The long wait.

Last year feburary Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar (Retd), an 80 years old airforce pilot became the oldest man to fly the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas. When spoken to, he expressed his delight , Not because the retired IAF officer, was the oldest man to fly the Tejas But because he had seen the aircraft mature into a full-fledged operational fighter from the days of the drawing board. As a test pilot, he was in the Tejas hot seat for the fighter’s first 98 flights as the program director of the project way back in 90s.

It was in 1983 that the Government of India, then led by Indira Gandhi, rolled out a project to build a new LCA as a replacement for the Russian MiG-21s. The plan was to carry out the first flight of the new aircraft by 1994. However, the first prototype of LCA flew only in 2001. It was at the time that the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee named the LCA “Tejas”. In December 2013, the Tejas got Initial Operational Clearance and, in 2019, the IAF was given the first aircraft with Final Operational Clearance.

This tells us as to how lengthy, tedious and frustrating is the route to develop and manufacture a sophisticated war machinery indigenously. This is the story of almost all military equipment that India tried manufacturing locally ; the Arjun TANK,the Prithvi, Agni , Akash missiles, the Pinakas, etc .They have taken a long time to reach the customer and sadly the world did not wait for them and by the time they get inducted the technology gets obsolete and the customer once again puts up a fresh demand LIST, after all, the enemies that he has to fight have already moved ahead and are equipping themselves with the latest.

Now that the Cabinet Committee on Security approved a Rs 48,000-crore deal for 83 Tejas, which include 73 Mark 1A versionsNAND 10X mK 1, which will be provided by the Govt managed Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Implying each aircraft is costing almost 500 crores. This is over and above thousands of crores already spent on its Development.

It is hell of a lot of money and so as a tax payer, it is our responsibility to evaluate and examine as to how our money is being spent by the Govt and whether the tall claims made by the Govt and its officials meet our security needs. More over, why does Govt owned factories take so much time that may lead to cost escalation and even then no action is taken against the erring manufacturer. Unless the tax payer starts objecting to this gross mismangement , the Govt owned manufacturer will have no concern for the Quality and Schedule of supply.

We must remember that gone are the days when wars were fought in a battle field of few sq kms or on borders, and the citizens could go on doing their job unconcerned about what is happening on the front. With improvement in technology , Today's armed conflicts look quite different: city centers and residential areas can become battle fields. Wars can now move into the lives, cities and homes of ordinary people in a more vicious way than ever before, and impact our livelihoods and occupations.

In view of the above, as regards the Airforce, we as tax payers need to understand following ;

1. What are the Capabilities of IAF and What are the Grey Areas.

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Appears that Indian External Affairs Ministry and the Military are working in Silos

This is not the first time that the External Affairs Ministry of the Govt of India did not bother to take the opinion of the military or if it all it took the view, it did not care for it and the Nation has to pay a heavy price for it.

One instance was way back in 90s when the Govt of India eager to have peace at its borders signed an Agreement with China. The 1993 agreement, that created the LAC(Line of Actual Control), signed by the two countries to maintain peace and tranquillity did not define where the line lies. As a result China in last few years has moved the LAC as India understood it after 1993 to well inside Indian territory. This ranges from 1.5km in some places to 4.5km in others. And as it has been happening since last 50 years, China has offered a legal argument to justify its new positions on the ground. It says ; The Line was not defined.

And why did it happen because the then external affairs ministry did not pay heed to the army advise which was insisting that the Line must be called as Line of Existing Control so that the positions could be frozen and there is no change hereafter. But the external affairs ministry wizards did not pay heed.

Once again it has happened , on the issue of Taliban.

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In the last article titled ; " India’s difficult neighbourhood "( https://www.bharatamrising.com/india-s-difficult-neighourhood )the looming economic crisis in Srilanka was discussed. The following was highlighted ; .

“With the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation in Srilanka worsened, largely due to the significant loss of tourism earning, taken together; diminishing foreign exchange reserves, the debts, the circumstances have put Sri Lanka in a vulnerable position. The bggest worry was that Sri Lanka cannot address its problems as merely a domestic political issue. Tackling Sri Lanka’s external sector vulnerabilities, including the shortage of foreign currency, will require support from external parties, whether China, India, the United States, or even international organizations such as the IMF or World Bank. Thus far, Sri Lanka has excessively relied on China to tackle its external sector vulnerabilities while economic relations with India seem to remain stagnant. At the same time, Sri Lanka tries not to irritate India. Against this backdrop, Sri Lanka is now struggling hard to balance between China, India, and domestic nationalists, all the while trying to save the country from a potential economic crisis. Thus far, it does not look easy”.

The Economic Crisis led to Declaration of Emergency

Barely two months have passed since we wrote this and the Govt of Srilanka has now declared an emergency. Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Monday (September 6) approved a national emergency. The government said the emergency was required to check soaring prices of food and hoarding of essentials by a “food mafia”. As expected the Opposition called this action to be taken “in bad faith, with an ulterior motive of stifling the fundamental rights of the people and a move towards authoritarianism.

In Parliament, Opposition members argued that there was no need for an emergency, as other legislation were available to check hoarding and cap food prices.

The Vicious Circle.

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Can India Trust Taliban is not the right question rather Why should India trust Taliban should be the question that needs to be answered.

Because, when last time they were in power India had a tumultuous year full of violence.

What have the Taliban done to foster that belief?

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