Here is a common perception that India-Israel relations are restricted in scope and application to defence hardware acquisition. This flows from the fact that over the years India has emerged as one of the biggest buyers of Israeli defence equipment. But nothing could be farther from the truth. While it is true that India could leap frog into state-of-the-art homeland security arrangement by sourcing hardware and technology from Israel, and give a cutting edge to its defence forces with Israeli armaments, there’s a lot more from which we could benefit tremendously. For instance, Israel has a proven track record in cyber security and we could seek its support in securing our cyber interests and assets. Three areas where India-Israel cooperation can work wonders for us, and which should be the focus of a robust relationship, are water management, agricultural technology and rapid house-building with pre-fabricated material. A severe water crisis stares us in the face unless we initiate urgent action. Israeli technology can not only help us manage our water resources better, but also recycle waste water for agricultural, industrial and even domestic use. To meet food and land challenges of the future, we have to start working on making our deserts blossom. Israel knows how to do that. And, if we are serious about housing for all by the 150th birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, we have to explore means of rapid construction. Once again, Israel can show us how to do that. Now that the fog has lifted and the frost thawed, India must vigorously engage with Israel and make up for the lost decade. Or else Modi runs the risk of being seen as indulging in meaningless tokenism. dailypioneer/columnists/coffee-break/modi-must-take-india-israel-ties-to-a-new-high.html
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 15:48:26 +0000