Despite various govts going slow on hi-tech defence acquisitions, it now emerges that India is the largest weapons importer. This is ‘inglorious’ in the face of stridency over ‘desi’ production. And as we struggle, our neighbours find ways to forge ahead with new defence partners, a fact we can ignore to our peril

In 2005 the Indian Armed Forces very zealously adopted the concept of ‘transformation’, a term borrowed from the lexicon of the US Armed Forces. Essentially it meant ‘a very big change’; that change was essential in the sphere of war fighting due to the way various technologies, with information technology (IT) at the core, were rapidly demanding a move well beyond the military capabilities of the Cold War period.

Fresh from its then recent experience of ‘Operation Parakram’, which involved massive mobilisation against Pakistan, the Indian military attempted to explain to the political and bureaucratic authorities how it was looking at the future even as ‘transformation’ was underway in various countries. Its enthusiasm found few takers and support for its ambitious projects was halfhearted. Although the 11th and 12th Plans did cater for incremental manpower needs the wherewithal just could not materialise. ‘Transformation’ died a natural death around 2011, buried under the mountain of neglect, lack of perception and inability to financially support the change which was being sought.

It’s due to the history of this neglect that finally the Army’s Vice Chief, Lt Gen Sarath Chand was recently forced to inform the Parliamentary Committee on Defence Affairs on the lack of preparedness and severe glitches in the Army’s modernisation program, a position equally applicable to the Navy and the Air Force. Most reports on this important issue affecting India’s national security have focused on the details of the failure of financial backing and the inability to remove bureaucratic hurdles. However, a simple summary projected by most of these reports conveys the message without the attached details. In an adequately prepared war machine 30% of weapons and equipment should fall in the state of the art (SOA) category, 40% in current and 30% in vintage category. The existing state of the Indian Army brought to the notice of the Committee is 8% SOA, 24% current and 68% vintage category.

With existing and emerging threats arising out of China’s consistent efforts at domination of the continental and maritime domains, exchanges on the LoC, the possibility of collusion between China and Pakistan and sponsored terrorist actions which could cross the threshold of India’s tolerance, the possibility of armed standoff against both adversaries remains live. While most analysts agree that all out conventional war is still a remote contingency this cannot be used as a dictum for the state of the nation’s military preparedness which should never be sub optimum.

Unfortunately, the idea does not seem to find favour with those who control the purse strings, that being optimally armed, equipped, trained and motivated is half the battle and sends appropriate messages of deterrence or dissuasion, as the case may be. No doubt there are competing domains for the share of national resources but the element of risk that is involved in remaining underprepared in the military domain must overshadow all other considerations. The perceptions that emerge from the military leadership cannot be dismissed lightly and trust in its professional judgment is only prudent.

It needs to be recalled that in 1965 Pakistan’s adventurous plans were based on its perception that any delay in attempting to capture its claimed areas would be risky as the Indian military was reforming and equipping itself but was then not fully prepared for war. Assumptions of military weakness tempt adversaries.

The Army’s current leadership has unnecessarily been under fire for making public utterances from time to time. The Army Chief, Vice Chief and a few Army Commanders have expressed their frank opinion about perceptions of threats and preparedness. In earlier years, the Army leadership was content with transparently placing its observations and concerns to the government through its annual reports and theme papers; these were never made public and rarely acted upon. Providing answers to parliamentary questions still adhered to what the government wished to reveal. It is the annual presentation to the Parliamentary Committee which was always considered an appropriate forum to be realistically transparent. Much depended upon the members of the committees of the past, their level of understanding and perceptions about security affairs.

The present committee’s better grasp has obviously been the trigger for the current expression of concern. It too has realized that 1.49% of the GDP at Rs 2.79 lakh crore which forms the defence budget cannot hope to meet both the revenue and capital needs of the defence services. In strong words the Army Vice Chief stated, “The 2018-19 budget has dashed our hopes; the marginal increase hardly caters for inflation…allocation of Rs 21,338 crore for modernisation is insufficient even to cater for committed payment for 125 on-going schemes, emergency procurements, and 10 days worth of ammunition at intense rates”.

What is also revealing is that gaping holes in perimeter security of major army camps remain unaddressed as the much touted allotments for this are within the existing budget. Coupled with the huge expenditure on meeting the needs for response at Doklam, it is reliably learnt that the Army’s current transportation and some other budgets ran out of funds a couple of weeks ago, well before the end of the financial year.

What is going to be the result of this transparency? Will it help in better appreciation of the grave deficiency in defence capability and capacity which is becoming more and more apparent? What the Army needs to do is to continue speaking about this and let the public perception on the deficiency become more realistic. There are ways of being transparent without upsetting any rules. In functional democracies like ours its ultimately public perception which pushes governments to adhere to norms of as basic a requirement as national security.

The writer commanded the 15 Corps in Jammu & Kashmir. The views are personal

Our Correspondent

Una, March 19

Ex-servicemen of the Bangana subsivision have raised their demand for a mobile unit of canteen stores department (CSD) at the subdivision headquarters. The demand was raised at the quarterly meeting of the district Sainik Welfare Board here.According to an official communique, a non-official member of the district-level committee of the Sainik Welfare Board said there were about 5,000 ex-servicemen and their families besides scores of other families of serving defence personnel in Bangana, who had to travel to the Una district headquarters or to Badsar in Hamirpur district for CSD facilities.The ex-servicemen have demanded that the mobile CSD unit visit Bangana at least twice a month so that the ex-servicemen and their families could purchase grocery and other items. Demands for a community building for ex-servicemen at the Una district headquarters and demarcation of land for a proposed Army cantonment in Gagret developmental block were also raised.Additional DC Kritika Kulhari, while presiding over the meeting, directed the officials concerned to take appropriate action with regards to the demands. She informed that the financial assistance for the marriage of daughters of ex-servicemen had been raised from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000, adding that during the last quarter, 33 such cases had been forwarded to the Director of Sainik Welfare.Their plea

• There are about 5,000 ex-servicemen and their families in Bangana
• They have to travel to the Una district headquarters or Badsar in Hamirpur district for CSD facilities
• They have demanded that the mobile CSD unit should visit Bangana at least twice a month

C-17 Globemaster at Tuting airfield in Arunachal Pradesh. — ANI

• Sending a message to China, the IAF on Tuesday landed the C17 Globemaster, the biggest transport aircraft in its stable, at the advanced landing ground at Tuting in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• Describing the mission as historic, an IAF spokesman said the mammoth C17 Globemaster could execute this mission owing to the sublime flying skills of the pilots
• After completion of the trial landing, the C17 also carried out an operational mission airlifting operational load into the austere airfield. TNS

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 7

After inducting ground-based electronic warfare (EW) systems over the past couple of decades, the Army now wants to take this battlefield domain into the skies. It has projected a requirement of aerial systems for reconnaissance, surveillance as well as countering hostile radio and cellular networks and satellite-based systems.According to the Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap – 2018 document that was issued by the Ministry of Defence a few days ago, the Army has projected a requirement for three aerostat systems, seven heliborne EW systems and 10 EW payloads for remotely piloted aircraft.The document, the first edition of which was issued in 2013, identifies the requirements of the three services in various domains over the next decade and serves as a guide for the industry for planning or initiating technology development, partnerships and production arrangements.The Army’s requirement for the aforementioned aerial systems comes along with an additional requirement for 10 integrated EW systems that can be mounted on tracked or wheeled vehicles. The Air Force and the Navy too have projected requirements for different types of EW platforms to meet their operational needs.The broad parameters for the EW systems include the capability to deny effective use of electronic spectrum by the enemy, detect, monitor, and jam enemy cellular and satellite communication receivers, radars and GPS systems, carry out communication intelligence and electronic countermeasures, besides integrating photo-recce and image correlation for physical identification of targets. The IAF had inducted two aerostats over a decade ago and drawn up plans for further acquisitions, which are still hanging fire. An aerostat is an unpowered balloon tethered at a certain height above the ground and equipped with surveillance and communication equipment. It can remain deployed for a number of days at a stretch, scan a wide swath of area and is particularly effective for detecting low-flying or surface objects.Aerial EW systems that the Army is envisaging can also be used for counterterrorist operations and sub-conventional conflict situations besides conventional deployment.

Two petitions allege discrimination against women in the Army”s recruitment policy related to its engineering and education corps.

New Delhi, February 10

The Centre has opposed in the Delhi High Court two petitions that allege discrimination against women in the Army’s recruitment policy related to its engineering and education corps.A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal was told that the allegation of discrimination against women in Indian Army with respect to their recruitment in the force is “baseless, unfounded and devoid of merit”.The Army sought dismissal of the two PILs filed by a lawyer that have alleged “institutionalised discrimination” against women by the Army as it does not recruit them into the two corps by giving them a permanent commission.However, the Indian Army maintained that it has in “1992 introduced women special entry scheme (officers) for induction of short service commission (women officers)”, under the appropriate provisions of the law.”Prior to this there was no provisions of entry of women officers to the Indian Army,” the ministry added.Advocate Kush Kalra said that, “This discrimination on grounds of gender is violative of fundamental right of equality before law, the right not to be discriminated on the ground of sex, the equality of opportunity in the matters of public employment, the right to practice any profession and occupation and the human rights of the women.”Women candidates are denied entry into the Engineering Corps under the 10+2 Technical Entry and the University Entry schemes in contrast to their male counterparts, one of the petitions said.The lawyer in his other plea has said the reason given by the Army for not recruiting women is that they are not eligible for permanent commission in the army while the Army Educational Corps is a permanent commission.The petitioner has sought an order declaring the Indian Army’s eligibility conditions which disentitle women from being recruited in the Army Educational Corps as void, since they are inconsistent with the fundamental rights of women.In his other plea relating to entry of women into the Engineering Corps, the petitioner has said the advertisement inviting application for recruitment only mentions male candidates and not female.”As per the eligibility criteria only unmarried male candidates are eligible for recruitment to the 10+2 Technical Entry and University Entry schemes (both for permanent commissions), which in-fact means no female with equivalent qualification are eligible.”This practice is discriminatory. The respondents (MoD and Army) are treating equals unequally. It is arbitrary and discriminatory against women,” the petition on Engineering Corps said.Kalra has also sought an order declaring the eligibility conditions for recruiting unmarried males alone in the Engineering Corps under the two entry schemes for a permanent commission as unconstitutional. — PTI

Photo for representation only. Source: iStock

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, February 4

The body of a former captain in the Indian Army is lying in a Pune morgue after none of his relatives have come forward to claim it, according to police.Ravindra Kumar Bali, 67, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy at Khadakvasla in Pune, was living on the footpath near the officers’ mess in Pune Cantonment after his flat was reportedly repossessed by the
bank for non-payment of loans.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Police said Bali was attacked by two persons who beat him up and smashed his head with a boulder.He was taken to Sassoon Hospital by passers-by where doctors declared him dead early Friday morning.According to officials at the Lashkar police station, Bali may have been killed by criminals who extorted money from pavement dwellers.

Bali’s relatives were traced to Kota in Rajasthan but they were not in touch with him for nearly 30 years, police said.“We were told by some of his relatives that they were not even aware that he was living in Pune,” the duty officer at the Lashkar police station said.The police were also told by Bali’s relatives that he was married with a daughter and a son but was estranged from his family.Sources say Bali was in the Army for 18 years though it is not clear under what circumstances he quit the service.Officials from the Pune Municipal Corporation, which has taken custody of Bali’s remains, say they will wait for the next few days before deciding on their next course of action.As a rule unclaimed bodies are disposed off as per the dead person’s religion after a photograph of the deceased is taken for the records.

A new roster system will come into effect from Monday in the Supreme Court. It is tempting to see it as an attempt to introduce transparency and to institutionalise allocation of cases to various Benches — one of the main demands of the four seniormost judges who staged a “judicial mutiny” on January 12. Still, the rebel judges wouldn’t get to hear PILs which the CJI has assigned to his own Bench. Subject-wise roster system for judges — a first for the Supreme Court — is, in fact, not a novel idea. It has been working well in the Delhi High Court for years. So far so good. The question is: has the apex court returned to a state of judicial tranquillity? The CJI had unilaterally announced the new roster system without consulting the rebel judges. Admitted, that the CJI is “master of the roster”; but enforcing it without consulting senior judges can be problematic. The new arrangement partly denudes the CJI of his moral authority.It’s understandable that CJI Misra is hurt by the washing of dirty linen in public by Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph as it gave a bad name to the institution. But ignoring the issues raised by them cannot be the solution. The judiciary faces, perhaps, its most serious crisis since the supersession of judges and the Emergency during the 1970s. This time around, the damage done to the institution is self-inflicted.The very credibility of the judiciary as an institution is at stake. It is time for the CJI and others to rise above personal differences and display judicial statesmanship in the larger interest of an institution which still enjoys immense public faith. But there are silver linings too. For a change, the Bar has played a positive role. The judges reposed faith in the media which is often blamed by the judiciary for sensationalising events and conducting media trial; and, thirdly, the judiciary has been one of the most opaque institutions. It has now been forced to flirt, paerhaps, with openness and transparency. Hopefully, Monday will be a new day and, perhaps, a new beginning.