Much has been written in recent years to claim that the Indian Army has emerged today as a responsible and proficient counter-insurgency force. How did this come about? This article attempts to analyse the Indian Army’s experiences in counter- insurgency operations from Indian Independence till the beginning of the 21st century. The Army’s initial handling of such operations particularly in Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur was based on the British Army’s pattern of operations in Malaya and was primarily punitive. India’s democratic values compelled a progressive change so as to be more people-friendly and on the primacy of political aims in such operations. The article also examines the evolution of the Indian Army’s counter-insurgency doctrine from the same. It is during this period that India faced its highest intensity of counter-insurgency operations, where in reality she was fighting mostly proxy wars styled as insurgencies.

Traditional support to the Palestinians lies in the fact that India supports all the colonial states for their self-determination, which is the essential feature and guiding principle of India’s foreign policy. India has always played an active role in garnering support for the Palestinian cause across various multilateral fora. On the other side, India opposed the partition of Palestine in 1948 and only formally recognised Israel in 1950. But economic ties, defence collaborations, cooperation in intelligence ventures, agriculture and technological exchanges with Israel have significantly increased in recent years. In July 2017, Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel ended the practice of dignitaries who visit Israel, also travelling to Palestine. In fact, the relations with Palestine and Israel have been de-hyphenated and they both are now seen as mutually independent and exclusive. In doing so, India is becoming closer towards Israel. Abraham Accords signed in September 2020 talk about normalisation of relations between Israel and UAE, Bahrain, also decoupling the Palestine-Israel issues. The question arises whether India’s historical support to Palestinians is gradually eroding in the name of de-hyphenation. The paper has made a modest effort to describe and analyse, using historical methods, India’s perception and policy towards Palestine-Israel conflict issues in general and towards Israel in particular, as well as the issues involved in India’s policy shift towards Israel.

In the wake of the unprecedented rise of China in the international political and economic arena, a few baffling questions are found dominating much of the present- day conversations on geopolitics; what would be the fate of socialism in China in the years to come? Is the Chinese socialist model already on the verge of near collapse? Has China already embarked upon the path of capitalism under the guise of what it advocates as a socialist modernization drive? And what implications does this Chinese form of socialism carry for the global world order in the decades to come? While seeking answers to the above mentioned arbitrary questions within the academic and non- academic fora, this research article puts forth a critique of the Chinese socialist model of development that has set itself apart from other former socialist polities through an historical investigation of its complex evolution set against China’s dynamic political canvas and socio-economic backdrop, spanning over the period from 1949 till 2020. The paper attempts to bring to light, nuanced analyses of the political rhetoric of The Calcutta Journal of Global Affairs, VOLUME 5, NUMBER 2 (MAY 2021), © 2021 RESEARCH CENTRE FOR EASTERN AND NORTH EASTERN REGIONAL STUDIES, KOLKATA (CENERS-K). POLITICAL RHETORIC OF SOCIALISM WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS 179 socialism with Chinese characteristics, and in the course of research investigation identifies the essence of selective adaptation and the spirit of synthesis of Marxist socialist political thought as the leading features instrumental in granting flexibility, durability and relevance to the Chinese socialist model of development.

The endeavour of sustainable growth in any developing country like India needs support of a sound financial system. And, such a financial system must attempt to get active participation of all section of populations in the country. For a prolonged period after independence, lack of access to financial services among the rural population, has now been realised as the most serious hindrance to the economic progress of India. The effects of financial exclusion actually include exclusion from other mainstream social benefits like pension or saving schemes. It also leads to high cost debt and dispossession from essential utilities. Financial inclusion and its forward linkage to social security have been recognised as the most essential milestone for achieving sustainable development goals in any society or in a nation. Financial inclusion enables a society or a nation to achieve its sustainable economic and social developments, and brings empowerment of the weaker sections. In this article, the author attempts to understand financial inclusion and its significance on inclusive development of nation’s economy. This paper attempts to assess the impact of PMJDY, during its first phase of 4 years, towards banking network expansion and credit flow in West Bengal. The relevant secondary information / data have been gathered from multifarious online resources, research articles, and from the reports of RBI, SLBC and NABARD.

The economic rise of People’s Republic of China (PRC) is nothing short of the Industrial Revolution of 18th-19th Century Europe. If the Industrial Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars propelled Great Britain as the foremost world power, China’s economic rise and simultaneous enhancement of its comprehensive national power (CNP) have catapulted it to the second most powerful nation in the world. There are multiple indications that it is ready to challenge the sole superpower USA and is eager to fill the void created by USA’s economic waning and strategic dithering (reminding of similar hesitation prior to joining the second world war). In some fields e.g. artificial intelligence, communications etc., it seems a world leader. Since the rise of PRC in 1949, it has proved to be an enigma refusing to be coerced by established international norms primarily propagated by the West. Since its emergence as a challenger to USA, its propensity to spurn, reject and snub these norms have only enhanced. It has outrightly rejected any blame for the COVID 19 situation and pursues an independent path and policy world over and especially in Asia, South China Sea (SCS) and East China Sea (ECS), areas where it matters most for PRC. In Asia, China has to deal with some powerful neighbours, mainly Russia (a Eurasian power), Japan and India. While it has recently befriended Russia once again, its policy towards Japan is outright hostile and against India that of belligerence bordering to hostility. With a superpower challenger at its door, India has limited options. This article attempts to examine these.