To my Sister, Brothers, Friends, Philosophers & Guides
of Bharat, 
Our Beloved Country -

Let's endeavour with renewed vigour towards our singular aim -

"Restoration of the Honour & 
  Dignity of the Soldier - the 
  Defener of our Nation".

Here's wishing all of us the 'Very Best'.

A QUESTION TO THE NATION

I have a question :

"How does a policeman of a central police force, get to be referred to as a 'soldier', by the media and no one objects?"

Is there no sanctity to the word?

ON INDIAN ARMY 

& ITS OFFICERS

By Iqbal Malhotra INTRODUCTION  Over the last three years, I have been fortunate to produce five feature-length documentaries for Discovery Channel on subjects involving the Indian Army. I have closely interacted with the Northern Command and officers of the XIVth, XVth and XVIth Corps of the Army, from Lieutenant Generals to Captains. It has been a really rewarding and informative experience. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even the younger officers posted at the LoC have a well-developed strategic perspective on the expectations that we have from the Army and the limitations under which they operate. The officers are secular, seasoned and mature in their outlook, and this stems from the traditions and training that the Army inherited from the British. It is these values and responsibilities that make the Indian Army an extremely professional organisation. I recollect visiting the VIth Grenadiers at the LoC and was impressed to see the battallion temple and mosque standing side by side, and both the pandit and maulvi eating together at the reception organised by the Commanding Officer. It made me proud to see such unity in our otherwise extremely fractured polity today. Unfortunately, the new rulers of post-Independence India did away with the parity, privileges and pensions that the Indian Army enjoyed with its civilian counterparts in the ICS and IAS. This was a deliberate exercise to ring-fence the Army and ensure that it was not only permanently downgraded, vis-a-vis the bureaucracy, but it took away the Army’s authority while continuing to keep it accountable. The Army thus had to improvise and fend for itself. Simultaneously, afraid of a potential coup, the politician created a vast “second army” in the form of a plethora of para-military forces, which were directly under bureaucratic control and owed their loyalty to the bureaucracy and not to their own command structures. This also enabled the politician-bureaucratic nexus to engage in “manufactured internal wars” against all manner of insurgents, which provided immense opportunities to make vast amounts of money. A case in point is the annual cost to the country of waging the war against the Maoists. While all this was happening, across the border, the Officer Corps of the Pakistan Army was elevated to the status of the most privileged body in that polity and was the recipient of privileges, patronage and power that was unparalleled in our country. This attracted the best talent in Pakistan to the Army as the passion for soldiering was fuelled by privileges. In light of these glaring systemic distortions and its intransigence and lack of generosity in granting the One Rank One Pension (OROP) package parity that veterans are agitating for, the government is ensuring that only those youngsters fuelled by passion will enlist. What about others sitting on the fence? If the systemic distortions are rapidly removed, it may be possible to bridge the shortfall in officers that the Army is currently facing. Our country needs this, because we face unparalleled strategic threats to our security and require an Officer Corps in the Armed Forces that is both capable and secure to deal with them. The government needs to act fast. It needs to resolve OROP and rapidly upgrade the officer package to attract our best young men and women. It needs to cut down on manufactured conflicts and divert those resources to where they are really needed. The author is a filmmaker

THE POLITICS OF THE 'PARIVAR'

MASTERY OF THE ART OF DECEIT  

THROUGH CONCEITED TURNCOATING

THEN Vs NOW

"Parivar" is a term commonly used, and in a most derogatory manner at that, mainly by the BJP to indict the family rule in the Congress, 
quitely and conveniently forgetting that- 
there is another very venomous Parivar, to which they all belong, the 'Parivar' of the Nazi admirer 'Guru'.

"Conceited Turncoating" is a new phrase in the English vocabulary, thanks to the new 'Raj' in the land of Bharat.

Their Conceit is humongous, perpetualy operating behind multiple 'mukhaotas'.

For them night is day, 'because we say so'; and 'how dare you contradict me!'

If you disagree with us, you are an antinational and the right place for you is Pakistan.

No one has the right to point out even their worst crimes, simply because the objectors have no moral right, damn be their Constitutional duty as a citizen.

Only the Parivar, Cindrella white as they claim to be, have the perpetual right to point a finger at their opponents, whether in power or out of it.

Whatever they say is a golden truth and whatever others speak, are packs of lies.

Intolerance of 'comments on growing intolerance in the Country' is the bed rock of  a tolerant India! 
Killing of rationalists, orchastrated twiter war against a few top actors who had the courage to speak out, defacing their posters and attacking their homes, are all sure shot hallmarks of the most tolerant country in the World!!!

Throttling the voices of disent, within and without, through fair means or foul, cajoling, directing, ordering, threatening and even snuffing out the last breath, either literally or by drilling a hole through head or heart.

Taking emergency like steps, without official declaration of emergency. The entire media, both print and audio-visual, forced into submission to the extent that their bias in favour of the Govt and its head and critical attitude of everything ranged against, is palpable. Print media refuses to even accept paid advertisements which may smell of criticism of the Govt..

GDP.

1.  Earlier domestic GDP was calculated 
     at factor or basic cost, which took into 
     account whole sale prices at which 
     producers sold their products.

2. The new GDP formula takes into 
     account retail market prices, thereby 
     pushing it upwards.

3.  The New GDP is calculated from a new 
     base year, (2011 - 2012, instead of 2004 
     - 2005), thereby pushin it further up.

4.  The data base is now spread over 5000 
      manufactured items, as against only 
      half this number of items being 
      considered earlier.

5.  All the above three factors together, 
      push up the GDP by more than   
      2 % points.

6.  If calculated with the new parameters, 
      the GDP of 2013-2014, under the 
      previous Govt would be  6.9% as 
      against 7.3% during 2014-2015. GDP 
      for the year 2015-2016 is predicted to 
      stagnate at the previous year's figure, 
      despite crude prices having plumetted 
      to less than 30% of the peak prices 
      during the previous govt.

And yet, the Govt continually falsifies to claim that it has ensured exponential growth of GDP!!!

Jungle Raj.
When repeated rapes of minors, even as young as just a few months, take place in Delhi, with the State police right under their thumb, they are termed small isolated incidents, but if two murders take place in Bihar, it is return of the infamous 'Jungle Raj'!

'Then & Now' :

Then 1:
The 15th Parliament was the most disrupted one in the 68 yrs of Indian democracy, thanks to the BJP, who, with two of their members leading the opposition in the two houses of Parliament, 
made it their birth right to disrupt each and every session, making it impossible for even the most important pieces of proposed legislations to be tabled in the two Houses. 
They repeatedly justified the nonstop disruption, by claiming it to be a legitimate weapon in the armoury of the opposition and blamed not themselves, but the Govt, for faulty floor management.

Now 1:
Despite the budget session of 2015 being the most productive in the last 15 years, the Govt branded the oppostion as disruptive, anti-development and anti-national. 

Total amenesia about its  worse disruptions in the 15th Parliament, making its winter session the worst in India's Parliamentary history.

Now, the Govt had no responsibility of floor management. The responsibility of running the two houses of the Parliament was outsourced to the opposition.

============

Then 2:
GST is harmful for the Country. All BJP ruled states opposed it tooth and nail, despite their own man, the Dy CM, (Also the Finance Minister), of Bihar, being the chairman of the special Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers of all states..

The proposal for the introduction of GST was first mooted in the Budget Speech for the financial year 2006-07. Since then, detailed deliberations and negotiations were held with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC) on the topic. 

The 115th Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2011, for the introduction of GST was first introduced in the Lok Sabha in March 2011. The Bill was forcibly referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) which submitted its report in August 2013, but BJP did not allow it to be taken up for the rest of the sessions.

The Bill was forced to lapse with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.

Now 2 :
GST is vital to the economy of the Country and will add at least 2% points to the GDP. 

=========

Then 3 :
Chavan must resign, Bansal must resign, Ashwini Kumar must resign, Chidambaram must resign, the PM must resign, nay the entire Cabinet must resign. 

Why?
On moral grounds, because of charges levelled by us are pending enquiry.

Now 3 :
Jaitley need not resign, Sushma need not resign, Vasundhara need not resign, Shivraj need not resign, Raman need not resign, the PM need not resign, in fact, no body, who is somebody, need resign. 

Why?
Because all charges are trumped up, all supporting documents are fake; there is no need of any investigation; there is no question of moral responsibility as all the charges are false. Oppostion must show proof. 

=============

Then 4 :
Despite the fact that the pension of all ranks of soldiers went up by about 10 times during the 26 years of my retired life, thanks to the previous Govts, and sanction of OROP in its truest form, in 2013, Chappan Chaati told an adoring lot of veterans at Rewari, that the then Govt had given them nothing and within 100 days of coming to power, he would give them everything that they so richly deserved. 

And the misinformed lot of Veterans there, lapped it up. Not only did they vote for him enmasse, they even went around all around the Country, canvassing for him.

Now 4 : (Even after 600 days)
"I have to rob the poor to pay the demands of the veterans".

His minions : "It was all a 'chunawi jumla'. Why did you believe in it? It's your fault."

"Those who seek PMR, are not entitled to  OROP, because they left Service for  greener pastures."

This is in total nonconformity with Defence Rules and Regulations, framed by the Govt, as per which a soldier can apply to the Govt for PMR only by citing one of the reasons laid down by the Govt, for its prior sanction. Many applications for PMR are rejected by the MOD for citing unconvincing reasons.

============

My Sisters, Brothers and Friends of Bharat : 
please wake - up and open your eyes to the falsities and monstrocities perpetuated by this Govt and see it for what it really is, behind its 'mukhouta' :

Self aggrandizing, self serving, deceitful, fraudulent, split tongued, communal, Nazi-loving dictatorially fascist, manipulative & skill starved.

FROM ACHHE DIN TO ACHHE SCAMS.

HOW MANY SUCH SCAMS 

WILL IT TAKE

FOR THE PONTIFICATERS 

TO BE SEEN BY THE NATION 

FOR WHAT THEY TRULY ARE?

I took one Bofors scam of Rs 67 Crores for the then Congress to be brought to its knees. 

It two scams of a still undecided magnitude for UPA II to be shown the door. I am not including the allegged coal scam, because non-auction was a policy decision, intiated by the NDA I. Complicity, if any, is yet to be proved in a court of law.

NDA I, (With the BJP at the helm), for all its India shining campaign, lost the elections on the back of not one, not two but a number of scams : 

• the Rs 25,000 Crores, (33% of the corpus), UTI scam; 
• the Coffin Scam, (A scam based on dead soldiers), where the Defence Minister of the Country was alledly involved; 
• Bangaru Laxman, (The then BJP President), bribe scam; 
• privatisation programme, offering controlling stake in government-owned companies to “strategic partners”; starting January 2000, in less than two and a half years, the government sold controlling stakes in nine companies, apart from 19 hotels at various locations belonging to the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC); the government earned a measerly        Rs 5,544 Crores from the strategic sales of the nine enterprises;
• the  BALCO, (a company where Agni and Prithvi missile bodies were manufactured), privatisation scam, in which a company with assets of nearly RS 6,000 Crores, was handed over to Sterlite Corpn for a meagre Rs 551 Crores;
• 2002 Centaur hotel scam in which it was sold for Rs 83 Crores to a know n RSS man, in which the CAG reported a loss of Rs 145 Crores;
• cybertron technopolis scam, promoted by the same RSS connected man who benefited from the UTI scam; 

For the next 10 years, BJP pontificated and unleashed everything in its armoury to 'unshine' the two UPAs. 

They converted the Parliament, the temple of democracy, into an akhara, justifying such behaviour as a 'legitimate weapon in the hands of the opposition'.

during UPA II, having paralysed both houses of Parliament, they accused the govt of being corrupt, inept and a policy paralysed one. 

They started with innuendos and slowly but steadily changed to direct accusations of corruption at the highest level.

They asked for resignations at the drop of a hat, on patently trumped-up charges and on grounds of moral responsibility.

They made patently false and solemnly slogonised promises of development, (Achhe Din), and Brashtachar Heen Din, (na khaunga, na khanedunga). 

They even defrauded and defiled the soldier, the defenders of the Nation, degrading his statusplaying OROP as a game and  .

In its just 19 months , the NDA II under, 'na khaunga, na khane dunga' Chappan Chaati Govt, has already surpassed its total number of scams in  the five years of  the NDA I :

•  NULM scam; sanctioned Rs1078 Crores for  housing 9 lakhs urban homeless, but constructed  only 200 odd houses;
•  DDCA scam;  also called shreeman Munshi  scam; expell own three term MP to stem the rot  of exposer;
•  Modi gate; too well known to need further  elaboration;
•  Vyapam scam; in Madhya Pradesh, 50 of the  accused have already  been sent to heaven for  permanent rest and give  their testimony from  there;
•  the PDS Chaval & namak scam; in chattisgarh;  considered the biggest scam in India; both  under CBI enquiry; imagine the  namak-harami  of  it all!
•  chikki scam; Phadnavis govt of Maharashtra; 
•  lynching scams;  cowing down the whole country  by shipwrecking on the 'reef of  beef';
•  deportation scam; don't agree with Modi, go to  Pakistan;  
•  communal scam; damn be the courts, we will  transport the Ram Mandir stones to Ayodhya  and  construct it; creat riots and blame  the state  govt for not maintaing law and order,  being a  state subject;
•  Phataka scam; "Yehan har BJP ki hui to  phataake bajenge wahan Pakistan men".
•  reservation scam;  "all reservations must be  cancelled" .... Sarsanghchalak;
•  yoga scam; damn be the Supreme Court of India,  we will have yoga sessions in schools/colleges, in  offices and even parade grounds;
•  CBI raid scam;  also called, 'teach you a lesson  scam'; we will brow beat you with raids;
•  the National Anthem scam;  while the rest of the  Nation stands up even from its throne in the loo,  I am bigger than the Nation and will talk and  walk  publicly while the National Anthem is  played and  that too in a foreign land, only to be  pulled back  by one hand from behind by a  foregner and asked to  show a wee  bit of respect;
•  margdarshak scam;  sideline the one time 'lauha  purush', the karnadhar of revival of BJP from  just two Parliamentary seats and all his  contemporaries; poor Kirti, does not he know  that he is going to the darbar of toothless tigers,  who are forbidden even to snarl?
•  OROP scam; repeated promises made by  Chappan  Chaati to the soldiers in full view of the  Nation :

          the first promise : Sep 2013 at Rewari, having       
       100% soldier families;

the second time promise : heights of Siachin Deepawali Oct 2014; Chappan Chaati to jawans : 
"You make it possible for 125 crore Indians to   
  celebrate Diwali happily. Your dreams and 
  responsibilities are the responsibility of us all. The 
  entire Nation stands shoulder to shoulder with 
  you."

                                         

the third time promise : Independence day address to the Nation from the ramparts of Red Fort :

"Committed to OROP"

                             

the fourth time promise : on the front line with troops on Deepawali day Oct 2015 near Patton nagar :

"I will give you true OROP".





and then this :

"I have to rob the poor to pay OROP"

"Premature retirees break their covenant and are,  therefore, not entitled to OROP".
(PMRs are sanctioned by the govt only on grounds laid down in Army regulations).

"OROP is a complicated matter and needs to be   
  further looked into by a one man commission".

What a fraud comitted on the Nation and its Defenders !!!

MOD  IS A BAD ORGANISATION

Former Chief of Army Staff Gen V P Malik.

Are our defence forces suitably tech-ready to fight a war? No, we are not, says the man who led the Army in the Kargil war. Former Chief of Army Staff Gen V P Malik tells Robin David that our war-preparedness will remain hampered unless DRDO and ordnance factories are made more accountable

Are We Ready For War In The Technology Age?

Just to put things in perspective, technology today is a very important factor in not only military strategy, but also national strategy. Unless you develop and possess technology, you can't reach the level that you want for your nation at all levels. And when you flow from that downwards, military technology becomes essential. But we have really not been able to develop technology, which has been a major concern. I have told the parliamentary committee that we are lagging behind on the aspect of self-reliance. And when you have to buy weapons and weapons systems from abroad because they have better technology, obviously that's not the best way of ensuring your national interest.

What Percentage Of Our Technology Needs Do We Import?

Well, till recently, we were importing 70% of our sophisticated weapons systems from abroad, which is a huge number. And during the Kargil war I personally felt that we were so dependent on other countries that they took you for a ride. Let's be clear, there are no friends (among countries). You have given them leverage on you. There were some countries that simply refused to part with weapons and equipment we wanted.
Did You Feel Hindered During Kargil War?

There was a total ban on the import of any equipment from the US and UK, because in 1998 we had gone nuclear and 1999 was the war. We were short of spares for Bofors guns, and some parts for our naval helicopters. We did not have proper radar systems which could detect the guns firing from the other side. We did not have any ground sensors and one of the reasons why infiltration took place was that we did not have adequate surveillance devices along the LoC.

Is There Greater Awareness About Filling Technology Gap In Armed Forces Today?

No. There is better realisation among some people but the procurement part is still lagging. The good point is the pursuit of Make in India. I had spoken to Mr (Narendra) Modi long ago, well before he became PM. And similarly I have spoken to other leaders. I have said that you can't have national security if we are importing 70% of our needs from foreign countries.

You Believe DRDO Has Not Done Its Job?

Well, they have not been able to meet our requirements.

What Is The Answer To That?

DRDO has to focus more on core issues. It must also interact outside its establishment with universities, with technical experts in different fields and there should be no hesitation in encouraging private sector R&D. They should also try and get technologies from outside. But the most important aspect I think is that the DRDO must be made accountable. 

You set a deadline, you have to meet it. We can accept one, two, three-year delays but you can't accept a delay of 25 years. We gave the GSQR (general staff qualitative requirements) of the tank we wanted. By the time Arjun came, there were these whole lot of anti-tank guided missiles which it could not withstand. When we raised this issue, they said it was not part of the GSQR. Obviously, because the GSQR was given 25 years ago.

The life of a weapon system used to be 25 to 30 years. Today it has come down to 10 to 15 years because the technological developments are much faster. So, if you give me a tank after 15 years, what use is that to me?

The whole problem has been that you have created these public-sector ordnance factories and then you have forced us to buy from them. So they are quite happy to not change.

Where Does The Ministry Of Defence Stand In All This?

The ministry of defence is a bad organisation. Accountability within the ministry is zero. If DRDO has not delivered, the ministry has not reported the matter to anyone and not taken any action. That is what I have told the parliamentary committee (in 2003-2004 after retirement) — get this damn thing (monitoring and accountability) out of the ministry. The defence PSUs too need to be taken out of the ministry of defence. The joint secretary sitting in the ministry is controlling the PSU. He gets all his privileges from them — car chahiye, ghumna chahiye. There is a nexus. 

If the DRDO is not delivering, I would like to see some secretary, some joint secretary resigning or being sacked. Besides the DRDO head.

But the Comptroller and Auditor General does audit the armed forces... The CAG's audit is like a chartered accountant pointing out your faults. Is he checking whether you have acquired (military) capability? No. You have to have capability audits in the armed forces. You can have this within CAG or even outside it with experts who can give an independent opinion on whether you have acquired capability or not. Your benchmark need not be money. Your benchmark needs to be capability.