DeansMusings

I decided to write on the book controversary after actually reading the manuscript of the book, which is yet to be published and because I thought the row in Parliament and on social media lacked an understanding of the facts, or the background in which a sentence in a 400 page book was taken out of context. While I believe there was nothing wrong in how this particular incident was handled (and the outcome was in our favour) it was to me, as someone exposed to corporate decision making, and as an amateur enthusiast in military history, a case study on the interaction between the political and military leadership in a conflict. Having read several military biographies, I found this quite dry. Several issues that might be of interest to a non military reader, where the Chief was uniquely placed to comment - were mentioned in a perfunctory manner.   The controversary. A paragraph in the book suggested that when Chinese tanks approached an Indian position on 31st August 2020,...

In the summer of 2020, India faced the biggest threat to its national security in decades, though that’s little known, let alone understood.   The background to this goes back to Aug 19, when India abrogated article 370. It was a bold decision by the govt of India, because the feeling in political circles was that the Kashmir insurgency, which was largely under control, after a flare up in 2016, would increase sharply, with the support of the local population angered by the abrogation of article 370. For Pakistan it was almost tantamount to an act of war by India. Not reacting to it would expose the Pak establishment (the army and by extension the militant groups they control) as toothless.   A very heavy presence of paramilitary forces and an increased army presence along the LOC, prevented any increase in the insurgency in the first few months. In the beginning of 2020, incidents of firing across the LOC, by Pakistan increased to over double the 2018 figure. 2020 recorded ...

First published for the Indian military review, before the Doklam & Galwan crisis, it has become more relevant with the current standoff in Ladakh.  Memories of 1962 still affect the ability of our Political and military establishment, to assess the military threat from China. Politically, we have been extremely circumspect when dealing with incursions of the PLA across the LAC. Articles in our defence journals and those written by defence experts, make repeated references to the excellent Chinese transport & airfield network across LAC and its ability to throw upwards of 30 divisions against our forces, tasked with defending the LAC. This is contrasted with the poor infrastructure development on our side and shortfalls in the men and material required to deal with this threat. As an armchair enthusiast and former company CEO who has dealt with competition mapping in the civilian world, I decided to examine this premise, using open source information and Google earth, to ...