DEFENCE NOTES

New Delhi, 17 April 2006

Sharing The Spoils

FAULTY AWARDS SELECTION

By B.K. Mathur

Another annual ritual, the Defence Investiture Ceremony took place in the Rashtrapati Bhawan the other day.  As usual, scores of military personnel were decorated with medals by the Rashtrapati, who happens to be the Supreme Commander of the armed forces.  The list of recipients every year raises several questions: who gets the award; who selects the awardees; what is the criteria for selection; how do so many people get selected even in peace time; and, importantly, what do the awardees get?  The list also highlights, rather concernedly, that most of the personnel who get medals for gallantry, for valour and courage are Officers of the three Services, giving an impression that only the Officers are gallant and not the Other Ranks (ORs) or the Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs).

In fact, the distribution of military awards is increasingly turning into a farce.  So also the Republic Day awards which the President of India announces every year for defence personnel.  Prior to independence detailed examination of performance and gallantry was undertaken before bestowing high military honours. Imagine, sometime back, a Param Vir Chakra was announced to a jawan “posthumously” only to clarify later that the hero was very much alive.  Earlier, the highest military award was reserved for only a select few whose deeds were subjected to the strictest scrutiny.  More significantly, most of the gallantry awards went to the fighting men, that is, the jawans as they are the real brave personnel who risk their lives in a battle.  Remember, after the II World War, of the 28 Victoria Crosses awarded to the Indian soldiers only two went to the Officers.

The Officer-men ratio remains about the same as in the British Indian Army during the II World War: 20 to one. It was the same during the Kargil operation in 1999 where about 10,000 troops were deployed for what can be described as a minor operation.  Surprisingly, in accordance with the practice since independence about 85 per cent of the gallantry awards went to the Officers.  Undoubtedly, the Officers in the Indian Army always lead an operation but the jawans, twenty or twentyfive of them, are ready to sacrifice their lives behind one Officer.  They do not watch the operation from the sidelines or do not show any courage. Give them their due, please.

The present system of distributing gallantry awards obviously shows that awards are given by policy makers for valour and devotion to duty according to the rank in the Indian Army.  How else can one explain the lopsided distribution of gallantry awards mostly to Officers. The situation is invariably worse in the case of the Republic Day honours where there is near-absence of ORs (Other Ranks) more often than not. And what the gallantry honour means? The Param Vir Chakra, the nation’s highest wartime medal for “most conspicuous bravery” carries an allowance of Rs.1500 per month; Ashoka Chakra Rs.1400 p.m.; Mahavir Chakra Rs.1200; Kirti Chakra Rs.1050; Sena Medal Rs.250.  Just a pittance, indeed.

At once this reminds one of some very interesting observations by former Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral J.D. Nadkarni made after his retirement about the manner in which gallantry awards are distributed to the armed forces personnel.  For the first time in independent India, all the three defence Services, the Army, Navy and the Air Force participated in the 1971 war against Pakistan.  The Government of the day was so keen to claim victory that it began to announce gallantry medals even before the war got over . To make matters worse, Nadkarni disclosed, each Service began to demand its own and proportionate share of the honours. In each Service various Commanders wanted their own share. The Navy wanted exactly the same number to its Western and Eastern Commands.

Worse, Nadkanri further disclosed, the entire process of awards was turned topsy-turvy when the awardees were selected first and the Citations were written afterwards to suit the awards.  The terrible hurry about announcing the awards led to some “hilarious” situations.  The Navy bestowed an award to an Officer believed to have gone down with the INS Khukri only to discover later that the Officer had been hospitalized and was not on board when the vessel sank.  My own younger brother, then a young Captain in the Army, was “informally” informed of an award he was to get for his gallantry in 1971.  Alas, his name could not be recommended because he passed away in a sailing accident at Okhla within days of his Regiment’s return to Delhi from the War theatre after the Pakistan Army’s surrender.

One can go on and on narrating instances when gallantry awards, both wartime and peacetime, have been recommended to connected Officers and some favourite Other Ranks (ORs).  Worse still, deserving personnel, (JCOs) and ORs, are left behind simply because the recommending Officer does not like them.  This growing trend ultimately demoralizes the armed forces, which are already facing problems concerning recruitment of boys of required calibre in military training academies. The forces are at present suffering not only in quality but also in quantity. There is at present shortage in the Officer cadres  of all the three defence Services.

Senior military Officers and Instructors at the academies and training Centres invariably quote the immortal words inscribed at the famous Chetwood Hall at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun: “The country comes first each and every time, and the men you command come next.  Your own comfort and wellbeing come last each and every time.”  Unfortunately, what the advice preached is rarely followed even at the time when the military Commanders get the opportunity to show that the country cares for India’s jawans, sailors and airmen and awards them for their services and sacrifices for the nation.  It is a matter of great concern that those in authority serve their own interests first and those of the men they command and the nation next.

It is high time now that policy-makers in the Union Government took greater interest in honouring its gallant men and Officers. At present the selection process is greatly flawed. An award for gallantry needs to be offered for a major action in time of war or war-like situations as border conflicts.  It must be understood that gallantry awards for minor action would amount to devaluing them – and, worse, no one would care to win them.  Also, the number of such awards needs to be limited so that their value increases. The increased value of a gallantry medal will actually be all the more greater if the monthly allowance that goes with each category of awards is increased substantially. These are important, not minor, things to attract talented youth for the armed forces.  In regard to the military awards, it is perfectly possible that a gallant soldier may just not care to share the spoils!---INFA.

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

DEFENCE NOTES

New Delhi, 3 April 2006

Corps of Air Defence

CRUCIAL COMBAT ARM IN MISSILE AGE

By B.K. Mathur

When the Corps of Air Defence, the Indian Army’s youngest arm, celebrated its 13^th Raising Day recently, mind went back to some years after independence.  It was then believed that only “condemned” Officers of the Regiment of Artillery were sent to its Air Defence units.  Only the gunners were considered to be true fighting personnel.  But today things have totally changed because of the changed operational requirements and dynamics of modern warfare.  Once the operation of missiles was made the responsibility of air defence units which have been increasingly provided with sophisticated, state-of-the-art equipment, the bifurcation of the Regiment of Artillery was necessitated and a separate Corps of Army Air Defence created on 10 January 1994, headed a Lt-General.  Allotment of this Corps to the newly-Commissioned Officers is now considered to be a matter of prestige.

Although, the overall responsibility of air defence lies with the Indian Air Force, it is executed jointly by the three Services. The Corps of Air Defence is tasked to perform the critical battlefield mission of preserving the combat power and freedom of manoeuvre of our combat forces as well as causing maximum destruction of enemy aircraft and helicopters. It is also organized and equipped to provide close air defence to strategic key installations of the nation.  Rapid strides in development and proliferation of missiles, UAVs, coupled with improvement in avionics, visionics, weapon delivery capabilities, guided munitions, have made it imperative to continuously review technology of air defence weapons and tactics to employ them in both the rear  areas and the combat zone.  Air Defence has thus emerged as one of the principal battlefield function areas.

Effectiveness of Air Defence guns and missiles against aircraft in the combat zone has been demonstrated repeatedly in recent wars between various countries. In future too, conduct of air defence will be a critical parameter in deciding the winner in any conflict.   A vibrant and effective air defence environment backed up with low and medium level surveillance and automated control and reporting system is essential to preserve the key strategic installations as well as the combat potential and freedom of manoeuvre of the fighting force. There is, therefore, the need for the Corps to be a truly professional, motivated and trained force, capable of meeting the challenges. To carry out the assigned task, the Air Defence units have been equipped with state-of-the-art radars, guns and missile systems. 

This takes to my oft-repeated point made in this column and elsewhere that while talking about the all-spectrum modernization programme for the Army, one needs to understand the importance of men behind the machines. Great effort needs to be made to ensure quality in-take into the forces, which is concernedly not happening at present.   Emphasis today is on procuring sophisticated machines for every arm of the Army. That should be, but sophisticated machines need sophisticated manpower and training – and, importantly, thorough professionalism.  Remember, Gen. N.C. Vij had stated as the Chief of the Army Staff in his message on the occasion of the Army Day in 2004 “….our priorities have been primarily aimed at creating well-boned war fighting machine and facing any eventuality with a vigour and through professionalism…”

The General had also emphasized in that message that “care of our ex-Servicemen is also very high on my agenda.”  Indeed, Vij had very rightly diagnosed the basic problems which have today made the Indian Army different from the one we knew during the early years of independence.  At present there is lack of interest among the youth for joining the armed forces, and more unfortunately, lack of “izzat” of the men in olive green. Above all, there is little care of the soldiers who retire comparative early and need a second career.  Given the professional satisfaction, we can certainly hope for a better in-take, well-trained soldiers and commanders.

The induction of sophisticated machines along with reorganization and bifurcation of the fighting arms, such as the creating of the Corps of the Army Air Defence will certainly make the Indian Army a true modern force. But plans to achieve such a goal require to be implemented, and should not remain on paper only.  This requires civil-military cooperation and, importantly, genuine integration of the Service headquarters with the Defence Ministry.  The latter is necessary to eliminate vested interests and to avoid delays in decision-making in view of increasing bureaucratic hassles. Such lacunae tackled, the third largest Army of the world could be made the most powerful force globally.

The three Service Chiefs too have a lot of responsibility in making the armed forces a globally powerful force, that it used to be in olden days.  In the Indian army, Officers lead to the troops in an operation and play a major part in shaping soldiers who are now educated unlike in the past. The commander must therefore ensure that the forces deployment is restricted to professional duties, and such engagements as in aid to the civil authority, must be restricted to the minimum.  In this context, it must be remembered that the Armyman is trained to kill or be killed. Such directions to the forces, as the present Chief has given to those deployed for counter-insurgency operations, to be soft and considerate is not the military ethos.  Nor is a military man expected to cry on seeing ruthless action against any enemy.

The opposition to too much use of the Army for civil duties (nearly one-third of the Army is presently deployed for civil duties or counter-insurgency operations) is bad for the forces for several reasons, most significant among them being the loss of adequate training which the soldier presently requires to use state-of-the-art equipment and weapon systems in today’s strategic warfare. Instead of freeing the troops of civil deployment, the Army Headquarters has reportedly worked another plan for “farming”. The plan is believed to have been worked out to cultivate plants from which oil can be produced.  According to sources, one-third of the gas presently used by Army transport is proposed to be produced from the fields through better farming methods on its land.

How far is it advisable to put the soldiers to farming and civil duties at the cost of their training and updating knowledge in latest operational studies and machines?   The recent Gulf war, and even other military confrontations across the world have shown that future wars are to be fought through all kinds of missiles – surface to surface, surface to air and air to surface. Their control and operation is now in the hands of the Army Air Defence in collaboration with the air force.  The personnel of this new Corps of the Indian Army are to be highly skilled in handling the machines in modern operations.   That perhaps is the reason why high-grade Gentlemen Cadets at the Indian Military Academy opt for the new Corps of Army Air Defence. ---INFA

 
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

DEFENCE NOTES

New Delhi, 20 March 2006

Defence Budget Trend

INADEQUATE YET GOING UNSPENT

By B.K. Mathur

The Defence Ministry’s budgetary proposals for 2006-07 have the same trend as in the last few years: Substantial increase in capital outlay but inadequate provision for running routine expenses.  The provision of Rs.77,000 crore for 2004-05 increased to Rs.83,000 crore for 2005-06 and now rose Rs.89,000 crore. But significantly, and concernedly, much of the provisions earmarked for capital outlay have remained unused and returned for years now.  Despite lack of planning by the Defence Ministry, the capital outlay for 2006-07 has been fixed at Rs.37,458 crore for military hardware, a 13 per cent jump from the current year’s allocation for capital outlay, of which Rs.13,000 crore has remained unspent.

It needs to be stressed that defence expenditure should be related to military effectiveness after taking into consideration security environment, current military strategies and, of course, availability of funds that require to be used judiciously. The Finance Minister, as often mentioned in this column, does not have any currency producing machine. Despite this, successive Finance Ministers post-1971 war against Pakistan have provided maximum possible for Defence. The Defence budgets since then have invariably ranged about 15 per cent of the Union Government’s expenditure.  Also, the Finance Ministers have invariably assured Parliament that shortage of funds would not come in the way of the nation’s security.

Despite such commitments and significant increase in Defence allocations year after year, the provision has not gone beyond three per cent of the GDP during the last decade and more, which has always been much below than that of our immediate neighbours, Pakistan and China.  In rupee terms the Defence budget provisions have undoubtedly risen annually.  There has been a steep rise of 82.5 per cent from Rs.35,620 crore in 1997-98 to Rs.65,000 crore in 2002-03.  But in real terms the hike during these years has not been more than seven per cent each year, which has been invariably grossly insufficient to update the military machines in accordance with the requirements for the present security environment.

It is another matter, as Chidambaram noted while presenting the Defence budget for 2006-07, that environment along the Indo-Pak border, especially the LoC, has improved.  But, the armed forces have always to remain in operational readiness to face any eventuality.  Moreover, the thumb rule for Defence budgeting is to provide for normal inflation as much as about 50 per cent more to meet the need for upgradation of military machines and their cost escalation in regard to the import of the equipment and weapon systems.  In this context, it is essential to understand the all expensive military hardware cannot be bought or produced indigenously overnight. 

It needs years of planning and coordination between the Defence Ministry and Service headquarters.  Lack of it is the bane of India’s security planning.  This has led to the great tragedy that an impression has been created for the last five or six years that the Defence Ministry fails to spend all the money allocated to it in the budget.  Even a former Defence Secretary remarked last year when about Rs.9,000 crore was returned unused as the allocation made for capital outlay or capital expenditure had to be returned unspent.  He told me: “The Ministry does not spend and returns the allocation unspent.  The same happened last year and during the current fiscal, that is 2005-06. 

This has been happening despite the fact that the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee had stated in July 2004 that “most of the capital outlay will be utilized on the commitments of the defence acquisitions already made and the supplies are in the pipeline.”  In fact, Mukherjee had then indicated that he may have to ask for more on the capital outlay account, because some new and crucial purchases were needed to be made after clearing payments for the already finalized deals for expensive machines. Some payments may have been made, but significant amount of funds allotted for capital outlay remained unspent during the last two years. Nobody seems to be bothered why this has been happening. 

The main reason for this is the Defence Ministry’s or the Cabinet Committee for Security’s failure to finalise timely the prolonged negotiations for the purchase of expensive machines and weapon systems from abroad.  Obviously, there is undue delay in implementing big military modernization projects, despite the fact that defence preparedness suffers, while an impression goes round the world that India spends too much on defence year after year. No effort has obviously been made to set things right.  Remember, after the Kargil war the Chiefs of Staff Committee, headed by the, then, Army Chief, Gen. Ved Prakash Malik, had impressed up the Defence Ministry the need for a greater say of the armed forces in the procurement of weapon systems.

The Chiefs Committee had suggested that the Services representatives be also consulted when the purchases are placed before the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for final approval.  But the system has by and large remained unchanged, with the Services’ role remaining restricted to participation in the Price Negotiations Committees (PNCs).  This is so even though the Defence Minister has for long been talking of integrating the Service Headquarters with the Ministry.  The bureaucracy-controlled system continues.  After the Finance Advisor (Defence Services) works out the financial liability, the Defence Ministry gets the final approval from the CCS.  This process invariably causes delays in the procurement of weapons and weapon systems.

The tragedy does not end there.  There have been instances when the Ministry has “reworked” deals already endorsed by the PNC before forwarding them to the CCS without the Service Headquarters even getting the whiff of the changes made in the deal.  One instance, among several others, can be quoted to prove the point.  APJ Abdul Kalam, as the Scientific Advisor in the Ministry headed the PNC on Global Positioning System (GPS) for Sukhoi-30 aircraft.  He had recommended the equipment produced by the French company, Sagem.  But the contract finally went to Sextant Avionique of French. The forces want to oversee arms purchases till the final CCS approval to ensure that the PNC heads are not blamed in the event of contracts coming under a cloud.

Both the Finance Minister and Defence Minister have promised that there will be no shortage of funds for Defence.  But the budgetary provisions continue to be returned unused.  The trend should change.  The whole procurement system needs to be streamlined.  A suggestion was made by the Parliamentary Committee for Defence that unutilized funds should remain with the Ministry and not added to the next year’s budget.  They should be put under separate head and spent on the projects for which they are meant.  It is a well-meaning proposal, which will not only change the budgeting pattern for Defence but also avoid delays in the implementation of projects for want of funds.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

DEFENCE ISSUES

New Delhi, 13 March 2006

Defence Budget 2006

LACKS FUNDS FOR MARTYRS

By Col. P.K. Vasudeva, (Retd.)

The modernisation programmes that have been kick-started by the armed forces are set to continue, as the defence budget for 2006-07 has been hiked by 8.9 per cent (Rs. 7,300 crore) to Rs. 89,000, as against Rs. 81,700 crore in 2005-06 on expected lines. Finance Minister P Chidambram said while presenting the Budget that this hike is meant to cater to “normal growth in pay allowances, maintenance and for modernisation of the defence forces”. Now that the borders with Pakistan have been peaceful for two years,  the hike in the defence budget has been nominal.

Unlike in the previous year, the three Services did not spend all the money, but returned about Rs. 1,300 crore from the capital outlay.  The capital outlay for 2006-07 is Rs. 37,458 crore, up 13.25 per cent from the revised expenditure of last year, and constitutes a little over 42 per cent of the total defence budget.  The increase of Rs. 4,383 crore in arms acquisition funding implies that the Defence Ministry has a considerable sum in its hands to place orders for new equipment and also meet the commitments for orders placed by the previous and present governments. 

This will help the process of payments both for the aircraft carrier that India plans to build and the compliment of aircraft from Russia, submarines from France and advance jet trainers form Britain.  It will also help the Air Force call for international tenders to purchase 126 combat aircraft to shore up its depleting fighter squadron strength of MiG 21s and enable the army to purchase upgraded 155mm artillery guns. 

Despite its failures to meet the deadlines on the main battle tank and indigenous aero engines, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been given a 7.48 per cent hike in allocation to Rs. 3,020.18 crore, from last year’s revised estimate of Rs. 2,809.96 crore. 

The allocation for the Army has been increased by 5.28 per cent to Rs. 33,205 crore from last year’s revised estimates of Rs. 31,539 crore, while that of the Indian Air Force  has been hiked by 7.88 per cent to Rs. 10,087.36 crore from Rs. 737.09 crore in 2005-06.  The Navy, the smallest of the three Services, has got a hike of 5.75 per cent, as the allocation been increased to Rs. 6,791 crore, compared to last year’s estimate of Rs. 6,422 crore. 

The revenue expenditure has been increased by 6 per cent to Rs. 51,542 crore, from Rs. 48,625 crore in 2005-06.  This is in line with the Army’s demand that the revenue outlay must not be downsized until the security situation stabilises to acceptable levels. 

While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently said that the country’s defence budget could be 3 per cent of GDP, the current budget is only 2.27 per cent of GDP, despite an 8.9 per cent hike.  India’s neighbours, China and Pakistan, allocate five to seven per cent of their GDP for their armed forces. 

The Government has also fulfilled the long-standing need of retired armed forces personnel below officer rank for better pension benefits.  About 12 lakh of these have benefited to the tune of Rs. 460 crore with effect from January 1, 2006. 

Having remained on the periphery of the Centre’s priorities in the 1990s, the defence sector came into the limelight after the 1999 Kargil conflict.  Moreover, nearly two years of full mobilisation on the border showed that the armed forces were under-prepared for a modern war.  The US-led military operations after 9/11 also contributed to increasing expenditure on military platforms and surveillance mechanisms. 

Despite the tranquil borders and a relatively stable situation in Jammu and Kashmir,  P. Chidambaram has made reasonably substantial allocations for the defence sector.  The revenue expenditure has been increased to 6 per cent because the Army will be averse to downsising until the security situation stabilises to its satisfaction.

On the capital expenditure side, the armed forces had made out a case for increasing the outlay from the current year’s Rs. 34,375 crore. Hence it has been increased by 13.25 per cent.  This is to meet the commitments for orders placed by the present and previous Governments and signed contracts for more equipment, primarily for the Army and the Navy. 

The funds allocated will help for purchasing more military hardware.  The Defence Ministry is in the process of purchasing a complement of surveillance planes for the Navy and a large number of tanks from Russia to replace its ageing Armoured Corps assets, besides air defence equipment.  The Navy is also planning to repeat an order for three warships from Russia.  It is keen on strengthening its nuclear force levels. 

Talks with Russia are highly confidential, but according to information, India is discussing the acquisition of long-range bomber planes and nuclear submarines.  However, there is no timeframe for completing the negotiations. In view of the complexity of such deals there was no requirement for Chidambaram to make allowance for these capital-intensive nuclear delivery systems. 

While India continues with high-end military purchases, industry is hoping to benefit from the spin-offs.  The Government has announced that foreign companies supplying equipment worth over Rs. 300 crore would have to source one-third of the value of the contract from the country.  The Defence Ministry is on the verge of finalizing this offset policy.  However, a question mark hangs over the policy because of pressure by foreign companies to modify some clauses to their advantage. 

While big military purchases and the huge expenditure on salaries and pensions for the armed forces are the two major components of the defence budget, the Army hoped for a little more generosity from the Finance Minister to adequately compensate soldiers who died in action.  The Defence Ministry had sent a proposal for higher compensation to its martyrs. This is unfortunate as the Finance Minister could not find funds for this noble cause. This is one of the reasons that the armed forces are not attracting sufficient number of quality youth of the country.

As a former Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee realises the constraints imposed by social sector commitments on the exchequer.  This is why he has refrained from  pressing for what the Prime Minister had assured: three per cent of the gross domestic product to the defence sector if the economy continued to grow at a healthy rate.  This long nurtured expectation of the armed forces, supported by strategic analysts, unfortunately has not materialised.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)