| However,
it devolves on the policy makers that they do not spring
a surprise on their own armed forces. to that extent,
policy decisions must be taken very deliberately and in a
minimum time frame of 10-20 years, whereby a detailed
plan is required to be worked out, to implement the
policy decision, with the need to employ force being the
last resort. This would give the armed forces enough time
to be prepared. - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
War,
as indicated earlier, is an activity involving nations,
and is a continuation of nation;s policy, by violent
means.
It aims at protecting a nation's interests and creating
conditions for further promoting these interests, by
imposing her will on the opposing nation.
On analysis, it will be found that interests of nations
are, invariably, spelt out in economic terms. One, as
such, cannot but help come out with the truism that war
is, invariably, caused by factors, which can be traced to
economic factors.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
In the
case of developed economies, having diverted their
resources towards this non productive activity, and
having developed their production lines, they have no
other option but to go into large scale export weapon
systems. It, therefore, is in their economic interests,
to create conditions conducive to creating the increased
demand for their weapon systems.
As a matter of fact, when one sees the sequence of
events, over the past 50 years, it strikes one straight
away that practically all the international clashes were
in stigated by one or the other industrially developed
country. This, obviously, creates demand for their weapon
systems.
One, therefore, finds that it is in the interests of the
weapon producing countries, to create tensions and such
other conditions, where the receiving nations find
themselves at loggerheads with each other, thereby
increasing the demand for the weapon systems.
Such conditions, apart from creating demand for their
products, also help, divert scarce resources, from
productive activity of the rival or unfriendly countries.
It is indeed strange that the small western nations,
which came into prominence three or four centuries ago,
have devoted greater attention to war and have produced a
number of thinkers, philosophers and soldiers who have
studied, in detail, the various aspects of war, while
India with all its claims to civilization never
understood it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
Let
not Bismark's quotation be amended by the Indians to read
as follows:-
"Even fools learn from their own mistakes. But we
Indians are bloody fools, for we do not even learn from
our own blunders".
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
China
realized it right from the beginning, that she would have
to clash with India, and has already developed her
infrastructure and prepared for the conflict which she
knew was inevitable. She also selected the point of the
actual clash, the border between India and Tibet.
India, on the other hand, was in the hands of visionary
amateurs. They were advised by military leadership, who
not only never grasped the concepts of policy/grand
strategy, but were also never really meant to get
involved at the level of policy making. The result was
that India blundered into a trap blind-folded.
Two divisions, out of a seven divisions army got badly
mauled. By itself, not a very major military disaster.
After all, Great Britain had recovered from a much severe
blow in the beginning of the Second World War. The Indian
policy makers and their military advisers, however, never
realised as to what hit them.
The Indian Army has still not recovered from the
complexes developed since 1962. So frightened are the
Indian Armed Forces of the Chinese that they, ostrich
like, refuse to consider China as a major threat and
cover up their inadequacies, by their bellicose drumming
up of the Pakistani threat.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -
- - - -
As a
matter of fact, when we study war and its history, we
find practically all major scientific discoveries had
war-like connotations before they were modified for
civilian use. Whether it was the wheel or the discovery
of fire, their first use was in wars or conflicts.
To be able to develop a proper war machine it was
necessary to be able to produce the item concerned in
adequate quantities. Production of, say, 100 war
chariots, 7000 years ago, in Egypt, must have been a
major industrial effort, far surpassing the production
of, say 10,000 tanks by the United States of America in
1991.
Gunpowder and nuclear energy, are two other examples of
scientific discoveries, with war-like implications, later
converted to civilian uses.
It must, however, be reiterated that, unless there is a
proper industrial base to fully use the potential of a
discovery, the nation's war machine will always be at a
handicap."
Gunpowder is an excellent case study in this aspect. Even
though gunpowder was discovered in China, before the
birth of Christ, it had to be rediscovered in the West
and fully utilised. The lack of a proper metallurgical
industry in China and for that matter in the rest of
Asia, left it to the Europeans to develop cannons, guns
and even muskets.
}India had her first glimpse of cannon, when she was on
the receiving end of the cannonades from Babar's
artillery in 1526, at the First Battle of Panipat. Even
subsequently, till the British came, manufacture of
cannon was a highly classified industry with very few who
could manufacture them.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
It would
also be worthwhile to mention here that, a victory is
only a means to an end and not the end itself.
It is, therefore, imperative that the final agreement
should not only achieve the aims for which the war had to
be resorted to, but also to ensure that war does not have
to be fought again to achieve the same aims or results.
To be able to achieve the nation's aims, it, therefore,
becomes imperative that, the armed forces are in a
position to deliver.
With the parameters stipulated earlier, it becomes
essential to have standing professional and preferably
volunteer armies. (This includes the Navy and the Air
Force).
To ensure that a nation has an effective war machine, and
in the modern context, with the capability for instant
response, it is a must! There is a need for the following
ingredients:
An organisation to lay down clear-cut policy
imperatives and the methodology to achieve the aims.
- A
single head of the three services.
- Well-trained
and equipped three services.
- Adequate
reserves of trained manpower and equipment.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
The next
step in the chain of command would be an organisation
which would act as a link between the policy makers and
the actual implementers of the policy, in this case - the
three services, i.e., the Army, Navy and the Air Force.
As mentioned earlier, it is better to have a single
individual, who transcends the inter-service rivalries
and is above.
A partisan approach to any given problem.
To that extent, the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Committee, as practised in the United States of America,
is a much better proposition than the Joint Chiefs of
Staff Committee in India.
The role of the Chief of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
would be, to advise the apex body on military
implications of the policy goals laid down, and the
methodology worked out for achieving these goals.To that
extent, he would have to be a member of the apex council.
Once the policy has been laid down, he will have the
responsibility of working out the methodology, in detail,
as to how that policy is to be implemented, within the
broad parameters laid down by the apex body.
In other words, he would work out the grand strategic
stipulations. In this, he would be helped by his civilian
counterpart (The Cabinet Secretary, in the case of India)
along with the chief bureaucratic executives or the
secretaries of the concerned ministries. Along with them
he would also work out the guidelines/limitations for the
implementation of the policy.
Thereafter, as the head of the three services, he would
be required to work out, in detail, the contingency plans
along with any alternatives, to ensure the achievement of
the policy.
In between the Cabinet Committee for Parliamentary
Affairs and the Chiefs of Staff Committee is the
Committee for Defence Planning.
It is the apex council for integrated defence planning,
as well as, national development. It is also the conduit
between the Cabinet Committee for Parliamentary Affairs
and the Chiefs of Staff Committee.
The Cabinet Secretary is the Chairman with the Prime
Minister's Secretary, Defence Secretary, and the Foreign,
Finance, Defence Production Secretaries, as well as, the
Secretary of the Planning Commission as permanent
members. This is what Rajesh Rajora has to say about the
functioning of these committees:
Two way communications is usually absent in the above
three committees.Most of the time they are at
loggerheads. The bureaucratic body has occupied a place
of extraordinary importance. No proposal, whether it is
the brainchild of the service chiefs or the Minister
(sic) can see the light of day unless it is duly
processed by the bureaucracy. The speed with which it is
processed is also dependent on them, often determined by
their own perceptions of its importance and urgency. This
has given rise to the expression "bureaucratic
control" - a situation which the services resent.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
Finally,
it would be pertinent to reiterate that, maintaining an
effective war machine is an expensive proposition. Unless
the defence services contribute towards their
maintenance, the nation is going to find it a heavy
burden. Most of the Western developed nations have a
strong and a well-developed armament industry. They use
the export of weapon system to generate funds, including
foreign exchange to help finance the nation's economy, as
well as, finance the maintenance of their armed forces,
at the same time help, maintain a satisfactory balance of
trade.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
A
nation is strong only if it is economically
strong. Economic strength is possible only when there is
stability. This requires military strength.
Military strength, on the other hand requires economic
strength. The two are very closely interlinked. The two
must be complementary, one paying for the other.
The western economies have achieved this balance and are
in a position to call the shots in the international
foray. The best examples are the United States of America
and France. They are the biggest producers of armaments
and the biggest exporters of weapons systems.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
In the
last 20 years, India has never spent more than 4 percent
of its gross domestic product. As a matter of fact the
expenditure has varied between 2.85% and 3.62% of the
gross domestic product.
On the other hand, after 1962, in the next two years,
when the expenditure on defence was raised from 2 per
cent to 4.5 per cent of the gross domestic product, the
growth rate went up from the Hindu rate of growth of less
than 3 per cent to a growth rate of 6.5 per cent
(Government of India Economic Survey for 1988-89).
As the expenditure on defence was reduced, having reached
the desired strength of armed forces, the growth rate
droped.
It would be pertinent to highlight that Pakistan's growth
rate has been persistently higher than India and so has
been her expenditure on defence, in terms of percentage
of her gross domestic product.
An obvious conclusion that one makes is that in any
economy, the growth rate appears to be directly linked
with the expenditure on defence.
The United States of America, France, all have been
spending on an average more than 4 per cent of their
gross domestic product, on defence and each one has had a
growth rate of well above 5-6 percent in real terms,
leave alone at current prices.
Empirically, it appears that, between 4.5 per cent to 5
per cent of the gross domestic product would be the
optimum rate for investment in defence. It would ensure a
growth rate of about 6 per cent or more and at the same
time not attract much attention of the world powers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
So far,
the trend in this country has been to set up public
sector undertakings in the backward regions, to give a
fillip to the local region, towards development and
general well-being of the people of that region.
However, from experience in India it has been observed
that such a policy has the following drawbacks.
- The
region may not be suitable for such an industry,
economically, in that it is invariably neither a
source of raw material, nor is it a market for
that industry's produce.
- Invariably
the requisite infrastructure in the form of power
or electricity, or even for that matter adequate
trained matter adequate trained manpower has to
be created from scratch. It has generally been
observed that the complete manpower, especially
trained manpower comes from outside. The locals
just get unskilled jobs. Of course, there is some
trickle down effect. The cost, in economic terms
is, however, too high.
- The
price of the produce from such industries is
unreasonably high.
On the
other hand, it has been experienced that by positioning
armed forces units, or installations in such regions
similar results occur. The local population gets
increased work, albeit at the unskilled level. Suitable
infrastructure develops in the form of new retail
outlets, schools, and even medical facilities.
In addition, the region is opened up by improved
transportation facilities.
We have had experience of towns like Jammu, Rajouri, even
Simla (after Independence) Ambala Cantonment and Jhansi
being economic gainers by having army units positioned
there.
Today, after more than 50 years of their stay, these
towns have developed enough to reach, what in economic
terms is called, the "take-off stage".
Similarly, townships like Binnaguri, Lekhapani, and
Misamari have come up as a result of defence units
located there and the region has developed from near
jungle into modern areas with all amenities available.
All this, without additional burden, which an industry,
located in such a region, would become.
In addition, the country, in this case India, would make
a considerable profit by selling all the land in existing
cantonments and moving the armed forces into such
backward areas.
The defence forces would be quite happy if they get
adequate accommodation and adequate schooling and
education facilities, for their children and other
amenities.
The defence services also help the nation economically,
by converting the revenue account expenditure into
savings.
With over 42 lakhs employed in the defence services and
defence linked related industries, in India, their
provident fund, group insurance savings, contribute very
handsomely towards the total national savings effort.
In addition, if the government could set up a pension
fund instead of budgeting for the pension in the revenue
account and transfer an equivalent of 10 per cent of the
individual's pay plus dearness allowance, as most private
firms do.
|
