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08 OPINION
What the rate will change
THE TRIBUNE established in 1881
RBI cut, third in a row, is only a blunt policy instrument
Hope for ‘Make in India’
Lockheed Martin to produce F-21 jets locally
A
LMOST a year after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) okayed SUBIR ROY
guidelines for implementing the ‘strategic partnership mod- SENIOR ECONOMIC ANALYST
el’ policy — under which foreign companies can tie up with
A
Indian firms to produce military equipment locally — US military MIDST growing demand for
aviation leader Lockheed Martin has said it would make F-21 fighter a stimulus to re-energise the
jets in India. The breakthrough is expected to give a much-needed fil- economy and take it back to
lip to ‘Make in India’, the NDA government’s flagship initiative that the magical 7 per cent-plus
has flattered to deceive so far in the defence sector. The policy on growth rate that it had achieved, mak-
strategic collaboration had been approved in May 2017 and was made ing India the fastest growing large
part of the defence procurement procedure, but the MoD took its time economy in the world, the RBI has cut
finalising the norms. The new Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, has policy rates again, for the third time in
already directed the top brass of the ministry to seek indigenous solu- a row. If similar sentiments continue to
prevail, the coming Union Budget will
tions as far as possible to meet the armed forces’ requirements.
also loosen purse strings to signal
The opportunity should be grabbed with both hands by the belea-
guered Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a Navratna defence
stimulation to demand.
But there is a need to step back and
public sector undertaking that has remained in the news mostly for ponder whether too much is made of
the wrong reasons in recent times. In February this year, a Mirage-
2000 jet freshly upgraded and serviced by HAL had crashed during
rate changes as a policy instrument,
particularly when transmission is
take-off in Bengaluru, claiming the lives of two young test pilots. By poor (you and I don’t quite get to ben-
its own admission, the Indian Air Force has lost around 20 test pilots efit from them), and whether there is
and engineers in accidents during flight testing and evaluation of a need for such changes right now.
indigenous platforms. The latest incident had dented the reputation First, if a slowing growth rate still
of HAL, one of Asia’s biggest aerospace companies, triggering a polit- clocks a quarterly growth of 5.8 per
ical slugfest in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The Rafale cent, allowing the economy to notch
deal, too, became a poll plank for the Opposition, underscoring the up a highly respectable 6.8 per cent
for the entire financial year 2018-19,
dire need for consistency and transparency in defence acquisitions.
the need for a stimulus to overall
The strategic partnership model holds the key to India’s efforts
demand requires pondering. This is
to join the league of nations producing world-class military equip- particularly so when environmental
ment. Foreign companies that transfer niche technology and pro- sustainability of high growth has
vide for higher indigenous content should be given the promised emerged as a key global issue.
incentives. Red tape should not come in the way of indigenisation The growth rate has slowed across
and modernisation. It’s high time India’s aerospace industry takes three sectors — investment, consump-
a giant leap with the help of global giants. tion and exports. Of these, only con-
sumption can benefit directly from a
broad stimulus. Exports and invest-
ment typically face sector-specific
Domicile criterion issues which need focused policy
attention. Exports are influenced both
by global demand and domestic com-
Punjab rule on MBBS admissions arbitrary petitiveness. Addressing them is a
complex task and as they are driven by
P
UNJAB finds itself in a messy situation with a knee-jerk decision their own dynamic. Global demand, for
regarding admissions to the highly sought-after MBBS/BDS seats example, will be affected by US Presi-
in its colleges. At the same time, it leaves the aspiring candidates dent Trump’s trade war with China.
in a state of shock and uncertainty at the eleventh hour, with the NEET As for investments, public invest-
results out and admissions round the corner. The government was con- ment directed at improving the
fronted with, on the one hand, its own notification of 2016 which said from
the 2019-20 session, students who did their classes X, XI and XII from
Wish she was born half-century later...
Punjab schools would be qualified to join the medical colleges in the state
(it followed a High Court ruling in relation to this matter). To meet this cri-
terion, many parents stationed outside the state had got their wards
desirous of studying medicine in Punjab in Class X in 2016. On the other
hand, clamour from local parents and students to make Punjab domicile Wg Cdr DPS Bajwa (retd)
mandatory for admission to the colleges acquired momentum. This argu-
M
ment gained currency in view of such an eligibility condition prevailing Y cousin, who is in her early
in the neighbouring and other states. They felt that it put the state’s chil- seventies, was reminiscing
dren at a disadvantage vis-à-vis the outsiders who were thus entitled to her chequered life. She rued
compete in both Punjab and their state of domicile. that she would have been luckier had
But even as the subject became emotive as at stake were coveted she been born 50 years later. We were
seats in this highly competitive arena, the Punjab Medical Educa- startled by her revelation as she
tion Department’s last-minute notification setting aside its rule and breezed through her life and conclud-
declaring that only Punjab domicile students would be eligible for ed that the life of a woman today is so
carefree. To our amazement, she felt
the MBBS/BDS seats reeks of arbitrariness and insensitivity to a
envious of today’s woman.
group of students following a certain route of education as per the
‘I had no choice of what subjects
existing rules. It is harmful to their interests. to study but allowed parents to
The just and correct course of action should have been to imple- choose my stream, unlike today
ment its new criterion of domicile only after three years so that the when the choices are vast like fash-
current batches of children who have joined Class X in Punjab ion designing, journalism, mass
schools get the window of qualification and do not suffer from ran- communication, home science and
dom and frequent changes in policy. architecture. I would not have got
married immediately after my grad-
uation. I would have first selected a
❝ ❞
thought for the day
A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can Pitch in for ‘new India’
prove that you don’t need it. — Bob Hope Refer to ‘Modi’s ideological blind-
ers off?’ (Nous Indica; June 7); be it
the strategy to win elections or gov-
ernment formation, per se, NDA-II
on this day...50 years ago has taken some right steps. But
well begun is not half done in the
real sense. Modi has full mandate to
work towards fulfilling people’s
expectations and aspirations. He
has to build up and carry his team
ambala, sunday, june 8, 1969
along to perform on all fronts, be it
social, political or developmental.
CENTRE READY TO DISCUSS TELANGANA As people of this country we can
HYDERABAD, June 7 (PTI, UNI)—The Union Home Minister, Mr. Y.B. only pray for his success. We also
Chavan, today suggested to the Telangana Praja Samithi to suspend its need to give him due support by
agitation for a separate State of Telangana so that a “proper atmosphere” performing in our respective areas
was created for a discussion of “all aspects of the problem”. Mr. Chavan of work honestly and efficiently.
had a talk with Dr. M. Chenna Reddy, former Union Minister and INDER KRISHEN KILAM, SHIMLA
President of the Telangana Praja Samithi. This was the longest of the
series of meetings Mr. Chavan had here today extending to over four
hours. While the Samithi delegation maintained that nothing short of the A good start, need more
formation of a separate State of Telangana would satisfy them, Mr. While Jaishankar’s induction is a
Chavan pointed out that when the problem was discussed by the Union bold move, the appointment of
Government, all aspects would be examined. Pokhriyal to head the heavyweight
HRD Ministry is a regressive move
Building complex dedicated to Khem Karan people (‘Modi’s ideological blinders off?’
AMRITSAR, June 7—Addressing a huge gathering in Khem Karan, 40 miles Nous Indica; June 7). Jaishankar
from here, after dedicating the new complex of Government buildings worth induction reminds one of Narasimha
Rs. 19.18 lakhs to the brave people of Khem Karan as the nation’s gift, the Rao, who appointed Dr Manmohan
Chief Minister, Mr. Gurnam Singh, today assured the people that it was the Singh, an outsider, as the FM. What a
Government’s duty to pay full compensation to the uprooted persons for the masterstroke it turned out to be.
losses suffered by them during the Indo-Pakistan conflict and nearly six Pokhriyal, on the other hand, had
months of occupation of Khem Karan and its 13 villages by Pakistan forces. come under a cloud and had to quit as
He said that in a bid to strengthen the country’s borders he wanted the border Uttarakhand CM. His educational
towns to be thickly populated and industrially developed. In case an aggressor qualifications, like some other NDA
did any damage to the lives and properties of the people of the border areas, it
was the Government’s duty to give them full compensation. Letters to the Editor, typed in double space, should not exceed the 200-word limit. These should be cogently written and can be sent by e-mail to: Letters@tribunemail.com
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BOOSTER DOSE: Growth has slowed across investment, consumption and
exports sectors. Only consumption can benefit directly from a broad stimulus.
India needs sector-specific solutions. If stimulus to
consumption comes at a time of deficient monsoon,
we can be headed for a sharp rise in food prices
which will further push the inflation rate.
infrastructure can only do good. Pri-
vate investment will pick up by
being crowded in and also when
capacity constraints emerge and
business sees profitable growth
ahead from higher capacity.
The need to be cautious with a blunt
instrument like overall budget
deficits and policy interest rates to
address consumption slowdown is
that several factors are simultaneous-
ly at play. Most importantly, consump-
tion pickup will push up food prices
that are already on the rise and they
account for nearly half of the weigh-
tage of the consumer price index.
What is more, how satisfactory the
monsoon will eventually be is still wide
open and after a poor start to the sum-
mer season two regions, southern and
western, are facing a drought. If stimu-
lus to consumption comes at a time
when the monsoon is set to underper-
form, we can be headed for a sharp rise
in food prices which will take upward
with it the overall inflation rate.
There is yet another element in the
current scenario which needs to be
career of my choice and attained
economic independence. There
would have been no pressure to
marry a boy of my parents’ choice.
I could select my life partner, with
whom I may have lived-in or carried
on courtship for a reasonable period
to gauge my compatibility with him.
I may have married at the age of 28
or later, and not at 19. Having mar-
ried a man of my choice, I would not
have lived with my mother-in-law to
bear her age-old tantrums. We
would have lived independently in
our own small abode, without com-
pulsions of a conventional house-
wife cooking and cleaning all day.
‘I would have been able to exercise
discretion whether to have a child or
delay it till we were ready to start a
family. All you know, we may have
letters to the editor
ministers, are also suspect. NDA-II
will have to surmount quite a few hur-
dles in the coming years. The resur-
gent BJP and Modi must pay undi-
vided attention to unemployment,
agrarian distress and a floundering
economy. The increasing incidents of
violence against Muslims and Dalits
must be curbed with an iron hand.
MK BAJAJ, ZIRAKPUR
Exam results & suicides
As a teacher, news reports about stu-
dents committing suicide after their
poor performance in exams have hit
me hard. It is a dangerous and trag-
ic trend. Even a student getting 90
per cent ends his/her life because
he/she was expecting 95 per cent.
Suicide is irreversible. In the con-
text of examination results, I would
like to suggest that parents should
sympathetically console their wards
in the case of adverse results. They
should administer them a heavy
dose of some truths. Results are not
the be-all and end-all of life. Failure
is a stepping stone to success. There
are innumerable instances of people
who did not fare well in examina-
tions but have been highly success-
ful in the examination of life. Par-
ents should not taunt their wards.
Once a father remarked, ‘It is not
you who have failed but it is I who
CHANDIGARH | SATURDAY | 8 JUNE 2019
pondered — a hugely unsatisfactory
employment rate with unemploy-
ment running at a four-decade high.
The economy urgently needs to cre-
ate more jobs but that will hardly
come by pleasing the corporate sector
which has been asking for a stimulus.
The surest and quickest way to cre-
ate new and more jobs is to improve
the ease of doing business for small
and unincorporated businesses. The
basic availability of credit is more
important to these businesses than
its cost being 1 per cent more or less.
High-tech investments by large
firms create few additional jobs.
The situation that unfocused stim-
ulus can create is a combination of
rising prices, high unemployment
and anemic growth. These are the
elements that make up classical
stagflation which visited the US dur-
ing the seventies. The Keynesian
imperative that prevailed then was to
increase money supply to promote
growth without being over concerned
about inflation. But it did not work,
what did was Milton Friedman’s
gone in for adoption. Not to have a
child at all was also a possible option
if I were a high-profile professional.
At best, a pet would have been a
stress-buster. And a maid to do rou-
tine chores. How I wish I could order
my choicest food through various
online delivery services, instead of
sweating and slogging in kitchen
after a long day. I could do most of
my jobs with innumerable apps now
available, like ‘BookMyShow’ or
plan a vacation through ‘Make-
MyTrip’. I would have seen choicest
movies and shows on Netflix. I
would have been driving my own car
or scooter or would have just call for
a cab. Instead of haggling with my
tailor, I could go shopping at malls
and buy branded, stitched clothes.
To shed weight gained by eating piz-
have’, suggesting that his money
has gone waste. The boy drowned
himself in a nearby canal. Our exam-
ination system is governed by cram-
ming, not understanding. An educa-
tionist says, ‘The only difference
between a bad student and a good
one is that the former forgets every-
thing before and the latter after it.’
MK KOHLI, GURUGRAM
Keep its sanctity
This refers to the news report
‘Clash at Golden Temple on
Bluestar anniversary’ (June 7).
The Golden Temple is a symbol of
spirituality, peace, benevolence,
oneness/equality of mankind and
universal brotherhood. Operation
Bluestar was certainly the most
unfortunate happening. The self-
proclaimed guardians of the Sikh
religion must ensure that in the
name of observance of its
anniversary the sanctity of the
holy place is not violated and
tenets of the religion are not
bypassed. Unfortunately, it is
being done almost every year.
HL SHARMA, AMRITSAR
Are we a truthful society?
People for eons have discovered the
value of truthfulness as one of most
THE TRIBUNE
notion that inflation was a monetary
phenomenon. Conservative mone-
tary policy under Paul Volker, which
drove interest rates sky high and
brought about the worst post-war
recession in the US during 1981-82,
eventually brought down inflation.
It is not as if India is headed for
stagflation but the combination of
elements that lead to it are emerg-
ing. A stimulus, be it monetary or fis-
cal or both, has to be carefully
thought out. A stimulus, carelessly
applied, almost never works.
The best policy initiatives are those
that in one stroke address more than
one issue. If the government were to
do the one thing that would make a
difference, it is to urgently devise a
package of measures which will make
farming viable again. Not only will it
address rural distress, but also posi-
tively impact the unemployment rate,
reducing the flow of migration to the
cities by people in search of jobs.
How do you make farming viable
again without initiating an episode of
food price inflation? What does not
help is waiving farm loans and raising
MSPs. The former is like disaster relief
and the latter is a fairly useless instru-
ment as most farmers most of the
times have to sell at below the MSP.
Income support to farmers is in part a
welfare measure (it helps relieve dis-
tress) and only in part makes it possible
for farmers to investment in fertiliser
and the like to raise productivity. The
way to make farming viable is to
ensure that the markup between the
farmgate and the fork is reduced, the
farmer gets more while the consumer
does not pay very much more. The sec-
tion which needs to lose is the traders
in between. The way to move in this
direction is to create a single market for
agriculture and remove the restrictions
imposed by marketing committees.
We need sector-specific solutions,
be it for exports or agriculture. Broad
stimulus packages can do more harm
than good. And if there be deficit
financing, let it result from public
investment in infrastructure. Across-
the-board stimulus, delivered by rate
cuts, are neither here nor there.
zas, burgers, butter chicken and
shahi paneer, I would have joined a
gym by paying a hefty fee and
boast about it. It is a different thing
that I might have picked up some
lifestyle diseases like diabetes, obe-
sity and high BP.
‘I would have no time to interact
with my relatives and friends as I
would be in touch with the whole
world on Facebook, Twitter or What-
sApp. I may have been ultra-hip and
modern, and would have not been
able to teach my children how to
integrate in a joint family. The chil-
dren may have been snobs, not
knowing how to respect elders, and
definitely not rooted to cultural and
family values. I feel confused which
life would have been more gratify-
ing,’ she ranted thoughtfully.
significant virtues. How many
among us have nurtured this quality
in ourselves and our children? Take
the police. It proclaims loudly that it
prizes truthfulness the most. But it
will acknowledge that it is among the
least truthful. The Punjab Police was
at the lowest spot (22nd) as regards
public confidence in the Indian
Policing Report, 2018. Police is one
example. There is rampant dishon-
esty everywhere. It seems our socie-
ty has dumped morality altogether.
Truthfulness in the case of majority
is not a value but a devise to hide the
horrendous inner hollowness caused
by moral vacuity.
AKHILESH, HOSHIARPUR
Wrong attribution
Refer to the article ‘Bittersweet har-
vest’ (InFocus, June 3), the estimate
of sugar (35.5 million tonnes)
expected to be produced in 2018-19
has been wrongly attributed to the
Indian Sugar Mills Association. The
association expects 33 million
tonnes of production in the current
season (October 2018-September
2019). Mills across the country pro-
duced 32.1 million tonnes of sugar
between October 1, 2018, and April
30, 2019. The pace of production has
slowed down in recent weeks.
INDIAN SUGAR MILLS ASSN, BY MAIL
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THE TRIBUNE
CHANDIGARH | SATURDAY | 8 JUNE 2019 OPED 09

How Indira faced crises in Congress

returned to power barely six months leading to a split in the party, an emo- party. Reddy had the support of many
ago, CM Ashok Gehlot and his deputy tional Indira insisted that Congress powerful leaders such as YB Chavan,
Sachin Pilot are busy trading charges. membership was her ‘birthright’ and Vasant Dada Patil and Swaran Singh.
In Madhya Pradesh, supporters of that she had been irrevocably born a DK Barooah, who had famously coined
Jyotiraditya Scindia have declared a vir- Congressperson many years ago in the slogan, ‘Indira is India, India is Indi-
tual war on the Kamal Nath government Anand Bhavan. “Nobody can throw ra’, was nowhere to be seen. The CWC
following his humiliating defeat in me out of the Congress. It is not a legal met at the residence of Maragatham
Guna. The Scindia camp wants Nath to question, nor one of passing a resolu- Chandrasekhar at 3, Janpath. Twelve
RASHEED KIDWAI
resign as state party chief and hand over tion to pronounce an expulsion order. members sided with Indira, but the
SENIOR JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR the organisational wing to Scindia. It is a question of the very fibre of AICC chief was not accommodating. In
Bhopal is agog with speculation that the one’s heart and being.” the absence of VC Shukla, Bansi Lal,

I
NSTEAD of introspection and fire-
fighting in Punjab, Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and
Rajasthan, the Congress has adopt-
ed an ostrich-like approach, hoping that
time and inactivity would heal the
wounds of the May 23 poll verdict.
AICC chief Rahul Gandhi has done the
right thing by offering his resignation,
owning entire responsibility for the Lok
Sabha poll debacle. Politically, Rahul
would gain nothing if he takes back his
resignation. But the Congress Working
Committee is unwilling to discuss the
leadership issue that may not have a
member of the Nehru-Gandhi family as
its leader. Fierce loyalty, bordering on
sycophancy, a sense of vulnerability and
Sonia-Priyanka Gandhi’s inability to
take decisive action is making the grand
old party every bit silly and out of sync
with the stark reality.
Ditto is the case with the political
developments in Punjab, where minis-
ter Navjot Singh Sidhu has been shifted
from Local Bodies to the Power portfo-
lio. Sidhu, who fancies himself as a 10,
Janpath favourite, skipped two state
Cabinet meetings and was hoping for an
intervention from 10, Janpath which
remained non-existent.
In Karnataka, where the JD(S)-Con-
gress alliance government is hanging by
a thread, it has become virtually a free
for all in the state Congress.
In Rajasthan, where the party had
CBI may register a "preliminary
enquiry" to probe the alleged detection
of unaccounted cash of about Rs 281
crore during IT raids at houses of close
aides of Kamal Nath and others in April.
Telangana, too, is crisis-ridden. Twelve
recently elected Congress MLAs have
defected to the ruling TRS.
The only silver lining for Nehru-Gand-
hi family is that there is no whiff of revolt
against Sonia-Rahul-Priyanka amid dis-
quiet and crisis at all levels.
But, the seeming calm is a curse for the
party. Unlike Rahul, the old guard and
all key characters responsible for the
2019 mess are unwilling to quit or leave
the party. The Gandhis, facing a credibil-
ity issue, are not in a position to purge.
Everyone stays and it explains the all-
round diffidence and inertia.
This was not the case when Rahul’s
grandmother was confronted with a cri-
sis, not once but on many occasions.
When Lal Bahadur Shastri had a heart
attack and died in January 1966, the
Congress had a majority in the Lok Sab-
ha. There were several claimants for the
top post, led by Morarji Desai, the then
Defence Minister, YB Chavan, Jagjivan
Ram and SK Patil, the Congress boss of
Bombay and leading light of the ‘syndi-
cate’ that controlled the party govern-
ments in nine states. The CWC wanted
someone popular with a pan-India iden-
tity to lead them to victory in the elec-
tions. Congress chief K Kamaraj acted
CONTRAST: Unlike Indira Gandhi, Rahul lacks courage and risk-taking ability.
In 1977, the Congress’ first
defeat since Independence
resulted in an exodus from
the party. But the fighter
in Indira was far from
disturbed. Some senior
party leaders, including the
then Congress president,
K Brahmananda Reddy,
on January 1, 1978,
announced that Indira
had been expelled
from the party.
as kingmaker, sounding Indira out for
the coveted post. Indira said she would
do whatever her party chief directed her
to do. In other words, Indira was ready if
the majority of the party MPs were in
her favour. Desai refused to accept her. A
contest was announced on January 19,
1966, over a week after Shastri expired.
That day, the presiding officer handed
over the result to Kamaraj in the Central
Hall of Parliament. Kamaraj spoke in
chaste Tamil, announcing the winner.
Few MPs and AICC office-bearers
understood what he said. The suspense
did not last long as someone shouted
excitedly: ‘Indira 355, Desai 169’. As
Indira made her way to the dais, dressed
in a plain white khadi sari, with a fawn
Kashmiri shawl around her shoulders
and holding a red rose, she greeted a
grim and sulking Desai with, ‘Will you
bless me in the tasks that I have ahead,
Morarjibhai?’ According to those pres-
ent there, a stone-faced Desai replied, ‘I
give you my blessings.’
In 1969, when a group of senior party
men evicted her from the Congress,
After the 1969 split, her sect of the Con-
gress emerged as the ‘real Congress’
and Indira did not regret splitting the
party over her choice of presidential
nominee — VV Giri — against the old
guard’s choice of Neelam Sanjiva Red-
dy. Indira’s party was called the Requisi-
tionist or Congress (Ruling) because they
subsequently requisitioned a meeting of
the CWC, party MPs and AICC to chal-
lenge Congress chief S Nijalingappa's
decision to ‘expel’ Indira from the party.
Indira won the support of 310 of the 429
MPs belonging to the party. At the AICC
meet on November 22, 1969, 446 of the
705 delegates accepted her leadership.
Indira rose in stature and many of the
Congress old guard who had thought of
manipulating her to their advantage
were in for a shock. Kamaraj, who had
played a role in shaping Indira’s career,
was disappointed when he realised that
Indira had a mind of her own and an
independent style of functioning. At one
juncture, he was heard describing her
rather ruefully as ‘a big man’s daughter,
a little man’s mistake’, the ‘little man’
reference being to himself.
In 1977, the Congress’ first defeat
since Independence resulted in an exo-
dus from the party. But the fighter in
Indira was far from disturbed. Some
senior party leaders, including the then
Congress president, K Brahmananda
Reddy, on January 1, 1978, announced
that Indira had been expelled from the
Ambika Soni, Karan Singh and DK
Barooah (who had deserted her by then),
a somewhat isolated Indira found a new
band of loyalists — Buta Singh, AP Shar-
ma, GK Moopanar, Syed Mir Qasim,
Maragatham Chandrasekhar and Budh
Priya Maurya, all members of the CWC.
They marched to Reddy to challenge
Indira’s expulsion. Buta, who was for-
merly with the Akali Dal, spoke harshly
to Reddy, demanding to know how
Nehru’s daughter could be expelled
from the Congress. ‘She is the Con-
gress,’ Buta said, before walking out.
It was a grim battle of survival for the
Congress and Indira’s loyalists. Quickly,
Buta, Sharma, Maurya, Moopanar, Mir
Qasim and others left on a nationwide
tour to obtain the signatures of the 700-
odd members of the AICC. They found
majority support in the state capitals.
A convention was organised in New
Delhi on January 2, 1978, in which Indi-
ra announced that she was floating her
own party, the Congress (I). Perhaps,
Buta's assertion before Reddy that
‘Nehru’s daughter was the Congress’
was still ringing in her ears. She fought
back to power in 1980, when most lead-
ers who had left her in 1978 returned to
her party, giving the Congress (I) the sta-
tus of the ‘real Congress’.
In 2019, Indira’s daughter-in-law, grand-
son and granddaughter seem to be lack-
ing that courage and risk-taking ability
even though there are no challengers.

It’s time a national security strategy is published

BHARTENDU KUMAR SINGH
INDIAN DEFENCE ACCOUNTS SERVICE
All great powers come out
with a documented NSS.
So why not India, which is
already a great power
candidate? It has emerged
as a rank player on indices
like population, GDP, armed
forces’ strength and
defence expenditure.
T
HE absence of a formal nation-
al security strategy (NSS) has
been a sore point in debates on
national security. Past policy
preferences favoured an ambivalent
strategy to navigate major wars, uncer-
tain neighbourhood and internal securi-
ty issues. National security, true to
Arnold Wolfers’ hypothesis, remains an
ambiguous symbol for the public and
social-political elites. Appropriate envi-
ronmental feedback for assimilation in
national security deliverables is often
not available. However, contemporary
security practices of many great powers,
academic research and India’s own pro-
file as a great power candidate make a
formal enunciation of an NSS desirable.
India’s strategic history since 1947 has
been a mixed bag of successes and fail-
ures under informal security strategies,
first coloured by non-alignment and lat-
er by multi-alignment since the early
nineties. The 1962 defeat could be attrib-
uted to the absence of an NSS, amongst
other things. Similarly, there are no aca-
demic evidences to link the 1971 victory
to any long-term NSS (such as bifurca-
tion of Pakistan). Sporadic attempts, like
the so-called Indira doctrine and the
more formal Gujral doctrine, were piece-
meal efforts taking care of only specific
national security aspects.
The issue of publishing an NSS did
enter the public discourse many times
in last two decades as a single source of
strategic inspiration, but could not be
churned into public policy. There were
plausible reasons for India not coming
out with an NSS in public.
NEEDED: The new decisive leadership raises hopes for a formal NSS.
First, India managed to navigate its
security problems through strategic
restraint and crossed the Rubicon on
very few occasions. Strong leadership
also meant informal strategies about
securing India, thereby relegating a for-
mal NSS to the back-burner.
Second, India was relatively a small
player in global politics, only occasional-
ly hitting above the belt. It used the
ideational umbrella to showcase itself
since it didn’t have material resources
to enunciate a realist and formal securi-
ty strategy in public. Hitherto, India was
mostly boxed within South Asia and
had very little material stakes beyond
the subcontinent. It was only since the
early nineties that India started an out-
reach programme towards Southeast
Asia, necessitating a doctrinal declara-
tion of the ‘Look East Policy’.
Third, foreign and security practices
enjoyed political support across the ide-
ological spectrum since there were few
issues on the plate. India was a middle
power and could do without an NSS.
Today’s economic empowerment,
geopolitical outreach and evolving net-
work of relationships and interests were
visibly missing until the early nineties.
The ignorance of NSS documentation
has not gone unnoticed. Strategic
experts from the civilian, military and
academic backgrounds have been unan-
imous towards a formal NSS. All great
powers come out with a documented
NSS. So why not India that is a great
power candidate? It has emerged as a
rank player on many indices of great
power matrix like population, GDP,
armed forces’ strength and expenditure.
A 2017 study on ‘Formulating nation-
al security strategy’ by a US think tank
showcased that informal NSS often suf-
fers from disadvantages such as lack of
clear priorities, lowest common denom-
inator emerging as ‘rational choice’,
weak objectives — resources connec-
tion, and slow response to changes in the
national security environment. These
could also be applicable to India.
A documented and well-publicised
NSS can help India in numerous ways.
First, the global audience is interested
in decoding what kind of power India
would be. India needs ‘relative peace’ on
its frontiers and in the neighbourhood to
pursue comprehensive national power.
The overall target should be to ensure
smooth power transition to great power
status through short-, medium- and
long-term strategies. Perception man-
agement, thus, is important and the NSS
would be an assurance building exercise
to the audience about India’s emergence
as a responsible emerging power.
Second, a formal NSS can emerge as
the 'mother' document guiding institu-
tions, policymakers and strategic experts
alike and do away with discordant notes
amongst various stakeholders on mat-
ters of national security. For example, the
civil-military perceptions on national
security are quite at mutual variance and
can be bridged through a formalised
NSS. The document can also become a
source of building public opinion, edu-
cating the futuristic citizenry and raising
national security consciousness.
Third, the NSS may also help us know
key security threats and strategically pri-
oritise them. Is it Pakistan with which we
have been at loggerheads since 1947? Is
it China with which we enjoy ‘relative
peace’ but face an uncertain future? Are
internal threats like Naxalism and armed
rebellions causing maximum casualties
in the post-Independence period? The
strategic community is presently divided
about their pecking order and needs to
be guided. An NSS can then facilitate
appropriate national security deliver-
ables and public policy formulations.
Fourth, the NSS can facilitate
resource distribution in an age of
scarcity and competition between the
developmental and defence sectors and
further within the defence sector. We
can also mobilise our financial
resources and optimise them through
periodic cost, risk and result analysis.
Fifth, the NSS can help us get out of a
militarised concept of national security
(evident in most strategic writings on
India’s national security) and make a
paradigm shift towards a humanised
concept. If India is to be really secure,
more investment is needed in education,
infrastructure, health, sanitation, skill
development etc so that we develop
enough material power to feed our mili-
tary power projection in future.
There cannot be a better moment for
making an ideational movement
towards an NSS. We have got appropri-
ate institutions for designing and imple-
menting the NSS; popular will to propel
India to its rightful place in global poli-
tics and governing institutions; and
above all, a decisive leadership to shape
our ambitions in the next few years.
Hopefully, the NSS would emerge as the
torch-bearer sooner than later.
(Views are personal)

quick crossword su do ku calendar forecast

ACROSS JUNE 8, 2019, SATURDAY SUNSET: SATURDAY 19:24 HRS
1 Southwest African country (6)
4 Sheath for sword (8) 4 7 ■ Vikrami Samvat 2076
SUNRISE: SUNDAY 05:19 HRS

9 Large-beaked bird (6) ■ Shaka Samvat 1941

10 Unambiguous (5-3)
12 Renown (4)
13 Stage in growth (5)
2 5 1 ■ Jyeshtha Shaka

■ Jyeshtha Parvishte
18
25
Sunny Partly Cloudy Cloudy
CITY MAX
Rainy
MIN
Foggy

14 Wide smile (4) ■ Hijari 1440 Chandigarh 43 27

17 Non-nuclear (12)
20 Narrowness of viewpoint (6,6) 6 2 Shukla Paksh Tithi 6, up to 2:55 am
New Delhi
PUNJAB
45 27
23 Go away (4) Vyaa Yoga up to 5:25 pm
24 To comfort (5) Amritsar 44 25
25 Terrifying person (4)
28 Imperishable (8)
5 7 3 8 Aashle Nakshatra up to 5:22 pm
Moon enters Leo sign 5:22 pm
Bathinda
Jalandhar
45
43
26
25
29 Part of the eye (6) Ludhiana 44 25
30 Bordering the sea (8)
31 Away from the coast (6) 3 6 YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION
HARYANA
Bhiwani 45 27
DOWN
1 Ingenuity (8) 2 8 3 7 9 5 4 1 6 Hisar 44 25
2 Greedy eater (8)
3 Thin (4)
8 5 6 9 1 5 7 8 4 6 3 9 2
Sirsa
HIMACHAL PRADESH
45 28
5 To snub (4-8)
6 To boast (4)
4 6 9 2 1 3 8 7 5 Dharamsala 32 18
7 Agreement (6)
8 Excessively fond (6)
1 5 5 1 6 3 2 7 9 4 8
Manali
Shimla
27
29
11
19
11 A boost (4,2,3,3) 9 7 8 4 5 1 2 6 3 JAMMU & KASHMIR
15 To found (3,2)
16 Make petty objections (5) 8 4 2 3 2 4 9 6 8 7 5 1
Jammu
Leh
41
23
26
10
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION 18 Eastern U.S. state (8)
8 9 1 6 7 2 5 3 4 Srinagar 28 11
19 When requested (2,6)
Across: 1 Rugby, 4 Harvard, 8 Pit, 9 Alma mater, 10 Incense, 11 Lofty, 13 At once,
15 Errand, 18 Testy, 19 Extreme, 21 Work of art, 23 Odd, 24 Tuneful, 25 Liken.
21 Writhe (6)
22 Boil very gently (6)
8 9 7 3 5 1 8 4 6 2 9
UTTARAKHAND
Dehradun 37 22
Down: 1 Replica, 2 Get across, 3 Yearn, 4 Hamlet, 5 Rambler, 6 Act, 7 Dirty, 12 26 Unyielding courage (4) 6 4 2 5 3 9 1 8 7 Mussoorie 27 17
Framework, 14 Cry wolf, 16 Dresden, 17 Bewail, 18 To wit, 20 Total, 22 Run. 27 To combine (4) HARD TEMPERATURE IN OC

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