Geopolitics - June 2018

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Geopolitics June 2018 finds out the progress that the country has made with the 'Make in India' initiative in defence production. Does India have the potential to become self-reliant in armaments? That was one of the reasons for the launch of the ambitious 'Make in India' programme. However, four years have passed since the 'Make in India' idea was initiated. In the defence sector, it has hardly had any impact, thanks to the absence of a policy framework, unsystematic efforts to promote domestic production and budgetary constraints. But there is a silver lining since four developments hold a lot of promise for the defence industry.
Despite the claims of greater indigenisation in defence procurement, India's arms imports have increased by almost 25 per cent over the last 10 years. Despite the promises of 'Make in India' being touted as the panacea for reducing the nation's unhealthy dependency on defence exports, it is quite clear now to defence observers, that at least for the next 20 years, India will continue to import greater than 50 per cent of its total defence requirements across all three services and paramilitary forces.
India is taking the first steps to modernise its border surveillance systems with a combination of automated and virtual sensors and barriers that promises to make the quest to secure its borders from infiltration much more secure and effective.
In the international section, a look at India-Indonesia ties that will reach new heights when the increasing political cooperation between the two countries is accompanied by enlarged economic interactions. Plus: All our regular features.