Book Description
About the Book: 20 Years, 10 Flash Points

An insightful examination of the challenges that have characterized Indian foreign policy in recent years by one of our more thoughtful political figures

For India to grow, prosper and achieve its true potential, it requires peace on its periphery. But this amity has eluded it since 1947. The challenge from Pakistan and China, and now from the ChinaPakistan nexus, has not allowed India to break out of its neighborhood quagmire.

In the past two decades, the challenges to Indias national security have only exacerbated both in complexity and intensity. The seizure of Afghanistan by the Taliban and the complete withdrawal of all the military forces of the United States and its allies have opened up a security void creating a strategic vacuum in the region. It would have profound implications not only for Pax Americana, but for nations in the arc of turbulence. The repercussions in JandK and Punjab would be ominous in the days ahead.

10 Flashpoints; 20 Years looks back at the security situations that have impacted India in the past two decades and dissects our responses—both successes and failures—to them. In a first, Manish Tewari examines the tools and processes of Indian statecraft defence, diplomacy and intelligence, and weaves a veritable tapestry around the institutions and individuals that form part of the countrys national security establishment. He also offers suggestions on ways in which the national security doctrine can be reformed to meet the demands of the twenty-first centurys regional and global security environment.

About the Author: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Manish Tewari is a Lawyer and a Member of Parliament representing Sri Anandpur Sahib in Punjab in the 17th Lok Sabha. He earlier represented the Ludhiana Parliamentary Constituency in Punjab in the 15th Lok Sabha. He served as the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. He was the Spokesperson of the Cabinet and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. He was a Permanent/Special Invitee to the Union Cabinet as well as a Member of various Cabinet Committees such as Economic Affairs, Investment Parliamentary Affairs and numerous Empowered Groups of Ministers. He is currently the Senior National Spokesperson of the Indian National Congress (INC). He has been the Spokesperson of the Indian National Congress for the past 12 years—2008 onwards and General Secretary of its Foreign Affairs Department.

Tewari served as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the South Asia Centre of the Atlantic Council—a Washington DC-based think tank. He also served as an Honorary Advisor to the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). He has served on the Standing Committees of Law and Justice, Defense and Foreign Affairs and the Joint Parliamentary Committee that examined the Issues pertaining to the Telecom during from 19942009 as well as the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Defense. He currently serves on the Standing Committee of Finance and Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Data Protection Bill as well as the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Defense. He has authored three books: Decoding a Decade: The Politics of Policymaking, Fables of Fractured Times and Tidings of Troubled Times..