Jammu, January 3
Four soldiers, including a Lieutenant, were injured in a mine blast along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on Friday, officials said.
The blast took place during patrolling in forward area along the Line of Control in Kalal in Naushera sector, they said.
The injured persons were rushed to a hospital, the officials added. PTI
New Delhi: The fathers of the three chiefs — Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, Admiral Karambir Singh Nijjer and General Naravane — served in the IAF. The fathers of Admiral Nijjer and General Naravane retired as Wing Commanders. The father of Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria retired as Honorary Flying Officer. Notably, Admiral Nijjer, Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria and General Naravane are from the same course (56th) at the National Defence Academy. They had passed out in 1980. This information came on the Twitter handle of the Indian Air Force carrying a small message “Join Air Force”. TNS
General Rawat also directed various branch heads of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff to come up with recommendations for inter-service synergy and jointness in a time-bound manner.
After assuming charge as the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday held a meeting with the three service chiefs — General M M Naravane, Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria. He directed that a proposal to create Air Defence Command be prepared by June 30.
He also set out priorities in the meeting for execution of synergy by June 30 and December 31. Some of the areas identified for jointness and synergy include creation of common logistics support pools in stations where two or more services have their presence.
Explained: What are role, powers of CDS?
In the meeting, General Rawat also directed various branch heads of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff to come up with recommendations for inter-service synergy and jointness in a time-bound manner.
Emphasising a collegiate system of functioning, General Rawat directed that all three services and Coast Guard must be consulted and their views obtained in a time-bound manner.
he Chairman, US Joint Chiefs of Staff, is a four-star General sans operational control of Services but is the military adviser to the President, not Secretary of Defence. Here, the need for the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) being a ‘single-point military adviser’ to the Union Cabinet or the Cabinet Committee on Security has been killed. With no operational powers, who will listen to the CDS?
Ineffective CDS? The bureaucracy has won, as always.
Lt Gen PC Katoch (Retd)
Distinguished fellow, United Service Institution of India
The government has approved the appointment of the CDS in four-star rank with twin hats: Secretary to a new Department of Military Affairs (DMA) in the MoD and Permanent Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (PC CoSC). The DMA, having a mix of military and civilians, will deal with the three Services and HQ-Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), Territorial Army, works relating to Services and procurements, except capital acquisitions. The DMA will promote inter-service jointness in planning, integrated requirements, restructuring of military commands and indigenous equipment.
The CDS will be the Principal Military Adviser to the defence minister but the Service Chiefs will continue to advise the minister on Services. The CDS will not exercise any military command. The PC CoSC will administer tri-Service agencies with cyber and space commands under him; be a member of the Defence Acquisition Council and the Defence Planning Committee; function as military adviser to the Nuclear Command Authority; usher inter-service jointness in operation, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance within three years of the first CDS assuming office; ensure optimisation of infrastructure; implement the five-year defence capital acquisition plan and two-year roll-on annual acquisition plans, and assign inter-Services prioritisation to capital acquisition proposals based on an anticipated budget.
Almost two decades after the Kargil Review Committee and follow-up Group of Ministers headed by the then Deputy PM recommended the early establishment of the CDS, PM Narendra Modi had announced on August 15, 2019, that India would soon have a CDS, the format of which has just been issued. The composition of the DMA has not been announced and will take time to fructify. However, what is being trumpeted as a masterstroke appears to be a clever one, retaining the clout of a little diluted bureaucracy, if at all.
The HQ IDS was established in 2004, aimed at being ‘part’ of the MoD. The DG DIA in HQ IDS deals directly with the defence minister. Logically, the HQ IDS should have been merged into the MoD with officers of the HQ IDS placed on deputation. Some could have even been absorbed on a permanent deputation. Creating the DMA and retaining the HQ IDS separately is hardly in sync with the government’s aim of ‘minimum government, maximum governance’.
The Service Chiefs continuing to advise the defence minister on respective Services blows the cover of the CDS being the Principal Military Adviser to the minister. The Chairman, US JCS, is a four-star general sans operational control of Services but is the military adviser to the President, not Secretary of Defence. Here, the need for the CDS being a ‘single-point military adviser’ to the Union Cabinet/Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has been killed. The roots for this were sown by the bureaucracy in the CCS note approving the establishment of the HQ IDS, which read, “As and when a CDS is appointed, he will have equal voting rights as the Service Chiefs and in case of two Service Chiefs disagreeing, MoD (read bureaucracy) will arbitrate”. With no operational powers, who will listen to the CDS, with Service Chiefs rallying round their turfs and the bureaucracy adept in ‘divide and rule’?
The PIB release does not say that the DMA will replace the Department of Defence. Therefore, the DMA will function parallel to the Department of Defence (DoD) headed by the Defence Secretary, Department of Defence Production (DoPD), Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (DESW) and Department of Defence R&D. Here too, the CDS will be one secretary among equals, with the DoD, DoPD and DESW headed by bureaucrats. This further downgrades the four-star rank in protocol, though the CDS will draw higher pay. Till now, Service Chiefs were ranked alongside the Cabinet Secretary, which was higher than the secretaries in the MoD, including Defence Secretary.
Cases sent directly to the defence minister will invariably be marked by him to the Defence Secretary for examination and comments before taking any decision. So, the statement of a Union minister regarding powers of the CDS as secretary is irrelevant, especially with the minister having nothing to do with defence. The role of planning, coordination and advice and making projections for centralised procurement is already being done by the HQ IDS, with the CISC functioning as secretary to the CoSC. Without operational powers and command over only tri-service organisations like cyber and space, the first CDS is to bring jointness in operations, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance within three years of assuming office, which the MoD manned by bureaucrats has done little about in the past 72 years.
The HQ IDS, from its inception, had a slot for a joint secretary from the IFS and IAS, but the latter remained vacant due to bureaucratic ego. What civilians will be part of the DMA, including the constantly upgraded AFHQ cadre is yet to be seen. The DGQA and DG AFMS were to be under the HQ IDS but were never permitted for ‘well-known reasons’ and will likely continue under the DoD under Defence Secretary. The DoPD will similarly continue to oversee the governmental defence-industrial complex with patchy successes and unable to meet military requirements, provisioning bulk substandard products at inflated prices — their corporatisation at a snail’s pace, if at all. The DESW will continue dragging widows and disabled soldiers to court for disability pension.
The CDS is to work on ‘anticipated’ budget. He cannot make projections based on operational requirements to the Cabinet/Parliament/CCS. The FM will continue to arbitrarily cap the defence budget. Defence Finance will continue working with the Defence Secretary, as will national intelligence agencies and Defence Estates that was indicted by CAG as the most corrupt part of the MoD, recommending its disbandment.
The forces will have an additional four-star rank. The media blitz hails the move a masterstroke. Establishing the CDS is an excellent step, but the manner in which it is being implemented is a clever masterstroke by the bureaucracy-centric deep state. The CDS will remain ineffective. The bureaucracy has won as always and this will not change without political understanding of the intricacies and the will to change, one of the ironies being the belief there is going to be no war, so ‘chalta hai’ is good enough.
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat inspects the Guard of Honour, at South Block lawns, in New Delhi on January 1. Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTORahul Singh
rahul.singh@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI : India will have to evolve its model of theaterisation to fight future battles and it could involve the creation of three to four theatre commands for effective command and control of the three services and pursuing national objectives, said two leading experts on jointmanship or co-ordination and integration in terms of strategy, capabilities and execution across the three services.
As the country’s first chief of defence staff (CDS), the mandate given to General Bipin Rawat includes facilitating the restructuring of military commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing jointness in operations, including through establishment of theatre commands. The government expects the CDS to achieve key jointmanship targets in three years.
Setting up theatre commands is critical as the military has too many service commands handling a single adversary, said Lieutenant General Satish Dua (retd), who was the senior-most military officer handling all tri-service affairs until October 2018.
“Take the case of Pakistan. We have a total of seven commands taking care of the western neighbour. In my view, India needs to create three theatres — northern, western and southern — with tri-services assets to protect its interests,” he said. The northern and western theatres would take care of China and Pakistan, respectively, he said.
Theaterisation refers to placing specific units of the army, the navy and the air force under a Theatre Commander. Such commands will come under the operational control of an officer from any of the three services, depending on the function assigned to that command.
Creating theatres would involve merging the existing commands and the department of military affairs under the CDS will have to adopt a cautious approach to avoid turbulence that could accompany the restructuring, Dua said.
“Some existing commands can be merged now and some in phases to avoid turbulence,” Dua said.
Dua was intricately involved in promoting jointness in the military before retiring as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee on October 31, 2018.
The military would require four theatres to execute its missions, with two commands assigned the role of handling China, said Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia (retd), who heads the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies, a think tank set up by the defence ministry 12 years ago.
Bhatia was part of the Lieutenant General DB Shekatkar (retd) committee whose recommendations on military reforms are being implemented by the government to make the armed forces more effective. The committee is among the several panels that have recommended the appointment of CDS.
“We can have two theatres for China (north-western and north-eastern), one for Pakistan (western) and a fourth one for peninsular India (southern). The country’s geography requires two theatres for China, even though the northern adversary has only one theatre for India. That’s because the geography on their side is different and allows excellent connectivity all along the border,” he said.
Both Dua and Bhatia said the theatre commands could be headed by the best officers from any of the three services.
The two experts said the model of theaterisation formulated by other leading militaries such as the United States and China would not work for India and the country would have to come up with its own mission-specific theatres.
On Wednesday, Rawat said he would work towards creating theatre commands to prepare the military for future battles, adding that India’s armed forces need not necessarily imitate the models devised by western militaries for this.
The US department of defense has 11 combatant commands, each with a geographic or functional mission. The ones tasked with defending American interests across geographies are the Africa Command, Central Command, European Command, Indo-Pacific Command, Northern Command and Southern Command.
Similarly, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has five theater commands — eastern, southern, western, northern and central, with its western theater handling the entire border with India.
“The Indian model will have to be different because we are not an expeditionary military. The US model, for instance, doesn’t look at their own wars; it looks at others’ wars.
Our model will be based on our security needs and I am confident that its implementation can kick off within three years,” said Dua.
Bhatia concurred that the country would have to devise its own theaterisation model as other global models would not work in the Indian context because “the threats and challenges we face are vastly different.”
Commenting on theaterisation on Wednesday, Rawat said, “We can have our own system. We will work out a mechanism. We have to study and work with the three services to come out with a mechanism that suits the Indian system.”
Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat inspects a guard of honour in New Delhi. Photo: MR Bhui
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 1
Recasting the forces into theatre commands will not be done by copying the existing western models, and the Indian military will work out a system of its own, said the first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, minutes after taking over on Wednesday. He also stressed he will ‘strive to’ complete the integration of the services within the mandated three-year timeline set by the government.
New uniform designed for newly-created position
He inspected a tri-services guard of honour outside the South Block where the Chiefs of the three armed forces — the Army, Navy and the IAF — were present. The CDS will be the head of the newly created Department of Military Affairs. The three services would be under the DMA for military matters involving procurement, logistics, training, transport, maintenance, etc. On being asked that how will he complete the mandate of having theatre commands as the IAF, in the past, opposed it, General Rawat told the media: “There are methods of doing theatres we need not copy a western system. We will work out a system of our own”.
Answering a specific question if India would retain its present 19 commands or merge them, the new CDS said: “That is something we have to study. We will surely come out with a mechanism that suits the Indian system.”
On the government setting a three-year timeline for integration, and if it was possible to do it in three years or more time was needed, General Rawat said: “I will say it is possible. I cannot say we give up. The government has said three years, we will strive to achieve it in three years”.
On the role of the CDS, he said: “I can assure the Army, IAF and the Navy will work as a team. CDS will only keep control; it is not that CDS will want to run a force on his own”.
On how he felt as CDS, the General pointed towards his new military cap saying “I am wearing a peaked cap after 42 years. The last I wore this was when I passed out from IMA (Indian Military Academy in 1978). The Gorkha tilted hat is gone. This shows the CDS will remain neutral within the service and to all three services”. The General was commissioned in the Gorkha Rifles and they wear a peculiar tilted hat.
On synergy, the General said all three services cannot work on the formula that the sum total of three energies translates into ‘only three’. The total of energies has to be much more, maybe five or seven, meaning multiplication.
The forces, he said have to have best economical use of resources as we focus on integration. We can do training jointly. Procurement procedure can be made uniform.
Photo for representational purpose only. Reuters
New Delhi, January 2
US aviation regulator FAA on Thursday warned America’s airlines and their pilots that there is risk involved in operating flights in Pakistan airspace due to “extremist or militant activity”, according to an official document.
“Exercise caution during flight operations. There is a risk to US civil aviation operating in the territory and airspace of Pakistan due to extremist/militant activity,” said the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a notice to airmen (NOTAM) dated December 30, 2019.
The NOTAM is applicable to all US-based airlines and US-based pilots.
The US regulator said in its NOTAM that there continues to be a risk to US civil aviation sector from attacks against airports and aircraft in Pakistan, particularly for aircraft on the ground and aircraft operating at low altitudes, including during the arrival and departure phases of flights.
“The ongoing presence of extremist/militant elements operating in Pakistan poses a continued risk to US civil aviation from small-arms fire, complex attacks against airports, indirect weapons fire, and anti-aircraft fire, any of which could occur with little or no warning,” it said.
The FAA said that while, to date, there have been no reports of man-portable air defense systems or Manpads being used against the civil aviation sector in Pakistan, some extremist or militant groups operating there are suspected of having access to these Manpads.
“As a result, there is potential risk for extremists/militants to target civil aviation in Pakistan with Manpads,” it said.
The regulator added that pilots or airlines must report safety or security incidents — which may happen in Pakistan — to the FAA.
Pakistan on July 16 last year opened its airspace for India after about five months of restrictions imposed in the wake of a standoff with New Delhi.
Following the Balakot air strikes by the Indian Air Force, Pakistan had closed its airspace on February 26 last year.
Pakistan in October last year had denied India’s request to allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s VVIP flight to use its airspace for his visit to Saudi Arabia over the Kashmir issue. PTI
HT Correspondents & Agencies
letters@hindustantimes.com
Washington/Islamabad : The US has extended by a year a notice cautioning American airlines using Pakistani territory or air space, citing the possible use of man-portable defence systems –surface-to-air missiles–by extremists and ongoing militant activity in the country.
The Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) will remain in force till January 2021, said the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a statement on December 30.
The NOTAM advised all US air carriers and commercial operators to “exercise caution when flying into, out of, within, or over the territory and airspace of Pakistan”. It warned that the ongoing presence of “extremist/militant elements operating in Pakistan poses a continued risk to US civil aviation from small-arms fire, complex attacks against airports, indirect weapons fire, and anti-aircraft fire, any of which could occur with little or no warning”.
Man-portable air-defence systems , or manpads, are portable guided missiles that can target low-flying aircraft.
FAA said that while there have been no reports yet of these weapons being used against civilian aircraft yet, some extremist/militant groups operating in Pakistan “are suspected of having access to manpads”.
Govt seeks stay on bajwa tenure order
Pakistani government on Thursday sought a stay on a Supreme Court verdict on the extension of service of Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.
The development comes a day after the federal cabinet approved proposed amendments to the Constitution and the Army Act in order to give a three-year extension to the Army chief.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had extended Gen Bajwa’s tenure through a notification on August 19. But the Supreme Court suspended the government order, citing irregularities in the manner the army chief, a close confidant of Khan, was granted the extension.
The government in its plea requested the apex court “to accept the application and suspend/stay the operation of the impugned judgment dated November 28, 2019, in the interest of justice”.
In an emergency meeting on Wednesday, the Pakistan cabinet approved amendment to the Army Act under which the prime minister will be empowered to extend the tenure of all the military services chiefs. The bill pertaining to the amendment will be tabled in parliament on Friday.
The amendment has been prepared in accordance with the guidelines enumerated in the verdict of the Supreme Court regarding Gen Bajwa.
UAE fund allocates $200 mn to Pakistan
The de facto United Arab Emirates ruler, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, instructed the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development to allocate $200 million to support small and medium economic projects in Pakistan, state news agency reported.
The Crown Prince, who is in Islamabad where he met Prime Minister Imran Khan, tweeted that the two discussed “regional and international issues of mutual interest as well as ways to enhance bilateral ties.”
Struggle to define nationhood hangs in balance with benchmarks falling short
There’s hope: It is heartening that young students belonging to different faiths are defying the power of a coercive state to reclaim the vision of India.
Shyam Saran
Former Foreign Secretary and senior fellow, Centre for Policy Research
It is ironic that the year in which we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, we are locked in a debate about what kind of country should India be. Was not this issue settled when, after intense, but always civilised debate, a Constitution for the Republic of India was adopted on January 26, 1950? All the diverse communities of India, all shades of opinion and political persuasions were represented in the Constituent Assembly. They worked under the shadow of the trauma of the Partition and the assassination of Gandhi. This was an India still in the making. Its future was uncertain. Yet, the leaders of independent India were still able to put together a charter to guide the newborn nation, at once practical but also visionary. The Constitution draws inspiration from what is best among India’s own civilisational attributes, but also acknowledges the imperatives of a modern, egalitarian and enlightened society. In the past seven decades, India has often fallen short of the benchmarks it set for itself. But today is different because the benchmarks themselves are being questioned, derided and violated. It is some reassurance that those who undermine the Constitution still feel compelled to swear by it. Nehru may have been discarded but Gandhi still enjoys residual shelf life.
The Citizenship Act Amendment (CAA) is significant not for this or that specific clause but because it announces an imagining of India starkly different from what the Constitution envisioned. For the very first time, there is a law which introduces a distinction based on religious faith with respect to citizenship. This is irrespective of the claim that existing Muslim citizens will be unaffected by it. This is not the same as affirmative action based on social or economic infirmities accepted in the Constitution. It is possible that the arcane technicalities will be found by courts to validate it but that will be papering over the grievous wound inflicted on the very fabric of the Constitution.
The alternative imagining of India is a country that privileges the adherents of the Hindu faith. It is based on the as yet untested assumption that an overarching Hindu identity, ranging across sectarian, caste, regional and linguistic differences can be constructed on a Hindu-Muslim binary. The Hindu rashtra concept builds on this assumption. The case of Assam may suggest otherwise. The Constitution also strives to create an overarching Indian identity but one which is based on citizenship which transcends, but does not seek to either privilege or suppress these separate identities, including religious identities. Citizenship, as defined in the Constitution, is individual based and has nothing to do with other affiliations or identities that an individual may have. He enjoys fundamental rights as a citizen and this is not subject to his affiliation with any social or religious community. It is this concept of citizenship which the CAA has violated.
The CAA is a matter of concern also because of what has preceded it and what is intended to follow it. On August 5, Article 370 was suspended, J&K was bifurcated into Union Territories, and a virtual lockdown was imposed in the Muslim-majority Valley which mostly remains in place. Internet access has been denied to the residents of the Valley but they may now take consolation from the fact that this is also occasionally the fate of fellow citizens in several other parts of the country, including UP. Then came the historic SC judgment on the Babri Masjid case. Curiously, the acts of placing idols in the precincts of the masjid and the subsequent demolition of the masjid itself were held to be criminal acts, and yet, the judgment was in favour of a Ram temple being constructed at the same location. Decisions by the ruling party to make Yogi Adityanath the Chief Minister of UP despite his record of deep antipathy towards Muslims and the nomination of Pragya Thakur, who glorifies Gandhi’s assassin, Godse, as a candidate for election to the Lok Sabha, which she won handsomely, all point to an unmistakable pattern, an incontrovertible direction. If there are doubts about where we are headed one should see the video, which has been widely circulated, of schoolchildren in Puducherry re-enacting the demolition of Babri Masjid as a glorious historic achievement and being applauded by the Lt Governor. The government’s obfuscation over the updating of the National Population Register which has commenced, the creation of a National Register of Indian Citizens which is to follow and the construction of detention centres where those of doubtful citizenry may be held, seek to camouflage an intent to create an India very different from what we signed to as ‘We the People of India’ in 1950. This is what lies at the heart of the struggle unfolding on the streets across India. It is heartening that it is young students belonging to different faiths, who are together defying the power of a coercive state to reclaim peacefully the vision of India enshrined in the Constitution.
Good governance needs credibility, transparency and accountability. These attributes are becoming hard to find in the current ruling dispensation, whether in respect of political or economic decision making. Above all, in a democratic country, the state must not raise its fists to rain blows on its citizens. ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, and the additional element the PM has now added, ‘Sabka Vishwas’, should not remain a politically expedient slogan. It should become the benchmark for all government action, for it truly imbibes the spirit of the Indian Constitution.
Our Correspondent
Hamirpur, January 1
Tributes were paid to martyr Captain Mridul Sharma here today. Capt Sharma sacrificed his life on January 1, 2004. He was on night patrolling after getting information on terrorist intrusion on the Indo-Pak border in the Peer Panjal ranges in Jammu and Kashmir.
A contingent of soldiers, including Naib Subedar Satyaveer Singh Shekhavat and Jawans Prasanna Kumar, Pankaj and Dinesh Singh, were with him.
Narender Thakur, MLA, and Harikesh Meena, Deputy Commissioner, were also present. Narender Thakur said the country was secure because of brave Army men.
