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If we don't defend, then there is nothing left to develop!

 

Primary key to India’s emergence as a successful global power lies on the ability to acquire and imbibe superior defence technologies in the knowledge-based society of the 21st century.

It is strange that we expect our police and para-military forces to fight with lathis or outdated rifles, while the Maoists and the external actors who support them attack with the latest automatic weapons and are equipped with satellite phones.

Selection by India of the French Rafale is a wise step to finally begin the shift of air force from the ‘bullock cart’ technology to the ‘Mercedes Benz’ expertise! To secure the borders from the Chinese onslaught requires induction of massive dose of cutting edge defence technologies, which only the West can provide. Today there exists fortunately, a synergy of purpose between the Western democracies and India, which we need to intelligently leverage.

Pakistan desires to carve out three Pakistan’s out of the Union of India while China wants to unhook the entire Northeast.

In fact India’s geographical location is a major irritant to the Islamic fundamentalists as it disallows them to create an Islamic Emirate running from Central Asia to West and East Asia without discontinuity.

Couple this with the fact that India is entirely dependent on import of energy and multitude of other products through the seaborne trade. Therefore, as the second fastest rising economy in Asia, New Delhi will require a modern military with deep offensive capabilities to act as a formidable deterrence.

To successfully maintain the unity of India, as well as defend the growing strategic interests within the region and beyond, rapid modernization of the Armed Force is a necessity.

It is strange that we expect our police and para-military forces to fight with lathis or outdated rifles, while the Maoists and the external actors who support them attack with the latest automatic weapons and are equipped with satellite phones.

To successfully maintain the unity of India, as well as defend the growing strategic interests within the region and beyond, rapid modernization of the Armed Force is a necessity.

In short term, import of the latest weapon platforms is vital. In the long term, by acquiring the sunrise defence technologies and setting up profitable joint ventures with the western partners is the promising route. This will create a win-win situation — military can be equipped with modern weaponry, India can grow as a defence manufacturing hub, it will create millions of new jobs, impart skills in the hands of the young population, facilitate expansion of strategic footprint, and earn huge foreign exchange subsequently, through export of state-of-the-art weapon platforms.

In the 1980s, a useless debate by various vested interests was conveniently thrown up for allocation of funds between the defence of the country vis-à-vis the development. The argument given was since we are a poor country, we cannot afford to allocate sufficient funds for modernization of the armed forces. The debate hinged on a falsehood of ‘defence’ or ‘development’.

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Of course, rulers neither developed nor defended the nation!

As India finally shifts gears to acquire the western defence technologies once again, the old debate between defence of the country versus development to halt the modernization of the armed forces is being thrown up by various lobbies.

As India finally shifts gears to acquire the western defence technologies once again, the old debate between defence of the country versus development to halt the modernization of the armed forces is being thrown up...

In the last two years we have witnessed that actually there is no paucity of funds. The amount plundered in CWG or 2G scam is large enough to buy many modern weapon platforms which the defence services are in dire need. A house of IAS officer in Madhya Pradesh has coughed up Rs.300 crores worth of black money. In this country, they don’t steal a few thousands or few lacs any more, but rob merrily the government exchequer in crores. Rs.20 crores worth of black-money was recovered on raiding the lowest rung of the government hierarchy i.e. an ordinary peon’s house. The loot of the government treasury in the recent past, shows that this country is extraordinarily rich!

Therefore to argue that India does not have sufficient funds for either defence of the country or development is misleading. Both activities can move simultaneously without hindrance, provided we can put an end to the huge siphoning of the funds.

The gullible, overlook a simple fact that if the Union of India is not defended, there will be nothing left to develop. Therefore to equip the armed force with latest defence technologies and weapon platforms is as important as economic development and urbanization of India at the same time.

 
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About the author

Bharat Verma, a former Cavalry Officer is Editor, Indian Defence Review, frequently appears on television as a commentator, and is author of the books, Fault Lines and Indian Armed Forces

 

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Posted on: February 14, 2012 at 01:16 AM
Posted by: rosakaye

It is true....The Indian military equipped with upgraded in latest cutting technologies is required for the Indian economy to grow and provide security for its citizens who are under attack..aerostructures

Posted on: February 11, 2012 at 12:17 PM
Posted by: shailesh

The undereducated politicians in power make technical, non technical and self serving decisions. Precious resources are wasted on bridges and railway lines built to the MINISTER's town or village. The Jawan who joins the military has no say in what needs to be done in the trenches to remain ahead of the enemy. Military leaders are continuously engaged in self serving ideas about making money from land, acquisitions, and parts. Indians in general seem to have a an attitude," It is not my problem. Someone else will fix it". A cliche in Gujarati translates "Wisdom after becoming a widow".The corrupt officials who have looted and extorted billions are found to be innocent or let go under one or another pretence. An awakening phnemenon will happen, if the official whose house was found to have unaccounted 300 crore rupees is properly tried and punished. I have followed this story and others for a long time. I have yet to see any detailed NEWS coverage, or a single report describing the eventual outcome. Why is the freedom of information act not used? The young generation needs to wake up and use power of internet, and bring the leftover British Monarchy ( Indian style) down, and elect honest and well educated people to bring honor back to India.

Posted on: February 6, 2012 at 01:51 AM
Posted by: K V Krishna Rao

Whether Bharat Verma likes it or not, whether the armed forces like it or not, defense expenditure should range between 2% to 3% of GDP. Without discipline in defense spending the country will descend into unplanned and fruitless expansion. If the services cannot manage with 2% to 3% of the GDP of the one of the fastest growing economies in the world, then we need to find more creative solutions. Foreign invasion is not the only way nations go down. Witness what is happening in Europe. There are no wars being waged, but the nations are decaying. If there are any doubts remaining let us study what happened to the Soviet Union. At all times, we have to learn to live well within our means. Bharat Verma's views represent one end of the spectrum. He has a right to say what he wants, but the country has to decide the priorities based on long term needs.

Posted on: February 5, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Posted by: Observer

India will continue to languish on not just the Defense turf but also other fields like - sports, Research et al. The reason is simple - The entire process of acquisition is controlled by the bureaucratic Monster. This Monster also controls the research funds. Tame this monster and you modernise india. This monster is keeping indians as slaves. To free india's potential this monster must not only be controlled in so far as the military's developement is concerned. But it must also be controlled in so far as disbursement of funds for the development of all other fields are concerned. Especially human resource.Terrorize them covertly into action and simultaneously chop the size of the bureaucracy and decimate their power.Dont tell me it cannot be done. The IB, RAW etc have penetrated every walk of life in india. They must be activated to decimate the bureacracy. That is the first battle that the defense forces must win. It is a covert battle. Common civilians must not be affected.Besides its common sense. To increase the power of the people, decimate the power of the bureaucrats. Make them into efficient robots . Terrorize them . Action is a must. Thats what Franklin Roosevelt used to do. You are allowing the bureaucrats to control the strategtic debates in this country. Destroy their Extra constitutional , arbitrary , unaccountable power. Half the battle is won .But you must destroy this monster accross the board - not just in defense field but in all other fields of everyday lives of citizenry . So, you have the covert power and the expertise and experience- very bad experience. Convert this bureaucracy from a "Bullock Cart" age to "Mercedes Benz" efficiency

Posted on: February 3, 2012 at 10:45 AM
Posted by: Rohan Lawrence D\'souza

Completely agree - The Indian military equipped with latest cutting technologies is required for the Indian economy to grow and provide security for its citizens. If we don't have anything to defend then what do we have?

Posted on: February 3, 2012 at 08:50 AM
Posted by: Satish Chandra

This is what I said on June 9, 2009:- Indians constantly wail about ’technology denial’ and justify going into the slavery of America via, for example, the nuclear deal by saying that it will end the ’sanctions’ and ’technology denial’ that India is at present subjected to. This shows utter ignorance of what is the real source of strength of a nation. Even if foreign nuclear technology [or technology in other fields] were offered to India on a platter, with no strings attached and free of charge, it will be like poison and should be shunned like poison, because it eliminates or reduces the opportunities, investments and efforts for indigenous development of the technologies.The most precious thing and the source of real strength in the nuclear area, or any other area, is the skills and capabilities you develop through indigenous research and development. An example I have given is of plans to spend two and a half billion dollars on an Israeli medium range air-defence missile ’because the indigenous Akash programme has not delivered on time’ - without spending even a tenth of that amount on the Akash programme.This plan seemed to have been abandoned after I pointed out the folly of this, but the same folly keeps being repeated in numerous other areas, both defence-related and others. Often it is not folly but treason, because the politicians and others stand to get huge kickbacks by importing from other countries and keeping India dependent on foreign countries and CIA-RAW, which is India’s real ’government’ (see 'What You Should Know About RAW' in my blog by clicking on my name above this post), strenuously promotes such dependence in all areas. Over ten billion dollars are to be spent on importing 126 fighter planes ’because the indigenous LCA programme has not delivered on time’ - though nowhere near this amount has been spent on the LCA programme.Even in countries with many generations of experience and technological capabilities in developing jet engines, the development of a new jet engine costs several billions - perhaps four billion dollars. It would have been far better to invest $10 billion (or more, because whereas foreign manufacturers have many generations of investment and experience to draw upon and technological support from the rest of their industrial base available, India has to develop many more technologies that have not yet been developed indigenously) on indigenous research and development and production.Satish Chandra

Posted on: February 3, 2012 at 08:47 AM
Posted by: Satish Chandra

Stealth or no-stealth, 5th generation or 4th generation, fighter aircraft are as obsolete for India's defence as bows and arrows. They can be used against neighbors such as Pakistan and China but the United States is EVERYBODY'S neighbor. It has already invaded and occupied Afghanistan, a part of traditional India and will expand its occupation to the rest of the subcontinent. I am India's expert in strategic defence, the father of India's strategic program including the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program and the world's greatest scientist (my biography is in Marquis' Who's Who in the World, 2012 and earlier editions). The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan means the coast-to-coast destruction of the U.S. by India; see my blog titled 'Nuclear Supremacy for India Over U.S.', which can be found by a Yahoo search with the title, for what India needs to do. Russia and other white countries are U.S. allies. These are the enemies to destroy. All other enemies will be taken care of automatically. Conventional arms are worthless for destroying the United States. Nuclear arms to destroy the United States with a FIRST STRIKE -- this is the key -- are cheap and easy to produce with technology India already has. All the money earmarked for fighter aircraft etc., and more, must be pumped into research, development and production of missiles able to deliver India's nuclear warheads -- in the thousands -- to the continental United States. India's missile scientists

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