No Easy Answers by James Goldrick

BOOK REVIEW

1.       Misc Info

a.       Title              No Easy  Answers

b.         Author             James  Goldrick

c.         Publisher          Lancer  Publishers

d.         Total Pages      225

2.         Central Theme.The end of colonial era in sub continent resulted into a desire of

dominating Indian Ocean  by  newly  born  states. The ability of nations to organize and maint naval svc depended upon lvl of national dev. Naval planning efforts were dir towards finding ways to overcome deficiencies which were otherwise inevitable in dev nations of south Asia. The book revolves around obj survey of navies of sub continent and their future challenges.

3.                  Author’s Inspirations. James Goldrick, s interest in the dev of navies in sub continent dev during his research conducted in British Public Record Office in 1984/85. As author belonged to Royal Australian Navy (RIA), therefore he found similarities between the challenges faced by Indian navy and similarities in response His first research ”The Royal Navy and Dev of Indian Navy 1945-1965” lead him towards subj of “Dev of Other Navies in South Asia”.

4.                  Contents. The book is divided into nine parts giving a detailed study of dev of navies in South Asia from 1945-1996. Focussing on India navy and Pakistan navy, detailed accounts of naval acquisition, eval of doctrine and continuos dependence of foreign assistance have been presented. The partition of sub continent coincided with cold war era  and brought India and Pakistan close to USSR and  USA respectivly.A brief  account of various parts of the book is as under;

a.                   Part 1.East India Coy org and maint a naval svs in the sub continent during 1612.Later on navy was reorg but the role remained limited to seaward def of India and its maritime comm. The RIN was given due attention to ensure protection of Singapore and other Asian possession against seaborne invasion

b.                  Part 2&3.After partition, the divided RIN was not capable of meeting strat req of India and Pakistan. The strat compulsions of newly formed states resulted into desire of expansion in navies. Despite even distribution of naval assets, it lead towards massive naval expansion programme in the region .UK did not extend naval assistance with a fear of new influences in Indian ocean in cold war era. By 1960,s India and Pakistan relied on USSR and USA. India emerged as dominating naval power in surface vessels with an ac carrier.

c.                   Part 4.The 1971 war was the first display of naval powers of both the countries in Indian Ocean. India completely dominated Pakistan navy by threatening SLOC to East Pakistan. This conflict further accelerated the naval expansion in South Asia with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh joining the race. War also demonstrated the imp of tech and judgment, which Pakistan lacked.

d.                  Part 5&6.After 1971 war with Pakistan, Indian strat threat did not reduce in view of Chinese naval designs and Sri Lankan internal conflicts. Moreover the serviceability of Indian fleet remained unsatisfactory.1996 saw Indian navy at crossrd  with fragile eco which placed breaks upon physical expansion. Pakistan on the other hand had an access to cheap source of arm i.e. China. The obs was the lack of flow of funds. The soviet invasion in Afghanistan brought new dimensions in Pakistan and navy was able to include RGM 84 Harpoon msls. However eco constraints remained a constant hurdle in achieving a bal surface threat, inspite having dev an underwater threat.

e.                   Part 7&8.The Bangladesh after 1971 req a naval force for monitoring, policing and protection of eco zone. The decision to create coast gd was implemented in 1996 with coastal ptl craft and small boats. In Sri Lanka a need was felt to have a reasonable naval force to sp army op in north against LTTE. Govt faced problems to meet the req of armd forces in 1995.

f.                   Part 9. Maritime str depends upon commercial and industrial str of a country. The challenges for navies of South Asia will be to determine where bal must be struck between essentials and mere desirables.

4.         Comments. The book provides insight of the naval expansion in sub continent in a logical fashion. It is easy to comprehend by even an average reader. To dev an interest for other svc, this book can serve as basis. I recommend this book for offrs for gen studies.

ECO  REVIVAL OF PAKISTAN AND ROLE OF INTL DONORS

1.                Introduction

2.                Aim. To study the role of intl donors in the deteriorating eco of Pakistan and suggest measures for the eco revival of Pakistan.

3.                Gen

a.                   Aid

b.                  Loan

c.                   Grant

PART  1

4.                Emergence  of Intl Donors and their Role

a.                   Post world war era and eco scenario in the world.

b.                  UNO  and IBRD

c.                   IMF/ Paris Club /London Club

d.                  USA  assumes status of individual country donor

5.                Impact of  Intl Donors on Global Eco

a.                   Eco  revival in europe.

b.                  Dev Programme for Lower dev countries (LDC).

c.                   Capital eco into market eco

d.                  Problem of debt clearance in pol instable countries.

 

PART 2

6.                Review of Pakistan Eco Affairs

a.                   Pre planned era (1947-1955).

a.                   Five Year Plans

(1)        First Phase      1955-1970

(2)        Second Phase   1970-1990

(3)        Third  Phase     1990-2000 (Eco Revival  Plan)

7.                Principle Donors of Pakistan

a.                   Aid to Pakistan Consortium/World Bank.

b.                  Non Consortium Sources.

c.                   Islamic Countries.

d.                  IMF Trust Fund.

8.                Type of Assistance

a.                   Project Assistance.

b.                  Commodity Assistance.

c.                  PL 480 Commodity Assistance.

d.                 Tech Assistance.

9.                Terms and Conditions

a.         Pd of Repayment.

b.                  Interest Rate.

c.                   Grants.

10.            Appraisal of Pakistan Debt / Foreign Loan Outstanding.

11.            Option for Pakistan

a.                   Rescheduling

b.                  Privatization and  Debt Clearance

PART 3

12.            Concls

a.                   Till 1970 Pakistan best user of intl / foreign aid.

b.                  From  mid 70,s substantial  rise in foreign  aid ;

(1)               Devaluation of rupee.

(2)               Nationalization

(3)               Reduction in growth rate.

(4)               Other intl donors agencies dev.

c.                   Pol  Destabilization

(1)               Incompetent politicians.

(2)               Corrupt beaurocracy.

d.                  Changing  Geo Pol  Sit

(1)               Grant component of aid gradually reduced.

(2)               Lending countries / agencies gave preference to friendly countries.

(3)               Eco sanctions.

e.         Eco revival agenda of present govt.

13.            Recommendations

a.                   Steps to be persuaded  by intl  agencies

(1)               Reduction in interest rate.

(2)               Inc value of currency in LDC.

(3)               Adjustment in terms of aid.

b.                  Eco strat.

c.                   Agricultural reforms.

d.                  Resource mob/reforms.