MOTHER OF ALL THE BATTLES FOR THE FREEDOM OF INTERNET :Whose Internet Is It, Anyway?

SOURCE:
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/net-neutrality-internet-web-apps-telecom-companies/1/440876.html










                MOTHER OF ALL  THE  BATTLES                                    FOR
        THE FREEDOM OF  INTERNET

                Whose Internet Is It, Anyway?

                                         By

                         

                            Ball in Government's Court as 

              GREEDY SELF CENTRIC  INDIAN TELCOS 

               move to compartmentalise the world wide web

 

 

         NET NEUTRALITY IS A LITMUS TEST

                                      FOR

               THE MODI GOVERNMENT

 

                    INTELECT SLAVERY

 

                                       OR

 

                   INTELECT FREEDOM

 

 

                                    YOUR FREEDOM

                                                

                                                 TO

 

      FREE ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE IS UNDER ATTACK

 

                                      IF INDIAN PUBLIC

 

    LOOSES THE NET NEUTRALITY  BATTLE

 

                                           THAN

 

                        BE PREPARED TO FALL

 

                                             INTO

 

       PREPETUAL INTELECT BONDED  SLAVERY

 

                                                  OF

 

                        INTELECT  RATIONING

 

 

 

 

Information is the new gold. It is the new oil. Anyone who controls information has access to great wealth and power."
From Killswitch: The Battle to Control the Internet (2015), directed by Ali Akbarzadeh

Neutrality, as a philosophy, is the tendency to not take sides in a conflict. It is different from apathy, ignorance or indifference. It means tolerance regardless of how unusual, unpleasant or even deplorable a perspective might be.

It is this spirit of neutrality that has made the internet The Great Democratiser.


A universe within a universe that offers a chaotic mesh of ideas, throws up countless possibilities, and provides a level-playing field for all-be it a media conglomerate headquartered in Silicon Valley or a tiny start-up in small-town India.



  ********************************************************

The Relateds

Airtel Zero, Internet.org Defeat the Concept of Net Neutrality: MTNL

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net neutrality: Govt promises non-discriminatory access to internet

    **



*********************************************************  


        

The raging discussion on net neutrality-the principle that the internet must be free and open, and all information must get equal weightage no matter who is creating it-impacts far more people than just the tech community. Once you look past jargon such as 'gatekeepers', 'data packets' and 'network architecture', you realise that the fundamental questions are two fairly simple ones: who does the internet really belong to-the telecom companies who provide the cables that enable access to it, or the users who fill it with apps, data and information? And, what is the primary role of the internet-is it a tool to pay bills, watch TV shows and keep in touch with friends, or is it a round-the-clock symposium of ideas, opinions and innovations that could redefine the space we inhabit today and the times we will live in tomorrow? 
 Facebook's Internet.org attracts 8 lakh users in India



Although the discussion on network neutrality is almost a decade old even in India, its various twists and turns have become pronounced over the last few weeks, and are likely to get more angular as the government gets ready to frame a clear policy on it soon. At the heart of the problem lies a push by telecom companies, who also double up as service providers either via broadband or via mobile phones, to strike deals with certain websites and apps to offer them preferential treatment. This can either be in the form of making them part of an exclusive "zero rating" in which no data charges apply, or in the form of ensuring faster browsing speeds for their products, thereby encouraging  ( read  'FORCING' ) users to go to these websites and apps more often than other newer products devised by smaller companies. In India, for example, Airtel stirred the pot by offering a zero rating for data transactions on certain websites. Their private club included the biggest e-commerce marketplace Flipkart, just as Internet.org, a similar scheme by Reliance Communications and Facebook, included one of India's biggest travel portals Cleartrip and news portal NDTV.com, but the companies pulled out because of a public backlash once the net neutrality debate went viral.








Leading proponents of neutrality, such as Medianama.com, argue that both these initiatives would effectively split the internet into different zones-free and paid, Indian and foreign, big companies and small start-ups, and into sections monitored by individual service providers.
TRAI won't display emails if you specify it




Net Neutrality vs Net Opportunity


The telecom companies, who all say they want an "open internet", counter net neutrality with a catchy phrase of the own-Net Opportunity. This is the philosophy that internet use must be inventively monetised

( PAY AS U USE THE INTERNET, USAGE FEES SLAVE TO  THE WHIMS OF THE TELCOM OPERATOR)

  in order to connect remote parts of the country where there is still no access. They suggest that neutrality is stopping them from making enough revenue to effect this expansion. As Rajan Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) put it in recent interviews: "People espousing net neutrality in India say that everyone who has access to the internet should have access to every website or application, and we are not denying that. What we are asking is, what about the 1 billion people in India who do not have any access;? They too must have access to the internet."

 The COAI's 'Sabka Internet' campaign, which talks about a "Digital Bharat" and "affordable internet for all" on a website peppered with heartwarming images of internet usage in rural India, is a subtle distillisation of this anti-neutrality argument. To put it in a poker (and French Revolution) metaphor, the telecom companies are effectively saying, "We see your egalite, and raise you a fraternite."

INDIA HAS GOT TWO GOVERNMENTS  "DILLI SARKAR"  &   "BCCI"  IF  MODI  SCUMBLES THAN INDIA WILL HAVE THIRD GOVERNMENT  

                         COAI  KI  SARKAR


( Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)  ki Sarkar)

However, the argument of the telecom companies, made by citing the Rs 1.1 lakh crore spent to purchase spectrum in March and the hit to voice and SMS revenues being caused by OTT (over-the-top) services such as Skype and WhatsApp, isn't flying with everyone. The genesis of the latest controversy lies in a March 27 "consultation paper" released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) -that made a series of recommendations. Along with suggesting that any company using voice or messaging should buy a licence from the government even if it was operating from abroad, TRAI recommended that internet companies register with service providers to ensure smooth delivery to users. Going by these recommendations, a telecom company such as Airtel could sign a deal with an OTT app such as WhatsApp, offering it for free while throttling a competitor such as BlackBerry Messenger or smaller apps such as Kik Messenger. Since this was a consultation paper, TRAI asked for views from internet users across India by April 24. Over the course of that month, they received comments from 1.1 millon people ask- ing them to preserve net neutrality by neither licensing OTT services nor giving telecom companies the right to charge different prices for different Web-based services.



What stood out in the TRAI's consultation paper was how different it was to the views the regulator had held in the past. In a 2006 paper, TRAI Review of Internet Services, for example, it had categorically said that net neutrality must be protected because it is this principle that has "allowed many companies (application service providers, content providers etc) to launch, grow, and innovate".



The regulator had also sounded a warning: "Internet access providers may (one day) use their market power to discriminate against competing applications and/or contents. The issue of net neutrality in the long term can threaten the popularity of the public internet-based telephony and similar other applications as all the intermediate internet providers may start asking commercial agreements in absence of which they may refuse to carry the content and provide desired quality of service." Incidentally, the TRAI chairman at the time, Nripendra Misra, is now principal secretary to Prime Minister

  Narendra Modi.



Supporters of net neutrality  suggest that the change of heart has come because of pressure from telecom companies. TRAI denies the allegation. But neutrality supporters, led by a group of artists, professionals and entrepreneurs who have come together to start the Save The Internet campaign, allege that telecom companies are pushing for changes even though they are growing at a healthy rate and the reduction in voice and text revenues has been more than made up by increased data usage (see graphic). They also point out that the three leading telecom companies, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, have added between 7 and 11.5 million 3G internet connections in the last four quarters alone. India is expected to have in excess of 354 million inter- net users by June 2015 with 213 mil- lion of these also using their phones to go online.




Government Under Pressure ( read BLACK MAIL )

The stakes have now become higher than just protecting neutrality as it exists at the moment.

Net neutrality supporters want more than status quo.

 Even as the telecom companies are asking for the freedom to monetise, these groups are asking for the exact opposite-strict guidelines or laws that make it mandatory for service providers to uphold net neutrality.


While TRAI is a regulator with legal powers that allow supervision of tariffs and "quality of service", binding guidelines are usually framed by the Department of Tele communications (DoT), which gives operating licences to telecom companies. The ball, therefore, is in the government's court, and its attempt to strike a fine balance between the telecom lobby and public out-cry has met only limited success so far.



In a May 21 meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, the government met with opposition from the ruling party's veteran leader L.K. Advani. At the meeting, where representatives of service providers Airtel, Vodafone and Idea were invited to present their case, Advani sided with Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien and Congress MP KVP Ramachandra Rao, who insisted that consumer forums and OTT service providers should be invited first. "Delhi is hot. But deliberations at Parliamentary Committee meetings just got even hotter," O'Brien tweeted soon after the meeting. O'Brien, who had first raised the issue through a 'calling attention' in the Rajya Sabha told INDIA TODAY: "We don't want to fight the telecom companies, but we have to take care of consumer interests." Even in Parliament, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has pushed for a law to protect net neutrality, linking it with his tirade against corporate favours by what he describes as a "suit-boot ki sarkar". Though the government has been talking about sup- porting an open internet, its stand on the various nuances of net neutrality is not quite clear. Sources in the telecom ministry say they are still waiting for reports from the standing committee, TRAI and DoT, along with keeping their ear peeled for public opinion, before taking a firmer stand. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, how-ever, has been quoted as saying that "various ways to implement net neutrality, such as introducing clauses in the licensing conditions" are not out of the question.



Incredibly though, it is the internet's power as a 'DEMOCRATISER ' that is turning out to be the biggest hurdle for the telecom companies. It was a 23-page summary of the TRAI's 118-page consultation paper made by Save The Internet that high-lighted issues which would have otherwise got overlooked. And it was All India Bakchod, the comedy collective, that simplified the problem through a pro-neutrality skit that went viral online and pushed users to flood the TRAI with emails. A bit like how John Oliver had turned the debate in the United States after a pro-neutrality segment on his show Last Week Tonight last June. In his show, Oliver had famously said: "They shouldn't call it 'Protecting Net Neutrality'; they should call it 'Stopping Cable Company F*ckery'."


So can the Web remain a platform where every opinion, no matter how disagreeable, and every piece of information, no matter how unpleasant, gets equal play and equal band- width?

Chances are that the internet itself will ensure that it does.


Follow the writer on Twitter @_kunal_pradhan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

India’s Military Modernization : Plans and Strategic Underpinnings

         India’s Military Modernization:

     Plans and Strategic  Underpinnings


                                     By
                   GURMEET KANWAL


(Sep 2012 Produced by The National Bureau ofAsian  Research for the Senate India Caucus )
 

 

As a key player in Asia and a large democracy with which the United States shares common interests, India is emerging as an important U.S. strategic partner. There is a broad national consensus in India on the contours of this emerging relationship with Washington, particularly with respect to enhanced defense and civil nuclear energy cooperation.

 

 

During his visit to New Delhi in June 2012, U.S. defense secretary Leon Panetta identified India as a “linchpin” in Washington’s emerging “rebalancing” strategy in the Asia-

Pacific region. While there was no reaction from the Indian
government, it is clear that these two large democracies need
to work together militarily in order to maintain freedom of
the seas in the Indian Ocean region and to ensure peace and
stability in the Asia-Pacific more generally. Should China
experience political instability or behave irresponsibly in
asserting its territorial rights—as it has shown a tendency to
do in the South China Sea—both India and the United States
will need strong strategic partners to face worst-case
scenarios effectively.

In order to meet future threats and challenges and achieve

interoperability with U.S. and other friendly armed forces
for joint operations in India’s area of strategic interest, the
Indian military needs to modernize and create force
structures that are capable of undertaking network-centric
warfare on land, at sea, and in the air. Gradually, but
perceptibly, the Indian armed forces are upgrading their
capabilities, enhancing their kinetic effectiveness and
command and control, and improving interoperability. This
brief analyzes the threats and challenges that India must
address, the measures being adopted to modernize the
country’s armed forces, and the strategic underpinnings
behind this slow but steady modernization effort.



  

Preparing For a Two-Front War
 

South Asia is among the world’s most unstable regions due to the ongoing war against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In

addition, growing fundamentalist terrorism; creeping
“Talibanization” in Pakistan; political instability in
Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka; unrest in Tibet
and Xinjiang; narcotics trafficking; and the proliferation of
small arms and light weapons are also destabilizing factors.
Unresolved territorial and boundary disputes with China
and Pakistan, over which India has fought four wars;
internal security challenges in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)
and the northeastern states; and the rising tide of the Maoist
insurgency in the heartland further vitiate India’s strategic
environment. Further, many Indian security analysts worry

that China is engaged in the strategic encirclement of India

through its nuclear and missile nexus with Pakistan; the
sale of military hardware to Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar,
and Sri Lanka; and a “string of pearls” strategy to surround
India with naval bases in the northern Indian Ocean region.

 

 

India-China relations are stable at the strategic level.

Resolution of the territorial dispute is being discussed by
India’s national security adviser and China’s vice foreign minister, military confidence-building measures are holding
up, bilateral trade has increased to $60 billion, and both
countries are cooperating in international forums like the
World Trade Organization and the UN Climate Change
Conference. However, the relationship is more contentious
at the tactical level. For example, China refuses to issue
proper visas to Indian citizens of Arunachal Pradesh, Beijing
denied the commander-in-chief of India’s Northern
Command a visa for an official visit because it believes that
J&K is a disputed territory, and the People’s Liberation Army
(PLA) has been making frequent forays across the Line of
Actual Control into Indian territory simply to push Chinese
territorial claims. China has also rapidly developed military
infrastructure in Tibet to allow for quicker induction of
troops and their sustenance over a longer period of time.
Another destabilizing factor is the large Chinese presence
in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
These developments do not augur well for long-term peace
and stability.

 

 

The prevailing strategic environment has forced India’s

armed forces to prepare for the possibility of a “two front”
war, while the army and other security forces are engaged in
fighting an ongoing “half front” internal security war. Even
though the probability of conventional conflict remains low
due to steadily improving relations and military confidence building measures with China and Pakistan, this possibility
cannot be completely ruled out. Nuclear deterrence also plays
a positive role in conflict avoidance, but the prevailing
wisdom in India is that there is space for conventional conflict
below the nuclear threshold.

The pace of modernizationhas been slow due to

 

 

the lack of adequate funding, delayed decision-

 

 

 making, and a low tech  defense industrial base.



 

  There is now increasing realization that unless India takes immediate measures to accelerate the pace of its military modernization, the gap with China, which is only a quantitative gap at present, will soon become a qualitative gap, given the rapid rate of PLA modernization. Likewise, the slender edge that the Indian armed forces now enjoy over the Pakistani armed forces in conventional conflict is being eroded as Pakistan is spendinconsiderable sums of money on its military modernization under the garb of fighting radical extremism.1
  

 

Although the Indian armed forces have drawn up elaborate plans for modernizing and qualitatively upgrading their capabilities for future combat, including the ability to secure the sea lanes of communication and project power in India’s area of strategic interest, the pace of modernization has been slow due to the lack of adequate funding, delayed decision-making, and a low-tech defense industrial base. India’s defense budget is pegged at less than 2% of its GDP at present, and the bulk of the expenditure is on the revenue
account—that is, pay and allowances, rations, fuel, oil and

lubricants, ammunition, and vehicles.2 Very little remains

in the capital account to be spent on modernization. In the
case of the army, spending on modernization is as little as

20% to 25% of total capital expenditure in 2012–13.3

According to the Indian defense minister A.K. Antony,
“New procurements have commenced…but we are still

lagging by 15 years.” 4 Nonetheless, an inadequate defense

industrial base—imports constitute 70% of defense 

 

------------------------------------------------------------ 

 

 1. The India-Pakistan combat ratio is assessed by this author as 1.2 to 1.0 in India's favor

 

2.  Laxman K. Behera, “India’s Defence Budget 2012–13,” Institute for

Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), IDSA Comment, March 20,2012,







LaxmanBehera_200312.
http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/IndiasDefenceBudget2012-13_


 

3.  Ibid.

4. Gurmeet Kanwal, “Indian Army’s Modernisation,”

India Strategic

January 2012.
 

------------------------------------------------------------

acquisitions—and bureaucratic inefficiency, rather than lack

of funds, are the main causes of the slow pace of modernization. India is expected to procure defense equipment worth $100 billion, most of it imported, over the next two five-year plans. Simultaneously, however, efforts are being stepped up to enhance indigenous capabilities and thereby reduce India’s dependence on imports by an order of magnitude. The following three sections will survey India’s modernization of its army, navy, and air force.
 

Army Modernization: Enhancing Capabilities Without Reducing Manpower

  

With personnel strength of 1.1 million soldiers (6 regional commands, a training command, 13 corps, and 38

divisions), the Indian Army has kept the nation together through various crises, including four wars since
independence, Pakistan’s “proxy war” in J&K since 1989–90,

and insurgencies in many of the northeastern states.5 Given

its large-scale operational commitments on border
management and counterinsurgency, the army cannot afford
to reduce its manpower numbers until these challenges are
overcome. Many of its weapons and equipment are
bordering on obsolescence and need to be replaced. The
next step would be to move gradually toward acquiring
network-centric capabilities for effects-based operations so
as to optimize the army’s full combat potential for defensive
and offensive operations. The army is also preparing to join
the navy and the air force in launching intervention
operations in India’s area of strategic interest when called
on to do so in the future.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Policy Brief



Given its large-scale operational commitments
on border management and counterinsurgency, the army cannot afford to reduce its manpower numbers until these challenges are overcome 

------------------------------------------------------------

Lieutenant General J.P. Singh (retired), former deputy

chief of the army staff (planning and systems), stated in an
interview with the CLAWS Journal that

 

  “the critical  capabilities that are being enhanced to meet challenge sacross the spectrum include battlefield transparency,
battlefield management systems, night-fighting capability,
enhanced firepower, including terminally guided munitions,
integrated maneuver capability to include self-propelled artillery, quick reaction surface-to-air missiles, the latest
assault engineer equipment, tactical control systems,
integral combat aviation support and network centricity.”
6 The army’s mechanized forces are still mostly “night blind.”
Its artillery lacks towed and self-propelled 155-mm  howitzers for the plains and the mountains and has little capability by way of multi-barrel rocket launchers and surface-to-surface missiles. Infantry battalions urgently need to acquire modern weapons and equipment for counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations to increase operational effectiveness and lower casualties.

         
     

Main battle tanks (MBT) and Infantry Combat Vehicles(ICV) are the driving forces of India’s conventional deterrence in the plains. This fleet is being modernized gradually by inducting two regiments of the indigenously developed Arjun MBT and importing 310 T-90S MBTs from Russia. A contract has also been signed for 347 additional T-90S tanks to be assembled in India. The BMP-1 and BMP- 2 Russian ICVs, which have long been the mainstay of the mechanized infantry battalions, need to be replaced as well.The new ICVs must be capable of performing internal security duties and counterinsurgency operations in addition to their primary role in conventional conflicts.

 

 

Artillery modernization plans include the acquisition of towed, wheeled, and self-propelled 155-mm guns and howitzers for the plains and the mountains through import as well as indigenous development. The Corps of Army Air Defence is also faced with problems of obsolescence. The vintage L-70 40-mm air defense (AD) gun system, the four barreled ZSU-23-4 Schilka (SP) AD gun system, the SAM-6

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5   

This section draws from the author’s analysis in “Indian Army Modernisation Needs a Major Push,” India Strategic, February 2010,

http://www.indiastrategic.in/topstories482.htm.

6  

 “Modernisation Thrusts of Indian Army: Interview with Deputy Chief of Army Staff,” CLAWS Journal (Winter 2010):

1, http://www.claws.in/

 

CJ-winter-2010.pdf.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

(Kvadrat), and the SAM-8 OSA-AK, among others, need to be replaced by more responsive modern AD systems that are capable of defeating current and future threats.

The modernization of India’s infantry battalions is moving forward but at a similarly slow pace. This initiative is aimed at enhancing the battalions’ capability for surveillance and target acquisition at night and boosting their firepower for precise retaliation against infiltrating columns and terrorists hiding in built-up areas. These plans include the acquisition of shoulder-fired missiles, hand-held battlefield surveillance radars, and hand-held thermal imaging devices for observation at night. A system called F-INSAS (future infantry soldier as a system) is also under development. One infantry division has been designated as a rapid reaction force for employment on land or inintervention operations and will have one amphibious brigade and two air assault brigades.

Similarly, the Indian Army proposes to substantially enhance the operational capabilities of army aviation, engineers, signal communications, reconnaissance,surveillance, and target acquisition branches in order to improve the army’s overall combat potential by an order of magnitude. Modern strategic and tactical level command and control systems need to be acquired on priority for better synergies during conventional and sub-conventional conflict. Plans for the acquisition of a mobile corps-to  battalion

tactical communications system and a battalion-

level battlefield management system likewise need to be

hastened. Despite being the largest user of space, the army
does not yet have a dedicated military satellite for its space
surveillance needs. Cyber warfare capabilities are also at a
nascent stage. The emphasis thus far has been on developing
protective capabilities to safeguard Indian networks and
C4I2SR (command, control, communications, computers,
intelligence, information, surveillance, and reconnaissance)
from cyber attack. Offensive capabilities have yet to be
adequately developed. All these capabilities will make it
easier for the army to undertake joint operations with
multinational forces when the need arises and the government approves such a policy option.

 ---------------------------------------------------------

 

The Indian Army proposes to substantially enhance the operational capabilities of army aviation, engineers, signal communications, reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition branches in order to improve the army’s overall combat potential by an order of magnitude.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

 

  

Naval Modernization: Major Fleet Expansion

The Indian Navy’s ambitious Maritime Capabilities Perspective Plan seeks to dominate the Indian Ocean region

by acquiring blue water operational capability while
effectively countering current and emerging threats closer
to the coastline. There is a perceptible shift in emphasis from
an increase in the number of platforms to the enhancement
of capabilities. According to a report tabled in the Indian
Parliament in the last week of April 2012 by the Standing
Committee on Defence, the navy’s modernization plan seeks
to achieve the following objectives:

• Augment airborne maritime surveillance, strike, anti-submarine warfare [ASW] and air defence capability through induction of shore-based aircraft, integral helos, carrier based aircraft, space based [assets] and UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], along with suitable  weapons and sensors.

• Develop ASW capability through induction of suitable platforms, weapons and sensors.

• Build adequate stand off capability for sea lift and expeditionary operations to achieve desired power  projection force levels, influence events ashore and  undertake military operations other than war.

• Induct assets and develop suitable infrastructure to   augment forces available for low intensity maritime operations (LIMO), protection of off-shore assets and[for] coastal security.

 • Induct force multipliers like satellite based global communications, reconnaissance and network enabled  platforms to achieve battle-space dominance capability  and perform network centric operations.

• Induct state-of-the-art equipment and specialized platforms for special forces to enhance niche  capabilities to conduct maritime intervention operations and other envisaged roles.

• Develop support infrastructure in island territories

to support the planned force levels as well as support infrastructure for ships/submarines/aircrafts at ports and airbases.7

 

 

 According to Admiral Arun Prakash (retired), former chief of naval staff, India’s naval modernization plans are designed to meet the following aims:8  

 

• Acquiring a capability for maritime domain awarenes

in the area of responsibility, including space-based surveillance, maritime reconnaissance, airborne early warning and control (AEW&C), and UAVs

• Developing the capability for expeditionary and joint

warfare, supported by special operations

• Acquiring reach and sustainability through long

endurance, tankers, turnaround facilities in friendly foreign ports, and longer intervals between maintenance cycles

• Acquiring modern capabilities in fields of tactical

aviation, ASW, anti-air/anti-missile, land-attack,
mine countermeasures, and electronic warfare

• Networking ships, submarines, and airborne

platforms via satellite

• Committing to self-reliance and indigenization, with

the objective of harnessing national strengths in
shipbuilding, engineering, electronics, and IT
The Indian Navy has two operational fleets—the Eastern
Naval Command and Western Naval Command—and has
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

7

 

Standing Committee on Defence, Indian Ministry of Defence,

“Demands for Grants (2012–2013),” April 30, 2012, 70–71,

http://164.100.47.134/lsscommittee/Defence/FINAL%20DFG%20%20

REPORT%20-2012-13.pdf.

8

 

Author’s email interview with Admiral Arun Prakash (retired),

July 27, 2012.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Policy Brief

The Indian Navy is on the cusp of acquiring the capabilities necessary to join key strategic partners such as the U.S. Navy in  afeguarding the sea lanes of communication in the northern Indian Ocean and ensuring unfettered freedomof the seas for trade and commerce.
-------------------------------------------------------------

proposed to center both fleets around an aircraft carrier.

Eventually the navy plans to graduate to three carrier battle
 groups. The INS Chakra, a nuclear-powered submarine

leased from Russia, will join the fleet later in 2012, while
the INS Arihant, the first of three to four indigenously

designed and developed nuclear-armed submarines, is expected to become fully operational by late 2014. India has
also begun to induct Russian Nerpa-class submarines, which
will give the navy a much needed fillip to the submarine
fleet and considerably enhance sea-denial capabilities. Three
stealth frigates have only recently been added to the fleet.  

The Indian Navy’s modernization plans, though much

delayed, have thus finally begun to pick up steam. Pointing
out the navy’s role as a key facilitator in promoting peace
and stability in the Indian Ocean region, Defence Minister
Antony observed while commissioning a stealth frigate in
July 2012 that the present operating environment of the
Indian Navy “dictates that we balance our resources with
a strategy that is responsive across the full range of blue and
brown water operations….The maintenance of a strong and
credible navy and strengthening cooperation and friendship
with other countries to promote regional and global stability is the need of the hour.” 9
 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

9

Vinay Kumar, “Credible Navy Need of the Hour: Antony,” Hindu,

July 21, 2012.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The navy plans to expand to a fleet of 150 ships in the next ten to fifteen years, with 50 warships now under construction and 100 new vessels in the acquisition pipeline.

The navy is also engaged in setting up operational turnaround bases, forward-operating bases, and naval air enclaves with a view to enhancing India’s surveillance efforts in the Indian Ocean region. Plans for accretions to the naval aviation fleet are likewise progressing smoothly: Boeing 737 P-8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft have begun to be inducted, and 5 additional Kamov Ka-31 AEW helicopters will be added to the existing fleet of 11 helicopters. Further, the navy’s amphibious landing capability has been enhanced

considerably by the acquisition of the INS Jalashwa (ex–USS

Trenton) and other landing ships, and additional capabilities

for amphibious warfare are being rapidly developed. As a
result of these efforts, the Indian Navy is on the cusp of
acquiring the capabilities necessary to join key strategic
partners such as the U.S. Navy in safeguarding the sea lanes
of communication in the northern Indian Ocean and
ensuring unfettered freedom of the seas for trade and commerce.

Air Force Modernization:

Air Dominance and Force Projection

Until recently, India’s traditional strategic sphere lay

between the Gulf of Aden and the Strait of Malacca; but
with India’s global footprint expanding, the Indian Air Force should be ready to serve wherever the country’s future
strategic interests lie. The air force is gearing up to provide
the strategic outreach that India needs as a growing regional

-----------------------------------------------------------

Policy Brief

 The air force is gearing up to provide the strategic outreach that India needs as a growing

regional power and to project power where necessary in order to defend vital national  interests   

 -------------------------------------------------------------

power and to project power where necessary in order to defend vital national interests. According to Kapil Kak, a retired air vice marshal and senior defense analyst, although there is a gap between vision and capability with regard to shaping India’s strategic neighborhood, forward movement is now visible. In his view, the modernization plans of the air force are aimed at achieving the following objectives:10

 

 

• Air dominance and control of the air

• Deterrence, by both denial and punishment

• Long-range offensive reach—penetration, precision,

persistence, and parallelity—in simultaneous operations
at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels
 

• Strategic air-lift capability for power projection

through both hard and soft power, such as
humanitarian assistance and disaster relief
operations and diaspora evacuation
 

• Build-up of capability for coercion

• Acquisition of force enablers and multipliers and

related combat-support systems, including
networking for tri-service command and control
 

• Capability of conducting cyberspace and information

operations
 

• Indigenization of future capabilities for design and

development

From a sanctioned strength of 39 squadrons, the Indian

Air Force is down to 34 squadrons at present, due to decades
of neglect, but hopes to enhance its strength to 42 squadrons
by 2022. Yet plans to acquire 126 multi-mission, medium range
combat aircraft—in order to maintain an edge over the regional air forces—are stuck in the procurement quagmire. Tejas, the indigenously designed light combat aircraft, which is expected to replace the obsolescent Mig-21, is still a few years away from becoming fully operational. India is also developing a fifth-generation fighter jointly with Russia and aims to fly it in 2015. New fighter bombers include a fleet of 272 Sukhoi-30 MKIs, half of which have
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10 Author’s email interview with Kapil Kak, July 27, 2012.

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already been built. AEW aircraft are being acquired from
Israel as well as being developed indigenously. India has also acquired 6 C-130J Super Hercules aircraft for its special forces and will likely order 6 more from the United States. C-17 Globemaster heavy-lift aircraft are also likely to be acquired shortly, which will take India’s defense cooperation with the United States to a new level. Although a contract has been signed with a Swiss firm for 75 Pilatus PC-7 basic trainer aircraft, India’s fleet of jet trainers continues to be deficient. In the rotary-wing category, the indigenously manufactured Dhruv utility helicopter has entered service.

The air force is also in the process of acquiring medium-lift

transport helicopters and attack helicopter In keeping with developments in the region, India’s strategic forces are also modernizing at a steady pace. The Agni-I and Agni-II missiles are now fully operational. Immediate requirements include the Agni-V intermediate range ballistic missile, which has a 5,000-km range, and nuclear-powered submarines with suitable ballistic missiles
to provide genuine second-strike capability. As noted above,

the INS Arihant, India’s first indigenously built nuclear

submarine, will likely become fully operational by late 2014.



 

While India’s emphasis is on mobile missile launchers, a

small number of hardened silos are also being constructed.
The armed forces do not currently have a truly integrated
tri-service C4I2SR system suitable for network-centric
warfare, which would allow them to optimize their
individual capabilities; however, plans have been made to
develop such a system in the next five to ten years. In fact,
all new weapons and equipment acquisitions are now being
planned on a tri-service basis to ensure interoperability.

 

 

 

India’s Quest For Strategic Outreach

 

Given its growing power and responsibilities, India has been steadily enhancing its expeditionary and military intervention capabilities, which have been amply demonstrated in recent times. During the 1991 Gulf War, India airlifted 150,000 civilian workers, who had been forced to leave Iraq, from the airfield at Amman, Jordan, over a period of 30 days. This was the largest airlift since the Berlin airlift at the end of World War II. During the 2004 tsunami, the Indian armed forces were at the forefront of rescue and relief operations. Over 70 Indian Navy ships transported  rescue teams and relief material to disaster zones in less

 

 

It is evident that India is preparing to join the world’s major powers in terms of theability to undertake out-of are contingency operations



 

 

than 72 hours, even though the country’s eastern seaboard had itself suffered considerable casualties and damage. Likewise, Indian Navy ships on a goodwill visit to European countries during the Lebanon war in 2006 lifted and brought back 5,000 Indian civilian refugees. From the ongoing modernization plans described above, it is evident that India is preparing to join the world’s major powers in terms of the ability to undertake out-of-area contingency operations. Further, the acquisition of SU-30 MKI long-range fighter bombers with air-to-air refueling

capability, C-130J Hercules transport aircraft, and airbornewarning-and-control-system and maritime-surveillance capabilities over the next five to ten years will give India considerable strategic outreach. New Delhi has consistently favored military intervention only under a UN umbrella.Though that position is unlikely to change in the near term,India is likely to join future coalitions of the willing even

without UN approval when vital national interests are

threatened and need to be defended. Shiv Shankar Menon,

India’s national security adviser, stated in a speech in August

2011: “As a nation state India has consistently shown tactical

caution and strategic initiative, sometimes simultaneously.

But equally, initiative and risk-taking must be strategic, not

tactical, if we are to avoid the fate of becoming a rentier state.”11 He went on to mention that India was cooperating

extensively with other militaries to fight piracy off the Horn

of Africa. Such cooperation will increase in the future as India adds to its intervention capabilities.

 

 

Given that India faces complex strategic scenarios and is located in an increasingly unstable neighborhood, it is in New Delhi’s interest to encourage a cooperative model of

 

 

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11

 Shiv Shankar Menon, “India and the Global Scene” (16th

 Prem   Bhatia Memorial Lecture, New Delhi, August 11, 2011),

 

http://www.maritimeindia.org/article/india-and-global-scene.

 

 

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 regional security and work with all friendly countries

toward that end. At the same time, New Delhi finds it
pragmatic to hedge just in case worst-case scenarios—such
as the collapse of China or China’s use of military force for
territorial gains—begin to unfold and threaten India’s
economic development or territorial integrity. The
increasing emphasis on maritime cooperation, particularly
with the United States, is part of India’s continuing efforts
to fulfill growing obligations and responsibilities as a
regional power. New Delhi is now working to cooperate
with all the major Asian powers in order to maintain peace
and stability in the Indian Ocean and the Asia-Pacific more
generally, though without aligning militarily with any one
power. Toward this end, the armed forces are working
together to achieve joint warfare capabilities for intervention
operations in India’s area of strategic interest. In sum, a
rising India will soon become a net contributor to security
in the Indian Ocean region, together with strategic partners
such as the United States.

 

 Nonetheless, India’s modernization plans are moving
ahead at a very slow pace. Policy paralysis in New Delhi due
to the vagaries of coalition politics in a parliamentary
democracy, along with the reduction in the defense budget
as a share of India’s GDP due to sluggish growth in the
economy, has further exacerbated the difficulties in
increasing the pace of modernization. However, the process
is certainly underway, and there is hope that it will receive
bipartisan support across the political spectrum because of
the realization that no alternative exists for addressing
emerging threats and challenges but for India to quickly
modernize its armed forces.

 

 

 

 

India’s military modernization, however slow it might be,

will lead to a qualitative increase in defense cooperation
with the United States and other strategic partners by
enhancing the capabilities of the Indian armed forces for
joint coalition operations, if they are in India’s national
interest. Overall, India will gradually acquire the capability
to act as a net provider of security in South Asia and the
Indian Ocean region. This positive development will allow
strategic partners like the United States to reduce their
military commitments to the region to a limited extent.
Hence, India’s modernization efforts will enhance and
further cement U.S.-India relations. •

 

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