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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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Indian police is still working on Indian police act 1861 when British were the rulers.The police had been given unprecedented powers by them to control the natives.after the departure of Brtish it suited Indian Netas to continue with the feudalism. They became Maharajas after dethroning the actual maharajas.these pseudo maharajas with no leadership quality to boot want police to continue terrorisng the aam admi.This perpetuates Mai Baap culture with public running to netas to help against police atrocities.these old and by gone time netas are refusing to realise that with explosion of information technology and India becoming a super power in ths field in addition, with 800 million youth now forming the back bone of Indian polity, these police atrocities can not continue any more.The Naxal movement which has already taken under its umbrella 200 districts of india out of a total of 600 districts is the the direct fall out of this.Naxals target police and kill them in bulk.It is time Supreme Court takes notice of this and all those states which have not implemented the police reforms as directed by SC in 2006 are taken to task.Incidently only 7 states so far has implemented these reforms that also partially.main source of corruption are the police thanas.It is common knowledge that post of Daroga in Thana goes to the higest bidder.Each thana has their political mentor.The writ of senior police officer does not run here.The entire force is seeped in corruption with no discipline.It is time our political masters take all these issues in cognisance.public has got limited pateitence.The recent cases of police being attacked by the aam admi on drop of a hat is a very dangerous trend and will lead to total anarchy.
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Posted on
Thursday, April 25, 2013
2:07:05 PM
Modified on
Thursday, April 25, 2013
2:19:55 PM
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From
Rajinder Jit Khurana
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Posted on
Monday, April 15, 2013
12:34:11 PM
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From
Nani Manna
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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BORDER ESCALATION NEW STRATEGY OF PAK ARMY
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
Despite Pakistani denials, let us not be in any doubt that the recent ambushing and mutilation of two soldiers of Indian Army in Mendhar Sector of Poonch in absolute foggy conditions on the morning of 08 Jan 2013 was a preplanned action by the 29 Baloch Regiment of the Pakistani SSG Group with an aim to escalate the violence along the 770 km long LOC in J&K and send India a message.
Off late Pakistani Army has been looking for an excuse or an event that can facilitate escalation of violence along LOC. They found this in the recent visit of the Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik to India. Under intense public pressure, India during this visit had raised the issue of torture and beheading of late Capt Saurabh Kalia in May 1999 by the same 29 Baloch Regiment of Pakistan. Rehman Malik made light of this case amounting to mockery of India’s sentiments resulting in adverse public opinion fall out. Realizing that repeat of this incident at this stage will escalate India -Pakistan tensions many fold, Pakistani Army planned this operation. Army Chief General Bikram Singh is very right in his recent statement that this was a premeditated action by Pakistani Army.
The big question is, Pakistan which is a bankrupt country living on US doles and is beset by internal strife and terror related attacks leading to 3000 people at an average getting killed every year as also a very volatile Western Border with Afghanistan ,why it wants to destabilize its comparatively quiet Eastern Border with India? This question has perplexed many analyst but knowing Pakistani Army and ISI this is exactly how the Pakistani Generals operate. They are working on a well planned strategy.
Just six months back ,with Americans having killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on Durand Line and US-PAK relations at their worst nadir, Pakistani Army Chief General Parvez Asfaq Kayani was all for peace with India. He made a specific call to India to settle Siachin Dispute amicably after 135 Pakistani soldiers got killed in an avalanche there last year. It was with the blessings of the Pakistani Army that Indo-Pak Peace process once again started chugging along.
Things however have changed since then. Obama has been reelected as American President. He has more or less publicly acknowledged that the American Afghanistan policy has failed. Now he wants to withdraw post haste from Afghanistan by 2014 without leaving behind any residual troops. Towards this end Pakistan has been restored the three Billion dollar American aid. The withdrawing American Troops with their heavy war equipment have to pass through the Durand line and Pakistan. They will definitely be attacked by Taliban all along with an aim that they leave behind this war material and do not ever come back to Afghanistan again. Pakistan is a party to this plan. However the 140000 Pakistani troops stationed on Durand Line at the American behest and being paid for by the Americans are required to stop this to happen. But then if LOC gets activated on the Eastern Border of Pakistan with India, giving an excuse to Pakistan to withdraw bulk of its troops from its Western Border of Afghanistan to Indian Border in national interest blaming India, two birds get killed with one stone.
Gen Kayani the PAK Army Chief who is already on three year unprecedented extension in Pakistan Army history is retiring in Sep this year. Along with him three of the top Corps Commanders of Pakistani Army out of its 11 Corps Commanders are retiring. This will create big void in Pak Army hierarchy. Kayani can not get extension now because the junior Crops Commander are seething with rage of them being denied the Chiefs appointment. However if a war like situation gets created at the Indian borders then it is a different matter and nobody will deny Kayani an extension.
Pakistan is facing General elections in few months from now. Pakistani Army does not want the current PPP Government in power to come back because twice this current Government of Pakistan tried to cut Army to size. The other major player Nawaz Sharif and his party PQML (Nawaz) is suspect in the eyes of the Army because it was Pakistani Army who not only dethroned Navaz Sharif in a Coup but also exiled him form the country for seven years. Pakistani Army along with fundamentalist parties will like the new comer Imran Khan with his Tehriq-e-Insaf party to win. This will be a puppet regime for Pak Army to play as they please. For this to happen Pakistani Army must create a tense situation Along Indian border to bounce back in good will of people of Pakistan. Incidentally both PPP and Navaz want peace with India an anathema to Pak Army.
It is good that the current Indian Government has not fallen to this Pakistani trap by over reacting on this border incident .It is also a sensible approach by the current UPA Government in power that it has laid out clear policy for Indian Army to settle the scores with Pakistani Army at the LOC by reacting to any provocation by Pakistani Army with a suitable offensive action in a graded professional manner while Government itself is offering carrots. This will ensure for the Pakistani Army that they will have to pay heavy price on the border for any mischief and the morale of Indian Army will remain high. At the same time the Civilian Government of Pakistan has been left with a peace full option should they pick courage to confront their Army.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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DOWN SLIDE OF WOMENS STANDING IN INDIA BLAME IT ON TULSIDASS
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
The Ramayana of Tulsi Dass was written 500 years after the actual incidents had taken place. He had the gift of writing in very easy understandable prose, the language of aam admi .So his Ramayana became almost revered book of religion while the Ramayana of Valmiki written at the time when the events actually took place has already been forgotten. For reason best known to Tulsi dass he has made all efforts to decry women as a lesser being in his writing. This has hade a lasting impact on Indian psyche towards women. Let us take some instances from the scared Ramayana.
King Dashrath gave some Vachan (promises) to one of his wife Kaikeyee that he will ensure the Son of Kaikyee Shri Bharat to ascend the throne and send Ram his eldest son on 14 years of exile. Kaikkyee played on this promise and made Ram go on exile. Why blame Kaikyee any mother will play these palace games. The fault lies with King Dashrath he should have done what is right being the King. So why he is not talked about as a villain of the peace in Ramayana why only Kaikeyee?
When Ram, Sita and Laxman had reached the thick of jungle Ravan appeared as a golden deer and Sita told Ram to get her this deer. Tulsidass blames Sita for sending out Ram on a deer chase why? Ram was a known warrior and he fully knew that on him rests the safety of Sita so he could have told Sita that no this is not the time to chase a deer golden or not but to ensure ones own safety. Nevertheless he went after the deer after instructing Laxman that he should protect Sita at all costs. In other words duties of Laxman were well defined and his job was to protect Sita come what may.
As the story goes there then came rumbling sound ‘He Ram’ and Sita got worried about Ram . She wanted Laxman to go in search of Ram . Laxman was rightly reluctant but as per story Sita was bent upon Laxman going and said so in no uncertain words.Finally Laxman also left leaving behind a Laxman Rekha which Sita was not supposed to cross. Surely Laxman was also a reputed warrior, how did he leave Sita alone against Rams orders? Now Ravana appears on the scene after Laxman has gone, as a priest and requesting Sita for water. Sita was not to cross the Laxman Rekha but to give priest water she crossed it and Ravan abducted her. In this entire story the blame gets passed to Sita. Frst that she sent Ram on Deer chase, Second she sent Laxman on search of Ram and then she herself crossed the Laxman Rekha. There is no blame placed on Ram or Laxman when in actual fact they are totally to be blamed for being so confused and leaving Sita alone.
After Ram won the war an Agni Parikhsa was taken only of Sita regarding her chastity. Why only her chastity what about Ram ? Either Lord Ram should have insisted that he will also give this test or else there will be no test. In any case why these tests ? What could poor sita would have done if Ravan would not have been a gentleman? Then again the story goes to tell us that on blame of a Dhobi to his wife that he is not Ram who will accept her, Ram told Laxman to throw Sita in a forest. Is this what we want to teach future generations of Hindus? Then when Sita gave birth to Love and Kush the two sons of Ram , Lord Ram again wanted to get her back which she a self respecting lady refused. Need of the hour is that we must not read Tulsidass Rmayan alone as Gospel truth .We must also read Valmiki Ramyan and then come to any conclusion. Besides Tulsidass should have praised the wife of Laxman also who sacrificed her 14 years of youth for the sake of not being a burden on Laxman in his duty to protect Ram And Sita.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, Telephone-0522-2446497. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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INDIAN CRICKETIERS LET DOWN ARMED FORCES SHAME
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
Two outstanding cricketers of India Mr. Sachin Tendulkar and Mr. MS Dhoni who were both bestowed with the honor of the rank of Hon Group Captain in Indian Air Force and a Hon Lt Col in Indian Army respectively took this award possibly as a joke because none of them had the decency to attend the 80th Anniversary function of the Indian Air Force held on 08 Oct 2012 and the Annul Territorial Army Parade held on 09 Oct. This only goes to prove that how much they love their country? Maybe that fat paycheck which they get for their playing for the country and their sponsorship money hold more importance to them then meeting the true defenders of countries honor.
Mr. Tendulkar was the first Indian cricket player who started pasting the insignia of Indian Flag on his cap and helmet. At that time he said that this flag gives him great courage and motivation. It is so surprising that the same man who gets so much inspiration from the Indian flag does not want to meet and participate in the functions of the very people who are prepaid to give supreme sacrifice for their country and its flag. Mr. Tendulkar when he bedecked himself in Blue Air warrior uniform with the epaulets of a Group Captain and was stuttering around in the glaze of media and the country in Sep 2010 should have realized that Indian Air Force is bestowing him with a great honor which decency demands that he should return by at least attending their functions like 80th Anniversary. If Mr. Tendulkar was not interested he could have refused to become an Air Force Officer .Mr. Tendulkar after award of this honor has not attended even a single Air Force function till date may be because this rank is honorary and does not bring along moolah as the cricket does.
Same can be said about the current Indian Cricket Captain Mr. MS Doni.With much fanfare he donned the coveted Olive Green uniform of a lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army early this year. He did not have the courtesy to attended the Annual Parade function Of the Territorial Army whose Lt Col he is on this Tuesday 09 Oct 2012.Then why don this uniform? What examples are these people setting to the soldiers of the Armed Forces? Indian Air Force was kind enough to be ready to fly both of them in their latest top of the line Fighter Sukhoi 30 MKI. Only Mrs. Pratibha Patil the Ex President and the supreme commander of Indian Armed Forces were granted this honor. Maybe both these gentlemen were afraid to risk their lives because they never took this offer? No wonder Australian bowlers brag about their short pitch bowling capability against team India which they call Chin Music.
Compare this with the Olympic Bronze meddle winner And world Number two shuttler Saniha Nehal who recently flew in a Kiran Jet Tainer Mk 2.Her very presence in IAF Academy Dundigal was a great inspiration and motivational factor to the new rookie pilots who will later on risk their lives for the country after becoming a trained fighter pilots. This girl did not even demand any Hon rank for self. Kudos to her a person who really loves her country. Life in Armed Forces is tough and adventurous. People join these Forces, risking their lives not for money. They join this profession for the love for their country and adventure. Armed Forces, its discipline, ship shapeness, bon homie, sense of focus and adventure bring best out of a person. Today each fighter aircraft costs millions and in present day modern combat you can not make a single mistake .One has to be perfectionist.
A true Example for love of the country is of Mr. Sachin Pilot who is currently a Union Minister in Indian Government. He did not take the Honorary route to Don the Armed Forces Uniform which he could have easily done. He passed all the selection tests like any other officer including medical tests. He then underwent complete military training to finally being commissioned as Lieutenant in The army. Hats off to him and the fact that he takes pride in his achievement which definitely is unique. It worth mentioning that his father Late Shri Rajesh pilot was also a minister and was an ex Wing Commander of Air Force having taken part in 1965 war. This is the Tradition which Mr. Sachin Pilot has maintained and Army is proud of him. it is time that armed Forces totally stop giving Hon ranks to spoilt brats of Indian sports or for that anybody who is not ready to live to the honor granted to him. We in Armed Forces do not need them let them play their cricket or whatever game they want to play. Only that person should be granted an Hon rank who knows really understands the honor being bestowed on him.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in, brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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UPA QUIETLY REHABILITATES THEIR TAINTED POLITICIANS
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
Mr. Kalmadi of CWG scam fame, Mr. A Raja and Mrs. Kanimozi of the 2G notoriety, who had hogged the headlines last year for quite some time for all the wrong reasons and had almost jolted the ruling UPA out of power, all three of them have been quietly rehabilitated by the ruling UPA in important Standing Committees of the Parliament, despite the fact that all three are undergoing major trials in the various courts and are only out on bail. What can be a bigger slap on the face of people of India and their sentiments by the current day powers that be then this?
Mr. Kalmadi a Minister earlier of Congress in UPA was put behind bars for nine months for the Gigantic 76000 Corer CWG Scam. He was released on bail in January this year. He has now been appointed as member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of India so that Mr. Kalmadi can advice Ministry of External Affairs of India in what long term strategy India should follow in dealing with other countries of the world. Mr. Kalmadi will also be responsible for scrutinizing the expense accounts of the foreign ministry. A scamaster examining accounts of a key ministry? God help this country.
Mr. A Raja who was the fountain head of 176000 Corer 2G Mother of all scams as Tele Com Minister of India was released in May this year on bail after spending almost one and half years in Jail. He has been appointed as a member in Standing Committee of Parliament on Energy Ministry. He Belongs to DMK Party in UPA. Apparently the ruling UPA feels that his expertise will now energies the Energy Ministry of India. Ms Kanimozi a DMK MP and daughter of the DMK supremo Karunanidhi has been appointed as member of the most important Standing Committee on Home Affairs Ministry.
Maybe the UPA managers thought that this quiet rehabilitation of these super tainted politicians of theirs will go unnoticed. It only highlights the chasm that exists between the aam admi on the road and the people sitting in vestibules of power that are refusing to accept the anger which is at boiling point in people of India against the corruption at high places. Now when media has paced these happenings in public domain the Congress spokespersons are offering the lame excuses that they are merely the accused, the charges against them are yet to be proven so they continue to be innocent. Besides they say it is not the party which nominates them and in any case all MPs have to be members of some Standing Committee. These are all mere technicalities which could have been easily set aside by UPA by passing a resolution that till the time these leaders are exonerated from their charges they will not participate in any standing Committees.
Congress included, if the respective political parties of these scam esters had any sense of propriety, they could have persuaded them to refrain from their nomination on their own. At least the speakers of both Parliaments could have objected to their inclusion. It is so surprising that these very politicians were all brim stone and fire when recently some speakers during Annas Fast at Delhi had used some defamatory words against Parliamentarians. They wasted no time in telling these defaulting speakers that how the Parliament is supreme, that it is the temple of Indian Democracy and they enjoy special privileges. True but then the Constitution alone can not enforce propriety if the members of Parliament themselves throw it out of the window. Nobody in India could have imagined that our Parliamentarians will develop such thick skin with the passage of time. There was time when Shri Lal Bahadur Shtri and then Madho Rao Scindia both Railway ministers resigned just because one Rail Accident took place. Mr. Advani resigned because some body tried to link his name with Havala. He only rejoined when he was fully exonerated. There are umpteen such instances of propriety followed in Parliament in past that was why people of India then respected their MPs and not despised them as they do now.
There are 172 MPS in the current Parliament who have serious criminal cases registered against them. They are in Parliament because of the same excuse that till the time court convicts them they are innocent. This innocence is too cosmetic. Actually these tainted MPs using their power and money come to Parliament only for one purpose, to delay and influence their criminal cases. This is also the very reason why these three scamsaters have been made members of these important committees. This way they will be able to delay the court proceedings citing their inability to attend the court because of Parliamentary work which is supreme.
This also the reason why all our MPs are opposed to the proposal of Election Commissioner that that no person should be allowed to participate in elections, against whom the court has framed the charges implying that a prima face case exists. It is time people of India force their elected representatives to accept this reform as propriety demands it. The reform of Right to reject and Right to recall must also be implemented, only then India can hope for some improvement in functioning of their Parliament otherwise Constitution apart the Indian Parliament and its members are fast loosing respect in the country and abroad.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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THE BURNING DERAILING COLLIDING TRAINS OF INDIA
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
Only about two decades back just one major train accident and the then Railway Minister Madho Rao Sindhiya not only took the blame on himself but insisted on resigning. Last week in the wee hours of morning in the Tamil Nadu Express speeding full speed ahead towards Chennai, the three tier Sleeper bogie Number S11 caught fire near Nellore station. In abscence of any safety measures, by the time the train could come to a halt 38 passengers were charred to death and large number of other passengers were injured. The Railway Minister Mr. Mukul Roy of the Trinamool Congress could not spare time to make at least a token presence at the place of this ghastly accident even within 12 hours. Saab Chalta Hai Mere Bharat Mahan Mein ?
Out of these 38 passengers burnt alive and many more passengers who are still alive but badly charred a lot of them could have beeen saved if they could be helilifted to the nearest hospital. Surely IAF or any other Helicopter firm would have rushed to the call. If nothing else since burnt cases need cooling effect they could have been put in an Air-condition Coach and rushed to the nearest hospital. But in India life has no value unless and until you are a Neta or VIP
Mr. Mukul Roy who like his mentor Ms Mamata Banerjee the previous Railway Minister, remote controls his Ministry by most of the time staying put in Calcutta only instead of Delhi. The honorable minister initially made a statement that this could be sabotage least bothered that what repercussion could result from this irresponsible statement. Maybe he has not heard of Godhra episode and the riots that ensued. Apparently all that he wanted was to absolve himself of any responsibility. It is a separate issue that under his able leadership in first seven months of this year four major train collisions have taken place killing 40 passengers and maiming many more, some for life. In addition one major derailment has resulted in loss of life of seven passengers. The death count on railway tracks and inside railway compartments have risen from 12972 in 2010 to 14670 in 2011.In any other country with Railways producing this death toll would have resulted in change of Government but in India we live in Chalta Hai Raj with no questions asked.
The Railways in this country are run on the concept of Populism. Any Minister who gets appointed as Railway Minister, all he thinks off is adding more trains specially to his home state on an already overloaded system. Passenger safety or for that matter quality of the railway coaches and their maintenance is never his priority. The lackadaisical attitude of employees and a work culture where accountability is never an issue afflicts the Railways from top to bottom. Add to this the recruitment and promotion based on caste and creed and not on merit due to the quota system and reservations and the picture is complete. Rajdhani Express and maybe few other prestigious trains where Netajis of India do travel when they are not traveling by air are the only ones looked after. All other trains for the Aaam Admi are run only at the mercy and under direct care of God Almighty.
A High Level Railway Safety Review Committee this year has recommended that Railways must spend 100000 Corers in next five years to bring up the safe travel in Railways. Better railway tracks, collision control devices, better signal system, better communication system and what have you have all been listed in this Committees report but where this money is to come from? Recently The Railway Minister before Mr. Mukul Roy , Mr. Dinesh Trivedi of the Trinamool Congress tried to raise some resources by raising fares but thanks to Mamata Bnarjee of the ‘Poribartan’ fame Mr. Trivedi was shunted out in no time and replaced by the present incumbent Mr. Roy. So far Mr. Roy has shown no inclination towards any ‘Poribartan’ in the functioning of Railways.
Another big issue is the dacoity, loot and molestations taking place in the trains. Every day news paper headlines shriek of some train being looted and suffering of passengers. Recently two girls were thrown out from running train for resisting molestation in broad day light. Each State is to provide protection to the train till the time the train is in their jurisdiction. For this Each state has GRP.The States post their worst policemen in this arm of their police besides there is always jurisdiction battles going on between various state police forces. Railways have raised their own Railway Protection Force (RPF).Rightfully it is this RPF who should be made fully accountable to all types of crimes concerning running trains and railways. This will make one agency fully accountable as against many agencies but the States are not ready for this .They feel that this is infringement of their rights. Meanwhile the Aam Admi continues to suffer.
It is time now people of India call enough is enough and use their democratic rights to force the Government to bring in much needed reforms in Railways. We can not be forced to travel in a killer agency with no accountability the populism must give way to pragmatism.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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PAKISTANI ISI AND INDIA
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
After 65 years of Independence refugee trains are again running in India but unlike the days of Partition when they were running between India and Pakistan this time they are plying within India carrying thousands of terrified North East people from Maharashtra, Pune, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to NE destinations. These people were threatened for the so called atrocities taking place against Bangladeshi Muslims in Assam. The Indian Home ministry now says that these threats and rumor mongering is the deed of Pakistan basically their intelligence agency ISI and the Indian Home Minister has spoken to Pakistani Home Minister on the issue.
It is the shortsightedness and lack of apprehension in our political masters who refuse to accept the fact that Pakistan will never be our friend come what may. The very existence of Pakistan is based on Jinnah’s two Nation theory. The Day Pakistan accepts that partition was a mistake and that indeed they are friends of India this theory will collapse and maybe Pakistan itself. ISI which is always headed by a Pakistani Army General works under Pakistani Army. It has been created in Pakistan with the sole aim of destabilizing India. It’s Operation TOPAZ whose final Goal is to break up India by thousand cuts is still in force. Even a kindergarten kid in India knows that 26/11 Mumbai terror attack was the handiwork of ISI. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed the head honcho of the Pakistan based terror organization Lashkar -e- Toiba (L-e-T) is in pay of the ISI and Pakistani Army. L-e-T is its Salwar Kameez clad unofficial soldiers terror organization to operate against India. Despite Pakistani economy in doldrums and cash hard to come by, the annual budget of ISI is 400 Million Dollars.
In the current scenario the Pakistani ISI picked up riots scenes of Tibet as also the earthquake destruction, morphed them with the protests in Thailand to make it look like North East of India and uploaded it on the 74 fake identity sites on social network web sites. This material was used to incite the Muslims in India claiming it as atrocities being committed on Muslims in Assam. However the thing which can not be pushed under carpet is the fact that ISI had indigenous help also .Their local modules are working in India. The recent arson and vandalism in Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad and physical attacks on the NE people in Karnataka are cases in point.
The riots in Assam are not communal at all. The local indigenous Muslim organization of Assam SAGMJP who have a 25 lakh following has openly come out with the statement that the trouble creators are the Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators who are now trying to grab the indigenous land of local people mainly the Bodos. Thanks to the vote bank politics of Indian politicians almost 6000 Bangladeshi Muslims enter India every day from the unfenced Border at Dhubri, Garo Hills in Meghalaya, Karim Gunj and Cachar in Barak Valley, Tripura and West Bengal. These people get ration cards and ID by local Netas and they quickly convert themselves into vote banks. Recently the UPA Government themselves have accepted in Parliament that 84000 Bangladeshi Muslims who had come to India have gone missing. The truth is that today 50 Million Bangladeshi Muslims are in India illegally. Why these borders are not fenced the UPA Government must answer to people of India.
Since the time the short span Prime Minster of India Mr IK Gujral indulging in his Pakistani birthplace nostalgia in eighties took away from the Indian Intelligence Agency RAW the proactive action option, the hands of RAW have been tied and we have always been found reactive to the ISI shenanigans. It is time RAW gets back it proactive capability. Pakistan has enough serious problems of its own in its Baluchistan, Sind, And NWFP Provinces. It is time we also fish in troubled waters in Pakistan in a big way and let two play the game of chess at level platform. Towards this end we have produced world champion Grad masters. As it is Pakistan is on verge of disintegration all that is needed is converting push into shove. No more Aman ki Asha please at least not with Pakistani army and ISI.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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ANTI CORRUPTION MOVEMENT DIVIDED THEY FALL
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
To their dismay, Starting 04 Aug people of India have seen that The Anti corruption Movements of Both Anna Hazare and Baba Ram Deo demanding Jan Lok Pal Bill and return of Black Money from tax havens respectively , issues very close to the heart of the AAm Admi, have been given scant attention by the Cong led UPA Government in power. These agitations which initially did generate lot of hopes have fallen on the way side. There is a large smirk on the faces of most of the Congress Netas of the UPA, some even taunting these two agitaionists that they knew all along they had political ambitions. The point is if having political ambition is so bad and that politics is so murky then what are these shining white Dhoti Kurta clad Netas of UPA are doing there? Especially when they sermonize that they sitting in the high alter of Parliament are working for the better meant of people of India?
Last year both these movement got rousing support from the people of India because they saw in these movements issues which are affecting the majority of the people of all caste creed and religion. Nobody can deny the fact that 1.78 Corer bureaucracy of India from top to bottom is corrupt. Nothing happens without the Aam Admi paying under the tables. As for Indian politicians with going rate of 10 Corer for election to the post of MP and 5 Corer for State legislature, less said the better. In this totally murky scenario with World renowned agency Transparency International rating India as one of the most corrupt country and its police getting Olympic Silver medal of being the second most corrupt in the World in these two agitations people of India saw silver lining in otherwise a very dark sky.
Had Baba Ramdeo campaigning against stacking of black money abroad by Indians estimated to be 1796 Billion Dollars –highest in the World and Anna Hazare demanding strong Jan lok Pal Bill to check rampant corruption in India joined hands from the beginning and formed a coordinating committee to channels their agitations, instead of smirk there would have been dark clouds of consternation on the faces of Indian politicians today and maybe we would have seen action on the ground. Unfortunately both these movements became mutually competitive with each trying to gain lime light. For any agitation to succeed basic Mantra is transparency in your actions and need to implement what you say. Unfortunately both the movements have suffered from lack of specific goals , objectives and key result areas. This has resulted is people of India gaining an impression that they are direction less thus losing their belief in them. This also enabled the politicians in power to plant stories and follow the policy of divide and rule.
Even now it not too late. Let Anna and Rmdeo come together, thrash out their differences behind closed doors. Appoint a all powerful coordinating committee and issue a joint white paper listing out what is the minimum they will settle with the Government in power. After this there should be no moving of goal posts. They should work out number of strategies and have hem handy. Do not give an impression of groping in the dark. Instead of everybody grabbing the mike and becoming motor mouth appoint spokes person who should daily give out statements to press. Debate the issues at all India level. With Anna’s Urban following and Baba Ramdeos Grip on rural India this joint movement will then become unbeatable.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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NAXALS ON ABDUCTION SPREE TIME TO WAKE UP
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
By abducting and taking hostage four VIPs including two foreign nationals in last six months and forcing the Government in power to bow to their demands Naxals not only have internationalized their movement they have made the Government of India look powerless and soft in dealing with this hostage crisis. Before we are looked down by the world community as paper tigers and Banana Republic it is time we assert the rule of law in the country.
Since 2008 till date Naxals have abducted 1568 Aam Admi of this country. Out of these 328 have been killed on the spurious charges of being police informers by the Maoists. This year alone 89 people have been abducted out whom 11 have been killed. They not being important persons the business was going on as usual. However it was the Naxals who raised the ante by abducting Mr. RV Krishna the collector of Malkangiri District of Orissa late last year. This was followed by abduction and taking hostage of two Italian nationals again in Malkangiri District of Odisha in early March this year. Within ten days of this incident Naxals abducted Mr. Xena Hikka an BJD MLA from Koraput District of Orissa. Soon after they took hostage Mr. Alex Paul the collector of Sukma District of Chhattisgarh while Mr. Paul was supervising development work in his district. His two police body guards were shot dead on the spot.
Instead of talking tough the Patnayak Government of Odisha bent backwards to get the release of Mr. Krishna , the two Italians and Mr Hikka. All the demands of the Naxals were met which included halting of all operations against Naxals and release of large number of Naxal cadres in custody of the Odisha Government. As for Mr Alex fate the Chhattisgarh Government has halted all operations aginst Naxals and is in talks with them. The Naxals are demanding release of 17 of their cadres. These demands are likely to be met and hopefully Mr. Paul will be released by 03 May.
Maoist have realized that Indian State lacks political will to take tough measures against them. They know that by taking hostage a VIP or at least an IP (Important Person) from time to time they can bend the State Governments at will to get their demands met.
These incidents should convince the Indian politicians in power and those so called intellectuals who support the cause of Naxals on the pretext that Naxals are our own people and that they are fighting against the exploitation of the Tribals that this is not true. Lets us be very clear in our minds that our people or not Naxals having picked up arms against their own country India are traitors and will have to be dealt with sternly. Indian Constitution is very clear about how to deal with such people. Naxals are not fighting for any body they are focused in their doctrine that they intend to usurp the power in the country with dint of arms. It is the ruling class in India and the so called human rights activist who have to clear their mental cobwebs.
These spree of abductions have put paid to the much tom tomed policy of the Government in power of conducting development work along with military action. Our political masters must get out of their populist ideas and vote bank policies .They must now start thinking of the nation as a entity and not the regions they represent or their States. It is time we fall back to the time tested basic policy in counter insurgency operations of first securing the ground by military action and then conducting development activities.
We must evolve central Standing Operating Procedures of how to deal with abductions of this kind. The policy should be uniform for all states. In the case of the abduction of Mr. Paul in Sukma District the Air Force UAVs had identified the location where Mr. Paul was held captive by Naxals.The need of the hour was to launch an special forces operations of which both Army and the NSG have the capability. Nothing of the sorts was done for the fear that Mr. Paul s life would be put in danger. Well in public service some risks have to be taken. However by stopping all anti Naxal operations as was done in both Odisha and Chhattisgarh we are playing in the hands of Naxals. Naxals have used this interlude to lay more mines which will subsequently result in more casualties to the security forces. Their life is equally important.
Finally why should State Governments have the authority to release the prisoners? Once the Naxals are caught and put in jail it should be only the court that should have powers to release them. This way at least the States could tell the Naxals that releasing the arrested Naxlas is not in their hands. Need of the hour is concerted and strong military action against the Naxals thereby forcing them to the negotiating table at our terms. Soft approach will not help.
Brigadier Aarun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, C-128,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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TATRA GATE AND THE MOD
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
In the month of March this year, After Army Chief General VK Singh revealed to one of the leading news papers that on 22 sep 2010 he was offered a bribe from one Lt Gen Tejender Singh (Retd) for accepting a consignment of 600 sub standard Tatra Trucks and that he had informed the Defense minister Mr. A K Antony immediately, all hell broke loose in political circles in India.
Mr. Antony under pressure from all quarters has ordered an investigation by the CBI. The investigations have reveled that Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) who is supposedly manufacturing Tatra Heavy Duty trucks after the technology transfer from the original Czech Company of the same name is only assembling the truck from the knock down kits supplied by one Mr. Ravinder Singh Rishi an NRI Indian who is basically a middle man with his company Tatra Sipox based in London.
For the reason best known to Ministry of Defense (MOD), in 1997 instead of obtaining the trucks direct from the original producer Tatra Chez company with whom Mr. Rajiv Gandhi then Prime minister of India had signed the original contract in 1987, the BEML quietly signed this contract with Tatra Sipox which is only a front company owned by Mr. Rishi.It does not produce any trucks. Mr. Rishi use to buy the complete knock down kits of the Tatra heavy duty trucks from the original Tatra Company at 10 percent discount and then sell the same to BEML at 100 percent price increase.
So a Tatra Heavy duty Truck which in open market costs 40 lakh per piece was being sold to Army at the price of 1.10 Corer by the BEML. What needs to be understood is that Army is the user, MOD is the buyer and BEML which works under the MOD is the seller. Are we supposed to be such fools to believe that all this has been going on right under the nose of the MOD and Defense Minister included no body in MOD knew about it ?More so since this racket has gone on for more than one decade and 7000 Tatra Trucks costing 4000 Corers have been purchased.
Indian Defense purchase rules explicitly lay down that no defense equipment will be purchased from a middle man. Then how come BEML signed this contract with Mr. Rishi a middleman? This is not possible without MOD being in loop and lot of palms being greased. Rattled by this revelation by the army Chief and the public outcry that followed MOD has ordered a CBI inquiry but if we think any thing will come out of this inquiry we are mistaken. Let us not forget that lot of times CBI is referred to as Congress Bureau of Investigation.
It is time people of India wake up to the outside dangers country is facing and how in the name of providing security to the country the Neta Babu Combine of this country is looting the country. It is time people of India demand accountability from their elected leaders and enforce serious punishments for corruption in the field of India’s security. This is only one scam a mere tip of Ice Berg all parties in power in India have been milking this cow. Mr Bangroo Laxman an ex President of BJP has been convicted on 28 April and sentenced for four year jail term again for a defense related corruption.
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Posted on
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
10:01:25 PM
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From
Nainy Sahani
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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TATRA GATE JUST THE TIP OF ICEBERG
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
With India having second largest standing Army third largest Air Force and fifth largest Navy in the world, It is so surprising that even after 64 years of Independence nobody has asked our political masters the question that why are we still the largest arms importing country in the Globe? MOD has 8 large PSUs and 42 defense laboratories at their disposal, then there is 10000 Core Behemoth DRDO to indigenize arms production? Still how is that even Pakistan is making more arms within their own country then us ? The answer lies in the recently unveiled Tatra Gate Scam. Nobody wants India to be self sufficient in arms production.
On 26 March this year all hell broke loose in our political and bureaucratic circles after the revelations made by the Army Chief General VK Singh to a leading English daily hit the head lines that in September 2010 he was offered a bribe of RS 14 Corer by one Lt General Tejender Singh (Retd) for accepting a substandard consignment of 600 heavy duty Tatra Trucks of Czech Republic origin. The General says that he had immediately informed the Defense Minister Mr. AK Antony a fact confirmed by Mr. Antony.
The big issue is not that the General was offered a bribe, Indians are past masters in giving and taking bribes otherwise how can we be ranked as 87th most corrupt country in the world ? The main issue is the Tatra Truck deal over which the Army Chief had no control. All defense acquisition deals in India are finalized by the politicians and bureaucrats sitting in Ministry of Defense. The role of the Armed forces is restricted to putting up the requirements of weapons from time to time and then try out the equipment selected by the Defense Acquisition Committee headed by the Defense Secretary.
After this Tatra Gate come into public domain the Defense Minister has been forced to order a CBI probe. The unsavory skeletons that are now falling out from cupboards with breadth taking regularity bring out loudly and clearly as to how our Netas, bureaucrats sitting in MOD, Defense PSUs and a spattering of senior Army officers are short changing the security and well being of this country .
In the year 1987 then Prime Minister of India Mr. Rajiv Gandhi had signed the deal of supply of Tatra heavy duty trucks for Indian Army from Tatra Company of Czech Republic. Tatra truck is a world renowned truck with unique capabilities. It has a separate suspension for each wheel which conforms to the terrain in such a manner that this truck can ply over all kinds of terrain with ease. In India this truck is used for towing heavy artillery guns like Bofors, transporting heavy tanks, as missile platform and ferrying 34 fully armed soldiers. This truck comes in 8x8, 6x6 and 4x4 configurations. Till date 7000 such trucks have been imported. By far it was best Defense deal signed.
Inherent in this deal was the clause that the technology of production of these trucks will be transferred to India and progressively these trucks will be made in India. For this Bharat Erath Movers LTD (BEML) a Defense PSU was chosen. Lo and behold what BEML does ? In 1997 It quietly signs a deal with a London Based NRI Mr. Ravindr Singh Rishi and his two England based front companies Tatra Sipox and Venus Group for supply of Tatra Trucks. Incidentally this Mr. Rishi holds major shares in original Tatra Czech Republic Company and is their Vice Chairman. By signing this deal with Mr. Rishi a middleman, BEML broke all the laid down rules of Defense procurement. Surely this could not have been possible without a nod from the then Defense Minster and others down the channel.
What Mr. Rishi did subsequently is even more startling. He has been buying the knocked down kits of the complete Tatra vehicle (CKD) at ten percent discount from the original Czech Republic Tatra company and then selling the same to BEML at double the price of the truck in open market. All the profits he was keeping for himself. How many palms must have been greased at regular basis to keep this racket going for such a long time is anybody’s guess. As for the transfer of technology, in last 26 years all that the BEML has achieved is to assemble this truck from the knocked down kits (CKDs.).Did anybody ask this PSU any question?
This is an apt example of the commanding heights the Indian defense PSUs are achieving in defense production. This also is a sad commentary as to why all Defense Projects in India never fructify in time and in the shape they are planned. From top to bottom there is slush and sloth all in the name of indigenization. What is even more amazing in this Tatra Truck shenanigans is that While Indian heavy duty truck manufacturers like Tata, Mahindra, Eicher have gone global with their trucks plying all over the world, instead of involving them in Truck production for Army our MOD buys trucks at double the market price from abroad.
This just one deal exposes how the Foreign Arms dealers and middleman in India are taking this country for a ride. It is time people of India wake up and demand transparency in all such deals. It is time that the personnel from armed forces the real stake holders must also be included in all these deal making to bring in accountability. After all they are the stake holders and will be held accountable to their respective Forces. Why should the MOD be domain of only civilian bureaucrats ?why should Armed Forces Officers not occupy the post of directors ?
Finally the all party Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense must have powers to check various deals concluded by the Government in power from time to time. The Government must be made answerable to them in the Parliament. India must go for long term Defense planning and the Private sector must be brought in the Arms production field in a big way. Why should Indian tax payers money be going abroad for buying arms ? A country which can produce its own nuclear reactors, launch satellites from its own rockets, produce world class satellites and is a super power in Information Technology why can it not produce its own armaments and sell them globally thereby making India self sufficient in weapons as also generating more jobs in the country? Our dreams of becoming a global power can not fructify if we remain dependent on imported arms.
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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MUST SPEND SOME TIME--Wiki list of Indian scandals since 1947.tThis list contains all the scams, possible scams ,suspected scams and what have you. The facts need to be ascertained.
■Reported President of India's land grab scandal - President of India Pratibha Patil allegedly grabbed 2,61,000 sq ft of defence land in Khadki Cantonment, Pune and built a home on it [1] [2] [3] [4]
■Coal Mining Scam - Central government lost 1,070,000 crore (US$213.47 billion) by not Auctioning Coal Blocks says CAG's 110 page draft report [5][6] [7]
■Karnataka Wakf Board Land Scam - 200,000 crore (US$39.9 billion)[8][9]
■Andhra Pradesh land scam - 100,000 crore (US$19.95 billion)[10]
■Service Tax and Central Excise Duty fraud - 19,159 crore (US$3.82 billion) crore)[11] [12]
■Gujarat PSU financial irregularities - 17,000 crore (US$3.39 billion)[13] [14]
■Maharashtra stamp duty scam - 640 crore (US$127.68 million)[15] [16]
■Highway scam - 70 crore (US$13.97 million) [17] [18] [19]
■Ministry of External Affairs gift scam[20] [21] [22]
■Himachal Pradesh pulse scam[23] [24]
■Flying Club fraud - 190 crore (US$37.91 million)[25]
■Andhra Pradesh liquor scam[26][27]
■Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association scam - Approximately 50 crore (US$9.98 million)[28][29]
■Jammu and Kashmir PHE scam[30]
■Jammu and Kashmir recruitment scam[31]
■Jammu and Kashmir examgate[32] [33]
■Jammu and Kashmir dental scam[34]
■Punjab paddy scam - 18 crore (US$3.59 million)[35] [36]
■NHPC cement scam[37]
■Girivan (Pune) land scam [38] (not to be confused with Pune land scam which came to light during 2011)
[edit]2011
■Uttar Pradesh NRHM scam - 10,000 crore (US$2 billion)[39][40][41][42][43]
■ISRO's S-band scam (also known as ISRO-Devas deal, the deal was later called off) - 200,000 crore (US$39.9 billion) [44] [45] [46][47]
■KG Basin Oil scam[48] [49] [50] [51] [52]
■Goa mining scam[53][54]
■Bellary mining scam
■Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike scam - 3,207 crore (US$639.8 million)[55] [56] [57] [58]
■Himachal Pradesh HIMUDA housing scam[59][60]
■Pune housing scam [61]
■Pune land scam [62] [63]
■Orissa pulse scam - 700 crore (US$139.65 million)[64][65] [66] [67]
■Kerala investment scam - 1,000 crore (US$199.5 million)[68]
■Maharashtra education scam - 1,000 crore (US$199.5 million)[69][70]
■Mumbai Sales Tax fraud - 1,000 crore (US$199.5 million)[71]
■Uttar Pradesh TET scam[72][73][74]
■Uttar Pradesh MGNREGA scam[75]
■Orissa MGNREGA scam[76][77] [78]
■Indian Air Force land scam[79] [80] [81]
■Tatra scam - 750 crore (US$149.63 million)[82]
■Bihar Solar lamp scam - 40 crore (US$7.98 million)[83] [84]
■BL Kashyap - EPFO scam - 169 crore (US$33.72 million)[85][86]
■Stamp Paper scam (not to be confused with Abdul Karim Telgi's Stamp Paper scam) - 2.34 crore (US$466,830)[87]
[edit]2010
■2G spectrum scam - In the audit report, CAG puts the loss at 176,000 crore (US$35.11 billion) [88] whereas CBI pegs the loss at 30,984 crore (US$6.18 billion) [89]
■Adarsh Housing Society scam
■Commonwealth Games scam
■Uttar Pradesh food grain scam
■LIC housing loan scam
■Belekeri port scam
■Andhra Pradesh Emmar scam - 2,500 crore (US$498.75 million)[90] [91][92] [93]
■Madhya Pradesh MGNREGA scam - 9 crore (US$1.8 million)[94]
■Jharkhand MGNREGA scam[95] [96] [97]
■Indian Premier League scandal[98][99]
■Karnataka housing board scam[100] [101] [102]
[edit]2000s
[edit]2009
■Madhu Koda mining scam
■Goa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) scam[103] [104]
■Rice export scam - 2,500 crore (US$498.75 million)[105]
■Orissa mining scam - 7,000 crore (US$1.4 billion)[106]
■Orissa paddy scam[107] [108]
■Sukhna land scam - Darjeeling [109] [110] [111] [112]
■Vasundhara Raje land scam[113]
■Austral Coke scam - 1,000 crore (US$199.5 million)[114][115]
■Gujarat's VDSGCU Sugarcane scam - 18.7 crore (US$3.73 million) [116] [117] [118]
[edit]2008
■Cash for Vote Scandal
■Hasan Ali black money controversy[119][120][121]
■The Satyam scam [122]
■State Bank of Saurashtra scam - 95 crore (US$18.95 million)[123][124]
■Army ration pilferage scam - 5,000 crore (US$997.5 million)[125]
■Jharkhand medical equipment scam - 130 crore (US$25.94 million)[126] [127]
■Haryana Teachers' recruitment scam[128] [129]
[edit]2006
■Kerala ice cream parlour sex scandal
■Scorpene Deal scam[130][131][132]
■Punjab city centre project scam - 1,500 crore (US$299.25 million)[133]
■Uttar Pradesh ayurveda scam - 26 crore (US$5.19 million)[134] [135] [136] [137]
■Navy War Room Spy Scandal (related to Scorpene Deal Scam)
[edit]2005
■IPO scam [138][139]
■Oil for food scam (Natwar Singh)
■Bihar flood relief scam - 17 crore (US$3.39 million)[140]
[edit]2004
■Gegong Apang PDS scam
[edit]2003
■Taj corridor scandal
■HUDCO scam[141]
[edit]2002
■Stamp paper scam - 20,000 crore (US$3.99 billion)[142] [143] [144]
■Provident Fund (PF) scam [145][146]
■Kargil coffin scam[147]
[edit]2001
■Ketan Parekh securities scam
■Barak Missile scandal
■Calcutta Stock Exchange scam[148]
[edit]2000
■India-South Africa match fixing scandal[149]
■UTI scam - 32 crore (US$6.38 million)[150]
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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Here's a simple yet touching poem. The common soldier gives his everything to defend his Country,and yet he is forgotten soon after the conflict is over. But the Neta who is very often the cause of the conflicts, hides in his "shell" during the conflict and emerges only when the danger is over. Yet when these cowardlly braggarts die, we extoll their virtues as if they were God's gift to mankind, and build monuments in their memories. The poor soldier the real hero, is forgotten and his passing on is not even noticed. Can there be greater inequality than this?
A Poem Worth Reading
He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the family,
Telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.
And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew where of he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For ol' Natha Singh has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.
He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.
He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.
When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.
Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?
The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.
While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And a pension, meagre & small..
It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.
Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some Neta,
With his ever waffling stand?
Or would you want a Soldier--
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight to the skin.
He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline In the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,A SOLDIER DIED YESTERDAY.."
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Posted on
Sunday, August 26, 2012
4:58:34 PM
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From
Dr Tarun Goklani
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Posted on
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
9:58:48 AM
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From
Nani Manna
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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UPA PLAYING POLITICS WITH AGE OF ARMY CHIEF
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
The SSC, Higher Secondary or 12th Standard board certificates serves as unimpeachable record confirming one’s date of birth (DOB) in India. The Supreme Court, too, has ruled so in most unambiguous terms. Add Birth Certificate to it and the proof is final. Not so for the civilian Babus of Ministry of Defence or Mr. Antony the Defence Minster himself who are refusing to accept 10 May 1951,listed as the date of birth of Indian Army Chief Gen VK Singh in both these certificates as correct. The big question is why?
Gen V K Singh entered Birla Public School with his date of birth (DOB) showing as 10 May 1951. His matriculation certificate also carries the same date. The date change controversy with his new date of birth being 10 May 1950 as claimed by MOD, originated with one of his teachers, BS Bhatnagar filling this wrong date in his NDA examination form. At that time the General was just 15 years old, a minor. When he passed the NDA exam, the anomaly between the forms filled by Bhatnagar and his matriculation certificate was noticed by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC). This anomaly was rectified and the right DOB of 10 May 1951 showed up in his NDA graduation and Indian Military Academy entry records.
However clerical oversight ensured that even after he entered the IMA, the covering envelope (from the NDA) mentioned 1950 as his DOB. It is this covering envelope having no legal sanctity that Gen V K Singh’s detractors are using to put his DOB into question. Point to note is that in every subsequent document, barring the Army List dished out by the Military Secretary branch, the right DOB 10 May 1951 appears.
It is a acknowledged fact in 1.13 million strong Indian Army that General VK Singh, an honest and upright straight talking soldier, has in his two years tenure restored the reputation of the Army after the much talked about Adarsh Society fraud that involved previous Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor and the Sukhna Scam involving the two biggies the duo of General Avdesh Prakash and General Rath. Both of them close cronies of Gen Deepak Kapoor. They have since been court-martialed.
No less a person then Capt Arminder Singh current Congress party chief and ex Chief Minister of Punjab has written a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh backing the integrity of General VK Singh and calling the General a soldiers General. Arminder Singh in his letter has clearly stated that politics has been played at the highest level in order to place certain individuals in position to be future Chiefs. UPA Government having allowed this issue to linger on for full one year, it has taken heavy toll of Morale of the Army. The Army stands divided in two camps. Those wanting Gen VK Singh to continue and those against.Truely a sad happening for a staunchly apolitical Army totally loyal to the country.
Right from the time an officer enters the training academy till he retires and even after, all records are maintained by the Adjutant General (AG) branch. The AG branch clearly puts Gen Singh’s age as 10 May 1951.
It may also be pointed out that Gen Singh rose to the rank of Lt Gen after appearing before several promotion boards – all of which accepted his 10 May 1951 date of birth. The boards which cleared his promotion from brigadier to major-general to lieutenant general were endorsed by the prime minister himself.
It is in the Military Secretary Branch responsible for the promotions and postings that the date of birth of Gen VK Singh has been erroneously listed as 10 May 1950.Custodian authenticity of records being of AG Branch responsibility all that the MS Branch should have done was to consult the AG Branch of the same Army Headquarters and correct the date of birth .There was no reason for this controvesary.
The moot point is that Vested interests inside and outside the country have been desperately trying to ease out Army Chief, Gen VK Singh. The idea being to supplant him with a convenient and pliable officer. Cases in point are, it was General VK Singh who had refused the induction of the Army against the Naxals despite Home Minister Chidambaram wanting it. In the recent demand of J&K State CM Omar Abdulla of removing AFSPA from certain districts of J&K for which even the PMO was agreeable again it was Gen VK Singh who opposed the move and carried the day through.
India has to buy 32 Billion Dollars worth of arms from abroad in the near future. It has been said in media that 10 percent of all these arms purchase money goes to the coffers of Swiss Bank for the party in power to fight the next elections. Needless to say an honest and upright Chief Of Army Staff will be a hurdle to the powers that be more so with elections due in 2014.
Gen VK Singh took over as COAS when the Army was bedeviled by scams, and he took it upon himself to arrest this decline in its image. This is one reason why opposition to him has been building. One senior officer, who stands to benefit the most if Singh is made to retire a year earlier, is said to be blatantly playing the sectarian card and was said to be lobbying indirectly with the law ministry. Lo and behold the ministry made a sudden volute face and threw its weight behind the 1950 birth date.
Currently the Civil Military relations in India are at its worst. In the name of Civilian Government control over Army it is the bureaucrats who are ruling the roost with no accountability. In the words of The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajinder Sachhar the Congress led UPA Government is dealing with Army in an ungainly manner. They have belittled the Army Chief as if they are dealing with a head clerk. A Government already neck deep in scams now dealing with Army in a cavalier manner is not a good sign. If General VK Singh goes to Supreme Court, which he should with his case, he is bound to win. However this will be a very bad blot to the political class of India.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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ARMY AT THE RECEVING END OF POLITICS IN J &K STATE
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
In July this year Mr. Omar Abdulla the Chief Minister of J&K was forced to call the Army to control the worsening law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley. The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had to hold an emergency meeting of CCPA to facilitate the same. Now just six months down the line Mr. Abdulla is back to his old sport of Army bashing and demand of partial removal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act from some of the 22 Districts of J&K State, despite opposition from Army.
Mr. Omar Abdulla’s popularity has plummeting in the J&K State in last three years of his reign. Administrative lapses, unchecked corruption leading to violent street demonstration by the people and the recent death of his own senior party worker who was last seen entering his house, resulting in public demand of his death being investigated by CBI have all lent to this down slide. By demanding removal of AFSPA from some of the 22 Districts of J&K where he fees that insurgency has been contained Mr. Abdulla is playing to Gallery to regain his lost public image without a second thought that it is a sensitive issue and any wrong move will cost the nation dear.
The AFSPA allows Army to fire upon and even cause death against any person working in contravention of law and order in an area declared disturbed by the state government. They can arrest any person without warrant but will have to hand over the same to police within 48 hours. They can destroy any arms dumps, terror training centers etc. No prosecution suit
or legal proceedings can be initiated against Army Personnel without the sanction of the Central Government. It will be appreciated that almost the same powers are also available to local police but unlike police, Army is not answerable to Local politicians like Omar Abdulla. This is what irks these politicians because they want Army also to dance at their tune so they target AFSPA.
Mr. Dileep Padgaonkar the senior interlocutor appointed by the UPA Government has also come out in favor of Mr. Abdulla saying that “Army has witnessed major changes in terms of modern equipment, mobility and training, it can take charge in minutes in an emergency situation”. What these people fail to understand is that it is not the question of quickly taking charge. It has taken Army two decades to build its intelligence network in the Kashmir valley. In militancy prone states it is not guns and bullets of which Army has no dearth but the local intelligence that delivers the results. If AFSPA is removed from here then this will die its own death and army will be left high and dry and ineffective when it returns.
Recently Lt. General Sayyed Atta Hasnain the General Officer Commanding 14 Corps and responsible for the Valley had made a presentation to Omar Abdulla. In his presentation General Hasnan has stated that removal of AFSPA is not just based on local conditions but has major ramifications. The threat from across the border from Pakistan sponsored Jehadis has not abated but in actual fact is all time high. There has been marked increase in cross border infiltration. In POK ISI is still running 42 Jehadi Training Camps. As per the assessment of Intelligence agencies there are 2500 Jehadis across the border waiting to get into valley. This is an all time high figure. In other words despite its sweet talks Pakistan wants to keep this Jehadi Terror gun pointed towards India and we can not take this threat lightly. Recently even Americans have been warning India of this existing threat
Let us be clear in our minds that once AFSPA is lifted from certain districts the Jeahdis from across the border will make a bee line for these areas for rest and relief. They will make these districts as their base from where they will sally out to launch terror attacks in other areas.
Army is meant for external security. This Act provides Army the legal protection when Army is used for internal security duties. We have More than half a million paramilitary forces under MHA in the country. Internal security is their job. Army should only be used in internal security duties in a democracy when things have totally gone out of control. Actually Indian Constitution provides that The Central Government can declare Martial Law in these areas if need be.
If Mr. Abdulla is still unrelenting in his desire to partially lift AFSPA from certain areas then it is bound to lead to further untenable demands.
Then best is to declare the entire Valley as undisturbed and remove AFSPA. Army will gladly leave Kashmir Valley. Let Mr. Omar Abdulla and his police control the show in the Valley. Surely Abdulla can not have his cake and eat it too by keeping the Army also in the Valley and then demanding to curtail its powers. Why should Army loose its men to jehadi bullets for the incompetence and political game of Abdulla.?
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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ABU MULLEN EL AMERIKI ON WARPATH AGAINST PAKISTAN
BRIGADIER AARUN BAJPAI
Admiral Mike Mullen the highest ranking American officer in Pentagon considered by Pakistanis as their very benevolent friend so much so that in Pakistan he is affectionately nick named ‘Abu Mullen El Ameriki’, not only stunned Pakistan but even the American Senate Committee on 22 Sep by his presentation which first time in the history of America directly blamed Pakistani Army and ISI for waging proxy war against America in Afghanistan.
Admiral Mike Mullen in his presentation said “The Government of Pakistan and most especially the Pakistani Army And ISI jeopardizes not only the prospect of our strategic partnership but Pakistan’s opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional influence”. This was preceded by a three hour meeting of Admiral Mullen with Pakistani Army Chief General Kayani in Spain and three secret visits of Pakistani ISI Chief General Shuja Pasha to Washington to ease out the detoriating US- Pak relations on the issue of Pakistan using the Haqqani network of Taliban as an strategic asset to wage proxy war against American in Afghanistan.
American senators who have been demanding strong measures against Pakistan on this issue of Pakistani double game for quite some time now, cutting across the party line have voted for a resolution which makes all American Aid including military being given to Pakistan conditional to Pakistani action against these jehadis nurtured by them. America has also included the India specific Terror organization Lashkar-e -Toiba operating from Pakistani soil against Indian cities in their demand. Reacting to this development Pakistani Foreign Minster Hina Rabbani Khar currently in America for UN General Assembly has warned America that If they do not stop blaming Pakistan, America will loose Pakistani Support on their war on terror.
The genesis of this open war of words between Pakistan and America are the 10 Sep terror attack on American troops in Wardak in Afghanistan by the Haqqani network operating from North Waziristan in Pakistan which killed five Afghan officials and injured 77 American troops and the Jehadi attack on American Embassy in Kabul on 13 Sep which America says is the handiwork of Haqani network .
The relations between America and Pakistan started going sour after American discovery of Osama Bin Laden in safe heaven of Pakistani Garrison town of Abootabad in May this year. There is no doubt that America has been able to cull out lot of concrete evidence of Pakistani Armies culpability in hiding Osama Bin Laden in Abbotabad from the hard disc of computer of Osama carted away by the American Seals from the Osama hideout in Abbotabad. US is also in possession of the cell phones which the Jehadis of the Haqqani network attacking the American Embassy in Kabul on 13 Sep were using to talk with their ISI handlers during and after the attack.
It is now clear to America that Pakistan is unlikely to act against the sanctuaries provided by them to the Jehadis operating against American troops in Afghanistan and against India. Admiral Mike Mullen has officially stated that this Pakistani inaction is making it impossible for the 130000 American troops in Afghanistan to break the insurgency there and pull out by the year 2014 as announced by President Obama. Pakistani Army fights only those Jehadis in their country who are directly challenging the authority of the Pakistani Army like the Tehrik-e-Pakistan Taliban.
So what happens next? Till a year back America was 70 percent dependent on land routes through Pakistan for supply of its troops fighting in Afghanistan. However now by opening new routes via central Asian countries America has reduced this dependency on Pakistan to 30 percent. It is also apparent that US has realized that its policy of molly coddling Pakistan by lavish military aid and other aid amounting to billions of dollars has gone waste. It is also a confirmed situation that come what may US will withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014.
It is quite possible that US may give Pakistan a resounding parting kick by launching an all out air and missile war against the jehadi groups sponsored by Pakistan within its territory which includes Haqqani network. Possibility of American troops entering Pakistan in North Waziristan Area can not be ruled out. It is unlikely that China the all weather friend of Pakistan and on whom the Pakistan is currently banking to bail itself out against America will come in the way. China itself has a very restive Muslim population numbering 10 million in its Xing Xian Province who want independence from China.Saudi Arabia the other sponser of Pakistan itself is dependent on America for its security. It will not help Pakistan beyonda point. For India it is an ideal opportunity to cash in on the anti Pakistan feeling currently engulfing length and breadth of US.
Brigadier Aarun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in, brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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POLITICS IN INDIA A MONEY MAKING CAREER
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
Son of a clerk now dealing in millions when indicted by Lok Ayukt for 1800 Corer mining scam, the Karnataka Chief Minister Yedurappa instead of making way gracefully for somebody else till his names gets cleared, fought tooth and nail with BJP High Command against his removal. Funny these are the Netas of India who say that they are Janta Ke Sevaks.
Country saw the same spectacle some time back with CWG scamester and Congress MP Kalmadi as also 2 G Spectrum Scam culprit The DMK Minister A Raja. There is hardly any politician in India whose name is not sullied in some scam or the other .So what surprise that the current generation of Indian public with 740 million people below 35 years of age, India being the youngest country in the world, has lost faith in their leaders. It is sad commentary on Indian political class that today people of India, whom they represent, do not have any faith in their words and promises any more.
Neither BJP nor Congress or for that matter any political party in India is lily white so far as corruption goes. Problem lies with the wrong projection in Indian context of a politician being JANTA KA SEVAK. Yes those politicians who got independence to this country from the British rule 64 years back were really By the people and For the People. They did sacrifice their everything for the good of the people. That is why for about two decades after Independence Indian politicians enjoyed total respect and the politics was clean. This was the time when even those politicians who came from rich background did not flaunt his goodies or traveled in flashy cars for the sake of propriety.
However a generation has changed since then. Today politics is a career option and not Junta Ki Seva. Case in point is the huge salaries, pension and perks that our politicians get. They deserve it also because otherwise why should they work? Since politics is no more a Seva in India so like in any other career why should not there be checks and balances on what work they are performing within the Parliament and outside ?
Our founding fathers who wrote the Indian Constitution were wise men. They copied the British system of Parliament but they forgot that British system has evolved over hundreds of years. There may not be very many written laws regarding conduct of Parliamentarians in Britain but there are in place water tight traditions of what amounts to good conduct which are followed in letter and spirit.
Not in India. Traditions if any are twisted to convenience. Laws of conduct and accountability are almost non existent. Our founding fathers had hoped that instead of straight jacketing the Indian parliamentarians from the start they felt that Parliament itself will frame these rules in due course of time. Our Parliamentarians are loath to do it.
Speaker of our previous Parliament Mr. Somnath Chatterjee had commented that the worthy members of Parliament should burn the rule book outside the Parliament if they can not follow the decorum of the house. Things have reached such a nadir that discussions even when they do take place are mostly pedestrian in nature with the members hardly having burnt any midnight oil in preparing for the issues involved. Cases have also come to light where the honorable MPs have been caught taking money for asking questions in the house.
We the poor Indians dish out Rs 26000 per minute per day for every day our Parliament functions. We unhesitatingly dole out this sum and more in the belief that our elected political leaders will debate various issues, scrutinize the functioning of the government in power and expose any inefficiency or corruption, all for our better future. However our worthy Netas spend more time in the well of the house shouting down the speaker and disrupting the smooth functioning of the house, than debating. So many times on important debates and question hour even the normal quorum does not get completed. The big question is will there ever be any accountability in our politics?
Currently there is a tussle on with the civil society representing peoples wish wanting conduct of these Parliamentarians to be brought under the proposed Lok Pal while Netas vehemently opposing it. The question is that when these politicians are getting such large pay, perks and pension and Politics having become a life time career how can people of India permit these people to do what they feel like without strong checks and balances? Even in Pakistan with Sham democracy they have very strict eligibility rules for their politicians why not India?
Time has come now to frame these rules and strict codes of conduct including quashing of the election of a Neta if found guilty. This rule that till proven guilty a person is not an offender should not be applicable to the Indian political class for the sake of propriety. After all they hold highest office in India. Party hopping and criminals getting elected to these high offices has to be curbed with a heavy hand.
Every political party has to fight elections which requires big money. This compels these parties to become corrupt to get this moolah. So why not accept the American system of donation by the private parties with the necessary tax benefits to the party donating and all transactions transparent? Alternatively have the elections state financed? Instead of first past the post system let us have elections on the lines of the French system where an elected representative has to obtain minimum of 50 percent votes of the total voting for more acceptability. Finally instead of giving free lunch time of five years to a Netaji to do what he pleases people of his constituency must get the power of recalling a non performing politician.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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UPA GOING BALLISTIC AGAINST TEAM ANNA ILL CONCEIVED
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
Earlier having been unsuccessful in tarring the image of the other four members of Team Anna which is leading the crusade against all pervasive corruption in India, just 24 hours before the start of the Anna’s fast until death on 16 Aug on the issue of corruption, now the Congress Says that Anna himself is seeped neck deep in corruption and has no moral right to lead this campaign. Look who is talking?
As per Congress led UPA Government the investigation report of Justice Sawant, investigating the wrong doing in Anna’s Trust in 2002 which Anna claims he himself demanded, Justice Sawant had indicted Anna because the trust of which he was the Chairman spent Rs 2 lakhs on his birthday celebrations. As per Justice Sawant this act of Anna amounts to corruption. Without questioning Justice Sawants bonafides by interpretation this act can also qualify as an oversight or misdemeanor on the part of Anna because the said money was returned.
However taking this definition of corruption as espoused by congress & Justice Sawant forward, in their recent performance audit report the Comptroller & Auditor General of India has directly indicted Sheila Dixit, the current Congress CM of Delhi, for serious lapses and irregularities in the procurement of CWG Games related items, a scam of 76000 Corers. Why is Congress then hell bent on giving her a clean chit while sermonizing on Anna for two lakhs which subsequently came back ?
Mr. Kapil Sibbal the current Telecommunication minister had made a recent public statement that there was no scam involved in 2 G Spectrum case in which the exchequer has lost 176000 Cores and that not a single penny has been lost. Then why the previous Tele com Minster A Raja, Kanimozi an MP and five top executives named for this scam are in Tihar jail for last six months with no bail granted ?Was Mr. Sibbal intentionally misleading the country? He was the Tele Com minister when he made this statement so applying the definition of Justice Sawant and Congress, does he become corrupt?
The Question is that why the politicians of this Congress Government want to divert the public attention from the main issue of corruption and the strong Jan Lok Pal Bill to the subject of individual integrity of the Anna Team ?Why is this Government against the strong anti corruption Bill and why disregarding all the good points of Anna’s Jan Lok Pal Bill it is bent upon enacting such a diluted version of the Lok Pal Bill that it is good for nothing? The Sarkari Lok Pal Bill instead of checking corruption actually promotes the same.
After all what is more important? a strong Lok Pal Bill or the individual integrity of the people who drafted it? More so since one and all including the Congress Netas themselves say that the Anna’s Jan Lok Pal Bill is strong. Then what is the problem in adopting it? Reason is not far to seek. This is the first Bill of its kind which is basically applicable to Politicians and Bureaucrats of India enjoying total freedom till now and demands the financial accountability and good conduct from them. So these gentlemen are fighting tooth and nail against its implementation. This includes the politicians of opposition also. All Netas have closed ranks against it.
It is appalling that Indian politicians who claim themselves to be representing the one billion people of India are unable to fathom the depth of public sentiments against corruption. India with 74 million people below the age of 35 is the youngest country in the world. This youth has a vision for their country and their future, which they are seeing marred by this unchecked corruption. Today people of India are refusing to take corruption laying down any more. They are blaming this sate of affairs to the politician bureaucrat nexus in the country. They are demanding immediate accountability from the people whom they elect.
With unearthing of one scam after another of gigantic proportions in last six months, even the current Congress led UPA Government can not deny the fact that this Government is the most scam tainted Government in the 65 years history of Independent India. Things have reached such nadir that today the aam admi is not prepared to accept assurances of the Government in power that they are serious against corruption and Black money.
Had the current UPA Government instead of going ballistic against Anna Hazares team would have adopted their strong Jan Lok Pal Bill with minor modifications they could have ensured their third term in office .But by going ballistic against him they have scored a major self goal. If people come on streets in favor of his Jan Lok Pal Bill, of which chances are very high, then this Government will cut a very sorry figure. On anti corruption issue Anna has caught the pulse of the people. In Anna they see their last hope. This will be India’s jasmine revolution so Netaji beware, still there is time, do not go in confrontation mode with people of India.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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INDIA A THIEVES PARADISE
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
With CWG scamaster and Congress MP Mr. Kalmadi, 2G Spectrum Scam ester and DMK Minister in UPA Government Mr. Raja along with DMK MP Kanimozi temporarily in Tihar Jail, one thought that may be cleaner days in public life in India are now ahead. But no, now 1800 corer Karnataka Mining scam and 3000 corer UP National Rural Health Scheme scam are hogging the headlines. Will this thievery of public money in India ever stop?
On a scale that runs from 0, for highly corrupt, to 10, for highly clean, Transparency International ranked India at 2.9 in 2010 along with Mali, Moldova, and Tanzania and just a little better at generating slush funds than Rwanda, the Dominican Republic, and Mongolia. This year Indian ranking has marginally moved up to 3.3. In another Survey on Global Corruption Barometer the Indian institutions which are perceived most corrupt by people of India are Political Parties, Parliament, The Police, Public Officials and businessmen. Only the Armed Forces fared well.
This should not come as surprise to us. Every year, Income tax disputes run into tens of thousands of corers. Defense contracts worth billions of dollars are awarded and real estate transactions worth hundreds of thousands of corers need to be entered into the registers of our sub-registrars. It is common knowledge that without paying SUVIDHA SHULK (Facilitation money) nothing moves in the country.
Taking the case of property dealing and its registration. The broker knows exactly how the take would be split as it filters up the system, beginning with the clerk who moves the files around the office, through the sub-registrar, the registrar, the district revenue officer, and on. It is pretty well-oiled, and once the cash had been paid into the machine, it purrs like a German automobile engine. Within an hour every thing can be got done.
Take the case of defense deals, where a single contract can run into billions of dollars. It typically takes several years and hundreds of file notings to reach fruition? "The contours are well-mapped .The Consultants who could be a retired defense officer or a retired civilian bureaucrat hand-hold a prospective supplier as his bid is technically evaluated by bureaucrats in the relevant offices of the Defense Ministry. If positive file-notings are garnered, the equipment goes into field-trial, where the consultants play a critical role in providing early feedback and possible modifications to equipment.
Those vendors whose merchandise clears field trials now progress to the next stage, where the commercial package of the tender is opened. The lowest and second-lowest bidders enter into negotiations with the Finance Ministry and the Defense Ministry. "Across the world, the final price arrived at typically has a 10% buffer built in. The Minister who signs off on the deal knows that this margin can be turned into a price discount for his nation. It rarely happens. He also knows the maximum percentage he can kick into his own bank account, and the minimum that needs to go into the party coffers. Some amount of negotiation does take place, but, the contours are well-mapped
In Indian corruption machinery everybody is well-cared for, and paid according to their clout and their pains. There is little incentive for anyone to step out of line and squeal or correct this brazen loot. Even if they do, the system shuts them out very rapidly, and ruthlessly. So what wonder if Anna Hazares civil Society demanding a strong Lok Pal Bill to curb corruption in the country is facing so many hurdles and poor Ram Deo fasting against Black Money generation in the country at Ramlila Grounds in Delhi had to face the Police Ravan Lila of the current UPA Government.
With 74 corer population below 35 years of age India is the youngest country in the world .It is this very population which has got the literacy rate of 72 percent. Besides Indian middle class has increased in numbers to 50 percent. In any country in the world it is this combination of middles class and youth who bring about sweeping changes. These people know that India lacks infrastructure, health care and a healthy investment climate because of this corrupt system and hoarded black money abroad estimated to be 1962 Billion Dollars. They are also aware that their future and jobs are at stake if nothing is done to correct this system.
The Gentocracy with an average age of above 60, who is currently ruling the country is failing to understand that India under them has changed. Instead of allowing young to lead the country they are still clinging on to their chair some of them wheel chair bound. The current movement against corruption and black money in the country has caught the imagination of Indian youth and is not going to die down come what may.
Lest Indian youth come on the streets with their Jasmine revolution it is time Indian political class wakes up and implements the strong Lok Pal Bill being advocated by the Anna Hazare Civil Society. In addition we urgently need Election Reforms, Police Reforms, Judicial Reforms and strong Anti terror laws to usher India into 21first Century as super power.Earlier the better.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in, brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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ARMY CHIEF AGE NON ISSUE BEING MADE AN ISSUE
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
It is nothing less than a national shame that of all the people Pakistani press and media is speculating on the age controversary of the current Indian Army Chief Gen VK Singh and its affect on the morale of the rank and file of the second largest Army in the World. This is happening when this entire issue is a non issue.
It is common knowledge known to all that the SSC, Higher Secondary or 12th Standard Board certificates serve as unimpeachable records confirming one’s date of birth .The Supreme Court, too, has ruled so in unambiguous terms. Gen Singh entered Birla Public School with his date of birth (DOB) showing as 10 May 1951. His provisional matriculation certificate also carries the same date. The date change controversy originated with one of his teachers, BS Bhatnagar, who was keen on sending the maximum number of students to the National Defence Academy (NDA). The forms with the wrong birth date 10 May 1950 were filled by him. Bhatnagar went on to become principal of Lawrence School, Lovedale, and has since admitted that the error was his.
In Army, right from the time an officer enters the training academy till he retires and even after that, all records are maintained by the Adjutant General (AG) Branch. It is this Branch which enjoys the legal sanctity on age authenticication. The AG branch based on his matriculation certificate has all along recorded Gen VK Singh’s age as 10 May 1951.So where is the controversy ?
The controversary has been created by the Military Secretary Branch in 2008, whose Army List depicts date of Birth of Gen VK Singh as 10 May 1950.This Branch works in close coordination with the Army Chief and only a very trusted hand of the Army Chief gets posted as Military Secretary. It deals with postings, promotions, deputations, and retirement of all officers and is not the legal repository or otherwise of personal and family details of an officer. In other words Army list does not get precedence over the records maintained by AG Branch.
In Indian Army, after the rank of Major, all promotions are done by a system of deep selection. Each such selection is made by a promotion board. To reach the rank of Lieutenant General and then Army commander of Eastern Command Gen VK Singh underwent six promotion boards. In each of these Boards his DOB was shown by MS Branch as 10 May 1951.Then why this controversary now ?
Reasons are not far to seek. When Gen VK Singh took over as Army Chief Indian Army was buffeted with the famous Sukna land scam, whereby a private party was given the right to set up an educational institution on government land. Since the Army had an important corps stationed near Sukna, its NOC was vital to this project. The person who allegedly played a key role in the scam was the Military Secretary Himself. He, along with many other senior Army Officers are currently facing court martial. All these were the Blue eyed boys of then Army Chief General Deepak Kapur of the Adarsh Society scam fame.
Further it was the current army Chief Gen VK Singh who then was the Eastern Army Commander under whom this Sukhna Corps came .Gen VK Singh enjoys a very up right and honest image. Against very heavy pressure to let go these scam esters lightly, he insisted on heavy punishment to set an example. Needless to say this was against the wishes of Gen Deepak Kapoor who initially wanted only administrative action. It was only after the intervention of the Defense Minister AK Antony a politician with clean and honest image that Kapoor relented.
It is this lobby which is involved in these behind the scene maneuvers against Gen VK Singh. They have been rattled by this upright and honest team of Defence Minister AK Antony and Gen VK Singh. Gen VK Sing when he took over as Army Chief had pledged that he will cleanse the Army of these scams and under hand deals. Till now he has lived up to his promise. Gen VK Singh is also proving anathema to those Arms dealers, their political masters and lobbyist who are unable to get shady arms deals through. Reportedly some ambitious senior army officers who immensely benefit from the early departure of Gen VK Singh are directly hob knobbing with Law Ministry for his early departure.
One fails to understand why the current UPA Government is allowing this controversary to rage thereby badly affecting the morale of the Army and impinging on its discipline. If Gen Kayani the Pakistani Army Chief can get three year extension, The Chief Secretary of India can get one year extension then what stops the current Government from accepting the legitimate age of Gen VK Sing as 10 May 1951? Let there be no delay now. Let our enemies not benefit from this most important national security issue.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, DilkTelephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in, brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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Initiative, decisiveness and a burning desire to do get the job well done were the basic hall mark of Indian Army till date. All officers had this unwritten assurance that even if they make a mistake that was not due to dereliction of duty, their senior officers will always hold their hands. Senior officers encouraged junior officers to not to look over the shoulders but decide on the spot. This is what the good leadership is all about. But No More?
It must be a sign of changing times that recently opinion of the Attorney-General was sought by the MOD on the (still unresolved) controversy pertaining to the age of the current Army Chief Gen VK Singh . Now a proposed change in promotion policy of Command and Staff Stream for two star Generals and above has been referred to the Solicitor-General for evaluation of potential legal fallout. If things move this way time is not far when to launch an operation against China or Pakistan may also get referred to Solicitor General for legal advice.
It is true that for providing redress to their grievances, the implicit faith which the Armed forces personnel had in their organizational channels has been considerably eroded .Earlier even when an Officer felt that his superiors had wrongly treated him and had refused to hear his side of the case, he quietly and in an dignified manner put in his papers. Very few went to court. Resort to legal action however has now become a regular practice
The Army is increasingly being enfeebled, not by the tardy pace of modernization as it would have the ordinary Indian to believe, but by personnel-related issues. Widespread is the feeling that promotion boards are not above board. That annual confidential reports are influenced by the level of “polish” applied to the senior officer .Once an officer becomes a Brigadier he starts harboring the dream of two star and three star ranks. End becomes more important then means. Brigadier and above rank people are no more prepared to hold the hand of a upright junior officer if it amounts to annoying the senior officer.Case of yes man ship from bottom to top.
This concept of Command and staff stream promotions is not new and was applicable in seventies also in Indian Army. It was then rightly realized that a two star or three star General, promoted in Command stream which meant that he could hold both Command and staff jobs and a General promoted only in Staff stream, that meant he could only hold staff jobs was very discriminatory. Inadvertently The General promoted in staff stream was looked by his peers and seniors as less competent. Even subordinates obeyed him with a disdain. Indian Army had then changed this policy and all promotions were to take place in Command stream only.
Needless to say that if this policy was again brought back from cold storage by Adarsh Society scam fame Gen Deepak Kapoor, the previous Army Chief, then somebody in Army should have raised the question why? One should not be surprised that it was revived to help out some cronies. This is what is wrong with Indian Army currently. The personnel management policies change with the drop of a hat with far reaching consequences on careers of lot of people. However it does not mean that Army should get hide bound and rigid, that is the other extreme and will spell doom for an still excellent organization and fighting force.
So what is the answer? It is time we implement the system being followed by other modern Armies. We can have an Armed Forces Promotion and Policy Board comprising of Serving and retired Armed Forces officers which is independent of Service Headquarters. Let the Service Headquarters recommend changes that get debated in this Board in depth and approved. The Government only should take cognizance of the final recommendations of this Board.
It is also extremely important that the current CHAMCHAGIRI must give way to the old culture prevalent in Armed Forces that whether it is an operational plan or a policy matter a junior officer must get a right to project his point of view. The junior officers must also be made to understand that they have only a right to say their piece; it is not binding on his seniors to accept his advice or point of view. Personnel management and leadership issues must now get utmost importance. The laid down and existing personnel management polices should only be changed when it is proven beyond doubt that need of the hour demands’ it.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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The Women’s Reservation Bill granting 33 percent reservation to women in Parliament with an aim to uplift the lot of women in the country, is still gathering dust for the last more than one decade It is not being given green signal on one pretext or the other by the male politicians of India They fear it will eat away into their quota of seats
Even though women form 48% of one billion populating in this country the males enjoy an overall literacy rate of 76 percent while the females can only claim 54 percent In the most populous states of Utter pradesh and Bihar in Indian heartland this literacy rate further dips to 51% for males to 21% for females The crime graph against women in India has also of late shown an alarming upward swing
The reason for this disparity in education specially in Indian heartland states is because of the misplaced mindset among the parents that the male child is the bread earner and the ‘Kul Deepak’ who will look after the parents in their old age while the girl child is ‘Paraya Dhan’who in any case has to be married off So why invest on her in terms of high education and enterprise? It has yet not dawned on parents that girl child can also be a Kul Deepak and bread earner who need not just be married off and thus be a liability North Eastern States are the only shining examples of emancipation of women in India with women having equal if not better rights than males
In the rural and semi urban areas of the Hindi speaking belt where joint family system still continues to function, the family elders impose Taliban type of restrictions on the girl child of the family, all in the name of family Izzat Even before the girl child starts understanding the physical differences between her and her brother or for that matter her father, she is told at every step where and how to sit, stand and whom to talk to Her brothers can play games like Bat Ball, Gulli Danda, Kabaddi, Kho Kho and what have you but not her Her lot is to collect cow dung, cook food at home, bring wood from the forest nearby, and fill water and so on so forth More benevolent elders at best may allow her to sit and watch the boys play That also till she has not reached puberty, after that it is No No Nobody gives even a minutes thought as to what traumatic effect all these restrictions cause on a growing young girl Childs’ mind
This bewildered girl child grows up with indifferent education which does not give her capability to stand on her two feet should the need arise By the time she attains the age of 16 the neighborhood women remind her mother almost on daily basis of how fast her daughter is growing and that she must be now be married off quickly before it is too late No wonder that even at that young age, without any fault of hers the poor girl starts feeling as if she is now burden on her parents So the sacrificial lamb is made ready to be sacrificed on the high alter of marriage
God help her if she is not good looking or her parents are not rich enough to cough up hefty dowery money In the marriage proposals also she has no say even if the groom is of her fathers age or is a true specimen of the Darwin’s Theory Hers is not to ask when and why She just have to Do and Die In other words the life of women in these areas get reduced to slavery to iron clad customs Right from her childhood the young girl child is dissuaded from taking any independent decisions When she is young she must beg her parents for her sustanace After marriage she must be slave to her Lord and master and in her old age she must again depend on her sons wishes to survive Some life?
The lot of women in India is not going to change till women themselves decide to come on the streets to demand their rights Like-minded people and NGOs can of course contribute in a big way Instead of doling out money to parents for education of girl child and “Ladli” schemes why not pick up girl child at primary school stage itself and impart to her quality schooling and personality development training with the lodging and boarding free The doubting Thomas’s should see how in remote areas like Teju Distict of Arunachal Pradesh, the Ramakrishna Trust schools have groomed the tribal girls into a suave modern women steeped in Indian culture who can anywhere stand on their own Seeing is beliving This model can be applied for all India
Another area of concern is the plight of Indian widows A visit to Varanasi or Mathura is an eye openar It is not that the devotees are not giving charity Money in the form of offerings comes in millions to various religious trusts It is the grass root level utilization that raises the eyebrow A Hindu widow, young or old, gets about Rupees two and fifty paisa daily in addition to half Kg of rice for sustenance Shelter for the night is not guranteed So what surprise that these widows get exploited It is a paradox that custodians of faith are collecting millions of rupees to build a Ram Temple but are not bothered about these living souls who have to beg and sing their life away just to get a square meal
It is time that reputed public organisations and Private Business Houses come out to help and rehabilitate these women who genuinely need a helping hand Need of the hour is to establish Homes where all these women may walk in They get a clean place to sleep and two square meals They are taught various skills like carpet weaving, socks making, jersey knitting and other small scale entrepreneur things depending upon their intellectual capability so that they can be recycled back into the main stream with their confidence level restored
These Organisations need not work on charity and donations alone The range of items that these trained women produce, should be sold in the market and a percentage kept by the organization to self sustain itself Example can be given of Shri Arubindu Ashram of Pondi -cheri The nuts and bolts of this concept can be worked out in due course of time but this can go a long way to alleviate the plight of these needy women Need of the hour is to do something to emancipate the Indian Rural and semi urban women if we want a healthy and fast growing India with equal opportunities to all
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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Finally the verdict is out. The recent report of Parliamentary Committee on Defense tabled in Indian Parliament on 16 December 09, should at least now make people of India stand up and take notice that in what cavalier manner the Neata Babu combine, straddling the Ministry of Defense are dealing with the countries security. If this slide is not arrested it may not be long before we may again see the repeat of the ignomous defeat which we suffered in the hands of Chinese Army in 1962.
Kudos to this body of Indian legislatures, who cutting across party lines have taken serious note of this lackadaisical attitude of people in power concerning India’s security. The report points out that while the three wings of Indian Armed Forces are working on the ‘Long Term Perspective Plan 2012-2027’taking the ‘11th Five Year Defense Plan 2007-2012’ as their base, it is shocking that the Indian political masters and the bureaucrats holding the high chairs in MOD, have not yet approved this five year plan, even though it is three years over date. In other words in absence of an approved five year plan the three wings of the Armed Forces are only doing shadow boxing in thin air when they prepare for the 2012-2027 Long Term Perspective Plan. It is a fact that even after 62 years of Independence our political masters have not yet spelt out countries long term strategic goals. If we do not know what role in the World we want to play as a country in the short term span of next eight to ten years and long term period of say two decades? What meaningful planning can be done by the security establishment? All that in the name of defense planning we have been doing till now are the knee jerk actions based on immediate developing situations. Instead of being proactive we always have been reactive.
Very recently Indian Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor has confirmed that Pakistan has built 69 new bunkers on our Western borders. Chinese Army has been transgressing our Eastern Boundary in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh almost every second day as if they are visiting picnic spots. Since last three years these border violations are averaging 208 per year. Both these countries have now openly joined hands against India. These should have been sufficient enough reasons for Ministry of Defense (MOD) in India to wake up and take immediate corrective measures. Have they?
Based on Kargil Committee recommendations the Indian Government in 2003 had approved the plan of setting up a federal Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) under MOD whose job was to oversee the functioning of the Intelligence Agencies of the three services, at the same time it was required to coordinate between the other central and state intelligence agencies. Even after six years have gone by, no effort has been made to make this operational. Another decision aimed at better functioning of the MOD and timely decision making was that the three service headquarters will be fully integrated with the MOD and Armed Forces officers will also be posted on joint secretary and additional secretary posts which currently remains the exclusive domain of the bureaucrats. This proposal is also gathering dust.
What is most shocking is that in 2003, based on the recommendations of the GOM, then NDA Government had decided to implement the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) System in India also. This system is being followed in America, Britain, France and 67 other countries. The only rider was that before implementation, a political consensus will be obtained. The CDS system is required to coordinate the functioning of the three services which tend to pull in different directions and bring in synergy in them. What is most important is a common doctrinal platform. Case in point is that currently Army is harping on the concept of Cold Start in an event of limited war with Pakistan. The concept envisages no large mobilization of forces thereby loosing surprise as it happened in Operation PARAKRAM in 2002.In this concept the pre designated mobile battle groups start from their cantonments straight for war. For this they want Air Force to provide them with close air support. Air Force is telling Army that they should use their own means like helicopter gunship’s and not burden Air Force initially with this role as they want to degrade the overall capability of Enemy Air Force. Both schools of thoughts have merit but who decides which one to adopt? This is where CDS comes in.
Another most important function of the CDS system is that it provides a single window military advice opportunity to the Government. CDS also resolves the procurement and planning requirement of the three services thereby ensuring optimal usage of the Defense Budget. The Parliamentary Committee has taken note that eight years have gone by and in the name of obtaining political consensus for implementing CDS system all that the MOD has done is to write some letters to the states. Truth of the matter is that the bureaucrats currently straddling the MOD and playing General, General will lose their primacy so they do not want this CDS system. The three Services Chiefs individual powers will be eroded so they also do not want this system. Politicians are also quite happy because the three services keep on fighting their turf battles, when things go wrong these gentlemen can then blame one or all the three services and they will come out clean.1962 Indo- Chinese war debacle is case in point.
Far too long we the people of India have been listening to the parroted assurances by the Indian politicians and the three service Chiefs that we are fully ready to give befitting reply to any body who casts unholy eyes on India. Truth is just the opposite. As of date we suffer from crippling shortage 11387 officers in Army, 1512 Officers in Navy and 1400 Officers in Air Force. These shortages are in young and middle piece officers who from the cutting edge of the three services. A recent study has brought out that just in Army alone to make up for this deficiency it will take 27 years if no additional efforts are made. The case of Air Force and Navy are no better, still there is no concern in powers that be. ‘SAB CAHLTA HAI BAHRAT MAHAN ME.’
Indian Air Force which has a sanctioned strength of 39 and half squadrons’ is down to just 32 squadrons because we do not have any war planes to fly. Indian Navy which as per Governments own directive was never to go less then 142 ships is reduced to 132 war ships now. The 19 submarines that we are currently having are of very old vintage. There is no guarantee that if they dive in war conditions they will ever surface back. the two aircraft career Virat and Vikrant that we had Vikrant retired three years back and Virat which our supreme Commander President Pratibha Patil recently visited has no planes to fly (Sea Harriers Fighters have been grounded due to age).This Aircraft Career itself is a museum peace. As for Army out of its 3000 Tanks only 450 tanks (T-90) can fight at night rest are night blind. We have not bought any new artillery gun for the Army in the last two decades. Things are so desperate that for guns like bofors due to non availability of spare parts the guns themselves are cannibalized.
Despite this pathetic sate of affairs’ of our armed forces our political class feel highly pleased when we are called a regional power on the way to become a global power. They do not understand that if Pakistan and China are cocking snook at us it is because they know the poor state of our Armed Forces. All this talk of lack of funds and defense verses development is also bunkum. Just one Madhu Koda scam of 4500 corers would have been sufficient to equip the entire Indian Army with heavy artillery guns. if you add to this the 1775 billion dollars of black money stashed by our worthy countrymen in Swiss Banks then a very small percentage of this money can make us major world power.
There is no doubt this parliamentary Committee on Defense, cutting across the party line has done a great service to the country and its Armed Forces. Now it is for the people of India and Political class in power at the helm, who must understand that thanks to China – Pakistan Collusion we are fast getting isolated in Asia. In his recent China visit American President Obama has also given green signal to China to play a monitor in Asia. What India needs today is a strong military which can stand on its own. Only then we can talk in world affairs with confidence and our foreign policy will acquire the required teeth. China has proven the Maos dictum that ‘Power comes from the barrel of a gun’.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, C-128, Tyagi Vihar, Sharda Nagar, PO-Dilkusha, Lucknow-226002, Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in, brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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Whenever we in India think of Pakistan militarily, our fixed reference points are the entrenched Generals, the infamous ISI, the fanatical Mullahs controlling hoards of Jehadis, the feeble civilian Government of Pakistan and finally the nuclear threat that Pakistan poses. We tend to asses Pakistani nuclear threat, taking it as a responsible state and the experience gained during the cold war days between US and Russia. May be it is time we change the nuclear threat scenario so far as Pakistan is concerned.
Unlike all other five nuclear capable countries in the World including India, in Pakistan it is the military which controls the nuclear button and not their Government. Besides Pakistan is the only country in the World which espouses terrorism as the state policy against India. Further while all other five nuclear countries use their nuclear capability as deterrent for stability of their borders , Pakistan by its India centric first use of nuclear weapons policy has made this stability concept stand on its head.
Pakistan is not prepared to accept its current borders as final and is using its nuclear weapons threat to enhance its area holding and create instability. it is using its Jehadis, pampered and trained by the Pakistani Army, as its sword arm. Terror organizations like Lashkar –e –Toiba of Mumbai attack fame, Jaish Mohammed and others are all extensions of Pakistani Army without uniform. The nuclear protection gives Pakistani Army the security that India can not retaliate. Kargil operations of 1999, Attack on Indian Parliament in 2001 and the 26/11 attack on Mumbai, all enacted by Pakistan pampered Jehadis are cases in point.
Of late Pakistan as been in world media headlines. Not because it’s tottering economy has suddenly picked up or the jehadis inimical to Pakistan have stopped their suicide attacks inside Pakistan or for that matter the India hater Pakistani Army Chief General Kayani sat under a Bodhi Tree and got the wisdom of espousing terror as the State policy against India. No Sir, Pakistan is in highlights because it is the fastest nuclear bomb producing country in the World today. It has already gone ahead of India’s modest stock pile of approximately 60-80 nuclear bombs.
Worry is not of the Pakistani 100 or so assembled nuclear bombs which in any case it has deployed at various places in hiding and which will need a missile or fighter aircraft to deliver. Use of these nuclear assets will amount to nuclear attack against India, earning Pakistan a Indian nuclear retaliation. The real cause of worry is the 130 KG of Plutonium and 3.6 ton of enriched Uranium which Pakistan has piled up. This nuclear bomb making material is loose and is sufficient to assemble 100 more bombs.
Recently in a huge rally in Lahore the Mumbai Attack mastermind and head of Lashkar, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has given a open challenge to Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh that either India leaves Kashmir or be prepared to face a war, never mind if it escalates to a nuclear war. Surely MrSaeed could not have held such large rally without his mentor Pakistani Armies backing him.
Recently in his testimony to American House Permanent Intelligence Committee, American Director of national Counter Intelligence Mr. Michel Leiter has said that the Al Qaeda senior leadership in Pakistan is hell bent in obtaining weapons of mass destruction.
Now suppose Pakistani Army lends some of this loose nuclear material to Jehadis like Lashkar –e-Toiba, who assemble some of these dirty bombs and explode them in Indian metros with the help of suicide bombers. Thereafter Pakistan like Mumbai attack , says that it has got nothing to do with this dirty bomb mayhem. What will be our response?
It is time Indian political masters and its security establishment starts thinking on these lines. So far Pakistani Army is concerned nothing is impossible or improbable. The only way we can protect ourselves is by making it clear to Pakistan that dirty bomb or nuclear bomb if it goes up in India the result will be a nuclear war wiping out Pakistan. India will also have to convince US and Israel that they also have similar threat may be more than India. So if they are also prepared to tell Pakistan that their response will be a nuclear attack then we are safe.
brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, Lucknow-226002, Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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It is said that history very seldom repeats itself. What is not said is that history is very unforgiving, in that a historical mistake once made can not be undone? All the more reason for our political masters to read history and learn suitable lessons. Unfortunately education not being a strong point with our Netas, they brazenly continue with their ineptness creating blunders for which future generation of Indians will suffer for ages.
In October 1947 Pakistani Army led tribal marauders invaded Kashmir. Unable to counter them, Maharaja Hari Singh of J&K State appealed to India for assistance and agreed to accede to India. Indian forces blunted the invasion and re-conquered vast areas. When on the verge of evicting all invaders and recapturing the complete state, India halted operations on 1 January 1949 and appealed to the Security Council. It is the only case in known history of World wherein a country, on the threshold of complete victory, has voluntarily forsaken it in the misplaced hope of the world community admiration. If that was not enough Kashmir was integrated into India only after providing it special status under Article 370.
After Independence we announced to the whole World that we are a peace loving country who believes in Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai and peaceful co existence. Armed forces were neglected. The political leadership took pride in denigrating the military leadership and meddled in internal affairs of the services to promote sycophancy. Foreign policy was in shambles. The intelligence apparatus was rusty. China took full advantage of our ill preparedness and our nose was rubbed in dust in 1962 Indo-China war. India was on its knees. With the national morale and pride in tatters, We were forced to appeal to all nations for military aid. Till date our political masters have not allowed the publication of those war records giving out reasons as to why our national pride was so badly hurt.
In 1965 Indo- Pak War we captured Haji Pir Pass. This pass connects Poonch and Uri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir and reduces the distance between the two sectors to 15 km whereas the alternate route entails a travel of over 200 km.We returned it back to Pakistan with thanks. India got nothing in return except an undertaking by Pakistan to abjure war, an undertaking which meant little as Pakistan never had any intention of honoring it.
Return of the vital Haji Pir pass was a mistake of monumental proportions for which India is suffering to date. In addition to denying a direct link between Poonch and Uri sectors, the pass is being effectively used by Pakistan to sponsor infiltration of terrorists into India.
On 16 December 1971, India had scored a decisive victory over Pakistan. Over 96,000 Pak soldiers were taken Prisoners of War .On 2 July 1972 Shimla Agreement was signed. Both countries agreed to exchange all PoWs, respect the line of control (LOC) in Jammu and Kashmir and refrain from the use of threat or force. Additionally, Bhutto gave a solemn verbal undertaking to accept LOC as the de facto border. India released all Prisoners while Pakistanis who had only 617 Indian Prisoners released 54 prisoners less. Pakistan never followed a word of its solemn promise of declaring LOC as permanent Border. A great opportunity was lost .Hats off to the great Netas of Mera Bharat Mahan.
China tested its Nuclear bomb at Lop Nor in 1964. India showed rare courage in carrying out its first nuclear test on 18 May 1974 at Pokhran. Had we claimed it as a nuclear test, after some initial hue and cry World would have accepted us also a nuclear power. No we became so timid that we declared our test to be for peaceful purposes and capped further testing under US pressure while getting nothing in return.
In one of the most short-sighted and anti-national moves, India passed the Illegal Migrants - Determination by Tribunals (IMDT) Act of 1984 for Assam. It shifted the onus of proving the illegal status of a suspected immigrant on to the accuser, which was a tall and virtually impossible order to implement. If that was not enough The government's 'pardon' of all Bangladeshis who had come in before 1985 was another unconstitutional act that aggravated the problem.
The Act was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on July 13, 2005, more than 20 years after its enactment. The Apex Court was of the view that the influx of Bangladeshi nationals into Assam posed a threat to the integrity and security of northeastern region. Unfortunately, immense damage had already been done to the demography of Assam and the local people of Assam had been reduced to minority status in certain districts. All this for vote banks.
The Kandahar hijacking
The hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft to Kandahar by Pakistani terrorists in December 1999 will continue to rile India's self-respect for long. According to the Hindustan Times, India lost face and got reduced to begging for co-operation from the very regimes that were actively undermining its internal security. The hijacking revealed how ill-prepared India was to face up to the challenges of international terrorism.
The eight-day long ordeal ended only after India's National Security Adviser brazenly announced that an agreement had been reached for the release of all the hostages in exchange for three Kashmiri militants including Maulana Masood Azhar. Sadly, the Prime Minister claimed credit for forcing the hijackers to climb down on their demands. The worst was yet to follow. India's Foreign Minister decided to accompany the released militants to Kandahar, as if seeing off honoured guests.
The government's poor crisis-management skills and extreme complacency in security matters allowed the hijackers to take off from Amritsar airport after 39 minutes halt for refueling, thereby letting the problem get out of control. India's much-vaunted decision-making apparatus collapsed and was completely paralysed by the audacity of a bunch of motivated fanatics. It was a comprehensive failure of monumental proportions. India's slack and amateurish functioning made the country earn the tag of a soft nation which it will find very difficult to shed.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,Lucknow-226002, Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in, brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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It is now evident to all and sundry that the Operation Green Hunt launched by the state police and paramilitary forces with much fanfare some time back, to flush out and defeat the Maoists, has lost steam. The Naxals are continuing to rule the roost while our political masters are at loss as to how to deal with them.
Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had rightly assessed Naxalism as the biggest threat to the internal security of India. Today they control 87 out 630 districts and 40 thousand sq kilometers of land mass of India which spans seven states namely West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Andhra. In these Naxal affected districts, police is non functional and the State administration is defunct. It is the diktat of Naxals which runs here.
Situation is further compounded by the fact that in some of these states the politicians are actually hobnobbing with these Maoists or taking their help in winning elections. Recently when the central Government suggested to the states of forming of a joint command and taking Army officers as advisors only four of these seven states have agreed. Some of the States are actually creating the din of helplessness against Maoists activities just to garner release of more funds from centre. These additional funds will be then unaccounted for because the states will show them as expanded in fighting the Naxals.
Some influential politicians, intellectuals and opinion makers in the country are propagating the option of talks with the Naxals. These people forget that Indian Naxalites have based their entire thought process and all the doctrines on the theoretical philosophy of Mao Zedong. Be it Karl Marx, or Vladimir Ulanova Lenin or Mao Zedong, none of them have ever favored ‘talks’. They strictly abhor partnering with the ‘bourgeoisie regime’. They speak of overthrowing the existing parliamentary democracy. They hate ‘revisionism’.
After the merger of The Peoples War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) to form Communist Party of India (Maoist) in the year 2004, the Naxal movement has never looked back. Their proclaimed aim is not to usurp power at the centre by dint of arms albeit they intend to break India in 30 small independent countries. They are having direct links with Maoist movement of Nepal and as disclosed by Intelligence Bureau now, with Lashkar-e-Toiba which is another name of Pakistani ISI.
It must be understood in this country that fundamental ideology of Maoism rests on a protracted people’s war in order to topple the
so-called ‘reactionary bourgeoisie regime’. Similar movements, launched in Cuba under Castro-Guevara combo, in Nicaragua under the Sandinistas or in Peru under Guzman have all done exactly the same: followed the prototype model of the Chinese Revolution of Mao ze Dong.
The offer of talks and cease fires from the Naxals will keep on coming from time to time when they feel that their cadres require rest and relief and they have to plan a new strategy which requires lot of movement of their top leaders. At these times if there is cease fire in effect then they can plan their future course of action in peace while they carry out meaningless talks with the Government. Same happened a few years back when Andhra Pradesh Government had agreed for talks with the naxals. Ultimately what won the day for the Andhra Pradesh was the hard military action.
Let us e clear in our minds that defeating Maoists will require us to carry out a long drawn internal security war with these Naxals. In this ongoing milieu the people who are really worst affected in a big way are the generation next. It is the young school going children of these areas who are experiencing fear, violence, bloodshed and death at such a nubile age which will permanently scar their life. Needless to say immediate measures are necessary to alleviate their plight if we want to avoid the horrific spin offs of such an environment for the future of India.
There are hardly any schools of repute functional here. The young children of the local tribal’s have no option but either go to nondescript schools or remain illiterate. This suits Maoist because these uneducated children and youth in absence of any jobs have no option but to join the ranks of the Naxal fighters. This also ensures support of their parents and the Naxal base continues to expand.
However if the state targets these children and gives them good education not only will state win the hearts and minds of the local tribal’s but also wean away the support base of the Naxals .With this support denied the security forces will be able to effectively finish off this Naxal menace. However with the corrupt bureaucracy and police which allowed the situation to detoriate to such an extent in these areas, this is a very tall order.
Situation is further compounded by the fact that in some of these states the politicians are actually hobnobbing with these Maoists or taking their help in winning elections. Recently when the central Government suggested to the states of forming of a joint command and taking Army officers as advisors only four of these seven states have agreed. Some of the States are actually creating the din of helplessness against Maoists activities just to garner release of more funds from centre. These additional funds will be then unaccounted for because the states will show them as expanded in fighting the Naxals.
In this milieu to expect these states, with some of them being governed by different political parties then the party in power in centre ,to follow a uniform policy toward educating and rehabilitating the children of the local tribal’s is asking for moon. Need of the hour is for the Central Government to take on this task themselves with the help of the Armed Forces and Ex Servicemen.
Armed Forces have an Education Corps which educates its Jawans and helps them obtain degrees. Large numbers of Ex-servicemen are available from this corps and other organizations whose services can be obtained. At comparatively safer locations in these Naxal affected states, public schools on the lines of Army Public Schools should be opened with good boarding and lodging facilities. The children of the local tribal’s should be educated in large numbers here free of the cost. This will give a big morale boost to their parents. They will start realizing that the state is now not neglecting them. It is best way to say sorry to them for their neglect and win their hearts and minds.
Unlike other schools the curriculum in these schools must so designed that its is vocational cum academics. In other words those parents who want their kids to take on jobs after the basic education should not be disappointed. Similarly those parents who want their wards to purse higher studies should also be encouraged. Since these schools will be run directly under the care of the Central Government the management of these schools will be uniform and misuse of funds by the state bureaucracy will be avoided. This is very much possible and skeptics if any should pay a visit to the Ramakrishna Mission School for tribal girls run at Teju Arunachal Pradesh. All that is needed is political will and imagination.
Recently the Central Government has sanctioned a large monetary package for the development of these Naxal affected areas. This development work will generate jobs in future which these children and youth passing out from these schools can easily pick up. It is time that we realize that children of these areas are our best asset who in future can positively and once for all negate the Maoists influence.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, , Lucknow-Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in, brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com
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Posted on
Monday, March 28, 2011
5:39:59 PM
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From
Raaj Jain
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Posted on
Sunday, March 27, 2011
12:59:22 PM
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From
Moti ---- Mudgal
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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Finally the populism and pandering to voters by the political parties to create vote banks, whatever may be the cost to the country, has reigned supreme. The current UPA Government has decided to conduct the ongoing census on caste basis. There should be no doubt that this decision taken by the Government for the short term personal gains of the politicians will have dire consequences for the country in the long run.
The arguments being given in favor of caste based census is that caste has existed in our country for centuries. It exists in our society even today. Since this fact can not be wished away the cast based enumeration will help us in knowing the percentage of different castes and their regional concentration. This in turn will help ameliorate their status.
History tells us that in our country, caste is a multiple social force that collectively serves to divide the society and create community consciousness of high caste and low caste. Caste has never improved the race, for it does not help economic efficiency and economics is the prime mover of the social change.
British had the penchant for carrying out caste based census because right from start they had followed the policy of divide and rule in India. Their ultimate aim was to finally partition the country. The tall captains of Indian politics who wrote Indian constitution realized this and that is why they only catered for reservations for SC/ST and that also only for ten years. It were the self serving Indian Netas who are still continuing with these reservations and in addition they have included OBC also in the fold. It is pathetic that Supreme Court had to step in to fix this reservation ceiling to 50 percent.
With the progress of education and India’s growing status in the world as emerging economic power, that brought in more jobs to youth where all castes rubbed their shoulders together, the cast consciousness was gradually fading. Now this caste based census is bound to increase a new caste based solidarity where there will be strong dynamics in each caste to increase their population base to gain more strength. There are likely to be aggressive inter caste fights to grab bigger size of the cake and the reservation quota. There will be more dharnas and bunds. No party in power will be able to satisfy all.
There will be attempts to reduce the share of casts at the lower rung to accommodate new entrants. Most of the benefits will be grabbed by the creamy layer with hardly any benefit percolating to those who really deserve. This is happening at a time when India is the youngest country in the World. The youth below 35 years of age number 740million in the country.
The relation ship between people and their economic well being is neither random nor accidental. It is actually creational. Besides it has been proven time and again that caste divides people and it is not a mans destiny. It will be socially and nationally rewarding if people are identified by their economic status and position in society. It must not be forgotten that census is not just head count, it also takes into account literacy rate, education, language, housing and urbanization.
If economic status is made the criteria it will help in reaching out to people who are really needy. Whole nation is a community and nation will only progress if the economic development takes place of the genuine people who are in real need of it. The caste must be eliminated from all public policies. Of course for this to happen our small minded politicians will have to come out of their vote bank Political game for the good of the nation or the youth of India must force these Netas of old mind set to change.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, Lucknow, Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in, brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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Finally the populism and pandering to voters by the political parties to create vote banks, whatever may be the cost to the country, has reigned supreme. The current UPA Government has decided to conduct the ongoing census on caste basis. There should be no doubt that this decision taken by the Government for the short term personal gains of the politicians will have dire consequences for the country in the long run.
The arguments being given in favor of caste based census is that caste has existed in our country for centuries. It exists in our society even today. Since this fact can not be wished away the cast based enumeration will help us in knowing the percentage of different castes and their regional concentration. This in turn will help ameliorate their status.
History tells us that in our country, caste is a multiple social force that collectively serves to divide the society and create community consciousness of high caste and low caste. Caste has never improved the race, for it does not help economic efficiency and economics is the prime mover of the social change.
British had the penchant for carrying out caste based census because right from start they had followed the policy of divide and rule in India. Their ultimate aim was to finally partition the country. The tall captains of Indian politics who wrote Indian constitution realized this and that is why they only catered for reservations for SC/ST and that also only for ten years. It were the self serving Indian Netas who are still continuing with these reservations and in addition they have included OBC also in the fold. It is pathetic that Supreme Court had to step in to fix this reservation ceiling to 50 percent.
With the progress of education and India’s growing status in the world as emerging economic power, that brought in more jobs to youth where all castes rubbed their shoulders together, the cast consciousness was gradually fading. Now this caste based census is bound to increase a new caste based solidarity where there will be strong dynamics in each caste to increase their population base to gain more strength. There are likely to be aggressive inter caste fights to grab bigger size of the cake and the reservation quota. There will be more dharnas and bunds. No party in power will be able to satisfy all.
There will be attempts to reduce the share of casts at the lower rung to accommodate new entrants. Most of the benefits will be grabbed by the creamy layer with hardly any benefit percolating to those who really deserve. This is happening at a time when India is the youngest country in the World. The youth below 35 years of age number 740million in the country.
The relation ship between people and their economic well being is neither random nor accidental. It is actually creational. Besides it has been proven time and again that caste divides people and it is not a mans destiny. It will be socially and nationally rewarding if people are identified by their economic status and position in society. It must not be forgotten that census is not just head count, it also takes into account literacy rate, education, language, housing and urbanization.
If economic status is made the criteria it will help in reaching out to people who are really needy. Whole nation is a community and nation will only progress if the economic development takes place of the genuine people who are in real need of it. The caste must be eliminated from all public policies. Of course for this to happen our small minded politicians will have to come out of their vote bank Political game for the good of the nation or the youth of India must force these Netas of old mind set to change.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in, brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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When the District and Sessions Judge of the Sonbhadra District recently awarded life sentences to 14 policemen including two Sub Inspectors in a fake encounter case, the police men present were definitely dumb founded but the public, the Aam Admi on the spot, were celebrating this judgment with bursting of crackers and dancing. This one incident alone is enough to high light the chasm that exists today between the people India and its protector the Indian police.
Despite the fact that Soli Sorabji Committee has submitted the new draft Police Act to the Government of India almost three years back, it is a sad commentary on the political masters of this country that the said document has not been tabled in the Indian Parliament till date. The Indian Police continues to function under the Police Act framed during the British Empire days in 1861 with a colonial mind set. The biggest tragedy of the Indian Police is that although they loose almost a thousand personnel every year in the line of duty, they are still looked with utter contempt. Sixty two years of Indian independence has not changed the public perception of the police a wee bit.
In Indian Constitution the maintenance of Law and Order is a state subject. It is OK that the States guard their this turf very jealously. What has gone wrong is that the State politicians use their respective State Police Forces as their own militias. Under the lure of fast promotions, perks and pelf the senior police officers are ever ready to oblige these politicians’. A complete nexus exists between the politicians and these police officers.
The recent Ruchika episode of Haryana highlights this unholy nexus in stark reality. Ruchika, a minor in 1990 was molested by Mr. SPS Rathore who was then an Inspector General rank police officer. Despite the recommendations of a proper registering of case against Mr. Rathore by then DG Police Haryana Mr. Singh and Home Secretary Haryana agreeing with these recommendations, Mr. Rathore was dealt with kid gloves. Mr. Rathore used his position to traumatize Ruchika Family. Ruchika committed suicide in 1993 and her father had to leave his job and home in Panchkulla. Meanwhile Mr. Rathore was found so efficient by his political masters, which included four Chief Ministers that he got one promotion after another and retired as DG Police of Haryana in 2002.It is only now after 19 years that his deeds have caught up with him, that also because of an alert media and an uncompromising public opinion in the country against Rathore.
In a recent report published by internationally known Indian NGO, it has been brought out that we Indians shell out Rs 21068 Crore every year in bribes. India stands as 84th most corrupt nation in the World. In India as per this study Indian Police stands out as the most corrupt organization in the country.
In the year 2006, based on a public litigation petition, Supreme Court had listed out police reforms which were to be implemented by the Central and state governments. These Police Reforms envisaged setting up of a Security Commission at the Centre and State Level where an honest police officer can register complaint if he is asked to perform a task not in keeping with the Constitution of India by his political masters. To cater for the promotions, transfers and postings of the police personnel, each state was required to set up a Police Establishment Board. Each State was also required to empanel three senior most officers for the final selection to the post of the DGP of the State. Each State was required to set up a police Complaint Authority where people could register their complaints against the police atrocities against them. Finally the States were also directed to ensure that all their police officers from inspector rank upwards got a minimum of two years tenure on a particular post.
Needless to say these reforms if implemented in totality does give the police establishment certain autonomy and space to function. This however dilutes the authority of our worthy Netajis over the police, so these Indian worthies are loath to implement them. After much public pressure Central Government has implemented these police reforms in Delhi and other Union Territories last year. The implementation record of police reforms of states is rather dismal. They are finding ways and means to delay distort or dilute these reforms by enacting their own laws where necessary. Now it is up to the people of India and the media to keep the pressure on our Netajis so that they do not resort to mischief and these reforms are implemented in letter and spirit.
It appears that Ruchikas sacrifice has not gone in vain. Entire country is standing as one against the unscrupulous use of police power in her case and is demanding immediate checks and balances so that these atrocities are not repeated. Our political masters, who are always alive to which direction the wind is blowing as far as public opinion is concerned, are now bending backwards to introduce a new law which will make it compulsory for the police to register all complaints as F.I.R.s. If this act comes through then it will go a long way in curbing corruption in police and will be instrumental to speedy justice.
It is common knowledge that number of FIRs registered in year are counted towards the state of crime in particular area. To get the good work badge the local police stations try their best to not to register the FIRs. It is most unfortunate that in our current dispension, not registering a FIR by the police is not deemed an offence. This loop hole in jurisprudence is fully exploited by the police. In addition the offenses have been categorized as cognizable and non cognizable. As a result even if the FIR is registered, with money exchanging hands, it gets entered as non cognizable offence. Besides the delay in registering FIR goes against the complainant in the court for no fault of his. This new act making the registration of FIR compulsory and penalizing the false complaint with imprisonment up to ten years will have salutary effect on checking of crime and police corruption.
Even after the FIR has been registered, there is no time frame laid down in which the investigation must be completed and charge sheet filed. In Ruchika case it took ten years. This is another big lacuna which must be addressed immediately. This loop hole allows a benevolent police officer investigating the case to give sufficient time to the accused, of course after exchange of some green backs, to intimidate the witnesses and threaten the complainant himself, thereby diluting the case. When we lament the courts for being lenient it is actually this case sabotaging police officer who is the main culprit.
Time has come when the rules of our jurisprudence should be so changed that every Hon’ble judge in his judgment must comment on the quality of the investigation and the time taken for the same. The maximum investigating time must also be fixed after which it must become compulsory for the investigating officer to justify the delay in the court. Adverse comment by the court on these two issues must be made punishable. It should be clear to all that we can not function with a colonial mind set, still working under the rules framed during British era. If we want to bring the crime graph down in India and save the country from rising Naxal Violence we will have to reform our police post haste.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance, Telephone-0522-2446497. 9918383007. E-Mail-brigarunbajpai@yahoo.co.in, brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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At a time when India’s 83 districts and 40000 square kilometer of area has been literally liberated by the Naxals, Pakistani ISI and Jehadis have openly joined hands to destabilize India, a fact recently disclosed by National Investigative Agency (NIA) that interrogated David Coleman the Mumbai attack mastermind and North East India simmering with palpable discontent, the political masters of this country are bent upon diluting the 52 years old time tested AFSPA, just for short term political gains.
The paradox is that Jammu &Kashmir and Manipur, the two Indian states demanding this dilution, are the ones maximum affected by terror. It is this very Act and the Army that has brought this terror level down to the acceptable limits. Our netas who want this dilution in the name of giving this Act a human face, a demand also shrilled by the Human Rights organizations of these states, are refusing to notice the truth that it is the separatists and terror organizations of these states that are the hidden face behind this demand.
The question which our Good Samaritan political masters must answer to the Indian public is that why should Army, an organization trained to shoot to kill an external enemy, be used against our own country men? If these countrymen of ours have been forced to take up arms against the State, it was because these very Netas and Babus refused to listen to their problems. It is the long time misgovernance, corruption and nepotism duly abetted by the insensitive Indian police having crossed all limits that have forced the aam admi to take up arms against the state. Now why do our Netas want to let loose Army against them? Our armchair intellectuals and human rights activists should be pondering on this issue.
Army is the last resort. If it fails then the country will break. Realizing this the Indian Parliament under the leadership of India’s greatest Prime minister Pandit Nehru, a world renowned democrat and statesman, passed this Armed Forces Special Powers Act in 1958.At that time there were no Jehadis, no Naxals, no human bombs and no AK-47 or AK-56 rifles. The destructive technology had also not developed to the level that a single terrorist could cause great collateral damage as they do now. Besides the only armed rebellion India faced was in Nagaland and Mizoram. Even Supreme Court of India has upheld this Act in their judgment on 27 Nov 1997.So why dilute now when law and order problems in the country have gone from bad to worse?
When the tall politicians of India of those days enacted this Act in Indian Parliament they never wanted this act to have human face. They desired this Act to be a deterrent. They were sure of their own governing capability and were confident that Army will seldom be required to work in internal security duties, this job being basically of Indian Police. Today Army is deployed in J&K, Manipur, Assam, and Nagaland. But for the resistance from Army, our current political class would have deployed them against Naxals also with no questions asked. No wonder they want this act to be diluted. After all the elections also have to be won, let country go to dogs.
The AFSPA allows Army to fire upon and even cause death against any person working in contravention of law and order in an area declared disturbed by the state government. They can arrest any person without warrant but will have to hand over the same to police within 48 hours. They can destroy any arms dumps, terror training centers etc. No prosecution suit or legal proceedings can be initiated against Army Personnel without the sanction of the Central Government. These clauses irk the local politicians because unlike police, Army is not answerable to them.
It should now be amply clear to us as to why the states of J&K and Manipur are in fore front of this demand of diluting this Act. This demand is coming in at the time when in India, unlike Pakistan, the Jehadi Human Bomb menace requiring quick and deterrent reaction has yet not manifested itself. Let us be very clear in our minds that is only matter of time before we also will face this menace in a big way.
If this dilution is acted upon on the time tested AFSPA 58, responsible for curbing armed rebellions in Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram, Assam and Punjab in last 52 years and bringing the States of J&K and Manipur to near normal? Then it will be the start of the break up of this country. Once this Act gets diluted the terror organizations will force the local population to launch false cases against the Army. With the way our judicial system functions, which Army Officer will like to get involved in the never ending judicial hearings? Thus defocused and demotivated the Army will also be another police force with no results.
Answer does not lie in diluting this act. The need of the hour is to better train, equip and provide better leadership to the Indian police and Paramilitary forces and use only them in Internal Security duties. Army should be called in extreme conditions where there is no room for human face. The prolonged use of Army should be avoided at all costs. Instead give better governance a chance. The Indian Police reforms on the lines of Supreme Court directions of 2006 will pay better dividends. The time tested AFSPA-1958 does not require any tinkering and should be left alone.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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COUNTER TERROR STRATEGY LACK OF
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
Ajmal Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist caught during Mumbai terror attack has been found guilty by the Mumbai court and has been sentenced. His two Indian accomplices, Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed have been let off for want of conclusive evidence. Some experts and policy makers in India feel that this will now force Pakistan to act against the Lashker-e -Toiba (L-e-T) head Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, its operational commander Zaki –ur-Rehman and others, who were the actual masterminds of this nefarious act. The truth of the matter is that we are living in a pipe dream. It is most unlikely that Pakistan will do anything of this kind.
The policy makers and powers that be in India fail to understand that the Jehadi organization L-e-T has been raised, trained and armed by the Pakistani Army and the ISI to spread terror against India. Bleed India by thousand cuts is the state policy of Pakistan. L-e –T is actually an extension of Pakistani Army itself minus the uniform. Saeed is their anointed General sans the Khaki uniform and the rank badges. Needless to say, no country punishes its General and soldiers for fighting a war aginst the proclaimed enemy of the country.
It is good to have Aman- Ki- Asha, the initiative of Times of India and Jung Group of Pakistan, the people to people contacts, cultural interaction and the big brother India showing compassion to younger brother Pakistan. However it is utter knavery if we do not have a parallel no holds barred strategy to deal with our adversary, when that adversary continues to asses our these gestures as signs of our weakness. The fundamental principle of war is that one can only be a winner if we think and act like what our enemy does. War is not a game which gentlemen indulge in.
Pakistan is dealing with trial in their courts of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and others involved in Mumbai carnage with kid gloves. This is borne out by the way these trials are being held in utter secrecy and in camera for last one year or so. Mr. Saeed roams around in Pakistan as a free man. In February this year he organized a major hate India rally in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, exhorting the jehadis to redouble their attacks against India. Pakistan blames this freedom of Saeed on the independence of their judiciary.
This is the same Pakistan with the claim of independent judiciary which handed over 700 of its citizens to America for questioning in the period 2001-2004, just on the suspicion that they had links with Al Qaeda. Very recently the UN investigating team has blamed the Pakistani security agencies, including their Army for purposely being lax, allowing the Jehadis to assasinate Benazir Bhutto, their two time Prime Minister.Besides what can Pakistani courts do if their own police spoil the prosecution case of these L-e-T Jehadis?
Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is right when he says that we can change our history but can not change our geographical neighbor hood. Israel also has not changed its neighborhood but none of its hostile neighbors dares act funny with it. It is time all political parties in India also sit together and with the help of its military and strategic establishments and think tanks, work out a long term strategic policy to deal with Pakistan, specially its Army and ISI.
Till date all our policies dealing with Pakistani Army and ISI generated Jehad are defensive in nature. Enhancing our NSG hubs, instituting marine police, enhancing security of our sensitive installations, jacking up our intelligence set up, bringing international pressure on Pakistan to dissuade it from launching terror attacks on India are all welcome steps. These measures at best will make the task of Pakistani Army difficult but we will never be able to stop the repeat of Mumbai type of attack.
Only way Pakistani army and ISI will be deterred is when they are sure that India has the political will and we mean business. Once they know that every action of theirs will beget a suitable reaction from India come what may, they will be made to think twice before launching a terror attack on India. All this talk of our Netas that Pakistan being a nuclear power, war is no option is all bunkum. Nobody is saying that go to war with Pakistan. There are so many other ways which can hurt Pakistan as much if not more then India. However if at Sharam –el –Sheik earlier and Thimpu now, we allow Pakistan to get away with the theory that Jehad is a global phenomenon and that Pakistan is as much a victim of terror as India, then surely we are not going to achieve anything.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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about
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
By
Rajinder Jit Khurana
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From day one Pakistan has been suffering from inter-provincial cum ethnic conflict. Of the 5 provinces of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Sind, Balochistan, NWFP and Punjab, Punjab and Punjabi politicians occupied the most dominant positions and kept all the levers of control in their hands. This big brother attitude was strongly resented by other provinces. They were never comfortable with the highhandedness of Punjabi politicians and bureaucrats and felt cheated at their hands. The conflict led to the birth of the independent nation of Bangladesh and serious turmoil in Sind, Balochistan and NWFP that continues to this day.
Meanwhile, the unhappy migrants from India (Muhajirs) added another dimension to the inter-provincial cum ethnic conflict. They nursed a grouse that they were being discriminated against by all other nationalities in Pakistan and demanded a homeland of their own that for long led to serious disturbances in Karachi and other cities and towns of Sind. This Muhajirs are still in revolt over the injustice meted out to them.
A more serious development has been the sectarian conflict and its off shoot jihadi terrorism. It hit Pakistan in a big way. Hardly a day passes without the members of one sect attacking the members of the other sect. Hundreds of lives have been lost on all sides of sectarian divide.
First to be targetted were the Ahmediyas, a minority sect founded in Qadian, in Gurdaspur in India whose members moved to Pakistan after the country came into existence on August 14, 1947. They hardly knew what was in store for them in the Promised Land. Z.A. Bhutto could not withstand the pressure of the Sunni Mullahs and declared Ahmediyas a non-Islamic sect in 1977. Since then a large number of them have fled from Pakistan in disgust to settle in other countries.
Zia's coming to power led to the empowerment of the Saudi brand of Sunni sect of Islam (Wahabism). This sect declared a sort of war on the Shias who too had felt empowered by the establishment of a Shia Islamic state in Iran. Since then there have been numerous clashes between the two dominant sects. The two have on their pay roll a number of terror groups. The Sunni-Shia conflict has reached very serious proportions
The sympathy and support of the military regimes and the Inter Services Intelligence was always for the dominant Sunni sect. The official policy received a fillip with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and US-Saudi combine's extra state military initiative to defeat them. The goal having been achieved, these non-state actors have turned against the US as also against the Pak establishment. Pakistan. Continuing conflict in Afghanistan has further exacerbated the ethnic and sectarian conflicts.
In this connection, I may share with the scratchmysoul bloggers a very good artcle on the subject by Agha H. Amin.:
UNDERSTANDING WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AFTER 5TH JULY 1977
AGHA H AMIN
5TH JULY 2010
It was 4th July 1977 , Lieutenant General Iqbal Khan told his headquarters staff that finally at last Mr Z.A Bhutto and the opposition alliance PNA had reached an amicable peace settlement.My father a newly promoted brigadier was one of this staff.
On 5th July 1977 General Zia , the army chief handpicked by PM Z.A Bhutto against the very advice of the militarys Military Secretarys Branch delivered the fatal blow , not only to democracy but to Pakistans future.Martial Law was imposed on 5th July 1977.
While Ayub Khan although a usurper had separated the military from politics Zias system of things imposed the military over politics.That system unfortunately carries on till to date.
Zias worse action was turning Pakistan into a US Saudi military base against USSR.
This he did not because the USSR was a threat to Pakistan but because Zias military dictatorship was under threat from Pakistans masses and political forces.
The use of non state actors as state proxies was firmly adopted by Zia as a cheap tool of foreign policy and this policy was reversed by none including the so called very secular Benazir or the not so liberal Nawaz Sharif.
Foreign policy at least the India and Afghanistan policy became an exclusive affair of Pakistans military establishment.No civilian reversed this policy to date.
The political fabric of the country was deeply and fatally infiltrated and all politicians became tools of blackmail by the state security apparatus.
Benazir Bhutto although a popular leader was compromised in such a way that when she came into power in 1988 and 1993 she dared not interfere with the military establishment with regard to Pakistans India or Afghanistan policy.
A military relationship with USA and Saudi Arabia was established which bypassed Pakistans political organs as well as the US Congress or Senate and the Department of Defence , CIA and State Department bureaucrats established a direct hotline with Pakistans military establishment.This relationship survived despite Clinton and remains to date.
Sectarian and ethnic divisions were encouraged , thus the creation of Sipah I Sahaba, MQM,the baradari culture in Punjab thanks to the 1985 non party elections etc.
The judiciary was successfully coerced into submission and dissenting judges removed by blackmail and persecution.This has remained a fact despite the Iftikhar Chaudhry phenomena which was a case of clash of egos rather than clash of principles as the valiant judge took a stand when pushed against the wall and over a matter of personal survival having earlier supported the same dictator in distorting Pakistans constitution.
Religious intolerance was fine tuned and Ahmadis and Shias targeted . A strict bar on promotion of Ahmadi officers beyond colonel level was imposed in the military which continued from 1977 to 1992.
Hadood laws were introduced and done in words of a direct participant IG Ch Sardar Ali so that Saudis could be pleased and milked into giving Pakistan financial aid.
The sad part is that most of Zias actions were not reversed.
Benazir came into power in 1988 and 1993 under a secret agreement and abdicated control over major part of Pakistans foreign and security policy to the Pakistani military establishment.In 2008 also the PPP was allowed into power by NRO under a shady secret deal and to date the PPP has no control over Pakistans foreign or security policy despite being the de jure ruler party of Pakistan.
Nawaz Sharif came near ZAB in being a strong political leader when he sacked a naval and a military chief but was chastised by years in exile and a compromised return to Pakistan under a secret protocol ? The new Nawaz Sharif is a weaker Nawaz Sharif represented by a more pragmatic Shahbaz Sharif in power whose first rule of business is ask the military before doing anything.
Thus while Zias mortal remains were burnt over the Hindu Shamshan Ghat over Basti Lal Kamal on that historic 17th August 1988 his system remains in force with a Pakistan ruled by politicians in name and a foreign and security policy firmly in the hands of Pakistans military establishment.This ideally suits the USA , the Saudis and Pakistans military establishment.
The gist of the problem is that Pakistans civilian political leadership has no clue or control over what is Pakistan doing in Afghanistan,Kashmir or Balochistan and FATA.This explains why USA has secret agreements with Pakistans military establishment.Its safe,its practical and it’s a one window operation !
The weak link in this whole chain is misuse of Islam by Pakistans civil and military elite since 1947.The bluff was called in 2001 and Pakistan is now in grip of a civil war since 2003 with no end in sight.A war which has the potential of destroying Pakistan unless good captains can deal successfully with the immensely adverse wind and waves ?
The fatal question is can such an anachronistic arrangement last despite being supported by so called demi Gods like USA and Saudi Arabia ? The answer is no as proven from Pakistans ongoing civil war since 2003 in the killing fields of Afghanistan,FATA and now Data Darbar.
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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IS PEACE WITH PAKISTAN POSSIBLE?
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
Since the birth of Pakistan from its Indian folds 62 years back, almost every Indian Prime Minister in good faith has tried to buy peace with Pakistan .In the bargain they have invariably ended up giving much more to Pakistan then what they got in return. The Pakistan centric joint statement signed by Indian Prime Minister Mr. Man Mohan Singh along with Pakistani Prime Minister Mr. Geelani at the Egyptian sea resort town of Shram-el-Sheikh on 16 July 09 is the latest in this ongoing effort. The big question is when our political masters will understand that peace is not one way traffic?
On 03 Aug 09 Pakistan indefinitely postponed the trial of Mr. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the head honcho of Pakistan terror organization Lashkar –e –Toiba and the chief mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai attack. He is now a free man in Pakistan to do what he pleases. India has been handing over all the necessary evidence to Pakistan for trying and convicting him but we always get a curt reply that the evidence is not sufficient. This coming form a country which had no qualms in handing over 700 Pakistani citizens to US just on suspicion that they were involved with Al Qaeda. Similarly the sham trials of the other two masterminds Zarar Shah and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi of L-e-T have also been postponed. The terror camps of India specific Pakistan sponsored terror organizations L-e-T and Jaish Mohammad are continuing to function in POK albeit with changed locations. Mr. Man Mohan Singh himself emphasized this point of fresh terror attacks being planned in Pakistan with whole of India as their target, while addressing the conference of Chief Ministers of states summoned at Delhi on 17 Aug 09
Our quest for peace with Pakistan has been failing again and again because Indian political establishment refuses to accept that the idea of peace with India is not dear to Pakistani policy makers read Pakistani Army and the ISI. Pakistan came into being rejecting India. If they embrace us now it will threaten their survival. Peace with India will alter the internal power equations in Pakistan. It will reduce the primacy of Pakistani Army and the 20 billion dollar worth of yearly business it is running in Pakistan (Iyessha siddiqas book The Military Incorporation).It will also dilute the salience of the Islamic groups and usher Pakistan into genuine democracy, an anathema to Pakistani Army. This Pakistani mindset has been fully exploited by China which has buttressed Pakistan economically, armed it and provided it with nuclear muscle just to checkmate India. In order to be hyphenated with India Pakistan has sold it soul to China. Even if Pakistan wants to make peace with India now China will not allow it. China needs Pakistan to keep India firmly anchored as a regional power of South Asia.
Indian political masters forget that the proxy war launched by Pakistan against India two decades back is a full-scale war with Pakistan sponsored Jehadis being used as foot soldiers. Pakistan feels that it has an upper hand here, thanks to the lack of resolve in the Indian political class to retaliate with appropriate measures. More we talk of peace and more concessions we give to Pakistan in search of this elusive peace, Pakistani Army and ISI get further convinced that we are a soft state which does not have much stomach for strong counter action against Pakistan. It is time now that we shed this image. Indian political masters must understand that in strategy offence is the best defense. Why go to negotiating table with Pakistan with only one thought that talks are the only option? Talks with Pakistan will only succeed if we develop more options and negotiate from a position of strength.
The recent launch of the nuclear powered submarine INS Arihant brings in the second strike assured deterrence of destruction of Pakistan. This will over period of time check mate Pakistani habit of rattling their nuclear arsenal. Anti missile shield that we are developing is another option to keep Pakistani nuclear arsenal checkmated. Our Armed forces must be brought to their optimal capability. Our Intelligence agency RAW must be revamped on the lines of CIA and Mossad. May be we will have to make proxy war a two way traffic.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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THE POLITICS OF CORRUPTION
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
Till recently the CBI was breathing down the neck of Ms Mayawati, the Chief Minister of UP, in the disproportionate assets and Taj corridor cases, however the public perception is that she has now received a breather reportedly because she has rushed to the UPA government's support on the cut motion issue. Almost same thing happened in the case of Shibu Soren the Chief Minister of Jharkhand who ditched the BJP to keep the UPA government going. Where does all this leave CBI the primary investigating agency in India and the routine proclamations of the Indian political masters that corruption at high places will not be tolerated?
Corruption is a malaise which affects the political system of the country as whole. Jayalaitha, Karunanidhi, Chandrababu Naidu. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav, all holding high public offices of chief ministers and above, have all been investigated at some time or the other on corruption charges. However not a single politician in India has ever been found guilty beyond doubt and decisively punished.
In other developed democracies politicians do have the decency of resigning from whatever public post they are holding, till investigation is over and they are again proven as honest. Not in India. Here not only that they continue holding their public offices they brazenly keep on giving sermons to others to not to be corrupt.
We learn from an RTI filed by The Times of India that governments headed by leaders of various parties have withdrawn criminal cases against 51 political leaders of various parties in the past ten years, the beneficiaries including Ministers, MLAs, former Ministers and former MLAs. In most cases the State Government withdrew cases using its power under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code. What type of sick society is ours which provides powers to political parties to forgive crime just so that they continue to stay in power?
The buck does not stop at the politicians alone. The Indian bureaucrats are a step ahead of the politicians. Politicians at least have accountability towards the public. The bureaucrats have none. How the politician’s and bureaucrats help each other in the sharing of the corruption pie is borne out by the fact that more than 200 senior bureaucrats across India have come under the scanner of various anti corrupting agencies but none of them can be proceeded against because various governments have not given the necessary sanction. This is really strange. When prima facie the case needs investigation or charge sheet needs to be filed why not grant the said permission?
. In other words in India the political party in power can do no wrong. One can loot as much as one can, well knowing that law will never be able to catch the culprit if he is in politics and wields power. Unfortunately the politics in India has reached this nadir at a time when India is the youngest country in the World, needing a strong leadership to guide this predominantly youth polity, lest they go hay why. Today we in India have 74 million people who are below the age of 35.This youth has its dreams, aspirations, desire and energy to better their lot as also of their country. To keep them focused we need jobs in the country which must be urgently created .For this we need large scale investments in infrastructure, agriculture and educational fields.
Most of all we need a responsive government which must make people of India feel that it cares. We need dedicated and committed politicians who live up to the basic standards of honest leadership. We need transparency in Governance and upholding of law and order in the country. With the Cancer of Corruption at high places eating away the vitals of this country, currently all this is not possible. Needless to say the treatment of this disease has to start from the top and at the earliest. The big fish must be caught and punished for people to see and develop faith in the Indian Democracy and our system of Governance. The lip service will not do. This will also ensure that the pseudo Robin hoods like Naxals and other terror groups who have taken to arms against Indian Constitution for the cause of the down trodden and are gaining ground in the country, will lose their support base. 39 million people of this country live below poverty line and barely get two square meals a day. This loot and scoot politics, if not brought to an end will result in these people falling in the arms of Naxal movement and other terror organizations which will then become unstoppable.
For last more than a decade the much talked about Lok Pal Bill, bringing all politicians under its ambiance, is gathering dust. No Government wants to make it a law. Time has come now that it must be implemented. All members of Parliament including Prime Minister must be included in it. The Lok Pal in Centre and Lok Ayukt in States as also the Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India and states Vigilance Commissioners must be appointed in a transparent manner. This process must be institutionalized and must be broad based. These institutions must be totally autonomous like the Election Commission of India, with various appointments having fixed tenures.
Currently the CVC of India has powers only to recommend the start of criminal proceedings against a bureaucrat. It the Government which decides whether to proceed or not .This must come to an end. Let CVC initiate the proceedings. The CBI must work under an autonomous CVC and not under Prime Ministers Secretariat. Special courts must be set up to deal with all these corruption cases and the existing laws must be simplified. Once the charge sheet has been filed, the property of the accused must be ceased till the finish of the case. All cases must be decided in six months to one year duration. Let us not procrastinate on this issue of corruption. The country is fast sliding into an anarchy mode and the rampant corruption prevalent in all sections of the society is the main cause. A country of one billion strong people can not afford a perception that their leaders are corrupt and politics is a bad word in India.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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ANTI NAXAL OPERATIONS ENTIRE POLICE SET UP NEEDS RELOOK
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
More than 100 police personnel of CRPF have died in anti Naxal operations in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh State in just three months starting April with no appreciable gains. This is colossal loss of life. It will agitate and demoralize even most hardened organizations. While one can understand the open spat and blame game which has erupted between the State Police responsible for deployment of these paramilitary forces and the CRPF, however the need of the hour is not to allow tempers to run high but to learn lessons from the mistakes committed.
In the current Police set up in the country, it is the State Police which is responsible for establishing law and order in the State. The Centre helps in terms of providing additional Paramilitary Forces to the State where the situation so warrants. The responsibility of deployment of these additional forces remains with the State Police officials on the premise that they know the local situation better. In this deployment, which is done based on the local needs, it results more often then not in the Para Military Force Battalion consisting approximately 1200 constables getting deployed in penny packets.
This system may work for a short duration in common law and order problem areas. However 0peration against well trained and well equipped Naxal Guerillas is a different ball game. Anti Naxal operation is full scale jungle warfare. It requires cohesiveness, mutual trust among subunits and a resolute leadership. This is not possible if the force gets divided into small subunits.
The central paramilitary Forces coming from outside lack the knowledge of the local terrain and customs. They also do not have their own local intelligence grid. Needless to say for this knowledge of local terrain and intelligence they have to perforce bank on the local police force. The problem with the local police is that in all 83 Naxal affected districts spanning states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Maharashtra, the local police has become ineffective. Despite their tall claims they are not in a position to provide any real-time actionable intelligence.
This lack of actionable local intelligence, lack of proper training, lack of long term strategic planning and inadequate leadership are the main reasons for the current large scale massacre of Paramilitary forces in these operations, which are almost a full scale war. After every such massacre the blame game starts between the local police authorities and the Paramilitary force big wigs. This is being paid for by the valiant constables of these paramilitary forces by their lives. Surely this needs immediate rectification
The deployment areas of these incoming paramilitary forces are decided by the local authorities having little empathy with the ethos of the incoming force. These types of operations are highly stressful and the constables’ need adequate time and facilities for rest and relief when they are not operating. Most of the times these camps lack even the basic amenities.’ Many times while selecting the camp sites the local authorities do not even bother to check their defensibility from sudden surprise attacks. Suitable changes need be implemented if we are serious in winning the war against Naxals and reducing our casualties
In the Jungle Warfare Schools at Warangte and Kanker, Army is imparting training to the selected constables and lower rung officers from the police and Paramilitary forces. However the senior officers of these Forces who lack adequate knowledge of planning and execution of these types of high density operations continue to remain untrained. With followers trained and leaders untrained there is a total mismatch.
The name of the game is patience. The Police and Paramilitary forces should not rush to operations against Naxals just to please the bosses. The entire Paramilitary Force Battalion should operate as one unit under its own officer’s leadership. The new arrivals first must acquaint themselves with the terrain and establish their own intelligence grid. They may use local police as guides but the responsibility of planning an operation and its execution must rest with the paramilitary force and not local police officers. This will enforce accountability.
Even though currently Army is not involved operationally, there should be a joint command set up consisting of senior officers of Army, paramilitary Forces and Local Police. This will enable latter two to get the Army expertise in planning. Besides should need arises later, where Army finally has to get involved, then the transition process will be very smooth. It is time both military and police forces stop building their separate empires and start thinking that this country needs them both urgently.
brigarunbajpai@indiatimes.com Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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ACCOUNTABILITY IN INDIAN POLITICS A MIRAGE?
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
We the poor Indians dish out Rs 26000 per minute per day for every day our Parliament functions. We unhesitatingly dole out this sum and more in the belief that our elected political leaders will debate various issues, scrutinize the functioning of the government in power and expose any inefficiency or corruption, all for our better future. In the 14th Lok Sabha our worthy Netajis spent more time in the well of the house shouting down the speaker and disrupting the smooth functioning of the house, than debating. So many times on important debates and question hour even the normal quorum was not complete. A total of 415 hours of working time of Parliament, costing the exchequer Rs 64.7 crores were lost. The big question is will there ever be any accountability in our politics?
Speaker of our previous Parliament Mr. Somnath Chatterjee had himself commented that the worthy members of Parliament should burn the rule book outside the Parliament if they can not follow the decorum of the house. Things have reached such a nadir that discussions even when they do take place are mostly pedestrian in nature with the worthy members hardly having burnt any midnight oil in preparing for the issues involved. Cases have also come to light where the honorable MPs have been caught taking money for asking questions in the house.
While giving final touches to the Constitution, our founding fathers did not put down any thing in writing against politicians with criminal background coming to power. Things have come to such a pass now that in the last Parliament, every fifth MP out of a total of approximately 550 MPs, had a criminal background. Educational qualification yardstick for these worthies were also not specified by the founding fathers. It was assumed that parliament itself will frame necessary rules for them, a thing which has not happened till date. Witch hunting and lack of continuation of the previous Government policies, even if they were good, by the next Government is a comparatively new phenomenon. Opposition for opposing sake, even if the issue opposed is good for the country, is another tragic development which is making mockery of our current state of democracy.
On their own, Indian politicians will not like to bring about any change in this murky scenario. The only silver lining is that 740 million population of the country is below 35 years of age. It is this Indian youth which has started asking questions. Indian media is another agency which has now become very inquisitive in political wrongdoings. Maybe the political parties in India will set their houses in order before it is too late. If things do not improve and feel good effect does not reach the common man, it will not take long for things to slide into state of anarchy leading to insurgency. Case in point is the fast spread of Naxal related insurgency in 13 states in India.
Both houses of Parliament must function with optimum efficiency. Those members of parliament and state assemblies who willfully stall the proceedings of the house must be imposed upon monitory fines. Why should public pay for their misdemeanor? A minister or any other elected representative of people, holding an office has been declared as public servant by the highest court of law in the country. Needless to say that all acts of commission and omission by these gentlemen now must be brought under judicial scrutiny. The Lok Pal Bill bringing all members of Parliament under its ambit must be enacted. The Lok Pal in Centre and Lok Ayukt in states must be made totally autonomous with their own investigating staff. The plea that till proven in the court as corrupt or criminal a person can not be termed as offender and is innocent, should not hold good in case of holding of high offices. A leader has to set his own examples and his image not only has to be clean but must be perceived also by the people as spotless. People of India must get the power to recall a politician if he is not delivering. Politics without accountability has no meaning.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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From
Brigadier Arun Bajpai
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NAXAL TERROR NEED FOR URGENT ACTION
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd)
On 06 April 2010 the Naxals laid the biggest ambush in the history of India in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh killing 76 CRPF personnel. Even before the boom of the 21 gun salute given to these brave policemen who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty could die down, the Naxals have now on 17 May 2010 targeted innocent civilians, women and children, by blowing a bus which was en route to Dantewada from Sukma.41 civilians have been killed. This attack is in addition to another attack on CRPF personnel in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh on 08 May 2010 that killed 8 CRPF personnel. Needles to say both the Centre and State governments are looking helpless against this rising tide of Naxal violence. This is a very dangerous situation for the country and something needs to be done quick and fast.
After this latest carnage, in an interview given to one of the TV channels Mr. Chidambaram the Home Minister of India has said that he has got limited mandate under which he is doing his best. The Central Government is dubbing this Naxal Problem as a law and order problem which needs to be addressed by states. The States lack the political will and wherewithals in terms of well trained and armed police to deal with this menace. Reportedly some states have even struck deals with Naxals to live and let live. Despite the fact that Supreme Court has directed the states to carry out police reforms way back in 2006, still most of the states have not done so. Indian Police, apart from being most corrupt, continues to work under the rules framed in 1861 when India was a colony of British Empire. This colonial mind set of the police is loved by their political bosses because when things go wrong it is the police that become the fall guy and not their political masters. This is the main reason why despite loosing almost 1000 police personnel in the line of duty every year, this police force is despised by the people in India. If we want to save the country from the dangerous spread of naxal movement and local terror it is time this police is reformed.
After the merger of The Peoples War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) to form Communist Party of India (Maoist) in the year 2004, the Naxal movement has never looked back. These gentlemen are highly organized. Their leaders are young .They have 22000 well armed cadres spread over seven states(West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra,Orissa,Bihar,Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh) of India. They control 223 out 630 districts and 40 thousand sq kilometers of land mass of India. They are currently running 100 training camps for their cadres. Their aim is not to usurp power at the centre by dint of arms albeit they intend to break India in 30 small independent countries. They are having direct links with Maoist movement of Nepal and as disclosed by Intelligence Bureau now, with Lashkar-e-Toiba which is another name of Pakistani ISI.
Starting 2005 till 2008 there have been 7404 Naxal Terror attacks in various parts of the country.1007 police personnel’s and 2250 Indian citizens have died in these attacks. In 2009 there were 2250 Naxal attacks in which 590 civilians and 315 Police personnel’s were killed. This year already 810 Naxal attacks have taken place killing 195 civilians and 146 Police people. Despite this alarming rate of causalities, which prove beyond doubt that Naxals have declared a war on Indian State and they are as big a cancer to our country as Taliban is to Pakistan; there are still some top leaders in ruling Congress party and other political spectrum who feel that Naxals are not terrorists but misguided ideologues. Ms Arundhati Roy sings peons for these Naxals. There are lots of other arm chair intellectual sympathizers who feel that they at best are modern day Robin hoods fighting for the cause of the Tribal’s. It is time this romancing in India with Naxals must end as all this leads to dilution of our resolve to deal with Naxals with a firm hand. It also demoralizes the Security forces, after all it is they who are on the line of fire..
Lot of Indian Netas are currently heard saying that in dealing with Naxals we should focus on development in the Naxal affected areas thereby weaning away people from Naxals.The question is which agency will implement this developmental work? The truth on the ground is that in these districts the police lock themselves up in their respective Thanas come night fall and the Naxal cadres rule the roost. Every contactor has to pay a percentage price to these naxals for all construction works that he does in these naxal affected states. Whether it is a big company or small, levies have been fixed by Naxalites for mining Iron ore, Coal, Gold, and Diamond, stones and sand. In contraband cultivation of Opium also naxals dip their hands deep. All these fetches them a yearly sum of 151000 million rupees which they use for running their organization and purchase of latest weapons. Known corrupt Government Officers are also not punished by these pseudo Robin Hoods. All these officials have struck deals with the Naxals, whereby they pay percentage of their slush money to the Naxals.
To facilitate the smooth transport of weapons from one state to another, starting from the port city of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra, through the thick forests of Koraput and Malkangiri of Orissa and ending in the Dante Wada district of Chhattisgarh, the naxals have created a safe red corridor. Nobody dares disobey the dictates of the Naxal cadres. The punishment is immediate and is awarded in kangaroo courts. It ranges from lashings to monitory fines to even death sentences. The offender is charged with a proper charge sheet carrying a file number. Location and meeting times of these Kangaroo courts are always known to Aam Admi but it is a strange coincidence that local police and the administration never gets a clue. Same is the case with weapon hiding places of these naxal cadres. On which trees they are hidden are known to local people but again not to the police
The state of affairs that have now been reached, mere lip service will not do. Naxals carry out their raids and ambushes in one state and then quickly cross over to the other state. The state geographical boundaries have no meaning to them but they do have meaning to the state police and paramilitary forces. This leads on to an asymmetrical warfare and the advantage goes to naxals. There is need to form a Joint Police Command spanning all these seven Naxal affected states. The Central Paramilitary forces and the respective state police forces must be part of this command. These forces must be imparted specialized training in various elite military training institutions in India. Senior Army officers should be appointed as advisors to this joint command at various levels. The Police reforms ordered by Supreme Court in 2006 and still pending must now be implemented immediately by these states. A council of senior elected representatives from these states must be formed to provide political leadership to this entire set up. Irrespective of which state the Naxal Affected district belongs to, they all must be clubbed together and declared disturbed. Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 must be invoked in these areas. Instead of being reactive the Paramilitary Forces must be proactive. Forget all this talk of use of air power and what have you. Use of air power will cause collateral damage and totally alienate the local population. All that is needed is a well motivated, well led, well trained, well equipped and determined police Jawan who should be prepared to walk in jungles on his two feet as Naxals do and not ride on vehicles thereby becoming easy targets for land mines. Existing roads should be used only for moving supplies once or twice a week after full road clearance.
The development work must go along side by side in all those areas liberated by police operations. Honest Government officials must be posted in these areas and the judicial process must be speeded up. The fast rack special courts dealing with Naxal problem must be established. The entire State administration must be responsive. The leakage of developmental funds to the Naxalites must be stopped at all costs. Land reforms must be implemented in fair and transparent manner. Tribal customs in these areas must be given due respect’s. A Carrot and Stick policy to win heart and minds of people and isolate naxals is the right thing to do. The Indian political class must realize that things have gone too far and if not checked now it will be too late.
Brigadier Arun Bajpai (Retd), Journalist Free Lance,
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