We are on the fringes of some dramatic defence cooperation agreements playing out. India would need to weigh in smartly on new arrangements such as the Quad, and its ability to contribute meaningfully to it, whilst arriving at an optimal path that protects our overall interests as an emerging world player. The upcoming visit by US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin to India needs to be seen in this light.

CRUCIAL: Exercising with Western militaries is the sine qua non for meaningful international defence capabilities. PTI

Group Captain Murli Menon (retd)

Defence Analyst

A cursory look at the progress of military affiliation between India and the US, from the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) signed in 2002 to the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) signed last October during the 2+2 Indo-US talks, does show an impressive upgrade in defence ties.

With the inclusion of the Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) of 2016 and the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) of 2018, the spectrum of engagement between the militaries encompasses defence cooperation aspects from informational compatibility to logistics exchange. These are indeed foundational agreements, signalling the pathway to cutting-edge weapons technology and encrypted state-of-the-art communications on offer from the world’s leading military entity.

Notwithstanding this, one can’t but wish for some caution on how things could play out going forward. The historical backdrop to our military engagement has been worrisome during the Cold War era. The exasperation of our air wing staff at the Washington embassy caused by the dilly-dallying over the F-16 XL platform (then key to our LCA “control law’ requirements) comes to mind. Indeed that is why several of the subsequent defence programmes such as the Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) had serious riders on technology traps inherent in such high value deals. Another factor that weighs in on such key defence agreements are of course the local political ambit, such as the Aatmanirbharta for India vis-a-vis the challenges faced by the F-16 production facilities in the US. Be that as it may, we are on the fringes of some dramatic defence cooperation agreements playing out. India would need to weigh in smartly on new arrangements such as the Quad, and its ability to contribute meaningfully to it, whilst arriving at an optimal flight path that protects our overall interests as an emerging world player.

The upcoming visit by the US Secretary of Defence, Gen Lloyd Austin (retd), to India needs to be seen in this light. We need to see “what’s in it for me” in all such defence cooperation agenda, realising the limitations of geopolitics. For instance , it would be naïve for us to expect that some of the existing agreements would entirely serve to counter threats from an assertive China, or indeed that we would get all our wish lists with respect to terrorism and threats emanating from Pakistan. During his confirmatory arraignment before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January this year, General Austin is reported to have expressed his desire to improve defence cooperation with Pakistan, seeing it as an inevitable ally in dealing with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But the fact remains that the culprits of the Mumbai terror attack are yet to be brought to book and Hafiz Saeed still roams free in that country, despite a $10- million bounty offered on him by the US itself. We need to establish for ourselves whether any of the new agreements on intelligence and communication sharing would translate into real-time hard- kill on our enemies of state across the borders. Whilst doing so, we need to exercise practicality on how countries tend to prioritise international terror threats, like for instance did the just-concluded Yudh Abhyas series exercise. Exercising with Western militaries is the sine qua non for meaningful international defence capabilities. Exercise Red Flag, Malabar, Yudh Abhyas and their ilk need to be pursued incrementally no doubt, but with more attention to our national military objectives.

The other aspect in Indo-US military ties is of US weapon systems coming our way as part of the 126 MMRCA contracts (rumours abound about likely F-21/F-15/F-18 deals), space and satellite capabilities and the like. The Balakot experience would have taught us the need for indigenous military satellite capabilities, a la the Keyhole series of the Americans. India no longer has the luxury of not spending adequately on defence. The minimum requirement is to double our defence spending to 3 per cent of the GDP, to address all the key force structural and infrastructural shortfalls. The Americans have been traditionally charry about our strategic linkages to Russia and Iran. Whilst the old fears of technology being diverted from India to Iran may have abated over years of fruitful military co-operation, apprehensions exist on our deals with Russia. The S-400 deal and the likelihood of American sanctions there from is a definite bugbear alright. Are the Americans going to play ball on it or would there be a quid pro quo with respect to some American-made anti-missile system of the Patriot PAC-1 class? We need to work with our American friends to find a modus vivendi in such sticky issues. So far, we appear to be balancing our Russian and American baskets carefully.

The Quad would be an important arena to buttress Indo-US defence co-operation. But once again, we would need to weigh our maritime options carefully. Special forces’ training and cooperation and hard-kill UAV deals of the Predator/Reaper/Sea Guardian class are the other areas for mutually beneficial integration between our defence forces.

With Pakistan running afoul with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and its lack of will to enforce the UN-mandated anti-terror strictures, the US needs to work with India to achieve our goals in this arena. General Austin, along with USAF Chief General Charles Brown, is two senior black functionaries in the Biden administration and they would have their own compunctions in the post-Floyd anti-racist era still playing out in the US of A. Like the apparent glitches in the trade arena between our two countries, defence too would offer some challenges.

The past year would hopefully have sent out a message that India is no pushover

CLOSE WATCH: Developments in Ladakh have set the stage for an even closer collaboration between China and Pakistan in undermining India’s security. Reuters

G Parthasarathy

Chancellor, Jammu Central University & former High Commissioner to Pakistan

WHILE India has confronted difficult security challenges in J&K in the past, it has never faced a security situation when it was confronted by tensions across its borders in Ladakh and J&K with both Pakistan and China. The past year has seen the usual tensions, infiltration and exchanges and fire across the International Border and the LoC in J&K. But what really shook the world was the massive and well-planned Chinese incursion from Tibet into the UT of Ladakh from across the Depsang Plains. If left unchallenged, this incursion would have cleared the way for a Chinese move northwards towards India’s strategic air base of Daulat Beg Oldie. This air base is adjacent to China’s Aksai Chin region, which India regards as its territory.

China must learn that undermining India’s ties with its South Asian neighbours can hardly work in the long term.

If the Chinese chose to thereafter, proceed further northwards, they would reach the strategic Karakoram Pass, while also moving closer to the Siachen region claimed by Pakistan. Pakistan, however, had found that Indian forces had taken control of the Siachen Glacier in the 1980s. India and Pakistan had agreed in 1949 that beyond the Shyok river and Khor, the LoC proceeds ‘north to the glaciers’. While the Chinese have agreed to withdraw eastwards from the Pangong Tso, they have refused to withdraw from positions they occupied in 2020 in the Depsang Plains, where they blocked the area to entry by Indian forces. Control of the Depsang Plains provides China with an open road to the Daulat Beg Oldie airfield. It secures access to the Karakoram Pass that links Ladakh to the Aksai Chin region.

Pakistan is, however, very generous when it comes to the delineation of its border with China. The Shaksgam Valley in J&K was ceded to China by Pakistan in 1963, when they signed a boundary agreement to give an entirely new shape to their northern borders. Article 6 of the Boundary Agreement avers that ‘the two parties have agreed that after the settlement of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, the sovereign authority concerned will reopen negotiations with the Government of the People’s Republic of China, on the boundary, as described in Article 2 of the present agreement, so as to sign a formal border agreement.’ The agreement laid the foundation for constructing the Karakoram highway, built by Chinese and Pakistani engineers, in the 1970s. This highway links China’s Xinjiang province with PoK. It constitutes the basis for China to co-opt Pakistan militarily in its dealings with India.

Half a century later, one finds a growing Chinese economic and military presence alongside the Karakoram highway. The way is being cleared for a Chinese military presence across the PoK for transportation of Chinese goods, services and personnel across Pakistan, to the Arabian Sea Port of Gwadar in Balochistan, which has been built by China. It is only a matter of time before China takes control of the port from a bankrupt Pakistan, which is unable to repay its debts. This would not be different from how China has taken control of the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka. Pakistan’s military, obsessed with seizing Indian territory, cannot be expected to look beyond its territorial ambitions in India.

China’s experiences in Ladakh over the past year would hopefully have persuaded Beijing that India is not a pushover, militarily. Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s statement averring: ‘The two sides need to help each other to succeed, instead of undercutting each other. We should intensify cooperation instead of harbouring suspicions’, sounded reassuring. It was, however, hardly credible. Chinese sincerity will, however, be tested and called into question, unless it moves back to positions it occupied before April 2020. Given past Chinese behaviour, India can expect very little movement by China on this score.

China will also hopefully learn that undermining India’s close relations with its South Asian neighbours by cultivating, financing and favouring political leaders and political parties known to be anti-India, can hardly work over the long term. Despite its efforts, China has been snubbed by Sri Lanka’s political leadership that has seen through its crude efforts to deny India a role in developing port facilities, whether in Jaffna or in Colombo. Taking over Hambantota Port by drawing Sri Lanka into a debt trap, China has sent a signal across the shores of the Indian Ocean that its interests are anything but altruistic. Astute analysts in Pakistan are also evaluating the implications of the growing debt they are accumulating, because of Chinese infrastructure projects for CPEC. Given Pakistan’s constant shortage of foreign exchange, it is not in a position to import defence equipment from the US, Europe or even Russia. China, will, therefore, inevitably remain the almost exclusive supplier of arms to Pakistan.

Developments in Ladakh have now set the stage for an even closer collaboration between China and Pakistan in undermining India’s security. Pakistan’s recent offer of a ceasefire in J&K is a welcome development, as long as infiltration across the LoC effectively ends. It does not, however, mean that China and Pakistan are not colluding in fulfilling their territorial ambitions. India would be well advised to keep track of how China and Pakistan are proceeding in fulfilling their territorial ambitions. The highly regarded president of the US Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass, recently noted: ‘China is bordered by 14 countries, four of which are nuclear armed and five of which harbour unresolved territorial disputes with Beijing. These include an aging, but wealthy Japan, a rising and nationalistic India, a revanchist Russia, a technologically powerful South Korea, and a dynamic and determined Vietnam. All these countries have national identities that resist subordination to China, or its interests. And the United States maintains a constant forward-deployed military presence in the region’.

Process to appoint them got delayed because of medicals, over-age and documentation

Gaurav Kanthwal
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 17

Twenty-six outstanding sportspersons were given appointment letters by Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Minister for Sports, Youth Services and NRIs Affairs here at Punjab Bhawan on Wednesday. 

Out of the total 79 left candidates, three sub-inspector and 23 constables, most of them gold medallists, have been provided with appointment letters in the first phase. 

Out of total 26 outstanding players of different games disciplines who get job letters included three sub inspectors Sarpreet Singh (Cycling), Gurinder Singh (Volleyball) and Jagdeep Kumar (Boxing), while 23 candidates—Gagandeep Singh (Kabaddi), Gurbazz Singh (Cycling), Rekha Rani (Cycling), Pushpinder Kaur (Cycling), Jasvir Kaur (Weightlifting), Neelam Rani (Fencing), Gagandeep Kaur (Handball), Ramanjot Kaur (Handball), Harvinder Kaur (Handball), Ravinderjit Kaur (Canoeing), Gurmeet Kaur (Fencing), Mandeep Kaur (Handball), Rupinderjit Kaur (Handball), Jaspinder Kaur (Kabaddi Circle Style), Anju Sharma (Kabaddi), Jatinder Singh (Boxing), Harpreet Kaur (Athletics), Palak (Basketball), Sandeep Kaur (Kabaddi), Preeti (Wrestling), Sarabjeet (Football), Ajay Kumar (Taekwondo) and Simarjit Kaur (Kabaddi) — have been appointed on the posts of constable.

Sodhi said, “When I presented the file regarding the appointment of these players before Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, he cleared the file within a minute.”

He added that as there were some glitches on part of medical, over-age and documentation thus the process of appointing them has been delayed.

Accident while taking off for a combat training mission at an airbase in central India

Photo for representation only. — PTI

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 17

An Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot, Group Captain A Gupta, was killed on Wednesday when a MiG 21 Bison aircraft was involved in an accident while taking off for a combat training mission at an airbase in central India.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1372090642084421632&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tribuneindia.com%2Fnews%2Fnation%2Fpilot-killed-in-mig-21-bison-mishap-226528&siteScreenName=%26via%3Dthetribunechd&theme=light&widgetsVersion=e1ffbdb%3A1614796141937&width=550px

In a tweet, the IAF said: “A MiG-21 Bison aircraft of IAF was involved in a fatal accident this morning, while taking off for a combat training mission at an airbase in central India.”

The IAF said a Court of Inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the accident.

More than half of these voluntary retirements have been sought by the personnel of the BSF alone

File photo for representation.

New Delhi, March 17

As many as 40,096 personnel of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPFs) and the Assam Rifles have sought voluntary retirement in the last five years, while another 6,529 resigned during the same period, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

More than half of these voluntary retirements (VR) have been sought by the personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) alone, while the maximum resignations have been witnessed in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai stated.

Rai furnished the figures from 2016 to 2020 in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha while responding to queries over resignations and VRs sought by personnel of the CAPFs and the Assam Rifles during the last five years.

The CAPFs comprise seven central security forces of the country under administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. They are the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), besides the Assam Rifles (AR).

According to the data, 40,096 personnel of the CAPFs and the Assam Rifles have sought voluntary retirement from 2016 till 2020 while another 6,529 tendered resignation during the five-year period.

Among the forces, a maximum 20,249 VRs were sought by personnel of the BSF during the period followed by the CRPF (11,029), the CISF (2,858), the Assam Rifles (2,279), the ITBP (1,912) and the SSB (1,769), the data showed.

During the same period, 2,919 CISF personnel tendered resignation followed by the BSF (1,708), the CRPF (796), the ITBP (620), the SSB (412) and the Assam Rifles (74), according to the data. PTI

Says Samyukta Kisan Morcha to soon give a call to gherao Delhi from all sides

BKU spokesman Rakesh Tikait with other leaders at Kisan Mahapanchayat held at Sriganganagar. Tribune photo

Raj Sadosh

Abohar/Sriganganagar, March 17

BKU spokesman Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday warned the Central government in unambiguous terms that if the three “black” farm laws were not withdrawn, then the next action of the farmers’ ongoing agitation will be to demolish the huge godowns that some private companies had constructed to store grains.

At the Kisan Mahapanchayat held today on the call of United Kisan Morcha at the grain market in Sriganganagar, 40 km from Abohar, Tikait said a few private companies had constructed huge godowns and started storing grains at different places in the country even when new farm laws were yet to enacted.

“The BJP-led NDA government was planning to sell some banks, insurance companies and other government enterprises to private players. The government is going to bring laws that milk, electricity, fertilisers, seeds and motor vehicles marketing will go into the hands of a few corporates,” he claimed.

Giving a call to youth to take charge of the farmers’ movement, Tikait said there are no more jobs left in this country for them, youth should turn to their fields and create job opportunities in the fields itself.

He said in the districts of Barabanki and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, when paddy and sugarcane were not purchased at the MSP, the farmers piled up the agricultural commodities at the district collector’s offices. “The government will have to buy the produce on the MSP.”

Tikait said the media was not carrying the news of farmer movements in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country, but we will reach out to people through social media. In Punjab, Haryana and parts of Rajasthan, agricultural produce was purchased on MSP only, but the farmers stir will get contentious agri laws repealed as well as implementing MSP across the country, he added.

In Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, the MSP procurement movement is going to start in the next 15-20 days. Farmers have made adequate arrangements in view of the scorching heat and the agitation will be intensified for the remaining eight months.

Revealing that the Samyukta Kisan Morcha will soon give a call to gherao Delhi from all sides, Tikait said millions of people will reach there. After Vidhan Sabha polls results in a few states, the NDA government will realise the heat of the farmers’ movement.

Morcha leader Yudhveer Singh said “Modi bhagao, desh bachao” call has to be given. Hardeep Singh Dibdiba, chairman of Rajasthan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (ad hoc), said he will not let the martyrdom of his grandson Navreet Singh go waste. A youth rally will leave Moga on March 25 for Singhu border, he said.

Strike to start from 6 am and will continue till 6 pm

Women from Punjab and Haryana participate in farmers’ protest against the Centre’s new farm laws, at Tikri Border in Delhi. PTI file

New Delhi, March 17

Ahead of their Sampurna Bharat Bandh on March 26, farmer leaders on Wednesday said they were preparing to intensify the agitation against the three farm laws.

During the nationwide strike on March 26 that also marks four months of the farmers’ movement, all shops and other business establishments will remain shut for 12 hours, followed by the burning of the copies of the three laws during “holika dehan” on March 28.

“The strike will start from 6 in the morning and will continue till 6 in the evening, during which all shops and dairies and everything will remain closed.

“We will burn the copies of the three laws during Holi and hope that better sense prevails within the government, and it repeals the laws, and gives us a written guarantee for MSP,” said Ranjit Raju of Ganganagar Kisan Samiti addressing a press conference.

The bandh has found support in all trade and transport unions, students’, youth and women’s unions.

“We are also trying to create such meetings at the state level so that the strike is observed everywhere,” said another farmer leader Purushottam Sharma.

All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) leader Krishna Prasad said the fact that the movement had managed to continue for as long as 112 days was an achievement in itself, and it would only get stronger from now.

He added that the Bharat Bandh will happen at “state, zila, tehsil and village levels”.

“The protest has been going on for 112 days. That itself is an achievement. Neither you, nor us had thought that we could do this, and the public has shown that it supports us,” he said.

Prasad also expressed concerns over the central government’s move to introduce the Electricity Amendment Bill 2021, claiming that any amendments made to the act would be in violation of the government’s commitment made to the farmers in January.

“During the 11 rounds of talks that we have had with the government, Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar said that they accepted our demands over the electricity bill.

“The media wrote that 50 per cent demands of the farmers’ movement were resolved. But, now they are trying to introduce the act again. This is cheating,” he said.

Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

The protesting farmers, on the other hand, have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and do away with the “mandi” (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates. PTI

The Veterans’ Association of Ontario is bringing together representatives from Hindu and Sikh organisations to resolve differences over the laws that have divided the Indo-Canadian community

A file photo of women farmers attending a protest against farm laws on the occasion of International Women’s Day at Bahadurgar near Haryana-Delhi border, India on March 8, 2021. (REUTERS/File)WORLD NEWS

Canada: Armed forces veterans’ body seeks to end rift over India’s farm laws

The Veterans’ Association of Ontario is bringing together representatives from Hindu and Sikh organisations to resolve differences over the laws that have divided the Indo-Canadian communityBy Anirudh Bhattacharyya I Edited by Nadim SirajPUBLISHED ON MAR 14, 2021 11:30 AM IST

A group of armed forces veterans in Canada has started a campaign to try to mend a growing rift between various communities in the country over farm laws passed in India last year that have sparked protests.

The Veterans’ Association of Ontario, which comprises Indian-origin members who have served in the armed forces in India and Canada, is bringing together representatives from Hindu and Sikh organisations to resolve differences over the farm laws that have divided the Indo-Canadian community.

Brigadier (Retd) Nawab Heer, chair of the association, told HT he was “hopeful” the situation will be “defused”, adding, “I don’t know why we should be creating tensions among ourselves. Views should be respected on both sides. If the Indian diaspora has to flourish here, we have to be together.”

The association has facilitated dialogue between some leaders of the two communities, while religious establishments like gurdwaras have also been brought into the process of trying to create harmony.

Baghpat: 

Siding with farmers protesting the Centre’s new agriculture laws, Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik here on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah not to offend them.

Speaking at an event in his home district, Malik said if the Centre gives legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, farmers will relent.

The Meghalaya Governor also claimed that he prevented the arrest of farmer leader Rakesh Tikait when he heard rumours about it.

Malik further said he had requested the prime minister and the home minister not to use force against farmers, and not to send them home from Delhi empty-handed.

“None of the laws are in favour of farmers. The country in which farmers and soldiers are not satisfied, that country cannot move ahead. That country cannot be saved. Hence, the Army and farmers should be kept satisfied,” Malik said urging PM Modi and Home Minister Shah not to offend them.

Describing the condition of farmers as bad, Malik said, “They are getting poorer day by day while the salary of government officials and staff increases after every three years. Whatever is sown by a farmer is cheap and whatever he buys is expensive.”

“They do not know how they are becoming poor. The ‘satyanaash‘ (annihilation) of the farmers is taking place without their knowledge. When they go to sow (crops), there is some price, and when they go to reap it, the price decreases by almost ₹ 300,” Malik said.

Taking a jibe at the arguments offered in favour of the new farm laws, Malik said, “A lot of noise was created that farmers can now sell (crops) at any place. This is a 15-year-old law. Despite this, when a farmer from Mathura goes to Palwal with wheat, there is a lathicharge on him. When a farmer from Sonipat comes to Narela, there is a lathicharge on him.”

“There are many questions of farmers, which must be answered. Today, there is no law in favour of farmers. This has to be corrected. I want to assure you that in the matter of farmers, I will go to any extent to solve their problems,” he said.

Apparently referring to Sikh farmers protesting against the laws, Malik said, “The Sikh community does not back down and forget things even after 300 years.”

“Indira Gandhi (ex-PM) had got the ‘Mahamrityunjay Mantra Jaap‘ done for a month after the Operation Blue Star. Arun Nehru told me that when he asked her that you do not believe is such rituals, then why are you performing these, she said you don’t know, I have damaged their ‘Akal Takht’. They will not spare me.”

5Comments(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)