THE SIGNS OF TIMES 

NEW ETHOS OF A NEW INDIA

How many of us have experienced the high of successfully passing off a lie? No please, do not twist your nose and raise your eye brows. Just ponder a moment before you answer.

I am a poor liar and yet as far as I remember, during almost all of my fair number of years, I have, at least once a year, planned and plotted for days to  experience the High. The kick and the vicarious pleasure that I got when I could successfully pull it off!!!

You still cannot recollect yours? Well, let me help you. Never heard of the April Fools' Day ? Yes, that's the Day, the one day out 365 days that many of us try our best to experience that kick and the pleasure of successfully pulling-off a fast one. Of course, we always owned up to the lie, immediately experiencing the High.

It is said that a young George Washington, once confessed to cutting down a cherry tree by expressing his inability to tell a lie, but history holds testimony that for many, since ages, lies & deceit held the key to the all too heady cocktail of money, fame, revenge and power, resulting in elaborate hoaxes, perjuries and forgeries, that have had enormously adverse ripple effects on the society and the Nation.

Well, in the India of today, many have turned each passing year to 365 April Fools' days. Do we believe in the addict, "Those who live by a lie, die by a lie"? Lies are more deadly than the sword, for it kills softly, just like the Carbon mono Oxide, without the victim realising that she/he was dieing.

All of us know how a mere Gefreiter came to be revered as the Fuhrer who, with the help of a monstrous propaganda machine, mesmerised the Nation to believe in falsehoods. Among many in History, he takes the cake, but not much behind are a number of other escapists, who were able to fool some for some time, but long enough to achieve their nefarious short term goals.

Homer's Iliad describes how the Trojans, even after defeating the Greeks repeatedly, were finally massacred and comprehensively defeated by just a few hundred heavily armed Greek soldiers, hidden inside a harmless looking huge wooden horse, slily wheeled in to the heart of the heavily guarded Trojan city of Troy. To the Greeks, the end, (Rescue of Helen, the kidnapped Queen of Sparta), justified the means and yet the world has come to equate the phrase, 'Trojan Horse' to deceit from within, to be watchful about.

There are many other examples in History :

Students of Military and Political history will remember the 'Dreyfus Affair' of France in the final years of the 19th century. Titus Oates, with the help of a conniving Major Hubert Joseph Henry, cooked up a sinister plot to drum up hatred for the Jews, with the help of fraudulent documents, accusing Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer of the French Army, of being anti National by selling military secrets to the Germans. The officer was imprisoned, but a large number of French, including the famed novelist Emily Zola, stood up in support and after a long struggle of 10 years, a civil court declared Alfred Dreyfus innocent. Reinstated in the Army, he later fought  with distinction in the WW I. 

Van Meegeren who made a fortune producing fakes of the celebrated artist Vermeer, comically got caught in his own lies. He did not live to enjoy his ill-gotten wealth, dieing within a few months after being imprisoned by the Nazis. 

The polity of today's India not only has a Nazi admirer and follower at the top, it is teeming with  Trojan Horses, Oateses and Meegerens. The success formula is to first quietly spread a lie and then grab the opportunity to spread canard at the National level, against political opponents. Every day a new lie is spread which is later proved to be what it is, a lie, but by then the damage is already done. Who cares about the truth. It is the end that matters. The aim is achieved.

While an erstwhile veteran Congressman of UP, was recently trying to prove his loyalty to his changed masters by manufacturing truth at Kairana village, the top most leadership of the Nazi-type party and its Govt, was quick to pick up the threads and paint a desolate picture before the Nation, of the persecution sufferred by the majority community at the hands of the minorities, under the benign gaze of the anti Hindu State Govt. Does not matter if just few days later, the author of the lie, under the relentless scrutiny of a small section of the media, had to eat his own printed list and typically disown its authorship, blaming it on his juniors. The top leadership, who insidiously perpetuated the lie, are, however, yet to apologise to the Nation. Who cares, so long as the nefarious goals are achieved!

Day in and day out, false claims are made about achievements of the Govt, both Nationally and Internationally, with the help of the Parivar, within and outside with the aid of a section of the Diaspora abroad. The opposition is too fragmented and weak to put up a fight. Every effort is made to further fragment it, with the help of lies, lies and more lies, propogated with active help a major section of the prestitute media. 

Not just the opposition, every effort is being made to divide our great Nation on sectarian, religious and economic lines. Dalits Trojans are launched against Dalits, Muslim Vibhishans against Muslims and pliant economic powerhouses are being created to do the ruler's biddings.

During their days in the Opposition, the present Party in power, planned and plotted to defeat the giant. They opposed every reform bill by every means, fair and foul and then justified its methods most blatantly by declaring it as a legitimate weapon of the Opposition. Later, on coming to power, with the mirage of development, an unfairly discredited opposition and a master orator, when the opposition tried to emulate them, the erstwhile opposition went to town with band, baja and barat and declared the opposition to be Anti-National, their Brahmastra.

Yes, the repeated charge of anti-Nationalism is the flair of the season. 

You criticize the Govt in power, its members or its policies, you are an anti-National. 

You may say 'Jai Hind' or 'Hindustan Zindabad', but if you don't say, 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', you are an anti-National. What will the soldier do with his mandir, masjid and girja all side by side and addressing each other, from the top most General to the lowly sepoy, with 'Jai Hind'?

If the anti-National tag fails to stick, an all out attack is launched to prosecute the individual(s) with the help of a subserviently conniving police force. The all out personal attack on the top opposition leadership, be they of any party, by embroiling them in imaginarily cooked up cases, filed by nondescript members of the party in power. Whereas the charges against members of their own party are prevaricated upon, FIRs are filed posthaste on the cooked up charges against the opposition leaders.

With three of its own Chief Ministers and a number of top Central and State leaders and Ministers under cloud of corruption, (Even for diverting PDF rice meant for the BPL families), the Govt in Power and its leaders are out to paint their rivals with brush of corruption.

In certain cases, the orders of the Judiciary too leaves one in wonderment, like the latest judgment in the Gulbarga Massacre case, where the Court declared that the murdered victim, an opposition MP, brought it on himself by opening fire on the mob. Hello! Were the marauding thousands, there to enquire the welfare of the victim? They were attacking to kill him and burn down his house, just as they did in a number of other cases. What does a single man do in such a case? Stand still like a 'Bali Ka Bakra'? It was a desperate bid of Ahsan Jafri to save his own life and that of his family. The Judge, however, declared that the latter provoked the (Peaceful!) crowd .

The revered Gaumata is taken to the village/subarban weekly market for finding a suitable mate and then, in full view of hundreds of amused viewers, a stud bull is let go on her in the name of mating; the spectacle is enacted over at least a hundred meters. It is a scene this author has seen many a time since his childhood.

Once her usefulness is over, the same revered Gaumata is abandoned on the streets,  even urban ones, unfed, uncared, becoming a traffic nuisance. She is allowed to die by choking on all the plastic swallowed from the garbage bins, but you cannot kill her to alleviate her sufferings in her sunset years.

I have asked this question before and I ask it again, "What was the destination of the old cows that Vajashravasa of the Kathopanishad used to annually give away for free? 

Notwithstanding the above, beware, if you dare raise a finger against the revered Gaumata, you will be declared an anti-National. 

How many times of late are we seeing incidents at the grass roots, where lies are first spread and then in a preplanned manner attack is launched on a predetermined target, to either kill or maim, reputationally and at times physically!  

How many times have we witnessed the man at the top pretending to be selectively deaf and dumb, while his minions go around attacking the vary ethos and ethics of India, we have valued since time immemorial. These real anti Nationals are later rewarded with plum posts and at times even felicitated publicly.

Fear of intolerance has been deliberately spread through a few dastardly acts, which have never seen the light of the law of the land. The fear is palpable. Brother and sisters are turning against each other; friends are revelling in a new role as enemies; colleagues are turning against colleagues; The D-Company methods have been refined; first a seemingly well meaning friendly 'advice', followed by a threat or two and finally the coup d'e tat. 'Khallas'. Chanakyas theory of 'Saam, Daam & Dand' being applied in letter and spirit. 

The word RSS is now a prized badge on expanding chests. Just a couple of days back, a govt MoS, boldly declared to the Nation, "We will saffronize education as required". Supposedly, the last General Elections were won with a massive majority on the plank of 'Saffronisation'! Was it!

I come back to the Gefreiter, who ruled his great and powerful Nation with elan. What was behind it? All those who have read Mein Kampf, will agree that its abiding message is of aggressive ultra Nationalism. He fired the imagination of the German's of all ages with his aggressive rhetoric. There was the all pervading iron hand of the Gestapo. All but a handful, admired the ethnic cleansing, much admired by the acknowledged Guruji of the Parivar. With most of the Nation behind him, The Fuhrer brooked no dissent. Marshals and Generals bowed to him and some even became sycophants.  

The Fuhrer espoused the supremacy of the Aryan Race. Barring the ethnics in the Southerns parts of the Country, the land of Bharat is the land of the Aryans. The HM of our Country, however, says that Aryans did not come from outside. May be once upon a time Germany and Bharat were joined at the hips. May be Tilak got it all wrong. Actually there was a reverse migration, i.e., Aryans migrated from Baharat to Germany. Be as it may, there is a conviction that we share a race. Why not then share History too; the past of one running into the present of the other?

The Signs of the Times : 

An aggressively ultra Nationalistic Hindu Rashtra in 

the making, in the image of the aggressively ultra 

Nationalistic Nazi Germany. The Fuhrer led his great

Nation to its ultimate destruction. The Nation, 

however, rose like a giant from its ashes to tower in 

the economic World. May be we too will, similarly 

rise from our ashes, which seem scattered on the 

near horizon.

QUID PRO QUO :

THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG

Who is Salvatore Girone?

The Italian sounding name immediately harks our memory back to the case of the two Italian marines accused of cold blooded murder of two innocent Indian fishermen, the only bread winners in their respective families.

One of the two sergeants was earlier released on compassionate medical grounds on the undertaking of the Govt of Italy, for the sergeant to be returned immediately after necessary medical attention was completed. It would not have required an Einstein to predict that he would never return. He did not.

The second sergeant was purportedly kept under arrest, (Out on conditional bail), in India, in subpar conditions, but was he? The man was enjoying the sumptuous hospitality of the Italian Ambassador to India as a resident in his home in Chankyapuri. 

In the mean while, the Italian Govt kept demanding his return to Italy, on humanitarian grounds, supposedly since as per them, the home of their Ambassador to India was not comfortable enough for the murderer out on bail.

The first egg on the face of the so called mighty Indian Govt, came when the ITLOS, (International Tribunal of Laws of the Seas), ruled against India in a case filed by the Govt of Italy, despite the dissenting opinion of the ITLOS vice-president, Judge B. Bouguetaia that there is not “the slightest connection between the case and the Law of the Sea Convention". In the deliberate absence of a vigorous defence of India's position, the Indian permanent member of the Tribunal, Justice P Chandrasekhar Rao, was reduced to an inconsequential and puerile act of signing a dissenting footnote. 

The second time, once again most deliberately, India had egg all over its face was when in April, '16, the International Arbitral tribunal ruled that the marine sergeant, already out on bail and living with the Italian Ambassador to India, should be returned to Italy. This time round the Indian permanent member of the Tribunal did not even bother affixing a footnote. He just acquiesced. 

What was the purpose of this conspiratorial charade ? QUID PRO QUO!!!

Both the Italian and the Indian Govts wanted a piece of something. Matteo Renzi wanted his marine back and Chappan Chaati wanted a tar brush to splash on the faces of the Congress and its first family. Both got what they wanted. The Italians delivered on their promise with perfect preplanned timing. It was now the turn of the Indians to deliver, which they did, clothed in constitutional niceties. Remember! the Apex Court justices had recently been given a lecture on how they must cooperate with the Govt in matters of National security? My heart goes out to the poor justices, caught as they are, between the shilla and the cheribedies. Soon, it was all quits all quits. Ever played the game of marbles, 'Bhool Chook, Leni-deni'?

When was the mutually beneficial arrangement worked out. While we continue to bicker, the law of probability says, it must have been on the sidelines of the NY meet, which both attended. The prestitute media, supposedly one of the most important pillar of our democracy,  which more often than not can go to logic defying discoveries, stayed mum. Even the Congress, afflicted with terminal decease, not even whimpered. 

My dear Sisters, Brother and Friends of Bharat, like it or not, this then is the latest model of Indian Democracy.

For details of what transpired at the two Tribunals, I recommend the following two links :

http://thewire.in/2016/05/04/the-international-tribunals-ruling-on-the-italian-marines-is-a-setback-for-india-and-justice-33708/

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/un-arbitration-court-rules-india-should-release-italian-marines-2780802/

       AN EYE OPENING INTERVIEW         

OF 

ONE OF THE CREATORS OF 7th CPC

Samuel's Take :

The bias of Mr Vivek Rae, a retired IAS officer and a member of the 7th CPC, is evident from his following dissent note :

Vivek Rae, used the dissent note to state : 
"It is clear, that the matter regarding the edge of the IAS over the other All India and Group 'A' Services, has been deliberated at length by the Central Pay Commissions over the last six decades and also by the Honourable Supreme Court. There have been repeated endorsements about the IAS being the premier civil service in the Country, flowing from its unique role and responsibilities. There cannot be an iota of doubt in this matter.

No new factors have emerged for the 7th CPC to conclude that the edge enjoyed by the IAS should be removed and the IPS and the IFS (Forest) brought on par with the IAS. The objective reality in fact, points in the opposite direction. It may be noted that the financial edge enjoyed by the IAS over the OPS and IFS (Forest), is essentially at the State and field levels. State CMs are key stakeholders who need to be consulted for taking a well considered view in the matter. No such consultation has been held by the 7th CPC with the political leadership at the State level".

The interview is reproduced as received. I cannot vouchsafe for the correctness of the contents. Even if untrue, the fact that it is doing the rounds in Defence circuits, shows the prevailing sentiments in the Defence Forces.

Extracts of an interview of Mr Vivek Rae, IAS, (member 7th pay) commission to economic times.(an eye opener for armed forces).

Q.       There has been a growing expectation from 

            armed forces as regards the pay commission?

Ans.   No, you see the govts may promise anything; 

            but its the bureaucracy who play with the 

            numbers. We know how to manage the 

            statistics and we would continue to do so.

Q.       Dont you think that  armed forces have  been 

            growing far more vocal for their privileges ?

Ans.   No you see, in a democracy; the order of 

            priority  will always be judiciary followed by 

            bureaucracy and then these security guys. If 

            you see,  a brigadier of army can not even 

            order to open a fire unless cleared by a 

            district magistrate of 8 years of service. So 

            where does the question of parity exist.

Q.       So are you also looking at cutting down some 

           of their colonial privileges ?

Ans.  Ya not even that. I am preparing a report 

           where I am suggesting that 20% houses of 

           army in prime cantonments such as delhi , 

           pune etc should be allotted to civil officers. We 

           have already cut down  on their rations, 

           electricity. In fact we want to recommend that 

           all army facilities like sports infrastructure 

           pools, clubs, golf courses and messes are not 

           exclusive property of army and should be 

           shared by all civil officers also. 

Q.      But there has been a growing sentiment for                    army from all quarters?

Ans.  But country doesn't run on sentiments. It runs 

           on ground realities. And the reality is, that 

           today, a SI of police in Agra or Patna has more 

           influence and power than a Major General of  

           the Army. So we have to see who  are the 

           deliverables on ground and compensate them  

           accordingly. 

Unmasking Modi: 

The Violence, Insecurity 

And 

Rage Behind The Man 

Who Has Replaced Gandhi 

As the Face of India
SIDDHARTHA DEB

GOVERNMENT OF THE PARIVAR

2nd YEAR REPORT CARD

"KHODA PAHAD, NIKLI CHUIYAH"

http://www.msn.com/en-in/money/topstories/narendra-modi-governments-second-year-report-card/ar-BBt4PRY?li=AAggbRN&ocid=iehp

AN OPEN LETTER

TO THE KNOWLEDGEABLE RAKSHA MANTRI

Samuel’s Take :

I am surprised that the RM’s reference to the retired  Chief of the Air Staff, ACM SP Tyagi, VM. AVSM, PVSM, ADC, as ‘Chote Log’ within the hallowed precincts of the Parliament, went uncontested till now, both within and outside it. 

This was another example of this Govt’s determined effort to belittle every institution, except themselves, be it the opposition, the state govts or even the Military and the highest Judiciary.

Do we have to invite the Gens from across to give pep-talks to these characters, for them to learn what the true status of a Defence Chief is ?

I will keep on repeating my warning ad nauseam, “This Country will have to pay a heavy price for the five years of misrule of the Parivar”.

The Article, as earlier published, has been edited slightly.

===========

         Minister Parrikar, A Defence Chief  

Is Not "Chote Log", 

He Is Known By His Rank

GROUP CAPTAIN T.P.SRIVASTAVA

Dear Mr Parrikar, 

I listened to your entire speech in the Indian Parliament on 4th May, 2016 with regard to Agusta Westland acquisition fiasco. I was expecting that you will bring out/highlight some substantive issues.

Ironically your statement lacked substance, commitment to bring to book and mention the names of the political and bureaucrat culprits (who were responsible for directing/ ensuring/influencing that parameters such as maximum operational ceiling and cabin height were changed to suit only Agusta Westland knocking out S-92 out of contention), and most importantly make/submit explicit measures that you have instituted/propose to implement that will eliminate/minimize the scourge of kickbacks in defence deals. 

Your political statements were all in the future tense viz “---- Hum kisi ko bhi nahi chorenge chahe who kitna bhi bara ho---( we will not spare anyone however powerful the person may be) or words to that effect. The entire nation knows that such utterances by politicians mean nothing. 

It is, however, the latter part of your statement, as elaborated below, which has forced me to write to you.

                   "---- Gautam Khaitan aur Tyagi to chote log hain—etc

                            etc)." 

As an Indian citizen and a proud soldier, in  that order, I am ashamed that our Defence Minister does not know how to address a Service Chief, retired or serving. 

I fully understand your total lack of experience or even a theoretical knowledge of defence related issues, keeping in view your background, but I fail to comprehend why after having spent over a year as Defence Minister, you have apparently deliberately failed to learn the basic protocol or even etiquette so very essential while addressing a Military officer, granted permanent commission in Defence Forces of the Nation by no less than the Commander-in-Chief, the President of India. 

It was morally incumbent on you to either mention/state all the names or take no names. You have mentioned Khaitan and Tyagi because they cannot retaliate politically, while the others can and would. 

On the altar of political expediency you chose to bring into disrepute the name of a Service Chief. By the way, was there no bureaucrat involved in the Agusta Westland negotiations? Were you trying to tell the Nation a blatant lie, albeit in an indirect manner, that it is the Service Chiefs, who decide what equipment to buy, when to buy, from where to buy and most importantly at what cost. Your statement conveyed just that to a common man on the street. In doing so, you have willfully sullied the image of Defence Forces. 

Mr Minister, historically, traditionally as well as legally, a Military officer is to be addressed by prefixing his/her rank whenever his/her mention is made in public domain/official communication. You have either failed to learn this fundamental rule or deliberately chose to address a former Service Chief in this wanton manner forgetting law of the land, historical practice and even basic courtesy, so very essential in public life. 

Incidentally, Mr Minister, you were referring to a former Chief of Air Staff and not a sepoy. Please know that a Service Chief is not an individual, he is an institution. Institutions should not and must not be denigrated in the manner you have done, seemingly, deliberately. 

Mr Minister there are only three persons in our Nation, who can either win or lose a war against an aggressor. They are the three Service Chiefs.

You probably know that a politician Raksha Mantri and his minions do not fight war on the battle field. Even today, 54 years after the 1962 debacle, an ordinary citizen perceives that the Indian Military, (Not the then Defence Minister or Defence Secretary), lost the war. A look at the Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report on the 1962 fiasco which will tell you a lot. You may instruct your minions to put up a copy of that report for your perusal.

Addressing a Service Chief in the manner you did in the Parliaments, you have willfully denigrated the institution of the Service Chiefs. You owe an apology to the Nation and to the over 2 million soldiers, including reservists. 

Listening to the Agusta Westland debate for the past three weeks, was like having one’s mind raped every hour day after day. Your speech was no better. You failed to bring out any facts and repeated untruth doing rounds in the public domain. Indeed you succeeded in projecting your jaundiced vision, harming the greatest Institution of all ‘Our Bharat’.

What was even more appalling was the fact that your speech failed to make any distinction between the men/women involved in the scam and the machine in question. That is where national security issues come in. Individuals are culpable in giving/taking bribes. But, just as it happened in the case of the Bofors guns, you have made the Nation believe that the ‘helicopter’ itself was guilty of act of bribery. 

The Bofors Artillery Gun is an unmatched piece of equipment, which saved the day for us in the Kargil War with its pin-point accuracy. Further acquisition of this gun has not been barred because we put national security on the back burner and instead have constantly been keeping the pot political expediency boiling. 

We are doing exactly the same in the present Agusta Westland case.

Let me risk making a forecast. Mr Minister, you or your successor and the government of the day will deliberately fail to acquire clinching evidence that will bring any political figure to book and be jailed entirely due to political compulsions. The Enforcement Directorate and CBI, who still remain ‘caged pigeons/parrots’, will simply not ‘find’ any  clinching evidence. Courts will have no option but to acquit the accused, if any, barring the ‘Chote log’, who have already been identified by you. 

My response and rebuttal to your profligate behaviour on the floor of Lok Sabha is not (r) not to Defend Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi. It is against your willful dishonor, shown to a Service Chief, by deliberately failing to inform the house and the Nation about the process of acquisition of Defence equipment and the extremely limited role/authority of a Service Chief. Service Chiefs merely ‘ratify' the proposal in as far as qualitative requirements, (QRs), are concerned. The ‘cash’ part is handled by bureaucrats and politicians. 

You and your predecessor have failed to let the nation know as to why Defence procurement process was followed for acquisition of helicopters, which were meant exclusively for civilian use, although operated by IAF personnel. After your reckless statement calling Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi ‘chote log’ or words to that effect, quite a few media channels and self-proclaimed experts on Defence matters have addressed him in the same derogatory manner as yourself during the past week. That is why I decided to bring to your notice your appalling conduct in the floor of Parliament.

Let me shift focus to more substantive issues. Entire process of Defence Equipment Acquisition is controlled and overseen by the Defence Secretary because it is he/she, who heads the Defence Procurement Board and not the Service Chiefs. The Defence Acquisition Council headed by Defence Minister is not the executive body. It is the DPB, the executive decision making body that is responsible and accountable for all decisions taken and is headed by the Defence Secretary.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) merely stamps the decision taken by the Defence Secretary. Service Chiefs even as on this date cannot buy a ‘pin’ worth five rupees without the express approval of the MoD. It is the Defence Secretary, who must be held responsible/accountable for delays in acquisition (root cause of middlemen making merry) and possible financial impropriety in close connivance with the political bosses of the time in all Defence deals.
Mr Minister why have you not considered it fit to call all the Defence Secretaries involved in the process of the Agusta Westland acquisition? Even the ‘caged pigeons/parrots’ have only called the the Deputy Chiefs of Air Staffs as informed by the media. Service Chiefs have little or no say during the Price Negotiation Process. Why have these simple and elementary facts not been stated even by so-called defence experts baffles me. A common man has been made to believe tha the service chiefs can buy whatever they want without any checks and balances due to prolonged lopsided debate in media, mentioning false and/or incomplete facts. The image of the Services has taken a beating.

You must educate yourself by reading Chanakya’s works on statecraft. One of the fundamentals of statecraft is the art of assigning authority, responsibility and accountability. Service Chiefs (Not the Defence secretary or Defence Minister) are accountable to the nation at large in ensuring territorial integrity of the nation but have little or no authority in decision making with regard to Defence procurement. Inordinate delays in procurement not only results in national security being marginalized but also results in huge cost escalation. Acquisition of AJTs for IAF and Aircraft Carrier for the Navy are merely a few examples. The appalling state of Defence PSUs is yet another inheritance the nation has suffered and continues to suffer entirely due to myopic and jaundiced vision of your predecessors and yourself. National security imperatives be damned. 

As a nation, the largest democracy in the world, we have achieved a unique status. We have become a nation of SCAMS, virtually in all areas, where public funds are involved. Chronology of scams since independence deserves to be printed as a set of volumes, because one book will be too voluminous to record all the scams. Perhaps most of the scams would be a wonderful study in acquainting the future generations on the total lack of governance or bad-governance. 

While every scam hurts the national interests but scams involving procurement of defence equipment from foreign vendors effects the national security directly. The stark reality as on date is that in foreseeable future (till around 2050 A.D.), we are unlikely to produce ‘Big Ticket’ Military hardware viz Aircraft Carrier, Submarines, Tanks, Heavy Artillery Guns, Aero-planes, Drones, Electronic Warfare Systems/Suites, which will match the best in the world. Hence the military will remain dependent on acquisitions from foreign vendors. We must make clear distinction between indigenous hardware and licensed products. To emphasize the point, just one example would be adequate. We still have not been able to manufacture an aero-engine, which can equip our fighter, transport and/or helicopters that we might produce in next few decades. We have not been able to develop steel with required tensile strength, which can be used to manufacture turbine blades. 

It is ironic that the Defence Ministers have excelled in finding a scapegoat extremely conveniently by dismissing/ forcing to resign the Service Chiefs leaving the bureaucrat, the real culprit, as happened in cases of few former Chiefs. Even the professional conduct of nearly all defence secretaries has been less pathetic. Strict adherence to flawed acquisition procedures took primacy over national security. To quote an outstanding example of total lack of understanding on part of Defence Secretary is the instance of rejection of Marcel-Dassault offer of Mirage-20009(DASH-5) and Rafale in the final months of previous NDA government in 2004. Chuck Eddleston the Marcel-Dassault official made this offer personally during his meeting with the then MoS Defence, Mr Rao Inderjit Singh. 

The offer was rejected on a flawed and insane logic of the then Defence Secretary that we in India conclude the deals only after multi-vendor contract has been processed. Rest is history. For his act of ‘conspicuous stupidity’, the individual was rewarded with either the Governorship or an extended tenure in a plum post after his retirement.

Service HQs cannot be absolved of such terrible state of affairs. I would like to hear from past and present Service Chiefs as to why none of them have ever raised the issue with the government that Defence Procurement Board should be headed by them and not Defence Secretary. Indeed if they have and the government declined, they must tell the Nation why.

Yet another aspect that Service HQs must address is the process of finalizing qualitative requirements prior to the commencement of the acquisition process.

I have absolutely no hesitation in submitting that we ask for the moon, which simply is not the requirement. Then starts the process of dilution of QRs, which allows the tongues to wag as is already happening in the media by questioning the PILATUS deal. Can we be a little more realistic in our demands/expectations from the machines that we wish to acquire?

Mr Minister, the malaise of kickbacks in defence deals can be minimized, if not eliminated, if you decide to adopt the following simple measures :-

Firstly, every Defence deal must be concluded in less than three years. This, however, is not possible due to current organizational limitations. You need to introduce following simple reforms:- 

·      Abolish the post of Defence Secretary and Secretary (acquisition). Instead appoint a separate Secretary for each Service, who will report to Service Chief. It will enable each Service Secretary to devote more time to understand, examine and make sensible recommendations in shorter time frame. 

·         Service Chiefs must be appointed as the heads of Defence Procurement Boards. 

·            Process of obtaining NOC from DRDO should be done away with. 

·  Whatever be the equipment, all trials must be done in India. Environmental conditions prevailing in India cannot be replicated in Europe or USA. 

·          Direct the Service HQs to formulate only realistic QRs and then FREEZE them. 

·          In order to make tendering process absolutely transparent, the vendors, (Not the MoD), must be directed to place the details of the offer clearly and unambiguously specifying that the offer is valid for the the entire duration of trials and negotiations or 5 yrs, whichever is earlier, along with the timeline for which the financials of the offer would be valid without any upward revision of the cost and escalation formula thereafter. This must be placed in the public domain well before price negotiations commence. 

Secondly, every Defence equipment procurement proposal must be placed in public domain with its PMR, so that the process of acquisition commences with as much details as possible about the costs involved.

National Security can only be ensured by equipping the Armed Forces with the best affordable equipment. Witch hunting will get us nowhere, especially where Service Chiefs are involved/may be involved. Perhaps the Shloka from Yajur Veda says it all :- 

                                                “Satyam Bruyat Priyam Bruyat 

Na Bruyat Satyam Apriyam” 

Translated into English it means “ Speak the truth but do not speak unpalatable truth”. Chanakya has also elaborated on the same issue. Unpalatable truth causes more harm than good. Welfare of the Nation must be placed before everything else.

From what I hear about your tenure as Goa, Chief Minister, you are an able, honest and competent administrator. Perhaps the South Block ‘climate’ does not suit you. Next reshuffle after current elections just might be what you are  looking for. For your remaining time in office as the Raksha Mantri, please concentrate on national security issues. 

Samuel's Take :

Born in Indore and educated in  Jaipur, ACM SP Tyagi, had no godfathers or godmothers any where in the Indian horizon. Whatever he achieved in his 44 years of uniformed service, he achieved by the dint of his own merit.

The initial years of his career in the air force, Tyagi flew Gnats with No.23 Squadron and later served with Hunters of No.27 Squadron. A veteran of both the 1965 and the 1971 Wars, he was one of the pioneer batch of eight pilots selected for conversion on the Jaguar Interdiction aircraft when it was inducted in 1980s. Whilst training at Lossiemouth, he was one of the two Indian pilots chosen for a Photo Recce Course at Coltishall with No.41 Squadron RAF.

Tyagi commanded No.14 Squadron "Bulls" later after coming back to India. A Graduate of the TACDE with a Fighter Combat Leader and Pilot Attack Instructor qualifications, he had also attended the Junior Commanders Course, the National Defence College and finally the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington. He received the Vayu Sena Medal (VM) for distinguished service in 1965.

In his mid career, Tyagi had several other appointments under his belt. He was an instructor at TACDE. As an Air Commodore, Tyagi commanded 33 Wing at Jamnagar. Later he was also posted as the Defence Attache at the Indian Consulate in Saudi Arabia. Air Commodore Tyagi was awarded the Ati Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM) in 1994.

He also held the appointments of Director Operations (Air Defence), ACAS (Intelligence), ACAS (Ops). He has had a stint as a senior fellow at the IDSA and was also a senior Instructor and Directing Staff at the DSSC, Wellington.

In the rank of Air Marshal, Tyagi was appointed as the SASO of Central Air Command for some time. He took over as the AOC-in-C of Central Air Command not soon after. he is one of the few officers to have the distinction of commanding three Air Commands, Central, South Western and Western Air Command.

Air Marshal Tyagi was awarded the Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM) in 2003, and was appointed as one of the honorary ADCs of the President of India. 

He has the distinction of being the one and only Air Chief Marshal to have done skydiving after being appointed to a high post as Chief of the Air Staff of Indian Air Force.

AGUSTA WESTLAND AFFAIR

PERFIDY OF THE PARIVAR

AgustaWestland: Who Made the Fix?

MOHAN GURUSWAMY

AgustaWestland: Who Made the Fix?

Mohan Guruswamy

Friday, May 13,2016

NEW DELHI: Anybody who sells any system, product or service to any organization that                                               purportedly has an “open and transparent” method of making a choice knows that the first                                       thing to fix to get the business is to get specifications set to suit them exclusively. 

The Agusta Westland deal, like all other deals whether for paper clips or nuclear power                                                   plants, almost certainly involved fixes. But before we get to that some background will                                                 serve you well. It began with the peripatetic George Fernandes, the NDA-1 defence                                               minister, making frequent and highly publicized visits to meet the jawans manning the                                           Saltoro ridgeline in the Siachen sector. This involved precarious flights on aging IAF                                           Cheetah helicopters. 

The Cheetahs were license built Aerospatiale Alouette II SA 315B Lama helicopters of                                                   mid 1950’s vintage. A Cheetah can carry up to five persons in a tight squeeze and has a                                        range of about 300 nautical miles and a maximum speed of 103 knots. It is powered by a                                       single Turbomeca TM 333-2M2 engine, which has just about in it to make it to the Saltoro,                                     passes. It still flies, but since their induction in 1968, 191 Chetaks and Cheetahs have                                         crashed killing 294 personnel. In 1963 an imported Cheetah crash took the lives of four                                         senior military officers including Lt.Gen. Daulet Singh, GOC-in-C, Western Command,                                                 Lt.Gen. Bikram Singh GOC 15th Corps, Maj.Gen. KND Nanavati GOC 25 Infantry Division                                             and AVM EW Pinto, AOC, Western Command. 

Some years ago I flew in a Cheetah from Leh to the Partapur headquarters of the Siachen                                         brigade. I distinctly recall that a string fastened the Plexiglas door and the chopper                                                     struggled to make it past Khardungla. We had to get back before afternoon thermals                                               thinned the air. Clearly it was inadequate and only pilot skills and the doughty grit of IAF                                            and Army engineers have kept them going. 

The Mi-8's (Hip) first flew in 1958 and has for long have been obsolete and have taken the                                             ir share of the toll. Among those killed in a Mi-8 crash was a GOC-in-C of the Eastern                                           Command, Lt. Gen. Jameel Mahmood, who was slated to become COAS. Those of us                                             who have been ferried ina Mi-8 know it to be a bone chilling experience. No wonder                                             Christian Michel, purportedly advising Agusta Westland, could confidently tell his                                               principals that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi "will no longer fly in the Mi-8." 

With Fernandes making frequent trips, the IAF with its keen instinct for acquisition saw an                                         opportunity to augment its high altitude capable fleet of helicopters. What more sacred                                                 cows can there be than our aging ministers? So a request was made to the government                                           (remember the services are not part of government) for a squadron of new VIP helicopters                                           to make the Cheetah and the equally aging Russian Mi-8 helicopters redundant. 

The IAF then preferred the Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma as the replacement. This is                                               twin-engined a long-range passenger transport helicopter that can carry up to 24                                             passengers along with three crew. It had a service height ceiling of 6000 meters. It was                                                   the only helicopter of its kind with this ceiling, others being limited to 4500 meters. 

This was when and where the fix was made. According to the MoD, "On November 19,                                               2003 a meeting was taken by then Principal Secretary to PM (Brajesh Mishra, also NSA)                                               on this subject. In the meeting, Principal Secretary observed that his main concern was                                               that the framing of the mandatory requirements has led us effectively into a single vendor                                         situation. It was also noted that the PM and President have rarely made visits to places                                             involving flying at an altitude beyond 4,500 meters. In the meeting it was decided to make                                          the mandatory requirement for operational altitude 4,500 meters. The higher flying ceiling                                               of 6,000 meters, and a cabinet height of 1.8 meters could be made desirable operational                           requirements. It was observed that with these revisions, several helicopters which                                                   otherwise met all requirements but had been rejected due to the altitude restriction, would                                             now come into the reckoning." 

The all-powerful Brajesh Mishra followed up this meeting with a letter on December 22,                                           2003 to the IAF Chief (Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy) wherein he chastised, “that it                                           was unfortunate that neither PMO nor SPG was consulted while framing these mandatory                               requirements.” He then ordered that the Air Chief and Defence Secretary “to jointly review                                               the matter to draw up realistic mandatory requirements satisfying operational, security and                                       convenience requirements of VIPs and also set in motion a fast track process for selection                                           and acquisition of the replacement helicopters." This was done. 

Now let’s meet the three Tyagi brothers, Sanjeev (Julie), Sandeep and Rajiv (Docsa), who                                         also happen to be the cousins of Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, who became Chief of Air                                              staff in 2005 and retired in 2007. It is important to remember SP Tyagi, a distinguished                                                 fighter pilot (call sign Bundle), was Air Chief neither when the specifications were changed                                           in 2003 nor when the order was placed in 2009. 

The Tyagi brothers became representatives of AgustaWestland, owned by the Italian                                     government’s Finmeccanica (now renamed Leonardo group) in 1996. They were                                               reasonably well known in certain Delhi circles where high value things are made to                                             happen. The youngest, Docsa (doctor sahib) was a medical doctor who found another                                           practice more suited to him. He was at one time Amitabh Bachchan’s political aide. We all                                               know Bachchan had a penchant for sharp business deals and Docsa obviously learnt well                                               He was a standard fixture at the Taj Mahal Hotel on Mansingh Road. 

After Bachchan quit politics, Docsa got into Atal Behari Vajpayee’s circle. Soon he was                                             running errands for him in the Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency where he was reported to                                           be the main liaison with the local Muslim community. Vajpayee’s “foster” son-in-law                                                 Ranjan Bhattacharya was the man who managed the affairs pertaining to Lucknow and                                                   quite clearly Docsa and he were closely associated. Bhattacharya’s power and influence                                              in the Vajpayee era is well known and widely recorded. 

Thanks to these connections the IAF’s preferred Eurocopter EC225 was no longer to be                                               the sole option. A miffed Eurocopter opted out. This is how the Agusta Westland EH-101                                           and Sikorsky S- 92 came into the reckoning. But it was a no contest between them. For a                                               start the Agusta has three engines, one of which was an auxiliary to kick in more power in                                               a drift down situation. It also had a cabin height of 1.83 meters, something that the SPG                                               insisted, as the guards could be standing upright with drawn weapons in the cabin during                                               landing and take-off. 

Now as far as the corruption goes. The usual narrative is that nothing happens in India                                             without below the table payments. But what is less known, is that this is often the pretext                                             for managements of foreign companies to make some big money for themselves. I have                                       always held that Indian politicians and bureaucrats are the bottom feeders in the crooking                                       pool. Service officers are satisfied with even less. Recall the infamous Tehelka video of a                                           general asking for a Johnny Walker Blue Label whisky bottle? 

The Hinduja’s, Nanda's and Chowdhrie's usually make much more money for themselves                                         and their foreign associates and fob off their Indian connections with small change. At the                                         time of writing investigations have begun in the UK of a Panama company owned by a                                              well known arms agent making payments to a top executive of a British aircraft company.        

Their efforts fetched the three Tyagi brothers about Rs.11 crores, while a bigger payment track                                     of over Rs.300 crores led to the Italian and Indian owners of two dummy companies in                                           Tunisia and India, and to a flim-flam man called Christian Michel, the son of Wolfgang                                             Michel who figured in the Mirage and Bofors deals, incidentally both during the Rajiv                                             Gandhi tenure. Does this lead to another son-in-law? Wait and see. 

Much is being made off by the BJP about the Milan Court of Appeals judgment convicting                                     Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, the CEO’s of Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland                                                 respectively for “false accounting and corruption” in which the judges referred to an                                           unsigned note purportedly by Christian Michel. This refers to Sonia Gandhi and the then                                            PM among others. But an unsigned note has no evidentiary value. This was the basis for                                       dismissing the charges against LK Advani and others in the Jain Hawala Case. The BJP                                               is now conveniently forgetting this. This is politics. Selective memories and far-fetched                                           conjectures.