If anything, India's political leaders will now be more susceptible to military advice without any corresponding increase in their ability to interrogate them.
Here’s what’s happening across the border: Trees are being cut despite Imran Khan’s massive plantation drive; and the privilege of living in the PM’s house.
For an industry globally classified as hazardous, protections such as health insurance and a provident fund for workers are necessities. In Sivakasi, they remain elusive.
The industry forecasts exports are set to grow 16% in 2025-26, boosted by surplus domestic production and a drive to push into 26 underserved global markets with strong potential.
Indigenisation level will progressively increase up to 60 percent with key sub-assemblies, electronics and mechanical parts being manufactured locally.
It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.
1. The Indian military’s anti-intellectualism alluded to by the writer – one of India’s rare examples of soldier-scholars – isn’t just confined to poor understanding of international relations, history and economics, it extends to poor understanding of modern warfighting both at a doctrinal and operational art level as well.
2. Gen Rawat embodies the anti-intellectualism problem really well but he does have one redeeming feature for the CDS job that most scholars have a blind spot about and see as a negative-his political skills.
3. Regardless of the country, rationale for Integration/Jointness/Theater Commands is to improve warfighting but the primary motivator for Service bureaucracies – the uniformed leadership and their uniformed babus – is empire building (size and budgets) which is achieved through inter-services turf wars. Reconciling these two opposing forces is where Gen Rawat will have to earn his (still) four-stars. Deals he cuts, arms he twists, that is his job now.
4. Regardless of whether he does an above-average job (unlikely) or below average (likely) this process will highlight the deeper problem across the Indian military – an underpowered intellectual engine driving a clunky chassis. And that is where hopefully, the soldier-scholars will step in and join forces with the political operators, and get their hands dirty with the overhaul of the Indian military machine.
Bipin Rawat is most unsuited choice as CDS. Firstly he is a political appointee and secondly due to separate domains of each service he has no inkling of air or naval operations, thirdly he is bound to step on the toes of service chiefs who will be forced to bend to his orders irrespective of his lack of acumen. Rawat is not exactly very well liked in the Army
CDS is a midway between politicians and the armed men, hence he has to be politically smart. This is the same as Imperial Defence chief in UK or chairman of the joint chiefs in US……. hence stop imagining things.
Instead ofwrely Thal Sena HQ, shouldn’t a Joint Services HQ be planned?
1. The Indian military’s anti-intellectualism alluded to by the writer – one of India’s rare examples of soldier-scholars – isn’t just confined to poor understanding of international relations, history and economics, it extends to poor understanding of modern warfighting both at a doctrinal and operational art level as well.
2. Gen Rawat embodies the anti-intellectualism problem really well but he does have one redeeming feature for the CDS job that most scholars have a blind spot about and see as a negative-his political skills.
3. Regardless of the country, rationale for Integration/Jointness/Theater Commands is to improve warfighting but the primary motivator for Service bureaucracies – the uniformed leadership and their uniformed babus – is empire building (size and budgets) which is achieved through inter-services turf wars. Reconciling these two opposing forces is where Gen Rawat will have to earn his (still) four-stars. Deals he cuts, arms he twists, that is his job now.
4. Regardless of whether he does an above-average job (unlikely) or below average (likely) this process will highlight the deeper problem across the Indian military – an underpowered intellectual engine driving a clunky chassis. And that is where hopefully, the soldier-scholars will step in and join forces with the political operators, and get their hands dirty with the overhaul of the Indian military machine.
Bipin Rawat is most unsuited choice as CDS. Firstly he is a political appointee and secondly due to separate domains of each service he has no inkling of air or naval operations, thirdly he is bound to step on the toes of service chiefs who will be forced to bend to his orders irrespective of his lack of acumen. Rawat is not exactly very well liked in the Army
CDS is a midway between politicians and the armed men, hence he has to be politically smart. This is the same as Imperial Defence chief in UK or chairman of the joint chiefs in US……. hence stop imagining things.
Instead ofwrely Thal Sena HQ, shouldn’t a Joint Services HQ be planned?