The USI of India Strategic Year Book 2020 continues upon the Year Books we have published since 2016 and which have been widely appreciated. The book provides comprehensive researched articles on contemporary security studies by knowledgeable Indian strategic thinkers and scholars both from the military and civil field. The articles deal with security issues covering international and domestic affairs presented in five thematic sections titled 'National Security Overview', 'Internal Security Environment', 'Pakistan-China Strategic Challenge', 'India's Strategic Neighbourhood' and 'National Security Capacity Building'. The articles look at new challenges and responses to the existing paradigm of India's national security. They deal with the complete landscape of this area of study and contribute to security studies in fields of international relations, geopolitics, changes in the character of war, technology, organisational changes and internal security threats and responses. They empower the reader to carry out further research on strategic studies. The Year Book provides an increased "upstream" focus on defence and security policy practice for military, civilian administrative and political leadership and further empowers them in making considered decisions. It will also be of great interest to those researching strategic and security issues.

Asia's diversity in culture, ethnicity, religions, ideology, environment, history, economy and systems of governance is without parallel. Consequently, conflict is endemic. Going hand in hand with conflict is multi-faceted competition. At one level, it is for resources: the emerging economies of the Asia Pacific, South and South East Asia compete for energy and mineral resources with developed countries, including USA, Europe, Japan and South Korea. Economic growth and continued development of Asia as a whole are contingent upon security and stability, without which precious resources will inevitable be expended in conflict. The contingent's lynchpin is South East Asia, connecting the Indian and the Pacific Oceans and linking the Middle East and South Asia with the Asia Pacific and Australia. Given the proven limitations of the UNSC in handling various situations, there is pressing need for a regional infrastructure to deal with security matters, including both traditional and non-traditional threats. It is for the nations whose interests are most affected to work together to build a comprehensive Pan Asian security mechanism, dispelling the apprehensions of the continent's inhabitants and creating the capability to handle their own affairs. This book aims to bring out need for a holistic, overarching Indo-Pacific security system and generate ideas on how it should be developed.

Four decades have passed since India conducted its first nuclear test. Since then the world has undergone a transition, both in terms of power dynamics and military warfare. The emergence of New Nuclear and Threshold states has transformed the traditional military warfare, making it more asymmetric. Though the concept of nuclear deterrence in the American strategic thought has diminished, but the Asian countries still consider nuclear weapons as an important strategy in combating conventional weaknesses. This altered strategic space has created problems in the civilian and the military domains. The emergence of economically strong China aiming for military modernization, to achieve global reach through precision missiles, is making Asia edgy. A nuclear Pakistan which is constantly increasing its nuclear stockpile is creating stability-instability paradoxes in Asia. India which is also emerging as a powerful state needs to approach this dynamic shift in a holistic manner. A strategic churning has begun in Asia and whether this will be in India's favour depends on the strategic choices that India adopts. China has revolutionized its Second Artillery through a process of Informationalization and Modernisation" and is diversifying the military technology which is having a cascading effect in Asia. Pakistan through its nuclear policy of First Use", its alleged use of Tactical Nuclear Weapons" is making South Asia vulnerable to nuclear terrorism. Under such conditions are there any gaps between India's nuclear doctrine and its force structure? Can India's nuclear strategy counter China? Is India capable of countering a Sino-Pak nexus? These are a few questions along with others which this book will try to unravel.

There is a wide spread perception amongst the intelligentsia that India lacks strategic culture. The deficiency if any perhaps lies in the reluctance to articulate India's perceptions on strategic issues, as also to formulate a long term strategic view. As the oldest think tank in Asia, United Services Institution of India (USI) decided to address the above issue and how it could contribute to evolution and dissemination of strategic thought on challenges facing the Nation. To this end the publication of a USI Strategic Yearbook 2016, which was the maiden attempt, which received wide appreciation for its quality and contents. This current issue of the Yearbook contains series of articles by eminent persons and experts on various aspects of national security; the aim being to provide a strategic perspective which will create awareness and also help the policymakers in giving a strategic direction for India to transform into a developed society and a secured nation. USI hope's that readers will find this publication useful and interesting.

India's endeavour under Prime Minister Modi is to actively interact and cooperate with the international community and to promote India's regional and global objectives. India has tried to deepen her engagements with the South Asian neighbours, as also built important strategic partnerships with U.S, Russia, Korea and Japan. There has been an upward trajectory in India's Act East Policy, and her engagement with the Southeast Asian and East Asian countries has enlarged. In her Look West Policy, India is simultaneously, trying to balance her relationship with the Gulf nations and Israel. Thus, India is slowly expanded its diplomatic footprint and its outreach, to both, existing as well as new partners. This book is a joint effort by United Service Institution of India and Christ University, Bengaluru. It is a collection of views expressed by various scholars and experts on different issues faced by the India's Emerging Foreign Policy.

Asia's diversity in culture, ethnicity, religions, ideology, environment, history, economy and systems of governance is without parallel. Consequently, conflict is endemic. Going hand in hand with conflict is multi-faceted competition. At one level, it is for resources: the emerging economies of the Asia Pacific, South and South East Asia compete for energy and mineral resources with developed countries, including USA, Europe, Japan and South Korea. Economic growth and continued development of Asia as a whole are contingent upon security and stability, without which precious resources will inevitable be expended in conflict. The contingent's lynchpin is South East Asia, connecting the Indian and the Pacific Oceans and linking the Middle East and South Asia with the Asia Pacific and Australia. Given the proven limitations of the UNSC in handling various situations, there is pressing need for a regional infrastructure to deal with security matters, including both traditional and non-traditional threats. It is for the nations whose interests are most affected to work together to build a comprehensive Pan Asian security mechanism, dispelling the apprehensions of the continent's inhabitants and creating the capability to handle their own affairs. This book aims to bring out need for a holistic, overarching Indo-Pacific security system and generate ideas on how it should be developed.

Four decades have passed since India conducted its first nuclear test. Since then the world has undergone a transition, both in terms of power dynamics and military warfare. The emergence of New Nuclear and Threshold states has transformed the traditional military warfare, making it more asymmetric. Though the concept of nuclear deterrence in the American strategic thought has diminished, but the Asian countries still consider nuclear weapons as an important strategy in combating conventional weaknesses. This altered strategic space has created problems in the civilian and the military domains. The emergence of economically strong China aiming for military modernization, to achieve global reach through precision missiles, is making Asia edgy. A nuclear Pakistan which is constantly increasing its nuclear stockpile is creating stability-instability paradoxes in Asia. India which is also emerging as a powerful state needs to approach this dynamic shift in a holistic manner. A strategic churning has begun in Asia and whether this will be in India's favour depends on the strategic choices that India adopts.China has revolutionized its Second Artillery through a process of "Informationalisation and Modernisation" and is diversifying the military technology which is having a cascading effect in Asia. Pakistan through its nuclear policy of "First Use", its alleged use of "Tactical Nuclear Weapons" is making South Asia vulnerable to nuclear terrorism. Under such conditions are there any gaps between India's nuclear doctrine and its force structure? Can India's nuclear strategy counter China? Is India capable of countering a Sino-Pak nexus? These are a few questions along with others which this book will try to unravel.

There is a wide spread perception amongst the intelligentsia that India lacks strategic culture. In our view, the deficiency if any perhaps lies in our reluctance to articulate our perceptions on strategic issues, as also to formulate a long term strategic view. As the oldest think tank in Asia, we decided to address the above issue and how we could contribute to evolution and dissemination of strategic thought on challenges facing the Nation. To this end the publication of a USI Strategic Yearbook 2016, which was our maiden attempt, received wide appreciation for its quality and contents.This current issue of the Yearbook contains series of articles by eminent persons and experts on various aspects of national security; the aim being to provide a strategic perspective which will create awareness and also help the policymakers in giving a strategic direction for India to transform into a developed society and a secured nation. We hope that readers will find this publication useful and interesting. We would welcome suggestions for improvement of subsequent issues.