Clinton’s video nasty
AMERICANS are struggling to adjust themselves to post-sexual revolution which, like all earlier revolutions, has started devouring its children. Will President Clinton, an enthusiastic practitioner of the revolution, be one of the victims? Punjab IT plan
THE Punjab Government’s decision to promote information technology in a big way is welcome. It has not come a day too soon.
Beggars as choosers
SOME stories never get old — like the one about a beggar who knocked at the door of what looked like a mansion and asked the master for some money.

AFGHANISTAN’S MOUNTING PERIL
by Inder Malhotra
IT is absolutely no surprise that, as in the rest of the world so in this country, the public’s attention is focussed on the sordid drama in Washington surrounding President Bill Clinton’s sexual peccadilloes, proliferating lies, revealing videotape and shamefaced determination to stick to office even if its moral and political authority is reduced to zero.
Link between poverty
& environment
by Anurag
THE recently released UNDP’s Human Development Report (1998) reads like an elaborate enquiry into global inequities being perpetuated with impunity across the developing world.

Saying goodbye to military doctrine by Maj-Gen Himmat Singh Gill (retd)RECENTLY, an English national daily published from the Union Capital, has carried a stupefying and unbelievable newstory on its front page which says that cavalry regiments, now commonly known as tank regiments of the armoured corps, are to be inducted into the Kashmir valley for carrying out counter-insurgency tasks. Indian Artillery turns 171 by Jatinder Singh Bedi “ON target, in time, anytime, anywhere.” This is how any militaryman defines the Gunners who will celebrate their 171st raising anniversary on September 28. Morning sermon by V. N. Kakar AT the Royal Indian Army Service Corps HQ in Ferozepur cantonment, every Monday morning we had to listen to the Commandant’s sermon. One day it would be on the importance of the use of thorns in place of pins because of the heavy demand of steel for making guns and canons

75 Years Ago

Are they going to resign
MR SHASTRI is one of those Indian leaders whose authority is constantly quoted both in the Legislature and outside, both by members of the Government and their henchmen in the Press.

Clinton’s video nasty

AMERICANS are struggling to adjust themselves to post-sexual revolution which, like all earlier revolutions, has started devouring its children. Will President Clinton, an enthusiastic practitioner of the revolution, be one of the victims? Maybe yes, maybe no. But Monica Lewinsky, a 50 per cent share holder in Mr Clinton’s privacy enterprise, will not be; she has obtained immunity from prosecution in return for a no-holds-barred confession. Thanks to the Kenneth Starr report, everyone knows what she did and what she told the investigators. Now everyone knows how the President responded. The four-hour-long video deposition, beamed across the world on Monday, not only brings out the language he used to explain his position but also reveals his body language — facial expression, hand gestures and sitting posture — to lend additional meaning to his words. The release of the tape (and the two weighty volumes of evidence to support the Starr report) was widely expected to mark a decisive turning point in the sordid sex scandal.

In other words, the Clinton foes, Mr Starr and the Republicans, were confident that average, decent Americans would finally condemn the President to impeachment, so clear cut is the proof in the tape of his four crimes — telling lies, manipulating witnesses, obstructing justice and abusing his office. But the very initial popular reaction seems to have swung the other way. Mr Clinton has come out of the four-hour ordeal rather well, by skilfully challenging the charge of any wrong-doing and being articulate and firm at crucial moments. A legal expert from the USA told the BBC that the video testimony destroys the Starr case while another US attorney was certain that no jury (which hears a case in a court as against a grand jury which merely frames charges) will convict anyone, much less a President, on the flimsy grounds that Mr Starr has served up.

Whatever happens to the embattled President, two things are clear. One, from now on there will be less dirt to throw at him (and at viewers the world over) and no smut at all. Network programmes should, therefore, be that much less pornographic. Two, by handing over the video tape to the powerful television networks, the Judicial Committee of the House of Representatives has brought in the electronic media as an equal player in the ongoing drama. Like the politicians, the media too will propel the case to a compelling denouement. It will suit the law-makers, rather the Republican majority, to manoeuvre the proceedings to end in impeachment; the media, being closer to the people and constantly engaged in attracting more viewers, would like to settle for a congressional reprimand or censure. Until the issue is clinched, the world will be a hostage to globalised (read Americanised) satellite channels ceaselessly pouring in Clinton-related trivia. Perhaps the world owes this obligation to the happenings in the only surviving super power and to its most powerful leader. Lesser mortals have to pay undivided attention to the global super man, even if they wish that there was something more wholesome, visually and emotionally, than pre-adult bedroom stuff. Somebody has talked of a sexual Armageddon; that is surely premature. What seems to be more accurate is that it is one hour to the sexual Armageddon!

Punjab IT plan

THE Punjab Government’s decision to promote information technology in a big way is welcome. It has not come a day too soon. Rather, it should have come much earlier, considering that states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have already made giant strides in that direction. It is in the fitness of things that the technical expertise of persons who ushered in the revolution in these states is being utilised. Steps like setting up a Rs 100-crore high-tech information technology habitat at Mohali will go a long way towards making up for the lost time. The advances in IT are a godsend for each and every state of India. The need is all the more pronounced in Punjab because of its peculiar socio-economic position. With the admirable progress that it has made in agriculture, the common Punjabi has become privy to higher standards of living and this prosperity has fortunately translated into better education and awareness also. The downside is that not all of the youth who have been blessed with good education thanks to farm money are very keen to go back to agriculture. It is necessary to provide them with suitable employment opportunities. Information technology fills the bill admirably. Large-scale production and export of computer hardware and software can make the legendary Punjabi entrepreneurship and enterprise pay rich dividends.

Mohali is ideally placed for becoming a hub of this activity, considering that a large number of small-sector units in the electronic field are already located there. Its proximity to Chandigarh is an added advantage. A software park that is scheduled to be set up soon can make Punjab a favoured destination for the information technology industry of world-class capability. But if Mohali is to emerge as the “Silicon Valley” of India, Punjab will have to ensure that the bureaucratic role in the field is kept down to a minimum. Things are moving at a hurricane pace in the IT sector and the mindset of the “sarkari babu” cannot be expected to keep pace with this tornado. It is heartening to note that the IT Vision Group set up by the government includes several academicians and chief executive officers of top IT companies, besides senior officials. If they are allowed to have a free hand, they can indeed change the economic contours of the state. However, much will depend on the help from the private sector. The sooner the venture capital fund amounting to Rs 20 crore is set up, the better it will be for the industry. At the same time, long-term measures like introducing information technology as a part of the curriculum in all schools and colleges in the state will help in ensuring that an adequate number of graduates trained for the software and hardware industry are available. Now that Punjab has decided to traverse the information superhighway, one wishes it godspeed and hopes that it will not run out of fuel on the way.

Beggars as choosers

SOME stories never get old — like the one about a beggar who knocked at the door of what looked like a mansion and asked the master for some money. When the master said he had no money to give, the beggar asked for some food. The master said that food had become a scarce item because of high prices. When the request to part with some used items of clothing too was turned down the beggar looked at the master with disbelief and said, “you seem to be at the wrong address. Join me and I will show you how to make a living what with the currencies taking hard knocks all over the globe”. But the increasing worthlessness of what passes for Indian currency has not even spared the profession of begging. Recently a delegation of Indian beggars urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to abolish three of the lowest denomination coins saying they had become redundant at current price levels. Over 200 of them marched through the streets of Bhopal and submitted a petition to the local civic authorities addressed to Mr Vajpayee, seeking the banishment of five paisa, 10 paisa and 20 paisa coins from circulation because in the “past 50 years the value of these coins has gone down so much that nothing can be purchased with them”. Neither the profession of begging — the ineffective anti-begging laws notwithstanding — nor the pleas of beggars for long overdue “currency reform” should ever be taken lightly. The real value of the profession was understood by a social worker when he joined the queue of alms-seekers outside a crowded place of worship. He realised that for the devotees divine exemption from punishment for the worldly sins could not come any cheaper. But what almost tempted him to give up what he thought was a well paid job was the amount of money he collected in a single day in small change by bestowing blessings on the devotees in return for alms.

In any case, beggars, perhaps, know more about the real value of money than the so-called experts in economic affairs. The significance of the petition to the Prime Minister from beggars, who have decided to be choosers, should be seen in the context of the fate of the one paisa, two paisa and three paisa coins. They went out of circulation the last time the prices of most essential commodities started shooting up. If the beggars were allowed to have their way, they would introduce a high-value currency to replace the almost worthless Indian rupee. The value of their “new rupee” would be linked to the current Rs 10 currency note. Even at 10 paise as the value of the “new rupee” the “beggars’ currency” may still be over-priced. The beggars of Bhopal who have unwittingly raised an important economic issue by demanding the withdrawal from circulation of small denomination coins — a classic example of protecting their business interests. And why not? — deserve the gratitude of the members of the silent majority who have been reduced to the status of the resident of the mansion whose real economic status was exposed by the alms-seeker. To say that the voice of the beggars should be ignored because they are social parasites would be doing injustice to a profession which was once respected in India. Beggars serve a useful social purpose by parting with their blessings in return for small change. Blessings in an age when everyone seems to be cursing everyone else should always be welcome even if they come from lowly beggars. Is the Prime Minister ready to receive their blessings by taking action on their petition?

AFGHANISTAN’S MOUNTING PERIL
Unheard alarm bells
by Inder Malhotra

IT is absolutely no surprise that, as in the rest of the world so in this country, the public’s attention is focussed on the sordid drama in Washington surrounding President Bill Clinton’s sexual peccadilloes, proliferating lies, revealing videotape and shamefaced determination to stick to office even if its moral and political authority is reduced to zero.

To the extent anyone can spare a thought for anything else, it inevitably goes to the gory goings-on in Bihar. With the BJP-led government now hell-bent on imposing President’s rule after sacking the Rabri Devi ministry in Patna and the redoubtable Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav already forearmed to take on the Hindutva crowd ruling in Delhi both in the law courts and, more ominously, on the ground, the benighted state seems doomed to prolonged political warfare of a particularly vicious kind.

Even Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to the United Nations and the general expectation that he might say something definitive on the CTBT are arousing no great interest here though Washington is blowing hot and cold, saying in one breath that no progress has been made on the key issue of India signing the CTBT and declaring in another that a mutually satisfactory “deal” is close.

Under these circumstances, the mounting crisis in Afghanistan, with the gravest implications for this country’s security and supreme interests, to say nothing of the dangers to the region as a whole, continues to be ignored in New Delhi, by the rulers and the ruled alike. If it is possible to be shocked without being surprised that just about sums up my reaction to the apparent ennui with Afghanistan. A neighbour so vital to us is being treated, in Chamberlain’s words, used in another extremely dismal context, as a “far-away country about which we know so little”. And care even less, one might add.

In a short few weeks, since the Taliban overran the bastion of the Northern Alliance, Mazar-i-Sharif, more through bribery than because of bold military action, the Afghan situation has deteriorated from the disastrous to the catastrophic. For several reasons.

First, the Taliban, the worst of the Islamic fundamentalists to be found anywhere, who are backed, moreover, by Pakistan with material as well as manpower and bankrolled by Saudi Arabia, have extended their control also to Bamiyan. The only development that should cause them worry is that the legendary Tadjik military leader, Mr Ahmed Shah Masood, who still controls the Panjshir valley, has succeeded in launching a missile attack on Kabul. However, Mr Masood’s ability to turn the Taliban’s tide should not be overestimated. Whether or not the Taliban can consolidate its power, its sway over most of war-torn Afghanistan is a rude reality of life.

Secondly, and most alarmingly, tension is rising between Afghanistan and Iran, which has every reason to be concerned over the control of Afghanistan of the overwhelmingly Sunni of (Wahabi school) and equally overwhelmingly Pushtoon Taliban. That the Taliban is under the influence of Pakistan whose soldiers and officers are to be found in the Taliban ranks angers the Iranians even more. Pakistan has long yearned for “strategic depth” vis-a-vis India, and this it hopes to get in the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. To Iran, which is Shia and a major regional power with historic and geostrategic interests in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s undue role in the land of the Afghans is anathema. As if this was not enough, the Taliban celebrated its victory in Mazar-i-Sharif by embarking on a slaughter of the innocent. There has been a massacre of civilians, including women and children, belonging to non-Pushtoon ethnicities. In the process, 10 Iranian diplomats belonging to the Iranian Consulate-General in Mazar-i-Sharif and a journalist stationed with them were murdered in cold blood.

True to type, the Taliban first denied any knowledge of the fate of the slain diplomats. Then it acknowledged that they had been killed in the “heat of war” and promised that their murderers would be duly “punished” if and when they were arrested. This was clearly unsatisfactory to not only Iran but also the UN Security Council. But the Taliban continued with the old story. When into returned the bodies of the luckless Iranians, it also expressed regret of sorts. However, Iranian feelings remained inflamed and were further aggravated at the funerals of those killed at which slogans were shouted not only against the Taliban but also against Pakistan. Top Iranian leaders, including a former president, Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani, vowed vengeance against the Taliban and its supporters. A quarter of a million Iranian troops, nearly half the total strength of that country’s military, are now massed on the Afghan border and tension is at fever pitch. The moderate President of Iran, Mr Mohammed Khatami, speaking in both Teheran and New York (he is the first Iranian leader to go to the United Nations in 10 years), has stressed the need to avoid a war but has added that the responsibility for doing so lies squarely on the Taliban and its supporters.

Let there be no mistake about it. A military conflict between Iran and Taliban-held Afghanistan, once started, could get out of hand just like the Iran-Iraq war of the eighties. More ominously, an Iran-Afghanistan war will almost instantly turn into an all-out war between Shias and Sunnis, as the supreme religious leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, has already warned the world. A Shia-Sunni war cannot but spread to other neighbouring countries, including Pakistan where sectarian tensions are already high and mutual killings between Shias and Sunnis not unknown. Both sects have their respective armed organisations, and both are known to be supported from outside, the Shias by Iran and the Sunni-Wahabis by Saudi Arabia.

The Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union and, at one remove, Russia are also greatly worried over the spill-over into their region of the deadly mixture of Taliban bigotry and the wider Iran-Afghanistan conflict. Dangers to India, especially in the sensitive state of Jammu and Kashmir, are too well known to need recounting.

It is in this frightening context that note must be taken of the thundering silence of the USA over the dangers posed by the Taliban and its promoter and patron, Pakistan, especially its military establishment and the notorious intelligence agency, the ISI.

The question therefore arises whether the Americans, even under the disintegrating presidency of Mr Clinton, have made up their mind that the Taliban in Afghanistan will suit them like the fundamentalist regime in Saudi Arabia. No one should dismiss this question out of hand. Or be misled by the recent missile attack on alleged “terrorist camps” in Afghanistan to which some naive souls here gave a qualified welcome.

America’s policy in the region is energy driven. Over time the oil and gas reserves of the Gulf will be depleted. The next century’s Kuwait is located in Central Asia. If the Taliban cooperates in getting oil and gas from Central Asia to Pakistani seaports, in the process bypassing Iran, the USA can overlook other things just as it looked the other way while Pakistan used the Afghan war to build its nuclear weapon.

No wonder then that reports from Islamabad speak of an agreement between the US oil magnate, Unooal, and Pakistan’s Fauji Foundation, wholly financed by the Pakistani military, for the construction of a pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan’s Makran coast via Afghanistan.

Link between poverty & environment
by Anurag

THE recently released UNDP’s Human Development Report (1998) reads like an elaborate enquiry into global inequities being perpetuated with impunity across the developing world. It calls for an environmentally sustainable consumption pattern and a priority-based flow of official funds to the tune of $ 40 billion annually towards water and sanitation, basic education, and reproductive health care for women besides basic health and nutrition, so as to cover over one billion people still deprived of these basic needs, nay human rights! Contrast this meagre figure with the world’s total annual defence spending of $780 billion!

Someone rightly said, “Poverty begets poverty”. Disparities have widened menacingly in spite of the market and the state, both internationally and intra-nationally. The richest 20 per cent consume 16 times as much, in overall terms, as the poorest 20 per cent. Such galloping growth of consumption, about $ 24 trillion in 1998, could not but undermine the prospects of sustainable human development for all. The shrinking land area in Bangladesh and peninsular India is enough evidence of rising sea level, thanks to global warming. The cost of ecological devastation in India is estimated to be around 6 per cent of its GDP.

Indira Gandhi was not off the mark when, in her address to the Stockholm conference on environment in 1972, she dubbed poverty a great pollutant. Twenty years later the World Bank acknowledged, “the poor are the agents and victims of environmental degradation”. The environment is an integral aspect of their life support system. Two very important human development indicators — infant mortality and life expectancy — are inextricably linked with the twin environmental indicators, access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Little wonder that the reproductive decision of the poor are contingent upon these factors. More children means more working hands, which leads to an increase in population and then poverty and environmental degradation — a vicious cycle, indeed. It is poverty that leads to population growth, rather than the other way round. Poverty alleviation is, therefore, vital to environmental sustainability?

Poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. More important than income or consumption indicators are non-income indicators of human development, like education, health, nutrition, sex ratio, infant mortality, child labour. The levels of these indicators are quite low in the states of Bihar, MP, Orissa, Rajasthan and UP. If only our poverty alleviation programmes were put on an equal footing with agricultural or industrial development, and seen as an investment in human capital rather than as subsidy or welfare assistance, and special attention paid to these five states, India’s human development index could be raised from 139 to a two-digit level in the forseeable future.

Curiously enough, some of the well-being indicators are poorly correlated with income indicators. The poverty ratios for UP and Kerala are almost the same but literacy rates are vastly different. Similarly, Punjab and Haryana have the highest per capita income but literacy rates are relatively lower, with the female-to-male ratio being very low in some of the districts. Studies have shown that over a period of time, incomes declined for some households in Rajasthan, but 37 out of 38 indicators of human development showed improvement in areas like bargaining power, freedom from moneylenders, dependence on landlords for inputs, etc. Female literacy was invariably found to be a crucial factor for the empowerment of the poor. No society can look towards the future with its 50 per cent potential lying dormant.

Going by the past and the present of the command economies, it is safe to assume that liberalisation and poverty alleviation are not conflicting concepts. Licentious leakages and untargeted subsidies are regressive and entail fiscal profligacy and lead to unsustainable resource exploitation. Benefits accrue to middlemen, elites and the affluent, to the detriment of the poor who get further marginalised. Misallocation of resources has proved to be the bane of our water, fertiliser and power sectors.

Poor people receive low returns on labour, their main asset. Denied as they are the access to other productive resources such as land and credit, their productive potential remains untapped. Poverty reduction programmes should be oriented to skill development rather than mere consumption, so as to provide the poor with productive opportunities and sustainable sources of livelihood.

Morning sermon
by V. N. Kakar

AT the Royal Indian Army Service Corps HQ in Ferozepur cantonment, every Monday morning we had to listen to the Commandant’s sermon. One day it would be on the importance of the use of thorns in place of pins because of the heavy demand of steel for making guns and canons. One day it would be for saving paper. “Use discarded paper and the back side of the form no longer needed; avoid using brand new paper for routine notes and orders” – the Commandant in his sermon would enlarge the theme selected for every Monday with quotes, if available, from His Majesty’s Government in London to the Corps Commander-in-Chief God knows where.

Howsoever ludicrous a lecture, it was not for us officers to question the Commandant’s wisdom and its elaborate enumeration by him. World War II was on, and anybody raising a finger could be court-martialled. Besides, many sermons had enormous logic behind them. Instances – talk no politics. Who in the Army could afford to talk politics in those dangerous times? Indulge in no rumours – everybody knew that the enemy on the western front was listening to whatever we were talking about in Ferozepur. Polish your shoes – all had to look spick and span. Keep your belts tight – well-fed bellies had to be in harmony with the rest of the body.

Switch off the lights and fans before leaving your room—electricity was in short supply in those days as now. Use mosquito nets at night – the Commandant himself used to come on some nights and throw torch light on sleeping beauties. Apply mosquito-repellent on the naked portions of your body – no one was fond of malaria. Other things apart, anybody catching malaria could be court-martialled on the charge of conduct unbecoming of an officer while on active service.

Captain Tom Walsh was the Commandant’s blue-eyed boy. We all thought that he was his son-in-law. Captain Walsh knew what we thought. He allowed the impression to prevail. One Monday morning, the Commandant’s sermon was on the importance of keeping a diary. “Every successful officer,” proclaimed the Commandant, “keeps a diary.” Captain Walsh took his own diary out of his pocket and held it aloft as some kind of a victory sign. The Commandant looked at him wryly and remarked, “That does not mean that every Tom, Dick and Harry who keeps a diary is a successful officer.”

Sermons were all right. But every sermon was followed by a notice on its importance pinned on the notice-board. Invariably, it was like this – “It has been brought to the notice of the Commandant that some officers don’t switch off lights when they leave their rooms. This situation will cease to exist forthwith.” It was mandatory for all officers to read those notices carefully.

How much could officers take? One day someone put up a different kind of notice on the notice-board. And it read, “It has been brought to the notice of the Commandant that too many things are being brought to the notice of the Commandant. This situation will cease to exist forthwith.”

What happened thereafter is a war secret I can’t share with my readers.

Saying goodbye to military doctrine
by Major-Gen Himmat Singh Gill (retd)

RECENTLY, an English national daily published from the Union Capital, has carried a stupefying and unbelievable newstory on its front page which says that cavalry regiments, now commonly known as tank regiments of the armoured corps, are to be inducted into the Kashmir valley for carrying out counter-insurgency tasks.

The initial lot of armoured regiments that are to be moved in, as a whole unit as per the report, and not in squadron or company sizes, include one of the most highly decorated and battle-hardened regiments of the post-Independence era in India, 4 Hodson’s Horse, and of which I happen to be a former Colonel Commandant.

Even if a shred of this “special report” is proved as a fact, I am afraid South Block and the powers that be in the Ministry of Defence, need to give the nation and many of us who have some knowledge of defence matters, an explanation urgently. I think a national debate on TV with the Defence Minister attending, and where one would be only too happy to participate, is urgently called for, to expose the sheer ridiculousness and impracticality of such unthought of measures as are now being propounded.

But first some facts for the civilian laymen and the senior armymen in olive greens, who should know better surely. Or have the latter become so jelly-kneed that even a horrendous proposition such as this is not even debated and rejected outright.

The Armoured Corps, now regrettably lumped together with the mechanised infantry, into the Mechanised Forces, has a specific primary role in armour country (that is the plains and not the hilly tracts), of engaging enemy armour into annihilation and capturing targets in depth in fast mobile and decisive armour battles, on which depends the eventual victory or defeat of the warring nations.

It is the vital decision maker in any battle or war, as we have seen from the Second World War onwards. Only the unwise will say that in a nuclear context, the armoured corps does not matter.

In fact if anything, once suitable anti-nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) measures have been adopted on the tanks, the physical security of the equipment and the crew members is automatically assured, which would not be the case with large infantry formations concentrated out in the open, with little protection against a tactical nuclear strike.

The tanks are there to stay for a long long time, in spite of what most of the Army Commanders today (mostly from the infantry) think.

It is the infantry’s role to fight insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir or anywhere in the world, and it is both counterproductive and not costworthy (in terms of role employment and morale), to pass this task onto the armoured corps, artillery, and others.

The other point being missed out is that mothballing of equipment is at best a concept, that has not been truly tried out even in the erstwhile Soviet Union, now Russia, and CIS. It is a very costly affair and, in any case, as soon as a tank threat appears, these very regiments and units have to demothball the equipment and join battle. The essence of armour battle, speed, surprise and shock action, would be fully nullified if we were to move whole regiments minus their tanks, into CI operations. And then expect these poor Johnies to suddenly, like Captain Marvel, relink with their tanks in case of an open war, hundreds of miles away, and get on with their armour battles.

The third issue is even more serious. As it is, we are having too many officers, JCO and other rank casualties from the non-infantry ranks, who without much thought have been pushed into the Kashmir valley with the Rashtriya Rifles, to take part in CI operations. The armour is just not trained for section and platoon tactics of the infantry with 7.62 SLRs and are, in any case, too highly trained to be wasted away in roles which are not even remotely theirs in the valley.

Many parents who have lost their sons are shortly going to ask what the cavalry was doing (less their tanks form which they are supposed to fight from) in the Kashmir valley.

By all means a soldier is meant to fight and die for his country. But that is why we have the various different corps, for executing tasks for which they have been specifically trained.

Finally, and this should suffice for the moment, has anyone worked out the cost of the deterioration of the dumped tanks and other equipment, the cost of the break-up of integrated and fully trained tank crews who would now be scattered all over away from their tanks devoid of the compact buddy system, and the permanent damage to the command and control — and the ethos — of leadership in the affected regiments? If they had, they would not even be talking of such measures, I am sure.

After all this, one is still hoping against hope that possibly this news report is incorrect. The surest way of losing the next war with Pakistan is to send all the armoured regiments and armoured divisions into the valley, with or without their tanks, either way , and retire hurt, without even firing a shot.

As a former Major-General Colonel Commandant in the Armoured Corp., a graduate of the National Defence College, a Deputy Director-General of Perspective Planning, a member of the Military Operations Directorate in the 1971 war, and as a Defence Attache in Afghanistan where one has seen the Soviet armour in action during the 1979 invasion of that country, I appeal to Mr George Fernandes the Raksha Mantri, and Mr Jaswant Singh, a former colleague in the armoured corps, and now the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, to intercede expeditiously, in this matter.

Some unconfirmed reports suggest that the cavalry regiments are already being moved into the valley.

Surely national security is too serious a matter, to be left solely to be the prerogative of some now serving in the corridors of South Block. And in the interim, any such moves of the armoured corps to the mountains should be held in abeyance.

Indian Artillery turns 171
by Jatinder Singh Bedi

“ON target, in time, anytime, anywhere.” This is how any militaryman defines the Gunners who will celebrate their 171st raising anniversary on September 28.

Artillery has been in use in India since the periods of the Bahmani Kings, Babur, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the British. Southern Indian rulers like the Marathas, Holkars, Scindias, Bhonsles and Peshwas too have used artillery in their battles.

But the Gunners lately opted to celebrate September 28 as their raising day. On this day in 1827, the then British Presidency raised 5 (Bombay) Mountain Battery. Till it was so decided, January 15 was observed as the Regiment of Artillery’s raising day that marked the raising of ‘A’ Field Artillery Brigade at Bangalore in 1935. A Regiment of Artillery Association publication thus explains: “It is because 5 (Bombay) Mountain Battery enjoys till date uninterrupted existence.” Now part of 57 Field Regiment, the Battery, when raised consisted of British and “native” soldiers.

Consisting of over 200 units, the Regiment is the biggest arm of the Indian Army after infantry. It comprises 1.34 lakh men and is 1/8th of the Army’s strength. It has till date given the Indian Army three Army chiefs — Gen. P.P. Kumaramangalam, Gen. O.P. Malhotra and Gen. S.F. Rodrigues. In the battle of Kaladan Valley, Burma, in December, 1944, Havildar Umrao Singh of 22 Field Regiment earned this regiment its solitary Victoria Cross — the highest gallantry award of the British empire. Besides, it has to its credit seven Mahavir Chakras and 94 Vir Chakras.

Keeping pace with the changing war-needs, the Regiment has undergone evolutionary changes. One of the major administrative decisions taken in the late 70s was panelling of its officers. Earlier, an officer could be posted to any of the over 300 units. “Now that the officers have been panelled to a group of three to four units a sense of belongingness to the unit and better officer-men relationship has developed,” says Lt-Gen Jagdish Singh, former Director-General, Artillery. There is an improved regimentation now, he adds.

Pre-independence artillery was mostly mule-based. Consequent to the 1962 war brisk development of communication and road network took place in the hilly regions. This, coupled with changing operations, resulted in dispensation of the mules and their replacement with towing vehicles. But much water has flown since then. From the tiny Yugo Guns through 75/24 Mule Pack Howitzers, the Artillery today has graduated to computerised 155 mm Bofors. So have its war concepts and analogies. From its traditional role of providing intimate fire support to the combating columns during war, it has transformed itself into an independent group, fire of which can be concentrated from over 40 kms at the point of decision, more so in an offensive role. Combat support apart, with their enhanced lethality, the gunners today execute a destructive role. But this dreadful ability of gunners has never been doubted since times immemorial. It was this very fact that made Stalin remark that artillery is “God of war”.

The remark also hints at the indispensability of the arm during operations. It, in fact, softens the enemy target by pounding it even before the launch of armour and infantry operations. Such is its flexibility that its fire can be coordinated with that of the tank columns and even with the Air Force and Navy. There have also been instances when it has been used to illuminate the enemy targets for jet fighters at night. All this basically involves guns firing on to the target. The fire is observed by an observation officer sitting miles away from the guns. He calls for, corrects and controls the shells falling on the enemy. Guns can bring down accurate fire even without observation. And this barrage of fire can be switched in minutes from one target to another that could be miles apart.

Perhaps it is these booming guns that are bringing laurels to India at Siachen glacier. Fighting in most inclement conditions at Siachen, the artillery continues to be the pivot around which the battles at the glacier are being fought.

Despite tremendous advancement the gunners have maintained the basic concept of their seven men detachment besides the practice of imposing heavy responsibility on their young officers. A three-striped Havildar with his six young sepoys is totally accountable for his gun’s fire. A Lieutenant as a Gun Position Officer is ultimately responsible for the fire of the six-gun battery that is placed under his command along with over 100 men. Such time tested are the firing procedures that an error in firing is a rarity. And more rare is the erring appointment going unpunished.

With furcation of two of its major segments — air defence and army aviation — into independent arms, the Artillery has been left with SATA and field branches. Recent addition of the missile group armed with indigenous missiles has added to the gunners’ pride. Research and development too has been a constant aid to it. Various models of Indian field gun (IFG) besides light field gun having been developed indigenously, the Regiment has been quick enough to phase out the British 25-pounder guns and adopt IFG as the maser field gun instead.

During interaction with cross-section of gunners, an interesting maxim comes to be known. “During crisis while the civilians remember God, soldiers remember Gunners,” they claim. If this be true, the Regiment of Artillery is truly living up to its motto Sarvatra Izzat-O-Iqbal.

75 YEARS AGO
Are they going to resign

MR SHASTRI is one of those Indian leaders whose authority is constantly quoted both in the Legislature and outside, both by members of the Government and their henchmen in the Press. Now that our esteemed countryman has made some definite suggestions regarding some line of action that should be adopted in India in connection with and as a reply to the Kenya challenge, it would be interesting to know what precisely the authorities concerned propose to do.

One of these suggestions concerns not the Government as a whole, but only the Indian members of it. Mr Shastri is of the opinion that these gentlemen should resign. Are they going to speak in the Council of States? At any rate, it seems almost too much to hope that they will follow this course with patriotism, self-respect and commonsense.

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National Flag satyagraha

From Sunday to Tuesday nine Satyagrahis, three daily, have been arrested. Sixty-one volunteers, including a batch of the nine which detrained at Kamptee and proceeded by road to Nagpur, were followed, seven of whom were arrested. A batch of forty-eight from Surat, which arrived today, was arrested at Hump Yard near Ajnani jail where the train was stopped.