The Peninsula Foundation

Category: External Articles

  • Agnipath Might have Adverse Consequences

    Agnipath Might have Adverse Consequences

    It takes a soldier a long time to emotionally and physically get moulded into his unit groove, become infused with his unit’s ethos and, thus, be prepared to lay down his life for the unit’s honour

    The government this week announced a recruitment model, Agnipath, for the short-term induction of personnel into the armed forces. As a veteran, who has worn the nation’s uniform with pride for 41 years, I wish the new scheme all success. But due to my loyalty to my motherland, shared by all veterans, I also have some misgivings about the new recruitment programme.

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  • China’s Growing Space Power Significant for India

    China’s Growing Space Power Significant for India

    Space has become an arena of competition for power and influence. Big powers have invested heavily in their military space capabilities. Amid an accelerated militarisation of space, China’s space capabilities have grown by leaps and bounds. China has identified Space as a critical domain in the perspective of its global ambitions. The rapid growth in China’s Space capabilities and its articulated ambitions are of significant importance to India’s Space security and national interests.

    Space has become an enormously important facet of our daily life. The increasing utility and critical need for space-based services have made it a rapidly-growing economic and technological arena. Space capabilities now symbolise a nation-state’s growing economic power. Innovation and disruptive technologies are now characterising the growth of the space industry, both in the private and public sectors. In all this, play the most important role as space has become an arena of competition for power and influence.

    Traditionally, military uses of space technologies have revolved around advanced communication, precise navigation, improved Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, and meteorology. Further developments have enabled these technologies to be used in Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD), advanced sensors, early warning systems, and anti-satellite (ASAT) systems.

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  • Implications of Nagaland Tragedy

    Implications of Nagaland Tragedy

    There are grave suspicions that either the information provided was false or that the Mon operation had been compromised at the highest levels

    This columnist’s piece yesterday drew attention to the farcical nature of the investigations conducted by the Nagaland Police into December’s tragic incident in which six coalminers were mistakenly killed by troops from a Special Forces unit in Mon district. Prior to the SIT even beginning its work, Nagaland DGP T John Longkumer and Divisional Commissioner (Kohima) Rovilatuo Mor made serious accusations against the Army unit involved, based purely on hearsay and speculation.

    By their own admission, the accusations were based on information conveyed by villagers who reached the scene four hours later. The same villagers attacked the detachment and killed a soldier and injured the rest while they were still awaiting the police’s arrival. Not only does it put serious doubts on the credibility of their statement, but also casts a deep shadow on the work of the SIT, composed wholly of personnel from the Nagaland Police, on its ability to carry out a free, fair and unbiased investigation.

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  • Nagaland Tragedy and the SIT Farce

    Nagaland Tragedy and the SIT Farce

    Nobody’s saying that there was no conspiracy, in fact, all evidence points to one, but in which the military was clearly the scapegoat.

    Last December, this author had written about the tragic incident that occurred in Nagaland’s Mon district earlier that month (‘AFSPA in the Northeast: Is status quo the answer?’). In a tragic case of mistaken identity, six coal miners were killed by troops from a Special Forces unit. Subsequent escalation by local villagers who descended on the site four hours later, allegedly at the behest of the DSP, led to the murder of one soldier with the rest being injured, many of them seriously. They were finally able to disengage with difficulty, having to leave behind four vehicles loaded with gear and ammunition. The unruly mob subsequently set these trucks on fire, which resulted in the ammunition in the burning trucks “cooking off”, or exploding. This probably led to the death of seven others, which the police promptly pinned on the detachment that had left.

    This case is again making headlines as the Nagaland Police has charge-sheeted 30 soldiers under various sections of the IPC, including criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons and disappearance of evidence. That an operational task assigned by higher headquarters, based on inputs reportedly provided by the Intelligence Bureau, constitutes a criminal conspiracy speaks volumes of the quality of the investigations. But that in no way suggests that there was no conspiracy, in fact, all evidence points to one, but in which the military was clearly the scapegoat.

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  • India is not the Fastest Growing Big Economy

    India is not the Fastest Growing Big Economy

    A closer look at recent data on GDP shows that the numbers are flawed and recovery is incomplete

    The Provisional Estimates of Annual National Income in 2021-22 just released show that GDP grew 8.7% in real terms and 19.5% in nominal terms (including inflation). It makes India the fastest-growing major economy in the world. Further, the real economy is 1.51% larger than it was in 2019-20, just before the…

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  • The Inefficiencies of India’s Justice System

    The Inefficiencies of India’s Justice System

    The present system of justice delivery is inefficient precisely because it is meant to be manipulated by our rulers to achieve their goals.

    Aryan Khan’s case reflects what is wrong in India’s system of justice. He was caught for allegedly being part of a nexus with international or national drug dealers. Much hype followed since he is the son of a mega movie star. Media, political parties and the general public presented, commented and followed the case.

    As suddenly as the case erupted, it has been closed with the argument that no narcotic drugs were found. It is common knowledge that drugs flow in parties like the one that was planned on the ship. But, here a particular group of youngsters were targeted and it was not a general raid. What was the plan?

    Message and Extortion

    A Minister in the Maharashtra government accused the agency of using such cases for extortion. He was later arrested for having dealings with the family of a notorious don. If the allegations against him are true, he would know about use of drugs and the ways of functioning of the agency involved. So, his allegations about extortion are likely to be correct. The question then is, who was the real target and has a deal been struck?

    The public will never get to know the truth but, what an inefficient way of doing things. It cannot be that some officer initiated the case on his own for extortion and harassment of a high profile person. Could the extortion not have been done quietly without media hype and public exposure? Mafia is known to extort without advertising their action. For the powers that be, it was also necessary to send a message to their detractors. The case is symptomatic of what the system is capable of.

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  • Snatching Defeat from Victory’s Jaws

    Snatching Defeat from Victory’s Jaws

    “The Govt’s ad hoc approach towards Army recruitment has adversely impacted youngsters, and even the military’s operational preparedness”.

    Recruitment for the Army has been at a standstill over the past two years as the Government contemplates drastic changes in its recruitment pattern and consequently its manpower profile. As recruitment is age-driven, this halt on recruitment has adversely impacted youngsters, mostly from rural areas, who suddenly find themselves stuck in limbo. The tragic suicide by young Pawan of Bhiwani district on becoming overage in the interim says it all.

    But his case is just the tip of an iceberg as over 1 lakh candidates, having cleared the physical tests, are still awaiting conduct of the written exam as time ticks by.

    It has adversely impacted the Army as well. Approximately 50,000 personnel retire annually, which implies that the Army is currently deficient in nearly 10 per cent of its authorised strength. This has impacted operational readiness and will have a knock-on effect on training and manpower management in future. The fact is, it takes 18 months from the time an individual is selected and joins his unit as a trained soldier. Clearly, halting regular recruitment, for whatever reasons, has been an imprudent move that has negatively impacted our national security and should have been avoided at all costs, given the fragile security environment that we confront.

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  • India is a Nation of Meat-Eaters — They are Mostly Men

    India is a Nation of Meat-Eaters — They are Mostly Men

    Besides smashing the ‘vegetarian India’ myth, NFHS data also reveals how entrenched patriarchy dictates who is allowed to eat what.

    Whatever may be the rhetoric or the narrative, even if the latter is a preponderantly dominant one, truth finds its own place to emerge. For years, many sections of Indian society, principally the right-wing segment, have peddled the story that India is primarily a vegetarian nation. Proclamations of this sort have been made time and again, although archaeological and anthropological data do not give any credence to such claims and assertions. The Vedas too do not support this narrative. In fact, it is unequivocally held that it was unviable to depend only on vegetarian food anywhere in the world even during the Vedic times.

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  • Will Government Steps Tame Runaway Inflation?

    Will Government Steps Tame Runaway Inflation?

    “The steps announced by the government are only a first step. Prices of essentials have to be brought down (not just rate of inflation) and wages indexed to inflation”

    WPI rising at 15.08% in April 2022 has set alarm bells ringing in the government. Not only has the WPI been rising at above 10% per annum for over 13 months, but it has also been rising faster since February 2022. In other words, it has accelerated. Of course, the war in Ukraine has impacted it but it had been rising rapidly prior to that. In November 2021 it had risen by 14.87%. It moderated a little till January 2022 and then again rose.

    In November 2021 the government had cut taxes on petro goods to bring down their prices. Now the government has again cut these taxes in the hope of moderating inflation. By restricting the exports of wheat and sugar it seeks to lower their prices. Additionally, it has acted to lower the prices of basics like steel, cement and plastics. These steps should help moderate inflation. The issue is how much and whether it will benefit the citizens, especially the marginalized ones?

    Acceleration and Generalization to all Commodities.

    When indirect taxes are levied on basic items of production, they feed into the price of all other products. For instance, if the price of energy rises, since it is used in all production, the price of all products rises – there is a generalized price rise. If the tax on diesel is raised, transport costs, cost of running pumps in the fields and electricity generated using diesel rise. Similar is the case with coal, cement, steel and plastics. So, one way of lowering the rate of inflation is to reduce taxes on these basics.

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  • How Do We Make the Wheels of the Police and Criminal Justice System Run Faster?

    How Do We Make the Wheels of the Police and Criminal Justice System Run Faster?

    The system of law enforcement in India encourages illegality and checks it only when it is in the interest of the rulers.

    The end of April 2022 saw three significant news items about justice delivery in the nation.

    Attorney General K.K. Venugopal said that 4.8 crore cases are in the courts and it had become a hopeless situation since “… litigants’ fundamental right to speedy justice lay in tatters …”.

    The Chief Justice of India, at the conference of chief ministers and Chief Justices, said that courts are burdened since the executive and the legislature are not doing their job.

    Finally, Barpeta District Court Judge while granting bail to Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani castigated police functioning. He appealed to the high court to “prevent registration of false FIRs like the present one… Otherwise, our state will become a police state.” He suggested that policemen be required to wear body cameras and CCTV cameras installed in police vehicles to prevent fake encounters and registration of false cases.

    These three news items are interlinked. A large number of cases in the courts are a result of the lack of proper functioning of the executive, poorly drafted laws, and worse, their misuse. The Mevani case points to the registration of a false case. Anticipating that he may get bail, a false case was lodged in advance to arrest him as soon as he got bail.

    Clearly, politics was at play which ended up wasting the time of the judiciary and the executive. The case was perhaps meant to send a signal to other opponents of the ruling dispensation, and as the judge noted, it weakens the “hard earned democracy”.

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