Of Information Wars and Journalistic Ethos

As a revered journalist responding to our tweets said, “If a story is reported responsibly it falls on the government to clarify what’s happened”. Now that the government has clarified and holes in the story revealed, it should be incumbent upon the media house to reveal their motivation “responsibly”.

Has India Lost the Strategic Advantage?

Pakistan, India and J&K are all headed for elections. There, thus, is great patriotic duty of politicians (military in case of Pakistan) to take recourse to rhetoric based grand standing to garner public support in their respective constituencies. In each country and state this has provided the right fodder to the political class to engage in upping the ante – much against preserving National Interest.

Prometheus Unbound

The acme of warfighting is to win without fighting. This underscores the need to be prepared for all contingencies. To do so, modernisation is needed as a synergized, ongoing, instead of an off-on process. We need political vision, courage, time-sensitive, financial support, national self-belief, military astuteness and team work – across civil, scientific and military streams, and, within the Army, great clear headedness on the Ends, Ways and Means of military success.

Battles of 1962 Sino-Indian War – Rezang La

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two part series on the Sino Indian conflict of 1962. The next post will talk of the Battle of Walong. By Col N N Bhatia (Retd)  “If you know the enemy yourself, you need not fear the result of hindered battles, If you know yourself but not [...]

Can 1962 be Repeated? Yes and No

By Major General Vinod Saighal (Retd) The 1962 India-China war has been analyzed threadbare by experts and lay people on the 50th anniversary of the war. Articles and papers based on in-depth research of earlier documents and records have appeared in several countries, most notably India and China. Now that the analyses and discussions about India’s humiliation have tapered off, [...]

Military Modernisation in India : An Approach

The strategic imperative to sustain, prepare and transform for the future are the strategic ways, ends and means to build a balanced military for the 21st Century – an affordable versatile mix of tailor-able and networked organisations operating for current commitments and to hedge against unexpected contingencies at a tempo that is predictable and sustainable.

Opting for Lean and Mean Armies

Even if Indian forces induct technology aggressively, the nature of threats, terrain and multiplicity of tasks call for a large standing army, albeit technologically matching its prime opponents at least. Insurgencies require boots, as the Americans learnt in Afghanistan. For Indians, with insurgencies being within the country, the tolerance for collateral damage is zero, with boots replacing firepower. Numbers also remain relevant in the Indian context till budgets allow a technology leap.

The Indian Army’s Greatest Tragedy!

By Nitin Gokhale In the mad race to boost circulation and viewer ratings, the media may have, in one go, started the process of demolishing one of the last institutions that has stood rock solid in defence of idea that is India, says NDTV’s Security and Strategic Affairs Editor Nitin Gokhale. In my three decades [...]

A General Difference

By any stretch of imagination it is naïve to expect that a General of Indian Army would announce “Azadi” for Kashmir but he admits that Kashmir is not a military but political problem but which the political establishment has to find a solution.

A Deathless Hero – 2/Lt Arun Khetarpal, PVC (Posthumous)

What can one say of a shy, self effacing, embodiment of the Chetwode motto who died? That he was disarmingly handsome and brave; that he was an inspirational leader and the Fakhr-e-Hind of his beloved country, India? That he was admired in death by his opposing number of the Pakistani Armoured Corps. That much and so much more can be said and written about this bravest of brave young officers, who willingly and selflessly gave up his tomorrow for the Indian Army’s priceless historical legacy of naam, namak and nishan

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