NATION BUIDING AND DEFENCE FORCES

As of date Indian defence Forces are over a million plus serving and large number of retirees between the age of forty and above. Over a period of time the forces have built massive infrastructure in terms of facilities. Some of these are legacy of the colonial times and an undeveloped market. However like a good house wife it refuses to shed the colonial past and fully grabbing the future. This mindset is in its thought, traditions and culture. Staying aloof was a colonial requirement but not of free democratic nation.

Such a huge trained manpower is available for any contingency that may arise on our borders. With major wars being uncommon- last war was fought in 71 and there is no likelihood for any thing in the foreseeable future. Pakistan, one of the major irritant can not fight a conventional war and hope for a modicum of success. Therefore it will continue the proxy war. China, the other neighbour has established such a massive edge in-terms of conventional/nuclear capability that India can not win either of the wars. Deterrence is the aim and that should be doable.

Disaster management and CI/LWE has been given to central/state police forces and border management less Line of Control with Pakistan and some portion with China too has been given to force other than the army.

The CRPF/ITBP have raised forces for all the additional tasks of disaster and border management therefore corresponding decrease should have been done by the army, which apparently has not happened. Rashtriya Rifles raised for CI in J&K need to be reviewed.

With the reduced responsibility why should the defence forces not get involved in Nation Building?

What can be done without compromising the war preparedness

Component of the defence forces deployed in peace stations train for three months and three months go towards leave. Remainder time is available for activities of nation building.

To ensure that the nation is not caught off guard, the slack/spare time would need to be harmonised with likely operational season which depends on various factors well known to military.

Specific Activities

Talent hunt and train youth in sports

Make available sports infra to selected promising youth.

Skill building- army can facilitate building skills at par or superior to ITIs. Training cooks; mechanics; drivers; electricians; English speaking; computer learning and host of other vocational skills from its existing/augmented facilities.

Awareness of hygiene/sanitation; introducing solar; non conventional energy in remote areas

Training village youth in E monitoring of government schemes and other e-learning options.

Defence forces have a system of adopting villages in difficult areas in J&k and NE to aid those areas where reach of government is weak. This can be extended to areas in the mainland and help catch up on the last time thereby ensuring inclusive growth.

Defence forces can contribute in higher learning by opening more institutes of excellence in conjunction with HRD ministry.

Self Evolution

In the history of warfare the leader with best application of mind has been Krishna. His capability to influence the outcome by proper manoeuvring is well known. His name is “Ranchhor”- run away from battle are great traditions which unfortunately we do not follow. Its the Israeli army which believes in survive to fight another day rather than the colonial way of last man last round. Chankya too needs to be understood and incorporated in military thought.

Facilitate R&D in military fields. Web and hosts of others were developed by US for military use. There are many bright minds – MSc from IITs and some from foreign countries. These minds must facilitate research and design formulation in conjunction with other brains working in DRDOs/IITs/Pvt sect R&D.

Conclusion

Army has a bitter experience of pre 62 war when it got involved in residential accommodation building at the cost of operational preparedness. That must not come in the way of seeing afresh the need of the nation to develop and defence being big consumer of budget has a moral obligation to, pitch in towards this onerous task.

ANCIENT WISDOM AND MODERNITY: HOLY NEXUS

It is well known that the ancient Indian scriptures had lot of wisdom stored in them. However neglect of Sanskrit and failure of our masters, probably by design to belittle the mighty civilisation and subdue it has been an ongoing process till very recently. Indian had been ruled by foreigners or weak, fragmented rulers for almost ten centuries has also led to the decay in our thought process and civilisation, This needs to be rectified and earlier the better.

Indian weakness in poor documentation and less belief in scientific approach and research has been the second reason for the decline.

Course correction to overhaul the decay and neglect of thousands of years is a gigantic task and requires herculean effort. Cynicism by western educated experts and vested western industry would be the biggest obstacles in the way ahead.

The course correction should be undertaken in the following stages.

Stage 1.

Translate the scriptures into authentic versions in all Indian languages and have these uploaded in E-library. Plenty of retired people can help with minimal costs.

Patent all wisdom.

Stage 2

Discover new herbs and shrubs of medicinal values since lost and help cultivation of the same. In the hill regions of J&K, HP, UK and tribal have a good knowledge about herbs which is not known to mainstream intellectuals. Collecting these would give a huge repository and retrieval of wisdom passed down the ages.

Stage 3

Research and development followed by proper testing of Yoga benefits and Ayurved and other Indian systems of medicines. Lay down norms akin to ISO for testing the medications.

Put the tested practises/medicines through Indian formulated ISO norms.

Stage 4.

Introduction of the proven systems/items into the Indian way of life. Introduce with governmental organisations and then in the open market.

Benefits

 Planting medicinal, ornamental and commercial plants in the barren hills; foothills; wastelands, backwaters, astride roads/canals/railway lines, parks in the cities as part of jobs-growth-empowerment and dovetailing into the overall design of environments would create millions of jobs.

INDIAN DEFENCE FORCES:WAY AHEAD

Generals are known for preparing for the last war.

The future wars will not involve huge numbers of men or machines but rely on minimal force with maximal impact. This implies real time intelligence and capability to destroy the impact with minimal collateral damage along with shaping the perception of opinion makers. It may have number of small skirmishes culminating into decisive strike. Large manoeuvres are second world war type of war, the modern warfare is already shifting to drones and other smarter weapon systems. For insurgency type of warfare the nation needs feet on the ground to saturate the area, show presence, gain human intelligence and win battle of hearts and minds.

With Modi government taking over and everyone is expecting wonders to happen is a sign of optimism and the damage done by the previous government. Defence modernisation has been one big causality.

Modi government has taken over empty coffers and huge backlog and mega crying needs- from toilets to space. Finance Minister must be having sleepless nights and rightly so.

There are hardly any original strategic thinkers in India within or outside the uniformed services. Most of the so called thinkers have borrowed ideas from the west and parrot them with minor modifications. That is the impression one gets on reading the papers and TV debates.

The nation has created huge white elephants like organisations commencing from DRDO to think tanks with very limited quality input. One of the major drawback in addition to quality thinkers is everyone is working in his small little well without trying to connect and expanding wisdom/experience.

The wisdom/knowledge lies all over. Defence forces are the initiators and end users of needs. There wish list is generally based on what is available in the world market and what the adversary has/likely to procure.

The DRDO/IITs/Private Sector and PSU with their in-house capabilities have some wisdom but not good enough to produce to match the best in the world market. The defence forces have enough wisdom among officers of technical arms who are as well qualified as scientist in the civil market. Large number of them have done their Master from IITs and foreign universities of renown.

Scattered but non focused wisdom is available within the country in abundance.

To add to the misery the Ministry of Defence or the Defence Minster has little knowledge of professional matters.

Huge problem but energised approach with Modi government talking of change may just be the right opportunity to make a beginning.

As one makes out US/China and other military powers are looking at intelligence, alliances, control of critical resources, R&D, jointmanship, space, robotics, artificial intelligence, perception management, economic development; populace happiness as some of the things of critical importance for staying ahead in the future.

What needs to be done

To expect automatic happening of empire crashing by organisation used to mega budgets with no accountability is a challenging assignment.

The US has a Blue Ribbon Commission concept. This compromises of wise people but not stake holders. They interact with all stake holder as well as the best brains within the country and study the best practises followed by other advanced nations.

The second methodology is to undertake a study by one/two professionals who interact with all leaders of society in their designated fields impacting the future. This gives a view of shape of things to unfold as perceived by all the thinkers. Messing them together gives an idea for planners to peep and plan where and how the defence forces role/fighting fits into that future.

Any of the above approach will enable a clear vision and then comes up the way ahead. There would be a need to build total smart power rather than trying to attempt every thing but poor quality outcomes.

Form a committee akin to Blue Ribbon Commission with the task of way ahead for force development and fusing/importing technology.

Since India is one of the biggest importer of weapon systems insist on hundred percent technology transfer within five year or less of import of major system

Accountability of DRDO/PSU- perform or perish. Incorporate IITs/private sector at R&D stage

Defence forces more so the army being manpower intensive needs major review in its approach. Move from man-machine mix to smart/remote systems of intelligence gathering and its destruction with minimal force and maximal impact. Emphasise on special forces with strategic mobility and cut down on numbers of men in uniform.

Harmonise functioning of army with PMF/CPO. Reinforce police forces for counter insurgency operations and be prepared to absorb them for rear area duties during war.

Have regular army down to 40% and complement by 60% of territorial army. This means professional/others contributing to nation building during normal times; do military training for about a month every year and join during war. Alternatively army must release 60% of its strength of peace stations for eight months a year for nation building projects. With no major war since 71 and none in the offing and internal security being taken over by CPOs in Kashmir and Central India and border management by ITBP and others after Subramaniun Kargil review committee. Huge amount of Rashtriya Rifles raised for Kashmir now freed as responsibility taken over by CPOs.

These measures will release huge manpower/financial resources for modernisation and nation building simultaneously.

Who Bells the Cat

 Too many vested interests will fight for status quo. With limited professional competence at top level who forces? Answer lies in Blue Ribbon commission equivalent to transform the defence force into a modern smart war fighting. Focussing on smart power being applied through deterrence cum quick minimal force maximal result and simultaneously contributing towards nation building.