From the publisher: India’s conventional war doctrine has been extensively discussed over the past decade. It has been dubbed Cold Start, though the term has been dropped from usage recently. The article discusses India’s limited-war doctrine in its origin, impetus behind it, tenets, and reasons for the current distancing from the doctrine. The doctrine was India’s rekindling of its conventional deterrent in the face of Pakistani subconventional proxy warfare. Its implications in terms of escalation possibilities to the nuclear level attracted considerable attention. Its “quick on the draw” nature added to concerns on crisis stability. These conspired to shift the latest doctrinal movement in India away from default reliance on traditional conventional operations to a proactive strategy that includes in addition punitive military response options.