2017 – Page 5 – Maj Gen Harsha Kakar (Retd.)

October 31, 2017

Inimical forces will attempt to jeopardize military modernization Bharat Shakti 31 Oct 17

India has over the decades only modernized its military by importing hardware. It has been the largest importer of military hardware, as its Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) maintained monopoly, preventing the private sector from entering the market and itself being a failure in almost all military technologies, less missiles and space. Thus, with dependency on imports, the military’s […]

October 31, 2017

Cry of the besieged soldier The Statesman 31 Oct 17

I had written a fortnight ago, in this column, on the ‘equivalence commission’. It is now back in the limelight, even before the earlier controversy had died. The previous commission formed in 2016, post the MoD issuing a controversial letter degrading military officers rank structure, was tasked to establish equivalence between them and the civil cadre. The commission had internal […]

October 27, 2017

Pace the key for interlocutor’s success in Kashmir ORF 27 Oct 17

Introduction The Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, announced the recommencement of the dialogue process in Kashmir, with the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma, the former IB Director, as the centre’s interlocutor. Sharma has been given a free hand to interact with any group or member of society, seeking the aspirations of the people, to enable the centre to move forward with a […]

October 25, 2017

Refugees: India should learn from Europe’s mistakes ORF 25 Oct 17

War, ethnic cleansing and droughts create refugee movements, compelling hordes of suffering humans to move from their permanent residence seeking shelter, food and security to life. In reality, no one desires to leave his place of residence and become a refugee in an alien land, irrespective of present difficulties or benefits it may provide in the future. However, wars and […]

October 25, 2017

Why does the military face shortfall in officer ranks The Excelsior 25 Oct 17

Shortage of officers in every branch of the armed forces continues, despite captivating advertisements, variety of service options and interactions with the younger generation in almost all educational institutes, spread across the country. If the existing shortfall and the fact that only the military advertises, conveys a message that youth are unwilling to join, or the army is no longer […]

October 24, 2017

An opportunity to corner Pak The Statesman 24 Oct 17

The US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, is in India for his maiden visit today, as part of his South Asia tour which would also possibly take him to Afghanistan. He comes to India after visiting Pak, where he would have only heard a collection of false complaints against India, including their desperate objections to its enhanced role in Afghanistan. […]

October 21, 2017

Government stand on NFU has hit armed forces morale Daily O 21 Oct 17

Two major inputs regarding the case in the supreme court on the Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU), granted to all other central services, but the military, are presently doing the rounds on social media. The first is a report in the press highlighting the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the armed forces HQs locking horns over the draft equivalence committee report. The […]

October 19, 2017

Time to move forward in J and K The Excelsior 19 Oct 17

Despite claims of empty seats and invited guests, Adnan Sami’s concert in Srinagar was an indicator that threads of near normalcy are visible in the valley. There were no protests, no objections, no calls for boycott and no heightened militant activity, preceding the concert. The valley had witnessed an unprecedented elimination of militants, over one hundred and seventy, this year. […]

October 17, 2017

Will isolation or international pressure make Pak act Amar Ujala 17 Oct 17

An interesting question presently doing the rounds is on whether Pak can be isolated globally for its policy of supporting terror groups or its strategic importance would preclude such an action or would only international pressure make it behave, despite Trump’s rhetoric of threatening it and India’s strong diplomatic initiatives. Post the outburst of Trump, pushing Pak into depression, it […]