By SACRIR Defense Desk Editor: Swarna Surjya Chakraborty  

'Raksha' the Sanskrit meaning of the word ‘Defense’ is most often used nowadays as Double Entendre. Today defense is not about protection but also about assertion of power to keep enemies at Bay. As a Nation with one of the most ancient civilizations in the world India has witnessed foreign aggression time and again resulting in its reduced territorial land limits and infiltrated cultural identities. Right from Alexander to the British or lately Chinese, India always stood to lose from every single incidence of invasion. With a size as big to be called a sub-continent India never had much unity among her hundreds of princely states when it came to building a united credible defense force. It was Chanakya, the Indian Sun Tzu, who first understood this deficiency and instrumented proper tenets towards a United Bharat – the ‘Akhand Bharat'.

The Post Independence (1947 A.D.): The Nehruvian era saw India finding itself in the league of Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Nations finally ending up in the Anti US group led by the erstwhile U.S.S.R. It is U.S.S.R that became India's first overseas defense partner in its quest for protecting its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Up to late 80s’ most of India's defense purchases were sourced from Russia after U.S.S.R disintegrated. This caused a huge footprint of Russian legacy in India’s defense industry.

The Modern Context post U.S.S.R disintegration: The fall of the Soviet era posed a serious threat to Indian Arms Industry as spare parts weren’t readily available for the Russian infrastructure ecosystems as a lot of defense manufacturers in Soviet Union were now Independent Nations like Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. To fill this void in serviceable hardware India decided to turn towards the Western European countries like France, U.K. and Sweden apart from finding potential defense partners in Israel and in U.S.

India’s Current Capabilities.

India is a Nuclear Power Nation since 1970s but today being Nuclear doesn’t make you a super power unless you can carry out your strikes inside enemy territory and breach their defense shields. Though not a signatory of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) & Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) India's doctrine of ‘No First Use of Nuclear weapons’ makes it a responsible Nuclear power. India also ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) for banning the use and test of Chemical weapons. India is on the verge of a tectonic shift in their defense tactics and consider more on conventional strikes and credible deterrence.

 The Indian Army:

With the second largest standing army in the world comprising of around 12 Lakh active and 10 Lakh reserved personnel India is becoming deadlier when comes to combat capabilities. Unlike other services the Indian Army consumes a lot of ‘Made in India’ equipment and the list is expanding. India's infantry and artillery regiments are equipped with a reasonably good equipment list. It currently operates ageing Russian T72 (Ajeya) and T90 (Bhishm) tanks considered as one of the best in its class even today complemented by the home grown Arjun Mk2. The new generation Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV) is in development stage and is expected to become the Main battle tank and game changer for India owing to its state of the art fire power, Anti radiation shield and toughest armor for frontline defense. India also developed a self-propelled armored artillery gun K9 Vajra in collaboration with South Korea for second line defense. The aftermath of the Kargil conflict exposed several weaknesses when it came to raw assault capabilities and this led to the procurement of ultra light M777 howitzer towed guns from US. India also inducted its own Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) manufactured 'Indian Bofors' called the 'Dhanush’ 155mm caliber howitzer which can fire at an incredible rate of 60 rounds per minute. India has also called to replace it’s age old INSAS assault rifles with new sophisticated ones and a quotation for around 5,00,000 units has already been floated. Also a new defense requisition has been made to OFB for the procurement of light Bullet proof vest for the army. India also developed its own multi barreled rocket launcher called Pinaka. Apart from all these Indian Army has its own tactical air support unit called the Army Aviation Corp which was also developed analyzing the Kargil operation where Army needed to request Air Force for mountain attack missions. The Army aviation currently operates helicopters like Hindusthan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Rudra and indigenous HAL LCH for close combat situations. Besides HAL Dhruva and HAL Cheetah are used for transport and logistical support. India is also going to get Boeing Apache attack helicopters and medium lift transport Chinook helicopters from US as well.

Long strike capabilities: Indian Army has at their disposal an array of missiles meant for different purposes. The DRDO & BEL (Bharat Electronics Limited) developed Akash is a surface to air missile capable of striking aerial targets 30 km far at a peak altitude of 18000m. The Prithvi series missiles are tactical short range surface to surface ballistic missiles with range up to 600 km with small payloads. India also has a surface to surface short range hypersonic cruise missile named Shaurya. Besides India is months away from inducting the latest Agni 5 nuclear capable MIRV ICBM.

Agni 5: India's first Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) has a range of 5000 to 8000 km enough to cover the whole of China or North Korea and capable of carrying nuclear warhead. Also Agni 5 is Multiple Independently targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) capable which makes it impossible to neutralize at the terminal phase as an anti missile system cannot take down multiple warheads at one go making it very lethal. However there is no official confirmation on Agni 6 which was believed to come as an advanced avatar of the Agni series.

Pralay: India is currently testing this short range tactical surface to surface ballistic missile meant to bridge the gap between Prithvi series and Agni series.

However the icing on the cake is the indigenously produced and co-developed by Russia & India the world's most advanced multi role supersonic cruise missile – ‘The Brahmos'. It is very lethal due to the very high kinetic energy it generates as well as not so predictable end flight path. The second iteration of Brahmos with a hypersonic speed of Mach 7 is under advanced stage of development.

Air Missile Defense Shield: India has developed its own Missile interceptor system Pradyumna for medium range ballistic missile countering. It has also developed an advanced air defense shield called Ashwin. Besides India has also order the most advanced air defense system S-400 from Russia and NASAM from U.S.

India is again reportedly working on Anti Radiation Missiles to take on enemy advanced warning system.

To boost local manufacturing Government has asked private parties like Tata, Ashoke Leyland and Mahindra to participate in Army bulk transport vehicles.

NAVIC: ISRO has gifted India's own Regional Navigation System and according to reports the precision of this system would be 5m for Civilian use and 2m for military purpose which would provide an unmatched combating edge to the armed forces in difficult terrains. The NAVIC stands for Navigation using Indian Constellation and unlike GPS, Glonass, Galileo and  Beideu this system uses a constellation of 7 satellites to provide Navigation in Indian subcontinent only and thus the accuracy is quite high.

What not so cool for the Army: India's indigenous Arjun battle tank is too heavy for its cause resulting in an underwhelming performance. Apart from that India still lacks a proper skill in engine development for armored vehicles. Also India still lacks specialization in sophisticated assault rifles and carbines as the Indian INSAS is far from meeting global standards. Besides Indian army suffers too much casualty in counter insurgency operation. They need proper electronic surveillance systems, effective Droning and good social networking to mitigate this teething issues.

Contd... To Next Part 

Disclaimer: Some information are sourced from various public domain and open sources like, MoD portals, Wiki, Journals etc.

Whether Ramlila Ground is the Tahrir Square of India is still not clear, but I can clearly see the shadow of Jaiprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP, in Anna Hazare. JP shook the largest democracy in protest against Indira Gandhi's 'Emergency' of 1975. It was the same Ramlila Ground, where amidst more than a hundred thousand people, JP asked Indira to resign. Deja vu. Looking at the huge crowd of youth uttering 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' ('Hail Mother India') in Anna's Ramlila, it seems JP has returned.

JP was a Leftist who slightly got tweaked to a Gandhian socialist after joining Indian National Congress. But he could never remain that loyal to Congress. A Gandhian declaring 'Total Revolution' against the slaughtering of democracy caused the death of Congress government at New Delhi. The first non and anti-Congress government could never be a reality without JP's warcry. Anna Hazare, another Gandhian socialist perhaps lags in JP's oratory but is no lesser deity.

Anna's movement demanding Janlokpal Bill, the umbrella ombudsman legislation, is aimed at eliminating corruption from Indian civil life. It sounds as Utopian as did JP seeking an end to Indira Gandhi's authoritarianism and nepotism. Both appeared, at times, as things too tightly entwined with Indian psyche. Never forget, 'Indira was India' in those days.

Anna is often seen as JP's avatar for some of his grass-root social activism as well. His model village Ralegan Siddhi and rainwater harvesting, crop rotation, self-reliant village might sound too idealistic in a free-trade, less-government modern society but are realities. As real were JP's Sarvodaya and Bhudan movements focusing village upliftment. JP was rubbished by many mainstream politicos. Anna has been ridiculed too.

Interestingly enough, socialist JP's 'Total Revolution' never assumed the 'Indian Right' as untouchables. The Hindu Nationalist group, namely Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and allied political front Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) leaders were in full collaboration with JP. His Navnirman revolution of 1970's against corruption of Gujarat provincial head Chimanbhai Patel of Congress grew up on foundations created by RSS. Anna's Janlokpal movement, similarly, is now receiving moral backing and manpower from RSS and other organizations perceived as right-wingers, e.g. Swami Ramdev's Bharat Swabhiman Trust.

It took more than a week, although, for the center-right opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a literal successor of BJS, to lend full-fledged support to Anna Hazare publicly. BJP's upcoming possible Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi has held multiple occasions to throw his weight behind Anna.

Few of Modi's Tweets go as:

 @NarendraModi: "Nation concerned about Anna’s health. Congress talks of democracy & parliament but uses anti-democratic means to wipe out Anna’s movement"

 @NarendraModi: "My request to dear tweeples: let us expose each of the undemocratic means used to curb Anna’s movement through tweets"

It is believed by many that during Navnirman revolution, Modi, a then young RSS volunteer, came to JP's notice!

After Indira's great fall, ministry in 1977 at New Delhi with Morarji Desai as Prime Minister was an unusual coalition of center-right BJS and center-left Janata. Anna wave has potential to dig down Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi's government. Political pundits are not ruling out possibility of a mid-term election too. India's center-right is no more a minor party but principal opponent in parliament. Will a post-Anna fall-out see the return of India's center-right? Only time can tell that. But Anna Hazare is surely JP 2.0 of India.

(SACRIR Desk: Agenda Bharat)

From: contact_sacrir@ gmail.com

Sent: Monday, July 31, 2011 5:57 AM

To: president@ harvard.edu

Subject: Why I Stand For Dr. Subramanian Swamy

Dear Professor Drew Faust,

Re: Why I Stand By Dr. Subramanian Swamy

Many could realize a Jihadist uproar, but were shocked at the so-called ‘Leftist’ maneuver against Dr. Subramanian Swamy, all for his piece of Op-ed published on an Indian newspaper Daily News and Analysis (DNA). Well, I was not. ‘Left Liberal’ is an oxymoron.

Red-robes, be under Stalinist brand of Socialism, Maoist brand of communism or disguised neo-Leftists of 21^st century, have never upheld people’s freedom and democratic rights. Historians are of opinion that at least 3 million lives were butchered during Stalin’s regime, at his or his ‘Socialist’ machinery orders. Mao’s period too, that witnessed slaughtering of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, saw one of the worst and widespread red-terror in China and neighboring nations. Horror of red-robes continues in the remote pockets of this world till date which the ‘Devil’s Advocates’ or neo-Leftists try to either exonerate or mute down.

Neo-Leftists of Modern Earth, who have infiltrated into press, academics and public lives of democratic countries, pose a greater threat to human rights and freedom. In India, to get lost power restored, extreme Lefts have set-up entente with Jihadists. What? Leftists and faith together?  Yes. No surprise. Atheist Stalin who destroyed hundreds of churches, massacred monks and nuns, also reopened many of the shutdown shrines toward a later point of his reign for political benefits. Collaboration between the Left extremists of India, also known as Naxalites, and Jihadists from parts of Kashmir, illegally occupied by Pakistan are well documented. Neo-Leftist sects in Indian media sympathize with Islamists – is not a mere perception. In U.S press too, there is no scarcity of people of the ilk of Helen Thomas, the Jihadists’ delight.

So, it is not unnatural on their part to demonize Dr. Swamy. In his op-ed article on Daily News and Analysis (DNA), he defines terrorism as “… the illegal use of force to overawe the civilian population to make it do or not do an act against its will and well-being”. To bear in mind that he wrote it mere a couple of days after terrorists’ bombs shook Mumbai again (7/13) citing al-Qaeda’s declaration of India as their priority enemy. The wounds were fresh, but facts remain perpetual.  It is gullible to deny that India is on Jihadist radar for anything other than religion. It is too naive to believe that agents like Ghulam Nabi Fai cook an issue out of Kashmir without a brush of religion. And it is utter falsehood that the act of terrorism on Hindu India and her people following the Islamic invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni (971 – 1030 AD) was anything but contrasting religions. Hindus of Indian subcontinent have been the targets of various forms of Jihad, in the same way Christians of Medieval Europe and Modern Americas or Jews of Middle East.

Dr. Swamy, like millions of Hindus of India and Indian origin, believes that, by character, India is a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ or a ‘Hindu Nation’. There are many stalwarts of Indian electoral democracy and society who believe in the same. ‘Hindu Rashtra’, here, does never imply a Hindu theocratic state but is founded on the pluralist and democratic tenets Hindutva. Hindutva is a legitimized socio-cultural practice approved by the democratic apparatus and constitution of India. Needless to say, Hindutva is the single most significant political principle that India votes on – for or against.

In his article, Swamy went on prescribing antidotes for Jihadi or Islamic terrorism that India has been suffering since 10^th century. He urges sensible and patriot Muslims of India to accept their Hindu ancestry.  Now, at this point one may not find it justifed. Not because it could spark off a debate but the seer question, will acceptance or denial of Hindu ancestry make Indian Muslims any different? Islam is not an Indic faith; hence it does not require an anthropologist to utter it loudly that barring a minuscule of direct descendents of Central Asian invaders, all Muslims of India bear the same Hindu lineage as any Hindu does. One may agree or disagree or debate over acceptance of this truth, but who can deny truth?

The famous Muslim poet of undivided India Nazrul Islam wrote ‘Hindus and Muslims – in India we are the two buds on the same stalk’. Another noted Muslim scholar Mohammad Iqbal urged Indian Muslims to accept Rama, an avatar of Hindu God Vishnu or Krishna, as ‘Imam-e-Hind’ or ‘Prophet of India. Learned Muslims have shown Indians the way. If Nazrul, the national poet of Muslim dominant Bangladesh or Iqbal, the national poet of Islamic Pakistan are still hailed, why should Dr. Swamy be condemned? Do you find anything illogical or hateful enough to impeach someone off his conscience and wisdom?

Dr. Swamy who has been a sound parliamentarian, twice a minister with the Government of India, a renowned economist, an acclaimed academician, rationally a patriot, and a summer professor in the Harvard also belongs to the center right political quarters. He has always been targeted by Indian Leftists on various issues. He is now leading a stringent legal drive against ministers in the present government who are directly charged with some of massive financial corruption and forgery cases. Leftist or rightist bias in media is nothing new in democracies. Similarly it is quite known, neo-Leftist sects in Indian media find an ally in the Indian ruling party Congress; more after the Left parties have lost last traces of power. And they are, naturally, upset with Swamy’s legal activism.

The petition raised by some neo-Leftists in Harvard, almost none of whom are his students, urging the university to sever relationship with Dr. Swamy is hence, politically motivated. It is a result of Leftist frustration with Swamy. Many of the proponents of this malicious petition have links with the neo-Leftist camps in India. Surely, one can have his or her political views but I request you not to degrade Harvard, the global marvel, to an amphitheater of narrow Indian political drama and ad hominem. Nothing in Dr. Swamy’s op-ed is an assault to a person, creed or nation. If we cannot protect one’s Freedom of Expression in the very epitome of democracy, United States, we will perhaps fail the forefathers of this nation who struggled to uphold nothing but Freedom. We must defend both – Freedom of Expression and Freedom from Jihad that our great nation stands for.

There are counter-petitions active on the internet supporting not only Dr. Swamy’s right to express but the content too. Few of them are:

1.       Support for Dr. Swamy's Right to Free Speech Petition to Harvard University – Around 550 signatures and still counting

 2.      I stand by Dr Subramanian Swamy & his DNA article Petition to Harvard University, Sanjay Pinto & Umang Kumar – Around 350 signatures and still counting

Dr. Swamy is truly a tolerant Indian Harvard scholar who is married to a Parsi, who has his two children-in-law a Muslim and a Christian, his brother-in-law a Jew perhaps embodies the spirit of India. I request you Ms. Drew G. Faust, the esteemed President of Harvard University, to support any endeavor to uphold Freedom of Dr. Swamy or any Harvardian, to be generic, and ignore politically motivated name calling. 

Still dreaming of a fear-free United States and Jihad-free World!

--

Warmest Regards,

Ajoy Chatterjee,

South Asian Center for Reintegration and Independent Research

NW Arkansas, USA

PS. Disclaimer: Views expressed is strictly author’s own.                                

(SACRIR Desk: Agenda Bharat)

By Ajoy Chatterjee, SACRIR

Be it a convenient conspiracy theory or the great Indian ‘fast’ against corruption, it finds a big-font mention all the times. Sometimes it deserves, sometimes is blamed, often push-sold. Many among mainstream politicos are proud of association with it and many others, haughty to clapperclaw it. It is what primarily demarcates India’s ruling alliance and opposition bloc, ideologically. It is what makes today’s Congress or mars the BJP or did the opposite in past. It is the Sangh. And welcome to the Sangh-nation.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or, in short, the Sangh has been emboldening its presence in every corner, since founded in 1925 by an ex-Congress politician. From being a small group of Hindu-rights enthusiasts in Nagpur town to orchestrating the most significant, democratically elected non-Congress government at the center ever, Sangh is everywhere. Whether one is for it or against it.

Most recent anti-corruption agitation of civil societies has brought the Sangh once again to the centerstage of debate. The two prominent chieftains spearheading these popular movements, Anna Hazare and Swami Ramdev, have been damned by the government as agents of the Sangh. There is no lack of evidence that the later has pledged support to both Anna and Ramdev though.

It was affiliation to the Sangh that did split the anti-Congress umbrella Janata Party in 1980 and gave birth to nationalist center-of-right outfit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 1984 parliamentary elections, however its journey started with just two seats. Since then, both the Sangh and the Party identified camaraderie of Hindu Nationalism or ‘Hindutva’ reciprocal to each other. While the party became a political face of Hindutva, the later continued being back-office mentor.

Today, pan-India unions affiliated to the Sangh are the becoming pernicious headache to ruling Congress. Not just because they have outnumbered Congress-affiliated ones but also the shadow of a potential civil uprising against it. From the largest labor union to the largest student forum, from the largest farmers’ body to the second largest political party – the Sangh holds them all. Through its scathing verbal attacks and ad hominem against the ‘Hindutva’ brigade, Congress shows, battle against BJP is won, if cement of the Sangh breaks.

 The combined resistance, along with Socialites or samajwadis, that the Sangh exhibited against Indira Gandhi’s Emergency, a dark-age for democracy, has drawn many of them closer lately. Samajwadi icons like George Fernandez and Nitish Kumar have joined the Sangh-shaded National Democratic Alliance more than a decade back. Both the Sangh and samajwadis have much in common on matters pertaining to their conservative economic policies. On economic bills and international affairs, a Sangh-guided BJP, thus, gets natural backing from the Left and samajwadi pockets, however different they are on social outlook. Example, from WTO agreement to Nuclear Liability – take any. It is to note, pro-US BJP ultimately persuaded its approvers on both, though.

It may sound surprising to learn that BJP, the political face of the Sangh and chief opposition party, rules over a third of population of India through provincial governments. Believe it or not, Narendra Modi, the blue-eyed icon of the Sangh and Chief Minister of the Gujarat province is immensely popular among the most influential middle-class people and in any fair poll may emerge to be the most popular candidate for future Prime Minister.

Congress knows these facts well and has adopted a well-devised two-pronged strategy to counter the Sangh juggernaut. One is by over-incentivizing pro-establishment media against it and other is artificially linking its pro-Hindu stance with domestic right-wing terror. And they have been quite successful in fanning bees off the Sangh time to time.

But the fact remains that it is either approval or disapproval of the Sangh that shoots an event up to headlines every day. One has to be either pro- or anti- Sangh to make it to the power corridors of New Delhi. And the nation will remain so for a long time till the Sangh relinquishes or the other, both of which seems far from being achievable. Isn’t India a Sangh-nation?

Photo Credit: The Hindu/ C. Suresh Kumar