by China. The same thing — with “balloons” — could happen here in India. But it is already happening in other ways. The flying objects have simply made tangible a range of nefarious terrestrial activities, and that makes them a wake-up moment for policymakers and the public alike. When the India detects malign Chinese activity, we need to call it out and may have to shoot it down.

Indian Air Force Released Its New Doctrine; Aims To Evolve As Aerospace Power To Keep Pace With Technology-Analysis By Air Marshal Anil Chopra (Retd)

The Indian Air Force (IAF) released an open version of Doctrine of the IAF – Roadmap Beyond 2022. The document clearly reflects the change of IAF from air power to aerospace power. The document evolved by the best operational minds, and aviators with years of domain knowledge and combat experience.

Can IPEF Be a Watershed Moment for U.S.-India?

The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) was launched by President Biden in May 2022 and can significantly strengthen U.S.-India economic partnership. IPEF holds the rare distinction of being a multilateral approach to regional economic integration that includes both the United States and India—two nations often at odds during multilateral trade talks. Divided into four pillars—Connected Economy, Resilient Economy, Clean Economy, and Fair Economy—IPEF is aimed at structural economic transformation. The 14-member country arrangement is driven by the political urgency of countering Chinese economic influence in the region.

Information Security

The Lawfare Podcast: How Cyber Criminals Can Exploit ChatGPT

Since it launched in November of last year, ChatGPT has been subject to widespread attention. Cyber criminals have been quick to try to find ways to abuse the AI tool for their own purposes, from improving their phishing emails and supporting money-making schemes, to writing malware. Could ChatGPT help lower entry barriers for less skilled cyber criminals?

To answer that question, experts sat down for the recent report, “I, Chatbot,” which looked at how threat actors are trying to misuse ChatGPT. They discussed who are the threat actors that can benefit from it the most, the impact this will have on the cybercrime-as-a-service business model, and how to think through mitigation strategies.

ChatGPT fails PSLE maths and science, scrapes through English

ChatGPT may be hailed as the gold standard among chatbots in the mainstream but The Straits Times has found that the Primary School Leaving Examination is too big a challenge for the artificial intelligence (AI) assistant.
ST pitted ChatGPT against pupils who sat the PSLE over the last three years. Questions were obtained from the latest compilation of past year papers, available in bookshops.

Old, rich and dangerous…” Jaishankar takes on George Soros




External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar slams George Soros for his recent remark on India and said, “Mr Soros is an old, rich opinionated person sitting in New York who still thinks that his views should determine how the entire world works...such people actually invest resources in shaping narratives. People like him think an election is good if the person they want to see, wins and if the election throws up a different outcome then they will say it is a flawed democracy the beauty is that all this is done under the pretence of advocacy of open society,” he added.

World Countering Chinese Multi domain War

In a first, Indian submarine INS Sindhukesari docks in Indonesia amid South China Sea conflict

The 3,000-tonne diesel-electric submarine, INS Sindhukesari, reached Jakarta for the ‘maiden operational turnaround’ after transiting through the Sunda Strait on Wednesday. “Indian warships often visit Indonesia and other Asean countries. This first long-range deployment of a submarine underlines the operational capability and reach of the country’s underwater combat arm as well.

Is UNSC effective to address contemporary challenges global security, India asks at UNGA

While addressing the United Nations General Assembly during the Eleventh Emergency Special Session (Ukraine) on Thursday (local time), Kamboj asked, "Has the UN system, and particularly its principal organ, the UN Security Council, based on a 1945-world construct, not been rendered ineffective to address contemporary challenges to global peace and security?

Securing Cyberspace: Hardening America’s Software against Foreign Digital Sabotage

Software is increasingly central to every sector of the American economy, and as the war in Ukraine makes clear, computer algorithms often mean the difference between victory and defeat for a modern military. The US government recently began restoring its competitive position in computer hardware with the CHIPs and Science Act and with export controls on chipmaking technology to China. The software supply chain requires similar attention if the US military and economy are to harvest the benefits of software-defined capabilities.

China’s Debt Noose Could Strangle Pakistan

The nuclear-armed South Asian nation is close to default. Whether it’s saved will depend on how willing Beijing is to work with more traditional lenders.

Pakistan, is racing down a road that leads to the disruption of default or the chaos of austerity — and, for once. In fact, it is almost as if the $380-billion economy’s looming crisis is designed to reveal the ways in which the world’s sovereign debt restructuring mechanism is severely outdated and needs to be fixed.

Pakistani governments do bear responsibility for bad budgeting. The economist Murtaza Syed has estimated that Pakistan needs $35 billion a year to pay for its imports and repay its foreign debt. That amounts to 5% of gross domestic product, which is very heavy.

Canada says it thwarted China’s recent air and maritime surveillance attempts

The defence ministry remarks follow a media report that the Canadian Armed Forces had spotted Chinese monitoring buoys in the Arctic last year.Tensions between Beijing and the West have increased since the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US and Canada.

Most countries are fighting back against the Chinese hybrid war tactics.

Big Tech Descends on Munich Conference in Support of Ukraine,Google, Microsoft among companies supporting Ukraine’s defense

Technology companies descended on a defense conference in Munich this weekend, as their role in supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion into a second year becomes more prominent.

The Munich Security Conference is sponsored by companies such as Microsoft and Google, as well as traditional defense players, and hosted world leaders and lawmakers during the three-day event.

The big Technology companies provided all the high end technology to Ukraine to guard their cyber boundaries, win the information war. their role in any future wars will be substantial.

Hizbul commander Bashir Ahmad Peer from Kashmir shot dead in Pakistan's Rawalpindi

Bashir Ahmad Peer, a self-styled commander of terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Pakistan's Rawalpindi. Peer, who hailed from Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, had been living in Pakistan for more than 15 years, intelligence officials here said.

Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salauddin attended the funeral and he was guarded there by the Pakistani army.Only the VIP are guarded by police and Paramilitary forces. The Pakistani army seems to guarding only one VIP , Syed Salauddin showing how important he is Pakistan.
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The protesters who've gone missing as China deepens crackdown

As China declares victory over the pandemic, the landmark protests in November which spelled the end for zero-Covid rules have begun fading from memory.

One Year of Ukraine War

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday warned top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi of consequences should China provide material support to Russia's invasion of Ukraine,




In an interview after the two met ,Blinken said the United States was very concerned that China is considering providing lethal support to Russia and that he made clear to Wang that "would have serious consequences in our relationship."

EU warns China supplying Russia arms would be 'red line'

Josep Borrell said he told China's top diplomat Wang Yi at a meeting over the weekend that "for us, it would be a red line in our relationship." "He told me that they are not going to do it, that they don't plan to do it. But we will remain vigilant," Borrell told journalists ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Russian defence chief keeps job despite Ukraine routs thanks to Putin

The Russian leader has various reasons for keeping Sergei Shoigu, 67, in post, according to Western officials, veteran Kremlin watchers and former Western military commanders: he's ultra loyal, helped Putin become president, and decision-making on Ukraine is not his preserve alone.

Loyalty has won over military Incompetence. No wonder Russia is not winning the Ukraine war.

Heavy Cost Of One year of Russia Ukraine War

When Russia's President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, he started a war that has killed tens of thousands of people, ravaged cities and pummelled the country's economy. According to the latest estimates from Norway, 180,000 Russian soldiers and 100,000 Ukrainian troops have been wounded or killed in the conflict. Other Western sources estimate the war has caused 150,000 casualties on each side.

In comparison, some 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed in a whole decade of fighting in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. Ukrainian soldiers often use the term "cannon fodder" to describe the Russians sent to their death along the front line. Others are convicts recruited in Russian jails to swell the ranks of Russian paramilitary group Wagner, who Kyiv and its allies say are deployed on near-impossible missions with the equivalent of a gun pointed to their head. The onslaught has also taken its toll on the Ukrainian side, as shown by the endless blue and yellow national flags fluttering above cemeteries across the embattled country. Kyiv said at least 20,000 Ukrainian civilians had been killed. In total, some 30,000 to 40,000 civilians have lost their lives nationwide in the conflict, Western sources say. The United Nations estimates that 21,000 civilians have been killed or wounded in the fighting, but said the real figure was likely much higher. Ukrainian authorities say at least 400 children have been killed.
Around 65,000 suspected war crimes have been reported throughout the war. Kyiv alleges Moscow has forcibly deported more than 16,000 children to Russia or areas controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. In a country famed for its cereal and sunflower oil exports, the war has caused more than $34 billion in economic losses in the agricultural sector.

How India handled the Ukraine war crisis

India was able to evacuate nearly 26000 of its students from the Ukraine War zone ,which was commendable. Ukraine war resulted into crisis for World food security. India was able to handle it well and was able to keep the food prices and the inflation under control and in fact export a large quantity of food grains, thereby helping the farmer community for getting better price for their produce.

The war resulted in world energy security crisis but India was able to ensure that the prices of petrol and diesel did not increase their by ensuring energy security. In fact we imported a lot of crude from Russia, despite opposition by the Western world ,then refined this crude and exported petrol and diesel not only to Europe but also to the USA.
The country was able to handle its relation with the western world and Russia in a balanced manner. There is a high possibility that India will play a major role in ending the Ukraine war.

While the whole world including USA, Europe and China is going into recession, India is the only brightest spot in the world economy registering 6-7% of economic growth.

All in all, India converted the Ukraine crisis into an opportunity and ensured that India's national interest were protected during the difficult Times.