Revolt of Field Regiment in Ladakh: An Analysis

Blame the Army's cover-up culture, not ‘colonial-era institutions'
Manvendra Singh The Hindu, May 23, 2012
Praveen Swami caught the wrong end of a long stick in his article “Ladakh troop revolt underlines Army class tensions” (The Hindu, May 13, 2012). His interesting analysis of the indiscipline and disorder by personnel of the Ladakh-based 226 Field Regiment was based on two arguments. His main argument was that the Army continued to run on antiquated arrangements which then created the conditions for troops and officers of the Artillery regiment to come to blows. Combustion is inbuilt in the functioning of the Army and the fracas at Nyoma in Leh was waiting to happen. He makes two points to underline this argument.
First, the Army continues to run on “colonial-era institutions” and, second, that it remains “divided rigidly between sahibs and men, which allowed, enabled, or rather created conditions for tempers to boil over in Nyoma. Before responding to his line of reasoning, it is important to firstly condemn the incidents that happened in Nyoma. There are no grounds to justify, or let alone explain, the fisticuffs during the bara khana after the regiment had completed its field firing practice. It must be understood that a bara khana is standard procedure following any field firing, by any unit. That an Army tradition came to be marred by unforeseen incidents is a sad commentary on the calibre of officers who were holding staff and command appointments of the 226 Field Regiment. For they are the principal beneficiaries of what Praveen Swami has called “colonial-era institutions.”
His first line of attack is on the continued practice of employing combat trained soldiers as the personal valets of officers — once called batmen by British Indian Army officers and now known as sewadars, sahayaks, and also buddies in many units. His argument is that this institution is outdated in today's India. It humiliates the soldier detailed for such duties with an officer. And because of its misuse, the Nyoma incident happened. Class tension is inherent in the structure of the Army, hence the fires of revolt in the 226 Field Regiment.
There is a basic flaw in this reasoning. For if that were the case, the Army would long have been reduced to an institution wrecked by confronting its thousand inbuilt mutinies. But that has not happened and neither will the Army go that way. Regiments and battalions under far greater combat stress, and with far higher levels of battle training, would also have been stricken with this ailment. Infantry units, the primary application of force by the Republic of India, would not have been able to perform their basic military tasks if the “colonial-era institutions” remained the prevailing atmosphere in the battalion. The institution of sahayak is certainly an outdated one, and there can be no two views on that score. But it is not responsible, whatever its levels of misuse, for the acts of indiscipline in Nyoma.
The second point raised in the report was about the Army being a house “divided between sahibs and men.” Sahib is an honorific bestowed on those who have attained certain ranks, officers or men. Officers are taught by tradition to address as “Sahib” those who have achieved such ranks even if they are junior in the command structure. Consider this: India's Army achieved one of its greatest military feats 25 years ago during this time of the year. On June 26, 1987, the 8 Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry captured Quaid Post from Pakistan in the battle to dominate Siachen. The success of that operation was because of the extreme bravery of late 2/Lt Rajiv Pande who began the operation, that was completed by then Naib Subedar Bana Singh, for which he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra. To come to the point — even in the midst of the highest combat ever fought, Pande and Bana Singh would only address each other as “Sahib,” despite the vast difference in age and rank. That has been the practice ever since the Indian Army came to be made, and it will remain so. The addressing of someone as “Sahib” doesn't cause divisions in the Army. And neither does the presence of the ‘Sahib culture'. What causes divisions, and which lie at the root of the problems on display in Nyoma, is, in fact, of far more recent origin.
The armed forces of India, unlike other government services, have a sharply pyramidal structure, both within a unit and as institutions as a whole. The competition of ranks is far higher in the armed forces than anywhere else in the country. And this is as true for officers as it is for enlisted men, for the number of junior commissioned ranks are few and far in between. This competition for higher ranks has created a culture of command that revolves around the “zero-error syndrome.” Simply explained, this essentially means the avoidance of risk so as to sail the waters calmly. When no risks are taken, no mistakes are made. So annual confidential reports remain sanitised to the last line and the grading is excellent. Thus, promotions are easier achieved provided the examinations and courses are also graded well. True of men as also of officers. But human life is not so mechanical, and military life less so. The lure of higher ranks, however, requires that the record be spotless, so units do what they know best: brush the mess under the carpet. Lapses are routinely covered up, and command failures remain un-reported, or at best under-reported.
The failings of command, thus, come to be hidden, from platoon level upward. It is plain to the eye who is and is not fit for the higher ranks. But the military bureaucracy only looks at sterilised pieces of paper in the Military Secretary's Branch. Who they select for commanding a combat unit may really not be fit for that appointment, intellectually, physically or even morally. Murphy's Law is the most popular dictum in the armed forces, and it catches up some time or the other. In Nyoma, it caught up with the 226 Field Regiment. It is certain that this regiment has had numerous incidents of indiscipline in the past. None came to be reported, or they were covered up. Indiscipline to the point of revolt does not only affect those in the unit, but even those commanding higher formations. Accountability in the Army is lateral and vertical. So to avoid stains, some in the past have ignored goings on inside the 226 Field Regiment. All that it required was an incapable officer and an incapacitated soldier to come together, and they did in Nyoma. First-rate officers and first-rate soldiers in other units continue to perform commendably by “colonial-era institutions.” It is obvious the first-rate are not in the 226 Field Regiment.
(Manvendra Singh is co-convener of the Bharatiya Janata Party's defence cell. He was a member of the Standing Committee on Defence in the 14th Lok Sabha.)
Blame the Army's cover-up culture, not ‘colonial-era institutions'

Rat Menace Grips the Armed Forces

Armed Forces Medical Services tasked to reduce rat population
New Delhi: Army is searching for a Pied Piper in Ladakh where rats are gobbling up its ration which reaches there through a long and arduous supply route. The Indian Army stocks supplies for winter in the summer itself as the road links to higher altitudes remains cut-off from the rest of the country in winter due to heavy snowfall for around six months.
As the roads are too narrow, they take the help of mules to carry these rations and other essential supplies to an altitude of over 15,000 feet. Since there is significant rodent infestation in the Army settlements in higher altitudes, the Medical Research Wing of the Armed Forces Medical Services are going to undertake a study to find out the extent of the problem of rodent nuisance in eastern and western Ladakh armed forces settings.
"Rats cause a great deal of nuisance everywhere. They spoil precious stocks, lead to nuisance and also spread diseases. Army settlements in higher altitudes are not spared from this as these rats are spoiling the winter stocks.
"All conventional methods of controlling them are not as effective as they are in the plains," Lieutenant General Naresh Kumar, Commandant, Army Hospital Research and referral and officiating DGAFMS said.
Conventional methods exist to control rodent nuisance like rat traps, rodenticides and repellents have failed in Ladakh. "Carrying rations and other essential supplies to an altitude of over 15,000 feet is no easy task. As such we have decided to conduct a study to identify the problem of rodent nuisance in eastern Ladakh and western Ladakh in Armed Forces setting and evaluate various methods to control them for effective management of their infestation in our areas in eastern and western Ladakh," Major General Mandeep Singh, ADG, Medical Research, Armed Forces Medical Services said.
Rats not only waste our food grains like wheat, rice and atta but they also cause a great deal of nuisance by scampering, running around and making noise.
And needless to say they are carriers of various diseases, he said.
"None of these conventional methods are of help to us. In the study that will be undertaken, we will concentrate on three aspects. We will look for measures to identify the most effective technique to control the nuisance spread by rats.
While looking into the various nuisance spread by them we will also find if they have the potential to spread diseases," Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Abraham, preventive medicine specialist said.
"These rats never were present here in the higher altitudes or came in with the food stock in trucks and gradually breeded in large quantities -- all these details need to be found out.
"There is no established study of rodent nuisance in higher altitudes," he said. PTI
Army is searching for a Pied Piper in Ladakh

Comment: Chinese love Rats. Mr Zhang's restaurant is as trendy as they serve rat dishes. The 15-table, two-story eatery is a mixture of blond wood furniture, stucco walls and wooden lattice laced with plastic vines. What we need to do is trade rats with PLA Soldiers in exchange for critical food items.

Decoding Dragon for Dummies

Decoding the Dragon
India can’t be complacent on national security
by Lt-Gen Harwant Singh (retd)

THERE can be no greater proof of failure of India’s foreign policy than the reality of our unsatisfactory relations with all our immediate neighbours. From Pakistan in the West to Nepal and China in the North, Burma and Bangladesh in the East and Sri Lanka in the South, our relations with these countries vary from hostility to indifference.

China’s influence in countries on our periphery has been on the increase. In addition, China has this ‘String of pearls policy’. Though it is a nightmarish situation, India’s security establishment seems to sleep well. The Maoists’ problem and the one in Kashmir are security challenges being addressed in a cavalier fashion. Even if one is to discount the problems in the North-East, the overall security scene is disquieting.

We have been decidedly and overwhelmingly complacent on the issue of national security. Not only has our foreign policy failed to create friendly environment on our periphery but grossly neglected the emerging threats.

This policy suffered further setback when distant Japan, Australia and some South East Asian countries acquiesced to China’s claim that Arunachal Pradesh is a disputed territory. China has been calling it South Tibet and not a part of India.

Moreover, China has declared Jammu and Kashmir a disputed territory and started stapling visas of visitors from that state. More recently, it has reaffirmed its stand on this issue by denying visa to a senior army officer posted in Jammu and Kashmir and who was leader of a military delegation to China.

This stance of China and reportedly inducting large body of troops into Gilgit region of the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) is to give a fillip to the ongoing turmoil in the Kashmir valley, besides controlling any unrest in this part of POK. While China occupied large tracts of territory in Ladakh, Pakistan illegally acceded the Shaksam valley in PoK to it. China is also reported to be improving the Karakoram highway and setting out to build a high-speed railway line to Gwadar port on the Gulf of Oman, for transporting oil to Tibet and Xinjiang province from where it can be ferried to mainland China.

There are suggestions flying thick and fast in the media that India must strongly protest against this Chinese move into PoK. But, protest to whom? China will summarily dismiss such protests and going to the United Nations will merely resurrect the old ghosts of Jammu and Kashmir. At best India can deny visa facility to Chinese, but what of the massive trade we have with that country?

China’s policy keeps time on its side while complacency is our forte. Even keeping time on its side, China has been assiduously and with single-mindedness creating overall military capabilities and military infrastructure in Tibet and spreading its influence in countries on our periphery. It has with equal zeal and purpose followed the policy of using Pakistan as a proxy and a cheap option to tie down India locally.

Then, there is the ‘String of pearls policy’ to squeeze India from all sides. China is building its naval strength at a furious pace and making forays into the Indian Ocean. We have slept through more than half a century, ignoring the emerging security scene and the gathering storms all around and within India.

Not only have we been complacent but decidedly negligent of the emerging security threats, both internal and external. At 2 per cent of GDP for defence as against 7 per cent of China out of GDP, twice the size of ours, India’s lack of concern for its security ought to appear alarming, even to one with impaired vision and the dimwitted.

In the real world, economic strength in the absence of military power is unsustainable. The gunboat diplomacy and wars of nineteen century were to capture markets and enhance influence and commerce for economic gains. The power play of the 21st century is going to be no different except that the form, formulations and contours of policy and coercive techniques will undergo a change.

For long we have been indulging in a puerile debate on the issue of ‘development versus defence,’ as if the two are mutually exclusive and in no way reinforce each other. The mandarins in Delhi have been smug in a world of make believe. To quote Arun Shourie, “Corresponding factors that keep us from growing as fast as our potential are precisely the ones that weaken our defence. The same holds for constituents of defence: the choice is not, ‘valour or high technology,’ cyber warfare or conventional warfare or nuclear capability but capabilities across the broad spectrum.”

China has developed the Gwadar port and it will have a strong naval presence there. This port is at the mouth of straight of Hurmoz through which oil supplies from the Middle East flow to India. The strategic importance of this move by China does not seem to have fully dawned on the Indian security establishment.

The Chinese Navy will also have berthing facilities at the Sri Lankan and Burmese ports. Radars at Coco Island keep watch over the naval ship movement from mainland to Andaman and Nicobar Islands and India’s missile launches from the Balasore missile range in Orissa.

India has helplessly watched developments in Nepal. It is with China’s help that the Sri Lankan government was able to decimate the Tamil Tigers. China, even with a late start, has galloped ahead, leaving us far behind in the fields of economy, science and technology and military capabilities.

It is not our case that the developments on the Tibet border and in POK are the harbinger of an early conflict, but these do not bode well for India. These developments need to be taken as a wake-up call and shake ourselves out of our complacency and stupor. Activating a few airfields and adding some roads or two mountain divisions and deploying two squadrons of fighter aircraft or lodging a protest will not do. These are knee-jerk reactions and reminiscent of our actions leading to the 1962 war with China.

India as a nuclear and emerging economic power, in the midst of potentially unstable regimes and with ambitions to exercise influence for the stability and security of the region and to safeguard vital national interests, cannot have military capabilities which in no way match those of the potential adversaries. Equally, an antiquated and potentially dysfunctional decision-making and operational system in the defence apparatus is anathema to the successful conduct of defence and foreign policy. India’s ability to meet future security challenges is highly suspect and this state of affairs cannot prevail any longer without seriously jeopardising national security.

There is, therefore, the requirement of evolving a comprehensive and long term national security policy taking into account the current and future security concerns and synergising these with foreign policy. Thereafter, we must work assiduously to develop military capabilities backed by diplomatic thrusts to meet the security challenges of the future and be in a position to exercise influence in our immediate neighbourhood. We need to double our efforts to enhance our economic strength and create compatible defence capabilities.
The writer is a former Deputy Chief of Army Staff
The Tribune- Decoding the Dragon

India racing to build tunnel through range to avoid Rothang pass

Traveling on the Rohtang Pass road in northern India can be treacherous, with various natural and animal obstacles, so India is building a tunnel. By LYDIA POLGREEN New York Times Published: July 31, 2010

ROHTANG PASS, India — The name of this white-knuckle pass, one of the highest in the world, means “pile of corpses” in the Tibetan language. Every year a few dozen people die trying to cross these spiky Himalayan peaks.

For six months the road is snowbound, putting at the mercy of the elements tens of thousands of Indian troops posted beyond it in this remote but strategically important region along India’s long and disputed border with China.

In the past decade, as China has furiously built up its military and civilian infrastructure on its side of the border, the Rohtang Pass on the Indian side has stood as mute testimony to India’s inability and unwillingness to master its far-flung and rugged outermost reaches.

But now, India is racing to match its rival for regional and global power, building and bolstering airstrips and army outposts, shoring up neglected roads and — finally, decades after it was first proposed — building a tunnel to bypass the deadly Rohtang Pass.

In June, work started on the ambitious project, which will take five years and require boring five miles through the Pir Panjal range. Several other tunnels, which would allow all-weather access to Ladakh, which abuts the Tibetan Plateau, are also in the works.

“What India is belatedly seeking to do is to improve its defenses by upgrading its logistics,” said Brahma Chellaney, an analyst who tracks the India-China relationship at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, in an e-mail. “By building new railroads, airports and highways in Tibet, China is now in a position to rapidly move additional forces to the border to potentially strike at India at a time of its choosing.”

As a result, he said, “The Sino-Indian border remains more unstable than the Pakistani-Indian frontier.”

India and China are hardly enemies, but much of the 2,521-mile border they share is disputed or ill marked. The two countries fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962, and while these days they have, on the surface, a mostly cordial relationship, it is marked by tension over border disputes and the future of Tibet and its leader, the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India.

China’s push to develop its infrastructure on its side of the border — including an all-weather railway to Tibet that includes the world’s highest tunnel, at 16,000 feet — is viewed with considerable suspicion in India.

For much of its history, India has regarded the Himalayas as a form of protection, not a barrier to be overcome, said Rajeswari Rajagopalan, an expert in India-China relations at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

“The Indian side has been very slow to develop the border areas,” Ms. Rajagopalan said. “They believed if you improved the infrastructure it would only allow the Chinese to walk into your territory. This was very foolish and naïve.”

Three hundred miles of winding road lead from the town of Manali, through the verdant Kullu Valley, to Ladakh, an alpine desert that abuts the Tibetan plateau.

Tens of thousands of Indian Army troops are stationed among Ladakh’s barren peaks, and the region borders several potential trouble spots, including Aksai Chin, a region that India claims as part of its territory but that China administers. North of Ladakh is the Siachen Glacier, a river of barren ice that India and Pakistan have fought over intermittently since the 1980s. Both countries maintain outposts on the glacier, which sits at an altitude of 20,000 feet.

During the summer, thousands of trucks, laden with supplies to last the harsh mountain winters, rumble up the two roads that lead to Ladakh, from Manali and Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

The road from Ladakh to Srinagar is also closed in the winter, and because of its proximity to the Line of Control that splits Kashmir between India and Pakistan, Indian officials worry that the road can easily be cut, as it was in 1999, when the two countries clashed at Kargil.

Gurmeet Kanwal, a retired brigadier who runs the Center for Land Warfare Studies, a New Delhi research institution, said India could not afford to be cut off from its most vulnerable reaches half of the year.

“As long as we have these territorial disputes you cannot rule out another border conflict,” Brigadier Kanwal said. “We would like to make sure that we can deploy our forces in the right quantities in the right places.”

The tunnel has been on the drawing board for decades, said P. K. Mahajan, the chief engineer on the $320 million project. He first became involved as a young engineer in 1988, when he helped carry out a feasibility study, five years after the project was first proposed by Indira Gandhi, then the prime minister.

“It is only now that these projects are seeing the light of day,” Mr. Mahajan said.

The challenges of building a long tunnel in the rough environment of the Pir Panjal are enormous. The Himalayas are the world’s youngest mountain range. They shift and grind, still moving, expanding and shrinking.

That makes life tough for people like Thomas Riedel, a German contractor working at the north end of the tunnel. Because no one is sure what kind of rock will be found inside the mountain, the tunnel will be built using a painstaking method of blasting and digging, rather than the tunnel-boring machines that have revolutionized tunnel construction in recent years.

“Nobody can look inside the mountain,” Mr. Riedel said. “That is where we will find problems.” Just weeks into what will be at least five years of digging, the workers encountered their first unexpected obstacle: a foot of snow. In June. The tunnel will sit beneath more than a mile of snow-covered rock for much of its length. Ventilation will pose a huge problem.

People who live on the other side of the Rohtang Pass say the tunnel will transform their lives.
“For six months, we are prisoners,” said Chetan Devi, a schoolteacher who lives in a town beyond the pass. “In the winter, you have to risk your life to go to Manali.”

The tunnel will turn an ordeal of several hours, even in the summer, into a brisk 20-minute trip.
Virender Sharma, the chief government official in Kyelang, the main town of the Lahaul Valley, which sits between Manali and Ladakh, said that last winter 21 people died trying to cross the Rohtang Pass on foot. People were found frozen solid, he said, “sitting with rucksacks on their backs, water bottles at their sides, but they were dead.”

Winters in the Lahaul Valley are a miserable affair, he said.
“During summer, it seems very pleasant,” Mr. Sharma said. “In the winter, there is no light. No vegetables. No mail. Nothing to do in the evening. If there is an emergency, you are practically at the mercy of God.”

For the engineers building the tunnel, it is not merely a matter of logistics, but also a matter of national pride. “Once this tunnel is complete, it will be an engineering marvel for the whole nation,” Mr. Mahajan said.
Hari Kumar contributed reporting for New York Times
India Digs Under Top of the World to Match Rival

Rohtang tunnel will be engineering wonder

Deccan Herald Thursday 24 June 2010
Rohtang tunnel will be engineering wonder
New Delhi, June 20, (IANS):
The foundation of the Rohtang tunnel - expected to be the world's longest tunnel at over 13,000 ft - will be laid on June 28, paving the way for round-the-year road access to India's strategic Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir which otherwise remains cut off by snow for half the year.

The 8.8 km-long Himalayan tunnel, hailed as an engineering wonder that is coming up under the Indian Army's road building wing, will be inaugurated by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, giving wing to her husband and late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's dream. Located in Himachal Pradesh, the tunnel is expected to be ready by 2015 and will serve as a nerve centre for the Indian Army to carry supplies to Ladakh.

"It will be much longer than the present longest tunnels anywhere in the world at altitudes over 2,500 m. The nearest in comparison to the Rohtang Tunnel is the Anzob in Tajikistan which is five kilometres long at an altitude of 3,372 m," said a spokesperson of the defence ministry that is constructing the "engineering marvel".

It was a dream of Sonia Gandhi's late husband Rajiv Gandhi, who had conceived it 26 years ago. She will fly to Rohtang Pass in the Pir Panjal range of mountains, 51 km from the hill town of Manali, to lay the foundation stone of the Rs.1,495 crore tunnel. Ladakh, a cold desert region, shares borders with China and Pakistan. The Kargil sector of the region was at the centre of the 1999 India-Pakistan military conflict.

The over eight kilometer long mountainous stretch where the tunnel is being built otherwise remains snowbound, cutting off the tribal Lahaul-Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh and also the strategically vital Ladakh region from the rest of the country for over six months every year. The tunnel will take over five years to complete and the ministry of defence says digging for the tunnel remains the most challenging task.

"The tunnel's design would be novel in many ways," said the defence ministry spokesperson. Its distance and the "rarefied atmosphere" at the heights it is located at, the official said, make the tunnel a "landmark in the making". "The tunnel would incorporate semi-transverse ventilation system," he said, boasting of large fans that would circulate air in and out throughout the tunnel length.

With a horseshoe shaped cross-section, the tunnel will be 11.25 m wide at road level. That means there will be ample room for two-way traffic travelling at a maximum speed of 80 kmph. The Rohtang tunnel will have more to offer. It is expected to reduce the road distance to Ladakh by approximately 48 km and save travel time of about four hours. "It will open up new vistas of trade and tourism and generate jobs for the benefit of the local population (in the Lahaul-Spiti valley)," said the official.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony, his deputy M.M. Pallam Raju, the chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir - Prem Kumar Dhumal and Omar Abdullah - and Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh will be present at the inaugural ceremony. The contract for the tunnel has been obtained by Austrian company Strabag and India's Afcons. The longest road tunnel in India at present is the 2.8 km-long Jawahar Tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir with an altitude of 2,209 m.
Rohtang tunnel will be engineering wonder

Kargil War: Top commander fudged war records

27/05/2010
Top commander fudged Kargil war records
The Armed Forces Tribunal has held that a former Army commander showed bias towards a brigadier under whose command some of the major victories were achieved in the 1999 Kargil conflict and directed that the affected officer be considered for a notional promotion.

The Tribunal has asked the Army to consider former 70 Infantry Brigade Commander Brigadier Devinder Singh for promotion to the notional rank of major general and to put the relevant records and documents pertaining to operations by his formation in Batalik sector written by Lt. Gen. Kishan Pal, then General Officer Commanding (GOC) 15 Corps, be corrected and put in the right perspective.

In its order, the Tribunal, headed by Justice A K Mathur, held that "the annual confidential reports (ACRs) were not written in an objective and unbiased manner" by Lt. Gen. Pal.

Noting that the report of a person who writes the ACRs in a biased manner could not be allowed to sustain, it observed that the then GOC was not favourably motivated towards Brigadier Singh and had attempted to tailor the report belittling his achievements.

"As per the Tribunal order, I will also be considered for promotion to the notional rank of a major general and the records about the operations by my brigade in the war will be set straight," Brig (retd) Singh said here.

In his plea, which was transferred from the Delhi High Court to the Principal Bench of the Tribunal, Brig Singh said he had contended that in the post-Kargil operations report, Lt Gen Pal had falsely shown four of his most successful battalions under a fictitious headquarters commanded by the then Deputy General Officer of 3 Infantry Division, Brig Ashok Duggal.

"For reasons best known to Lt Gen Kishan Pal, he was favouring and giving credit to Brig Duggal and my command tenure was shown in bad light. Though it could not help him and he could not take his next rank, I had to suffer a lot because of this act," Brig Singh said here.

The Tribunal has also asked the Army to expunge all the ACRs of Brig Singh written by Lt Gen Pal. It, Singh said, has also observed that because of the operational differences between him and Lt Gen Pal, the GOC was not favourably motivated towards him and had attempted to tailor reports belittling his achievements.

During the Kargil operations, the Srinagar-based 15 Corps under its Lt Gen Pal had the responsibility of evicting Pakistan Army regulars and intruders from Indian posts in the mountains along the National Highway 1A in the Ladakh region. Maintaining that it was a long struggle since the Kargil conflict 11 years back, Brig Singh said, "Certainly one feels vindicated.

"One has gone through a number of stages of non-statutory complaints, statutory complaints, legal notices and several writ petitions...Finally the order has seen the light of the day."
Top commander fudged Kargil war records
Read more:
XV Corps leadership punished officers, who warned of looming threat, to cover up failures: critics
Kargil cases point to disturbing command failures by Praveen Swami: The Hindu

Magnetic Hill, Ladakh- India

Bill-Board by Local AdministrationCan anyone ever imagine the movement of a vehicle up a steep mountain, with its ignition off? Sounds quite unbelievable! Well, this magnet magic can be experienced while you are travelling to Leh-Ladakh. And we can say, amid all the Himalayan and colonial wonders, there’s one more wonder coming your way – the Magnetic Hill. The hill, located close to Leh, is known for its wonderful magnetic properties. Once here, you can see for yourself vehicles moving up at a speed of 20 km/ hour with the engines off.
Location of Magnetic Hill
To reach the Magnetic Hill, Ladakh, you need to take the Leh-Kargil-Baltic National Highway. The hill lies at a distance of 30 km from the town of Leh, at an elevation of around 14,000 feet above sea level. To the eastern side of the hill flows the Sindhu river, originating in Tibet. The local administration has also put up a bill board to help tourists recognize the Magnetic Hill. The board clearly states the whole phenomenon. So you can also enjoy a first hand experience as you reach the hill. Place your vehicle on a specific spot on the road with its engines off and you will soon notice the vehicle moving up at a speed of 20 km/hour. You will have the same results over and again as you redo the exercise.
Impact on Helicopters and Aircrafts
Not only vehicle, even helicopters and aircrafts feel the same magnetic impact. Locals and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel claim that the helicopters and aircrafts that pass through the area have to fly at a greater speed to avoid the magnetic impact of the hill. And if the aircraft comes within the radius of Magnetic Hill, it starts to jerk.
Other Attractions Around Magnetic Hill
Apart from the Magnetic Hill, you can also enjoy seeing a few other places that lie at a close distance from the hill. The Himalayan region here is truly worth exploring. Given below are a few attractions that you can see in this region.
Gurudwara Patthar Sahib
It is the auspicious place where Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th guru of the Sikhs, had spent time meditating in the 17th century. Locals, army personnel and tourists can be seen here often. Though not many Sikhs arrive here from different parts of the country, the reason perhaps being its remote location.
Colourful Hills & Mountains
While you are in this Himalayan region, you will also like seeing the hills and mountains. Here, the hills bear different colours. Some are white and snow-laden. Some are black or gray in colours while there are some that are green, red or orange in colour.
The drivers will inform you that Indian Air Force pilots always steer clear of the Magnetic Hill.
Magnetic Hill Ladakh

Why do we lag behind China?

Recently, the London-based Legatum Institute’s Prosperity Index placed India well ahead of China. In domestic institutional maturity, India was ranked 36th to China’s 100th. And then in the social capital sub-index India was ranked 5th and China, 70th.

Thus, India was supposed to have beaten China. But could it be true? I had doubts. Today’s report – US cos prefer China for investment (click me) seems to give the correct picture. (quote- The survey states as much as 74 per cent of the American companies surveyed ranked China as a top-three investment priority with nearly 20 per cent of them naming it as the number one investment spot for them.- unquote)

The 2009 China Business Report released by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai shows that ‘a large majority of American firms operating in China the continue to see revenue and profit growth even as elsewhere they face downturn.’ China is the world’s ‘fastest growing economy.’ Not surprising. May I share a personal experience?

Last summer, I had taken the Alaskan cruise. On board the ‘Radiance of the Seas.’ It is a big ship with excellent facilities. In the midst of an unfamiliar luxury, what struck the patriotic cord was the fact that almost everything one saw on board the American ship was ‘made in China’.

In the cabin, the toiletries, towels, linen and water flasks were from China. In the dining hall, the crockery and cutlery carried the Chinese label. The position persisted in the shopping area. Even a small battery ‘charger’ needed to energise the camera, though labelled ‘Kodak,’ had actually come from China. It seemed that the ship was flooded with Chinese goods.

After about 36 hours of leaving Vancouver, we had anchored at Ketchikan. It is a small but beautiful town in the state of Alaska. It is popularly known as the ‘salmon’ city. Has a total population of about 13,000. There are shops within almost a hundred yards of the port. One may walk into any shop. Each one is stuffed with all kinds of winter wear and small souvenirs. The caps, shirts, sweaters, chinaware and knives. Everything except the knives, which are a purely local product, was from China.

Click here to read the full article by JL Gupta from Tribune India

Tailpiece
by SaneIndian on Dec 12, 2009 01:22 AM
Infrastructure in India is beyond horrible. Why would anybody want to invest in India when there is no proper transportation or storage available? Govt should invest heavily in developing infrastructure first. Then India can dream about competing with China. The horrible conditions of the roads and indiscriminate use of Auto-Rickshaws and 2 wheelers ruin what ever little good is there on Indian roads- Chennai City says it all loudly! India has become a joke among the west. All we are doing is living in a false paradise. Democracy is a farce in India: It is more of Criminalisation of the Citizens by the State- The Indian Constitution favours Criminals and Political Criminals to breed at faster pace than the growth of population (as is evident for the last 60 years)!

Sino- Indian Relations: Recapturing 1962 debacle

Tawang located at 10000 feet, in Aunachal Pradesh, then known as NEFA, was basking in the glow of the afternoon sun and was at total peace on that quiet afternoon of 8th September 1962, when suddenly everything changed and the wheel of fate started turning in an irreversible direction, quickly gathering momentum.

The events starting with the Chinese surrounding the Dhola post, at the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan, on that fateful day of September, subsequent move of the brigade forward, abandoning Tawang, the Divisional Vital Ground, unprotected, with just a modicum of troops, culminating in the attack by the massive Chinese force deployed astride the Thagla ridge on the ill-prepared Indian forces, the troops of 7 Infantry Brigade, trapped, down below in the valley of River Namkachu, the dissemination of the Brigade in a few hours. On 20th October 1962 and the subsequent escape by some of the lucky ones are recorded by me, then a Captain, the Signal officer of the brigade, I was there in person and a witness to the events leading to what happened on that morning of October of the year, in my book, 'A Soldiers Journey Through Life With Two Wives".

The book was released on 2nd March 2009 by Lt Gen P Mohapatra, AVSM, SO-in- C and Senior Colonel Commandant Corps of Signals. With the 47th Anniversary of the Conflict of 1962 round the corner and the Sino- Indian relations, once again, appear to be getting strained, the book may be of interest to those following the current disturbing developments.

Brig Lakshman Singh VSM (Retd)

Chinese Goods invade Indian market and LAC heats up

Chinese Ceramics Glamour
Just before the turn of this century, about the only thing Chinese found in Indian markets was little vials of balm. Now, seven years down the line, 'Made in China' goods make for an all-season flood, and nowhere more than in eastern India. The items range from toothpicks, toys, thermoses and blankets to high-end furniture, floor tiles and electrical goods manufactured in the Middle Kingdom. There has been a change of perception of Chinese goods even among the discerning and brand-conscious. And the import list, conservatively estimated at about 5,000 broadly categorised items, is only growing. The West Bengal Chamber of Commerce estimates that each household in the eastern region uses at least five Chinese-made items daily. That not only makes the 'Made in China' brand the most popular among foreign goods sold here, but puts China way ahead of any other country that exports to India in terms of volume and range of items.

One reason for their growing popularity is, of course, their attractive pricing, due to economies of scale as well as 'surreptitious subsidies' by the Chinese government. It also helps that Chinese manufacturers are far more innovative than their Indian counterparts and, since they cater intensively to Western markets, are fully conversant with latest design trends, which they incorporate in their goods. Plus, there's been a dramatic change in perception, even among the discerning and brand-conscious. Even till half a decade ago, the popular perception of Chinese goods was that they were cheap, but of very poor quality. The early Indian traders who started importing from China used to get only low-quality, cheap goods. But these days, CII's Eastern India regional director Sunil Misra told Outlook, Indian importers of Chinese goods have realised there's a huge market for quality products.

One of them is Ajay Bhartiya, who imports tiles, wooden and steel doors and windows, and home and office furniture from China. "Chinese manufacturers constantly upgrade their products. For instance, Chinese tile manufacturers change their designs every two months—something Indian manufacturers don't do," he points out. Bhartiya, who has a trade office in Guangzhon, imports at least ten container loads of tiles, building materials and furniture through Calcutta and Haldia ports every month. These are displayed in swanky showrooms in Calcutta, and are much in demand. Sarvesh Kumar, Tata Steel's chief of retail initiative, says Chinese steel furniture is elegant and of very high quality.

Chinese steel furniture accounts for at least a quarter of Calcutta store Steel Junction's monthly turnover of about Rs 50 lakh. Beautiful Living, on Camac Street, finds it difficult to keep pace with the huge demand for the Chinese furniture it imports. Understandably so, since the stools, settees and sofas there look straight out of a Western designer furniture catalogue. The Chinese sanitary ware and bathroom fittings it stocks are also extremely popular with construction companies in the eastern region.
Eastern India's retail market is in thrall of cheap, stylish Chinese goods

We are at Critical Juncture of History. Is Indian Corruption and Trade restrictions hurting China?
Like in the pre-1962 war period, India is again now at a critical juncture, it has become common place internationally to speak of India and China in the same breadth. The aim of “Mao’s India war,” as Harvard scholar Roderick MacFarquhar has called it, was large political: To cut India to size by demolishing what it represented— a democratic alternative to the Chinese autocracy. The swiftness and force with which Mao Zedong defeated India helped discredit the Indian model, boost China’s international image and consolidate Mao’s internal power. The return of the China-India pairing decades later is something Beijing viscerally detests.

China never thought India as an important trade partner or rival until now. China’s attitude towards India has always been contemptuous. When talking about Indian to Chinese people (Shanghaiese in particular), they will probably tell you that 70 years ago, Indians were working as doormen in Shanghai. A recently declassified letter (March 2, 1973), from Henry Kissinger to Richard Nixon, showcases the utter contempt Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai had for the Indian leadership. Kissinger says, inter alia,

“In South Asia, the Chinese believe India remains Moscow’s principal agent; their distrust of New Delhi remains as potent as ever... Chou (Zhou) displayed a particular contempt for the Indians and a personal dislike for Indian leaders. He related several cynical and disdainful anecdotes about Prime Ministers Nehru and Gandhi.... In response, I said that we would go slow in any improvement of relations with New Delhi and would keep the PRC informed.”

Things are certainly changing now when China realized that the competition from India is real and serious. India is claiming to switch their focus from back office service to manufactory; India has English language advantage over China; Chinese Yuan is forced to appreciate against US dollar.
Is China itching a Border War?
China is far ahead: Anthony at the border 2 years ago

Dreading the Dragon by Shekhar Gupta

Dear Sir,
"Dreading the Dragon" by Shekhar Gupta of September 12, click me makes for interesting reading. It is worth noting that the areas where the recently reported transgressions have occured in the Ladakh region, are well within the Johnson-Ardagh Line, which is the basis of India's claims. W.H. Johnson, a Survey of India officer did his border alignment in 1865. Later, in 1897, Maj Gen Sir John Ardagh, as Director Military Intelligence, reinforced Johnson's perceptions, and, in fact, added to them. The 1947 maps India inherited from Britain show the Northern boundary in accordance with the Johnson-Ardagh Line, so India's assertions of alleged intrusion by China have due legitimacy.
The larger issue, however, goes beyond border transgressions. India unapologetically needs to dump the Nehruvian legacy (brusquely ordering a deeply concerned Army Chief, General Cariappa, when he went to advise him in 1951 on building appropriate defences against China, "you mind only Kashmir and Pakistan!").What we now need (and Shekhar Gupta has pointed that out clearly) is a pragmatic and energetic Foreign Policy based on realpolitik, not diplomatic obliqueness; a policy that takes into account the defences forces perceptions of threat assessment and their suggested road map for our Northern and Eastern borders and need for fast track development without undue anxiety or panic. Being polite, obtuse and accommodating on issues of national security should no longer be considered the preferred option. Instead, we should resort to putting our national interest above all other considerations.
Maj Gen Raj Mehta (Retd)