India and the Arms Trade Treaty : Making Disarmament Meaningful to People\'s Lives
Contents: Foreword. Introduction. 1. Background to India and arms trade treaty debate/Binalakshmi Nepram. 2. Weaponisation of Indian Society through illicit arms, proliferation, production and trade/Prashant Dikshit. 3. The Indian conventional arms acquisition scenario: assessing trends in imports, domestic production and exports/Deba R. Mohanty. 4. Illicit arms proliferation, and Maoist violence in India/Bibhu Routray. 5. Armed conflict in India\'s Northeast and arms proliferation/Binalakshmi Nepram. 6. Armed violence in Jammu and Kashmir and illicit arms proliferation and trade/Ashima Kaul. 7. Proliferation of firearms and explosives in the National Capital Region of Delhi and its impact on human security/Utkarsh Rathore. 8. India\'s small arms legislation/Riju Raj Jamwal and Baban Prakash. 9. Arms trade treaty as the way forward/Anuradha M. Chenoy. 10. Legal basis for an arms trade treaty, the global principles and foundation in international law/Clare da Silva. 11. The arms trade treaty resolution of the United Nations: legal implications/Shubram Ragkhowa. 12. Working at grassroots for an arms trade treaty Part-I/Vijayan Raghunathan. 13. Working at the grassroots Part -II: Manipur women gun survivors network/Reena Mutum. 14. Moving towards an arms trade treaty: role of Parliamentarians/Thokchom Meinya. Appendices. Index.
"Armed violence kills more than 350,000 people a year, and severely injures more than a million, in India, 12 people are shot dead everyday because of unregulated arms. Yet the global trade that fuels the epidemic of armed violence is not subject to international regulation. If the death, injury and disability resulting from unregulated arms were categorised as a disease, we would view it as an epidemic. The arms industry is unlike any other. It operates without regulation. There are more regulations in music and film industry than in arms.
The movement of arms across the world is a huge threat to human security. Around 8 million new small arms are manufactured every year, but far more significant is the movement of second-hand guns from one user to another. They last-and remain lethal-for decades. At present, it is impossible to monitor or interrupt this deadly flow of weapons. This is because there are no agreed global standards for governments when authorising exports or transfers.
On 6 December 2006, work on an international Arms Trade Treaty began immediately following a historic vote in the UN General Assembly, which saw 153 governments supporting the proposed Arms Trade Treaty. The United Nations General Assembly vote comes just three years after the launch of the Control Arms Campaign, which has seen over a million people in 170 countries calling for a treaty. Two week long open ended working group meetings per year are for seen from 2009 to 2011 for making the Arms Trade Treaty a reality.
The book for the first time makes an attempt to bring together research on the issue. It collates research done on the subject for over five years by eminent scholars and civil society. Analysis done on the issue shows how an Arms Trade Treaty can indeed benefit India. The book argues that India as an emerging global power has global responsibilities. We cannot live in isolation as today\'s world is an interlinked one. An Arms Trade Treaty can save lives and help prevent many attacks like Mumbai and hold countries responsible whose arms caused the death of thousands worldwide." (jacket)
