Defence: India
A spiteful brief...

...of the current state of India’s defence...and offence!
“The great eventful Present hides the Past; but through the din of its loud life, hints and echoes from the life behind steal in,” as John Greenleaf Whittier said. We started a similar journey back in the history of India to witness how often it has been invaded, humiliated, subjugated and above all, divided. It’s been sixty years to a paradoxical Independence and division, the scars of which have not yet been healed by the fl owing tide of time. As destiny would have it, yesterday’s siblings are today the biggest adversaries, one almost desperate to destroy its elder brother whose existence is the very anti-thesis of its own identity; while the elder brother has been a little more considerate, but oft en has been left with no option than to teach the recalcitrant sibling a lesson or two.

We are essentially talking about India and Pakistan. While the chances of a nuclear holocaust have subsided much, still, the subcontinent is far from becoming a peace haven. And as if the envy of Pakistan hasn’t been enough, it has rather got a major booster from similar antipathy within many sections of Bangladesh. While the chances of much of the subcontinent becoming a hub of radical fundamentalism essentially remains above average, it can only go up as the increasing prosperity of the Indian economy creates more heartburn in the failing states of Bangladesh and Pakistan. And while an inclusive growth strategy for the subcontinent is of prime essence, in the short run, India is left with not much option but to increase its vigil, the reminiscences of 1948, 1965,1971 and 1999 still fresh in mind. It is more of a certainty that Pakistan’s misanthropic misadventure would increasingly spread its fangs much beyond the paradigm of Kashmir to all over India. And it is a bigger certainty that in the new game, Bangladesh would be the new pawn, making sure that for India, internal security becomes much more of a concern than external threats.

Reaping the benefit of this increasing animosity towards India is China, which has its own compulsion to see much of India burning in a slow yet lethal proxy war. On one hand, while it has otherwise maintained a so called peaceful stance, on the other hand, it has been consistently handing over to Pakistan vital nuclear and missile technology to continue to keep India busy. So the elephant, which has not yet fully awakened from the slumber, finds itself surrounded by adversaries armed with lethal arsenal. Under such circumstances, a proposition to not arm her own self – just for the sake of pleasing the peaceniks – is nothing but self defeating. So a nuclear India has embarked on a new mission to continue with its missile development programmes to makes sure that some of them like Agni-III can reach the heart of China. Yet the world isn’t that unfair. For every adversary, there are new allies too. India’s bonhomie with Israel and the US has made sure that certain regions where it lacked the right kind of equipment have been taken care of. The increasing bonhomie is vindicated by the American inclination to shower us with an unprecedented and exclusive nuclear deal even when we have not yet signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This is proof enough of the success and efficacy of our pluralistic democracy, But as somebody said it right – The best way to be at peace

Threat : China
We should do what?!? Hug China?

To consider China a friend can be no less than a bomb of a blunder?
The aftermath of the Pokharan tests in 1998, when George Fernandes claimed that it wasn’t Pakistan but the threat from China that necessitated the nuclear test, created a major furore among the peaceniks and pseudo-intellectuals of this country. But the fact that most of the major powers of the world, including Russia, France and USA, let India off and eventually gave a whisper of a legitimacy through the nuclear deal (currently under negotiations) vindicates that what Fernandes claimed was not a slip of tongue. Even if we keep aside the humiliation that was showered on us by China in 1962 as a thing of the past, for the past two decades China has been consistently arming Pakistan with the most lethal nuclear and missile technology for obvious reasons. In addition to this, for years, China was unwilling to accept Sikkim as a part of India. And now, even after they have endorsed the same, their latest intransigence about Arunachal Pradesh is a mere continuation of their long term strategic goals.

In the same league, the Chinese interference in the subcontinent is on a rise, be it arming Sri Lanka and Bangladesh or setting up strategic bases in Indian Ocean. China’s economic growth has coincided with a stupendous increase in its defence expenditure, reaching an official level of $45 billion ($70 billion claimed unofficially) with a massive manhunt for oil to fuel the growing economy, where time and again it is confronting ONGC. Yet, it’s not just India. Be it Taiwan, Japan or even United states and Russia, no one knows what the dragon would eventually be up to. In its quest to become the largest economy of the world – as has been predicted by the Goldman Sachs – China would increasingly have face-off s with India. And even though it still makes a lot of sense to maintain economic cooperation with China, under no circumstances can India lower its guard. We paid the price for that in 1962. It’s high time we learnt from history... or from the Chinese DonFeng missiles.

And kiss ‘n make up with Pakistan?
In other words, why India has no answer to the Pakistan issue
Pakistan perennially remains the emotionally disadvantaged Siamese sibling of India whose existence is a predicament more for itself than for India. It took more than sixty years for India to reach the trillion dollar mark in GDP. Would India have taken lesser time if Pakistan had been more, ahem, loving? One guesses not. But born on the pretext of a separate nation for Muslims, the fact cannot be wished away that Pakistan has not digested the existence and success of a secular India whose Muslim population is bigger than its own. Over the years, as it witnessed the increasing stability of India against all odds and its rising economic and strategic prominence in the global arena (while Pakistan’s slide continued), the powers within the nation become hell bent on killing India’s social harmony. But with that dream going sour, like the Kashmir dream, a desperate Pakistan has let loose all its fangs in all corners of India. Now that it finds it difficult to continue with the mayhem in Kashmir, given the near huge deployment of CRPF, BSF and army, it is paying back the defeat of 1971 by making Bangladesh its new pawn. In the recent blasts in Malegaon and in Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, there has been clear evidence of the involvement of the Bangladesh based radical Islamic group HUJI. In the same league, there is enough evidence to believe that Naxalites and ULFA, who otherwise are diagrammatically opposite the Islamic ISI in terms of ideology, are getting much monetary and technical support from across the border.

So what’s the solution for India to use? In reality, none but hyping up the fact that India is militarily far mightier than Pakistan. And that is because till date, the mentality of successive governments of Pakistan has bordered on being inanely childish, with diplomatic meetings being radical rants than intellectual discussions! And to such herds, it is not ‘tire’ diplomacy that works, but ‘fire’ diplomacy. And that is how India has to earn peace.. through fear, and not through love!

Defence : Army
Barmy army?

The army’s fallen behind China
Considered to be among the best in the world in terms of skills and professionalism, the second largest army of the world has for long kept itself apolitical and has won many a war for the country. But over the last few years, it has been losing some of its sheen due to a severe shortage of commissioned officers, increasing pressure to deal with insurgency, suicides among its personnel and inordinate delay in getting the right kind of hardware owing to political indecisiveness. While it finds its artillery capability severely hamstrung owing to cannibalization of its old Bofors 155mm guns, for fear of political backlash, the new contracts for the 155mm Howitzers are not being awarded to the Swedish company, even though now it is a subsidiary of BAE Systems. Though Indian Army’s budget has been considerable increased in recent past, the fact is that China has gone far ahead of India in terms of troop modernization , without a matching response from India. Yet, in the worst of times and amidst hostile neighbours, the army still remains our best bet... with feet on the ground!

DEFENSE: AIRFORCE
BARE FORCE?
...force a question mark
Technically the fourth largest air force in the world, the Indian Air Force probably never had it so bad. Especially at a time when the nation’s increasing geopolitical and economic importance is expanding the strategic paradigm of the country’s air force. The same schizophrenic indecisiveness, which has so far delayed the modernisation of Indian Army, has literally crippled the air force. While its dwindling fleet of ageing MiGs is forcing it to reduce the number of squadrons much below the sanctioned level, the indigenous production of Sukhois have not been able to keep pace with the desired level. While the government has been unable to bring out the tender of the much needed 126 MRCAs, the ageing SAMs are adding to the woes. This, at a time when China and Pakistan have been vociferously investing in their air forces. While we self defeatingly dither on crucial purchases, India’s government goes one step ahead and continues investing in the ostensible research capabilities of ISRO and similar inefficient domestic organisations, which have been able to deliver zilch!

DEFENCE : INDIAN NAVY
Indian gravy?
Navy seems to be a mish-mash
Compared to the IAF and the Army, Indian Navy is a little more poised. With an array of frigates, destroyers, aircraft carriers and submarines to be inducted in the next one decade, the Indian Navy would truly have a formidable blue water capability in some years to come. With three Talwar class frigates already inducted, three more on order with Russia, the production of Scorpene submarines having already started and INS Ghorshkov slated to join in 2009, and even with the purchase of amphibious ship USS Trenton, the navy truly is now getting the right kind of attention that it deserved for long. Yet, it has is own set of problems. Its Sea King helicopters and reconnaissance fleet of Tu-142 is fast depleting. What is badly needed are the P-3C Orion type planes. INS Virat is barely surviving and the navy’s submarine capability is next to nothing when compared to that of China’s. And though its ships are being inducted with Brahmos cruise missiles, its submarine ballistic missile launch capability is severely restricted. For a country surrounded significantly by water and ‘loving’ neighbours, India’s navy cannot remain a mish-mash bonsai. Unfortunately, the powers that may be still seem to be in a daze about these issues that could well one day have the power to destroy India...

THREAT : NAXALITE
The enemy within...

...is the government, because of whom the Naxalite problem exists
It’s been a long time since the days of Charu Majumdar and Naxalbari movement. India has changed much from those days and though disparities, inequalities and discrimination still prevail in many of the pockets of the country, the movement that is going on in the name of Naxalism today is far from the ideology of Charu Majumdar. Ironically, today Naxalites have literally become an anti-thesis of what essentially was the reason for the initiation of the movement. In the last few years, more people have died due to their mayhem than in wars or in, say, Kashmir. Those are oft en the hapless and poor foot soldiers of CRPF and State police along with innocent villagers who are the victims of their atrocity. Critics say that given the millions they collect annually through extortion, they could have literally changed the landscape of rural India if they wanted. One wonders how easily these critics forgot about the billions our successive governments have had, and never invested on sincerely developing the situation of the underprivileged... Nevertheless, Naxalism today is nothing but an organised extortion racket at best, and a bloody terrorist organisation bereft of ideology at worst, oft en using the disguise of intellectualism to hide their real motive.

So who takes the blame for this movement? Surprisingly, more than Naxalites themselves, the blame squarely lies on successive governments, who have never been able to provide productive employment, literacy, income, health services and a dignified existence to hundreds of millions of Indians. Think about it, after 60 years of so called ‘Independence’, India has 400 million poor. Naxalites have 400 million prospective members to recruit...

Threat : Sectarian Violence
A politician’s gift
Thumbs up to sectarian violence
The British perhaps had seen it a long time back and were prudent enough to exit in time. It is rather intriguing that even sixty years after their exit, the problem of sectarian violence, sometimes as communal clashes or caste violence and oft en on ethnic and class grounds, torments India. As if the external threats from our noble neighbours was not enough, these oft en avoidable internal conflicts have the potential to nullify all that independent India has achieved in six decades. While the entire Northeast is mired in ethnic clashes among the myriad of tribes, the central heartland of the country is still paying the price of the age extorold caste system. Even when the nation is maturing enough to make communal riots a thing of the past, violence that often erupts on frivolous issues, like that of Dera Sacha Sauda or the Gujjar agitation, have the potential to rip apart the country. The polity, driven by the same myopic views of electoral gains, have been more than happy to let these issues rage on at intervals. But if this country has to stay united for even the next one century, it has to resolve these petty sub nationalist movements. Or else be prepared for the next partition...

DEFENCE:PARAMILITARY
Oh, those?

The ones who get the short end The poorer sister of India’s armed forces, the central police organsiations like BSF, CRPF, ITBP, SSB, CISF are just as hard-pressed and neglected. While they are increasingly being deployed to contain terrorist activities, often they find themselves lacking autonomy (as enjoyed by the army). Essentially, it has been the CRPF that has been paying the price with an average of 1,000 of its personnel losing lives every year in the fight against Naxalites and terrorists. Yet, the government has not been kind enough to give them the right kind of comfort to be battle ready. In the end, fragging and suicides are adding to the already high casualties. While the government has been trying to hide its failure to contain militancy with an increase in the number of battalions for ITBP, SSB and CRPF in addition to a plethora of India Reserve Battalions, the needs of the hour are a vibrant intelligence gathering mechanism, and of course, higher salary. It is an irony that even when the extent of risk for a paramilitary personnel is in no way less than that of an army personnel, when it comes to compensation, it is still much less. At a time when terrorism is bent on destroying India’s social fabric, the ones who guard us oft en go unnoticed. Well, not every mob battle is a Kargil, eh!

DEFENCE : INTELLIGENCE
The state of internal intelligence

The first strike against your enemy in war is to know when the enemy would strike you. In more conventional words, those are the intelligence agencies that are the mainstay dark horses who decide who would be the victor. While the efficacy of gun totting foot soldiers in a battle can never be underestimated, without adequate backing from a technology driven intelligence division, they are as good as sitting ducks. While there’s a plethora of intelligence agencies starting from RAW, IB, Army Intelligence, Air Force Intelligence et al, the lack of coordination between them is legendary, be it in information on Kargil or even in controlling relentless terrorist activities. State intelligence agencies are in a dismal state, making it all the more easier for terrorist groups and especially the Naxalites and ULFA to strike at will. Moreover, the intelligence personnel oft en lack the motivation to carry on their work because of archaic compensation procedures. Unless IB and state intelligence are given more enforcement power and motivation, bribery, leakage and lethargy will make sure that perpetrators would always have the upper hand, like right now!

DEFENCE : ANTITERRORLAW
POTA? Funny!

It’s funny there’s no Act now...
Probably there’s no other country in the world, which has faced such a severe onslaught of terrorism and yet finds itself lacking tough laws to combat this menace. NDA Government’s POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) was brought in effect through an ordinance, but the UPA, to prove its secular credentials, revoked the powerful law, arguably only to handicap the police in convicting terrorists. Though POTA’s efficacy can be questioned, the fact is that the absence of a sensible Act has helped terrorists to continue with their work knowing well that even if they get caught, there were high chances of their getting spared (For example, it is nothing less than ridiculous that state police still needs permission to cross the state border while chasing down terrorists), one reason why ‘encounter killings’ by the police increased. State police forces, barring those in J&K, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, are no match for organised terrorist groups, more because of the lack of structured powers than because of lack of ammunition. Unless the government shows resolve, the battle is surely not going to be won on the streets...