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Unreliable Sukhois Games begin in J&K |
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The dangerous world we live in
Unmatched recognition
National Security Forum
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Unreliable Sukhois Most disturbing but not surprising is the revelation that a large percentage of the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter fleet stands grounded due to engine problems. The issue is disturbing because the Russian-supplied Sukhoi is the most advanced of the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter fleet and will have a critical role to play in both defending the Indian skies and attacking the adversary in the event of a war. However, the engine trouble is not that surprising because problems with respect to the Russian-supplied defence equipment are not uncommon. For the last two and a half years in particular, the aircraft's engine has frequently suffered a flameout or become inoperable mid-air. This has resulted in pilots aborting their training missions in order to quickly land this twin-engine long-range multi-role fighter with just one engine functioning lest the second engine too should become inoperable. Thankfully, on most occasions both engines have not flamed out at the same time or else it could have resulted in the loss of aircraft and pilot fatalities. The Sukhoi-30 had a safe flying record from 1997, when it was first inducted, up to 2009, when the IAF first lost this aircraft. Since then, three more of these highly expensive fighters have been lost to accidents, mainly on account of engine trouble, forcing the IAF to temporarily ground its fleet. Today, again, a significant percentage of the Sukhoi fleet stands grounded owing to engine unreliability. The IAF regularly faces problems with its Soviet-origin aircraft. In the early 1990s, most of its MiG-29 air defence fighter fleet was grounded for a while on account of spares. The IAF needs to quickly fix the problem with Russian cooperation and carry out checks on all Russian-made aircraft and equipment considering that, unlike the erstwhile Soviet Union, Russia no longer offers the same level of reliability. Far more important is the need for India to work towards a permanent solution. And that is to attain self-reliance by developing its own fighter aircraft, including, especially engines. Else, so long as India remains import dependent, it would forever remain
vulnerable.
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Games begin in J&K THE Congress and the National Conference have agreed to disagree on whether their parting in Jammu and Kashmir was out of an agreement or not. Well, any political observer would be as confused over what to make of the development as the parties themselves. Both, in an apparently losing proposition in the state, have decided to cut the losses, or at least not bear the other's burden in the Assembly elections. That they are poorly placed in the state became obvious in the Lok Sabha elections, their alliance not winning a single seat. The PDP won all three seats in Kashmir and the BJP bagged two in Jammu and one in
Ladakh. The parting of ways does come as a bit of a surprise, when the two didn't take the step all these years that were full of acrimony - whether over the issue of refugees in Jammu, regional development, 2010 violence, or even the
chief-ministership. Obviously, in the calculations of both the other has more reasons to lose, and therefore neither wants the black to rub off on it. But simple electoral calculation would suggest having your votes split by contesting the same seats can hardly be a smart idea, especially when the chips are down for both. Even if they intend to pull the wool over the voters' eyes by getting back into an alliance post poll, it would seem like a viable scheme only if they get the minimum required 44 seats between them. The move seems to be nothing but a desperate measure in bad times. Communication between the two allies has broken down, and contesting separately must have seemed the only way to assess who is worth how much. Both are paying as much for anti-incumbency - the NC in the state and the Congress at the Centre - as for lack of governance and poor handling of issues in J&K. The BJP may do well, yet remain short of majority. And neither the NC nor the PDP would like to be seen joining hands with it. The Congress can thus still hope to be the kingmaker.
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Thought for the Day
Men always want to be a woman's first love — women like to be a man's last romance.
—Oscar Wilde
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Women patients and male doctors INDIAN ladies are averse as a rule to be examined by male doctors when they are sick. They make no distinction however between Indian doctors and English doctors in this matter. This is doubtless due to their social ideas. But we have not heard of any similar objection raised by English ladies being examined by male doctors. In connection with the London Hospital affair, it was stated that women patients of the hospitals did not like to be attended by Indians. Commenting on this, the Madras Standard says, "It is probable that the ignorant and poor women of the slums object to coloured doctors, as a similar class here objects to white ones." No one would be more glad than the Indian if the English ladies, whether rich or poor, like Indian ladies, refuse to be examined by male doctors. But if their objection is only to Indians, it must be exceptional and not general. It is difficult to believe that the prejudice can be so common as to make it a ground of excluding Indians from the Hospital. Students and smoking THE Director of Public Instruction, Madras, has been requested by Government to issue orders forbidding smoking by boys on school premises or playgrounds. This is a move in the right direction. It is noteworthy that the Punjab has been considerably ahead of the sister provinces in this respect, the Department of Public Instruction in this province having proved itself fully alive to the needs of the situation years ago by acceding to the demand of the Temperance societies in the Punjab. The Indian Social Reformer observes with reference to Madras order that "things must have come to a pretty pass, to necessitate such an order."
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The dangerous world we live in THE shooting down of MH17 and the loss of 298 innocent lives is a criminal act of terror which needs to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Condemnation is both necessary and overdue, including by India. This does not have to wait till a final determination is made on culpability. It is entirely irrelevant whether the system that launched the surface-to-air missile was acquired by rebels from manufacturers directly or stolen from a Ukrainian armory. Equally, those responsible for this heinous crime must feel the collective weight of the international community whose collective conscience should be stirred, if not already shaken, at the underlying trends which have facilitated this act of criminality. Arming rebels is dangerous at the best of times. Experience has shown that once armed, rebels exercise their independence even if they do not turn rogues. Also, there are no good and/or bad rebels. Even so-called good rebels invariably place short-term expediency over an enduring interest in established civilizational norms and behaviour. The shooting down of MH17 has to be viewed against such a background. The fact that the global order is benchmarked on Westphalian state sovereignty only in notion has not been in any doubt. Non-intervention or its milder version, non-interference, has more often than not been sacrificed at the altar of expediency by the powerful. The inability of states to manage their own affairs renders them vulnerable to interference and intervention. This is exacerbated when institutions of the state are failing and even before the state is finally characterised as 'failed'. The ongoing processes of globalisation have exacerbated both inter-dependence and demands for responsible sovereignty. The often and much riled concept of responsibility to protect or R2P assumes significance. Initially conceived about a decade ago, it was not wrongly described as a weapon in the hands of the powerful and a scarcely disguised doctrine of humanitarian intervention. It drew sustenance from mass atrocities committed in places like Rwanda. In spite of available advance information, the international community turned its back. Some 800,000 people were killed. R2P, however, it should be remembered, deals only with mass atrocities and not regime change. Genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity are mass atrocities which the international community does not want on its conscience. Issues relating to human rights violations and inconvenient political dispensations of the kind led by Gaddafi earlier and Assad involve desire for regime change and arguably are not R2P situations. Of its three pillars, pillars one and two of R2P should really pose no problems. The first, that it is every government's responsibility to protect its citizens from mass atrocities and the second that governments unable to do so should be offered technical assistance in institution building are unquestionable. It is the third pillar that deals with the terms and conditions of outside intervention that opens up a minefield. In retrospect, the Russians must be ruing that they did not veto resolution 1973 in the UN Security Council in March 2011 authorising military action in Libya. The advent of the Arab Spring, which in retrospect has turned out to be a false dawn, generated excitement. The desire for change emanated not only from populations subjugated by repressive regimes for decades but generated excitement and elicited considerable support, both moral and financial, by governments and think tanks in the West. The expectation was that its outcome would resonate on a western liberal democratic template. The three easy steps to obtain regime change, arming rebels, a Security Council resolution and NATO military action resulted in the overthrow of Gaddafi and his despised regime. The arming of rebels first in Libya and then Syria and the atrocities committed by them, in turn, have, however, produced unprecedented chaos and our worst fears have come true. Western support to conservative Sunni regimes, arming of rebels, including affiliates of Al-Qaida and the consequent pressure on the Shia crescent from Iran, Iraq to Syria invited both a Shia reprisal in the form of support for Assad and a counter Sunni reprisal in the form of the ISIS. Interference, intervention and manipulating regime change by the West, including through the use of force, was unlikely to remain unchallenged when Russia's core interests in the face of the West's attempt to co-opt Ukraine into NATO became apparent. In fairness to the US and the West, some credit is due to them for not supplying Sunni rebels in Syria affiliated with Al-Qaida weapons of the kind that downed MH 17. They could have been used against Israel. The need to change course and return to political dialogue is the need of the hour. This is unlikely, given the present Western approach anchored in escalating economic sanctions. The world is in for more trouble.
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Unmatched
recognition Times have changed tremendously! What was once a taboo is now in vogue. A man, back then, could not have dared to hold or hug his children in public but these days a husband is encouraged and counselled to remain present during the entire process of child birth in the hospital's labour room and be the pillar of strength to his wife that only a true soul mate can in the most excruciating of tribulations a woman goes through. Interestingly, it also offers the new-found fathers the cherished privilege to get the first glimpse of the baby. She looked up to me and kept gazing for a while as if drawing my attention. Then she slowly embarked on her first-ever journey, straight towards me. I stood motionless in complete awe of the beautiful miracle that nature was unfolding before me. She mustered the strength to somehow balance her tumbling moves and in the most elegant of ways. Her tiny fingers spaced out each time she put her palm forward. She inched ahead with her hands and knees while in between stealing a moment or two to raise her head and peek at the destination. She gained impetus with every move. The closer she came, the brighter the spark in her eyes became. And finally there she was, in my very arms, rejoicing. A father-daughter bond had instantly formed without a single word having been spoken from either of us. It was one experience that felt eternal. What was it that pulled her to me? Whatever it was, I was in a state of bliss called fatherhood! For the first time I felt truly 'recognised'. All the accolades I had received before this definitive moment of my life faded away in no time. This was one feat that I yearned to achieve again and again as the joy of being the world to my daughter had no bounds. I thanked my wife for having made my life more meaningful than ever as it soon dawned upon me that the greatest recognition a man can ever get is that from his child, especially a daughter. My friends who have yet to embrace parenthood often ask what it feels like to become one. Now, I have an answer and indeed a very special one. No wonder someone has rightly said, "A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."
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National Security Forum FOR progressively enhancing meaningful Centre-states relations in regard to national security management it would be useful for the Central Government to also consider various possible initiatives for promoting trust and mutual understanding between New Delhi and the state capitals. Towards this objective, to begin with, the Central Government could consider inducting representatives of the states in the National Security Advisory Board and the National Security Council, even if this is to be done on a rotational basis. The Central Government could also consider setting up an Empowered Committee of Home Ministers of states to discuss and arrive at pragmatic solutions to various important security- related issues, including the long-pending proposal to set up the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). In this context, it would be relevant to note that the nation-wide consensus for introducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in the country, a crucial tax reform which involves a Constitutional amendment for replacing the current indirect taxes, has been achieved by an Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers. It is reported that GST is likely to be enforced in the very near future. Some of the doubts voiced by the states about the management of security-related issues arise from the style of functioning of institutions which are exclusively controlled by the Central Government. In this background, perhaps a more productive approach may lie in moving towards certain important institutions being jointly run by the Centre and the states. Learning from other countries An excellent example in this regard is the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), established by USA in the aftermath of 9/11. The Joint Terrorism Task Forces located in various cities across the USA include representatives from the Federal, State and Municipal enforcement agencies and perform several important roles, including the clearing of all terrorism-related information. Over time, functioning through joint institutions will enable the states to gain a well-informed, all-India perspective about the complex and sensitive issues which concern national security management and, in this process, also defuse their perennial complaint about the Central Government “interfering with the powers of the states in the arena of internal security management”. Needless to stress, if national security is to be satisfactorily managed, the states must effectively maintain internal security within their territories. Towards this end, they must urgently get to work for enlarging and upgrading their Intelligence and police organisations and security-administration systems. In this context, it is a matter of serious concern that the annual allocations for police comprise an extremely low percentage of the total budgeted expenditure of all the states and Union Territories in the country. The scale of these allocations shall require to be significantly enhanced, particularly keeping in mind that about 80 per cent of the annual state police budgets go towards meeting the salaries and pensions of the constabularies and virtually no funds remain for undertaking the expansion or modernisation of the state police forces. Time-bound action would also require to be taken to ensure that the sanctioned posts of police personnel, lakhs of which remain vacant for years in the state and Union Territory police forces, are filled up on a time-bound basis. It also needs being recognised that the ailments from which the state police forces have been suffering, for decades now, shall not get cured merely by providing larger budgetary allocations for their expansion and modernisation. It is extremely important to ensure that police reforms, which have been pending for decades, are carried through without any further delay. It is a matter of utter shame that after nearly seven decades since Independence, the police organisations in many states are still functioning under the colonial Police Act of 1861. Most states have also not taken the required steps to implement the Supreme Court's orders regarding the establishment of Police Complaint Authorities and State Security Commissions; segregation of law and order and investigation functions; setting up of separate intelligence and anti-terrorist units and taking varied other required actions for establishing modern and accountable police forces which would enable the effective functioning of the security-management apparatus. It is also necessary to recognise that national security cannot be safeguarded unless the entire apparatus of the criminal justice system discharges its duties with competence, speed, fairness and complete honesty. Last year, nearly two crore criminal cases under the Indian Penal Code and Special Laws were awaiting trial. This sad state of neglect, accompanied by progressively declining conviction rates, has rightly generated the perception that crime is a low-risk and high-profit business in India. Reform the judiciary The functioning of the judicial apparatus, particularly at the lower and middle levels, suffers from serious logistical deficiencies — grossly insufficient number of courts and judges, prolonged delays in filling up long-continuing vacancies, lack of the required staff and essential facilities in the courts and so on. Questions are also being recurringly raised about the competence and integrity of those manning the judicial system and, in the recent years, allegations of shameful delinquencies have been made even against those who man the highest echelons in the judicial system, up to the august level of the Chief Justice of India! Needless to stress, the most urgent measures are required to be implemented for enforcing complete objectivity and fairness in the selection and appointment of judicial officers and judges at all levels and stringent steps taken for enforcing the highest judicial standards and accountability for establishing a clean and strong judicial system which restores fear and respect among one and all for the Constitution and the Rule of Law. Alongside the cleaning-up and revitalisation of the judicial system, it is necessary to weed out all obsolete laws and update and amend other statutes, many of which were enacted during the colonial era or in the early years after Independence, to ensure their relevance in the contemporary context. For instance, the Indian Evidence Act needs to be urgently reviewed to, interalia, provide for the permissibility of electronic evidence. Wanted: A comprehensive law It is also necessary to ensure prompt and professional investigations, competent and time-bound trials, and award of deterrent punishments to all those found guilty of unlawful acts. Towards this end, it shall be necessary to create cadres of competent Investigation Officers and Criminal Law Prosecutors and urgently enact a well-considered federal law for dealing with the rapidly increasing economic offences. Drawn up in appropriate consultation with the states, such a comprehensive law should cover the enlarging spectrum of economic and other major offences, some of which are closely linked with the funding of terror and organised crime networks. It would be incorrect to assume that serious threats to national security emanate only from the activities of Naxalites, terror groups and the mafia networks. Corruption at various levels, with which the entire governance apparatus is permeated, is another factor which adversely impacts our national security interests. Year in and year out, for the past several decades now, major scams and scandals have been getting exposed and India continues to hold a shamefully high position in the Global Corruption Index. It needs to be stressed that corruption vitiates and disrupts the Rule of Law and destroys the very foundations of the administrative and legal apparatus. The prevalence of corrupt practices at various levels generates anger, despair and helplessness among the people at large, compelling them to lose trust in the functioning of the governmental machinery. Cynicism and the loss of hope engenders an environment which leads to the alienation of the common man, paving the way for attraction to the gun culture and extremist ideologies. Criminal-politician nexus As regards the subversion of the governmental machinery from within, it may be recalled that, consequent to the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai in March 1993, the Government of India had set up a Committee to ascertain how Dawood Ibrahim and other mafia elements had been able to establish such powerful networks. The report of this Committee (generally referred to as “Vohra Committee Report” or the “Criminal Nexus Report") had concluded that, in several parts of the country where crime syndicates/mafia groups have developed significant muscle and money power and established linkages with government functionaries, political leaders and others, the unlawful elements have been able to carry out their criminal activities with ease and impunity. Over two decades have elapsed since the Criminal Nexus Report was furnished. While I am unaware of the action which must have been taken on this report, there is little doubt that the criminal nexus has since spread its tentacles far and wide and poses a serious threat to national security. The national security apparatus cannot function effectively unless it is manned by appropriately qualified, highly trained and experienced functionaries. It is, therefore, extremely important that well-planned steps are taken for very early establishing a cadre of officers drawn from various required disciplines, selected on an all-India basis, who are provided the best available training in identified areas of expertise and deployed in the security-management apparatus all over the country. A proposal to set up a dedicated pool of trained officers, drawn from various streams, who would spend their entire careers in the security-management arena, was made by me in the Report of the Task Force on Internal Security, which had been set up by the NDA Government in early 2000. The Task Force Report (September 2000) had recommended the broad framework for establishing a pool of trained officers for manning the security management agencies run by the Government of India. This recommendation was approved in 2001 by a Group of Ministers (GoM) chaired by the then Union Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Thirteen years have since elapsed. The decision of the Group of Ministers has not been implemented, possibly for no better reason than that this matter has not been considered important enough! Establish a separate security cadre The security environment, in India's neighbourhood and far beyond, has been progressively deteriorating. Grave consequences may have to be faced if there is any delay in revamping and tightening the security- management apparatus which cannot continue to be run by functionaries of varied backgrounds who are drawn from one or the other service. To make up for the very considerable time which has already been lost, it would be enormously beneficial if the Central Government takes the bold step of establishing a National Security Administrative Service whose members, selected from among the best available in the country, are imparted intensive training in specialised areas before being deployed to run the security-management institutions all over the country. After the November 2008 terror attack in Mumbai, the Government of India had hurriedly enacted a law to set up a National Investigation Agency (NIA), on the pattern of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of USA, to investigate and prosecute terror offences. As per its legal framework, the NIA has the authority to investigate and prosecute only certain specified offences which are committed within the country and which affect national security. NIA needs to be empowered The NIA has no extra-territorial jurisdiction and no powers to probe incidents which occur outside India, as for example the very recent militant attack on the Consulate of India in Herat. The Director NIA does not have the powers, enjoyed by the Directors General of Police of states, to permit an Investigating Officer dealing with a terror crime to seize or attach property. Also, unlike as in the case of the CBI, the NIA is not empowered to depute its Investigating Officers abroad for direct interaction with a foreign agency which is investigating a major terror act which directly or indirectly affects our national security interests. The NIA's functioning in the past six years also shows that the police authorities in the states are reluctant and take their own time in handing over to the NIA even major crime cases which may have serious inter-state or nationwide ramifications. Many offences, including major IPC crimes which may be directly linked to terror activities, have still to be brought under the NIA's jurisdiction. Thus, briefly, the NIA, as presently constituted, does not have the legal authority for taking the required action to pre-empt or prevent a terror crime, even when it functions in coordination with the concerned states. Needless to stress, the NIA needs to be fully empowered, on the most immediate basis, if it is to serve the purpose for which it was established. Speed is the key In the context of the problems, it would be seen that, even after the gruesome terror attack in Mumbai, in November 2008, our country has still to evolve a National Security Policy and put in place effective mechanisms for implementing it. Also, the ground has still not been cleared to promulgate a well-considered federal law under which a fully empowered central agency can take immediate cognisance and promptly proceed to investigate any federal offence, within the country and abroad, without having to lose precious time in seeking varied clearances and going through time-consuming consultative processes. Any delay, which is inherent in working within a consultative system, would have the grave danger of virtually ensuring the failure of investigations, particularly as the terror groups strike their targets and get away with lightning speed. In the background of the brief overview of the more worrying national security management concerns, I would like to conclude by briefly reiterating that: (i) The absence of a bipartisan approach has led to several states questioning the Central Government's leadership role in national security management. (ii) The Constitution of India prescribes that the states shall be responsible for the maintenance of public order and that the Union Government has the duty to protect the states against internal disturbances. A holistic National Security Policy and the mechanisms for its administration must be urgently finalised in suitable consultation with the states. The Central Government must not lose any more time in evolving the required Centre-states understanding for effective national security management. (iii) Besides finalising the National Security Policy, the Central Government shall also need to take time bound steps for: (a) establishing appropriate institutions/ agencies for effective security management across the length and breadth of the country; (b) enacting laws and establishing all required processes and procedures for the prompt investigation and trial of federal offences; (c) establishing a National Security Administrative Service for manning and operating the security management apparatus in the entire country. To conclude, I shall yet again reiterate that if the security, unity and integrity of India is to be preserved and protected then there is no more time to be lost. The Central and the state governments must immediately forge all required understandings and take every necessary step for ensuring that there is not the slightest chink in the enforcement of national security. — Excerpted from the First Air Commodore Jasjit Singh Memorial Lecture on July 18, 2014. The writer, a former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Union Home Secretary and Defence Secretary, is currently Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. The views expressed in the article are in his personal
capacity and not as a representative of government. Security matters Besides finalising the National Security Policy, the Central Government needs to take time- bound steps for: *
Establishing appropriate institutions/agencies for effective security management across the length and breadth of the country *
Enacting laws and establishing all required processes and procedures for the prompt investigation and trial of federal offences *
Establishing a National Security Administrative Service for manning and operating the security management apparatus in the entire country Send your comments to: nsftribune@tribunemail.com
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The 'silence' since Russia took action in the Crimea several months ago is both remarkable and inexplicable. A senior functionary in the erstwhile UPA dispensation went to the asinine extent of suggesting that Russia has interests in Ukraine. That is without doubt. There is also clarity that Europe and the US have not been entirely innocent in seeking to bring Ukraine within the fold of NATO. These are, however, only the visible manifestations of the breakdown of arrangements not only between NATO and Russia, but also, more importantly, a fundamental coming full circle on important issues relating to the use of force and the right of intervention, most recently on display in Libya and Syria since 2011. The only point of difference is that this time around, it is the Russians who have chosen to be interventionists in an area where they have an interest. Viewed in its entirety, this represents both a dangerous breakdown in the established post Second World War order and in the cohesiveness of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the apex body entrusted with the responsibility of dealing with threats to international peace and security. 
I have witnessed the ordeal my better half went through. Agonising moments suddenly transformed into those of ecstasy, taking me from one extreme to the other of my emotional spectrum. We got blessed with an angelic and lovely daughter, Sairah, and I somehow collected myself to find the words to describe her to my wife. Having been the first one to have seen and held her, I was naively hoping that Sairah would start recognising me even before her mother. Soon, motherhood took over and I was left in the lurch until one fine day Sairah started crawling.