In ‘Red Fear’, Iqbal Chand Malhotra writes that former Army chief Gen Cariappa had sent a recon mission to Aksai Chin. Nehru govt never made findings public.
Pakistan captured his Air Force officer son in the 1965 war and Ayub Khan offered to release him. But Cariappa refused, saying all soldiers were his sons.
India's generals must remember that when they speak, the impact lasts for a long time. Field Marshal Cariappa's 1970 remark about a military rule is a case in point.
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.
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