Indian Interests

[RajeshA]

rohit,

there is something, I don't understand. Why is capturing mountainous regions so difficult. Can the positions and fortifications of the enemy on the mountains not be ascertained through various methods like satellite observation, small drones, infrared thermal imaging, etc. and can these positions not be bombarded from the air either by high flying jets or drones and enemy forces be dislodged?

Just a newbie question?

[Prasad]

Rajeshji,
RayC saar had made quite a few posts about why it is so darn difficult to fight in those mountainous regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Can't seem to find them now but im sure a search of the forum would lead you to them. He spoke from experience iirc.

[RajeshA]

Prasad ji,

thanks. I'll try to find them.

[rohitvats]

rohit,

there is something, I don't understand. Why is capturing mountainous regions so difficult. Can the positions and fortifications of the enemy on the mountains not be ascertained through various methods like satellite observation, small drones, infrared thermal imaging, etc. and can these positions not be bombarded from the air either by high flying jets or drones and enemy forces be dislodged?

Just a newbie question?

Edited:

Please go through this excellent article - http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/docume ... combat.htm

This will serve as primer and allow you to understand the text in the link below that much better.

This covers an assessment by US Army Officer of Kargil war on either side.

http://www.nps.edu/academics/sigs/nsa/p ... osta03.pdf

[RajeshA]

thanks a lot rohit!

[brihaspati]

If India had a border with Afganistan Umrikah could toss away the Pukes like yesterday's newspaper. But let me ask the unpleasant question no one has addressed. Once POK is taken back what do we do with the people who infest the land there? Expelling them into Pukistan would never be done by the GOI. Does India need that many more traitors in it's midst?

That area is not thickly inhabited. Whatever is there more is in the south western valleys, and around a western rim. But don't we have refugees from POK in India pining for their lands? Have not, or will we not expect them to grow in numbers - naturally - by this time? Should they not be allowed to resettle in their ancestral possessions? Moreover, surely the men "infesting" the region can be encouraged to come and defend their ummah and pride. There is nothing wrong - again by solid modern precedence - in "collateral damages" happening, or unfortunate but necessary casualties and fatalities on combatants. Anyone who takes up arms is a combatant. We would want them to take up arms. Can even send interested orgs who believe that there are parts of the rashtra who are sympathetic to their theology driven cause, to encourage them becoming combatants, and supply them with hardware. We need the congrez, or the lefties, or the likes of ulema council to survive. They would be assets.

[brihaspati]

I thought, cutting the entry to the NA from the plains would be a necessary part of wresting NA. Pindi, Tarbela dam, Kahuta, and as much damage in the general area would be necessary. Some distant action to distract the PLA too? And creating the necessary excuses?

Guruji, trust you to always go for the jugular

I deliberately did not go into the brasstacks what is required to isolate the Northern Areas - one big element of which will to control and block the Karakoram Highway. This will isolate the Northern Areas and prevent any movement northwards. This, along with maximum pressure in plains and against "Azad Kashmir", should ensure that PA has no troops - and infra - left to move to Northern Areas.

I guess the PA games this already. So it might be necessary initially to play the game as they expect it - by directly going for NA, and pretending that not going for the jugular. Go for the jugular next. Trap the already moved up groups and then clean them out. Of course as you point out, logistics would still be a nightmare. The mountain brigades are so essential.

[shivajisisodia]

Post deleted.

[tejas]

Self-deleted.

[rohitvats]

I guess the PA games this already. So it might be necessary initially to play the game as they expect it - by directly going for NA, and pretending that not going for the jugular. Go for the jugular next. Trap the already moved up groups and then clean them out. Of course as you point out, logistics would still be a nightmare. The mountain brigades are so essential.

Guruji,

The formations in the region are mountain divisions for exactly the reason that you envisage. Though, south of Zojila, IA does not deem neccessary to have mountain divisions - all formations here along LoC are Infantry Divisions.

As for gaming the scenario by TSPA and our response - the funny part is, we have people advocating toning down India's offensive posture - like not having 'so' many Strike Corps. What people do not realize that the challenge we face is two fold:

1. Even if we have a gold-plated Mountain Strike Corps (MSC) in near future (5 years), we will still need massive firepower in plains to threaten the very existence of the heartland of TSP and its vital points. This will put enough pressure to on them to ensure that they do not give more attention to Northern Areas then they already have.

IMO, PA will play for time here - to hold IA off in plains, raise nuclear flag, get uncles and aunties to intervene and declare victory. In all this, they are likely to rely on the geographical advantage in these areas + local troops to ensure that they can hold the territory with bare minimum. Also, please bear in mind that unlike IA, PA has no political masters to answer - and hence, it has not hesitated to surrender territory for tactical gains. All this makes our task extremely difficult and we require all the firepower and some more.

2. Two front war - if the IA has to be ready to face such a situation, then the same is only possible if we have enough firepower and reserves to deter the TSPA from misadventure.

[ShauryaT]

As for gaming the scenario by TSPA and our response - the funny part is, we have people advocating toning down India's offensive posture - like not having 'so' many Strike Corps. What people do not realize that the challenge we face is two fold:

Rohitvats: What in your view should be our force structures, in terms of man and fire power that meet our likely policy goals in the plains against TSP and in the mountains against TSP and China that can meet our likely defense and GDP budget allocations for the next say 5 - 10 - 15 years? It is one thing to want it all and another to be able to do it all. The concern is that we shall not have the resources to do all that we may wish, the second concern is our force structures are not aligned with policy threats and opportunities and hence our policy goals and capabilities needs to be prioritized and force structures adjusted.

If you have alternative policy goals in mind and/or alternative force structures to be in a position to execute these policy goals, then I would be very interested to learn. Thanks.

[shivajisisodia]

Dear Shivajisisodia I was simply commenting on others talking of taking back POK. I am neither deluded nor stressed thinking about this possibility. The Kashmir cancer eating away at India today is of course a gift of the Nehru dynasty. Another in a long list of reasons to ban this family from India forever.

Your response to my post was nothing other than a personal attack and I will henceforth ignore you and your supposedly full mind. Do me a favor and go suck on an egg while taking a long walk off a short pier. This forum is full of incredibly intelligent people you clearly are not one of them. BTW the Bofors 155 mm howitzer is towed not driven.

I did not think you will take it so seriously, tejas.

It wasnt so much directed at you, although I did address it to you, but I was making a point about some of this "sheikh-cilli" type discourse we indulge in sometimes. Bharat Rakshak members express views on some very important issues. They raise objections to things which should be objected to, which no one else in any other forum or media does. They make important policy prescriptions, which absolutely need to be made from a nationalistic point of view, which no one else does. But some members also embark on flights of fancy sometimes, which I understand is important, just like humor is, to break the heaviness. But when I put up the previous post, I was a little ticked, not on the forum members like you, but the general population of India, who is totally clueless and even disconnected with even the serious issues, policy recommendations of this forum and any straight line nationalistic approach to issues of the day. The babus, netas and the masses dont even take the views expressed on this forum, whether they are posted here or otherwise, seriously. They are smug in the belief that they will be rewarded for self destructive and anti-national behaviour. So, I felt that our efforts would be far better spent trying to make ourselves relevent on the ground, with the powers that be and/or the masses, rather than indulging in "flights of fancy".

I have no doubt, that if the bulk of the population of India were like you and others on this forum, then taking back POK will not merely be a "flight of fancy", but a reality in very short order. My shot was directed more to challenge the general populace, than you.

I really did not mean to offend you personally, merely disagreeing with the whole premise of the point you were trying to make.If you still have a problem, because you think it is a personal post, rather than me making a point with some humor (attempted ?), I will go ahead and delete it.

[brihaspati]

Guruji,

The formations in the region are mountain divisions for exactly the reason that you envisage. Though, south of Zojila, IA does deem neccessary to have mountain divisions - all formations here along LoC are Infantry Divisions.

As for gaming the scenario by TSPA and our response - the funny part is, we have people advocating toning down India's offensive posture - like not having 'so' many Strike Corps. What people do not realize that the challenge we face is two fold:

1. Even if we have a gold-plated Mountain Strike Corps (MSC) in near future (5 years), [...]
2. Two front war - if the IA has to be ready to face such a situation, then the same is only possible if we have enough firepower and reserves to deter the TSPA from misadventure.

A straight question : if a civilian gov will give them what it takes, can they finish it within an "instant" [in military terms, not in hours or just days]? If history and destiny needs it, such a regime will come. You understand my probe, surely? It will not be within the 5-8 years timeframe though.

[tejas]

Shivajiisodia, I have been visiting this forum since it's inception in one form or another. I have never wrote a post like the one I wrote to you and it left a bad taste in my mouth. The northern areas of POK have plenty of Islamists so my question was simply to those who wanted to take POK what do we do with them? Obviously India will likely never take POK especially with a Kangress govt. In power. Anyway I accept your peace offering. Why don't you delete your post to me and I do the same for you.

[shivajisisodia]

Shivajiisodia, I have been visiting this forum since it's inception in one form or another. I have never wrote a post like the one I wrote to you and it left a bad taste in my mouth. The northern areas of POK have plenty of Islamists so my question was simply to those who wanted to take POK what do we do with them? Obviously India will likely never take POK especially with a Kangress govt. In power. Anyway I accept your peace offering. Why don't you delete your post to me and I do the same for you.

Done. Post deleted. I couldnt completely get rid of it, for some reason, so I edited out the entire text.

Is it possible that you have not reacted like this to anyone else in the past, because no one else has so sharply brought out the "miserable condition" that India is in, so realistically and like an open wound.

Perhaps, you were not hurt so much by my comments that you perceived as "personal", but more by your subconscious being stabbed by my words, which brought out the misery and helplessness of our nation.

That is how badly I feel about the sad state of affairs in our country right now. In fact, this POK business touches a raw nerve for me. There are people I know, whose fathers and uncles gave their lives trying to defend Kashmir in 1948. I have always wanted it back with India and have completely failed to understand why we could not have done it in the pre-nuclear era and I am still at a complete loss as to why, if we have the political will, with adequete military preparation and diplomatic strategy, we cant do it now. But I know, and I know it for sure, that it will never come to pass, because we as a nation will never gather up the political will to do so. Our political leaders wont lead on this and most of our people will not either.

[a_kumar]

What in your view should be our force structures, in terms of man and fire power that meet our likely policy goals in the plains against TSP and in the mountains against TSP and China that can meet our likely defense and GDP budget allocations for the next say 5 - 10 - 15 years? It is one thing to want it all and another to be able to do it all.

Agree with you. Purely as an academic exercise, we can talk all we want about armed incursions in Pakistan. But IMO it has little value as a practical method to actively change things in PoK.

Doesn't mean that is the end of the topic.

There are several reasons Pakistan is obsessed with Kashmir.

- Unfinished business of Partition
- Pakistan is home to all of muslims of sub-continent
- Paksitan is the protector of the rights of Kashmiris

If Baloch/Pashtun (maybe Sindhi) go their own way, it makes each and every one of the above reasons irrelevant. What will the Punjab Army in Kashmir fight for now?

[Prem]

http://www.businessinsider.com/india-sh ... ers-2011-9

Indian tax officials have found a novel way of recovering taxes. In Bangalore, India's IT hub, they have sent a group of drummers to the homes and offices of tax evaders with the sole intention of publicly humiliating them, BBC reported.The drummers stand on the street, beat their drums and chant slogans stating how much the defaulters owe and they have already hit a few targets.They began with a construction company that owed $2.25 million and managed to recover $202,000 after the drummers were done. The company also promise that it would pay the rest in installments over four months, according to IBN Live.The drummers also targeted the owner of a building in Indiranagar, an upmarket suburb, who hasn't paid his taxes since 2007. They managed to recover about $146,000 from him. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city's municipal government launched the initiative last week to recover $40 million in tax revenue

[Prem]

Bengalaru ,Kerala. Positive Feedback
Back in Bangalore
Though my visit this year will be a week shorter, I have a distinct feeling that my learning and understanding will belie my time on the ground, and I’m very much looking forward to the four full days I have left in this week.As for the content of the meetings and discussions going on here, I cannot relate those due to competitive reasons -- the old CIA, “If I told you I’d have to kill ya.”But rest assured it’s with great anticipation and expectations that we move through the rest of this week.Beyond that, I’ll have to save the sordid stories for my as-of-yet unpublished memoirs... but know that the memories of my second sojourn to “Bengalaru” being stored in my human RAM will not be erased or forgotten anytime soon.

[Pranav]

£150-million worth silver found on wrecked British ship - http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... 488111.ece

In one of the largest shipwreck hauls, nearly £150 million-worth silver has been found on a British ship that was travelling from India but was sunk by a German U-boat in the Atlantic in 1941.

If the silver belonged to the British government of India, then it should rightfully be returned to India.

[vishvak]

£150-million worth silver found on wrecked British ship - http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... 488111.ece

In one of the largest shipwreck hauls, nearly £150 million-worth silver has been found on a British ship that was travelling from India but was sunk by a German U-boat in the Atlantic in 1941.

If the silver belonged to the British government of India, then it should rightfully be returned to India.

Aha! White man's burden!

£150 million-worth silver weighing 200 tonnes - that's 200 tonnes of antiques! A loot of sub-continental proportions with pomp, one ship at a time.

The wreck of SS Gairsoppa has been found to contain 200 tonnes of silver by the American exploration company, Odyssey Marine, which will keep 80 per cent of the cargo's value according to a contract with the Department of Transport.

So how does this business go exactly? Are they just digging up ships of those who were traveling/trading or is it that it is a jungle out there in the international waters and is for keepers to take?

Sank here: location
From http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?58703#111608

...By January 1941, the SS Gairsoppa was enlisted in the service of the UK Ministry of War Transport.

She started her final voyage from Calcutta, India in December 1940 loaded with nearly 7,000 tons of diverse medium and high-value cargo, including 2600 tons pig iron, 1765 tons of tea, 2369 tons of general cargo, and a 600,000 UK Sterling silver ignots (3 million ounces).

[ramana]

This is part of the sterling reserves that got transferred by the Grate Britain to fight the war and pay for supplies before Lend Lease.

The scam is salvagers know what is the cargo manifest of sunk ships and approximate location. They now have very good underwater recovery vehicles and keep themselves in business with part of salvage proceeds (80%) and also remain in business to be hired for national emergencies like BP oil rig or sunken govt assets!

[Prem]

http://www.planetizen.com/node/51640
India's Urban Population Forecasted To Double In The Next Twenty Years

The UN released new demographic projections Thursday that forecast India's urban population will more than double in the next thirty years. UN Under Secretary General Joan Clos said there is an urgent need to discuss urban issues in response.Clos, who is also executive director of UN Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT), was talking to reporters at a press conference ahead of Word Habitat Day Oct 3 and expressed concern over the land crisis in urban India."For any population, land is the first asset and there is a need for sustainable growth of cities. We require better urban planning and designing as it is crucial for the future growth of the city," he argued. India's rapid population growth, or demographic dividend, will be sustained much longer than China's because of the lack of legal demographic constraints like a one child policy. This presents a unique opportunity for India to create cities of an unprecedented scale in the next decades

[Prem]

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/ ... ne-pocket/
In India, the sari with a mobile phone pocket

Old meets new in Chennai: "The sari with a pocket – pre-stitched and embroidered, appearing just below the waist on the left – that can carry a mobile phone or even the stray iPod or lipstick." (NYT)

In Chennai, even as the young have switched to jeans and skirts in the name of modernity and comfort, the sari still remains the preferred attire for many. The silk sari is reserved for those special occasions (like weddings) when it is worth even bearing the terrible Chennai heat to flaunt that latest design.
And for that practical touch, enter the sari with a pocket – pre-stitched and embroidered, appearing just below the waist on the left – that can carry a mobile phone or even the stray iPod or lipstick. Indeed, that’s what the television ad for the pocket sari shows, ending with the smart slim woman walking away, dumping her frumpy old handbag behind.These pocket saris, which begin at 4,000 rupees, were a sensation when they were introduced by the popular Sri Kumaran Stores in the T. Nagar neighborhood of Chennai.
The sari with a matching phone pouch.They are targeted for the “modern, working woman or the young girl who wants something trendy even with a traditional Kanjeevaram silk sari,” says Jeyasree Ravi, owner of Palam Silks, who later introduced what she calls this “concept sari.” Palam also offers an option for less adventurous women – silk saris with matching pouches for mobile phones, both great hits among Chennai women of all ages. “It is especially popular among college girls who buy it to wear at parties and functions,” she says.However, Mrs. Ravi adds that the popularity of the pocket sari has been overtaken by newer ideas like the ready made, pre-pleated sari (also with a pocket – just slip into it) and the sari with four different pallus (called the zip match sari) that can be zipped up according to the mood of the moment.Change is in the air in this city. And true to what locals would call the spirit of Chennai, it means a nod to the future while keeping a firm eye on the past.

[devesh]

^^^
very good idea. pretty soon, we need to develop appropriate "Indic" clothing for athletics also. identifying our dress with our culture is important. devising techniques which adapts "Indic" clothing to all kinds of needs is the way to go.

[ShauryaT]

Tough Love?
Endless delusion - Bharat Karnad

To be recognised as a great power, India will have to do what other great powers have done throughout history: Think big, act big, take risks, and back up its diplomacy with force but only against an equal or bigger country, aggressively consolidate and extend Indian military influence into China’s backyard in the South China Sea and, landwards, in Central Asia, and secure the core wherewithal of hard power, namely, a versatile high-yield thermonuclear arsenal, which will require further testing, and Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles, in the face of American and Chinese pressure.

Get the big stick first, talk softly later. An in-your-face attitude is more likely to get India an invitation to join the high table in the UN and elsewhere, than being agreeable. To believe India will attain great power by lesser means is to be delusional. Unfortunately, there is no dearth of deluded persons in Delhi who believe India’s “exceptionalism” is enough.

The writer is a professor at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi

[Prem]

Commie Kamine
What's next for India's Communist Party?The distrust of the Communist Party, once a powerhouse in parts of India, could signal a major change in Indian politics. Here's what its leaders plan to do to keep their old mission alive.

We are still trying to get over the shock,” says Subrata Bose, a former member of parliament from the Forward Bloc, part of the CPI(M)-led Left Front government. Mr. Bose, a nephew of India’s wartime hero Subhas Chandra Bose, says morale within the communist movement is now at an all-time low, with many young cadres jumping ship to share the spoils of the new government. “We are hated now. We are not getting new members…. People are trying to join the party that has come to power,” he says.
How it happened
Along with Kerala and tiny Tripura, West Bengal is one of just three Indian states to have elected a communist government, but it has historically been communism’s largest supporter in India. After its initial victory in 1977, the CPI(M) won the next six elections by large margins on the back of strong support for its rural land reform program. Even when West Bengal’s economy took a downturn in the mid-1990s, hamstrung by the constant strikes and work disruptions of CPI(M)’s militant trade unions, it continued to win big at the ballot box

[Prem]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/busin ... .html?_r=1
Traveling Tellers, With Electronic Gear, Take Banking to Rural India

KOLAD, India — Time was, banks employed armies of human tellers. Later, they replaced many of them with automated teller machines. Now, India is using a hybrid of the two — the human A.T.M. — to expand banking to its vast rural population.
Swati Yashwant, a 29-year-old mother of one, is part of a growing legion of roving tellers intent on providing bank accounts to the nearly 50 percent of India’s 300 million households that do not have them. Using a laptop computer, wireless modem and fingerprint scanner, Ms. Yashwant opens accounts, takes deposits and processes money transfers for farmers and migrant workers in this small town 70 miles south of Mumbai, India’s financial capital. To reduce the risk of robbery or theft, no transaction by law may exceed 10,000 rupees (about $212). And in practice, many amount to no more than a dollar or two. But with the bulk of India’s population living in villages that have never had a bank branch, Ms. Yashwant, with her electronic devices, is a missionary of financial modernity. Many Indians “don’t know anything about banking,” she said in her small office here, which is decorated with a garlanded picture of Ganesh, the Hindu god believed to remove obstacles. “I want to open their accounts and help them understand banking.”

[Rony]

Inland Customs Line

The Inland Customs Line which incorporated the Great Hedge of India (or Indian Salt Hedge[1]) was a customs barrier built by the British across India primarily to collect the salt tax. The customs line was begun while India was under the control of the East India Company but continued into the period of direct British rule. The line had its beginnings in a series of customs houses that were established in Bengal in 1803 to prevent the smuggling of salt to avoid the tax. These customs houses were eventually formed into a continuous barrier that was brought under the control of the Inland Customs Department in 1843.
The line was gradually expanded as more territory was brought under British control until it covered a distance of more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km), often running alongside rivers and other natural barriers. At its greatest extent it ran from the Punjab in the northwest until it reached the princely state of Orissa, near the Bay of Bengal, in the southeast. The line was initially made of dead, thorny material such as the Indian Plum but eventually evolved into a living hedge that grew up to 12 feet (3.7 m) high and was compared to the Great Wall of China. The Inland Customs Department employed customs officers, Jemadars and men to patrol the line and apprehend smugglers, reaching a peak of more than 14,000 staff in 1872. The line and hedge were considered to be an infringement on the freedom of Indians and in opposition to free trade policies and were eventually abandoned in 1879 when the tax was applied at point of manufacture. The salt tax itself would remain in place until 1946.

[ManuT]

Before ABV became PM (mid-1990s). Very candid.

[Prem]

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/op ... 05359.html
India's nationhood has been weakened since the anti-corruption protests took place, and it must now reshape itself.
Jaswant Singh
India's wounded state

Whichever side one takes, the consequences are disturbing: Indian society, the core of Indian nationhood, is now questioning the very legitimacy of the Indian state.
India’s nationhood resides in a non-territorial civilisational entity. The Indian state, on the other hand, is a historical variable that has periodically governed parts of the subcontinent. Following independence in 1947, a centralised Indian state emerged for the first time. For citizens, the Indian state is the great provider - mai-baap, literally “mother and father.”
The strength of Indian nationhood, however, lies not in this state but in Indian society. This idea was at the core of Gandhi’s beliefs; he emphasised “reform of society,” because only that, he believed, could correct the state’s ills. Herein lies the central disconnect, and also the source of discontent, for today’s India: if and when an Indian citizen now approaches this state, for even the most routine of needs, the state inflicts pain rather than providing succor.
The Indian state’s fundamental inability to redress grievances, correct mistakes, and attend to its citizens’ most basic needs has given rise to a ruinous level of corruption, as citizens, despairing of obtaining their due fairly, try to buy it instead. The state then turns into a monopoly seller, and thus an enemy of its own society.For Anna Harare and his followers, the only solution is another state agency - a vast and all-powerful anti-corruption watchdog with the power to coerce and intimidate. Others call for a spiritual revival within Indian society.
It is no surprise, of course, that large crowds cheered for Harare and his anti-corruption movement, by which they assumed a vicarious role in slaying the demon of corruption. Their abuse was reserved for “evil parliamentarians” - or any politicians - as vile agents of a crooked state.Unfortunately, India’s government misunderstood the anti-corruption protests from the start. At first, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stood firm against Harare’s demands on technical grounds. But this proved insufficient to halt a growing sense of drift and decay concerning his Congress Party-led coalition.This sense of malaise was highlighted on India’s Independence Day (August 15). Confronted by multiple charges of corruption against his government, the prime minister’s address to the nation partly sought to divert attention from the scandals by focusing, bizarrely, on a litany of other problems, from high inflation and the Naxalite rebellion to persistent malnutrition and terrorist attacks. Yet the overriding theme remained corruption. And what else could it be? After all, the current government is possibly the most corrupt, in every sense, that India has ever experienced.Were periodic elections the only yardstick of democracy, India would have achieved what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls the “gold standard.” But that is far removed from reality and the nature of its ruling party. The Congress Party, to paraphrase Brown University’s Richard Snyder, resembles a “neo-patrilineal dictatorship,” in which “[p]eople get goodies for being close to the ruler.” Proximity to the Gandhi family is everything.

[ramana]

SSridhar, We should look at the 'million mutinies' since 1947 and see how they got settled and what factors prevent the settlement. We should look at all grievances no matter how small and see if they linger or got settled. If the latter what factors were in play.

[Atri]

[ramana]

Ahmedabad is the maximum city of the last century: from Gandhi's political and labour organizing, through the growth of textile, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries, to globalization and the sectarian violence that marked the turn of the new century. Events that happened there resonated throughout the country, for better and for worse.

We need to study the city and its ideas.

[ArmenT]

X-posting from the Indian economic thread....
The Child Malnutrition Myth

[Manish_Sharma]

From the link by Jarita Saheb, Any idea who this person is

He was a very powerful member of what was then known to the media as “kitchen cabinet” and had also been described as a “power broker of the highest degree” by many media houses and visiting dignitaries. There was no reason to suspect any mal-intentions in him, as he was also known to be very close to Mr Rajiv Gandhi (unlike some members of the “kitchen cabinet” who had a turf war with the junior Gandhi). Post assassination there was a bit of a stir in the media about the same gentleman followed by hush-hush events. We in the intelligence were also surprised to know about his strong linkages with certain Western intelligence agencies. Nothing really happened after that for quite some time and Mr Rajiv Gandhi only restored the same gentleman back in his team with full honours and the whole episode was laid to rest. But the biggest revelation to the intelligence wings came a little later (and was not accorded much importance at that time). Unlike media perceptions that the said gentleman belonged to the Rajiv Gandhi coterie and to the “kitchen cabinet”, he actually owed both his positions and his re-instatement into the inner circles of power after the assassination of Mrs Gandhi to a certain Mrs Sonia Gandhi!

R.K. Dhawan

[Rony]

Wikipedia:Project Hinduism/Popular pages

This is a list of the top 1000 (or all) pages ordered by number of views in the scope of the Hinduism Wikiproject.
The data comes from data published by Domas Mituzas from Wikipedia's squid server logs. Note that due to the use of a different program than http://stats.grok.se/ the numbers here may differ from that site

[Pratyush]

Why Pranab, UPA’s crisis manager, can never aspire to be PM

By Rajdeep Sardesai.

Posting in full as has too many good points.

Conventional wisdom has it that there are two power centers in the UPA; in reality, there have been three. As chairperson of the UPA, Sonia Gandhi is the Supreme Leader but without the responsibility for day to day governance. That task was left to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2004 who as head of the cabinet was meant to be a CEO-like figure entrusted with policy execution. But there has always been a third power center, less visible perhaps, but no less important. Pranab Mukherjee has always been much more than just the senior minister in the UPA. He has been the Chief Operating Officer, responsible for managing the multiple challenges posed by coalition politics.

For the last seven years, Mukherjee has been the ‘go to’ person for almost every critical policy or political decision taken by the UPA. At one time, he headed as many as 32 Group of Ministers appointed to handle various economic and political issues. That number is now down to ten, but it doesn’t diminish the role and importance of Mukherjee in the UPA government. Any crisis within the UPA sees Mukherjee’s residence at 13 Talkatora Road become the focal point while at times 7 Race Course Road remains on the periphery.

That one individual (Pranab Mukherjee) should be expected to resolve all problems, from Telangana to FDI in retail to inflation to corruption reveals the limitations of the UPA system.

That one individual should be expected to resolve all problems, from Telangana to FDI in retail to inflation to corruption reveals the limitations of the UPA system, a system which has a prime minister who has never won a popular election and a chairperson who chooses to stay away from the rigours of daily politics.

Perhaps, it’s a arrangement that suits UPA’s presiding duo: a quintessential bureaucrat, Singh has never been comfortable with managing the pulls and pressures of alliance politics. The prime minister’s style has been to distance himself as far as possible from taking direct responsibility for political decisions (the Indo-US nuclear deal being a notable exception).

Decision-making through a group of ministers rather than by personal diktat has been Singh’s preferred option. Mrs Gandhi too, has preferred to nudge the political system through a National Advisory Council, a motley group of individuals with no political constituency to worry about, but having the power and freedom to influence government decisions.

In such a situation, Mukherjee has emerged as the primary crisis manager of the UPA, but a politician whose personal ambitions are confined within a certain ‘lakshman rekha’ set for him by the UPA board of directors. He cannot, for example, aspire to be the prime minister.

The UPA system of leadership works on the basis of enjoying the full trust and confidence of the First Family, and somehow Mukherjee has always been eyed with wariness by 10 Janpath. Perhaps, this is the burden of history: the story, never fully validated, of how he attempted to succeed Indira Gandhi in 1984 is still held against him. In the Congress party, ambition must always be cloaked in self-effacing humility and subservience, and Mukherjee is deemed to have failed the critical loyalty test.

And yet, for much of the last seven years, the UPA’s ruling troika has managed the internal equation rather well. With Mrs Gandhi as a Mother-like symbol of unity, Singh as the honest chief executive and Mukherjee as the ever-willing deputy, the UPA has survived most challenges. Until now.

Mrs Gandhi’s ill-health has meant that she hasn’t been able to play her natural role of being the ‘face’ of the UPA who can hold the alliance together. The series of corruption scandals have weakened the prime minister’s monopoly over the integrity quotient. And the discordant notes within the cabinet have undermined Mukherjee’s capacity to handle crisis situations.

Why, for example, was Mukherjee sent to lead a ‘delegation’ to meet Swami Ramdev at the airport is a mystery to which there has been no adequate answer till now. Or why was Mukherjee virtually forced into giving a press statement on the 2G controversy when only days earlier he had maintained that the matter was sub-judice?

Part of the problem seems to lie in the lines getting blurred between individual ministerial responsibility and ‘collective’ cabinet responsibility, even as a certain arbitariness and arrogance has crept into decision-making. Anna Hazare’s arrest and the subsequent mishandling of the anti-corruption agitation is a good example of this.

Till today, we don’t know just who took the final decision to arrest Anna, and whether the decision was endorsed by all senior cabinet ministers. A hapless Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari may have been the soft target for having questioned Anna’s anti-corruption credentials, but it’s difficult to believe that he was acting on his own volition.

Ditto the case with the 2G licenses. To believe that A Raja was acting as an autonomous entity in complete disregard of the cabinet and prime ministerial authority is to defy logic. If his criminality went unnoticed, then it is a grievous sin of omission, if it was winked at under coalition compulsions, then it suggests collusion and worse.

Unfortunately, the prime minister has chosen to be either silent or evasive, thereby giving the regrettable impression that he isn’t willing to accept any responsibility for his ministers’ flawed actions.

In a sense, one does feel a little sorry for Mukherjee. He represents in many ways the old style neta for whom politics is a 24 x 7 mucky profession where you have to get your hands dirty. For him to become a fall guy because others prefer to be kept at an arms length from any form of political accountability is a poor reflection on the state of the UPA’s leadership.

[Prem]

Mission: India

[shyamd]

Military to expand strategic footprint

Rejig to guard India interests
SUJAN DUTTA

New Delhi, Oct. 3: India’s armed forces are re-orienting their strategic reach from the ability to land in, take off from and deploy in countries around the Indian Ocean rim to “wherever India’s interests lie”.

“I expect that at least by 2022, we are capable of taking care of India’s interests not only at home, but also abroad,” Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne said today, setting a 10-year time frame.

“So far, our interest was defined from the Gulf of Aden (in the west) to the Straits of Malacca (in the east) but, as experience in Libya and other countries have taught us, we have to be able to reach wherever we have our interests,” he said.

Reflecting the dichotomy in India’s economic growth story, the military is swinging between the aspirational and the actual: its strategic global “vision” contrasts sharply with its “tactical” domestic and frontier compulsions.

Despite that, the re-orientation of strategic perspective that the air chief disclosed today means the military “perspective plans” that are now being drawn up will focus on acquiring assets that can cover longer distances faster — such as the C17 Globemaster III heavy-lift aircraft — and deployable hardware.

The Indian Air Force maintains a low-profile presence in just one foreign base — at Farkhor/Ayni in Tajikistan where Indian military engineers have relaid a runway and built hangars — but the security establishment does not make that public.

But India’s military is not preparing to “fight other people’s wars”, the air chief marshal said. “There is a big difference between expanding ‘strategic reach’ and being ‘expeditionary’,” Air Chief Marshal Browne said.

The militaries of western developed countries, such as the US and the UK, are “expeditionary”, meaning that they engage in conflicts thousands of kilometres from their own territories. India’s focus will remain on airlifting, search and rescue and missions guarding Indian business assets overseas.

“First, obviously we have to see our security interest… that is defending the air space within our country, and thereafter look at where are our strategic interests lie. Earlier, we have been talking of our strategic interests starting from the Gulf of Aden to the Malacca Straits. But as the global footprint of India increases, certainly the IAF will be called upon to serve India’s interests based on our capabilities,” Browne said.

The modernisation plans will have to be tailored keeping in mind that “the strategic interests of the country will be serviced by the IAF irrespective of place, location and time, and we must achieve that capability”, he said.

The re-orientation of the Indian military’s strategic vision, policy-makers believe, is in keeping with the growth of Indian business interests and the presence of Indians in conflict-ridden countries. For example, Indian companies are prospecting for oil in the South China Sea, in collaboration with Vietnam, and around Sakhalin in Russia’s Pacific Coast.

But India’s security commitments at home demand a balance in acquisitions that the military is finding difficult to achieve. “This is something that will happen over the years and will be based on capabilities,” Air Chief Marshal Browne said, when asked if the new “strategic vision” was aspirational or whether the armed forces were actually working to a plan.

“It is clear that we have to be able to cover the distances in conjunction with, for example, the navy, as we did in Libya,” Browne said.

Among the domestic security demands that the military is currently trying to meet are mountain radars for the frontier with China, where air intrusions were reported as late as July. Browne said the IAF was currently dependent on the Indo Tibetan Border Police, a paramilitary force, to report such intrusions. The deployment of mountain radars would send out alerts in real time.

The Union home ministry, too, was likely to add to the list of multi-utility Mi-17 V5 helicopters that the IAF is now engaged in procuring. The IAF contracted 80 of the helicopters in 2008. It also told the home ministry that its resources were too stretched to deploy the number of helicopters it has asked for counter-Maoist operations. But this month the IAF has deployed two helicopters in Ranchi in addition to four in Jagdalpur and Raipur (Chhattisgarh).

Browne said the new helicopters were joining the fleet from this month and he expected to get 26 by March 2012.

The first squadron of the new Mi-17 V5s will be deployed at Bagdogra in north Bengal.

[abhishek_sharma]

Bhagat singh, the final hours

not sure where to post this link.