Rsatchi wrote:^^Rakeshji
If the RM is not forceful enough to control the The Three Chiefs (given no CDS), then shouldn't PM intervene (bash some heads if need be)
Stop all the tamasha's going around
Does the country have to bear the brunt of spill over effects of: The Three Tops/Malai Express/Phoren Maal/Brochuritis.
If things spill past December, the government wont sign anything given the election year and things have to wait until 2024/25??
Saar, no -ji for me please.
The PMO needs to step in, but then is managing the Ministry of Defence the only job that the PMO has?
South Block is filled with the tentacles of the import lobby. Many have agendas to push and strings to pull. Defence is a Ministry in which a ridiculous sum of unaccounted money can be made under the table, as long as one is careful to watch their back. The guys who are in this business have been doing it for decades. They are old hands and are experts in the field. And it goes across the spectrum - politicians, the babus, defence reporters, uniformed personnel, the peon and probably even the chaiwallah who serves the tea at South Block.
It is a miracle how India manages to purchase what it does. When one deal is sanctioned, the ones who are in the opposite import lobby will work to actively kill the deal. See the brouhaha over the 36 Rafale deal. How did N Ram from the newspaper
The Hindu, manage to get his hands on a cropped MoD report, with notes from the DG-Air and others in the MoD? It was used to great effect by Rahul Gandhi, till the MoD published the entire page with then Raksha Mantri Manohar Parrikar's note. During the MMRCA 1.0 episode, a hard file copy was lying on a roadside in New Delhi. It does not take a genius to figure out who is leaking this info. Sometimes the information in these files are extremely sensitive and is detrimental to the security of the nation, when leaked.
Many of the RMs are clueless in matters of national security. They are politicians, not soldiers. You honestly cannot expect them to. In the past, in Congress-led governments, they were forced to toe the supreme leader. VP Singh pushed back on that bokwas and thus we had the Bofors Scandal. George Fernandes tried his level best, but his utopia got the better of him and he was eventually swallowed up by the big blue whale (the import lobby) in the Ministry of Defence. When you are naïve like George, the import lobby can smell (like hyenas) that fear and then they will eat you alive i.e. Tehelka Scandal. That scandal gave George cold feet over the 126 Mirage 2000-5 deal and thus we had MMRCA 1.0, Single Engine Fighter contest and now the MRFA contest.
The only guy who surfed his way through the MoD was AK Antony (Mr Teflon). Nothing stuck on him, because he refused to sanction anything of consequence or significance. His USP was
I-am-Mr-Honest, but that honesty of his was an unmitigated disaster for which India is still paying the price. Antony was famous for only guarding the furniture at South Block. The only effective Raksha Mantri we had (in recent times) was Manohar Parrikar, for which we today have the HTT-40 program, the Tejas Mk1A program, etc. But then he went back to Goa at the first opportunity of becoming the CM there. But then he unfortunately died soon after.
India needs a Manohar Parrikar, with the erudition of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw (Mr No Nonsense) and the wily General VK Singh (Mr Take No Prisoners), as he is a former Para Cdo. We saw glimpses of that in General Bipin Rawat, but then he too died an untimely death. India needs an individual with brass balls to survive and navigate the hallowed halls of the MoD as Raksha Mantri. Rajnath Singh is a capable administrator, but I think he is playing it safe. General Elections are coming up in 2024 and 2023 is crucial. The one thing that can sink a government is the hint of scandal and the MoD is ripe to foster that environment.
But don't get despondent. India will come out of this. Not easy, but someone has to do it. Kudos to this present Govt to have made the progress it has. But a lot more needs to be done. The first step is appointing the next CDS. I am at a loss of words as to the reason for the delay. But see how the opposition in India is largely silent over this issue of delay. Because the CDS is detrimental to their own political well being. See how deep the tentacles are and how deep the rot is.
P.S. I know this will never pass muster in any Government in India, but sticking my neck out and making this suggestion ---> next CDS should also be the (Additional or Assistant) Defence Minister. So have a civilian rubber stamp for oversight, but have the CDS make all the important decisions in matters of procurement. To avoid the political storm that will come, the Govt is not required to give the CDS the title, but the CDS needs the powers of a Defence Minister. The main focus should be on Self Reliance. The armed forces are long overdue to show some ownership and take responsibility. They need to shed the behaviour of "
I-am-only-the-end-user". The services need to treat DRDO, ADA, HAL and other PSUs as an extension of themselves and not as some independent government entity.