New Delhi, January 21

Army Chief Gen MM Naravane on Thursday has said India will face increasingly higher security challenges in tune with its rising stature and it must enhance indigenous defence capabilities to maintain strategic influence and freedom of action as external dependence for weapons creates vulnerabilities in times of crisis.

In an address at a seminar on Army-industry partnership, Gen Naravane talked about twin challenges of COVID-19 pandemic and the “belligerence” on the northern borders that his force faced in 2020, and said the government’s focus on self-reliance will boost the country’s overall strategic objectives.

He also said the unresolved borders and wars in the past with “our adversaries” challenged the myth of ‘no conventional war’, adding that proxy war, ‘Left-wing extremism’ and insurgencies were likely to keep the Army occupied.

“India is now a rising regional global power in Asia, more particularly in South Asia. As we rise in our stature and influence, we will face increasingly higher security challenges,” he said at the seminar organised by the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM).

Referring to increasing security challenges along India’s unresolved northern borders, he said a continuous and concerted capability building of the Army through modernisation to address these security challenges was a national imperative.

Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a tense standoff in eastern Ladakh for over eight months.

The Chief of Army Staff said India was lagging behind slightly, considering the quick pace of defence modernisation being undertaken by its adversaries, and called upon the indigenous industry to invest in research and development to boost the country’s overall military capabilities.

“The continuous and heavy dependence of the armed forces on equipment of foreign origin needs to be addressed in the right earnest through indigenous capability development and towards meeting the modern day defence requirements,” he said.

“The defence industry is a big enabler for self-reliance and capability building and it is a prerequisite to maintain our strategic influence and freedom of action,” Gen Naravane said.

He further said: “We are committed to procuring indigenous equipment and weapon systems as nothing is more motivating for any army then to fight and win its wars with indigenous technologies and weapons.”

Encouraging the private industry to take advantage of the government’s reform measures to boost domestic defence production, he said the Army was strongly committed to support them.

“Our external dependence for weapons and ammunition creates vulnerabilities during times of crisis. However, in the past few years, we have tried to reverse this trend by boosting indigenisation and focusing on dual purpose high-end technology,” he added.

“It may be noted that 75 per cent of our priority one projects in the 13th Army plan, costing over Rs 1,50,000 crore are supporting efforts towards the Make in India programme,” Gen Naravane said.

At the seminar, an MoU was signed between the Indian Army and the SIDM that will provide for further impetus to indigenisation under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative. This MoU was signed on the occasion of 25 years of Army-industry partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) officials said. PTI

Julio Ribeiro

The protesting farmers of Punjab and Haryana have threatened to organise a tractor procession through well-trod streets of Delhi on Republic Day. This procession should not clash with the government’s Republic Day parade or other celebrations. The farmers will lose public support if they do that. In fact, they should be alert lest saboteurs try to provoke them to violence.

No political slogan should be raised that day. All sections of the populace, even those that the ruling party dubs anti-national, should be one on this day.

The best solution would be to have a celebratory parade of their own in another part of the city after prior notice to the Delhi Police and obtaining its permission to celebrate the sacred day. If they can muster the support of armed forces veterans, it would be a sort of coup! The armed forces are studded with soldiers, sailors and airmen from kisan families, who will surely be sympathetic to the cause of the farmers.

‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ is a cry that is extremely popular with the common man and that cry has reverberated through the ages. No political party can afford to belittle it. So, if service veterans are added to the parade of tractors with farmers’ families atop tractors, a memorable supporting parade can be organised in another prominent area of Delhi, distant from Rajpath.

If given due publicity, it will draw sufficient attention. There will be no antagonist feelings floating around — in truth, the atmosphere created should be deliberately fraternal. No political slogan should be raised that day. All sections of the populace, even those that the ruling party dubs anti-national, should be one on this day.

After all, the Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah have both repeated often that their sole intention in introducing the three farm laws is the good of the farmers. They affirm that farm incomes will double. The farmers do not think so! They feel that the big industrial houses will fatten themselves on the farmers’ sweat and blood! Who is right? Can or will the farmers wait to find out? Or is it that they know better since it is they who till the fields and sow and harvest the crops. The politicians and experts’ knowledge, according to the farmers, is based on theories that have not been tested, though genuine research should never be brushed aside.

The Supreme Court has dared to enter the arena where wiser men had feared to tread. There was no constitutional or legal adjudication involved, and yet it rushed in with eyes wide open. By doing so, the court gave the government some breathing space. More importantly, it gave the government time that could weaken the resolve of the protesters. The latter cannot afford to neglect their fields for such prolonged periods. And that is the possible gamble that seems to be enfolding.

As of now, both sides are adamant. Our Prime Minister is a man of steel, like his role model, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He refuses to budge, though he is willing for a compromise. The farmers fear that the government’s experiment will fail, like demonetisation did. They refuse to take part in an experiment that may leave them ruined permanently.

But let us leave this political debate to the politicians and the object of their supposed largesse, the farmers, and revert to the issues that propelled me to write in the first place. I was influenced by an email I received from an old friend, a committed Modi supporter and a lady paediatric cardiac surgeon, who once was a co-trustee with me in the Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT) in Mumbai. Dr Ratna Magotra felt that the CCG, a group of retired IAS, IFS and IPS officers who write to the PM and other constitutional authorities on things that matter, should also write to the farmers’ leaders not to disturb the Republic Day celebrations, in particular, and not to defy the PM and his government in the manner they were now doing.

Since I agree with her view that Republic Day should be treated as sacred by every Indian, I had made my stand clear in one of my previous articles which had escaped her attention. I cannot in any conscience agree with her that no one should disagree with the PM, for that would mean that I agree that he is the repository of all knowledge. For instance, his calculations about demonetisation were proved wrong. I believe that a dose of humility in every human bosom will make the world a much better place to live in.

I understand my friend’s frustration when she finds that her hero is being baulked on his way to achieving stardom and a place in history. But even normal mortals face obstacles to success. In the case of world leaders, like Modiji, the tests will be infinitely more difficult. That is to be expected. The felicity and ease with which he tackles these difficulties will determine his place in history.

I do not pretend to know who is right in this debate between the government and the farmers. Will the three new farm laws double the income of the farmers? The government is certain they will. The farmers think just the opposite. If they were just playing a political game, they would have given up their protest long before. The government will require to think out of the box to cut this Gordian knot.

Staunch followers of Modiji should find a way to advise their idol to convince intended beneficiaries in advance that laws they intend to ram through Parliament, without much debate, are truly for the good of the beneficiaries, and not for the benefactor’s financiers.

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 21

Punjab is being asked to pay the price for the farmers’ agitation, which itself was necessitated by the enactment of three farm laws that were against the interests of farmers, says Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal.

The withholding of the Rural Development Fund (RDF) by the Centre was directly linked to the ongoing agitation against the farm laws, said Badal. “We are being collectively targeted by the Government of India,” he told The Tribune on the sidelines of the State Credit Seminar organised by NABARD here today.

On January 19, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution had written to the state government saying they would pay just one per cent RDF against the three per cent usually paid to the state. This would lead to a loss of Rs 800 crore to the state, thereby adversely affecting development works

“Withholding of a major portion of the RDF on paddy purchase in 2020 is one such step. The Centre is also not conceding to the demand of hundreds of farmers to acquire their land beyond the border fencing. They graze the land by enduring hardship to help the armed forces keep better vigil. We have written to the Niti Aayog on this issue, but to no avail,” he said.

Badal told The Tribune the funds that the Centre was withholding were being given to the state the past six decades. “Asking Punjab to respond on how we have utilised the RDF is akin to citizens asking the government on how they utilise the income tax paid by them to the government.

“However, we responded to their letter, alleging misuse of the RDF, giving them details of fund utilisation over the past 10 years. They have still gone ahead and withheld the RDF. The government should have a bigger heart and not make the people of Punjab suffer by withholding money due to them,” he said.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 21

A crucial meeting of countries of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) on aerospace and defence sector will be held during Aero India (February 3-5).

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will host the IOR Defence Ministers’ Conclave on February 4 as part of the Aero India 2021. The Defence Ministers’ Conclave in the morning will be followed by two seminars by Indian Navy and the Department of Defence Production along with other partners.

LCA Tejas deal to be signed at aero india

• The contract for the supply of 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will be signed during the Aero India
• The contract will be inked between the Ministry of Defence and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)

The theme of the conclave will be “Enhanced peace, security and cooperation in Indian Ocean”. An invite has been sent to 28 countries, most will be represented physically or virtually.

CRPF plans to induct women in CoBRA: DG

Director General of CRPF AP Maheshwari on Thursday said the paramilitary organisation had been considering inducting women personnel in its specialised jungle warfare commando force CoBRA. TNS

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 21

Following the direction by a city court, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police has registered an FIR against Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Manjinder Sirsa on a complaint accusing him of causing wrongful loss of over Rs 65 lakh to the committee.

A senior police official, who is privy to the development but asked not to be quoted, confirmed that the EOW had registered the FIR against Sirsa after it received the court’s direction and that an investigation is under way.

Sources in the EOW said that complainant Bhupinder Singh, a stakeholder in the funds received by the gurdwara management committee, had alleged that Sirsa, who at the time of the incident in 2013 was general secretary, had “caused a wrongful loss of public funds to the tune of Rs 65,99,729”.