My Views on Cabinet Formation

Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defence.

Finance and Defence are two important portfolios and giving them to one person becomes too much for him and unwieldy to handle. With Asia Pacific region gaining importance and China showing muscle power in South China sea as well as on our North Eastern borders, Defence is very important and should be handled by a thorough professional. For that General VK Singh is the right choice. He can be made the defacto RM and later upgraded to Cabinet rank. Let us not be prejudiced with him. He has won with a astounding vote bank and remember your first rally in Rewari for the Ex Serviceman who are looking upto you to mitigate their problems. He can be given the additional charge of north east which will help in firming up our foreign policy. You may like to reconsider moving Gen VK Singh to the all important Ministry of Defence.

It will be a strong supporting message for the rank and file. The forces are looking upto you to improve the Defence Forces both in modernization and status.

Law, Justice and Telecom & IT

Law & Justice should be delinked from Telecom & IT. Law by itself is a very important portfolio and lot of reforms need to be undertaken.  By and large all Ministries are involved in legal tangles and need advice from Law Ministry. Burdening it with Telecom & IT will be too much. All Tribunals should be brought under the Law Ministry. Most of them are working under their parent Ministry and are unable to provide justice. The Armed Forces Tribunal is a classic example. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has recommended that AFT be brought under the Law Ministry but continues to function under MoD. You may like to consider delinking Telecom & IT from Law and Justice.

Environment Ministry

Environment Ministry and I & B Ministry are diagrammatically opposite each other and have no co relation. Environmental clearance being an important factor for all projects should be part of Planning and Statics or with Urban development.

I & B Ministry

The previous incumbent had called this Ministry redundant. It is better if clubbed with Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs as it involves more of interaction with media and outward reach to the masses.

Food and Consumer Affairs and Food Processing.

The Ministry of Food Processing and that of Food and Consumer Affairs should be combined. The Public Distribution System (PDS) should also be brought under Food and Supplies which requires massive overhauling.

 

 

 

ITBP Dply in Leh?

DUPLICATION OF EFFORT: ITBP IN LEH?

 

My comments are based on the article in IDSA on the issue of deployment of ITBP in Leh.

ITBP under the Home Ministry has deployed five battalions of troops in the Leh on LAC which has seen recent stand offs with the Chinese Border guards under their PLA. The HQ is located in Srinagar with an advance HQ functioning in Leh. The communication sets are outdated and reliance is on HF sets which are susceptible to interception and jamming. For local admin they are reliant on the Army. Regular patrolling is undertaken by them in the un demarcated LAC with China. The LAC is also regularly patrolled by the Army units which are heavily deployed with adequate reinforcements should the situation warrant.

The LAC is not an international border where policing is the order of the day than regular troops. The LAC is more prone to border face offs with the PLA where the PLA entered as far as the Depsang plateau and threatened the Indian airfield at DBO. Under such circumstances the deployment of ITBP poses more security hazards then advantages. Unlike the LOC with Pak where regular troops are deployed, the LAC is mixed up. There is therefore need to reassess the deployment of ITBP on the LAC especially in Ladakh region. What are the options?

OPTION 1

 The five bns deployed in the Leh region should be completely withdrawn and the border be handed over to the Army for deployment of regular troops and patrolling the area under direct control of the army since the LAC is sensitive and the area of strategic importance.

OPTION 2

The ITBP bns along with the HQ should be placed under the operational and adm control of the army. The advance HQ should be abolished and the HQ located in Srinagar should be moved up to Leh and maybe even ahead of that.

Both the options are workable. Only change of mindset is required. There is no point in duplicating the efforts. Infact the resource should be more fruitfully utilized which can be dovetailed in the overall army plan of patrolling. National security is overriding priority over empire building and ego between the Defence and Home Ministry. There is no point in duplicating resources which is against the basic management principle of ‘optimum utilization of resouces’ It would be prudent on the next Govt to review this ITBP deployment and place it under the army or remove it completely in the Leh sector.