Bharat Rakshak :: Security Research Review

The Controversy over the Army Chief's Age

Saturday, 10 September 2011 02:42 Bharat Rakshak Editor

The entire controversy about General VK Singh's DOB was stoked in 2006 by the powers that were then within the Army to tamper with the so-called line of succession. At the time, Deepak Kapoor was to be the next COAS followed by VK Singh. These two appointments could not have been tampered with, but by restricting VK Singh to a slightly more than two-year tenure, it ensured that Bikram Singh would become the COAS in 2012 rather than KT Parnaik who otherwise would succeed VK Singh in 2013.

Bharat Rakshak Forum Member's Donation Effort to the Indian Army Welfare Fund

Sunday, 23 January 2011 02:07 Bharat Rakshak Forums

The Bharat Rakshak QuikClot Donation effort was started in March 2009 after forum members came to know of acute shortage of blood clotting kits for Indian Army units engaged in Counter-Insurgency Operations (COIN). The original goal of the effort was to co-ordinate with the Indian Army and their approved vendor of blood clotting kits (called QuikClot) and provide the donated funds for purchase of the kits. However, after discussion with Indian Army officials, it was decided that it would be more feasible for the Indian Army if the donated sum was given for the rehabilitation of disabled soldiers and war widows.

With that in mind, it was decided to donate the collected funds to the Jat Regimental Centre (JRC), Bareilly after they indicated their willingness to accept the same. The funds were presented in the form of a demand draft at the Jat Regiment Reunion in October 2009, to Lt.-Gen. Balraj Singh Nagal, Head of the Strategic Forces Command of the Indian Army and Colonel of the Jat Regiment. However, after accepting the draft, the Jat Regimental Center were unable to deposit the draft on time and it expired. A new draft was re-issued and sent but by that time the Jat Regimental Center had decided that they would not be able to accept the funds from civilian donors without a long-drawn process involving significant paperwork and therefore, returned the funds.

Finally, it was decided to donate the entire amount to the central Indian Army Welfare Fund and upon successful receipt and acknowledgment of the same, the donation effort was considered successful and deemed closed

Book Review: The Long Road to Siachen - The Question Why

Wednesday, 12 January 2011 16:27 Kapil Chandni

Authors: Kunal Verma and Brigadier Rajiv Williams

Softcover - 432 pages

India Price: Rs. 1150 (inc Postage)

Overseas: Rs.1600 (inc Postage)

Order Link: www.anveshan.com

..and then there were none.

Thursday, 09 September 2010 16:14 Gp Capt A G Bewoor VM (Retd)

HPT-32 at Tambaram In the wake of the recent grounding of the HPT-32 basic trainers in the IAF, Gp Capt Anant Bewoor writes a hard hitting opinion piece about the way the Government, the Defence Industry and the Indian Air Force has been going about rectifying the situation.

Book Review: Fault Lines

Wednesday, 22 April 2009 14:46 Kapil Chandni

Fault Lines

Fault Lines by Bharat Verma
Lancer Publishers 2009, New Delhi
ISBN 978-1-935501-00-8
Pages : 336

Two of India’s trinity of passions consisting of Politics, Cricket and Bollywood are holding the nation in thrall in the form of General Elections and the Indian Premier League, which ironically, is being held in distant South Africa.

It is a reflection of the sad state of affairs that the world’s most populous democracy earns fame for an election process which returns the usual bunch of short-sighted politicians to office and India still struggles to find its rightful place in world affairs.

The publication of this book could not have come at a more appropriate time.

Indian Air Force 2020

Wednesday, 22 October 2008 02:08 Air Chief Marshal (retd) A Y Tipnis, PVSM, AVSM, VM

Perspective Planning - An Essential Requirement

India has yet to demonstrate its ability to do long-term perspective planning in any field. Defense is by no means an exception. Inability, if not disinclination, to do so in the early decades after independence could be arguably justified for the defense sector on several counts. The key factor, possibly, was the initial political disinclination to develop our defense forces. The Nehruvian pre-occupation with national economic and industrial development, non-alignment and global statesmanship resulted in a myopic vision towards our defense requirements. Development of defense forces came to be looked upon as a hindrance rather than an asset to India playing the role that it had set for itself, nationally and internationally.

The American supply of military aid to Pakistan in the late 1950s made India scramble for arms purchases in an effort to balance the scales that had tilted in Pakistan’s favor. This was the start to India’s reactive responses to events taking place in its western neighborhood. The Chinese fiasco of 1962 was essentially the result of firstly, foolishly thinking that pure statesmanship would win us our legitimate claims; and secondly, making strong political noises and military moves with neither a coherent military plan nor (more importantly) the military capability.

Indian Army 2020

Wednesday, 22 October 2008 02:06 Gen. (retd) Shankar Roychowdhury, PVSM, ADC

A nation’s military is a major but unstated factor in international Realpolitik, howsoever moderated and underplayed, in acknowledgement of international sensitivities. Nevertheless, its existence and capabilities percolate into the public domain, domestic as well as international, and its presence, even unstated, becomes a background presence, which provides a sense of hard-edge backup to the national establishment for undertaking effective front line diplomacy. It is, therefore, essential in the national interest that the armed forces are upgraded and updated on an ongoing basis, something which governments have been traditionally loath to acknowledge and undertake, the Indian government perhaps more so than others in this respect.

India and the Globalization of Drugs Regime

Wednesday, 22 October 2008 02:00 T Raghavan

India and the Globalization of the Drugs Regime

T. Raghavan Organized criminal enterprise has a history as long as that of human civilization. However, recently with increasing trade and communications between different regions of the world, criminal enterprises morphed from purely local organizations into organizations that transcend national boundaries. The growth of international criminal cartels represents the more seamy side of the globalization. International criminal cartels typically take advantage of loopholes in trade laws, and of economic policy in various nations. For example, the mainstay of Indian mafia organizations in the past was gold smuggling from foreign countries. Indian tax policies and other curbs made the illegal gold importing a profitable venture. Similarly, Italian mafias grew in power in the United States during the era of prohibition as alcohol and gambling were banned.

Military-Industrial Complex: Crafting A Winning Strategy

Tuesday, 21 October 2008 23:41 Capt (Retd) Bharat Verma 2005 - Volume 1 Issue 2

Surrounded with security threats to its land frontiers since Independence and bedeviled with a paucity of funds, Indian defense industries for many decades plodded along alone striving for self-sufficiency as the western countries were loathe to part with the latest equipment or share their technology. The silver lining in this bleak situation turned out to be Soviet Union, which did not consider India strategically hostile and was willing to accept payments in rupees. However, in the unfolding geo-political scenario, besides Russia, countries like France, Israel, Britain, and America, each with well-established military-industrial complexes are keen to join hands with India to co-develop, co-produce and co-market defense equipment.

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