VIVEK : Issues & Options Magazine - January - February 2015

In this issue

It gives me a great pleasure to inform you that I have taken over the responsibility of being the Editor of Vivek e-magazine and VIF website from this month. My predecessor, KG Suresh, has moved on to take up a bigger task as Consulting Editor for India's National Channel Doordarshan. He will of course continue to be a Senior Fellow with the VIF. We wish him all the very best in his new assignment.

This issue of Vivek is coming to you later than usual because of the transition mentioned above. It nevertheless has articles that touch upon a number of
important issues.

One of our bright young researchers, Alvite has analysed the deliberately brutal approach adopted by the IS in its relentless March in West Asia. In Defence, Lt Gen Gautam Banerjee has dwelt upon the need to evolve a military doctrine rooted in indigenous culture and tradition while Brig. Gurmeet Kanwal emphasises the importance of battlefield air strike capability for a winning edge.

Our regular contributor Dr MN Buch also gives an insight into challenges of rapid urbanisation that is currently sweeping the country.

As in the past, our endeavour at Vivek is to bring you a wide variety opinions and analyses to generate a meaningful dialogue and discussion.

We welcome well-researched, topical and original contributions both for our website and for this e-magazine.