Over the past decade, the VIF has charted an academically independent path of research and analyses. The Foundation has thus been disseminating a vast stream of analyses of key developments and decision dilemmas concerning the nation to its wide circle of associates and readers. Non-partisan and balanced strategic objectivity, and conformity with India`s exalted native civilisational values being its fundamental competencies, it has earned a reputation for the highest level of credibility among national and international opinion as well as decision makers which include governments, strategists and academia.

To commemorate the Tenth Anniversary of the Foundation, a selection of 15 articles of contemporary national concerns, along with analyses and prognoses, are presented in this volume after due revision and updating. Authored by the fraternity of VIF stalwarts, with a sprinkling of potential researchers, the topics chosen are diverse, and as the reader would find, the analyses are as concurrent today as when the papers were written in the past few years. The lead authors, of course, are among the top strategic thinkers of contemporary times—Shri S. Gurumurthy, Shri Satish Chandra, General N. C. Vij and Dr. Arvind Gupta, to mention just a few. As the reader will appreciate, each article goes a step ahead to look beyond the usual, mundane discourses.