NEW DELHI: Swedish defence minister Peter Hultqvist on Tuesday made a pitch to sell SAAB’s Gripen fighter aircraft to India as New Delhi looks to acquire 114 fighter aircraft to replace its old fleet as well as make up the numbers in its depleting squadrons.
This is the second time a top Swedish government figure is pushing the Swedish made aircraft. Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven had raised the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March during a virtual summit.
Swedish company SAAB is one of the handful of firms vying for the estimated ₹1.3 lakh crore tender to make the fighter jets in India. SAAB had previously promised to build a production line in India should New Delhi choose the Gripen, which is in contention with France’s Rafale, the American F/A-18 and F-21, MiG-35 and Sukhoi-35 of Russia and the Eurofighter Typhoon for the deal.
Addressing an event hosted by the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers Hultqvist said that the Swedish government will continue to work with the Indian government to support increased exchanges, research and innovation between the defence industries of the two countries.
“The Make in India concept provides excellent opportunities for cooperation that would serve both our countries’ interests. The ongoing multirole fighter aircraft procurement where the Gripen fighter concept offered by SAAB is a good example of transfer of technologies and is supported 100% by the Swedish government,” Hultqvist said. He also noted that Swedish Prime Minister Lofven had conveyed the same message to Prime Minister Modi during their March meeting.
On his part, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh pitched for more Swedish investment in India.
“FDI liberalization and improved ‘ease of doing businesses’ has already attracted top defence companies of the world and have Joint Ventures in India,” Singh said in his speech. “Further, the Government of India has allowed FDI up to 74% through automatic route and up to 100% through the government route wherever it is likely to result in access to modern technology,” he said.
Foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can set up manufacturing facilities individually or partner with Indian companies through a JV or technology agreement to capitalize on the ‘Make in India’ opportunity, the Indian minister said. “There is a lot of scope for Sweden and Indian defence Industries for co-production and co development. Indian industry can also supply components to Swedish Industries. Swedish firms such as SAAB already have a major presence in India and I am confident that other Swedish firms will find India as a major investment destination for Defence Manufacturing,” he said.
Highlighting India’s advantages — a substantial defence industrial base with 41 ordinance factories and nine defence public sector units, besides over 12,000 micro, small and medium enterprises — the minister said Indian companies had expertise in making a wide range of high tech defence systems for air, land, sea and space. India also had well-developed ship building capabilities, the minister said.
“I once again take this opportunity to invite Swedish firms to invest in the dedicated Defence Corridors of Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where they can benefit greatly from the unique incentives being offered by the State Governments and the availability of a highly-skilled workforce in India,” the minister added.

2020 marked a watershed in the farmers’ struggle as Punjab’s farm unions with divergent leanings came together to wage a united protest against the three Central farm laws. With farmer leaders now expanding the outreach through mahapanchayats in different parts of the country, the crucial issue related to the withdrawal of the laws and the demand for making MSP a legal right has reached every nook and cranny.

Rethink: By being apolitical, the farmers would remain at the mercy of the political leaders. Tribune photo

Devinder Sharma

Food & Agriculture Specialist

In a tweet, the popular Indian Historypics handle recently shared the cover story of erstwhile Hindi weekly Dharamyug (September 1972) titled Ann Upjaaye Kisan! Bhookho Mare Kisan! (Farmers grow food! Farmers die of hunger!). The focus was on how the people who produce food for the country were themselves living in hunger. That was a time five years after the Green Revolution had set in and valiant farmers in the north-western region had literally pulled the country from the throes of a ‘ship-to-mouth’existence.

Nearly 50 years later, the iconic farm protest at the doorstep of New Delhi showcases the piteous condition of farmers who have somehow survived against all odds and produced a record harvest year after year. Faced with mounting indebtedness, the spate of farm suicides over the years leaves a trail of neglect and apathy.

With the policy focus remaining on increasing crop production, successive governments have turned a blind eye to the deplorable living conditions of farmers and farm workers. This was the outcome of a flawed economic thinking that aimed at pushing farmers out of agriculture to join the army of daily wage workers in the cities.

For several decades now, farmers have been protesting in one part of the country or the other, demanding a guaranteed price for their crops in the form of a higher minimum support price (MSP). They have been invariably been asking for karza mukti (loan waivers). These two demands actually reflected the urgent need to address the crying need of providing economic justice to the farming community, languishing at the bottom of the pyramid.

But nothing tangible has come about, with the states either ignoring the protests or, at best, offering a temporary reprieve. The agrarian crisis, in the process, has only worsened.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, recorded farm protests across the country were 4,837 in 2016, 3,300 in 2017 and 2,008 in 2018. A CSE study quoting media reports, however, showed the number of major farm protests in the country increasing fivefold between 2017 and 2021. Besides local issues, most of these protests highlighted the economic disparities that the farmers were living with.

Realising that the continuing farm protests had failed to draw the nation’s attention to the acute farm crisis and knowing that farmers and farm workers had been routinely treated by various political affiliations as nothing more than a vote bank, farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal had invited me way back in 2015 to take an initiative to bring farm leaders from across the country on one platform. We deliberated on the objectives as well as the challenges it posed, considering that farm unions were broadly divided on lines of caste, religion and political ideologies and bringing them together was not that easy.

Two stalwarts of the farm movement in the country — Mahendra Singh Tikait of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) and Prof MD Nanjudaswamy of the Karnataka Rajya Ryot Sangha (KRRS) — had, a few decades back, toyed with the idea of a unified farm front, but somehow the idea didn’t materialise.

Not many of the 52 farm leaders, representing the major factions of unions/organisations spread across the country, who assembled for a three-day conclave at Chandigarh in August 2015 actually knew one another. That was, perhaps, the first time that several farm leaders, cutting across ideologies and political affiliations, sat on the same table. During the intense discussions that followed, aimed at bringing the farm unions together, the leaders acknowledged the need of working together and agreed to form a loose network called the Kisan Ekta. More importantly, the Chandigarh conclave helped create a strong camaraderie and bonhomie among farmer leaders.

In the next three conclaves held at Bangalore, Akola and Shimla, an effort was made to reach out to some other farmer leaders as well. While the general consensus was that the farm movement in the country should remain apolitical, a few were strong votaries for forming a political party.

Among them were some whose argument was that by being apolitical, as experience had shown, farmers would remain perpetually at the mercy of the political leaders. Vote-bank politics would continue to keep the farming community divided, and the farmer leaders should, therefore, consider forming a political party.

Farmer leaders agreed in principle, but they were not willing to take a political plunge for reasons they understood better. In a TV interview at Shimla, to a question whether the Kisan Ekta would soon be a political party, my response was that the objective behind uniting farm unions was to ‘influence’ the political process.

The year 2020, however, marked a watershed in the farmers’ struggle as Punjab’s farm unions with divergent leanings came together to wage a united protest against the three Central farm laws. This has spread in other parts too. Not only have farmer leaders from Punjab emerged taller on the national scene but also those from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. So have many other regional leaders emerged stronger in their parts of the country. The rush for clicking selfies with them is an indication of their growing popularity.

With farmer leaders now expanding the outreach through mahapanchayats in different parts of the country, the crucial issue related to the withdrawal of the Central laws and the demand for making MSP a legal right for farmers has reached every nook and cranny. In addition, their effort to reach out to other communities, which certainly has political ramifications, is bearing fruit.

In any case, considering that more than 50 per cent of the population is engaged in agriculture and allied activities, the time has never been so ripe for the collective farmer leadership to rethink its role — whether to go political or remain apolitical.

After all, reversing the flawed economic design that has kept farmers deliberately impoverished all these years in the name of economic growth will require farmers to emerge stronger on the political front and play a pivotal role in decision-making.

Tribune News Service

Hisar, June 7

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) today called off a plan to hold protests at all police stations in the state after the release of two arrested farmers on bail late last night. They have lifted the dharna from the Tohana police station.

The two farmers were arrested for allegedly trying to gherao JJP MLA Devendra Singh Babli’s residence last week.

“Ravi Azad and Vikas Sisar were released from jail in the early hours after which today’s programme to gherao all police stations in the state has been put off,” Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Joginder Ghasi Ram Nain told the media here.

Farmer leaders said the Fatehabad administration had agreed to cancel FIRs against protesters.

SKM leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Gurnam Singh Charuni, held a meeting with district officials today.

After the meeting, Tikait said the police had agreed to release another activist Makhan Singh. “The process for his release has been set in motion.”

Speaking to reporters after coming out from jail, Azad said the farmers’ agitation against the three controversial farm laws had now become a “people’s movement”.

“This is a fight for farmers’ honour and the government will have to roll back the farm laws,” said Azad.

A large number of farmers led by BKU leader Rakesh Tikait have been staying put in the Sadar police station compound in Fatehabad since Saturday.

On June 1, Babli had faced a protest by a group of farmers who showed him black flags and raised slogans. He had alleged that some of the protesters resorted to unruly behaviour and smashed the windscreen of his SUV.

Farmers, however, had accused Babli of using abusive and threatening language.

Subsequently, two FIRs were registered. In one of the cases, the police had booked about 50 persons under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC. Makhan Singh was arrested in connection with the attempt-to-murder case.

On June 3, another FIR was registered against Sisar, Azad and others for allegedly trying to gherao Babli’s residence in Tohana.

Cases to be withdrawn

• Farmer leaders say the Fatehabad administration has agreed to cancel FIRs against protesters
• SKM leaders, including Rakesh Tikait and Gurnam Singh Charuni, held a meeting with district officials on Monday
• After the meeting, Tikait said the police had agreed to release another activist Makhan Singh

ADGP rules out fresh deployment of forces

The rumours started spreading after the return of around 60 companies of the paramilitary force who had been stationed in the UT since revocation of J&K’s special status. File photo

Srinagar, June 8

The return of around 6,000 paramilitary personnel to J&K after election duty elsewhere has triggered large-scale rumours, ranging from further bifurcation of the UT to announcement of elections after realigning districts, for the last three days.

The rumours started spreading after the return of around 60 companies of the paramilitary force who had been stationed in the UT since revocation of J&K’s special status. Officials said these paramilitary companies were returning after completing election duty in Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

However, the movement of troops and a series of meetings, including Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s deliberations with Home Minister Amit Shah and officials in Delhi since Saturday, fuelled the rumours and repeated attempts by officials were failing to put an end to it. ADGP Mukesh Singh took to Twitter to rule out fresh deployment of forces but his assertion found no taker on social media.

Many social media users talked about further splitting of J&K, with Jammu being given a status of state and Kashmir remaining as a UT.

People enquired about the possibility of any shutdown of internet and phone services. The sudden visits of JK Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari and People’s Conference chief Sajjad Lone to Delhi have added fresh fuel to the rumours.

Some politicians were seen enquiring whether the reports about the MLA hostel in Srinagar being cleaned up for their fresh lodging were true.

Senior National Conference leader Tanvir Sadiq tweeted, “While rumours are flying thick and fast, should we be ready for second semester? MLA’s hostel 2.0?” — PTI

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 8

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday told Swedish military equipment making industries that foreign companies could set up manufacturing facilities individually or partner with Indian companies through a technology agreement to capitalise on the ‘Make in India’ opportunity.

He was speaking at the India-Sweden Defence Industry Cooperation, with the theme ‘capitalising opportunities for growth and security’. An MoU was signed between the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and Swedish Security and Defence Industry (SOFF) to promote bilateral defence industrial relations. A dedicated Joint Working Group will be formed to take forward mutual objectives. The Defence Minister of Sweden, Peter Hultqvist, was the guest of honour. Rajnath invited Swedish firms to invest in defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, saying they could take advantage of the unique incentives being offered by the state governments and the availability of a highly skilled workforce in India.

Army Brigadiers have been given a promotion on the orders of the Supreme Court.

New Delhi, June 6

Four years after two Army Brigadiers retired, they have been given a promotion on the orders of the Supreme Court, which has also questioned why the two officers were not promoted at the first instance in 2015.

The Military Secretary Branch of the Indian Army has issued orders to promote Brig NK Bhatia and Brig VN Chaturvedi as Maj Generals. Besides the promotion, their retirement and pensionary benefits will be upgraded.

No adverse report, they told apex court

• Brig NK Bhatia, Brig VN Chaturvedi promoted as Maj Generals
• After approaching AFT, the duo filed an appeal before the SC, saying they were not promoted despite having no adverse report
• Since both have crossed 58 yrs (retirement age of Maj Gen), they will not rejoin force

Following the intervention of the apex court, a special review board was conducted for the two officers. Since both have crossed 58 years, the retirement age of Maj General, they will not rejoin the force. The two were first considered, along with their batch for promotion in 2015, but were not promoted. Maj General Bhatia was from Intelligence Corps and Maj General Chaturvedi from Education Corps. A Brigadier retires at 57 years of age while a Maj General retires at 58 years. Had the two been promoted in 2015, they would have served till 2019 and would have also been in the race, subject to vacancy and their performance, for the next promotion to the rank of Lt General.

The duo first approached the Armed Forces Tribunal, which dismissed the plea, saying it was the discretion of the Army to promote or not promote an officer.

After that, the two officers then filed an appeal before the Supreme Court in 2017, saying that both of them were not promoted despite having no adverse or negative report. — TNS

While India awaits dates for WMCC and 12th round of military dialogue to be finalised, the PLA believes that after Pangong Tso disengagement, the Gogra-Hot Springs de-escalation should be settled at the level of local area military commanders
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) appears to be in no hurry to disengage and de-escalate from Gogra-Hot Springs in East Ladakh as it wants the matter to be resolved at a local commanders’ level and not through Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China border Affairs (WMCC), or dialogue between Indian XIV Corps Commander and PLA Commander of South Xinjiang military district.
While the dates of WMCC followed by the 12th round of military dialogue were to be decided through the hotline between the two armies, there has been no forward movement recorded from the Chinese side. India has made it clear that disengagement and de-escalation between two armies in East Ladakh is a prerequisite for normalisation of bilateral relations, which were hit by PLA aggression in Pangong Tso and Gogra-Hot Springs area in May 2020. While there has been disengagement from Pangong Tso area from both north and south banks of the saltwater lake, the PLA has been dragging feet over disengagement in river Chang Chemmo-KongKa La area which lies between Galwan and Pangong Tso.
“While the dates for the WMCC and 12th round are being awaited, the PLA is communicating that LAC disengagement in Pangong Tso has been completed as per objective of the leadership of two countries. They want the Gogra-Hot Springs disengagement to be resolved at a level of local commanders and not convene a special meeting,” said an official in know of the matter. This clearly indicates that the Chinese want to drag the disengagement around Kongka La into tedious conversations of local commanders rather than look at the big picture of bilateral relationship.
Tagged on to the issue of PLA restoring status quo ante of April 2020 in Gogra-Hot Springs area is also about Indian Army’s patrolling rights in Depsang Bulge area, south of Daulet Beg Oldi, near Karakoram Pass. However, this issue will be taken up separately at the Brigadier level talks.
Even though Chinese President Xi Jinping wants his Chinese Communist Party (CCP) colleagues to portray a picture of “open and confident, but also modest and humble” China, the PLA is in no mood to compromise on its strategic objectives vis-à-vis India on the LAC issue. Despite the Pangong Tso disengagement, both the armies are deployed in a division strength along the 1597 km LAC in East Ladakh with fighters and heavy armour ready in the hinterland. Deception continues to be a legitimate tool in Chinese strategic armoury.

Jammu and Kashmir was divided into two Union Territories in August 2019
Srinagar: A large number of paramilitary forces have arrived in Jammu and Kashmir. Most of them have been deployed in north Kashmir and parts of Jammu region. The massive troop build-up has led some local leaders to raise concerns as this is for the first time Jammu and Kashmir is seeing such a build-up since August 2019, when special status to the state was scrapped and it was divided into two Union Territories.
Officials, however, have said there is no truth in rumours of the troop movement as a prelude to some big development. The troops arriving in the Union Territory are those who went for election duty to West Bengal and other states, a senior police officer said.
“These troops are returning from states where elections were held recently. They are being re-inducted. It’s not new deployment,” Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said.
Local leaders say such a massive troop movement is leading to worries about something big going to happen. Some political leaders who were detained after special status to the state was scrapped said they feared they could be detained again.
Officials have said some 200 companies of paramilitary forces from Jammu and Kashmir were sent to states for assembly elections, mostly to West Bengal. Fifty companies returned a month ago, and the rest are coming back now and being redeployed.
Before the announcement in August 2019 to scrap special status to the state, at least 800 additional companies drawn from central paramilitary forces were rushed to Kashmir valley.
Early last year, 100 companies were pulled out from Jammu and Kashmir and sent to other parts of the country after protests broke out against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Bharat Forge has line up a capital expenditure (capex) of around Rs 300 crore for FY22 while for FY23 the capex could be at around Rs 250 crore
Bharat Forge is looking to acquire 175 acres in an industrial park near Pune for Rs 240 crore which will house new factories for its defence and electric mobility business divisions.
These new assets which will come up at Khed City, will manufacture speciality vehicles, certain systems and aggregates that go into artillery guns and an assembly plant which will also house a testing facility, a top Bharat Forge official said.
Khed City is a joint venture between the Kalyani Group and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and the facility is expected to be operational in the next 2-3 years.
Speaking to analysts, Amit Kalyani, Deputy Managing Director, Bharat Forge said, “We are seeing substantial growth opportunities in e-mobility and in defence (businesses) and we are now looking at building two new mega sites in close proximity to each other”.
“We are looking at acquiring a parcel of land of about 175 acres in the Khed industrial park which is a joint venture between the Kalyani Group and MIDC. The total land acquisition cost would be up to Rs 240 crore, Kalyani further added.
The Pune-based forging giant decided to go in for a green field facility, especially for defence, due to a regulatory need that requires some added levels of security.
“As far as defence is concerned, we have to go into an area which is separate from the existing plant because there are very stringent rules regarding security. And for e-mobility we need a supplier park and allied services around it,” Kalyani added.
In May 2021 Bharat Forge said it will assume full control of Kalyani Strategic System by buying the remaining 49 percent stake in the company and thus make it a fully-owned subsidiary. The buyout was made to help KSSL qualify for defence bids that demand certain requirements.
“We are setting up the facility of three products. One is going to be specialty vehicles, second will be certain systems and aggregates that go into a variety of products and third will be our assembly plant and testing facility for both vehicles and other systems and aggregates that go into vehicle drivelines including our artillery guns. Basically, we are developing a whole new family of vehicles and platforms and we see this for opportunities at the global level,” Kalyani added.
As far as defence orders for the Indian armed forces are concerned Kalyani added that the company has already received an order for one of its platforms. “We are working on two other platforms for India and we see tremendous opportunities going forward,” Kalyani said.
Bharat Forge’s Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) is understood to be currently undergoing testing with the India Army. This is a new generation of artillery system in use by a few technologically advanced armies in the world but the Indian Army does not have any ATAGS in its arsenal at the moment.
“Our product (ATAGS) is ready and our facilities are aligned. We can manufacture four guns a month right now and in two months we can go to six guns a month and by the end of the year we can go to 12 guns a month,” Kalyani added.
Bharat Forge has lined up a capital expenditure (capex) of around Rs 300 crore for FY22 while for FY23 the capex could be at around Rs 250 crore.