Make-Belief Protectors of India at Each Other's Throat

NEW DELHI: Army chief Gen VK Singh has filed a formal written complaint with the CBI over his alleged bribe offer from a senior retired officer to clear 'sub-standard' trucks.

According to Times Now, CBI has received the complaint and is examining it.

After analysing this written complaint, CBI will decide on filing an FIR in the case.

Earlier, the Army chief had sought a few more days to file his detailed complaint.

Gen Singh, who has named retired Lt Gen Tejinder Singh as the person who had allegedly made the offer, in his initial complaint, was asked by CBI officials to give a detailed complaint about the issue.

Gen Singh had claimed in media interviews that an equipment lobbyist had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore to clear the tranche of trucks, a matter which he had reported to defence minister A K Antony.

The ministry had then recommended a CBI probe into the allegation.

Meanwhile, retired Lt Gen Tejinder Singh recorded his statement against the Army chief in a Delhi court. He has filed a criminal defamation case against VK Singh.

The court has reserved its judgement and will analyse the evidence before deciding on summoning the Army chief in the case.

Saving Minorities or Struggling for Survival?? India Fears Coup

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Two Indian army units that moved towards New Delhi on a January night without notifying the government raised an alarm in the capital, the Indian Express newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing several unidentified sources.

The newspaper report said the infantry unit of the 33rd Armoured Division based 150 km (90 miles) from Delhi and a unit of the airbourne 50 Para brigade based in Agra to the south reached the outskirts of Delhi before being ordered back.

The army told the newspaper the units were engaged in routine training exercises to test their mobility in fog and did not need to warn the government in advance. Defence ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar told Reuters it was not true the manoeuvres had caused alarm in the ministry.

The troop movements happened at a time of high friction between Army Chief Vijay Kumar Singh and the government. The newspaper said the accepted view is there was a breakdown in communication rather than a plot of any kind.

The military in India is not known for conspiring against the government in a region plagued by instability.

On the night in question, lookouts confirmed the two units were travelling towards Delhi, the report said.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony was informed and the government ordered police to check all vehicles on roads to Delhi as a way of slowing traffic. The defence secretary, the ministry's top civil servant, cut short a trip to Malaysia to handle the situation.

The report highlights the deep rifts and tense atmosphere in recent months between the world's second largest standing army and the government.

On January 16, the day the exercises took place, Singh took a case against the government to the Supreme Court in a row about whether he could serve another year before retiring. He later lost the case.

The army chief has since said he was offered a $2.8 million bribe and accused the defence minister of not acting on information about corruption in the forces. He also wrote a letter to the prime minister in March saying the army was not in proper shape to defend the country. The letter was leaked.

Reality of Indian Army: Rusted Weapons and inability to Fight in Night

India's tank fleet lacks ammunition, its air defences are "97 percent obsolete" and its elite forces lack essential arms, the country's army chief wrote in an explosive letter. PHOTO: AFP/FILE

NEW DELHI: India’s tank fleet lacks ammunition, its air defences are “97 percent obsolete” and its elite forces lack essential arms, the country’s army chief wrote in an explosive letter leaked Wednesday.

The letter to the prime minister dated March 12 – widely reported by the Indian media – lists the shortcomings of the armed forces in embarrassing detail in a blow to the government and the Asian giant’s military prestige.

Its publication also ups the stakes in a public battle between army chief General VK Singh and the government which began with a dispute over Singh’s retirement earlier this year.

“The state of the major (fighting) arms i.e. mechanised forces, artillery, air defence, infantry and special forces, as well as the engineers and signals, is indeed alarming,” Singh wrote in the letter, DNA newspaper reported.

The army’s entire tank fleet is “devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks”, while the air defence system is “97% obsolete and it doesn’t give the deemed confidence to protect… from the air,” he wrote, according to DNA.

The infantry is crippled with “deficiencies” and lacks night fighting equipment, while the elite special forces are “woefully short” of “essential weapons”.

Singh also told The Hindu newspaper this week that he had informed Defence Minister A.K Antony of a $2.8 million bribe offered to him in 2010, leading to embarrassing questions as to why the government did not order an enquiry.

Antony told parliament on Wednesday that he was aware of the letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and he would reply appropriately.

Indian Army Gen V K Singh indoctrinating Army against Defense Ministry

Defense Ministry has launched a probe into a complaint which claimed that the Army chief had deployed interceptors for clandestinely listening to important phone conversations in resentment of reprisal of his age row controversy. 

On the other hand, adding insult to injury, our Army, without any proof, in a surprise reaction that made its internal strife public, had accused the former head of the Director General of Defense Intelligence Agency (DGDIA) of 'spreading stories' that General V.K. Singh was spying on defense minister A.K. Antony and other senior officials.

Moreover, the evil intentions of Gen V K Singh to malign Defense Ministry can be interpreted by his recent statement which stated that Indian Army has left with only two days stock of ammunition if waged in war whereas conversely, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), in its report, said India accounted for 9% of all international arms imports between 2006-2010, making it the world`s largest weapons importer. (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-14/india/28687498_1_largest-arms-sipri-arms-imports).

Hegemony of Indian Army over MoD

It’s a question that has begun to make my head hurt. It isn’t a lazy rhetorical question either. And it’s a question I suspect (or at least hope) disturbs a lot of people in this country. Because if there’s one thing that’s certain in this inclement, hateful time, it is this: the Indian Army needs saving. And fast. Nothing can be worse than a country desensitized to the idea of instability and tumult in the Army. The end begins when citizens expect little more than bad news from the barracks or South Block.

Well, I hate to do this, but there’s actually some worse news: Of those who have the power to fix the Army, who hold offices that put them in a position to actually do something to recover from a dangerous situation, there is nobody (at least nobody I can think of) who inspires a splinter of confidence. Here they are, and here’s why I think they can’t:

First, Defence Minister A.K.Antony. As the principal antagonist in the unfinishing face-off with Chief of Army Staff General Vijay Kumar Singh over his age and tenure, he has demonstrated, with resounding consistency, that he probably doesn’t have (a) the necessary proficiency and judgement to actually salvage such a festering situation, and (b) the very willingness to accept — until it is clearly way to late — that there is a problem. The age row stands as a glittering example of this unfortunate ineptitude. Unfortunate, because Mr Antony isn’t by any stretch a bad man. Just that he almost definitely doesn’t have what it takes to fix the collateral victim of this very personal war: the Indian Army itself.

Second, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. As someone who was drawn into the Antony-General face-off by a letter that the Chief addressed directly to him, bypassing the Defence Minister, he cannot say he was wasn’t part of the discourse or that there wasn’t an opportunity for him to intervene and ensure a settlement. His refusal (or failure) to recognise a desperately ominous situation doesn’t say much about his abilities to fix things. The person who has the power to fix the Army needs to be proactive, nimble and the resilient enough to (a) recognise that there is a problem, and (b) work through it. Dr Singh doesn’t fit.

Third, Sonia Gandhi. Several armed forces chiefs have had an equation with the UPA chairperson, including two former Chiefs from the Army and Navy. Somehow, it doesn’t look like the Army is, or ever will be, a priority. She could certainly ensure that the two people named above get off their chairs and actually chase down a solution, but she’s got way too much else on her mind. So no chance.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the man who will lead the Army from the afternoon of May 31, Lt Gen Bikram Singh, takes office in the most unhappy of circumstances for civil-military relations. The general will be perceived to be an establishment man, as someone who the government ensured becomes Chief despite a massive age row campaign that would have put him out of the reckoning if the government had lost the age case in Supreme Court. Going simply by human nature, therefore, he has no reason to rock the boat — indeed, there may be an element of gratitude in his approach to his duties. And since anyone who wishes to save the Indian Army needs to be fearless of confrontation and friction, it is unlikely that Bikram Singh will have any incentive to go out on a limb to do anything dramatic or revolutionary. Of course, I may be completely wrong — and to be fair, few people know Lt Gen Bikram Singh well — but let’s just say that if he did manage to fix the Army in his circumstances, or even try, the country should be seriously surprised.

The bureaucracy? Good one! It’s too busy being chuffed about cutting the Army chief to size in the age row, and will perhaps therefore be even more condescending and difficult in future dealings. The chances of the MoD bureaucracy driving change are never promising even at in good times. (A notable exception is the Ajai Vikram Singh Committee report that gave the Army a younger profile and more efficient promotion system, but the former Defence Secretary only headed the committee — it was largely driven by the Army itself.)

Gen V K Singh feuling Indian Army Against the Civil Government-Proofs Unvieled

The birth date controversy has been on the simmer for over a year. The Adjutant General's branch which deals with manpower has issued recorded General Singh's date of birth as May 10, 1951 but the Military Secretary's branch that deals with promotions and postings recorded it as May 10, 1950. General Singh insists 1951 is his correct date of birth and calls 1950 a clerical error but, after considering the stark response of Defense Ministry over his age controversy, Indian Army General V K Singh, in order to save his reputation, has come up with another gambit of a compromising formula for the Government with his recent assertions of terming it a battle for honor and not tenure. The suggestion is that he would resign on time if the ministry accepted 1951 as his year of birth. What a joke!!

Well, rumors swirling around the corridors of South Block say General Singh may resign ahead of his retirement date if he feels his battle is lost. But, clearly, the personal crusade has hobbled his options. In 1961, General K.S. Thimayya resigned as Army chief. Thimayya's reasons were never personal. He was dissatisfied with the Army's poor preparation against China and defense minister V.K. Krishna Menon's neglect of adequate equipment. General Thimayya was persuaded to withdraw his resignation by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. In the case of the present Army chief, however, things are different. "There is no interest in this case except self-interest," says a senior Army officer.

Whoever wins at the end of this bitter controversy, the outcome will have substantially diminished one of the nation's great institutions. It can lead to what the Army uses to describe a depleted war machine-hollowness.