Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 19

More than four years after India and Russia signed an inter-governmental pact allowing Russia to supply 200 Kamov Ka-226T helicopters, the price negotiations have been concluded. A formal contract may be signed in the next few months.

The Kamov 226T uses an engine made by French major Safran. India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Safran already have an existing joint venture to produce engines for the advanced light helicopter made by the HAL. A facility

to manufacture KA-226T helicopters in India has been created at HAL’s newly set up plant at Tumkuru, near Bengaluru. A new created entity called Indo Russian Helicopter Pvt. Ltd. (IRHL) will produce these copters. Once the domestic demand is met, India and Russia also intend to export Kamov-226Ts to other countries.

The Kamov is a replacement for the obsolete Cheetah and Chetak fleets of the Indian armed forces. The three services need 495 light-utility helicopters (LUH) to replace Cheetah/Chetak fleet of helicopters. The Army requires 259, IAF 125 and Navy around 111 such helicopters equipped with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities.

Cheetah/Chetak helicopters are based on the 1950s’ designed Alouette Aérospatiale 315B Lama of France.

While the Naval tender is separate from this contract, the demand for some 384 light copters will be met by the Kamov and the ALH. The HAL is producing 24-26 helicopters per year and the Ministry of Defence wants it to produce at least 80 per annum.

India and Russia concluded an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) for 200 helicopters in October 2015. As per the original tender, 60 helicopters will be imported from Russia and the rest will be built in India. A joint venture (JV) has already been set up between HAL and Russia’s Rostec – JSC Rosoboronexport and Russian Helicopters.

Signed note by Army’s first Indian chief found in archives: Military rule temporary measure, scrap political parties

WEEKS AFTER Indira Gandhi won a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections of 1971, the first Indian to head the Indian Army, General K M Cariappa, who was later made Field Marshal, underlined in a clarificatory note that he was in favour of “a military rule, only as a temporary measure to put things right in the country”.

Exhorting Indians to “wake up” and “SPEAK”, he asserted that 90 per cent would “vote for a President’s cum Military Rule to save Democracy”.

The signed note of April 7, 1971 was recently discovered in Karnataka’s state archives. It was written as a clarification for the public after Cariappa had met the then Prime Minister, Home Minister and the Speaker of Lok Sabha following a Parliamentary debate about his comments advocating these measures while informally speaking to the press in Dhanbad in March 1970.

 Image grab of the note.

Cariappa was heavily criticised for those remarks, including in Parliament. It was then reported that he had met these leaders to apologise for his remarks, which he denied, asserting that he had “not gone back one inch”.

In the four-page typed note, Cariappa also advocated scrapping the Constitution, all political parties and linguistic states, and restricting adult franchise on the basis of “literacy”. He wanted only three political parties, on the lines of Labour, Liberal and Conservative in the UK, and a new Constitution to be framed after a general election is held when military rule had restored law and order and “things are going on well in the country”.

After a new Constitution is framed, he believed, “the President’s cum Military Rule would end and Democracy would re-enter in its pure form”. Blaming linguistic states for sounding “the death-knell for the unity of the country,” he proposed dividing “India into zones for administrative and economic convenience on the lines of the Army, such as Army Commands, Army Areas, Army Sub-areas and so on”.

General Cariappa was a highly respected and renowned military officer, whose ascension as the first Indian to the post of Commander-in-Chief is celebrated as Army Day on January 15, and had retired from active service in 1953. He had contested two Lok Sabha elections after his retirement, losing in both his attempts, and was made a Field Marshal by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1986. He died in 1993 at the age of 94.

In the note, he asserts that his proposal of “President’s cum Military rule is not to be a permanent thing. It is to be only temporary until normalcy returns”. He writes that if the common man “feels that a spell of President’s cum Military Rule will give him security, give him better administration, a better life and so on, he has the right to demand it”.

However, he makes clear that he had “never been in favour of military coups”. He adds in the same vein that “there can never be, nor will there ever be, a Military Coup in India”.

The three reasons he ruled out a military coup were: vastness of the country; the three services are separate and have their own chiefs; and, the “heterogeneity of the Communities in the service would not be conducive to provide for a homogenous outlook in this respect.”

He then goes on to explain that military rule can thus come only either “if the politicians willingly hand over the country to the Army as was done in a neighbouring country” or “if the people demand such a rule”. He clearly seemed to be batting for the second in the note.

The note was discovered by author and journalist, Sugata Srinivasaraju, who told The Indian Express: “The state archives is so disorganised that this note is wrongly attributed to 1948. I don’t know how it landed up there. It is put under the ‘private collection’ category. I don’t even know whose private collection it is.”

Cariappa’s statements about politics and democracy had triggered debate even in the early years after his retirement. It is believed that he was posted as the Indian High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand from 1953 to 1956 by the government, to keep him away from the domestic scene.

I have managed to get hold of two Ex-servicemen Buglers. Purchased two Bugles; and, thanks to the Comdt, MEG & Centre, put them through a refresher cadre. And on 11 Jan, for the first time in the Country, at the funeral of an Ex-servicemen (Brig RR Murthy) was accorded a grand farewell with the two Ex-servicemen Buglers playing the ‘last post’.

Regards, Col Rajan–

A wreath was laid with the caption, ‘Col Comdt the Bombay Sappers & all ranks and Veterans’. The Comdt MEG & Centre was gracious to send a JCO with a wreath from the E-in-C and an NCO with a wreath from the Col Comdt Madras Sappers & all Ranks. I had arranged for Buglers; and, for the first time, two Ex-servicemen Buglers sounded the last post at the cremation of an Ex-servicemen. Regards, Col Rajan-–

Col S S Rajan: Walking to reconnect with India

Col S S Rajan remembers the date: June 23, 1989. He happened to be reading the life of Adi Shankara. It is a well known fact about the great man, but it struck Col. Rajan anew that the philosopher had criss-crossed the country by foot in the 5th century, left his imprint everywhere, all in a short worldly life of 32 years. The Colonel was travelling by car from Bareilly to Lucknow on duty when he read this. He felt a strange disconnection with the land. Were not many of our ills due to the fact that modern transportation had divided the society and its people into several unconnected layers. On that day his mission was settled: he would walk the length and breadth of India and preach the unity of the land.

It is a mission he feels he has only partly fulfilled, but many would be in awe of what he has already done. By the time he had retired in 1996 from service, the demolition of Babri Masjid on Dec 6, 1992 had already happened. India was even more divided than before. But Col. Rajan was even more determined.

He began with a modest trial in Aug 2000, with a walk from Bangalore to Tirupati. He was joined by Cols. K N Munuswamy and N Visvanathan. It was but 270 km and they did it in 10 days. Rajan then began to plan a grand walk to Delhi straight through India. He spent a while planning the mission and working out the logistics.

There was to be a van with audio visual gear fitted out, driven by volunteers. The van was to drive ahead and stop at a randomly selected village or town and begin playing an audio visual [AV] extolling the greatness of India and how it can be regained if only people sank their differences and became selfless as they once were. The Colonel would come marching in even as the show was on and address the gathered. This was the format of his mission. He readily found two ex -servicemen volunteer as drivers– Subedar T Jambulingham and Subedar T Sahadevan . Young Mohan, son of his domestic help was to take care of the camp at nightfall everyday. Chief of the National Cadet Corps [NCC], Lt. Gen. B K Bopanna—an old mate—promised that NCC would manage billeting all along the route. The rub was funds.

The prosperity that attends corporate India barely touches its men in uniform. Rajan had served the army for 33 years. His father Major M D Sambasivam had served even longer in the Garhwal Rifles. Both had seen action. But Rajan’s finances at retirement, were barely enough to keep his family going. He needed money to outfit his Maruti Omni van with AV equipment and a generator. The AV show had to be professionally produced. Leaflets had to be printed.  He needed more for fuel and food for four men. When he went looking for funds, people generally thought he was an odd ball. But families that serve India’s armed forces don’t give up easily. His generous sister and brother-in-law in the USA urged him to do it: they would fund him in full.

So on Nov 28, 2001 the team was off , with Bangalore’s Police Commissioner H T Sangliana flagging them off. For close to two months they were on road. Each morning would begin with the van going ahead and the Colonel stepping out alone, flagged off by a prominent local official. Alerted by the van people would rush to the roadside to see this man who was asking for neither votes nor business. ‘The love for the land that the ordinary folk have is incredible. It seemed to give them a greater context to see a man walk from one part to another,’ he says. They would wave and smile or simply follow him a kilometer or so. At the village AV shows there would be an outpouring of love for India. Each nightfall saw the NCC ready with a clean bed and a bath.

Col Rajan remembers this as the most revealing event: ‘It began as a normal day,’ he says. ‘We were in Andhra Pradesh. The van went ahead and I could discern I was in an area where the majority of people were Muslim. Soon I sensed a menacing mood. I was unclear as to the reason. I marched on and approached the village where the van was already showing the AV show. The crowds were unusually large and almost entirely Muslim. They were angry and hissing with rage. Then I knew. The Indian Parliament had been attacked that day. It was Dec 13, 2001. The crowd saw me march in and roared: “Blow them out, Sir. Enough is enough”. I knew my India then. Democracy is greater than religion.’

The four man troupe wended through 5 states and 2500 km. They entered Delhi just two days before the Republic Day Parade, 2002 to a rousing reception. Over the next week they were feted by the army brass, officials, media and people of Delhi.

Col Rajan is curiously dissatisfied. ‘It wasn’t quite a 100% march,’ he says. ‘Because of the practicality of night halts I often had to ride the van. I want to do a pure foot march from north to south and east to west. I would need a larger van with a bed and some camping gear. I have trudged to many corporate doors but have been unable to convince them to part with the money. But I am hopeful sponsors will be found someday.’

He is not keeping still though. During July- August 2002 he volunteered to be a crew member of a road expedition that covered the route from Kanyakumari to Leh with a similar purpose.

Col Rajan is an uncomplaining soldier though much of India is becoming mercantile with nary a thought for the armed forces except at times of war. He takes pride in little gestures that ennoble lives given to the defense of the country. ‘I wrote to Lt Gen A S Jhamwal AVSM, VSM that any servicemen who dies should be entitled to have have an army bugler attending the funeral to blow a few notes in his honour. This is now the practice in the four southern states,’ he says with great satisfaction.

But before a bugler keeps his date with him, Col. Rajan wants to find a sponsor who will enable him to tread every inch of India, as it were. Among the few things that a man in uniform gets in India when he retires is, faith in and love for his land.
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Col S S Rajan
77 Shankar Mutt Road
Shankara Park
Basavanagudi
Bangalore – 560004
Tel: 91 – 080 – 56975010; 9448024377[Mobile]
email: colonelrajan@rediffmail.com