My generation of diplomats, by which I mean those of us who worked for nearly four decades between 1975 and 2013 was, I believe, a fortunate one. I propose to confine my thoughts on the heart and craft of diplomacy to five main themes. The first theme is to outline the history of the creation of independent India’s Foreign Service, and its roots in our civilisational history. The second theme is my understanding of the various duties of a dedicated diplomat, with special reference to those owed to the government of the day, the Constitution of India, and the nation itself. The third theme is the leadership that diplomats need to develop and display in times of crisis, and at every level of their careers. The fourth theme is the often challenging relationship between diplomats and politicians. The final and fifth theme, for which I seek your indulgence, is a review of some challenges and highlights of my diplomatic career.
The Indian Ocean is the third largest Ocean in the world, covering one-fifth of the world’s ocean water, with the Pacific and the Atlantic as the other two. However, it is not the size or the span which determine its geo-political, geo-economic, and geo-strategic importance. This essay discusses the broad features of the Ocean: the factors which make it strategically and economically important; its vulnerabilities from the point of view of regional security with global impact; competition among global players for larger footprints; and finally, the platforms of regional/global cooperation for ensuring maritime security and sustainable exploitation of the vast resources of the Indian Ocean for contemporary and future needs. The narration also revolves around India’s perspective.
To navigate uncertainty in Myanmar effectively, India must adopt a policy framework that revolves around adaptability and incremental progress. Moreover, instead of pursuing absolute certainty, this framework must prioritise a balance between iterative decision making, which allows for pivots as new political realities emerge. The focus should be on identifying controllable variables while building resilience against external shocks. By breaking complex challenges into manageable steps, the maintenance of momentum despite ambiguity is the need of the hour. This approach prioritises course correction to protect India’s interests over traditional policy planning and ensures that the strategy remains flexible enough to survive a volatile landscape while keeping long-term objectives firmly in sight.
This article examines how ASEAN’s consensus-driven decision making practice is being reshaped by political divergence, democratic regression, and great-power competition across Southeast Asia. Drawing on three case studies—Myanmar’s post-coup crisis, South China Sea maritime disputes, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)—it maps how consensus operates differently across political, security, and economic domains, and develops a typology that distinguishing enabling, blocking, and conditional consensus. Crucially, the article argues that ASEAN’s internal fragmentation and strategic recalibration carry direct, concrete consequences for India. As a key ASEAN dialogue partner, an indirect South China Sea stakeholder through its Act East Policy, an RCEP absentee, and a neighbour directly affected by the Myanmar crisis, India must engage purposefully with ASEAN’s evolving consensus architecture. The essay concludes that incremental reform—not abandonment—of the ASEAN Way offers the most viable path forward, and that India is well-positioned both to support that recalibration and to benefit from it.
The Third Nuclear Age ushers in an era of security dilemmas and existential threats compelling nations to augment their military capabilities as a safeguard against unforeseeable events. Such ambitions heighten the risks of a nuclear Armageddon. Though nations continue to deem nuclear weapons as vital instruments of security policy, the concept of ‘invulnerable security’ with nuclear weapons is largely notional rather than an absolute reality. Such conjectures are risky, and pave the way towards nuclear annihilation. To rebound from the brink of a catastrophe, a strong arms control architecture is imperative for global peace and security. As a responsible nuclear power, India has an obligation to contribute to this end.
