Indian Military

By Ajai ShuklaNational Flight Test Centre, BangaloreBusiness Standard, 12th Feb 11
The headphone crackles in his ears as Wing Commander Pranjal Singh looks out from the cockpit of his Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, codenamed LSP-3, at the sun-baked runway stretching ahead.

An ongoing spat between the MoD and Army HQ is keeping key positions empty. A codified army promotion policy will put an end to such face-offs
by Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 5th Apr 11
South Block is being roiled by a face-off between military and the ministry of defence (MoD), which co-exist at the best of times in mutual loathing. Since September, the MoD has blocked the routine promotion of army officers to the senior-most levels of command. Today, the commanders of several army divisions and corps – combat formations that are headed by major generals and lieutenant generals, respectively – are serving extended tenures since nobody is being promoted to relieve them. The Indian Army’s elite 1 Corps, which strikes deep into enemy territory in war, currently has no commander.

As the two defence secretaries meet today, we wonder whether what was bought with blood and guts will be bartered for a later regret.

By Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 30th May 11
On a moonless night in Siachen, in May 1987, Second Lieutenant Rajiv Pande’s thirteen-man patrol silently climbed towards Quaid Post, a 21,153-feet high pinnacle near the crucial Bilafond La pass that was held by 17 Pakistani soldiers. Quaid had to be captured and Pande was fixing ropes on the near-vertical, 1500-feet ice wall just below the post, to assist a larger follow-on force in making a physical assault. As the jawans fixed the ropes, gasping for breath in that oxygen-depleted altitude, the Pakistani sentries just a few hundred feet above heard them.

A copy of the Military Secretary's Branch letter that confirms that all General VK Singh's senior promotions (from brigadier to major general to lieutenant general) were on the basis of a date of birth of 10th May 1951. The army chief has been told by the defence ministry that his official date of birth is 10th May 1950, and that he must retire in May 2012 on reaching the age of 62
Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 16th Sept 11
Defence Minister A K Antony faces a possible breach of privilege motion for misleading the Rajya Sabha in the increasingly bitter battle between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the army chief, General V K Singh, over the latter’s date of birth, which will determine when he hangs up his uniform.
The controversy stems from the army’s four-decade error in maintaining two conflicting dates of birth for Gen Singh in two separate record-holding branches: May 10, 1950 and May 10, 1951.

Indian army chief, Gen VK Singh, taking over from his predecessor, Gen Deepak Kapoor. The controversy over Singh's birth date was further vexed by Kapoor, who put overt pressure on Singh to accept a birth date of 1950
By Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 19th Sept 11
The growing tension between the army and the defence ministry (MoD) over when the army chief, General VK Singh, will retire could be heading for a sensational climax. Business Standard has learned from sources close to the army chief that he will definitely go to court if defence minister AK Antony turns down his official petition requesting that his birth date be recognised as 10th May 1951.
Driving Gen Singh’s decision to escalate the face-off is his annoyance at the defence minister’s statement to parliament on Sept 7th, in which Antony said that the army chief was “left with 8 months and 23 days of service as on date.

The argument against:
Maj Gen Nilendra Kumar (Retd) Former Judge Advocate General of the Indian Army
The last few months have seen Army Chief V K Singh’s name in the media in a controversy relating to his age. The general is an outstanding soldier who is a renowned strategist and a brilliant practitioner of military craft. I have known him well for over four decades. I, however, differ with him and his well-wishers on a few counts.
The general has submitted a statutory complaint on the matter of his birth date. Army Act Section 27 affords a right to any military person who feels wronged by the decision of any superior to seek remedy from the central government. The remedy is available to all, from the junior-most soldiers to the senior-most commanders. There are a number of reasons that make the case of the army chief different.
General V K Singh joined the National Defence Academy in June 1966. Three years later he entered the Indian Military Academy and, after completing his training, was commissioned in the Infantry in June, 1970.

The argument against:
Maj Gen Nilendra Kumar (Retd) Former Judge Advocate General of the Indian Army
The last few months have seen Army Chief V K Singh’s name in the media in a controversy relating to his age. The general is an outstanding soldier who is a renowned strategist and a brilliant practitioner of military craft. I have known him well for over four decades. I, however, differ with him and his well-wishers on a few counts.
The general has submitted a statutory complaint on the matter of his birth date. Army Act Section 27 affords a right to any military person who feels wronged by the decision of any superior to seek remedy from the central government. The remedy is available to all, from the junior-most soldiers to the senior-most commanders. There are a number of reasons that make the case of the army chief different.
General V K Singh joined the National Defence Academy in June 1966. Three years later he entered the Indian Military Academy and, after completing his training, was commissioned in the Infantry in June, 1970.

Attorney General, Goolam Vahanvati, who has followed a long tradition of compliant AGs, by providing the MoD with a legal opinion that justifies turning down the army chief's petition for reconciling his birth date.
by Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 20th Jan 12
Squarely in the crosshairs of the army chief, General VK Singh, is Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati. Already under fire in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, which the CBI is investigating, Vahanvati provided Defence Minister AK Antony the legal opinion that led to the MoD’s rejection of General Singh’s petition for his birth date to be recognised as 10th May 1951.
The army chief's writ petition, filed in the Supreme Court on Monday, directly challenges Vahanvati’s opinion. The attorney general’s opinion overruled the earlier decision of a senior law ministry official, who had opined last May that the army chief was correct.

Who should handle offsets? The Acquisitions Wing, or the Department of Defence Production? That dispute is holding held up the new offset policy
(Pictured here: the DRDO's Kaveri jet engine)
By Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 25th Feb 12
A slew of amendments to the Defence Offset Policy are held up by disagreement within the defence ministry on a single crucial issue: which MoD department should handle offsets. A meeting of the apex Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in New Delhi on Wednesday agreed on letting vendors offer high technology as an offset; on using “multipliers” for directing offsets into priority areas; and on allowing vendors to “bank” offsets for longer periods. But without consensus on which department should be the “single window” for offsets, the new offsets policy is on temporary hold.