AT LAST NORMALCY IS IN SIGHT!

What an experience we have all had in the past four months! It has shaken everything from bottom to top and in all directions. No movement at all in such a shocking and scary way which no one had ever expected or even visualised. The Covid-19 Pandemic has toppled everything and brought everything to a standstill which no one has ever seen in his / her lifetime.

It was the only factor which has been observed and experienced in the same manner by everyone with no borders, no limitation of economic status of anyone, no caste, no colour or creed across the globe. The entire mankind was on its knees to pray to the Almighty to save them from this pandemic and it is so unfortunate that millions lost the battle and died because of this deadly virus. Production of everything came to a long halt of almost four months in every industry. All business establishments were vacant and all educational institutes were shut down and are still not opened till date in almost all the countries.

We, at DSA, were equally affected and had to suspend publication of the magazine for four months. The last edition of DSA was published in March 2020 and only now team DSA decided to resume its publication from the September 2020 edition. We could have started its publication in August itself but due to certain challenges, it was delayed by a month or so and only now after the celebration of our 74th Independence Day, we could finalise the September 2020e dition. It is in your hands, dear reader, with the same quality content and presented to you with the same production quality it has been maintaining since its first edition in October 2009.

In the past four months the entire world was facing the challenges of pandemic, taking care of the patients, making arrangements for the last rites of the large number of deceased and trying to do the research to find a possible solution to counter this pandemic. Meanwhile, almost all the countries on the globe accused China of being solely responsible for this pandemic and lots of theories related to China’s involvement flooded the social media. When China wasa ccused of creating the Covid-19 virus and millions of people died in various parts of the globe, many international companies stopped their operations and have wound up their companies in China. Beijing was cornered and a lot of resentment emerged within China.

With this situation China faced the internal as well as the external heat and thus to divert attention, the Chinese Peoples’ Liberation Army was ordered to infiltrate i nto the Ladakh region in India and several other points on the Line of Actual Control. On the night of 15th and 16th June, 2020; China deployed its army in the region with a lot of arms and ammunition with the intention of staying for a long time. As per the mutual pact between India and China, none of the soldiers were supposed to carry weapons on the LAC. However, it was a sad incident that around 20 Indian soldiers and some 40 Chinese soldiers were killed during this assault in which unconventional weapons like barbed wire was used by the Chinese.

After this infiltration by the Chinese Army, Indian Army and Indian Air Force were kept on the high alert to deal with them. Simultaneously, the Government of India opposed the action of Chinese Army on its borders and this act of China was condemned by almost all the countries on the globe and thus, China agreed to hold talks at both the military and the diplomatic levels. Currently, when this edition reaches you, dear reader, the Government of India would have been trying its best to release the tension in the concerned region but China is still not executing a complete withdrawal and restoration of the status quo taking its army back from the Indian borders and to positions as in April. Talks are still on between both the armies and the governments.

This edition is focused on the Covid-19 as well as on India-China current relationship and I am sure that this edition will also be read minutely by all the defence and security experts especially since DSA is in your hands after a five-month enforced hiatus caused by the pandemic.

I, personally, seek your good wishes for the entire team of DSA, which is committed to bring out every edition with the same high standards.

Jai Hind