Intelligence & National Security Discussion

[Rupesh]

^
No

[Altair]

Does RAW have an official website ?

^
No

^ Why the hell not?

[shyamd]

We have nice abstraction of all things at 50K feet, when and whats of ISI engaging the criminals. But, we have no clue when they do something like mumbai. Now, IB needs to work on providing such data with some thoughts into, how they can narrow down the culprits before they implant another terror. It could be the way the reports are read, but that is the feeling I get.

We did know about mumbai, security was ramped up in Sept. Then scaled down. Then nov 10th IB and both RAW together said that alert was sent but Navy/CG saying that we didnt receive any alert. CG is already in a soup because CG HQ are manufacturing stories of VBSS, they arent even doing half their operations that they are meant to! CAG caught them lieing - who is going to call the CG chief in and give him a slap for manufacturing statistics!

CG are corrupt and several dry runs of 26/11 were picked up, still no one connected the dots and no one pulled a finger out other than lip service to plug the holes. Then MV Pavit - an empty ship sailed all the way from OMAN to Mumbai coast with no one knowing about it! There are still gangs in Maharashtra that smuggle drugs, etc into Maha coast un hindered as they are backed by politicians who take a cut. Tomorrow if there was a terrorist on board - what will happen?

In fact, IB and RAW covertly gave 100 indian sims to paki's, we intercepted the calls, which is how we picked up the intercept in the first place. Problem is also, no one to piece together and analyse the info - no one to seriously plug the national security - everything is just half baked. Who is there to kick the butts of the people not doing their jobs?

My point is this: If I know, ISI is in the zone, then I should also know where in there. If not, we have serious security issues in allowing them to be in. Now, we can theorize on spies and other established network, but there ought to be bigger loophole to allow various communication, contrabands, etc smuggle routes that is still wide open.

This coastal police network idea is good, but still things are open for now. But will take time to fully address it, AFAIK more fast interceptor boats have been ordered and will take time to fully get things to a better state.

But there is the issue of guys on the ground as well, so much corruption, terrorist caught in J&K sneaked through by giving lakhs to CG guys!

[prashanth]

Altair,
It doesn't need one.
Govt does not even acknowledge the existence of RAA. It's chief is a cabinet secretary who reports directly to the PM.
Even its subsidiary agencies have innocuous sounding names.
RAW-Wiki
All that matters is if the agency is able to bring about some monumental change in our neighborhood as it did in 1971.
Eye yes eye can have all the fanfare, who cares.

[krisna]

Foreign Hand- How Big A Threat Is It

Just how credible is this foreign threat? Is there really a foreign hand working against India? Are Indian politicians ratcheting up the scaremongering to further their narrow domestic agendas?

Spy versus Spy in India
New Delhi’s more or less independent stance during the Cold War saw to it that neither the Americans nor the Russians trusted India. Consequently, India became a hotbed of foreign intelligence activity. Beginning in the 1950s both the CIA and the KBG started recruiting Indians in key positions – especially in the political leadership, military and intelligence. The reason was simple – neither side knew which way India would swing, so they basically decided the best thing to do was penetrate India at every level.

At the same time, the American and Russian spooks in India were playing a cat and mouse game with each other. In 1971, the KGB officers tailing the CIA agents in India observed that one of them, an agent named Leonard, a Third Secretary at the US embassy in New Delhi, was conducting his meetings and recruiting activities in an extremely incautious manner, unintentionally exposing the CIA's contacts in the Indian military, intelligence and political circles. Within a year the KGB's dossier of his contact with the Indians had become a big fat one.

Oleg Kalugin, who was the KGB’s station chief in New Delhi, decided he had enough evidence to trap Leonard. However, his efforts to turn the American into a double agent did not work as the CIA dispatched its spy back home.

Kalugin, however, had other ideas and decided it was a rare opportunity to embarrass the CIA in India. He sent the dossier to the Indian press. The leaked story of the brazen American spy created a huge outcry in India, with Indira Gandhi publicly lashing out at the CIA. This is the origin of the much berated foreign hand, which the Indian media and commentators have forgotten. If anything, the reach of the foreign arm was longer than anyone suspected.

Perhaps to preempt the CIA, Indira Gandhi organised a series of political rallies in which she made speeches about the CIA’s plans to eliminate her and destabilise India. This was turning out to be quite a public relations nightmare for the Americans. KGB defector Vasili Mitrokhin reveals what happened next, in the Mitrokhin Archives.

Irritated by these speeches denouncing the ever-present menace of CIA subversion, the US ambassador in New Delhi, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, ordered an investigation which uncovered two occasions during her father Jawaharlal Nehru’s premiership when the CIA had secretly provided funds to help the Communists’ opponents in state elections, once in Kerala (where cash was supplied to the Roman Catholic Syrian Christian church to destabilise the democratically elected Communist Party of India) and once in West Bengal.

And just who was the conduit for these funds? According to Moynihan, “Both times the money was given to the Congress Party which had asked for it. Once it was given to Mrs Gandhi herself, who was then a party official. Still, as we were no longer giving any money to her it was understandable she should wonder to whom we were giving it.”

Kalugin, who retired as a KGB general, went on to write his gripping memoirs, Spymaster, in which he briefly mentions his stint as station chief in New Delhi. If you are Indian, you might find further reading not very pleasant.

“We had scores of sources throughout the Indian government—in intelligence, counterintelligence, the defense and foreign ministries, and the police,” writes Kalugin.

“The entire country was seemingly for sale, and the KGB and the CIA had deeply penetrated the Indian government. After a while, neither side entrusted sensitive information to the Indians, realizing their enemy would know all about it the next day.”

On one occasion, a senior Indian minister offered to pass information to the Russians for a fee of $50,000. This was such a serious matter that the KGB reported the matter to their top boss, Yuri Andropov, in Moscow.

“Do we need him?” Andropov asked his subordinates.

“Not really,” replied an agent. “We’ve got all the documents from the foreign and defense ministries. Anyway, why pay $50,000 to him? There might be a scandal.”

“You are right,” said Andropov. “Tell the minister, ‘Russians and Indians are friends, and we do not conduct intelligence work in your country’.”

The Krishna Menon episode
Mitrokhin reveals how Moscow decided to influence V.K. Krishna Menon, who became India's Defence Minister in 1957.

In May 1962 the Soviet leadership “authorised the KGB residency in New Delhi to conduct active-measures operations designed to strengthen Menon's position in India and enhance his personal popularity”.

Until more documents become unclassified it cannot be established if Menon really became a KGB recruit, but it remains a fact that during his tenure of the Defense Ministry, India's main source of arms imports switched from the West to the Soviet Union. Mitrokhin claims the Indian decision in 1962 to purchase MiG-21s rather than British Lightnings was due chiefly to Menon.

The frustrated British envoy in New Delhi reported to London, “Krishna Menon has from the beginning managed to surround this question with almost conspiratorial official and ministerial secrecy combined with a skilful putting about of stories in favour of the MiG and against Western aircraft.”

In the early 1970s, it was a crack agency that played a key role in breaking Pakistan, and if it hadn’t been for the pusillanimity of India’s leadership RAW would have achieved the useful task of liberating Sindh and Balochistan as well.

(How true is it??)

Things changed after 9/11 when RAW was asked to liaise more with Western governments, ostensibly to cooperate against terrorism. These liaisons, under which at one time Indian agents were studying in 80 American courses, proved disastrous for India’s external intelligence. This was because the increased contacts with the Americans led to the exposure of hundreds of Indian intelligence agents. Some of them may have become double agents working for the CIA.

One of these turncoats was Rabinder Singh. His rise within the organisation started when he procured classified US government documentation through a relative, an American citizen who worked in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID, which like several American aid agencies worldwide have dubious roles).
But in reality Rabinder Singh had been compromised on one of his RAW-sponsored trips to the United States. While the spy was feeding RAW with CIA-supplied intelligence of dubious value, he was passing on to the CIA through his relative with secret documents he was frantically photocopying at RAW’s New Delhi office.

What is unique about the Rabinder Singh case in the annals of spying is that the US embassy in New Delhi reportedly gave him an American passport so he could escape via Nepal. This was extraordinary because plausible deniability is at the core of all intelligence operations. But the Americans clearly did not care that by issuing a document to Rabinder Singh they would not be able to deny their association with him.

Former chief of RAW’s counter-terrorism wing, B. Raman, wrote in his column in Rediff: “The fact that they did it without worrying about its likely impact on Indo-US relations indicates that despite all the talk of close Indo-US relations and close co-operation between the agencies of the two countries in counter-terrorism, the US agencies couldn't care less about Indian sensitivities over their continuing efforts to penetrate the Indian official set-up and Indian NGOs.”

The Hindu’s Pravin Swami agrees: “Despite all the global spy bonhomie that is supposed to have broken out after 9/11, the CIA, like any competent espionage organisation, has continued to target India. The Pokhran-II nuclear tests of 1998 brutally exposed the CIA's human intelligence limitations in South Asia and it does not wish to be caught by surprise again.”

Swami argues that India's establishment is more vulnerable now than at any point in the past. “The large number of politicians, bureaucrats and military officers whose children study or work in the US provide an easy source of influence. Efforts to recruit from this pool are not new. In the early 1980s, the son of then RAW chief N. Narasimhan left the US after efforts were made to approach the spy chief through him. Narasimhan's son had been denied a visa extension, and was offered its renewal in return for his cooperation with the US’ intelligence services. According to a senior RAW officer, not all would respond with such probity."

However, there are others more difficult to spot and generally impossible to prosecute. These are Indian academics, journalists and researchers who often inadvertently, but sometimes willingly end up working for anti-Indian agencies.

It is disturbing that many who attended his anti-India seminars were reputed writers and civil rights activists: Dileep Padgaonkar (who was one of Manmohan Singh’s three interlocutors on Jammu & Kashmir); Rita Manchanda, local partner of the India/Pakistan Women Waging Peace movement; Ved Bhasin, editor of Kashmir Times; and Praful Bidwai and Gautam Navlakha, rights activists and writers.

Worse, as many as 53 of them wrote a letter asking the US court which convicted Fai to show him leniency. Among the writers were Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas K. Gandhi, Bhasin and Navlakha.

Many of these luminaries continue to be unapologetic about their ties with Fai, but Navlakhia’s stance is the most bizarre. He claims the US law enforcement authorities had “magnified” the “crime that Fai sahib committed” by not disclosing where he got his money. He complimented Fai for doing “marvellous and effective lobbying” on the $3.5 million he received from the ISI.

And just what are his credentials? If the US attorney who sought Fai’s sentencing is to be believed, Navlakha was “introduced to an ISI general for recruitment by Fai at the ISI’s direction”.

Roman philosopher Marcus Cicero (106-43 BCE) probably had such people in mind when he wrote: “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.”

Kim Philby, the KBG’s spy who singlehandedly wrecked Britain’s intelligence agency MI6, memorably said, “If one attempt in fifty is successful, your efforts won’t have been wasted.”

Foreign intelligence agencies will continue to stalk India primarily because it is an overwhelmingly significant country, comprising nearly a sixth of humanity. One good spy on the ground is better than a billion dollar spy satellite because he can sniff out, say, a big-ticket defence deal or forewarn a shift in policy. Under such circumstances it is naive to expect the foreign hand to go away. Even two-bit players like Sri Lankan and Polish intelligence have been caught plying their trade in India. Indeed, as long as there are embassies and consulates, there will be spies and influence peddlers. By that reckoning there is a foreign hand operating in every country.

The best India can do is step up counter-intelligence.

[shyamd]

They keep trying but they can't control the core and still fail in key areas... 98 is just one, MRCA is a more recent example and there are many more.

[Rahul M]

Does RAW have an official website ?

^
No

^ Why the hell not?

because it doesn't exist.

[ramana]

See its all maya. India lets all those people spy for if they are told openly they wont believe it.Despite all these covert ops they didn't get the real stuff.

If RS was giving real stuff he would have been accidented by now!

[abhishek_sharma]

After honey traps, babus fall for fellowships

[samverma]

RAW has not really shown anything more than passing interest in this idea (had spoken to someone from this organization a few years ago)..he said there really is no need for it...dont like to advertise themselves

[Kati]

Shyamd-ji,
......ya, money for intel is stolen in every country....
but in the words of a engligh gentleman -
"we also steal, but after maintaining a minimum standard of the job we are supposed to do"
....
okay,....just an example here -
time = couple of years ago......
place = somewhere in eastern part of india, near the border area...
situation = a new IB officer arrives to take charge of a sensitive area....
he was particularly interested in the existing intel human assets...
but to his dismay he finds that the prime human asset, an insider of
......., who attended closedoor meetings of ....., is not
supplying useful info. ......
Why? the fat source money allocated by IB to cultivate such human
assets is going missing.
The previous IB officer pocketed 90% of the money......

This is just the tip of an iceberg.

[shyamd]

Kati ji thanks. But can you please edit the bit about the asset. It shouldn't be discussed and no indication should be given. Mods please do the needful ASAP. TIA

[Kailash]

Strategic electronics parts under scanner

Kalyan Ray, New Delhi, April 22, 2012, DHNS:

India fears import of malware from China

India is all set to launch a national mission to screen electronic components and software that lie at the core of nuclear, space and missile programmes.

The mass sensitisation programme will be run by Electronic Corporation of India Ltd – a public sector undertaking in the department of atomic energy – in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai which provides technical support and did the groundwork for launching the screening programme.

“We are building a national capacity for mass sensitisation in which a standard rule book is being prepared. The importers of components and software will be asked to follow the standard operating procedure. In the future, we may develop a national facility to screen these components,” Y S Mayya, chairman and managing director of ECIL told Deccan Herald.

The genesis of the programme – spearheaded by R Chidambaram, principle scientific adviser to the Cabinet – lies in the fear of unknown import of Chinese malware in electronic hardware and software used in strategic electronics.

“In the US, for certain (strategic) applications routers made in other countries (read China) are not used. It has been prohibited by the government,” said Srikumar Banerjee, chairman Atomic Energy Commission.

Australian government too made it mandatory for the industry to use indigenous components in certain products.

“We are concerned about presence of malware in strategic systems. It is easy to introduce trap doors in embedded software, which can be exploited by others. Chips from abroad are areas of concerns,” Mayya said.

With example of Stuxnet fresh in mind and intelligence inputs suggesting Chinese emphasis on creating malware and hacker's brigade, the government is not taking any chance.

Discovered in June 2010, Stuxnet is a computer worm that spreads to Microsoft Windows and is the first maleware that tamed industrial system. Though the source remains unknown till this date, one of the targets was Iranian nuclear programme. Teheran’s uranium enrichment infrastructure is understood to have been affected adversely by the Stuxnet.

The groundwork for the Indian programme was done by IIT Bombay, which also developed technology to manufacture secure routers in India. “Even though you cannot be 100 per cent sure about the presence of malware without source code, safety and security of foreign products are verified and validated through repeated testing,” said Ashwin Gumaste, James R Issac Chair professor at IITB.

Based on IITB technology, ECIL has produced a secured carrier ethernet transport router for nuclear, defence and space applications. With built-in security features and a fully Indian design, this development is significant in the context of global apprehensions about the vulnerabilities posed by ‘black box’ products, populating the information highways which carry vital and strategic data.

The strategic sector, however, would have to depend on imported components in the absence of an Indian chip fabrication facility. That’s where the screening programme would fit in.

[Kati]

Thanks Shyamd-ji for pointing out that slip-up. Thanks to Admin-ji for
fixing that slip-up. Will be more careful next time.

[Boreas]

Foreign Hand- How Big A Threat Is It

In the early 1970s, it was a crack agency that played a key role in breaking Pakistan, and if it hadn’t been for the pusillanimity of India’s leadership RAW would have achieved the useful task of liberating Sindh and Balochistan as well.

(How true is it??)

Balochistan:
In the attempts till late 70's the equation was India will gain, Iran, Pakistan and Unkil will lose.
From 77-79 funding were choked
From 79-89, red army marched in Afghanistan the equation became India 'may' gain, Unkil, Red Army, Iran and pakistan will lose.
In early 90's we didn’t had much of spare money, plus uncertain international scenario.
In late 90's Gujral single handily crippled nations intelligence infrastructure in TSP.
Early 2000 saw 9/11, and everything changed.
Then came "everybody supporting unkil" era (and everybody else getting bombed).
Then also came era of Vajpayee, and after failed peace bus, Balochistan was back on board. And since then baloch krantikaris are continuously getting hindustani Tax payers money.

There were some discussions in unkil camp to support BLA after TSP closed the supply lines last year. But nothing much happened.

What makes situation complex is,
- TSP and Iran both are equally haunted by free balochistan, hence support each other in suppressing BLA activites.
- Unlike bangladesh, we don't have direct land connectivity with balochistan.
- Unkil has a lot of influence in and around, and its hard to match unkil in the spy game (lack both money and technology)

So, until and unless unkil somehow gets really convinced that Free Balochistan is in its interest, it will be hard for yinduu khufiya agencies to pull a stunt of this magnitude, all alone, now.

Sindh:
Concept of Sindhudesh is hot again, and recently SDLA has made few headlines.

This may be of some interest - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separatist ... f_Pakistan

[SRoy]

I've posted on this before elsewhere, NIA is not an intelligence agency. It is a goon squad created with sole purpose of meeting certain political ends.

‘NIA offered Rs 1 cr to name RSS leaders’

[Sachin]

^^^ If the above is true, then I see no wrong in various Chief Ministers (especially of non-INC ruled states) going against the NCTC etc. The whole game plan seems to have enough and more of goon squads with funny names to to further the INC agenda.

[Roperia]

Foreign Hand- How Big A Threat Is It

Thanks for sharing. Actually, I had heard a similar thing that foreign intel agencies get most of the info they need from well-placed Indian sources. Its a shameful state of affairs.

[svinayak]

India may have to start teaching at school for children to learn what other countries are spying on India and how they recruit Indians for information and spying. Until the society becomes aware of this and also precense of foreingers inside India then this situaton will not be rectified. Open democratic society has big weakness unless the education and media is not under the contol of the people inside India

[shyamd]

2nd meeting. Perhaps something is up.
Antony reviews security situation

PTI
Share · Comment · print · T+

Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Wednesday reviewed the security situation, including the test-firing of a missile by Pakistan, at a meeting here with the top security brass, including the National Security Adviser and the three service chiefs.

“The Defence Minister chaired the monthly security meeting, and it was attended by National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon, Army Chief General V.K. Singh, Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma, IAF Chief N.A.K. Browne, and Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma.

“The test-firing of Shaheen missile by Pakistan was also discussed there,” Defence Ministry officials said.

During the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, the Defence Minister was updated on the prevailing security situation in the country along all its frontiers.

This is the second security review this month.

The meeting, attended among others by Indian Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma, Indian Army chief Gen. V.K. Singh, Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne and Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma - also took stock of the security scenario in the wake of terror attacks in Afghanistan 10 days ago.

They also reviewed the situation along the border and line of control with Pakistan, when Antony asked the security forces to keep a vigil during the summer months when the infiltration bids go up.

The piracy troubles in the Gulf of Aden too came up for a review, when navy officers gave Antony a low down on the recent meeting of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) in Cape Town in South Africa, where the 35-nation grouping decided to evolve joint operating procedures to tackle the menace.

Afghanistan also came up for discussion

The coastal security situation along with the ongoing modernisation plans for maritime security infrastructure was also discussed, they said. Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Navy have been entrusted with a wide range of modernisation plan to secure the 7,000 km coastline which includes setting up various radars, warning systems and transponders. The coastal security plan was introduced after the 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008.

[keshavchandra]

India may have to start teaching at school for children to learn what other countries are spying on India and how they recruit Indians for information and spying. Until the society becomes aware of this and also precense of foreingers inside India then this situaton will not be rectified. Open democratic society has big weakness unless the education and media is not under the contol of the people inside India

Acharya, it seems like a suffice or a deed now a day but still our social system is very balanced. We wont get any things by any such changes in teachings but just mere fear in between. Finally India wont be like Russia or USSR.
Awareness is requires but not openly or with some limited areas. (Like we may involve all major Govt. employee with this)

[rsingh]

India may have to start teaching at school for children to learn what other countries are spying on India and how they recruit Indians for information and spying. Until the society becomes aware of this and also precense of foreingers inside India then this situaton will not be rectified. Open democratic society has big weakness unless the education and media is not under the contol of the people inside India

We had special classes (1980-81) where we were lectured by very mean looking guy. We learned how Bakistani spy may infiltrate our neighborhood. Strangers with distinct Hindu names such as "Ram Sherma" Krishan Verma" etc were the name mentioned. Their methods of methods were explained eg distributing parshad on Tuesdays, being extra polite with elders at Mandirs etc. That guy used to give us lot of examples of the spies caught.............most famous was about a NCC boy who spotted a spy at Amritsar. That spy used to work as shoe-mender near Army base and used to send detail about movements of vehicles using Morse code. I was very suspicious of strangers in our area for long time.

[rsingh]

Foreign Hand- How Big A Threat Is It

Thanks for sharing. Actually, I had heard a similar thing that foreign intel agencies get most of the info they need from well-placed Indian sources. Its a shameful state of affairs.

Despite all of this....we managed to get Bakistan in 1971 (that make CIA useless), survive as a democratic nation (means KGB useless), got Nuclear bomb ( CIA and whatever they call China...useless). Conclusion: Foreign hand is long bot it is garbing useless garbage.

[shyamd]

It's a very serious issue in border districts. Even women are being trained and given weapons training across the border.

[svinayak]

India may have to start teaching at school for children to learn what other countries are spying on India and how they recruit Indians for information and spying. Until the society becomes aware of this and also precense of foreingers inside India then this situaton will not be rectified. Open democratic society has big weakness unless the education and media is not under the contol of the people inside India

Acharya, it seems like a suffice or a deed now a day but still our social system is very balanced. We wont get any things by any such changes in teachings but just mere fear in between. Finally India wont be like Russia or USSR.
Awareness is requires but not openly or with some limited areas. (Like we may involve all major Govt. employee with this)

Modern communication, edu and media has changed soceity big time. Indians have to understand this and control it.
India has nothing to do with how other countries such as Russia is doing. India has to protect its interest and its future for its people.

[shyamd]

Update frop the security review meeting:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online ... kash-.html

Meanwhile, Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday reviewed the overall security situation and took stock of implications of Pakistan testing its nuclear capable Hatf-IV long range missile. He also reviewed operational preparedness to deal with any threat with the three Service Chiefs in Delhi.

Pakistan launched the missile with a strike range of 750 km on Wednesday after India successfully test fires Agni-5 long range ballistic missile on April 19. In the one-hour meeting, which was also attended by National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon and Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, reviewed security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan as these two nations have direct strategic impact on India.

Antony was also informed about China’s military preparedness and steps taken by the armed forces to counter the threat posed by the eastern neighbour. The minister had urged the military top brass to take adequate steps on Tuesday in the backdrop of “China’s strategic rivalry with India and Japan.”

[darshhan]

Modern communication, edu and media has changed soceity big time. Indians have to understand this and control it.
India has nothing to do with how other countries such as Russia is doing. India has to protect its interest and its future for its people.

Acharya ji , The control of Modern Communication,education and media is secondary. The true issue is that Indians lack pride in themselves , have no faith in their own capabilities and as a consequence suffer from a weak character . Hence they fall prey to various temptations which even a third rate intelligence agency will know how to exploit( Intelligence 101). Until unless Indians have pride in their Nation , society and heritage , the educational and media organisations will continue to damage India even if they are in control of Indians.

By the way what is the holding structure for our media organizations ?

[svinayak]

The true issue is that Indians lack pride in themselves , have no faith in their own capabilities and as a consequence suffer from a weak character .

When nationalism is removed from the education and media this is what happens. This is long process and take ove 50-100 years to achaive this.

[chetak]

The terror transporters of India

Vicky Nanjappa

Rs 200 -- That's all that terrorists have to shell out to infiltrate into India. Along the border area of Bihar and West Bengal, the business of transporting terrorists is flourishing at a menacing pace.

Intelligence Bureau sources told rediff.com that there are over 500 persons involved in this business. The IB, which has been keeping a watch on their activity, says that these people charge between Rs 100 to Rs 200.

Very recently, the West Bengal Police had taken into their custody an operative named Kamal Hassan, who hailed from Madhubani in Bihar. He was brought down to Bengaluru as the police felt that he had a role to play in the Chinnaswamy stadium blasts, which were orchestrated by the Indian Mujahideen.

Whether Hassan was involved with these blasts or not is something that the police are yet to verify.

Click on NEXT to go further...

[Kati]

The true issue is that Indians lack pride in themselves , have no faith in their own capabilities and as a consequence suffer from a weak character .

When nationalism is removed from the education and media this is what happens. This is long process and take ove 50-100 years to achaive this.

^^^^^

Acharya-ji,
you have raised a very valid issue. One thing one needs to look at the edu system of UK and US: - from the KG level the system drills into the heads of the young ones that their country is the greatest one on this planet, it is the land of freedom, they should be proud of it...yadda yadda yadda........

......Coming back to the partial remedy of this issue in the indian context: - what we basically need is a massive public discussion, - nothing else. it just shakes up the system from its slumber, and sharpens the national psyche. Our media discusses everything else - bollywood, political feuds, family drama, petty crimes........everything - but nationalism and the secret hand are not touched........looks like some secret hand is paying them well to keep the matter off the public discourse.
......Actually, it takes a very low level, low budget effort to reverse the tide. Several years ago I suggested some influential person one effort which is worth trying - in the BD bordering states. The issue of discussion was illegal immigration. Here was the suggestion: Through any social/NGO call for a high-school level debate competition (for classes IX - XII) on the issue; offer a cash prize of 1 or 2 lakh rupees for the winning school as well as for the participants, and advertise it through newspaper ads, social media etc etc........You'll see suddenly lakhs of students toiling hard to digout info and discussing the matter openly....it generates a social awareness, involves parents, draws the attention of local media, politicians, neighborhood clubs chip in, etc.....Start with district level competition, take it to state level, and then national level, and you'll see the snowball effect.

...Has anyone noticed how the school debates run in the US? There is a very low profiled national Debate Board (or some similar sounding name), and they set the agenda. Every year they pick a few national issues and let the schools slug it through. We may think that the american people are detached from the rest of the world's issues, but through this debate competition (county level > region level > state level > national level) the high school kids slog it out. Through this debate the country picks their next generation of leaders, foreign service bureaucrats.

[munda]

I was reading somewhere that Turkey wants to open multiple consulates India. Why does Turkey with which India doesn't have that big a trade and that is a NATO member wants to build multiple consulates in India? I hope they are not for spying purpose!

[svinayak]

Islamic connection. They want to tap the islamic history and Muslims inside India but this could be used by other countries such as Pakistan.

This needs closer watch. Check all the organizatoin which are working with foriegn countries

[kit]

Islamic connection. They want to tap the islamic history and Muslims inside India but this could be used by other countries such as Pakistan.

This needs closer watch. Check all the organizatoin which are working with foriegn countries

Turkish Mit and JITEM do have a close 'working' relationship with the ISI.

[shyamd]

Or they could want to ramp up trade ties, tourism, defence coordination (all our tri forces chiefs have visited turkey for some time).

[svinayak]

There is a pan Islamic group which is forming world wide. Watch for any movement with Turkey taking any lead.
also India muslims in other countries are joining other islamic organizations. That will give enough information for this things

[Roperia]

After 20 years, R&AW upgrades to super spy jets

The agency is to acquire two Bombardier jets packed with Israeli multi-mission airborne reconnaissance and surveillance systems...

Fitted with synthetic aperture and electro-optical radars, the jets, expected to be pressed into service in the next two years, will be able to monitor strategic and military activity across the borders...

[abhishek_sharma]

Book: Managing India's Nuclear Forces (First Chapter)

Table of Contents

Maybe this should be in the nuclear thread. But some other issues are being discussed in that thread.

[shyamd]

Politics of the black hat

Shishir Gupta, Hindustan Times
May 05, 2012
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On April 24, 2012, the Himachal Pradesh Police quietly dropped all criminal charges against Ogyen Trinley Dorje. Known as Black Hat Lama, Ogyen Trinley Dorje is a claimant to the title of 17th Karmapa and head of the influential Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Backed by powerful
mentor priest, Taisitu Rinpoche, Ogyen even has the support of the Dalai Lama to the Karmapa title. The criminal case was related to seizure of Indian and foreign currency, including Chinese Yuan, amounting to nearly R6 crore from Gyotu monastery in Sidhbari in Kangra district after Ogyen’s key aide, Shakti Lama, was caught by the Una police carrying unaccounted one crore rupees in cash on January 26, 2011. Lama was caught red handed in a benami land deal on behalf of Karmae Garchen trust, which was then said to be headed by Dorje.

This was the culmination of a complex, nuanced and multi-layered game played between Indian intelligence agencies, rival high lamas of Tibetan Buddhism and watched by Chinese rulers of Tibet. The biggest gainer in the cash seizure controversy was Ogyen’s arch rival Trinley Thaye Dorje, the second claimant to the 17th Karmapa title, the Black Hat and riches in the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. Said to be propped up by a section of the Indian internal security establishment, Trinley Thaye Dorje and his mentor Shamar Rinpoche are based in a Kalimpong monastery.

To his credit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saw through the complex game after a high level Buddhist delegation met him on January 29, 2011 in support of Ogyen Trinley Dorje. After discussing the issue with his principal advisors, the PM was clear that as Tibetan refugees, the Karmapa or his supporters could only buy land in India through benami transactions which normally involve cash. It was also clear that as the Karmapas supporters were Tibetans, Europeans and Americans, the cash offerings had to be in Chinese Yuan, Euros or US dollars. Despite the public and media calling Ogyen a Chinese agent and Beijing issuing an official statement denying it, a message was sent to then Himachal Chief Secretary, Rajwant Sandhu, (on the sidelines of the annual chief secretaries conference on February 4, 2011) to not escalate the issue, stop the media trial and let the police quitely investigate the high profile case due to rival claimants and powerful lobbies at work.

The tussle over the real incarnation of the 16th Karmapa has been complicated by the circumstances in which Ogyen Trinley Dorje crossed over from the fortified high security Tsurphu Monastery in Kham region of Tibetan Autonomous Region of China to India in 2000. His great escape from Tsurphu on December 28, 1999 to Mustang region on the Tibet-Nepal border, airlift to Kathmandu in the presence of the Dalai Lama’s representative and subsequent entry into India through Raxaul border, surfacing at Dharmsala on January 5, 2000, are shrouded in mystery. Even though the Dalai Lama fully backs Ogyen Trinley Dorje to be the 17th Karmapa, there are genuine concerns within the Indian establishment, and a section believes that he is a Chinese plant. Rival Trinley Thaye Dorje was also born in Tibet but was anointed as 17th Karmapa by Shamar Rinpoche at the Karmapa Buddhist Institute in Delhi in 1994.

In the backdrop of Beijing’s desperation over 35 self-immolations in Kham-Sichuan region, the role of the 17th Karmapa assumes importance since, after the Dalai Lama, he is the second most powerful lama outside China. His word counts in eastern Tibet and could play a soothing role in settling the restive Sichuan region. The other reason is that in case something were to happen to the present 14th Dalai Lama, then Ogyen Dorje would be an important player in forming the search party to seek out the next Dalai Lama, the reincarnation of the head of Gelug school. Beijing would do everything to nix this move. The quest for wearing the Black Hat, rightful heir to the fortunes in Rumtek Monastery, a labrang (branch) of Tsurphu, and the influence of the 17th Karmapa in the sensitive Sikkim-Bhutan region is also an important factor in the political calculus of India and China. All these factors were put on the table before National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, known China expert, on February 21, 2012 by top officials and intelligence chiefs. It was pointed out that Ogyen Dorje had quit the Karmae Garchen trust six months prior to the cash seizure and hence had nothing to do with the benami land deal. After ensuring that all the principals were on board, the meeting chaired by Menon made a few key decisions.

The first, India will not get involved in the internal politics of the Karma Kagyu school and will give equal status to Ogyen and Trinley but will not allow either of them to take the seat at Rumtek Monastery till the 17th Karmapa reincarnation issue is resolved. Both will be allowed to travel abroad on refugee certificates but will be asked to maintain proper accounts.

While Indian agencies cannot vouch that Ogyen Trinley has nothing to do with Beijing, chances of him being a Chinese agent are extremely remote as he came to India at the age of 14. So by calling him a Chinese agent, India was not only antagonising his supporters and Tibetans at large but also potentially delivering him into Beijing’s lap. Hence, a decision was made to engage Ogyen while watching his statements on China.

Unreasonable action against Ogyen would also annoy the Dalai Lama, whose set-up would be under greater threat if the 17th Karmapa claimant actually had linkages with the Chinese establishment. So as long as Ogyen is not a security threat, New Delhi is not worried about his religious role.

Significantly, Ogyen Trinley was allowed to travel to America twice and his critical statement on Chinese repression and regret over rising self-immolations in Sichuan was also noted with satisfaction. While India recognises Chinese claims over Tibet, it is Beijing which is increasingly getting worried over protests and self-immolations in the highest plateau as force is not working against the rebellious monks. When External Affairs Minister S M Krishna went to meet his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, in February, he offered Indian help for settling Tibet. Even Chinese high officials have started murmuring about the need to engage India over Tibet. With all the high priests of the four Tibetan Buddhism schools living in India or Bhutan, New Delhi needs Ogyen Trinley and his supporters in the Himalayan belt for its Tibet card.

[Roperia]

China-Pak military ties a “cause of worry”

India is raising an offensive Corps and taking other steps to gear up its preparedness along China border to meet the challenges, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said as he pitched for a substantial hike in defence budget to meet this changing threat perception.

Terming the growing military ties between Pakistan and China as a “cause of worry”, he said the armed forces have been issued a new directive to change their strategy to meet the challenges.

“Now we have given a new directive to our armed forces to meet the new challenges in context of the new threat perception faced by the country,” he said.

Mr. Antony said, “After analysis of the threat perception, we have found that the picture is problematic. We will need to have a second look at the defence budget... We have been given Rs 1.93 lakh crore this year but as per the estimated requirement of the armed forces, we would want Rs 2.39 lakh crore. We want Rs 45,716 crore more. I have asked the Government to provide us more money.”

The Minister was replying to a discussion on the performance of his Ministry in the Rajya Sabha.

On steps taken by the Government to strengthen defence capabilities, Mr. Antony said, “Under 12th Defence Plan, we have sent a proposal to Finance Ministry to raise an offensive Corps with two special divisions and it is in final stages. The force-level has been increased substantially.”

He said the Government had earlier approved raising of two mountain divisions along with a Special Forces battalion, an artillery brigade and an armoured regiment for deployment in the northeast sector.

[Roperia]

Impressive debate in Rajya Sabha!

Discussion on working of the ministry of Defence: Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha) Sh. Arun Jaitley: 08.05.2012:LQ

Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) Shri A.K.Antony speaking in Rajya Sabha on the working of the Ministry of Defence : May 8, 2012

Keywords: Modernization of armed forces, Pak-China growing proximity, Siachen, infrastructure and capability development near the Chinese border, problem of dependence on foreign vendors, the problematic new emerging threat perception, requesting govt. for more funds for the services.