There is widespread consensus that as two rising powers, India and China will have progressively more to do together at the regional and global levels and that their cooperation needs to be strengthened and expanded. This book represents the first occasion where academic specialists and retired military personnel from both countries have come together with serving military officers to give their views on a number of important and sensitive topics ranging from nuclear CBMs to maritime cooperation to terrorism. It is hoped that the debates engendered in this volume, will contribute to better understanding and the improvement of bilateral ties not just in the security domain but also in other fields in which the two countries are increasingly engaged.

India entered the 21st century with multiple challenges – both external and internal – and a history of tackling these challenges mostly softy, or not as hard and effectively as they should have been tackled. In 2014 general election the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) got voted into power with a massive majority. Almost a year earlier the BJP had declared Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. Despite a concerted campaign of vilifying him, his appeal grew and spread and he finally became the Prime Minister of the world`s largest democracy. The 2014 mandate stands out as the first ever one giving a clear majority to a non-Congress party. This is an unprecedented mandate with many inherent messages. Modi`s message of development and good governance combined with the economic agenda of growth attracted the attention of young and aspiring India. His government must achieve on diverse subjects like economy, foreign policy, food security, external and internal security, job creation, administrative reforms etc. The people of India have high hopes and expectations from Modi`s government and they will be impatient to see how Narendra Modi will out his agenda. It is an opportune time to for him to restore people`s faith in democracy and India`s glory. The contributors have tried to bring out some of the relevant issues with hopes that the compilation would be useful to take India to greater heights.