Thursday, November 17, 2011

The lack of strategic thought has always cost India dear in the battlefield

IIPM Excom Prof Rajita Chaudhuri

Warfare: Strategically weak, are we?

Strategic thinking and military planning stem from political unity and coherence. Kautilya was the first to realise the need for unity and a powerful state to protect India from external invaders. He raised a massive 650,000-strong Mauryan army and generated a local RMA (revolution in military affairs) with a corps of 9,000 war elephants which were deployed to generate “shock and awe”. Kautilya was a pioneer in using information warfare against Alexander’s invading army. He thus unified India in just 25 years with his combination of war elephants, information war and covert operations.

Apart from Kautilya, no one ever thought of forward defence. Kautilya had secured the invasion routes by conquering Afghanistan and Baluchistan. After him, all the battles for the defence of Delhi were fought in the plains of Panipat and we lost each one of them. The Mughals could defeat Ibrahim Lodhi because they introduced the RMA of field guns, horsed archers and muskets – a deadly combination which caused Lodhi’s war elephants to panic and trample their own troops.

The third battle of Panipat was fought exactly 250 years ago between the Marathas and the Afghans of Ahmad Shah Abdali or “Shah Baba”. The Marathas had virtually won this battle, but ultimately lost it due to a total lack of discipline and coordination. One section of the Maratha troops moved out of the battlefield for no apparent reason and turned the whole tide of the battle. The Maratha artillery was taking a fearful toll on the Afghans when the Maratha mobile elements closed in from the flanks and came in the line of their own fire. The Indians thereby lost a winning battle. The problem was a lack of discipline and coordination. Indians have always been brave fighters individually. Their problem has been in functioning efficiently as a group.

The British organised the Indian sepoys into European-style modern Infantry battalions that were disciplined and efficient. The British native infantry defeated the Mughal style cavalry by generating the RMA of Infantry Battalions which could fire in disciplined rhythms, generate rates of fire of a thousand shots a minute and could decimate any cavalry charge.

India supposedly won its freedom via a peaceful and non-violent freedom struggle. Few realise the importance of the role played by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and his INA which shook the British and was instrumental in forcing them to leave. Mutinies had broken out in the British Indian Army and in Royal Indian Navy when the INA officers were put on trial at Red Fort. The British had crushed the peaceful Quit India Movement but they could no longer rely on the Indian Armed Forces as instruments of subjugation and control. So they left in a rather tearing hurry.

The post-Independence Indian political elite, however, tried to take the entire credit for the British decision to leave and attributed it to their non-violent struggle. They therefore laid far too much emphasis on soft power, diplomacy and peace. It was a leadership deficient in strategic thinking and skill. They neglected the military and discouraged strategic thought. The result was the tragic fiasco of the 1962 border war with China. It was an urgently needed wake-up call. India began to expand and modernise its military post 1962. Pakistan was worried and cynically decided to press home its eroding military advantage in the 1965 war. It was its last gamble to seize Kashmir by force and it failed.

The 1971 war was a historic and decisive military victory that broke Pakistan in two and put 93,000 prisoners of war in Indian captivity. In just 14 days Indian forces liberated Dacca and formed a new nation state. This local RMA of sorts was created by India’s complete dominance over the skies of Bangladesh. The Indian Army launched a swift blitzkrieg under the air umbrella. Indian fighter bombers helped to decimate the Pakistani Army’s resistance. In fact Gen. Niazi’s meeting with the then governor of East Pakistan, Adam Malik, in Dacca itself was attacked by the Indian Air Force fighters with rockets. The Mukti Bahini played a very significant role by waging covert action in the Pakistani Army’s rear and supplying accurate intelligence to the advancing Indian troops.

So far, we have failed to transform economic power into credible and usable military power. India’s political elite seem to think that nuclearisation has rendered conventional military force obsolete. This is a serious error. Today India faces a three front threat from China, Pakistan and Jihadis and Maoists. It rapidly needs to modernise its armed forces and encourage strategic thinking and awareness of military matters. The Bangladesh War revived the Kautilyan tradition of strategic thought. Let us not waste it again. There are no soft power answers to hard power realities. We can not afford to repeat 1962 all over again.

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Monday, November 14, 2011

Corporal punishment in schools claims two more lives

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Karnataka Education: Teachers turn tormentors

The practice of corporal punishment in schools has claimed two more lives in Karnataka. Afzal Hamza Fayaz (15) and D. Varun (17) are the recent victims of this evil practice. The two incidents occurred within a short span of a month. While Hamza hailed from Kasaragodu Tonka, a village close to Honnavar city in North Canara district, Varun came from Bellary city.

January 11, 2011 turned out to be the most unfortunate day in the life of Abida Hamza Sab, a widow, as she lost her only son, Afzal Hamza Fayaz, on that day. Afzal Hamza, studying in The New English School, Honnavar, had been running fever for the past two days when his Physical Education teacher K.D. Naik ordered him to run around the field. According to Hamza's classmates, after this Naik kicked and caned the poor boy who then collapsed. Hamza was admitted to a nearby hospital but his life could not be saved. As the news of Afzal’s death spread, a mob ransacked the school. A shocked Abida has also been on the hospital bed since then.

In another incident, D. Varun, a student of 10th standard in Shettara Gurushanthappa Composite School, lost his life to the tyranny of his science teacher Basavaraj on December 16, 2010. Varun hanged himself to death. It is alleged that the science teacher would harass and humiliate Varun for not wearing shoes amidst his valid reason of skin disease. When the boy complained about this to his parents, the teacher got enraged and threatened the boy to flunk him in exams. The suicide note written by Varun, but discovered only after a month of his death, read: “My science teacher Basavaraj is the sole reason for my death.”

The parents of both the victims have filed complaints against the teachers responsible for the deaths of their sons. “Only nine complaints have been registered so far, of which three are sexual harassment cases by teachers. We have recommended stern action against the teachers involved ,” Nina Naik, chairperson, Karnataka Commission for Protection of Child Rights told TSI. She conceded that most of the cases of corporal punishment in schools go unnoticed.

State minister for primary and secondary education, Vishweshwara Hegade Kageri said, “The government has sent circulars to schools for taking action against those who harass students. We will take stern action. I have asked for a detailed report and ordered probe into the incidents.” The government has always maintained this stand, but corporal punishment continues to claim innocent lives. In most of the cases, the culprits are protected by school management bodies thanks to the poor implementation of section 23 of Juvenile Justice Act.

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Friday, November 11, 2011

Saffron party's youth wing embarks on yatra to Srinagar

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New Delhi Politics: BJP mobilises yuva brigade

For the first time in its history, the BJP has placed the reins of a very sensitive and important issue–the Kashmir issue in this case – in the hands of the party's youth wing, Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM).

As part of this move, a yatra was flagged off on January 12 from Kolkata, the birthplace of the party's founder Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. The Kashmir issue has been on top of BJP's agenda for decades. But in the past, sensitive issues such as Kashmir, Ram temple and Uniform Civil Code were taken up and handled only by the top brass of the saffron political party.

The yatra will pass through several states including Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh before culminating at Sri Nagar's Lal Chowk on January 26, where the BJP leaders plan to unfurl the national flag.

This is for the first time in the history of BJYM that a programme of this magnitude has been done on a core ideological issue. There will be about 150 public meetings on way to Srinagar during 16 days.

The yatra aims to make people, and especially youngsters, “aware of the separatist movement” in the state. There is a political undertone to this yatra too. The party wants to organise the youth against the Congress and counter Rahul Gandhi's drive to bring more and more fresh blood into the party fold.

The BJP has always protested agaisnt the implementation of Article 370 of the Constitution in Kashmir, under which Kashmir is allowed to have a separate constitution and flag. People from outside the state cannot purchase land in the state, apply for government jobs here or enjoy adult suffrage.

Anurag Thakur, president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, says, “The Kashmir issue is historical blunder by the Congress that the country is still grappling with. The root cause is the implementation of article 370. The day it is withdrawn, this unnatural line of division will be wiped out. The solution to Kashmir issue should be found out under constitutional ambit and not religious.” Talking to TSI, national general secretary of BJYM, Manoranjan Mishra says, “This is the biggest campaign in the history of the yuva morcha. We also plan to directly contact more than one crore youths through internet.”

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Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Tribal girls relate their experience with the Maoists

Orissa Maoists: Great escape, Great relief

“We can now sleep peacefully. We are now free from a life of hardship and terror,” said a 16 - year - old Shanti Soye, a Maoist, after she had surrendered to the police. Sudra Soye, Basanti Taisam, Sumitra Chattar and Raima Pingua also laid down arms after escaping from a Maoist hide - out in dense forests. The girls spent around two years in the camps.

“What we faced during these two years was exploitation and gruelling work. Our seniors always made us carry their luggage when moving from one camp to another in the jungle. Some of them even tried to molest us in an inebriated state. We complained to the committee head but nothing was done to stop the excesses,” revealed Raima Pingua.

The tribal girls, all of them aged between 15 to 17 years, were lured to join the Maoists with false promises. The leaders assured them of financial support and livelihood. They had also promised to solve the long-standing problems of the tribal people. But, as it turned out later, all that was mere eyewash.

Shanti Soye added, “I was taken to a Maoist camp by a girl of my village named Sabita. She lured me into dense forest in Telkoi area and there I was made a captive of sorts. I was given fitness training for about a month followed by arms training. When I asked them to let me return to my village, they refused.”

According to the police, Shanti, who belonged to Raighati village, was working as a deputy section commander under the direct control of Kaling Nagar Divisional Committee (KNDC) secretary Sushil alias Basanta. She was allegedly involved in several crimes including murder, attack on Police Station at Daitari, ransacking of liquor shops at Akul etc. The other girls, the residents of Ghasipura police station area, were working as cadres under the command of Dhiren, an area committee member of KNDC.

Ashish Kumar Singh, SP Keonjhar said, “The Maoist leaders attract the teenagers to join their organisation by giving false assurances. After spending a pitiable life for more than a year these girls have surrendered to lead a peaceful life. They will be settled as per the government’s rehabilitation policy.”

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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