The Army is 7,298 short of the sanctioned strength. File phtoo

New Delhi, August 1

The three armed forces face a shortage of over 9,096 officers, with the Army topping the list, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

In a written response to a question in the Lower House of Parliament, Subhash Bhamre, Minister of State for Defence said as on January 1, 2018, the authorised strength of the Army was 49,933, but it has 42,635 officers, which is 7,298 short of the sanctioned strength.

The authorised strength for the Navy is 11,352 officers as against the existing number of 9,746 officers, which is 1,606 less than the sanctioned number.

The Air Force has a shortage of 192 officers, Bhamre said, adding that it has 12,392 officers as against the sanctioned strength of 12,584 officers.

In response to another question on whether the government has received any proposal from China for a border defence cooperation pact, the minister replied in negative.

He said an agreement on border defence cooperation between India and China was signed on October 23, 2013.

“No new proposal for a defence cooperation has been received from China,” the MoS said.

He said the government has taken various steps to strengthen defence cooperation with China, including mechanisms to enhance military to military exchanges and ensure maintenance of peace, stability and tranquillity along the India-China border.

These measures include annual defence and security dialogue, exchanges at the level of border troops, border personnel meetings, meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation on India-China Border Affairs and agreements and protocols relating to confidence-building measures. PTI

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 26

As the Kargil martyrs were remembered on Thursday on Kargil Vijay Diwas, NK Kalia, father of Saurabh Kalia who is a martyr from Palampur, is still awaiting justice for his son.Kalia said there was no difference between the UPA and NDA government. Both had failed to do justice to the martyrs, who were subjected to inhuman treatment by the Pakistan army during the Kargil war in 1999.“Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced in a rally at Palampur that if the NDA government was voted to power, it will do justice to the family of Saurabh Kalia and take up the issue at the highest level, nothing has been done”, he added.Kalia said his petition before the Supreme Court was pending and he had faith in the judicial system. “I will get justice from the court and continue fight for the cause of the martyrs till the end,” he said. He regretted that he had approached the Government of India and several national and international organisations to pressure the Pakistan government to identify, book and punish those who tortured my son.”Kalia said he was disappointed with the attitude of the governments who ruled the nation as none initiate efforts to take up the issue with Pakistan during the bilateral talks held several times.“Though 19 years have passed, my wounds are yet to be healed. Not only parents of the soldiers, but also the Army and the nation had lost dedicated and honest soldiers,” said he. Saurabh Kalia and others were captured by the Pakistan army on May 15, 1999, after which they were tortured brutally to death. Their mutilated bodies were sent back to India in June. The martyr sacrificed his life at the age of 22. Meanwhile, the Army paid tribute to the Kargil martyrs at the War Memorial in Dharamsala. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Kishan Kapoor was also present.

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 22

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba, who is on a visit to J&K, called on Governor NN Vohra in Srinagar on Sunday.The Governor and the Navy Chief discussed a range of issues relating to the effective national security management, including the challenges being faced in J&K.The Governor thanked Admiral Lanba for the invaluable role played by the Navy during the 2014 floods in the Valley and recalled how the MARCOS, using their Gemini boats equipped with high-tech gadgetry, established waterways to enable the boats of the National Disaster Response Force and other agencies to operate safely and save hundreds of lives.The Governor also sought the Navy Chief’s advice regarding the recovery of the Wular and Dal lakes and how a large number of boys and girls from the Valley could be enabled to join the Navy.

Tribune News Service

Gidderbaha/Muktsar, July 17

Army sepoy Ranveer Singh (24), hailing from Husnar village in Gidderbaha subdivision, died under mysterious circumstances on Monday after sustaining a bullet injury near the Line of Control (LoC) in Khour area of Akhnoor sector (Jammu and Kashmir).Ranveer had joined the Army about six years ago. His body was brought here on Tuesday afternoon and cremated with full state honours.Ranveer’s father Suba Singh, a marginal farmer, said, “We were told on the phone on Monday that Ranveer had died after falling from a tower. We are not even aware whether he sustained a bullet injury. He should be declared a martyr.”The deceased is survived by a younger brother, also serving in the Army, a sister and parents. ASI Ghulam Hussain, investigating officer, Khour police station, said, “It appears to be a case of suicide. A bullet pierced the soldier’s head. His rifle has been recovered. After initiating inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC and conducting a post-mortem examination, the body was handed over to the Army.”

New Delhi, July 17

Police suspect that a female flight attendant, who allegedly committed suicide in south Delhi’s Panchsheel Park, was upset with her husband as she had recently discovered that he was a divorcee, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.The senior officer, who was privy to the probe, said Anissia Batra (39), who worked with a German airline, came to know a month ago that Mayank Singhvi was a divorcee.They had got married on February 23, 2016 and it was a love marriage.“He had not told her about his first marriage. After she found out about his earlier relationship, she was quite hurt. It is suspected that they must have had arguments over it,” said the officer.Batra had allegedly jumped from the terrace of her house on Friday. Her family alleged that Singhvi used to physically abuse her and they also accused his parents of harassing her for dowry.Singhvi was arrested yesterday and was today produced in a city court that sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.“We will apply for his custody after recording the statements of witnesses,” the official added.A family friend of the victim said the police informed them about Singhvi’s court hearing half an hour before her cremation.“The cremation was planned for 12 pm today. The police were aware about it. We were told that the hearing would take place at 2 pm but at 11:30 am we were informed that the hearing was re-scheduled for 12 pm. This is unacceptable and inhuman on the part of police,” said the friend who did not wish to be named.  She claimed that Batra’s brother did not even get a chance to say goodbye to her.The police said that it was the duty of the investigating officer to inform the complainant’s family about the hearing.           Her family also accused the police of not arresting Singhvi’s parents, despite them also being “responsible” for her death.“Singhvi’s family have used influence. We need media support. His parents should also be arrested because they have constantly instigated fights between them,” she alleged.Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Romil Baaniya said Singhvi’s parents had been granted exemption from joining the probe by the court till July 20 on personal grounds. They would be questioned after that, he said. The officer said the victim’s parents told the magistrate that Batra was harassed for dowry and they would be speaking to her parents.Baaniya also said they would try to ascertain the reason for the argument between the couple, following which Batra had allegedly jumped from the terrace.The victim had sent a message to her husband that “he would see her dead face” before taking the extreme step, police said. Batra’s family alleged that her husband used to “physically assault” her and also ask for money. Another issue the couple had a fight about was Batra selling off her flat in Vasant Vihar, he said.The officer said Singhvi, a software engineer in Gurgaon, used to earn Rs four crore per year and gifted luxurious items to Batra. He had even gifted her a BWW on her birthday. The BMW was seized by the police.Batra’s family claimed that Singhvi had started “physically abusing” her right from their honeymoon and in June this year, he had even assaulted her mother. — PTI

Sitharaman said that India’s defence relation with Russia has endured several decades and this has been conveyed to a US Congressional delegation which visited India recently.

New Delhi: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the S-400 missile deal with Russia will go ahead despite the threat of United States imposing economic sanctions on any country with military ties to Moscow.

Speaking to reporters at South Block, Sitharaman said that “negotiations are in final stages with Russia for the S-400 missile”.

e S-400 missile”.

Referring to CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act), under which the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on military deals with Russia, she said it is an American law and not a UN law and India has conveyed its position on the issue to the US.
On being asked if she means that the law does not apply to India, Sitharaman said “off course, it does not”.Our defence relation with Russia has endured several decades and we have conveyed about it to a US Congressional delegation which visited India recently,” Sitharaman told a group of reporters at her office in South Block.

The defence minister had last month too vowed to go ahead with the deal. The two sides were expected to discuss the matter at the 2+2 dialogue scheduled in Washington, but it was postponed by the US without giving any reason. This was the second such delay. The talks are now expected to be held in September.

The defence minister said it may take two-and-a-half to four years to implement the S-400 missile deal after it is signed.

There has been mounting concerns in India over the US sanctions against Russian defence majors including Rosoboronexport as billions of dollars of military purchases may be impacted because of the punitive measure.

The US had announced sanctions against Russia under the stringent law for its alleged meddling in the American presidential election in 2016.

CAATSA mandates the Donald Trump administration to punish entities engaging in significant transaction with the defence or intelligence establishment of Russia.

India wants to procure the long-range missile systems to tighten its air defence mechanism, particularly along the nearly 4,000-km-long Sino-India border.

In 2016, India and Russia had signed an agreement on the ‘Triumf’ interceptor-based missile system which can destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. S-400 is known as Russia’s most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system.

China was the first foreign buyer to seal a government-to-government deal with Russia in 2014 to procure the lethal missile system and Moscow has already started delivery of unknown number of the S-400 missile systems to Beijing.

The S-400 is an upgraded version of the S-300 systems. The missile system, manufactured by Almaz-Antey, has been in service in Russia since 2007

The 7-8 per cent jump in President Barack Obama’s approval ratings following the ‘taking out’ of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan by the elite Naval SEAL’s, lasted exactly two weeks. Even though the most wanted perpetrator of 9/11 was nailed, it was the looming concerns around the US economy that sucked up all the political oxygen and public concerns in the immediate aftermath. In the following year 2012, the re-pitch for President Barack Obama’s campaign was encapsulated by the slogan ‘Forward’. The successful campaign focused around the considered responses to the Great Depression, future of social-insurance, affordable care act etc; however, no political usurpation of the successful military action against the number one terrorist in the world was substantially made for electoral gratification. In popular culture, it was ‘SEAL Team Six’ that assumed mythic folklore as the heroes of the Osama Bin Laden raid, and contrary to some demands for the release of the Abbottabad raid footage, no release or information was put-out in conformity to the security and military codes, rectitude and sobriety. In mature democracies, matters pertaining to military deployments, actions or any form of political appropriation of the ‘soldier’ are shunned in order to uphold the bipartisan and strictly apolitical nature of the institution.In India, the overt use of the ‘Indian Soldier’ as a political prop has assumed grave proportions. The insidious insertion of muscular-nationalism by contextualising all related and unrelated political events to the ‘Indian Soldier’, is willy-nilly forcing a political colour onto the military uniforms. Veterans as ‘newsroom warriors’ on primetime TV, going beyond military analysis and instead, bolstering wholly political positions, albeit, in their unmistakable regimental regalia is rife. This brazen ‘covering fire’ by veterans is a marked change from the restraint, dignity, and prudence of earlier veterans-turned-politicians like Jaswant Singh or Rajesh Pilot, who certainly espoused the institutional concerns, but only after ‘hanging their uniforms’ and avoiding any political usurpation of the soldier’s imagery.

Today, immediately following the imposition of the Governor’s rule in J&K, news filtered in that the National Security Guards would now be deployed in J&K. This supported the political narrative of the ‘free-hand’ that was now ostensibly available to the armed forces, as if the state government earlier had a say in not deploying the National Security Guards or that the operational services of such – like Special Forces was not taken earlier. Much like the popular prefixing of the term ‘first ever’ to the surgical strikes that took place in September 2016, which suggested incorrectly, a hitherto unprecedented military tactic. Even the timing of the latest release of the eight-minute video footage pertaining to the military operations across the LOC by the Special Forces in destroying the targets on the Pakistani side is deliberate and disingenuous in its larger political import. The footage that is reportedly shot from drones and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) using thermal imaging cameras could not have been released without due approvals and deliberations, the intent of which is questionable by public mainstreaming of the same, now. Also, the fact that the footage released pertains to the surgical strike in Pakistan and not to the earlier surgical strike in Myanmar, which was conducted on a larger scale, is also pertinent in terms of the emotional-political mileage that is emanated by targeting Pakistan, as opposed to militant camps in Myanmar. The subtle and surreptitious milking of military matters for generating political currency is systematically underway. This relatively new project of tying bullets and ballots comes with the hazards of unfamiliar territory, as the political speeches invoking the gallant soldiers and the ‘sons of the soil’ are often mired in embarrassing inaccuracies and outright falsehoods, like in the Karnataka polls.

2014 was the turning point year in the focused targeting of the veteran community with the ruling dispensation’s manifesto capturing specifics like, “There have been intrusions inside the LAC (Line of Actual Control), loss of squadrons of combat aircraft by the Air Force, witnessing of a series of accidents by the Navy, leading to a loss in its combating capability….” The winds of societal polarisation seeped into the largely apolitical minds and the closed cantonments of the Armed Forces before these were subliminally, politically and then literally opened-up to civilian-political intrusion. With the 17th General Elections looming on the horizon, the essential nature of the imperatives governing the men, machines, materials, and morale of the Armed Forces remains unchanged with the retrogression in its warrant of precedence’s, unabated. Yet, the tactical power of symbolic-courting of the ‘soldier’ and spin-doctoring of uber-muscularity of policies, has both the civilian and a large part of the veteran community in throes of political affiliations and proselytising zeal. Similarly, President Donald Trump’s sudden proposal to have a Bastille Day-like military parade in Washington, for no specific reason, will divide public opinions on rationality and emotionality, thereby, only helping Trump’s polarising politics. The informal salesmanship of Trump militates against the professional ethics that insists on bipartisan integrity e.g. while commissioning aircraft carrier Gerald Ford, Trump alluded to his budget concerns by stating, “I don’t mind getting a little hand, so call that Congressman and call that Senator and make sure you get it” and added, “And by the way, you can also call those Senators to make sure you get health care!” 2019 Indian General Elections must spare the ‘Indian Soldier’ from political invocation, narration, and arrogation as an exclusive preserve of any political party. The standing Armed Forces have more than their fair share of operational commitments that can afford no non-professional distractions. There are enough pending issues, investments and promises to keep to the ‘Indian Soldier’ before any political party can rightfully claim to have done anything, substantially more than the ‘other’. The last bastion of sovereign hope, Constitutional correctness, and apolitical sincerity need not be forced into a divisive choice institutionally, though individually, and without the accoutrements, insinuations and spokespersonship for the entirety of the Armed Forces, the soldier should be concerned and involved in making a conscious choice. Lt General Bhopinder Singh (Retd) is a former Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands & Puducherry. The views expressed are strictly personal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on the ball — there cannot be a common GST rate for milk and Mercedes in India where the gulf between the rich and the poor is wide and there are huge income disparities. But all essential goods and services that are consumed by the poor can be easily exempted from GST. For example, all unbranded consumables essential for the living, including milk, should be kept in the zero duty slab. However, branded items, including milk packed in cans and cartons, should attract a higher tax rate. In a poverty-ridden country like India, Mercedes is rightly perceived in the category of sin goods and should fall in the highest tax bracket. Taking into account the socio-economic inequality, there cannot be one tax rate in the country. But, this does not justify multiple tax rates that have made the GST structure complex and convoluted.   Besides standard tax slabs — 0, 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent — there is an array of tax rates such as special rates for gold (3 per cent), precious stones (0.25 per cent), yacht and aircraft for personal use (3 per cent), cess and so on. After one year of implementation of the GST, the government must try to minimise the tax slabs without “fear and favour” to certain industrialists or industries. For example, items in the 12 per cent and 18 per cent can be easily merged into one slab of 15 per cent without sacrificing any revenue. Similarly, special rates could be assimilated in the main slabs by trimming the lowest rate of 5 per cent by a hundred basis point. Addition of valuable items in the slab will not only raise revenue, but also provide relief to the consumer who is currently paying 5 per cent duty on items like insulin and khakra. Thus, the principle of reasonableness, without pride, prejudice and politics, can easily resolve the problem of tax multiplicity from a reform that was initiated to simplify the complex indirect tax regime.  Admiringly, Arun Jaitley has given hints that tax slabs could be rationalised with the improvement of GST collections. But, it should be the other way around. Tax collection will increase by minimising rates, simplifying procedures and making compliance easier.

Inviting applications for lateral induction may be an effort to improve governance, but it also speaks volumes about the tension between the political masters and the bureaucracy

Ayesha Siddiqa

The Government of India recently invited applications to recruit talented people as lateral entrants at the level of joint secretaries. As per the announcement, the search is for 10 outstanding individuals with expertise in revenue, financial services, economic affairs, agriculture, cooperation and farmers’ welfare, road transport and highways, shipping, environment, forest and climate change, new and renewable energy, civil aviation and commerce. Once selected, these people will be hired on contract for a period of three to five years.While this may be seen as an effort to improve the government machinery, this speaks volumes about the tension between the political masters and the bureaucracy. The system of lateral entry into the service is likely to increase sourness of the relations and may have negative implications for the bureaucracy.  This is indeed a system that is used in Pakistan. There are two methods for lateral inductions in Pakistan. The first method is more structural as there is almost a 10 per cent quota for military personnel to get inducted into certain branches of the civil service, such as administrative services and the police. According to this method, the select number of armed forces officers bypasses the civil service examination by only appearing for the interview. A second method is inducting military personnel or politically favoured civilians into the foreign service at ambassadorial positions. The lesson is that while semi-lateral entry at the juniormost level tends to create less problems as the system of joint training tends to develop a sense of camaraderie, the senior-level inductions are extremely problematic. Bureaucrats already serving in the system tend to feel sidelined, thus, discouraged to work or improve their performance. Notwithstanding the lack of independence of Pakistan’s Foreign Office from the politically powerful army, the lateral entries at senior levels add tremendously to hurting the organizational ethos.Unlike Pakistan’s bureaucracy that was systematically weakened by both military and civil governments alike, the Indian bureaucracy grew as a force to reckon with. Indeed, the civil service was the backbone on which the political class depended, resulting in India earning the title of a civil-authoritarian state. Masters of state’s rules and regulation, the bureaucrats have stuck to their power, a situation that a strong political government seems to want to change. The signal that is sent through this advertisement is that the government is willing to bring in new people to shake the system. The South Asian bureaucracy trained in colonial traditions is indeed not a friend of people. It tends to generate power by complicating matters. However, what is required is a broader structural analysis of the system and its overall re-engineering rather than such temporary changes that are ridden with problem. For instance, it is incomprehensible how a joint secretary would navigate the old guard in a period of three to five years. The time it would take even the most talented person to learn the tricks, the contract would be over. The permanent corps feeling insecure would also tend to create problems for these joint secretaries. Moreover, there would be a temptation for politicians to manipulate lateral entrants,  adding to existing ailments of bureaucracy. If there is one thing that India could learn from Pakistan is how politicisation of bureaucracy, especially in the administrative services, revenue services and police weakens the state rather than strengthening it. The bureaucracy is the backbone of a state that needs to be handled carefully. The strengthening of regulatory frameworks and increasing level of accountability and transparency need to be considered. The colonial bureaucracy had well-trained men who were dedicated to protect interest of the British Crown. The culture has continued which needs to be changed. The process requires the vision of a genius that may be lacking in the Subcontinent at this juncture. The writer is author of Military Inc and research associate SOAS South Asia Institute