Gunners Shot

Galwan is a turning point in our history. It was India’s ‘Casabianca’ moment when our boys stood on the burning deck to turn tables. It was that moment in time when India and the world realized that the Chinese can be overcome. It was the N th  coming of the Indian Armed Forces from behind. It ensured that India regained its strategic confidence. Many articles have appeared to commemorate the incident. However, a strange dichotomy has emerged. Most analysts say that India is in a state of asymmetry with PLA which has hung a Damocles sword over Ladakh to tie us down to our Northern Borders at the expense of our maritime interests in the IOR. One detects ‘Strategic Hesitancy’ due to a gross overestimation of Chinese capabilities despite Galwan and its aftermath. We need to understand the strategic gains of Galwan and their implications.  Fact 1 .   In Mar 2020, the  Belfer Centre  analysis stated “ China is regularly operating with a permanent Indian conventional force advantage along it

Originally published in the PINNACLE, The ARTRAC Journal, Vol 19, 2020, Pages 165-179 The formatting of the article is not great but the content is!  The Fundamentals   Population . By 2100 the global population will be around 10 billion.    Compared to the present population, it is approximately 40 to 50% greater [1]  (see fig 1). Indian population is set to rise from 1.3 billion to a peak of    1.6 billion between 2050-75  [2] (see fig 2). That is about a 20% increase.                                      Figure  1  World Population By Region                                                   Figure  2  Indian Population   Energy and Growth . Energy is fundamental for growth, and progress. If population grows as estimated, global energy requirement is estimated to double by 2100. If the population growth is conservative, energy requirements will still grow    by 25-30% [3]  (see fig 3).    However the availability of energy and other resources will start decreasing. It is estimated th