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Showing posts with label india. Show all posts
Showing posts with label india. Show all posts

Saturday, May 29, 2010

New Start in Indian diplomacy

Last week India strongly criticized Canada regarding the behavior towards not granting Visa to personnel of Indian defence establishment. The Indian rebuke was strongly worded and called for apology and appropriate rectifying measures from the canadian end.

In rare display of anger by India, this has revealed the stronger side. Such reactions are called for frequently to assert the say of Indian in international interactions.

Indian Foreign Affairs Minister S M Krishna termed the denial of visa to Indian security men as "unacceptable". Further the minister did not rule out the retaliatory action by India. Canadians were expected to address the situation immediately.

Canada, fearing a major diplomatic fall out, said it regretted its immigration official's remarks. IT further has said that its policy for entry of foreigners is under review after series of such incidents.

The Indian gain is that it is now able to assert its views and force countries change their stance. Though it does not appear to be major victory or step, but definitely a step in the right direction of being able to make itself visible and make other take notice of the voices made by us.

India will gain major achievement in asserting itself, when it is able to rough talk with behemoths like UK and China and make them notice India.

Long has been UK changing its immigration policies towards Indians and china resorting to acceptance of stapled Visas.
Nevertheless, this step is in right direction...

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Come Back

Dear All,

Its a long time since this blog has been dormant. But not now... This blog didn't comment on lot of things.. but not now...

This blog is back..

Friday, November 14, 2008

HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYBODY........

India has successfully crash landed moon probe on moon's surface. Further details will be posted soon..

some pics sent by chandrayaan

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Crude Consumption.... An Mass Media Mis-Propaganda

Everytime, there is rise in the price of the crude oil, all the media rants about the increasing consumption of Oil by developing nations like India and China and their huge apetite for the hydrocarbons. The responsibility of price rise without any justification is put squarely on these countries without providing any facts or figures supporting for it.

First of all, we need to understand that while comparing between any two entities the parameters need to be selected very carefully. It is rightly said, "Statistics are like mini-skirts, which reveal too much while covering vital things" The parameters of statistics are of utmost importance. As when defining whether a country is developed, developing, under-developed or undeveloped, the criteria used is either PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) per capita GDP or even plain vanilla PCI(Per Capita Income) in a single currency, to get an proper comparative idea, the same technique needs to be used while determining the consumption of crude oil by various states.
The basic argument used by all media is that more than 30% of the increased consumption of oil is cornered by the countries like china and India. But is that info pr0per to confer that the consumption of these countries is very high? Is increase in consumption the only parameter to judge it? Absolutely not... The absolute consumption of the oil is also important as compared to the increased consumption. Then there is a question, the total till date consumption of oil by all the countries? These developed countries have been guzzling oil at an alarming rate for past few decades. Had they not consumed at such an alarming rate, we would not have faced crisis situation today. countries like US would always like to point a finger which is not directed towards them. Who is going question them?


What is the consumption of these so called oil guzzlers? How much oil do developing countries consume as compared to other western countries and US?Now to understand better lets look at some figures:
  1. US was consuming 20.5 million barrels of oil per day in 2006. While India was consuming 2.5 million barrels of oil and China was consuming 7.2 million barrels per day.
  2. The US consumption is more than 8 times of India. That means 1% increase in oil consumption is equivalent to 8.5% increase in consumption of India.
  3. India's total consumption of oil is equal to US's 1 1/2 months oil consumption.
  4. India's population is more than One Crore (i.e. one Billion) while US population barely exceeds 300 million that means India has three times more population to support than US while consumption is one-eigth.
  5. If we convert those consumption figures to per capita, then we could say that India's per capita consumption is 4% as compared to that of US.
  6. The Per Capita consumption of energy by US is 68.81 barrels per person per year while India's consumption is 2.18 barrels per person per year. that is more than 33 times!!!!!
Where are these facts when Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency talks bull shit whilst saying that "The rapidly growing appetite for fossil fuels in China and India is likely to help keep oil prices high for the foreseeable future - threatening a global economic slowdown,"

Have they ever gone through these figures? Do they know how much is one barrel of oil?

One barrel of oil is equivalent to around 160 litres. that means a US citizen consumes about 11,000 litres of oil and oil equivalent per day!!!??????? Consider the mind boggling figures when I say 300 million population of US means 3264,000,000 litres per day i.e. about 3.2 billion litres per day. That is 1,191,360 million litres per year !!!!!!

These figures are completely mind boggling. I personally feel that there is huge mass media mis-prpoganda being done about the oil consumption by countries like India. Completely irrelevant data (no false) is being fed to general public and then completely baseless inference is being drawn.


In this world where in a democracy, Media is considered to be fourth pillar of democracy, I feel the Indian media should vociferously try to present a correct picture to the Indians and the world. Mass Media was used as a weapon even in the days of second world war and later in the Cold War Era...


I warn all of you to not fall victims to this propoganda. Try to question the data and analyse it before drawing any conclusion from it. Even Indian leadership should take effort to present correct picture all the citizens. Complete facts should be presented and then the person should be allowed to draw the conclusion. Do not accept the conclusion drawn by others. (especially western media)


Though concerned about the Global climate change, the developed countries like US have outrightly refused to decrease the emission of GHGs (Green House Gases). They rant about developing countries food consumption has led to increase in food prices. Do they know how much they consume or how much food they waste? (that would be another post to discuss about)


Our Foreign Policy should include mass media propoganda as to increase awarness about the issues and mis-conception. They should take help of this powerful force which could help to change the opinion of the general public and allow to take the right decisions.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Agni III IRBM or ICBM


Length : 17 metres
Diameter : 2 metres
Range: 3,000+ km
Payload: 1,500 kg
War head Type: Nuclear also
Velocity : 4km/sec



What is Agni III?
Some tout it as IRBM. some argue over that it is an ICBM in the veil of IRBM. The official stand is that Agni III tested by India on May 07, 2008 was an 3000+ km range missile with a capacity of around 1500 kg war head.
The question is what is IRBM & what is ICBM? then may be we can answer what Agni III represents. but alas there is no definite definition of even that. If you try and scourge few forums you would realise that the discussion everywhere is Agni III is an ICBM in the veil of IRBM. As the payload is of 1,500 kg, if it is reduced to 1000kg then the range of the missile would increase by almost 50% i.e. it could reach target of more than 4,500 km.
This stand could be vindicated by the Russian general's statement that the development of Agni III closely follows that of Russian SS-20 missiles & the range of Agni III can breach 5,000km.
Anyways the policy followed by Indians is quite impressive by packaging the ICBM range missile as IRBM and avoiding a controversy regarding it. This kind of diplomacy shows the coming of maturity of the Indian International Political stance.
The important factor should be there should not more delay in testing the other advanced and improved versions of this missile.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

K-15 Code name for Sagrika--Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile

India on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 successfully testfired tactical submarine-to-surface Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile(SLBM) 'Sagarika' codenamed K-15. The test was conducted from a 50 metre submerged pontoon off the coast of Vishakhapatnam. The missile will be mounted on much touted India's nuclear submarine Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), which is in developmental stage.
India had earlier also conducted a test of this missile but was declared as partial success because of course deviation.




Missile Stats:

Length : 8.5 Metres

Diameter : 1 metre

Weight : 7 tonnes

Payload : 500 kg

Nuclear Ready : Yes

Range: 700 Km

Stages : Two

Developed by: Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) Misile Complex, Hyderabad, Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), Research Centre Imarat(RCI)

DRDL : Misssile design & development

ASL : Motors & Propulsion Systems

RCI: Avionics, including control & guiding systems & inertial navigation systems

The test has put into select club of countries with a strategic deterrent forceat sea. The other countries who have this capability are United States (Trident-11,300 km ), Russia (Bulava-10,000km), France (M4 - 5,000km) & China (JL-1, NA, JL-2- 8,000km under development).
The India has also now completed one more leg of Nuclear Triad for minimum deterrence. India already has AgniI, Agni II, Prithvi as Surface to Surface Ballistic Missiles. Sagarika will defeintely add punch to deterrence by providing sea based launch capacity. India is also working on its surface to air missile Akash & Trishul, Air-to-Air missiles Astra, anti tank missile Nag.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Defence Expo 2008.. Spawing MilBus in India...



The ongoing Fifth International Land & Naval Exhibition system, DEFEXPO 2008 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi has generated lot of heat & flutter among the aspirant buyers & dealers of arms & armaments.
475 defence manufacturers, 30 countries, 32,000 square meters area, staggering launch of 91 new products ranging from radars, to communications systems, torpedoes, anti-mine vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles is bound to turn lot of heads towards India. RIA Novosti reports that with India arms spending, around $30 billion on arms spend in 2007, has acquired global dimensions. Indian private sector is vying for atleast 30% of that pie which would amount to $10 billion which is India expects, the public sector won't be able to absorb. India's spend on arms will be around 2.5% of the GDP which is huge amount considering India being 4th largest economy in the world.
A great number of collaborations & negotiations between Indian companies & foreign defence equipment manufacturers have also been anounced. some of those notably are
  1. TATA Advanced Systems (India) sign MOU with Israeli Aerospace Industries to manufacture and develop missiles, pilotless aircrafts, electronic warfare systems, radars and other security systems and defence equipments.
  2. TATA has also tied up with European Defence and Aerospace Consortium for developing advanced tactical communications system project for Indian Army.
  3. TATA also made a contract with US based Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation for manufacturing cabins for Sikorsky’s S-92 helicopters.
  4. TATA also made a joint venture of the company with American aircraft major, Boeing, which is touted as the largest deal of the EXPO.
  5. Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS), a part of the Mahindra & Mahindra Group, is in advanced negotiations for a strategic alliance with Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei (WASS). The proposed underwater defence JV with WASS will jointly address the Indian requirement for underwater defence bringing to the country's armed forces affordable world-class underwater defence systems.
  6. European naval defence systems major DCNS Group announced that it would set up its Indian subsidiary to facilitate ongoing and future projects.
  7. DCNS has recently signed agreements with Kirloskar Oil Engines for integrated platform management systems and with Walchandnagar Industries Ltd. propulsion system parts for the next generation ASW (anti-submarine warfare) corvettes being built for the Indian Navy.

There is still a day remaining & lot of exuberance is still being showcased. This binneial event is touted to be largest of its kind. China has remained away from the EXPO while Pakistan was invited to it.

This EXPO has created lot of exuberance in the Indian Private sector to grab a slice of the Indian Defence market. This will naturally aid to the MilBus(Military Business nexus) in India. Indian defence minister also announced that midllemen will be completely eliminated & has also trying to reduce lot of procedural hiccups while sourcing defence deals.

Indian Goverment does not place orders with the private sector company which does not have less than 26% equity owned by foreign collaborators. It is expected that this norm may be relaxed, which will definitely provide a huge boost to the industry here...

Sunday, November 18, 2007

India's Cryotech!!! Really India's!!???


(For full resolution photo click here)


Almost everybody has been lauding about India's successful testing of "Indigenous" cryogenic engine for full flight duration of 720 seconds on November 15, 2007 for upper stage of India's GSLV. Ground test for 480 seconds was conducted in August 2007.


ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair while delivering the thirty-second foundation day lecture on `Space Technology Development - Management Perspective' at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore said that "we have completed the qualification of indigenous cryogenic engine. It is as good as Russian one."


Now, does that mean it is almost as good as the one we got it from Russia or we have made a engine comparable to Russian one is anybody's good guess. Vijainder K thakur claims that the Indian cryogenic engine is none other than Russian oxygen/hydrogen liquid-propellant rocket engine KVD-1. It is the only one of its kind in the world. The reasoning & the references given by V K thakur are found to be quite credible. (he has also listed references at the end of the article) The article mentions that India had entered into $120 million contract for supply of 2 KVD-1 cryogenic engines & complete transfer of technology with the Glavkosmos. In 1993 US forced Russia to cancel that contract citing violation of MTCR(Misssile Technology Control Regime). Glavkosmos renegotiated the contract to exclude transfer of technology and the sanctions were lifted by US. later ISRO exuded confidence of bulding own engines but faltered in its development. The development is in process since 1986. In december 2001 we renegotiated the contract & further development of launch was collaborated, that also meant that Russia will also help in development of current technoogy.


There are some other aspects which tells us that the engine is definitely indigenous but not exactly true to its term. The Engine developed may be indigenously but the tech has not been sold to us by the Russians rather stolen by us from Russian Cryogenic engines supplied to us for our own GSLV launchings.


You would recall that India entered into contract with Russia for supply 5 cryogenic engines for launches og GSLV in December 2001. Except for the failure of the launch of GSLV F02 in July 2006, all the other launches were fairly successful. The official reason for failure of F02 launch was said to be faulty regulator in one of the Four strap on boosters to the launch vehicle. My wild guess was that the ISRO is not so naive to make a mistake in strap on booster. Rather the failure was because of the Faulty Cryogenic engine fitted in the launch vehicle. The original engine was used by India to copy the tech involved in it. Nowhere did anybody discuss about what happened to the cryo part of launch vehicle. By placing the blame on the strap-on booster, gaze of all was shifted away from cryo part. The realty must be that cryo engine was used by Indian scientists to develop our so called very own engine.


Vijainder Thakur is correct in assessing that ISRO has not told the complete truth. India has really been facing lt of hassles in developing critical technologies. rather they be for MBT Arjun, missiles under IGMDP (Integrated Missile Development Programme), Ummaned Arial Vehicles or Bullet Proof vests for Armed forces. All have seen major failures. None of the above said programmes have had successes to the considerable levels.


The real test of Cryogenic engine does lie in testing but successful launching of GSLV having indigenous engine.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Pakistan----Unstable Neighbourhood

The recent turmoil in our neighbourhood has left evrybody in an uneasy situation. Pervez Musharraf's recent actions seem to suggest a nation to be on brink of collapse, even though reconciliatory voices are being made by the President.
To end the crisis of leading the country on two fronts i.e. militarily & politically, the ongoing president sought a middle way out by having a US brokered deal with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Even after packing of Nawaz Sharif to Saudi, everybody was convinced that Musharraf wanted to step down as military ruler and take over the reins as the civilian President of the country.
Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan entered into deal with musharraf wherein she would be allowed to come back to Pakistan and take part in elections and Musharraf would step down as Military leader and assume the post of civilian President.
But even before drying the ink of the deal, the volte-de-face by Bhutto as to raving about actions of musharraf immediately on landing in pakistan sent a wrong note of her intentions. Bhutto instead of trying to have fair elections started ranting about musharraf and his cronies. This has lead to a peculiar situation, where though a military leader was ready to accede power to politician, the ramblings have lead a question mark on Bhutto's intentions.
Evrybody is trying to call Musharraf's actions as unwarranted, but has anybody thought what would happen, if a person like Benazir Bhutto comes to power? the lady who has been already facing charges for her role in rampant corruption in the state. the lady who immediately changed her tune once reaching pakistan. the lady who does not recognise the immediate situationin hand and instead goes on offensive against the person who brought her in pakistan back.
Musharraf is in a unique situation, where all his efforts to change pakistan have failed. Extremists have increased the hold over the state. Military itself has been echoing misgivings about their general. whatever little crackdown of militants has turned ISI against the government.
If there is no stable ruler (whether military or political) in pakistan, it will have grave consequences on India too. India at this juncture is having a party with its economy zooming, rising stock markets, burgeoning forex reserves, strong currency and buoyant growth in economic health. India cannot afford to have a failed state in the neighbourhood. It will bring the chaos of Afghanistan to our doorstep. It will unreasonably increasse our defence expenditure and bring an abrupt end to the party.
India needs to make sure (by hook or crook) that Pakistan does not end in civil war and become a headless chicken with no effective control over its defence & nuclear material. Our intelligence system needs to be bolstered at this moment to understand the exact temperature within the neighbouring state.
But alas our politicians are interested in their own (read political party) affairs than about our nations....

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

"EKA" Fastest in Asia, 4th fastest in world, Supercomputing Elite in India now....

India's Tata Group has catapulted India into a new league by launching Asia's Fastest Supercomputer named "Eka" which means number Uno in sanskrit.
The supercomputer at Computational Research Laboratory(CRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Ltd., has been adjudged fourth fastest supercomputer according to Top 500 supercomputer list, the International Conference for High Performance Computing.
Some Info:
"Eka" has been developed jointly by CRL and Hewlett Packard. The system has peak performance of 170 teraflops(Trillion Floating Point Operations) and sustained performance of 117.9 teraflops as LINPACK benchmark. The system has 1800 nodes. It has been developed using HP's Cluster platform 3000 BL460C system. It uses quad core clovertown processors from Intel.
It has incorporated CLOS architecture and uses fibre based infiniband interconnect technologies. It has Linux Operating System. The cost of the machine is $30 million wholly financed by Tata Sons Ltd. It uses 14,240 processor cores.
CRL has 2.5 MW captive power installed for "Eka" at pune. 20% of the staff at CRL comprises of PhDs. CRL was incorporated in February 2006 and its facility is in Pune spread over 4,000 sq ft area. The company plans to increase its staff strength from 60 to 90 by the fourth quarter of this year.
Comparatives:
The IBM's Blue gene has been adjudged as fastest supercomp in the world with performance of 478 teraflops which is more than three times that of "Eka". The second fastest machine is also from IBM blue gene range wih speed of 167.3 teraflops installed in Germany. The number three system is from New Mexico Computing Applications Center (NMCAC) with speed of 126.9 teraflops.
The second ranked supercomputer in India, rated 58th in the Top500 list is at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Others are ranked 152, 158, 179, 336, 339,340 and 371.
Quotes:
Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group said:
"High performance computing solutions have an ever-increasing role in the scientific and new technological space the world over. The Tata Group has supported this development activity and is extremely proud of the team that has developed and built this supercomputer, which is now ranked as the world's fourth fastest. I am sure this supercomputer and its successor systems will make a major contribution to India's ongoing scientific and technological initiatives."
S Ramadorai, chairman of CRL and CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services said:
"CRL's supercomputer, EKA, has put India at the forefront of high performance and supercomputing technology globally. EKA gives us the ability to address applications in multiple disciplines including software development and research, The successful launch of the supercomputer has been driven by an exemplary team at CRL working collaboratively with scientists across the Tata Group."
Mr. Balu Doraisamy, Managing Director, HP India Sales said:
“HP is honored to partner with Tata CRL, a leading name in the field of High Performance Computing, from the inception stages of the project, all the way through its production. We are proud to work collaboratively with Tata CRL to take forward their vision of being a global leader in HPC, building scalable and cutting-edge supercomputer architectures while making affordable research in India a reality.”
Operability:
In the near term, CRL is targeting and developing applications such as neural simulation, molecular simulation, computational fluid dynamics, crash simulation, and digital media animation and rendering. The long-term application areas would include: financial modelling, seismic modelling, geophysical signal processing, weather prediction, medical imaging, nanotechnology, personalised drug discovery, real-time rendering, and virtual worlds among others. CRL also intends to offer high-performance and supercomputer system integration, research, applications and software services to its customers around the globe in the area of high-performance computing.
EKA can be applied in the fields of automotive engineering (cross simulation), drug discovery and nanotechnology, according to a company presentation.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Pact without Bargain with Austalia----India's foolishness

Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson is on a visit to India to strengthen defence ties, particularly in the maritime survellance. It is being alleged by China that Australia, US, Japan & India (so called "axis of democracy") are seeking to "contain' China.

It is true to some extent that Australia and Japan have been wary to growing military might of China in the Asia Pacific region. Australia's Defence Minister before coming to India was in China and has tried to assure China that nobody is planning against China. even Indian Prime Minister has conveyed to Chinese Premier that they are not ganging up against China. In Short, everybody has tried to allay Chinese fears. But the situation on the ground remains different. US has still not made any comment on these developments or chinese allegations.


Brendan Nelson will sigining a pact with India for exchange of information. This will basically cover future defence deals, joint research projects and other co-operation where it is necessary for military of both countries to share classified information.


My Analysis & Recommendations:


Japan is an traditional nemesis of China and has always been wary of growing Chinese military might. Japan does not have armed forces of its own. Its military security is the responsibility of US and so japan has maintaining close ties with washington. Japan is concerned about China being militarily as well as economically growing at a fast pace. Until now, Japan was only the only economic super power in Asia Pacific region. It finds its position to be under threat now.


Australia has very close ties with US and has always supported US in all its deciions right from Iraq invasion to War against terrorism. Austalia being a island continent has being wary of chinese might in asia Pacific waters. it had recently also raised concerns about chinese A-sat (anti-Satellite) test and its repurcussions. It defintiely wants to curb the power5s of China.


US has not found enough ground in Asian region and has been trying to contain growing might of china. it has also being wary of China's attitude towards Taiwan and has also decided to extend missile sheild over Taiwan too.


India has own concerns and has always overlooked geo-political equations. India's approach towards international politics hasbeen pathetic with unable derive gains from its realtions with other countries. Even now when Australia, Japan and US are tyring to enlist India for conatinament of China, India should hard bargain and try to get maximum benefits from the same. India is rarely leveraging its influence on Indian Ocean Rim Association (formed by India with countries surrounding Indian Ocean). neither has India given thought to leverage this pact to get Australia moving on export of uranium to India, which is of prime importance to India.


India should try to persuade Australia to change its stance on export of fissile material to India, which it has stopped after "Pokhran 1998". It should also try to push nuclear pact with australia also on the same lines as with US. Indian navy should play a greater role in Asia Pacific region. Indian navy has always been on forefront to contain piracy onhigh seas and has always helped australia for that.


India should not fall prey to "democracy' plea of these countries and leave a chance which could benefit them. every pressure tactics have to be used to deieve maximum gains.


Lets hope India understands this......

Sunday, April 29, 2007

INS Vikramaditya..... & Indian Naval Force

Russian aircraft carrier Gorkhshov rechristened as INS Vikramaditya will now join Indian naval force only in 2010. Last heard the the retofitting being done by Russia will take some more time, it seems they had underestimated the repairs to be made. As per one of the defence website, they underestimated the length of cabling required by almost 20,000 km.

India already has another aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, INS viraat is decommissioned. even INS Vikrant will be decommisioned in 2012. India desparately needs to upgrade its naval force.

India is also in the process of building new indigeneous aircraft carrier of INS Vikrant class of about 37, 500 tonnes. the building has started in 2005 itself and will be complete by 2011. Two more aircraft carriers wer planned in 2007 but the status is not known whether the process has started or not?

China has also 3 carriers. India had sometime back inducted 3 stealth frigates to its force and also 2 INS delhi class ships. 3 more are planned in INS delhi class.
India really needs to speed up the building process. An effective naval foce is an essential in the days when most of the trad is done through high seas....

A really effective force coupled with associations like Indian Ocean Rim Association, of which India is founder can do wonders...

Saturday, April 28, 2007

ISRO....coming of Age

The next satellite to be launched by ISRO would be an Israeli satellite in the month of August. This is the same satellite which Israelis had contracted with ISRO around two years back. It is an spy satellite.

The reliance of highly efficient Israeli forces in Indian launch Vehicle vindicates the technological superiority of PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). This commercial launch will increase the credibility of Indian Launch Vehicles in the international satellite launch market. This will lead to more demand for launch facilities from India.
India is also on the verge of completion of erection of second launch pad at Sriharikota. This will increase the availability of launch facilities in India.
India also needs to involve Private sector in the manufacture of launch vehicles and satellites. Some days back, ISRO Chairman, Mr. Madhavan Nair had said that though the Indian satellite and launch industry has grown three fold, ISRO has not increased the workforce substantially, this proves that the private sector participation has increased and still more is envisaged and expected.
This could come as a boon to the India as the spillover effect of the new technologies by private sector in the commercial arena could spur local industry as a whole.
We now need wait & watch, what kind of & to what extent Private Public partnership will Isro involve.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Untangling Kashmir Mess


What appears to be is that the Kashmir entanglement holding up the potential gains of SAARC. The animosity between India & Pakistan has spilled over in SAARC which has led to its factional politics at SAARC. Trade within SAARC is 2% of their member GDP while that for South Asia is 20%. The official trade between India & Pakistan is of $ 400 Million, while the unofficial trade is in the range of $ 2-2.2 billion. The potential of trade between two countries is $ 6.6 billion. The hate-factor between two nations has cost the citizens of both countries very dearly.

The root of animosity lies in the Kashmir problem. In last 50 yrs both the countries have tried to achieve political gains for themselves in the regional & international arena by leveraging Kashmir problem. Resolution of this problem can lead very outstanding results for whole of Indian subcontinent. But with the current arguments, neither of countries, without budging, from their stands can resolve this issue.

Many people have in fact suggested and tried various solutions for this issue. None of which has made considerable progress from the fact that common borders have always led to increase of tensions rather decreasing it. To diffuse the tension between two countries, we need to create insulation between two countries, which not only discharges the tension but also allows them to reap benefits by contributing to that insulation.

My Recommendations:

Though I believe, Pakistan has forcefully occupied some part of Indian state Jammu & Kashmir and also handed over part of Kashmir (Aksai Chin) to China, taking back of that will involve huge losses to both the sides. We may even risk a nuclear war, which will lead to total annihilation of Pakistan and make India vulnerable to even states like Bangladesh & Sri lanka.

My seven point agenda is as follows:


  • Let the Pakistan and India have their own territories now under their control. Let that be converted to International boundaries.
  • The Pak Occupied Kashmir (also known as PoK) be declared as separate state with its own jurisdiction & be called as Azad Kashmir hence forth.
  • India & Pakistan, both will not interfere in the functioning of Azad Kashmir.
  • Azad Kashmir to be developed on the lines of Switzerland, which has no army of its own, free of all international laws.
  • It will be responsibility of India and Pakistan to protect Azad Kashmir from any external aggression.
  • Both India & Pakistan will get Azad Kashmir UN membership.
  • A tripartite memorandum needs to be signed stating that anybody violating constitution, integrity & freedom of Azad Kashmir will be prosecuted by both countries jointly.
  • Let Azad Kashmir be tax haven and all the trade between India & Pakistan be carried out through Azad Kashmir only. That can be the source of income for Azad Kashmir.
These measures may lead to Azad Kashmir acting as a buffer between two countries and also at the same time developing that into very powerful state, which in fact would be owned by both of them. Azad Kashmir will act as lubricant in the friction between India & Pakistan. No aggression pact will also carry credibility in international for and bring in moolah from the whole world itself. Developing on the lines of Swiss would make it financially secure.

There is a study group, which tries to look into the problems of Kashmir & possible solutions for it. More can be found about them at this website http://kashmirstudygroup.com/

The above idea is mere outline of my though process and can be more refined to suit the exact conditions there.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Indian Aerospace Force 2020

What are the India's objectives in forming Aerospace Command? Will India be able to make that? What are the obstacles in the path for achieving those goals? Do the Indian Airforce have that kind of capability to run an Aerospace Command? whether the India's strategic moves are aligned towards our goals?

All these and much more has been discussed in the article by Pramod Buravalli on indiadefence.com.
It discusses the current Indian Airforce demand for strategic fighters be that F16/18, MIG 35, Grippen or Rafale. It discusses the importance of choosing right kind of Fighter planes. Joint development of 7th generation unmanned fighter vehicles and many other things.

A really effective article.....

Friday, January 19, 2007

General Gareyev Says Russia Changing Its Military Doctrine

Academy of Military Sciences is holding a conference on 20th January and the President of the organisation, General Gareyev will be presenting a report on new Russian military doctrine. In an interview with Viktor Litovkin, the General has made some interesting observations which could have an far reaching implications on the world order and also gives insights into the thinking of an superpower, its views about the other nations, their allies and also their supposed enemies. It also provides insight into how to frame an policy document which can have considerable effect on the other interested parties. The detailed Interview can be sought at following address
General Gareyev Says Russia Changing Its Military Doctrine

some of the interesting quotes are :
"We should define potential ways of using our armed forces and other troops, as well as the types of wars and armed conflicts that we could encounter today and up to the year 2015."
my comments:
this shows the farsightedness of the concerned person/state whilst framing such policies. It seems Russia has made considerable study on the matter.
"It is necessary to avoid excessive emphasis on politics and ideology, instead concentrating on practical efforts to build up defenses."
my comments:
This comment brings out the fallacy of being ideologically correct and failing on practical fronts, the kind of diplomacy India has been promoting. We should look for practical and realist ideas while avoiding into getting any type of ideological controversy. The General by expressing these views makes clear that all the ideas, logic are for them and they are not made for ideas or logic. It makes pretty clear that the security of state is of utost importance and above all other things...
"Ecological and energy factors will be the main causes of political and military conflicts in the next 10-15 years. Some states will try to control the energy resources of others, as happened in Iraq, while others will have no choice but to resist or die"
my comments:
The former part of the above comment relates to cuurent conflicts in the world and also its airs its views as how it has interpreted the Iraq war. It clearlr says that iraq war is not interpreted as "war of liberation" as war to control resources. The later part of the comment is directed towards US saying that the same kind of tactics cannot be used against them. Russia, itself, is a major producer of hydrocarbons and recently has been trying to wrest control from western companies. It has by hook or crook tried to get hold of oil companies operating in Russia. Kremlin indirectly through this document and its actions against foreign companies tries to imply that Russia can'tbe bullied by western powers and they cannot take control of russian resources.
This comment gives insight into mind of superpower and its view towards other superpower.
"Needless to say, poverty is not the only cause of terrorism. North Korea and Cuba are poor countries, but they have not produced terrorists. Those who attacked the U.S. in 2001 were far from being poor."
my comments;
This directly criticises the US diplomacy and atittude towards Islamist extremism and their repurcussions on US.
"It is perfectly obvious that not a single serious issue in the modern world can be resolved without Russia. We don't need confrontation with the U.S., or with the West, or the East."
my comments:
this emphaises that Russia is still a superpower and also that it needs to be consulted while making any decision about world order. At this juncture, I would like to draw attention to recent veto exercised by Russia and China while passing an motion on myanmmar government by UN Secuirty council. But alongwith that, in the same breath, It also says that it does not want any confrontation with any of the western powers. This will be further discussed below.
"It is abundantly clear that there is no alternative to a multi-polar world with major centers of influence (the U.S., European Union, Russia, China, and India). "
my comments:
This sentence alongwith other things in the same para makes abundantly clear the effect of growing influence of India on the world forum...(catering self ego...)
The following para makes clear that the western policies will lead to confrontations with many nations and that Russia is more than ready to fill the gap created by US in managing the wolrd affairs(read natural resources). Russia has at the appropriate time made comments about their doctrine. It tries to create a passionate image about them in the minds of the anti-western powers while also making clear that national interests are most vital to them and they would be protected at any costs.
Further in the interview, General says that growing influence of NATO over soviet era nations like Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgystan will not be tolerated and that the influence will be termed as infringements by western powers over their turf. it also further says that, Russia may retaliate for the same. Recent actions by Russia over fuel supply should corroborate the doctrine of russia. It also implies that though the doctrine is in public realm now, but it already is in works by the kremlin and effectively pursuing it also.
"Secondly, the use of nuclear arms and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction continue to threaten Russia. The nuclear weapons of all major nuclear powers are ultimately designed to be used against Russia, whether we want to admit it or not. In this context, the task of curbing a potential aggressor by means of a strategic nuclear deterrent is becoming more important than in the past."
my comments:
According to me, these are the strongest ever comments made by any nation ever. It tries to imply that all the other nations other than Russia or Russian confederates are enemies of Russia and Russia could use nuclear weapons against any of those. This shows the strong hand of Russia.
Further replying to "possible first strike using of nuclear arms", it justifies that doctrine very convincingly. It clarifies that such weapons cannot used as tactical weapons to neutralize opponents like those in chechnya or any other enemy using proxy wars but will be used with utmost care and while it is attacked by conventional forces on all fronts. it further says that it could not such an conventional force so as to effectively guard its huge expanse. This it says needs an backing of effective nuclear deterrent.
This comment also shows why though western powers emphasize on non-proliferation but try to advance their own weapons. US is already in the process of modernizing its nuclear weaponry and he contracts for the Trident nuclear systems have been already awarded. UK also is in the same process.
Let anybody profess anything about disarmament the nuclear weapons are here to stay till it has not destroyed all of us.
Further Analysis:
What does this document reveal more? we need to analyse this from a situation where in future when all the major powers are locked into confrontation with other nations and next big war is looming over heads, who will side with whom!!??
Yes!!!! that canbe predicted.....Lets discuss that in our next post..........

Friday, January 12, 2007

Turbulent Neighbour, Unsafe Borders.....





Iajuddin Ahmed, President of Bangladesh, declared state of emergency after the current turmoil in country, which witnessed huge surge in pre-poll violence. It has come after UN suspended all support for elections in wake of boycott of elections by the opposition. Even European Union has withdrawn its poll observation mission.


The situation has become more chaotic in our neighbouring country inrecent years and this bores significant concerns for us as the chaotic neighbour can be source potential problem to us. In case of Bhutan, it helped us by flushing out ULFA from their country, which was really noteworthy. The same course of action cannot be expected from country like Bangladesh which has embroiled itself in internal strife and chaos. A country which has huge resource of natural gas and possibly of oil also is in a pitiful state.


Though India has refrained from interfering into matters of other states, it should take some strategic view of the current situation there.


As you look at the map of Bangladesh, it is covered with land on its three sides by us and the fourth side faces ocean, the bay which is completely dominated by India. A small thorn in this area is not warranted as the country has been of no importance to us. None of its actions have been beneficial to us, infact they have been detriment to us.

My course of Action:

while taking any decision about Bangladesh, we need to analyse all the factors affecting us and try to derive maximum gains from it. The positive points about Bangladesh are its only and only one thing that is gas reserves. Bangladesh has huge proven gas reserves of about 11 tcf (trillion cubic feet). Though, experts feel still lot more gas remains to be discovered in the region, the country can be in the eyes of lot of other energy deficient countries like China. The negative points list is bit long with hostility of current political leadership towards India, internal chaos, incompetent leaders. The other major negative point is huge flooding of the country in monsoon. It is 75 % submerged while in floods.

So if India ever decides to takeover the country, there would always be more than profit from it. The best possible action would be to take over the benefits and leave the problems to be tackled by themselves.

India should enter into a bilateral arrangement with Bangladesh, where India should guarantee market to the Bangladeshi oil and gas for next 25 years at the predetermined, negotiated price. In return for that India will develop all of its oil and gas fields and all the reqisite infrastructure for it. Indi would issue aid to the country in the form of soft Rupee loans for next 30 years for developing the infrastructure. The same would be repaid by the country from its earnings from sale of oil and gas. The whole agreement has to be set up in such a way that the only currency to be used for transazction between India and Bangladesh would be Indian Rupee. India would provide forex services to their companies, if required by them to trade with other countries.

In this way, the whole development of country will be dependent on us and as all the market for their oil and gas is held by us, we wouldbe able to dictate terms to them. As the trade between them and us would be in Indian Rupee, India would be infact exporting our currency to pay its debts to Bangladesh. As Bangladesh would find ready market for its gas-produce, they will place huge demand for Indian goods, as they will readily have Indian rupee reserves to pay for it.

25-30 years arrangement for oil and gas will solve some procurement problems for future demand for energy and energy equivalents. We will have some kind of buffer in form of Bangladesh. As the oil and gas fields will be developed by Indian companies(though in participation with local companies there), we will have some kind of reserves for us. Bangladesh will be our natural ally as its development will depend on ours and we can thus buy our safety and also some of energy concerns.

Already we are finding huge reserves in Bay of Bengal and we cannot ignore the safety of that region for our own benefit.

Though the scheme above canbe still more refined, it is by product of crude thinking of my own. Hope India starts some strategic moves and establishes itself(firmly) as global power (and not as only a regional power).

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

One Launch, 4 Parts & One Step to Moon




ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) today(January 10, 2007) successfully conducted launch of it tenth flight of their workhorse launch vehicle PSLV from SHAR, Shriharikota. This launch was unique from many aspects for Indian scientists and also an great leap in their faith in indigenous Space Technology.


The homegrown PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) successfully launched India' CARTOSAT - 2 and Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) -1, Indonesia's LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina's PEHEUNSAT. Cartosat had payload of 680 kg, SRE-1 of 550 kg, LAPAN of 56 kg and PEHEUNSAT of 6 kg.


PSLV has made 10 consecutive(including this one) successful launches since 1994. PSLV was actually designed to launch one tonne payload satellites but its capability has been gradually scaled up. The current flight had total payload of about 1292 kg. Its first stage is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world. The fourth stage's propellant has been reduced from 2.5 tonnes to 2 tonnes. The first stage's weight has also reduced by 500 kg. This all has led to sugnificant improvement in its payload capacity.

Cartosat was injected into high polar SSO after 981.3 seconds, 45 seconds later 6 kg PEHEUNSAT was injected. 120 sec later SRE got separated and finally 190 seconds later TUBSAT mounted on fourth stage was separated.

For the first time DLA (Dual Launch Adapter) was used for launching the satellites.

Cartosat carries PAN (Panchromatic Camera) with the spatial resolution better than one metre and swath of 9.6 km. The satellite can be steered upto 45 degrees along as well as across the track. The data from it can be used in LIS (Land Information Systems) and GIS (Geographical Information Systems).

SRE is intended to demonstrate the technology of an orbiting platform for performing experiments in microgravity conditions. After completion of experiments, the capsule will be de-orbited and recovered after splashing it into bay of bengal. The results of this experiment will useful for further manned missions to space and use of Resusable rockets for launching satellites, which will immensely reduce the cost of launching. More information is available of ISRO website.

This launch of today has vindicated the technological prowess of India and also proved that inspite of sanctions by developed nations, India can pursue its space ambitions on it own mettle.

This will also re-establish ISRO and its commercial arm Antirx in commercial launch market and bring in valuable forex for the country.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Countdown to PSLV C7

On Janurary 10 morning, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) will be launching PSLV C7 from sriharikota launch range, which, if successful, will catapult India into the league of select nations who have the capability to launch reusable launch vehicle. it would be controlled through Satish Dhawan Space Centre located at Sriharikota.

PSLV launch will include Cartosat-2, used for mapping of earth & environment, two foreign satellites- Indonesia's Lupan & Argentina's Pehuensat. It will also carry experimental reusable launch vehicle. This experimental RLV is to demonstrate the RLV technology and further refine it. This RLV would orbit earth for about 10-15 days then would brought down. Initially, it would land using parachutes and splash into ocean, later the tech would be further refined to make it land like an aircraft.
Successful completion of this mission would mean India can now lower costs of launching satellites and also look forward to manned missions which require such critical technology. Further missions of ISRO include Chandrayaan, manned mission to space and also unmanned mission to Mars.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

India's perception in GLOBAL Business Circles

In Economic Times dated December 21, 2006, wherein an interview with Karri Kaitue, Chief executive of Outo Kumpu, Finland based stainless steel major, answering to the question "What is the perception about Indian steel companies in Europe after Tata bid for Corus?" said

"India's rapid economic growth is recognised in Europe and the Tata group is respected. In the case of Tata Steel, the perception in the industry is that the company is among the low-cost producers. We do not know what ultimately happens, but I do not expect any resistance in Europe to Tata's taking over Corus. The Mittal controversy over Arcelor has also been settled amicably. While the company is not Indian, L N Mittal is from India and this has made a difference to the perception of the country in business circles."
what was karri exactly meaning when he said "difference to the perception of the country"?
Karri would have meant that NOW Indians are being taken seriously in the International business arena. This could also mean that International (read 'western') business circles compute non-Indian companies run by Indians as Indian and that the gulf that earlier existed between Indians and Non-Indians now also extends to the companies managed by them.
This process of thought can mean that the racist views run deep into the mindsight of all the western countries and is prevalent irrespective of nature of activity by the people there. Let the activity be business or anyother purpose, the racist views still prevail.
My Analysis:
Karri while talking to media had been very dipomatic and tried to remain politically correct wherever possible. The main intention of the interview, it seems, was to introduce the company to the people in India, here. But a small inapropriate combination of wording can sometimes reveal the true feelings or the general view prevalent. The same thing happened with Karri also.
The interview if read correctly gives the impression that Mr. Karri is consciously driving the topic towards products of their company and avoiding all the other questions.
Lets hope that he really meant what he said and what he said was not what it meant.