Self-reliance in Defence needs Shift in Priority (r)

SOURCE:

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/self-reliance-in-defence-needs-shift-in-priority-171930

ENSURE QUALITY: The use of technology is tilting the balance in favour of the gun.

Self-reliance in Defence Needs  

               Shift  in Priority 

                           By

Lt Gen Harwant Singh (retd)

                               [Former Deputy Chief of Army Staff]

In the import of defence equipment, we have been paying additional money for the transfer of technology clause and yet have never been able to fully absorb it and consequently could never take it forward. We even failed in the field of reverse engineering. The recent DRDO move to raise the limits of advance payment and award contracts through the procurement manual is hardly a push for self-reliance.

India imports 70 per cent of its defence weapons and equipment. An import lobby has existed, which on the one hand has controlled the development of weapons and equipment within the country and on the other, gained from imports. Earlier, most weapons and equipment came from the USSR, where no information about any wrongdoing by the buyer ever leaked. 

Internally in India, no misdeed was ever brought to light.

In two cases where malpractices had occurred to strike deals for the import of equipment, information linked to bribery was leaked from only the two countries that provided the equipment, one being the Bofors gun and the other Agusta Westland helicopters.

          In both, the names of the defence secretaries surfaced. 

In the case of Bofors, the defence secretary could not be charge-sheeted as he had been moved to a Governor’s post, placing him beyond the reach of law and in the case of Agusta Westland helicopters, the defence secretary was re-employed as CAG and his arrest now awaits clearance from the Defence Ministry, even while he is a retired person, though in this case,ONLY the Air Chief was also (WAS) charge-sheeted.

Development of weapons and equipment is at the core of Atmanirbhar Bharat and ‘Made by India’ forms its essence. It is possible to create capabilities within to meet the military’s requirement, provided we bring about changes to the existing set-up. Here, the thrust should be initially towards ‘Make in India’, followed by ‘Made by India’, rather than merely ‘Make in India’ by foreign companies.

India has enough entrepreneurial potential and technical skills and if given the required incentives, it can measure up. The setting up of production facilities by foreign companies should, as far as possible, be joint ventures with Indian entities.

Fifty-seven DRDO establishments, 11 defence public sector undertakings (PSUs) and 41 ordnance factories have been in existence for over six decades and yet the Indian military continues to depend on imports. Before any attempt to promote indigenous production is made,

we need to examine as to why own efforts made by the DRDO, defence PSUs and the Ordnance Factory Board have fallen short of meeting the military’s requirement.

In the import of defence equipment, we have been paying additional money for the transfer of technology clause and yet have never been able to fully absorb it and consequently could never take it forward. We even failed in the field of reverse engineering. The recent DRDO move to raise the limits of advance payment and award contracts to the second lowest bidder (if the lowest bidder backs out) through the procurement manual is hardly a push for self-reliance.

For long, there has been a demand for an independent science audit of the DRDO and other defence establishments. Internal ‘expert panels’ can hardly be expected to come up with radical changes, which run counter to the interests of MoD, whose turf these are. Even the Director General Qualitative Assurance (DGQA) forms part of the same set-up. Consequently, the quality of products from these establishments has remained indifferent.

While a few of these DRDO and other establishments have done reasonably well, such as those dealing with missile technology, most others have little to their credit.

A science audit should be over within three months and those who have failed to accomplish anything worth while should be sold out to the private sector. Given top-of-the line equipment with these establishments, private entities will make a good start.

When the USSR broke up, China took 2,000 scientists from there. This did contribute to China getting to its present state in high-end technologies.

[ At the end of WW II Russians also took an undisclosed number of GERMAN scientists in captivity with a view to exploit their talent - Vasundhra )

What is not fully realised in India is that in this equation between the ‘gun’ and the ‘man behind the gun’, the balance is fast tilting in favour of the gun. Already, artificial intelligence, robotics, drone technology and cyber tech have brought about a sea change in warfare.

While we did away with the ‘licence & permit raj’, what was left out was the issue of ‘clearances’ and curtailing the predatory functioning of the ‘inspector’. Clearances involve traversing through the bureaucratic jungle. So, in place of ‘ease of doing business’, one needs ‘grease for doing business’ in India. A single window leads to many more windows. These hassles made many industries shift from India to China. 

[ Can  INDIA'S  ambitions to become are achievable   or will just remain a "DREAM" 

One foreign company did find a solution by appointing a bureaucrat as company chairman, who could not only cut red tape but also corner all future tax benefits by getting to know of such plans years before the official announcements.

Most equipment being produced in India still has imported content. Therefore, effort is needed to move into high-tech zone. Given the current geostrategic environment and developments in the Indo-Pacific and Himalayas, Quad countries and others are willing to give India access to high-end technologies, and it must make the most of such possibilities.The Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, is well off the mark when he advocates the lowering of General Staff Qualitative Requirement (GSQR ) to 70 per cent. Perhaps he is not aware that technology has come to play a dominant role in warfare and as it is, 68 per cent of the military’s equipment is of the vintage category. In framing the GSQR, what could be considered is that the DRDO be involved to an extent, so that it could initially produce Mark-1 of the weapon/equipment to be followed by Mark-2 which must fully measure up to the required performance parameters.

For Atmanirbharta in defence, resetting of the existing set-up on the following lines is called for:

a) Complete science audit and based on it, 50 per cent of DRDO, defence PSUs and ordnance factories should be sold out to the private sector. The next review of the balance of these establishments be carried out after five years; 

b) Secretary, Defence Production, should be a defence services officer;

c) DGQA should come under the CDS;

d) A few selected DRDO establishments, defence PSUs and ordnance factories should be headed by defence services officers. The Navy has done better by adopting this system;

 e) Factories should be relocated closer to where weapons and equipment are required to be deployed to reduce transportation expenses;

 f) Do away with the single vendor system, including for ordnance factory products.

The proposal to convert the Ordnance Factory Board into Ordnance Factory Corporation Limited as being suggested will be a half-way house, leaving the military still dependent on a single vendor and products of indifferent quality. 

KASHMIR POLITICS Despite strong words, a Biden-Harris administration is unlikely to change US position on Kashmir There are few expectations in the Valley.(R)

SOURCE

https://scroll.in/article/978599/despite-strong-words-a-biden-harris-administration-is-unlikely-to-change-us-position-on-kashmir

KASHMIR POLITICS

Desphite strong words, a Biden-Harris administration is unlikely to change US position on Kashmir

There are few expectations in the Valley. 

By

                                       Ipsita Chakravarty

If United States President Donald Trump takes time off from golfing to concede the election, the country will soon have a Democrat government. Observers in the Indian establishment may have greeted this news with mixed feelings.

Trump had come to power in 2016 declaring he was a “big fan of Hindu” and a “big fan of India”, comments that chimed well with the Bhartiya Janata Party government at the Centre. Four years of high-octane camaraderie between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump followed. Earlier this year, Modi even endorsed a second “Trump Sarkar” while the visiting president maintained a tactical silence on India’s new citizenship laws and human rights violations in Kashmir. The awkward moment came a few months later, when Trump breezily offered to mediate between India and Pakistan to sort out tensions between the two.

The Biden-Harris campaign has been different in tenor, especially when it came to human rights in Kashmir. In 2019, soon after the Centre stripped Jammu and Kashmir of special status under Article 370 and split it into two Union Territories, Harris did not mince words. “We have to remind Kashmiris they are not alone in the world,” she said. “We are keeping a track on the situation. There is a need to intervene if the situation demands.”

In the Biden campaign’s agenda for Muslim Americans, India’s National Register of Citizens and Kashmir featured in the list of threats to Muslim populations across the world. “In Kashmir, the Indian government should take all necessary steps to restore rights for all the people of Kashmir,” said the campaign agenda. “Restrictions on dissent, such as preventing peaceful protests or shutting or slowing down the Internet, weaken democracy.”

Despite these strong words, the US stance on Kashmir is unlikely to alter with a change of guard in the White House.

US in Crisis

As political scientist Paul Staniland pointed out, “The US is in a massive political crisis that won’t end even when Biden takes power.” Which means, the old priorities are unlikely to change, especially after an election fought largely on domestic issues.

First, the need of the US to find a counterweight to China in the region. While Indian and Chinese forces are massed along the frontier in Eastern Ladakh, Washington and Beijing fight for control in the South China Sea and Taiwan. The US has also viewed China’s drive for primacy in the economic and technological realms with growing alarm. A Biden administration might not pursue Trump’s aggressive trade war with China and is likely to seek cooperation in other spheres. But it will not be radically different in its impulse to contain China. “The last thing a domestically beleaguered US administration facing the rise of China has any appetite for would be a major diplomatic offensive in South Asia,” said Staniland.

Second, Indian markets remain important to American firms. Despite the shrinking of the Indian economy, even in March, top US diplomats were urging Indian markets to open up. Last year, the US notched up $34 billion in exports to India, and that’s not counting what Indians spend on US technology, travel and other services. Though it is far behind China, India’s markets have an outsized presence compared to its economy.

Staniland also added that Indian coverage of the Kashmir statements overestimated US domestic-political interest in South Asian politics: “On Kashmir specifically, it’s largely fallen out of the US media compared to summer/fall 2019.”

A paramilitary soldier guards a street in Srinagar. Credit: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP

Indifferent Valley

Indeed, American interest in the region has long faded. According to this article by Arun Joshi in Greater Kashmir, in the 1990s, the White House and the US State Department kept a close watch on the daily violence in the Valley. US diplomats made regular visits to the Valley and Frank Wisner, then US ambassador to India, developed personal relationships with Kashmiri politicians, including the separatist Hurriyat leadership. Since then, the diplomatic visits have dwindled. In a post 9/11 world, the US has been distracted by other wars.

This waning interest is also reflected in public discourse in the Valley. According to popular mythology in Kashmir in the heyday of the militancy, Delhi was known as the “markaz”, or power centre pulling strings. Islamabad was another “markaz”. The US was the ultimate “markaz” dictating operations. This time, as news of Trump’s defeat trickled in, a few political parties in Kashmir issued statements, expressing the hope that the “politics of polarisation” was over and that the Biden-Harris government would focus on the “wrongs that are being done” in Kashmir.

But the wider public appears to have to have shrugged it off, even though the president’s anti-Muslim policies had made him unpopular in Kashmir. China’s incursions in Ladakh gave rise to far greater interest and some black humour in the Valley.

Few expect much from the change at the White House. After the sweeping changes of 2019, Joshi notes, “Kashmiris were in shock over the silence of the world. Now it does not shock them anymore.”

A fine balance

While the White House may remain tight-lipped, there may be more sound and fury in the US Congress. Even under a Trump administration last year, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on human rights in South Asia where Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar grilled US government representatives and speakers from India on the state of affairs in Kashmir.

Two resolutions were moved in Congress. One, by Democrat representative Pramila Jayapal, raised concerns about the communications blockade while speaking of “dire security challenges” faced by the Indian government. It found bipartisan support. The other, pushed by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, held that India had “unilaterally changed the status of Jammu and Kashmir without a direct consultation or the consent of the Kashmiri people”. It condemned human rights violations and spoke of “supporting Kashmiri self-determination”. It had few takers even within the Democratic party.

Going forward, Staniland predicted, the US might adopt the kind of balance reflected in the Jayapal resolution – talking about human rights rather than “making deeper claims about Kashmir’s political status or suggesting actual coercive measures”.

The longstanding US position on Kashmir, as this Congressional paper from last year noted, was that it should be settled through “negotiations between India and Pakistan while taking into consideration the wishes of the Kashmiri people”. But for years, the US government has done little to push that position. 

Biden may not provide the kind of “political cover” that Trump did to Modi, but he is unlikely to rock the boat.

THE LEOPARD WHO DIED OF SHAME.(R)

SOURCE:

https://youtu.be/qFvdK3YigsA?t=407

         THE LEOPARD WHO DIED OF SHAME

Story telling - What the Ad world can learn  from the Army" 

                                    By 

      Capt Raghu Raman @ Goafest 2016

 

                    [ https://youtu.be/qFvdK3YigsA?t=407 ]

            

                                                        

             Leopard Who Died of Shame 

                                   By 

               Captain Raghu Raman

                                   [  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwK0aFlpnr8 ]

          THE LEOPARD WHO DIED OF SHAME.

If you visit the Officer's Mess Bar of a certain  KHALSA Battalion, you are likely to stop and look at a leopard skin strung over the bar and read these words underneath,

     THE LEOPARD WHO DIED OF SHAME.

A veteran who had very successfully worked for a Japanese Heavy Engineering firm told me that the following story has great management value.

An Indian army battalion was in tents on the East Pakistan border just before the 1971 war.The young officers piled up in the mess tent every night and got drunk. 

 Good soldiers are good tipplers, unsaid rule of Ind Army.

"Tomorrow be damned, here is to life.No better place to be in mate."

"Rum or whisky pal?"

"I am an occasional drinker."

"What, sacrilege,you won't drink. You want to stop a bullet without ever touching alcohol to your lips. You will die of chastity and virginity pal."

"I never said so. I am an occasional drinker but the occasion comes regularly. Hi hi ."

"Waiter garam paani lao."

It was a chilly evening and the battalion was spread out in tents along the East Pakistan border.The young lieutenants were at it again after the days reconnaissances and briefings of their platoons.

At 9:30 pm, the mess havildar came, saluted and announced,

"Bhojan prastoot hai sahab bahadur."

The seniormost captain present said,

"What Sanghara Singh, abhi to peena chaalu kiya hai. Come after a while please."

The night wore on and the cicadas and crickets became louder and louder.The young men sat round a fire and someone started singing,

"Angoor ki beti...jhoom nashe me, jhoom bara bar jhoom sharabi.."

                           

              ( CLICK/GOOGLE URL TO OPEN )   

                     [ https://youtu.be/XaMfRN0PVQ8 ]                                              

 
                     

The mess havildar came again after an hour and announced that the dinner was ready.The food had been reheated and laid on the camp tables.

"Abhi thoddi der ruko, baad me aana."

The mess havildar went away. The mess waiter kept bringing hot water and bottles of brandy and rum in the cold winter night of India.

Finally, past midnight the merry band of revellers went to eat food that had been reheated four times. But they were past the state of registering flavour and taste.They ate and were soon seen stumbling to their tents.

The Mess Havildar who was waiting for the officers to push off went to the utensil cleaner and said,

"I want all utensils and saucepans cleaned up for the morning."

The Mess Havildar extinguished all the hurricane lamps and pushed off.The harrased dishwasher piled all the utensils near the mess water trailer and sat washing the bartans in the weak light of the lantern. He would be the last one to sleep. He sat rubbing the utensils in cold water and ash when he heard a dog eating out of a big deghchi. He picked up a pebble and threw it towards the dog who was nearly invisible in the dark night.

"Shooh shooh,bhaag jaa saale.Shhoh."

The dog withdrew and the masalchi resumed his washing, cursing everyone of the officers who kept drinking so late. Good that he had had a nip of rum too. One works without tiring out with rum inside one's bones. He had a bottle hidden in his blanket. He looked forward to finishing the job quickly, smoke a furtive beedi, take a nip of rum and sleep.The mess havildar objected to the masalchi's smoking beedies. It was a  KHALSA battalion.

He heard a scratch and the dog was again muzzling the meat saucepan, licking the meat grease and gravy dregs.

"Shooh,shooh,be off with you.Accursed animal."

The dog retreated again and the masalchi    Sepoy Ram Phal,  HARYANVI,  who was nearly at the end of his patience got up and started rinsing the utensils in the tin water tub.The dog was again making sounds behind him licking the utensils.

"Yeh saala yoon nahi maaneygaa.." 

A heavy stirring ladle was in his hands. In the dead puce pale light of the smoking lantern, he swung it with both hands over his head and brought it down on the head of the unsuspecting dog.The dog leapt away and the masalchi resumed his washing.Then he put the utensils in the kitchen tent, went to his blanket, smoked a beedi, took a few neat swigs from his botttle and slept the sleep of the dead.

Since he slept late,the Mess Havildar usually woke him up late. He awoke when he found he was being shaken by the Mess Havildar.

"Utth jaa,tujhey CO saab ne jaad kiya hai."

"Ustaad why will the CO call for me."

The poor man was frightened stiff. He washed all utensils to best of his ability. Could the CO sahib have found his plate dirty.

He hastily put on his hob nailed boots, tucked in his shirt in his trousers, wetted his hair, shaved in cold water quickly and followed the mess havildar to the CO sahib's tent. Many officers of the battalion were standing next to the CO and staring hard at him. He was terrified at the sight. What could he have done wrong? Who had complained against him. Although he cursed officers a lot, but he did so only, Mann hi Mann. He never spoke an ill word about any body. He stood in attention in front of the CO. The CO spoke.

"Ram Phal what were you doing last night.?"

Did his ears hear right.What can a masalchi do? Wash utensils . What did the CO sahib mean? 

"Hazur, when the sahib log  went after dinner last night, I washed utensils, put them in the pantry and went and slept."

"Is that all, you did nothing else ?"

"Ji hazur, nothing else. If you can count it not as part of duty, there was a dog who was heckling me when I was washing utensils. I shooed him off a couple of times and he kept returning and muzzling the utensils. I hit him with a Kaddchi  sahib. He pushed off after that. I came and slept."

"Are you sure?"

"Bass saheb,after finishing my work I smoked a beedi also. Its a bad habit sahib. I want to be rid of it." He was scared that he would be punished for smoking.

"Come with me?"

The CO walked and the Adjutant walked behind him, followed by the Subedar Major and the officers.

In a thicket, near the mess tent lay a leopard, quite dead.

"Did you kill this leopard?" asked the CO.

"Kyaa bataun sahib, It was dark and I couldn't see properly in the night. I have never seen a leopard in my life. I thought that dogs of this side are different from dogs of Haryana."

The leopard hangs till this day in the unit mess bar. Its the leopard who died of shame and young officers raise a toast to it to this day.

But for the life of me, I have been wondering all along, what are the management lessons from this story.

                               THE LEGEND GREW 

"DON'T TAKE A  PANGA  WITH THE BATTALION  WHERE 

  EVEN  A    MASALCHI  KILLS A LEOPARD WITH BARE HANDS "              

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

              

      Bulla Ki Jaana Main Kaun – Rabbi                  Shergill Lyrics [PUNJABI | ROM | ENG]

                                     [   https://youtu.be/gbpdE8n_QWo ]

Traitors Within : NO TIME FOR THE SOLDIER ON THE FRONTLINE TO BE IN THE HEADLINES

 SOURCE:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/time-soldier-frontline-headlines-lt-gen-p-g-kamath/?published=t

  Who said it?

" Freedom is never Free! 

            We honour the dead best by

                                 treating the living well".  

                                                    Jai Hind!

PLA DEPLOYMENT IN AKSAI CHIN

NO TIME FOR THE SOLDIER ON THE FRONTLINE TO BE                                     IN THE HEADLINES                                                                                         By                                                                                       Lt Gen PG Kamath (Veteran) Motivational Speaker, Leadership Development Specialist and  Defense Analyst

 Click to READ :   71 Articles

The PM waxes eloquent on the sacrifices of our brave jawans.  The RM gets goosebumps at the full-throated inspiring battle cry of the Sikh Regiment on his visit to Ladakh and wants to hear it again.  The Independence Day Speech of the PM was all in praise of our Armed Forces who are ever ready to give a befitting reply to expansionists; the nation has rightly guessed that he means ‘China’. He praises the forces in his ‘Man ki Baat’ as well at the election rally in Bihar.  The operations on the night of 29/30 Aug 2020 was indeed a clincher as the Kailash Range on the Southern Bank of Pangong Tso from Thakung to Rechin La was occupied, pre-empting the PLA.   It was followed up with the occupation of higher heights of Finger 4 overlooking the Chinese who were blocking Indian Patrols from the lower height.   It has really turned the tables against China and has given us the required pep to talk to the Chinese with an ‘ace of trump’ in our hands.  The CPCs Politburo is meeting and Xi would have a difficult time to talk of the situation on his Western Front. He definitely is getting more desperate and India for once is not relenting. He has to rue the day he gave a green signal to his favourite General Zhao Zongqi to teach Indians another lesson as they seem to have forgotten the lessons of 1962? Not being able to teach the required lesson he has been replaced by Lt Gen Xu Qiling.  It has given greater authority to our negotiating team to discuss the modalities of Chinese disengagement, withdrawal and de-escalation on ‘First Come; First Out’ basis.  No doubt; the credit should go to the Army Chief and the CDS for executing one of the finest manoeuvres in the high-altitude terrains.  

Kudos! to the PM also for the political will that backed the manoeuvre in the face of the Chinese.

Traitors Within

 I also want to congratulate the Opposition parties for being indifferent to the most praiseworthy action of our Armed Forces.  Most opposition parties do not want to credit them as it would inadvertently get rubbed off to the PM.  Let us look at the past of the Congress; what did their PMs do in similar situations?  Nehru did not commit the Airforce for combat as it could escalate the war and quietly handed over Aksai Chen and lost a war to China.  MMS would have quietly handed over the entire Ladakh to the Chinese.  Please recollect as to how he wanted to vacate Siachen to Pakistan, in his bid to rename it as ‘Mountain of Peace’.     I believe he was given a carrot of being awarded the ‘Nobel Prize for Peace’?   Sorry; MMS; you may have to do without it at least in this life.  The nation did not allow you to part with a piece of your motherland. It must be one of your sorrowful ‘regrets’ in your life?  Just, don’t repent on your missed opportunity; you have still time on your side to cause harm to the nation.  Just for a moment, think if MMS was successful in his bid to vacate Siachen? It would have exposed the DBO from the West from Pakistan and from the East from China.  The latter has already occupied the Depsang Plains in May this year.    We would be stuck to defend the narrow strip of land; the only access to Karakorum Pass. The DBO airfield would also be within artillery range from both East and West. The holding of DBO would have been untenable had we gone by the wishes of MMS.  Will any news channel drag him to an interview and seek his apologies to the nation for attempting to renege our national security?

Just see; how Congress is still in league with the quislings of Gupkar who want to restore Art 370.  Faroukh Abdullah; the one who has lavished on public money want the Chinese to take over J&K.  Look at his skulduggery; holding a myriad of constitutional posts, being the sitting MP and having sworn to the Indian Constitution, gorging on the public goodies for the past eight decades of his life, now turns to China for his deliverance, notwithstanding that they have incarcerated a million of his Muslim Brethren. It does not matter to him that the Chinese Central Television Network has picturised ‘Mohd the Prophet’ which is a sacrilege. However, he will still break bread with China to get his personal share of butter; it really does not matter if their actions are against Muslim Ummah; indeed the ‘self comes before everything else; be it nationhood, statehood or any religious aggregation’.  You see: they are very practical people who believe in the adage 
         ‘Self First; Always and Every Time’.

China will definitely send the ageing Abdullah to one of their

 ‘Re-education Camp in Xinjiang. He would indeed be a

 prodigious learner where the syllabus has been specially

 tailor-made to develop patriotism and love for Motherland

 China.  Just take him to the Karakoram Pass and gently

 nudge him to the North in consideration to his age.  He will 

find the required camp soon.  Those who do not know his

 congenital ethical deformity in biting the hand that feeds him; 

you have to look at his patrimonial inheritances, where even

 his father met Zhou Enlai, then PM of China in Algiers in Feb

 1965; five months prior to the Indo-Pak War.  What transpired 

is not known, however, don’t you worry he would have gone

 and begged the Chinese to take over J&K and promised his

 full cooperation.  Probably based on his assurance, Pakistan

 launched ‘Op Gibraltar’; an infiltration operation in Aug 1965

 to stir a revolt against India, that failed miserably.  Neither a

 leopard can change its spots nor an Abdullah his coat!  He is

 not a turncoat; the family wears their ‘coats turned’ ab initio.

 

Another thing that will surprise you about the ‘Resonating Silence’ from the Left Parties on Chinese aggression.  This serpentine party has always remained treacherous and has acted against the interest of the country.  The Left Ideologies override nationalism and India’s Constitution. Do not forget the support given to China during their aggression in 1962.  Also, note the recent qualified and conditional support to the Government; in the first instance during Dokalam Crisis, where the party advised the Government; not to provoke China.  Yes; as a Nation we should always be in awe of China and cater our national responses not in our national interests but in consideration to the likes and dislikes of China? Similarly, why don’t you praise the armed forces of your own country against the expansionist design of China? You cannot digest the fact that your own country is getting the better of the communist enemy power? Were you not the ones who outpoured your sympathy and support to the seditious agitation in the JNU?  You want to lavish on the rights and privileges that the country offers you but do not have the character to support the Armed Forces that gives you the right to practice your ingratitude to your own country.

Politicians Practising Societal Divide

 

The opposition created a drama in the shameful ‘Hathras Case’.  The gory and unfortunate incident happened on 14 Sep 2020.  It is repugnant as has been reported.  The Congress Party issued not less than six press releases on the case.  Unlike the Maharashtra Government which contested tooth and nail in Supreme Court, not to hand over the SSR case to CBI; the UP government handed over the case to CBI on its own.  It took the wind out of the sails, of the Congress; however not to appear to have lost the battle, the party has asked for a sitting judge of a High Court to investigate the case.  If that is conceded then they will want a ‘Bench of Sitting Judges of SC’ to investigate the case.  Even if that is accomplished, they will want ICJ to investigate the Hathras Case. Now the SC has ordered an HC monitored CBI probe.  I am sure you understand the credentials of the party whose leadership does not take a hint to quit and treats it as their family heirloom.     

The politicisation of the victim’s plight is a past time of our politicians. However, two days before the incident the Congress did not create a hue and cry over the gangrape of a Dalit girl at gunpoint in Rampur. The incident was filmed and uploaded on social media.  I tried to ascertain as to why Congress is not chagrined on this repugnant incident?  The response came after some enquiries.  The ‘Rampur Gang Rape’ cannot be made an issue as the alleged rapists are from the ‘minority community’.  Again, on 24 Sep 2020; a Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped by three men in Ghosia village of Kaushambi district that falls under Saray Akil police station, near Allahabad.  Here again, the alleged rapists were from the minority community.  Here, as well, the poor child was raped and the incident filmed.  Filming a rape gives the rapists a total command over the victims due to shame associated when the video goes viral.  Just to further substantiate my argument; even in today’s Ballabgarh Daylight Murder of a 21-year old girl, there is not a whimper from the Congress though Haryana is a BJP ruled state because the alleged murderers are from the minority community and also a relative of a sitting MLA from Congress.   If an issue is made out of it; Congress may lose the vote banks of the minority.  Don’t you feel that there is a very pertinent political logic in their decision making?  As per the Congress, the minorities have a right to rape and murder? Indeed logical! I was not aware of it; were you?    A word of caution; please do not term my article as communal.  A rapist or a murderer does not have any religion; just like a terrorist.  A rapist is a rapist and nothing more and nothing less and the strong arm of the law has to be meted out to him.  What I am highlighting is; very selective incidents are made political issues by Political Parties.  Though Priyanka Vadra perfunctorily condemned the Rampur incident, the Congress did not make an issue out of it as in the Hathras Case:  Even other parties like SP, CPI(M) did not get involved in these cases while they were categorical and vehement in their condemnation of Hathras Case.  Isn’t it a tragedy that we do not talk as a nation as our politicians are involved in chicaneries and shenanigans to divide our society?   Please read my article entitled “Institutionalising the Societal Divide”.

 

Is Someone Concerned of the Army on Our Borders?

 

The opening of the ‘Atal Tunnel’ could not have been timelier, as the Army has to pull through the devastating winters and live under fifty feet of snow on the mountain tops.   No appreciation from the Opposition? Also, no appreciation for the improvement in road infrastructure when the RM inaugurated 44 critical bridges of which 40 connect Indo-China Occupied Tibetan Frontier.  This would give the Armed Forces sound logistics to sustain and fight a successful war against the Chinese.  It makes no sense to the politicians.  Nation? Whose Nation and why? As most of them have forgotten that our Armed Forces are manning heights in Kashmir, Siachen, Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal.  The fast-approaching winter this year has been already predicted to be very severe by the weathermen.

 

Dear PM; just praising sacrifices of soldiers will not do.  Their prestige and status have to be restored.  A soldier’s pay has to increase by several folds to cater for his early retirement at the age of 35.  Rescind the NFU for all; if the bureaucrats would not let it happen for them please ensure it is applicable to the Armed Forces, as well.  The pride of the veterans has also to be restored.  People of a country join the Armed Forces by just looking the way the nation treats its veterans. A nation survives because braves are born.  It is a chromosomal inheritance and let it flourish in our country. The veterans’ health scheme has been found wanting; the less said the better.  OROP is a far cry; ordained for automatic revision every year has been diluted to once in five years.  Even that is stuck up since mid-2019. When it comes to the welfare of the veterans the RM and PM have washed their hand of their responsibilities and have delegated their primary role to the CGDA (a babu of finance department) to give succour to the 25 million veterans.  A clear abdication of responsibility!

 

Several times a day and most importantly when I hit the comfort of my bed at night; I am tormented by a gnawing concern, restlessness and unease; remembering our soldiers on the snowy frontiers eyeball to eyeball with the PLA.  

The Himalayan Heights are formidable, punishing, ruthless, merciless and uncompromising.A misstep could land one, thousands of feet below with no possibility of their bodies being recovered.  The winds cut through the skin and leave it cracked and burnt.  The oxygen in the atmosphere is around 60 percent and heart and has to pump several more times to get the required oxygen to the body; failure of which will cause ‘pulmonary oedema’ where the death engulfs in a matter of minutes.  He mounts watch over the icy cold heights trying to hear the noise of the approaching enemy filtering out the whistle of wind that drowns it.  The soldier’s hearing sense is trained to hear what others don’t.  His eyes pierce through the darkness trying to observe from the rod cells in his eyes which are concentrated at the corners.  He sometimes hears his own breath, which he needs to stop to hear the silence of the night.  Stopping breath for long in the rarefied atmosphere is again difficult as it is invariably followed by a couple of minutes of heavy breathing to meet the physiological needs of the body, already starved of oxygen.  He gets dehydrated and needs to maintain his regular supply of warm water as the contents of his water bottle would have frozen.  On a cloudy night, it will be so dark let alone seeing a couple of meters away; he will not be able to see his own palm.  He is a human, after all; and a few stray thoughts of his boisterous children, his loving wife, his doting parents his fawning sisters and hobnobbing brothers may flash across his mind, which he banishes to concentrate on his eternal vigil.  Their families live in trepidation just shuddering at midnight call from an unknown number; dreading the ominous portent that could shatter their lives!  I just cannot help remembering George Orwell when he says “people sleep peacefully at night because rough men standready to do violence on their behalf”.  How true? Do our countrymen remember our soldiers? How many of our people send their silent prayers beseeching God;to give our Armed Forces the wisdom and strength to safeguard our country? To give them the courage, endurance, the indomitable fighting spirit and fortitude to kill the enemy and vanquish him in battle.  How do we make a soldier confident that the will of the nation is with him? Have not Col Santosh Babu and his nineteen Bravehearts showed to the country their dedication and sacrifice as also, countless of his likes in the history of our country?   The soldiers have already been long forgotten: The media is concerned with local issues; Hathras, Ballabgarh, Palgarh, SSR, Drug Scandal of Bollywood with tinsel damsels playing offscreen lead roles, Mumbai Police,  Bihar Elections, the incoherent  banter of Raga, farmers bill, Covid and its vaccine; Diwali bonus, Dussehra,  the furore over itemising a woman minister, IPL and a myriad of mundane issues;where indeed is the time for the poor soldier on the frontlines to be in the headlines?  He is steadfast and does his duty; unhonoured, unsung and unpraised.  

                                      Who said it?

" Freedom is never Free! 

            We honour the dead best by

                                 treating the living well".  

                                                    Jai Hind!

AddPLA DEPLOYMENT IN AKSAI CHIN caption