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Veterans, martrys’ kin take part in ‘Victory Parade’

During the discussion, all panelists welcomed this decision of the government and said that ever since the Kargil War got over in 1999, the Group of Ministers, in the year 2001, recommended the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh during a discussion at the Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh Sunday. (Express photo: Jasbir Malhi)

On the third and concluding day of Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh Sunday, defence experts opined that appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff would be a welcome step towards achieving integration of the defence services. The issue was examined during a panel discussion on the topic “Creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff”.

The discussion was moderated by Lt Gen Aditya Singh (retd) and the panelists included Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd), former Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt, advisor to British High Commission, New Delhi, Brig Gavin Thompson and Lt Gen Sanjeev Langer (retd).

During the discussion, all panelists welcomed this decision of the government and said that ever since the Kargil War got over in 1999, the Group of Ministers, in the year 2001, recommended the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

Lt Gen Aditya Singh said that the post of CDS is aimed at ensuring better coordination between the three services, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. He further said the CDS will act as the single-point advisor to the Government of India.

“The officer concerned will be in a position to advise on matters related to all the three services, Army, Navy and Air Force, thus making India’s armed forces integrated. The Chief of Defence Staff will be a ‘first among equals’, a fourth four-star officer who will be senior to the three other service chiefs,” he said.

Read | Military Literature Festival: Badnore says Punjab is Bharat, Bharat is Punjab; pushes for defence expo

Former Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt stressed the post of CDS has been created as it is necessary to have a professional body of the highest standing to facilitate ‘jointmanship’ and render single-point military advice to the government on matters of national security. He said that this post has been created by keeping in mind the present day needs and the first CDS would be appointed in few days from now.

Advisor to British High Commission New Delhi Brig Gavin Thompson said that a centrally decision making body, such as the CDS is need of the hour and it has been followed in the UK for several years. He also shared the working of the CDS in UK.

Lt Gen Sanjeev Langer gave a presentation and compared the system of command of armed forces in USA, China, France etc with that of the CDS in India. He said that uniformed men from the armed forces should be deputed permanently in the Ministry of Defence, and the CDS would play in fostering inter-services jointness in terms of budgeting, equipment purchases, training, joint doctrines and planning of military operations, an imperative of modern warfare.T

Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur stressed on the formation of a separate defence cadre in the country, whose officers should be deputed only in organisations related to national security. He also said that the CDS should be made a permanent members of all committees related to strategic policy group, nuclear command authority etc and should be made a part of all the inter-ministerial discussions that are related to matters of national security. “At present, a bureaucrat heading the Defence Ministry formulates the operational plans for war fighting and Chiefs of Staff execute it. With the creation of post of CDS, it could be rectified now,” he said.

Badnore hoped that the next edition of the festival would see the showcasing of defence technology. He appreciated that one of the panel discussions during this festival focuses upon ‘Make in India’.

UT Administrator V P Singh Badnore while inaugurating the Military Literature Festival 2019 at Lake Club, Chandigarh, on Friday. Kamleshwar Singh

Punjab is Bharat and Bharat is Punjab, for no other region has defended the country like Punjab and faced internal as well as external aggressions.

Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore made this statement while inaugurating the third edition of Military Literature Festival on Friday.

Referring to ‘Bharta’ clan of ancient times residing on the banks of Parushni or Ravi river, who had given the name Bharat to the nation, the Governor said despite several odds, the brave people of this land rose out of their misfortunes and created the bread basket of India and also became its sword arm. He termed it appropriate that the festival was founded in Punjab in the city of Chandigarh.

Kickstarting the three-day festival from December 13 to 15 with a galaxy of military historians, serving and retired military officers, researchers, academicians, hundreds of schoolchildren, authors and delegates from across the country and foreign shores, the Governor paid tributes to the martyrs of Parliament attack in 2001.

Badnore hoped that the next edition of the festival would see the showcasing of defence technology. He appreciated that one of the panel discussions during this festival focuses upon ‘Make in India’. He urged the defence manufacturers to utilise the platform provided by this event to make people aware of this reality. “Perhaps a defence and security exposition showcasing domestic and international weapons systems and equipment should become part of this festival next year,” he said.

He said that the nation had come a long way since Independence in 1947. The work of making own weapon systems with cutting-edge technology was in progress and already the defence equipment worth Rs 3,000 crore was being made in India. “Make in India for defence systems is no longer a mere slogan but a reality. Very soon we shall be securing our nation with a totally indigenously designed and manufactured weapons and equipment inventory,” he added.

Expressing gratitude to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and others for making two consecutive editions of this event a success in 2017 and 2018, the Governor said that the event would provide a healthy platform for children to acquaint themselves with the war stories besides an opportunity to interact with the veterans and serving officers.

Referring to the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and 550th Prakash Purb of Sri Guru Nanak Dev, Badnore said that these occasions reminded us that the way of nations must be that of ‘ahimsa’ and universal brotherhood where war is never an option. But at the same time, India was capable enough of dealing with any kind of insurgence from within or across borders. “Our Armed Forces have demonstrated this with a surgical strike in the mountains across the Line of Control and an air strike deep in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province,” he said.

He also reminded everyone that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Kargil war which the organising committee has commemorated with a review on the lessons learned during the conflict.

The Governor said the Tricity of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula is home to an extensive military community, where four former chiefs of the three Defence Services were residing along with several senior officers of armed forces. He said that on Defence Services Flag Day, i.e. December 7, former Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force joined us in laying wreaths at the Chandigarh War Memorial.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Charanjit Singh Channi expressed his gratitude to both Governor Badnore and CM Amarinder for conceptualising and organising this event with a view to apprising the younger generations of the glorious military legacy and its valour. He said that the state government had already released an amount of Rs 1.5 crore for organising this event.

In his address, GOC-in-C Western Command Lt General R P Singh said that it was a matter of great pride and honour for all that we were fully involved and associated in the MLF right from its inception in 2017. He hoped this festival would provide an opportunity to add new thoughts and ideas for strategy, security and diplomacy.

The senior advisor to Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Lt General Tejinder Singh Shergill, asserted that this MLF would go a long way in imbibing a spirit of patriotism and nationalism amongst youngsters besides motivating them to opt for armed forces as a career.

Prominent amongst those present on the occasion were former Chief of Army Staff General V P Malik (retd), former Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa (retd), former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba (retd), British Deputy High Commissioner in Chandigarh, Andrew Ayre, and Canadian Consulate General Mia Yen.

The Special Forces jawan of the Army, dressed in combat fatigues and carrying a sophisticated semi-automatic weapon, was standing outside Venue A of the Military Literature Festival where the Chief Minister was taking part in a panel discussion.

STRANGE SCENES were witnessed at the Military Literature Festival on Sunday when police personnel in Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s security detail were seen arguing with a Special Forces jawan of the Army, who was there to protect the GOC-in-C Western Command, asking him to move away and stand some distance away.

The Special Forces jawan of the Army, dressed in combat fatigues and carrying a sophisticated semi-automatic weapon, was standing outside Venue A of the Military Literature Festival where the Chief Minister was taking part in a panel discussion. The GOC-in-C, Lt Gen RP Singh, too, was present at the venue and sitting as part of the audience.

Security personnel of the Punjab Police were posted outside the venue for the protection of the CM. Several officials were seen telling the Special Forces jawan that since the CM was the higher-ranking official at the venue, the security of the venue was their responsibility. “Jab PM aata hai to hum bhi wahan se hat jaate hain (When the PM comes, even we step aside),” one official was heard telling the jawan while asking him to go and stand some distance away.

The Army jawan, however, politely refused to budge saying he has to protect the Army Commander, although he moved away for a short while to make a phone call. However, he came back and again stood near the entrance of the venue and remained there till the event ended. Later, the cops gave up, even though they would time and again come and ask him to stand aside.

Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane will serve as Army Chief till April 2022, when he turns 62

Vice Chief of the Army, Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane, is set to be the next Army Chief, official sources confirmed to The Indian Express on Monday.

He will succeed General Bipin Rawat, who will retire on December 31.

The government has stuck to the seniority principle in appointing Lt Gen Naravane as the next chief as he is the senior-most officer in the Army after Gen Rawat. He will serve till April 2022, when he turns 62.

Lt Gen Naravane had taken charge as the Vice Chief on September 1; before that, he headed the Eastern Command of the Indian Army.

In his nearly four decades in the Army, Lt Gen Naravane has worked in key appointments in active counterinsurgency environments, both in the Northeast and in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Army. He was also part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka during Operation PAWAN in 1987.

 Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane

He has been decorated with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal during his career. He was also the Inspector General of Assam Rifles (North) in Nagaland.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Lt Gen Naravane was commissioned into the 7th Battalion of The Sikh Light Infantry Regiment in June 1980.

Hailing from Pune, his father, Mukund Naravane, had retired from the Indian Air Force, and his mother, Sudha Naravane, was a writer and news broadcaster with All Indian Radio in Pune. She died last year.

Lt Gen Naravane is alumnus of the Jnana Prabodhini Prashala in Pune and has had a keen interest in painting and sports since school days. His friend from Jnana Prabodhini, Dr Milind Modak, an orthopaedic surgeon, said, “I remember from the schooldays that he has been a very composed and balanced person. (He) took keen interest in painting and sports. I don’t remember him impulsively reacting to anything. After he joined the National Defence Academy, we always used to believe that he would do some magnificent in life. All of us from his friend circle and Jnana Prabodhini family are very proud and happy after hearing the news.”

The Army Chief retires either at the age of 62 or after serving for three years at the post. The outgoing Army Chief, Gen Rawat, is considered one of the frontrunners to become the first Chief of Defence Staff, a post announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address this year.

TRIBUNE

Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane will be the next Chief of Army Staff helming the 1.3 million-strong force, official sources said on Monday.

Lt Gen Naravane is currently serving as Vice-Chief of the Army.

Sources said Naravane’s appointment has been cleared at the highest level, adding the government has followed the principle of seniority in the appointment.

Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat is due to retire on December 31 after a three-year stint.  He is expected to be appointed as the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff.

Before taking charge as vice chief of the Army Staff in September, Lt Gen Naravane was heading the Eastern Command of the Army which takes care of India’s nearly 4,000-km border with China.

General Malik said the Army placed orders for the 124 indigenous Arjun tanks at a much higher cost despite the fact that Russian T-90 tanks were much cheaper in comparison.

(from left) Gen VP Malik (retd), Admiral Sunil Lanba (retd), and Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa (retd) at MLF. Kamleshwar Singh

Former Army Chief VP Malik Friday lamented the lackadaisical attitude of political class towards the defence needs of the country, saying that due lessons had not been learnt from Kargil conflict.

Pointing out inadequacies in indigenous defence production and delays in acquisitions, General Malik, who was at the helm during the Kargil conflict, said that suppliers had provided substandard ammunition and outdated satellite photographs to the Army then.

“We purchased large quantities of artillery ammunition during the war and we found that it was of the 1970 vintage. Half of it turned out to be duds. We also purchased satellite photographs at Rs 35,000 apiece and it was found that these were two years old. The vendors exploit such situations when we purchase in an emergency,” he said.

General Malik made the remarks during a panel discussion – ‘Make in India and the Nation’s Security’ – on the first day of the Military Literature Festival (MLF) here.

The former Army chief also said that when the Army wanted to purchase weapon locating radars some years prior to the Kargil conflict, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) did not let the deal go through because they promised indigenous equipment in a short short of time. “However, we did not get it in the time frame and when we did eventually purchase it in 2003, it was at a much higher cost,” he said adding that the lack of the radar cost lives of soldiers during the conflict.

“We should have by now built enough indigenous defence capacity platforms,” said General Malik adding that Parliament should debate the reasons leading to this failure more than it was doing at the moment.

General Malik led the chorus on urgently streamlining the defence procurement processes making them facilitators and not hurdles in “our endeavour to endow our forces with the cutting edge weaponry”.

Dispelling the notion that Army preferred importing weapons, General Malik categorically said abject failure of the public sector to fully deliver the required weaponry was the only reason for this. He said the Army placed orders for the 124 indigenous Arjun tanks at a much higher cost despite the fact that Russian T-90 tanks were much cheaper in comparison.

Echoing the views, former Financial Advisor (Acquisition) with Ministry of Defence, Amit Cowshish questioned the ambiguity and mistrust around objectives laid down under Make in India as far as defence acquisitions were concerned. There is no clear cut policy and framework to achieve avowed goals under the new slogan, he said, adding that indeginisation cannot be the sole criterion to reduce costs. He advocated a dedicated overarching organisation to process and deliver the defence needs in a time bound manner.

Cautioning against the temptation to tag defence matters with mere sloganeering, Lt General Arun Sahni (retd) urged for allocating more funds for upgradation of warfare. “We need a more serious approach where accountability is fixed for producing unusable products at the public sector institutions working in the sphere,” he said. The panelists also concurred that India should leverage its advantage of being the largest importer of weapons while dealing with foreign exporters.

Had the population of India not been divided and had it come together, they could have stopped the rise of the East India Company,” said Oliver Everett.

(From left) Oliver Everett, Sir Mark Tully and Walter Reid at the Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh on Saturday. (Express photo: Jaipal Singh)

Written by Chanda Malviya

The East India Company came to India on 26 August, 1608, as a trading company but ultimately became the rulers of India for almost two decades, exploiting both its the population and resources. They left India a backward and poverty-stricken country, with its economy in a shambles and the citizens divided on the basis of religion, class and caste.

This was the sum of a panel discussion on William Dalrymple’s book “The Anarchy- The relentless rise of the East India Company and Empire”. Panelists Oliver Everett, Walter Reid and Sir Mark Tully, elucidated the factors that led to the metamorphosis of a simple trading company into a ruler of an entire nation.

Fall of Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire started losing its glory after the death of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb whose intolerant policies created a wedge among the population so much so that no emperor could handle such a vast empire. This downfall of the Mughals left the Indian state in anarchy, with no powerful authority to control such a vast area of diverse segments. “After the collapse of the Mughal Empire, a vacuum was created due to the anarchy, the British intervened and ultimately filled this gap and consequently, became the rulers of India,” said Reid, a reputed historian.

India was divided

During the mid-1600s, India was divided into various regional powers, including the Sikhs, Marathas, Rajputs and Afghans. This division gave rise to differences among the rulers of these regions due to their different beliefs and religions. The British followed the policy of divide and rule in India, and eventually, became the sole ruler. “Had the population of India not been divided and had it come together, they could have stopped the rise of the East India Company,” said Oliver Everett.

Also Read | William Dalrymple’s book, The Anarchy, has different cover, title for the UK edition

Economic factors

Walter Reid discussed the economic factors which led to the rise of the British in India. He explained the theory of how the East India Company exploited the Indian industries. “They used their military superiority to exploit the Indian industrialists. The East India Company banned the production of textile and steel, and crushed the native industries,” said Reid.

The company levied heavy taxes on farmers and industrialists and exploited them so much so that they had to take heavy loans to carry on production. Slowly, they fell into debt traps, said Reid, explaining how the sophisticated tax system imposed by the British, and the policy of capitalism fuelled their rise in India.

Military Power

The East India Company had enormous military power. They had skilled and powerful forces that were quite advanced in comparison to military forces of the Indian rulers. The British used their extensive forces to suppress all the rebellions against them and controlled the Indian population with force. “The British army was well financed by the British Government,” said Everett.