Bharat Rakshak

A division bench comprising justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice V K Dixit directed the state home secretary to convey to both print and electronic media that they must desist from carrying any news relating to that particular movement of military troops.

The court's order came following a PIL filed by social activist N Thakur, who felt that such news could be harmful to security matters relating to the Indian army and the nation.

"The issue of movement of Army troops is not a matter of the kind which should require public discussion at the cost of defence official secrecy and the security of country," observed the bench.

While dismissing the petition, it added, "thus, without interfering with the independence of media and keeping in view the fact that the news items relating to movements of troops have already engaged the attention at the highest level in the defence as well as in the government, we think it appropriate to direct the secretary, home affairs, and the secretary, information & broadcasting, government of India and the principal secretary (home), government of UP, to ensure that there is no reporting/release of any news item by the print as well as electronic media relating to the subject matter, namely, the movement of troops."

Number of times the prime minister met with the Service chiefs in 2011: 1

Number of times the prime minister met with the Service chiefs in 2012: 0


Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has dispensed with even the necessary formality of convening regular meetings with the three defence chiefs to get a first-hand feedback about the Services.

The average of three to four meetings a year between the prime minister and the Service chiefs was reduced to just one in 2011.

This year not a single meeting has taken place so far despite the controversy surrounding the Indian Army and its modernisation plans.

Defence sources pointed out that over the years the Services have been distanced "more and more" from political decision making about defence issues, with even the customary interactions left in the form of regular meetings between the prime minister and the chiefs of the army, air force and navy being severely curtailed.

The result is that the political leadership has deprived itself of serious considered feedback about the status of the defence forces directly from the chiefs leading to what sources said, was a widening gap in communication.

Has the Prime Minister ignored the Service chiefs?
Is this a CBM deal made with Unkil etc to deliberately keep the services weakened?

In the context of Ammunition shortage mentioned in COAS's leaked letter ...

Ajai Shukla on NDTV: "Ammunition shortage has existed since NDA government. George Fernandes wanted an ordnance factory in his home constituency Samastipur; so stalled procurement."

Its possible the PMO and PM have simply delegated greater defence policy functions to MoD and RM. Until one has also examined the frequency and quality of interactions between the services chiefs and the RM and defence secretary, its probably best to withhold judgement on whether an unprecedented schism between the political and military leaderships has come into existence.

Oh please sorry, certain things like Defence, Foreign policy , general Finance/ economic policies, Law and order, legal policies cannot be Delegated- you never delegate responsibly.

its like saying JFK should have left the decision to attack Cuba during the missile crises to some 4 star general in the Pentagon, that does not work.

The PM has some basic responsibilities to the nation which he must perform and listening to Service chiefs especially when we are blessed with Neighbors which we have, with whom we are engaged in dialogue with serious defense implications require the PM to consult them all the more.

This is incompetence and nothing less.

As Issac Pulitzer wrote" Accuarcy is to newspaper, as virtue is to a woman!"

To which one lady replied "A newspaper can always print a retraction!"

SUJAN DUTTA
Antony

New Delhi, April 10: Defence minister A.K. Antony today said the air defence system of the country was being strengthened with new weapons and sensors.

The army chief in a letter to the Prime Minister on March 12 had pointed out that the army’s air defence capabilities had eroded by about “97 per cent”.

Antony was speaking at the air force commanders’ conference where he said the new equipment was being inducted into the IAF. He said in the last five years, the IAF had signed 317 contracts and its purchases had topped Rs 107,000 crore. “This is a record,” Antony said.

The army has also asked for an upgradation of its air defences. The army’s wishlist under Gen. V.K. Singh may lead to a turf war with the air force. Under the Union War Book — a record of experience and assessment in times of hostilities — air defence is the primary responsibility of the IAF. The war book is revised periodically.

But the army now wants to equip itself with air defence systems that the IAF can interpret as overreach in its domain. The army wants “mobile, multi-layered and multi-tiered” air defence systems to sanitise the “air envelope” from stand-off threats (weapons fired from beyond visual range).

This means the army wants to replace its current air defence systems — that comprise Kvadrats (Russian-origin), L-70s (Bofors-made), Schilka and Pechora (Russian-origin) — with quick-reaction surface-to-air missiles (QR-SAMs, up to 30km range), MR-SAMs (medium range up to 60km) and LR-SAMS (long range, beyond 60km) missiles.

Medium range and long range air defence is the primary responsibility of the IAF though the roles overlap in times of hostilities and depending on the nature of the combat zone.

Combat zones may be within the country or inside the territory of an adversary.

There is already a turf war brewing between the army and the air force over the acquisition of aircrafts. In addition to the helicopters in the Army Aviation Corps, the army has also asked for fixed-wing planes.

Antony said on the sidelines of the conference today that reports of a drastic fall in munition stores “are all rumours”. One report had said the tanks of the army have ammunition that would not last for more than four days in the event of a war.

“You see I can assure that the country is fully prepared. India is in a much, much stronger position compared to the past. There may always be some shortcomings that we are in the process of overcoming. You cannot expect 100 per cent fulfilment of requirements…. On the whole, Indian armed forces are… in a better position to meet any challenge to our integrity,” Antony said.

Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne has said the fleet of Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft that were grounded after one of the planes crashed on March 5 would be fully operational by the end of this month.

NEW DELHI: With Army chief General V K Singh ominously warning his entire tank fleet is ``devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks'', the government is fast-tracking orders to arm the T-90S main-battle tanks with missiles and specialized ammunition for a greater punch on the western front with Pakistan.

Top sources say contracts for 25,000 Invar missiles and 66,000 APFSDS (armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot) rounds for the Russian-origin T-90S fleet as well as 10,000 Konkurs-M anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), at an overall cost of around Rs 6,000 crore, are in the final stages.

This comes after Gen Singh wrote a confidential letter to PM Manmohan Singh on March 12, which found its way into the public domain, detailing the critical ``hollowness'' in his 1.13-million-strong Army's war-waging capabilities.

Defence minister A K Antony, incidentally, is slated to hold the third review meeting on Gen Singh's concerns on April 17-18. While the procurement process for the new contracts was initiated quite sometime ago, their swift conclusion has become a top-priority over the last few weeks.

There are two big contracts for the 3UBK-Invar missiles, which are potent anti-tank weapons with a five-km strike range, in the pipeline. The first is for 10,000 missiles for Rs 1,386 crore from Russia for which a ``draft'' CCS (cabinet committee on security) note has already been prepared and circulated, say sources.

The rest 15,000 missiles will be ordered from defence PSU Bharat Dynamics Ltd, at a cost of over Rs 2,000 crore, for which the contract negotiations committee (CNC) is in progress.

Another over Rs 2,000 crore contract will be for the 66,000 APFSDS rounds fired from the 125mm smooth-bore guns of T-90S tanks. The reserve stocks for this specialized ammunition is down to only four days, as Army vice-chief Lt-Gen S K Singh told the parliamentary standing committee on defence on Monday.

The Army is also going to get the 10,000 Konkurs-M ATGMs directly from Russia for over Rs 1,200 crore. ``All these contracts should be inked within the next few months,'' said a source.

The T-90S fleet, incidentally, has grappled with glitches in its missile and thermal imaging systems right since its induction after India first ordered 310 of these tanks for over Rs 3,625 crore under a February 2001 contract with Russia.

India went in for T-90S tanks since Pakistan was inducting T-80UD tanks from Ukraine as well as `Al Khalid' MBTs developed with China's help, and the indigenous Arjun tanks were then nowhere on the horizon.

Initially, India had plans to manufacture another 1,000 T-90S tanks at the Avadi Heavy Vehicles Factory, but Russia, eager to squeeze out more money, put several roadblocks in the transfer of technology (ToT) promised.

It was only after India signed another Rs 4,900-crore deal with Russia in November, 2007, to import another 347 of these tanks, coupled with Antony pushing the ToT case with his Russian counterparts, that Moscow eased controls.

Since then, the Avadi factory has built 170 T-90S tanks, with the annual production slated to touch 100 tanks in 2012. Moreover, the Army has ordered 124 more Arjuns after the initial order of 124 in 2004.

How this scam goes univestigated is beyond comprehension.

He is a old man. Very old man by india's demographic curve criteria. Who all he can meet in a day ? You guys expect so much from MMS.
Isn't he meeting Gila-ni and Hu and Ombaba on regular basis.
Anyways he has met service chiefs once in 2011. What has changed in 2012 for him to meet them again.
Batao Batao..

If India keeps up its commitment of not trading with them for 10 years, then it will surely send shivers down the spine of other defence companies not to mess with us trying to corrupt officials.

Instead of punishing the corrupt officials we are going after the companies??
And then we wonder why we don't have the proper equipment!!!

Drag the a$$holes officials out in public and seize their property.

--Ashish

--SNIP--
2) Indians who cooperated with corruption should have cases registered and penalised according to the law. This is understood impliictly. if we take strict action in 1) the second will take care of itself to some extent.

--SNIP--

--SNIP--

The defence companies are foreign- nothing much can be done by Indian govt except stop giving contracts to them. it will bite surely hard as Indian pie is nearly 100 billion in 10 years.
--SNIP--

Ashish,
dont fight with me, it is not between you and me.
read my original post.

Army to buy new air defence system after General's letter.


For upgrading the capabilities of the Army Air Defence (AAD), the Defence Ministry recently said that it ahas signed contracts for procuring Akash Missile Systems and steps were being taken for upgrading Self-propelled Air Defence and Schilka air defence systems.

After the Army Chief pointed out these deficiencies to the government, Defence Minister AK Antony had held meetings to review the capital acquisitions of the force. (Till then the so called "Non Corrupt" minister was sleeping and waiting for instructions from the "high command")

How many officials do you hear off being charged as such?..... Zero
How many companies do you see being black-listed? ..... IMI, Bofors, Denel .... This list will just keep on increasing.

The answer is crystal clear.
Throw the officials out. Given the magnitude of the problem, act first, ask later.
If you are suspected of impropriety, you get thrown out. Period.

Why India cannot afford to give up Siachen?

http://www.rediff.com/news/column/why-i ... 120413.htm


If Vikram Sood felt compelled to write this then it is contrary to some folks here who think MMS and other retards will not sell us out.

He even points out that this time its not the usual talk for sake of talk nonsense.

The US needs to withdraw with some level of echandee - and will do anything to get its way

So the majority of BRF which feels that MMS for whatever lollipop from the US will do this - zre more likely right

You know that something not so good is brewing if a ex-MI honco is forced to write a column warning GoI not to conceed on Siachen:
India can ill-afford to pull out from Siachen

It is after two decades of occupation that the army is nearing a zero casualty syndrome on the Siachen glacier, with no casualty being recorded due to cold.

With the availability of state of art medicare facilities, best battle field robes and equipment, high living conditions and Indo-Pak border truce since November 2003, the Siachen casualties have declined.

Indian troops deployed at 20,000 ft, lose 180 men on an average every year – 95 per cent of them to these causes.