Stanzin Namgail

The region of Ladakh is at a very strategic position where contrasting civilizations, religions, political setup, ideologies and topographies encounter. The region of Ladakh is surrounded by Pakistan and China which shares a natural notion of an adversary state vis-à-vis India as per Kautilya's Rajamandala. The redrawing of the political map and administrative setup of the now union administered territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A attracted sharp criticisms from the states of Pakistan and China, both having designs on the erstwhile state. The reposition from the Indian side and the growing geopolitical tensions in the region due to the rise of China, China's security concerns for its backyard and the Afghanistan conundrum post August 2021 have multiplied the significance of Ladakh.

Modern wars were supposed to be a quick work. Advancements in various facets of technology especially in the military industrial sector and dual use technologies, introduction of doctrines and tactics as well as military exercises were meant to make a prolonged war short but things are not going the way it was supposed to. The idea of a short decisive war stemmed out from the challenges presented by the traditional wars and battles fought between states. As humankind developed and evolved over centuries, so did the methods and motivations for fighting a war. We are thus yet again in a period where wars are a prolonged exercise. The Russia-Ukraine conflict which started in February, 2022 still goes on as of October 2023. This has created an immense constraint for the global food demand and supply. The aim of this paper is thus set to observe how prolonged conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war impacts the developmental goals set forth by the United Nations under its United Nations Developmental Programme and especially in terms of food security. The focused time period of this study will be the conflict between the sovereigns of Russia and Ukraine which was set forth after the Russian military charged upon the territory of Ukraine in what it called as the 'Special Military Operations' in February, 2022. The primary objective of the study shall entail the perils of protracted conflicts on food security. The objective thus sculpts our research question which is to find whether a protracted conflict like the Russia-Ukraine war endangers food security and if so, are the effects isolated to a certain region or is the impact felt on a global scale. The methodology to pursue this paper is qualitative in nature and descriptive and analytical in practice. The paper concludes by implying that Ukraine-Russia conflict does greatly impact the food supplies around the globe and the conflict in Ukraine will only end when the country becomes a true sovereign and develops its economy and military might in comparison with the countries which try to dominate it or use it against the other.