(July 25, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Flashpoint. NATO’s Allied Force saw induction of more than 400 planes into the Balkan skies. Phase - I witnessed cruise missiles, F-117 Nighthawks, B-2 bombers, F-15/16 Eagles, F-16 Falcons and B-52 bombers which rolled in from as the diverse directions and places as Adriatic Sea, Missouri, Italy and England. With that Kosovo moved to a new level of misery. The largest air attacks since WWII commenced on a country which does not threaten the global equilibrium nor its neighbors. And none know the precise exit strategy nor the endgame. However, this much is clear that the resultant giagantic refugee problem will heavily eat into the NATO manpower and resources for a long time to come.
Of late, unfortunately, the American foreign policy has been driven by ultimatums. Whenever, a disagreement occurs, the lone super power needs to deliver on such threats. But the air attacks without ground troops support cannot always win. So Osama bin Laden remains where he was. Saddam continues to visit his mistresses. And now NATO’s credibility is up for grabs. The Balkans is likely to be the graveyard of air-attacks-alone theory. For history argues that a determined infantry cannot be evicted by massive air attacks. The Kosovo spillover will not only impact on the health of the EU, but also put a question mark on the American global dominance.
However, Americans are likely to continue with such ill-advised actions on a variety of flashpoints worldwide in a desperate attempt to disallow emerging new power equations. This will further tie down in knots the NATO credibility. Let’s try to visualise how India can re-organise internally to meet the new challenges arising out of the deteriorating international scenario.
The Indian Faultline. This faultline can be traced back to the Mauryan empire’s unwise decision of renouncing war. Like corporate graphs, the military power graph of a nation either gradually creeps upwards or if not in use, the law of gravity pulls it downwards! Thus unwittingly, in subsequent centuries the neglect of the military component resulted in unprecedented foreign invasions. Incomprehension of the dynamics of military power by the subsequent rulers and the attempts to absorb, appease and amalgamate the invading armies put the foreign rulers at the seat of power in Delhi with ease. This is akin to allowing an adversary in a soccer match to dominate your half of the field. Obviously goals will be scored.
The other aspect of the Indian Faultline rests on the fact that majority of the Indian rulers employed the military power ruthlessly internally to pacify the outlying provinces (instead of attempting economic development) while refusing to correctly posture it to meet the threats from invasion. This short sighted approach continued on India’s attaining independence. Many elders (product of a similar mindset) tend to defend the actions of Indian political leadership of 1947 on singular ground of inexperience. One tends to disagree because all it needed was to review the historical evidence of foreign subjugation and the leadership would automatically have deduced the reasons. And initiated corrective measures. This small exercise really did not require a very high caliber in leadership either.
On one hand, the international stability appears to be in a tail spin. Because the lone super power is determined to rise and shine at every flashpoint despite the time tested principle of never jump into somebody else’s civil war. On the other hand, India is finally waking up to the fact that the world does not feed on morals! India needs to re-look and re-fashion its internal factors to meet the prevailing new external lawlessness.
The Have-Nots. Indians over the centuries have done to the Untouchables, what the Americans did to the Blacks. Suppression. The Blacks even today cannot easily rise in the American society because of one simple fear that they will return the favour in ample measures. Fortunately for India, the Untouchables retain their levels of tolerance like the rest of the Indians. Therefore, rapid education and economic development of the backward/rural areas needs to be implemented on a war footing. Time lost in this respect will be directly proportionate to heightened levels of social disharmony which India can ill-afford as an emerging power.
Unity-in-Diversity. The Indian tragedy is that this slogan since 1947 has only harped on the aspect concerning diversity, encouraging divisive tendencies from Kashmir to Kanyakumari! For aspirations towards building a modem nation-state, the buzz word has to be integration and not disintegration. Give spin to integration by merging the MoD with Service Headquarters and right down the line to the Theatre Command. More efficiency at a much lesser cost with availability of a larger fire power.
A unique functional role model of unity in diversity for India is its military. Be it the Sikhs, Rajputs, Jats or the Madras Regiments, the cultural diversity is adequately maintained at the lower end of the spectrum. Uniformity through training is achieved at the higher end of the spectrum. The social scientist and the economist must sit together with the military analyst to understand, innovate and devise methods to integrate the society accordingly. The military role model respects and encourages secularism and yet manages to effectively knit the diversity in a rare unity. Overall national uniformity in approach is vital for the national health and cannot be disputed. Nor should it be erroneously mistaken as militerization of the Indian mind. Internal harmony will also reduce consumption of military power within. Such surplus of military component then readily will be available to face the external threats. To develop national uniformity in approach, the following elementary steps are recommended.
* Post-independence military actions, battles and wars must be taught to students from the ninth standard onwards. This literature is not only secular but can galvanize the young through acts of courage, compassion and bravery exemplified by the Indian soldier, sailor and the airman. It will also be of immense help to create a larger vision of a diverse India in the young mind. Further, to hone the skills of civilian instructors in the teaching of post independence history in military science departments in colleges, officers from the three services should be put on deputation for two years under study leave provisions.
* On scrutiny, the only all India services are the Army, Navy and the Air Force. Indian Administrative Service or Indian Police Service merely adorn an all India nomenclature. For example an IAS officer from Bihar cadre normally ends up spending his professional tenure between Bihar and Delhi. This needs to be modified like the military. Officers of the civil services like IAS, IPS, etc. should be posted through out the country to increase their vision and interaction with diverse regions and communities. This will provide a fillip to integration.
* A major boost to uniformity in approach can be achieved by lateral induction of the military in civil services. Officers of the Armed Forces imbibe in them the best man and material management techniques that the country can offer. If they are laterally inducted into central and state administrative and police structures with their seniority intact, they will perform miracles in providing a responsive and a responsible administration. Similarly jawans can be absorbed in the state and central police forces. Training costs come down, efficiency goes up, shortages of manpower ends, and the military remains young. Besides, this simple measure bestows honour and recognition of the soldier’s contribution to the nation. Above all this will act as a force-multiplier in national integration.
Internal Reforms. Analysing the Indian genius and skills, one factor stands out. It works the best in a free atmosphere. Scores of Indian fast food joints are now ahead of those owned by multinationals. Infact, for the first time, the latter are forced to cut down their retail prices and cater to the Indian palate. Modern banking facilities at a lesser cost provided by HDFC Ltd. Bank is ahead of the foreign banks. Zee TV revenues score over a foreign channel. Therefore, accelerated pace of internal reforms to free and unleash the Indian enterprenuial energy in the next five years is a must-must.
Simultaneously lowering the over-whelming government structures by 35% in the next five years is mandatory for India to gain momentum. The system is not only clogged but eats up revenue in far excess of what it can collect. And hardly delivers. However, the social net for the next twenty years needs to remain intact till the have-nots are brought into the main stream through education. Here, I emphasize on the spread of education in the rural areas because this not only creates new skills and competence but helps check the explosion in population. In actualities, India can afford to export vast amount of brains and yet have an internal surplus! The government needs to exploit this factor.
Defending India. To defend India, we have everything going for us except a vision and a will to ruthlessly implement it. Indians must remember that despite building up of sufficient alliances in our region and out-of-the-region, we must not become complacent and neglect the growth of military power in future. Education of the masses, encouraging the free enterprise, developing the economy of the outlying provinces through an efficient administrative machinery on a war footing (and thus freeing the military power from enormous internal consumption), disallowing demographic changes in the border areas from outside in particular, and giving thrust to national integration while retaining diversity at the lower end of the spectrum are the areas that need to be conceptually worked upon. Simply, put to defend India, the India First generation must take over from the fading elders of India Last generation.
First published in IDR Vol. 14 (1) January-March 1999. Bharat Verma, Editor Indian Defence Review.
Internal Reforms. Analysing the Indian genius and skills, one factor stands out. It works the best in a free atmosphere. Scores of Indian fast food joints are now ahead of those owned by multinationals. Infact, for the first time, the latter are forced to cut down their retail prices and cater to the Indian palate. Modern banking facilities at a lesser cost provided by HDFC Ltd. Bank is ahead of the foreign banks. Zee TV revenues score over a foreign channel. Therefore, accelerated pace of internal reforms to free and unleash the Indian enterprenuial energy in the next five years is a must-must.
Simultaneously lowering the over-whelming government structures by 35% in the next five years is mandatory for India to gain momentum. The system is not only clogged but eats up revenue in far excess of what it can collect. And hardly delivers. However, the social net for the next twenty years needs to remain intact till the have-nots are brought into the main stream through education. Here, I emphasize on the spread of education in the rural areas because this not only creates new skills and competence but helps check the explosion in population. In actualities, India can afford to export vast amount of brains and yet have an internal surplus! The government needs to exploit this factor.
Defending India. To defend India, we have everything going for us except a vision and a will to ruthlessly implement it. Indians must remember that despite building up of sufficient alliances in our region and out-of-the-region, we must not become complacent and neglect the growth of military power in future. Education of the masses, encouraging the free enterprise, developing the economy of the outlying provinces through an efficient administrative machinery on a war footing (and thus freeing the military power from enormous internal consumption), disallowing demographic changes in the border areas from outside in particular, and giving thrust to national integration while retaining diversity at the lower end of the spectrum are the areas that need to be conceptually worked upon. Simply, put to defend India, the India First generation must take over from the fading elders of India Last generation.
First published in IDR Vol. 14 (1) January-March 1999. Bharat Verma, Editor Indian Defence Review.
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