1962: The War That Wasn't

“Avenge our unplayed lives, redeem the unredeemable  sacrifice,
       In freedom and integrity, let this be your inheritance, and our unwritten epitaph.”

Extract From The Book :-  “At the time when rest of the world was exhausted from the Second World War and attention was focused on the Cold war, Chinese supremo Mao Tse-Tung (Mao Zedong) pulled off one of the greatest real estate coups of all time. The Chinese played their cards in such a manner that the Indians lost what should have been at best a defensive war by not fighting it at all.”

                                     Since Indian independence we have fought five major wars four against Pakistan and one with China. While we successfully defended and won wars against Pakistan the battle in the high Himalayas in October-November 1962 left India humiliated and psyche scarred till now. 

                                        1962: The War That Wasn’t by Shiv Kumar Verma is an extraordinary attempt to unravel truth about Indo-China war fiasco, that till now is shrouded in myth and mystery, for the only official inquiry, the Brooks-Henderson/Bhagat Report on India’s catastrophic defeat in the war, has remained locked away, seen only by  very few in the military hierarchy over the past 50 odd years (media reports).

                                     This incredible book should be broadly divided into three phases, complete lack of understanding of the problem coupled with nepotism of narcissist PM and cowardly display by incompetent top military commanders who weren't chosen on merit . The incompetent politicians J.L Nehru(PM) and K.Menon(Defense Minister) who scuttled any positive attempt by Army to assert its authority by taking independent decisions. By humiliating Top military brass and replacing them with incompetent puppet officers with total lack of credentials were the genesis of defeat. In the end, the cowardice of those chosen few with bizarre military decisions on ground led to the worst defeat India faced despite exemplary courage shown by soldiers.

                                     So obsessed was Nehru for his image as leader of "Third World" and statesmanship that he supported China on all international forums despite China’s annexation of Sinkiang (Xinjiang) in 1949 and Tibet in 1950. When General KM Cariappa brought to Nehru’s notice in early 1951 that some Chinese troops were apprehended with maps showing parts of the North East Frontier Agency as part of China, he retorted, “It is not for the Army to decide who the nation’s likely enemies would be.”

                                       Despite total lack of infrastructure, no winter clothing, food to sustain, forget artillery support there's no basic ammunition to fight yet our soldiers on ground fought valiantly. Without providing the additional resources required, handing over the borders to the army was a meaningless gesture.” writes Verma. 

                                        In the end over 4,000 were taken prisoners of war by China , and an entire division of over 15,000 ill-equipped was routed in the face of the massive Chinese onslaught. While Chinese officially admit to 2,419 casualties (722 dead and 1,697 wounded) on their side. In my opinion this book is a must read, as it was not only ill preparedness but total collapse of decision making process at higher level .We must all debate and learn from mistakes and take decisive measures to prevent any catastrophe in future.

USA - An Apartheid Nation ?

                                         USA is always at the forefront of protesting and publicly giving decrees against governments around the globe when it comes to human rights.   Uncle Sam portrays himself the harbinger of good and just causes while denouncing and sometimes putting sanctions with or without UN approval on governments not obligatory to their whims. The U.S. State Department issues a report on human rights in other countries around the world. The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices have been an annual tradition since 1977 . Any country not towing the set parameters laid down by selected group led by US, is denounced and smudged with shadow of punitive sanctions always lurking . US projection of global watchdog is hypocrisy since human rights violations within US are increasing  alarmingly but is conveniently ignored.

                                       America of today is passing through a social turmoil with least regard for human rights violations. Most of the news emerging out of US points towards burgeoning social unrest, unabated violence, mass gun deaths, racism, racial profiling and police  brutalities on black population and minorities . The most disturbing uptrend is the police brutal killings of hapless black people in cold blood.  African-Americans are being marked and targeted for racial profiling, for arrest,for brutality and outright murder by law enforcement agencies. The escalating division inside the US between law enforcement agencies and the African-American as well as other linguistic or religious minorities is astonishing.

                                   The escalating brutal crackdown of law enforcement agencies on innocent  African-American community is only a small piece of problem, the growing intolerance towards religious minorities and racial  profiling without any remorse or shame is another. The shallowness of rhetoric on respect for human rights by US can be gauged from the fact that it supported Saudi Arabia candidacy to lead UNHRC, a country known for blatant human rights abuses. The uptrend in violence of one community towards people from other races has reached alarming proportion now and efforts to silence voices is proving futile. The high-profile police killings of black men, mass gun violence and targeted killings of police officers, testifies the worsening civilian unrest in US.

                                           There's no denying the fact that gun violence,racial tensions are at their worst in USA with abuse of power by the police is only making environment murkier by the day. Under the present scenario it is but natural to compare present day America with South Africa of past. The comparison is baffling with figures are worse when compared . The United States incarcerates a higher proportion of blacks than apartheid South Africa did. In America, the black-white wealth gap today is greater than it was in South Africa in 1970 at "the peak of apartheid". According to reports that whites in South Africa owned 15 times more than blacks in 1970s, while the current ratio for the United States is 18 to 1. The gap in household income, the ratio of unemployment, and the number of children going to segregated schools have all remained roughly the same. The disparity in incarceration rates has gotten worse.

                                    It wouldn't be wrong to question US for deteriorating human rights abuses and coerce government to initiate steps to restore sense of equality and justice among disadvantaged vulnerable groups, who are at mercy of trigger happy law enforcement agencies.Under present circumstances its naive to consider sermons seriously from US unless it sets his house in order and take meaningful steps to address the growing social unrest in its backyard. It is high time for the US government to face its own human rights problems with courage and give up the unwise practices of applying double standards on human rights issues.

Hinduism

                                     Often difficult to understand who's a Hindu or "Sanatan" (Eternal) Dharm, today read this beautiful article and sharing with all , hope u will like it --

                                   ‘Hindu’ is a geographical term. It is not name of a religion, as is often believed. Inhabitants of lands across the Sindh – Indus river -- were called Sindhus by all who came from the West. Later on, the name Sindhu was distorted to Hindus. Hindus were known to be people who lived in sync with Nature, and were spiritual people and through their experiences emerged the Vedas. Hinduism is a way of life – a truly spiritual way to life. The sun shines and gives out heat. It has been doing so for ages, it is sanatan - eternal. Does anyone have any right on it, can a Hindu or a Muslim religious leader claim it to be theirs? That which is sanatan is not property of any one cult or religion.

 

Sun rays fall on all equally, they light up everything irrespective of caste creed or colour...that is Nature’s Law – sanatan – eternal. Air gives life to us, it too is eternal. Everything on this planet is composed of five elements – "Panchtattva". These five elements – earth, fire, air, space and water – are sanatan – eternal, for have always been around ever since.

                                      It is these which need to be revered, respected and worshipped rather than some mind created paths which you are tuned to. Humans should strive to be comfortable and in tune with the universal energies because they are a product of these energies, the five elements which are compiled and formed into the highest form of specie – humans, according to Universal Intelligence, so as to follow universal mechanism and laws of Nature.

                                      This is the basic guna of every human -- to act according to Nature -- which is whole and complete – perfect for natural evolution of all the species and expansion of the Universe.

One has to be part of this magical and divine cosmic play and this is the highest joy of being a human.

                                      Human is here to celebrate life according to laws of Nature, enhancing each other towards growth, glory and grace. Where is the space for agony and hatred in this most spectacular, grand and wonderful eternal divine cosmic play.

Economy On Track

                                          Critics often scream about the illusionary stalled state of economy without facts, try to tarnish government's reputation about nonexistent (so far) scams that its futile to debate but here i am writing about the decisions and there implementation to augment economy and their repercussion. As P.M always reiterate his sacred mantra of "minimal government maximum governance" incumbent gov't is brilliantly acting as facilitator for stalled and new projects to provide thrust to economy.

 Energy :-  After anointed as PM candidate, Modi emphasized about the need to increase electricity generation and providing it to the remotest parts of country "untouched virgin" territories till now. There was a near-crisis situation in coal supply when NDA took charge. The government quickly passed an ordinance (later replaced by an Act) and auctioned coal blocks to alleviate the shortages while garnering Rs 3.44 lakh crore of revenues over the lifetime of the blocks thus turning around the beleaguered and maligned mining industry reeling under coal scam by infusing new lease of life. 

                                Coal production since then has acquired momentum with the output rising by 32 million tonnes in 2014-15 against the increase of 31 million tonnes in the previous four years taken together. Growth during 2015-16 is reported to be nine per cent. Underground coal gasification projects are on anvil too.

                                Solar power generation is another primary focus area of government with 32 solar parks of 20 Gw capacity approved in 20 states. The government initiative to emphasize more on renewable power to reduce carbon emission is applauded by investors and and states and addition of 1.5 Gw in 2015 -16 testifies it.

                                PM has announced his intention to electrify 12,000 villages by May 1, 2018 and electrification of 6,816 villages has been achieved in last two years and work to connect rest of villages is currently underway. 

 Railways :-  There's 66% increase in the average rate of expansion of tracks since the NDA government took center stage. Investment in railways has  doubled during 2015-16 then the average during the preceding five years with special focus on northeastern states who have been neglected for last 65 years. The stress on modernizing 400 major railway stations has started bearing fruit.

                            Government initiative of electrification of tracks and CNG trains are other commendable steps. The construction of dedicated eastern and western freight corridors of 1,305 km and 1,499 Kms, respectively, and laying down of 1,875 Kms of new railway lines augers well for railway modernization and reach.

  Roads :-  It is another sector where incumbent government achieved breakthrough by pushing towards execution of the stalled projects of previous government while actively initiating new projects. Acceleration of road construction can be gauged from the stats which are road construction has risen from 8.5 Km a day during the last two years of the previous government to 11.9 Kms in 2014-15 and 16.5 Kms in 2015-16. The construction of national highway projects awarded has risen from 3,500 Kms in 2013-14 to 8,000 Kms in 2014-15 and 10,000 Kms in 2015-16.

                                 Besides these, 3 year tax holiday for Startup ventures to promote entrepreneurship among disadvantaged communities and government's flagship program "Make In India" to focus on manufacturing are some other important and worthwhile initiatives that needs to be pondered upon before criticizing the efficacy of government.