India’s defence needs

THE battle of Kargil has taught us many lessons. The first and foremost of it is that Pakistan can never be trusted. No matter how many bus trips we make of Lahore. That country can never be believed to have friendly feelings towards India. A country whose foundation is laid on the blood of innocent people can never think of peace. It is a kind of war baby and should be expected to take recourse to aggression at the smallest opportunity available.

This naturally leads us to defence preparedness. Unfortunately, India did not make any substantial effort to augment its military strength during the regime of Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao. The government was too busy initiating economic reforms, and was also under pressure from the USA not to spend more on defence. On the other hand, Pakistan went on spending a very substantial portion of its budget on defence. The result is that while we have stayed where we were, Pakistan is armed to the teeth.

The most important thing today is to augment our defence capabilities substantially by arming the forces with the latest weaponry. The earlier we do this, the better prepared we will be to face Kargil-like situations.

Kargil is not going to be a solitary event; many more Kargils can take place. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative for us to strengthen our defence all over the border, specially in Kashmir.

The Bofors are good guns. But due to politics we are running short of spares and ammunition. I understand that some of these guns have been cannibalised due to the shortage of spares. Under the circumstances, it is absolutely necessary for India to remove the name of manufacturers from the black list and continue with the contract on the licensed production of its ammunition. We need not stop our efforts to trace the sixth account in Swiss banks, but the manufacturers should not be shunned simply because the guns have become a political issue in the country.

The government should expedite the purchase of most modern tanks from Russia as the horizons are already full of war clouds.

Indians are known to be a lethargic people, taking their own time in everything that they do. If this attitude continues the country’s defence will suffer.

P.K. DUTTA
Chandigarh

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Soldiers’ problems

Whenever the clouds of war hover around, the governments of the border states express their sympathy with military personnel and seek the enhancement of benefits to them. They issue instructions like this: their grievances should be heard sympathetically, administrative tasks relating to them be carried out on priority,etc. However, very soon such instructions are forgotten.

The following, if implemented on priority and within a laid-down time-frame with respect to military men and their dependants, will go a long way towards ameliorating their conditions:

(i) Issuing of certificates of birth, death and residence, vehicle registration and sanctioning of driving licences etc.

(ii) Issuing of certified copies of judicial, quasi-judicial and executive orders and public documents, including land records, etc.

(iii) Investigation of complaints and reports.

(iv) Transfer of the spouse of a military person on request.

Many people, including their own relatives, take advantage of the absence of military persons and try to grab their property in connivance with the patwari/policemen. As such, instructions should be issued that the patwari/munshi concerned will forthwith enter the soldier’s report even if it is found irrelevant/inactionable and cancelled by the SDM.

Military commissioned officers should be empowered to attest affidavit, special power of attorney, etc, when brought by a military person or his dependants. Such documents are needed frequently for civil matters.

The Soldiers Litigation Act and the Civil Procedure Code should be amended so that the judicial/quasi-judicial cases in which soldiers (irrespective of their place of posting) or their dependants are a party, on his application, are heard on a day-to-day basis, except when adjourned for not exceeding the limit of seven days to arrange for witnesses for the first time. Disobedience of this law and the above mentioned instructions should invite disciplinary action.

An officer equivalent to the Principal Secretary should be suitably empowered to pass any executive order favouring military personnel/their dependants and/or recommend disciplinary action for not properly hearing/redressing the grievances of a soldier. The empowered secretary should visit each district headquarters once a fortnight to hear the grievances and review the implementation of the government’s instructions concerning military persons. He should send a quarterly report to the Chief Minister of his state suggesting ways to end their hardships.

Lt-Col N.K. GHAI
Chandigarh

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Of public expenditure

I have read with interest and curiosity the article “Value-added governance: measures to reduce expenditure” by Dr Raja J Chelliah (The Tribune, June 30). It needs to be noted carefully that the staff strength of the central government — 38.80 lakhs — is too much for the tasks to be performed and too large to ensure its functioning efficiently. This shows that there is a strong case for reducing the staff strength.

The Government of India and the state governments should seriously think of reducing (not increasing) the retirement age for this purpose, in the national interest. The number of the ministers at the Centre and in the states needs to be minimised with a certain ratio of MPs and MLAs only.

To my mind, the governmental expenditure is also increasing because of the litigation culture, as the government spends a lot of money on court cases which can be reduced to a considerable extent.

In the context of the prevailing fiscal crisis it is relevant to apply the canons of public expenditure as advocated by Dr B.R. Ambedkar while discussing the functions of the Comptroller and Auditor-General in 1949 during the framing of the constitution. These canons are in terms of the faithfulness to the intentions or the will of the people, wisdom as provided by the professionals in the field coupled with well-considered and honest judgement and economy in execution.

The remarkable thing about these canons is that they are ism-free. One can follow a policy of a large or small public sector and yet the principles behind these canons are applicable. The canons are sufficiently flexible so that expenditure can be related to the state of the Indian economy.

The canons of Ambedkar emphasis that the expenditure decisions should closely relate to the specified objectives and the available resources besides ensuring economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

M.M. GOEL
Kurukshetra

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The way to honour martyrs

Donations are being collected by various agencies for the families of our Kargil martyrs. It is a laudable step. But has anybody ever asked if the families would accept such donations?

What the families of the martyrs want is the setting up of schools, dispensaries, hospitals, etc, in memory of the departed souls. Roads, parks, etc should also be named after them.

SAKSHI KHANNA
Panchkula