Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 3

With Chinese warships regularly patrolling the Indian Ocean, the government has approved an expansion and upgrade plan for the Navy with 56 new ships and submarines.

Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, while addressing a press conference on the eve of Navy Day here on Monday, said, “The government has given approval to having 56 ships and submarines. Some of these will replace the existing fleet and include new ships like fleet ships, submarines and mine sweepers.”

He said the construction plan would be spread across a decade. This is in addition to the 32 ships and submarines under construction, as of now.

Navy Day is observed on December 4 to mark the famous ship-launched attack on Karachi during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

Admiral Lanba said the attention of the entire world is focused on Indian Ocean region. We are the net security provider. We are committed to keeping the area clean of all traditional and non-traditional threats in the Indian Ocean.

On being asked about the naval preparedness for a simultaneous two-front war, the Admiral said, “We have overwhelming superiority over Pakistan at sea. In case of China the balance of power in Indian Ocean
is in our favour. Similarly, the balance of power in South China Sea is in favour of China.”

On the US assessment that China would be a big naval power by 2050, the Admiral said, “By 2050 we will also have 200 ships, 500 aircraft and be a world-class navy.”

He said the three chiefs had agreed on having a permanent Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC). On theatre commands, he said we needed a high defence organisation before we got to creating theatre commands. “We need one operational commander, the three chiefs cannot be operational commands.”

On being asked about the delay in taking action against Reliance Naval and Engineering Limited in supplying five offshore patrol vessels, the Admiral said there is no preferential treatment. “The bank guarantees have been encashed. The OPV contract is being examined.”

On the make in India efforts, he said as of now, in the past four years, 72 per cent of all contracts are given to India vendors.

On coastal security following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the Admiral said a pilot project on to fit Automated Identification System (AIS) transponders on fishing boats had been successful. “It will now be implemented across India. There are some 2.2 lakh fishing boats–under 20 metres in length–that do not have AIS transponders. The issue was to have low-cost transponders. I agree it has taken 10 years but soon we will have these transponders on
all fishing boats,” he said.

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 17

The Army has just ended the “edge” enjoyed by alumni of the prestigious National Defence College (NDC) in securing promotions to the rank of Major General.

Till now, Brigadiers, who got selected for the NDC, were getting promoted as Maj Gen. Getting selected for the NDC meant an assured promotion to the rank of Maj Gen, making the NDC a sort of “holy grail”.

The NDC is located in New Delhi and it runs a year-long course for Army, IAF, Navy, IPS and IAS officers.

In the latest promotions announced over the weekend, four NDC passout Brigadiers have been overlooked and not promoted as Maj Gen. Two others have been given “staff” duties and not “command” duties.

In all, 36 officers, including six on “staff”, were promoted. Of these, 11 are those who did not go to the NDC.

Sources say it shows the NDC is no guarantee for promotion. Some officers have missed out on these courses as marks that differentiate one from the other are in decimal, making it more of a case of ill-luck to miss out.

The change in thinking keeps the race open. There are only 340 posts of Maj Gen and around 1,100 that of Brigadier. It means that officers passing out from NDC have to start again on a level-playing field and do not get the “edge” by just qualifying for the course.

Some months ago, Army Chief Bipin Rawat had issued a 23-point directive to the Military Secretary’s (MS) branch. One of the points made by the Army Chief being that even if good officers do not get selected to courses like the NDC, there should be no hindrance to further selection.

Dehradun, December 8

A total of 427 gentlemen cadets, including 80 from seven friendly countries, took part on Saturday in a colourful passing-out parade at the end of their training at the Indian Military Academy (IMA).

The parade was held at the Chetwode drill square in front of Vice-Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Devraj Anbu to mark the successful completion of their autumn course.

Chief Reviewing Officer Lt Gen Anbu congratulated the cadets on the completion of their training. He said it was a matter of great honour for him to address the cadets on this occasion at an institution where he himself participated in a parade as a young cadet many years ago.

This year 53 cadets were from Uttar Pradesh followed by 51 from Haryana, 36 from Bihar, 26 from Uttarakhand, 25 from Delhi, 20 from Maharashtra , 15 from Himachal Pradesh, 14 from Punjab, 12 from Jammu and Kashmir, 10 from Madhya Pradesh and eight from West Bengal.

The 80 foreign gentlemen cadets who passed out of the academy on Saturday represented seven friendly nations, including Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tazakistan and Vietnam. After the conclusion of the parade, a pipping ceremony was held at Somnath stadium of the IMA in the presence of friends and family members. — PTI

New Delhi, December 4

The Indian maritime forces on Tuesday was celebrated for their role in the 1971 India-Pakistan War as leaders from across party lines hailed its men and women on Indian Navy Day.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the firsts on Twitter to pay their tributes to the naval force.

“On Navy Day, my good wishes to all men and women of the Indian Navy. Nation is proud of your commitment to protecting our maritime frontiers, securing our trade routes, and providing assistance in times of humanitarian emergencies,” their Commander-in-Chief tweeted.

“Navy Day greetings to all valorous personnel of the Indian Navy and their families. India is grateful to our Navy for protecting the nation and the commendable role the Navy plays during disaster relief,” Modi said.

In the attack in 1971, the Indian Navy sank four Pakistani vessels and ravaged the Karachi harbour fuel fields killing over 500 Pakistani Navy personnel.

Three missile boats of the Indian Navy, INS Nipat, INS Nirghat, and INS Veer played a pivotal role in the attack. Navy Day is celebrated annually on December 4 every year to honour that maritime operation.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Navy Day “serves as a reminder to our enemies, of our strength and valour when the hour beckons”.

“Navy Day is celebrated to honour the victorious, martyrs and veterans of the Indian Navy. This day also serves as a reminder to our enemies, of our strength and valour when the hour beckons. My best wishes to all ranks of the Indian Navy. Jai Hind,” he tweeted.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also paid their tributes to the Navy. — IANS

New Delhi, December 17

A Delhi court today put an Army Major on trial for allegedly killing another officer’s wife he was obsessed with and destroying evidence in the case.

Special Judge Rakesh Syal framed the charges against Major Nikhil Handa under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) after the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

The court has fixed the matter for January 19, when it will start recording the prosecution evidence.

In the chargesheet, the police had alleged it was a planned murder. It had claimed that a night before the incident, the accused had watched Youtube videos on how to kill someone, which indicates his intention to murder the woman. They claimed the accused was “obsessed” with his fellow officer’s wife and wanted to marry her.

Major Handa knew the women and her husband, also a Major, since 2015 when both of them were posted in Nagaland. If convicted for murder, he may get a maximum of death penalty. — PTI

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 8

In what is a significant assertion, a “China-watcher” on Saturday suggested it is imperative to “decode” Chinese President Xi Jinping to understand modern China and termed him as a “mysterious person”.

Major General Govind Dwivedi (retd), a former Defence Attache to China and North Korea who is now with the Faculty of International Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, while speaking at the Military Literature Festival, used a phrase from the early 20th century and termed the present regime as ‘Xi — the Long March’. The ‘long march’ is a term used for the tactic used by Army Generals of China in the 1910s.

“Until you decode Xi you cannot understand China. He is the ‘new emperor’ and President for Life (China okayed an amendment in March this year to remove the two-term cap on Presidents). The West thought China will fail, but China is not going to fail,” he said at a session ‘Overhang of the Sino-India war in 1962 and today’.

China, he said, was on a mission to ‘buy’ and ‘rent out’ friends, the obvious reference to China funding smaller countries in Africa.

Claude Arpi, a noted France-born author, who is now holding the Field Marshal KM Cariappa chair of excellence at the United Service Institution of India, for his research on the Indian presence in Tibet during 1947-1962, suggested “India should declassify all papers relating to Tibet. At present, we (researchers) depend on CIA (US spy agency) documents. Today you can get more Chinese documents than Indian documents”. He went on to warn “China will select its own Dalai Lama, be prepared”.

In another key opinion, Shiv Kunal Verma, author of 1962: The War That Wasn’t asserted there was “no point in talking what Nehru did, it’s like today saying a Brigade Commander will hinge his actions on what Nirmala Sitharaman is doing or what (Narendra) Modi is doing. We need to understand what happened. Time has come to hold a mirror to our face. We need to wipe the slate clean and look at China differently”.

In his opinion, “had a one brigade commander stood up, we would have a different story to tell (of the 1962 war).” Maj Gen PJS Sandhu (retd), who authored 1962: A view from the other side of the hill, said several questions prevail why India did not use air power. “There was unrealistic assessment of Chinese air capabilities by intelligence”.