Cyber Security: Anthony to Armed Forces

Defence Minister A.K. Antony interacts with the media after attending the Unified Commanders Conference in New Delhi on Friday. New Delhi, April 16, 2010 Prepare to counter cyber attacks: Antony to Armed Forces PTI

In the wake of reports of hackers stealing vital data from Indian defence and diplomatic computer networks, Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Friday asked the Armed Forces to coordinate closely with other cyber security agencies to prepare a crisis management action plan against cyber terrorism.

The minister noted that cyberspace had emerged as an important medium for information sharing, but at the same time the existing technology was susceptible to misuse by anti-social and anti-national elements.

“Of late, extraordinary and unprecedented cyber crimes have taken place across the globe, exposing gap holes in cyber security systems,” Mr. Antony told the Armed Forces Unified Commanders’ Conference here.

“Although Defence Services at all levels have taken steps to counter cyber threat through stringent implementation of cyber security policy, there is still a requirement to ensure that all loopholes are suitably plugged. A few recent cases are reminders of our own vulnerabilities,” he said.

Close interaction with national agencies like Computer and Emergency Response Team (CERT), NTRO, Home and IT Ministries to prepare a crisis management action plan for countering cyber attacks and cyber terrorism is essential, he said inaugurating the conference.

Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju, Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman and IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik, Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma, Army Chief General V.K. Singh, Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and Chief of Integrated Staff Committee Air Marshal S.C. Mukul were also present on the occasion.

Expressing happiness over the progress made to improve ties among armed forces in various spheres, Mr. Antony said increasing involvement of Integrated Defence Service headquarters in defence issues, the functioning of Andaman and Nicobar Command and the progress of Strategic Forces Command were a few examples of the success of the inter-operability concept.

He said the future of optimal military power lay in joint operations.

“Towards this end, the first-ever Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan for 2012-27 is nearing completion under the aegis of IDS headquarters,” he said.

Referring to the use of large-scale energy resources in the armed forces and availability of alternative sources of energy, Mr. Antony called upon the top brass to bring about strict energy conservation discipline.

Regarding the armed forces modernisation, Mr. Antony assured the commanders that there would never be a paucity of funds.

However, he asked them to control the revenue expenditure by adopting various mechanisms such as increased use of technology, integration of the three Services, adopting joint training and procedures, and uniform inventories.

The Defence Minister said there also exists considerable scope for improving the quality and efficacy of defence expenditure through increased private sector engagement, import substitution and indigenisation, improvement in procedures and practices and better project management within the parameters of the government’s policies.
Unified Commanders Conference in New Delhi on Friday: The Hindu

Science Exibition on Wheels, 55 locations traversing 18,000 Kms

Indian Railways in the education modeThe Phase-III of the 'Science Express' which was inaugurated by Chairman, Railway Board Shri S. S. Khurana on 2 October 2009 at Gandhinagar will travel to 55 locations, mostly not covered earlier, covering about 18,000 kms in seven months of its journey. It is covering the entire length and breadth of the country. At each of the locations, it would halt for 3-5 days, during which students and general public would visit the exhibition. The 55 locations will include Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Madgaon, Hubli, Bangalore Cantt. Mysore, Calicut, Thirvanthapuram, Salem Town, Balasur, Dimapur, Darbhanga, Chhapra, Amethi, Jammu Tawi, Kapurthala, Delhi Cantt, Agra Cantt, Jhansi and Ujain.

The sparking white, fully air conditioned train has 16-coaches. The exhibition, with more than 300 large-format visual images, over 150 video clips and multimedia exhibits, deals extensively with cutting-edge research and technology. In the 12 exhibition coaches, most of exhibits have been developed by the max Planck Society, Germany noble laureate powerhouse while some exhibits are indigenous. Through these, the visitors explore wide areas in science in a fascinating manner and delve into the mysteries of our world, groundbreaking discoveries, emerging issues, cutting-edge science and future-oriented technologies. The exhibits explain our universe – how it all began, glimpses of space, black holes, galaxies, on the way to the Big Bang, our home in the cosmos, Spaceship Earth, simpler cold atoms, ultra short light, biotechnology, building blocks of life from 'gene to organism', the world of senses, architecture of the mind, renewable energy, technologies and energy sources for future, nanocosmos, bio-engineering, genetics, cell biology, computer applications in medicine and global challenges.

There is dedicated coach on 'Climate Change – Cause, Effect and Mitigation', sponsored by HSBC as an initiative of the 'Earth Sciences Forum'. Exhibits on 'Energy Conservation' from PCRA and poster on 'Nutrition' from Nestle are the new attractions in this Phase.
‘Science Express’ train will travel to 55 locations & cover 18000 kilometres in seven months

Indian Military: Wasteful Effort

Defence Estate Department has a very large inventory of land having no use for the military. Military possesses huge land and related infrastructure unwanted or most sparingly used - that cost a great deal in terms of manpower and expenditure to maintain. Airfields uneconomical are owned and maintained by the Air Force. The military possesses large useless inventory that has been criticised by CAG. Weapon systems beyond useful life are maintained at extraordinary effort and cost since they are not replaced in time. We operate at least four different aircraft and use five different engines that had become obsolete and do not fly anywhere else in the world! Upgradation of the Air Force fleet comes at the near end of the life of a weapon system when there is no replacement in sight - to give it a fresh life. This is a bad strategy. The West talks about mid-life upgrades and never an upgrade at the end of life! Our MIG-21 upgrade, the BISON project has still not been completed. It is now a race to complete the upgrade before the technical life gets over! There is plenty of scope to improve interoperability between the three services. Many systems used by the three services have many commonalities. Currently, the logistics systems followed by the services are not linked. A spare which one service needs may be in surplus with another but there is no way to know it. Facilities are duplicated or even triplicated without being aware. Besides improving efficiency, costs and manning could be significantly reduced through integration among the Services.

Air Chief Marshal (Retd) S Krishnaswamy, PVSM, AVSM, VM & Bar,
Fellow Ae Sl is Member, National Security Advisory Board.
(Vol 22.2 September 16th, 2007.)
Extracted: IDR: Shaping of the Indian Military

Comment: Well articulated about the Defence Estate Department. This is one arm next only to MES in the scale and scope of corruption in the Armed Forces. Literally a Mafia (no guns of course) organisation dealing with politicians, local thugs, money laundering and palming off defence lands stealthily in connivance with MOD bureaucrats. Huge unwanted lands of the Military need to be assessed on ground and properly accounted for and utilised for Nation Building and not given away to real estate sharks for a song.

Nuclear endgame Unclear

Uninterrupted power generation is essential for the overall development of our Nation. In quantitative terms, the per capita consumption of electric energy is regarded as an indicative parameter of the socio economic growth rate of a nation. The present per capita generation is around 1.1 Kwh per day whereas the demand is around 5.5 kwh per day. We need to plan for projected Power generation to the tune of 6 times present generation to cope with the economic boom or else the economic boom will become elusive like the distant rainbow and just fade away.

Apart from coal, fossil fuels, hydro, windmill, solar the only other option is Nuclear Power if at all the Nation wants to sustain its economic front. The prices of fossil fuels are bound to gallop and cost of power production will also swell. The only sane solution seems to be Nuclear Power Reactors which are economically a viable option.

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Fossil Fuels Finite Resources

Finite resource
The fossil fuels are likely to be completely depleted in 50 years at current consumption rates. This cheap energy which we obtain from the sub surface planet earth had taken millions of years to form but mankind is likely to exhaust this vital resource in a span of 150 (1900- 2050) years. The Middle East which has the world's largest reserves is depleting its resources. When these countries oil wells run dry they will revert back to biblical times! The cost of petroleum products have increased twofold in the last four years. India is gripped with acute shortage of electrical power and the situation is likely to worsen. Cleantech/ Greentech are the only logical saviours of the future mankind. One of the primary reasons for inflation and rising cost of products and services is mainly due to increasing cost of fossil fuels. Whatever hikes one gets from Pay Commission it cannot match/ catch up with the galloping costs of energy. The rising cost will materially affect the purchasing power of everyone and more adversely those whose incomes are well below the poverty line.

Cleantech
The concept of "clean" technologies embraces a diverse range of products, services, and processes that are inherently designed to provide superior performance at lower costs, greatly reduce or eliminate environmental impacts and, in doing so, improve the quality of life. Clean technologies span many industries, from alternative forms of energy generation to water purification to materials- efficient production techniques. The term "clean technology" describes technologies developed by biological, computational, and physical scientists and engineers that enable more valuable use of natural resources and greatly reduce ecological impact, although this may be only one of a technology's benefits. The impact of clean technologies in areas of agriculture, energy, manufacturing, transportation and water will have profound effect the world over in the coming years.

ESM Policy
Advocate, prescribe and practise clean/ green technologies. One of the immediate measures that come to our mind is use of energy efficient bulbs in our homes. The additional cost of bulbs alone will pay for itself by savings in electrical power within a year. There are ever so many methods, all that one has to do is to "google" and get a list of things you can do to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Clean Energy Technologies