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KOTHARI INSTITUTE

DATE-28Feb2014

NATIONAL NEWS

1. ‘Mini capitals’ mooted for Seemandhra to spur growth 2. Shankar Mahadevan’s song nominated for Honesty Oscars 3. General V.K. Singh to join BJP 4. Govt. considering ordinance route to confer special status on Seemandhra 5. Chacko: pepper spray issue infructuous 6. Rs.45,000-cr. pyramid scheme scam busted: CBI 7. IM was planning 26/11-type attacks on police, politicians

Business

1. New CSR rules to come into force from April 1

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. Yanukovych flees Ukraine, takes refuge in Russia 2. Quiet schoolboys turned into ‘soldiers of Islam’

Business

1. eBay leads Rs 830 crore fund infusion in Snapdeal

EDITORIAL

Looming military breakdown

Dear students here are the news from “THE HINDU” and “TIMES OF INDIA”

NATIONAL NEWS

H, February 28, 2014

‘Mini capitals’ mooted for Seemandhra to spur growth

RAVI REDDY

Action plan to develop major Tier II and III cities/towns as mini capitals mooted

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The Union government has put in place an action plan to develop major Tier II and III cities/towns in Seemandhra region as ‘specialised mini-capitals’. The new capital of residuary Andhra Pradesh may be merely the administrative and political headquarters.

In a bid to contain people’s antipathy towards the Congress in the wake of the bifurcation, the Centre is said to be toying with the idea of decentralised development instead of investing heavily on new capital. The new mantra would be to develop at least eight to ten cities/towns in the region, depending on their importance.

Highly placed sources told The Hindu on Thursday that a blue-print presented to the Centre after the division of the State has strongly pitched for developing a new capital

that would function merely as the administrative and political headquarters. “Apart from the construction of the State Secretariat, Legislature and buildings to house government departments, the Centre wants to give a fillip to other places for all round development,” sources said.

The action plan submitted to the Group of Ministers and Centre recommends developing Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Ongole, Tirupati, Chittoor, Kakinada and Anantapur as specialised hubs or mini-capitals. According to information, Visakhapatnam may turn into the fisheries and sea-food hub. To give teeth to its plan, it has been suggested that the headquarters of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) should be shifted to the port city of Visakhapatnam to attract more investments to develop fisheries and sea-food based industries. Kakinada will become the focal point in the development of petrochemical industries. Plans are said to be afoot to set up a corporation exclusively to meet the needs of industries dependent on gas; a corporation on the lines of one run in Gujarat Gas Company Limited. Request has already been made to Centre to revive the IFFCO plant, the foundation for which was laid in Nellore district. Keeping in view the automobile and transport industries’ concentration in and around Vijayawada, it is likely to become the transport hub. Ongole is said to be in the race to become the engineering hub. Tirupati or Chittoor are in the reckoning to turn into agro-based and food-processing hubs in the near future while Anantapur is being tipped as the hardware electronics hub.

Sources said the Centre was looking at a city that has the necessary infrastructure, road and air connectivity besides much needed assured water resources. Visakhapatnam and Rajahmundry are said to be one of the options before the government .

Although no final decision has been taken in identifying the new capital, the Centre appears to be serious about ensuring decentralised development and refrain from repeating its mistake of making Hyderabad a global destination at the cost of neglect of other cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh.

MUMBAI, February 28, 2014

Shankar Mahadevan’s song nominated for Honesty Oscars


Singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan is on cloud nine as Mujhse hogi shurvaat by I Paid a Bribe and the Shankar Mahadevan Academy has been nominated in the best activist anthem category of Honesty Oscars 2014.

A few days before the 86th Academy Awards, campaigning and advocacy organisation ONE and Accountability Lab started unveiling the nominations for Honesty Oscars 2014, an award that honours not Hollywood films, but the creative work of activists and organisations that fight global corruption. The awards will be handed over to those who get maximum number of votes and the winners will be announced on March 2, the night of the Oscars.

So far, three categories of Honesty Oscars have been unveiled — best visual effects, best activist in a leading role and the best activist anthem to honour original songs that have truly inspired audiences to learn about the fight against global corruption and join the movement, too.

“Our song has been nominated for the HonestyOscar Awards! Please go to the link and vote ...,” Shankar tweeted on Thursday. The song is by the singer’s online music academy and ipaidabribe.com — Bangalore-based non-profit organisation Janaagraha’s initiative to tackle corruption. “Mujhse hogi shurvaat” has been sung by

Mahadevan, Sukriti Kakar, Prakriti Kakar and Chetan Naik. The song has been co-composed by Soumil and Siddharth. — IANS

NEW DELHI, February 28, 2014

General V.K. Singh to join BJP

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

General V.K. Singh

Former Army chief General V.K. Singh is all set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. After his association with Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption in the recent past, Gen. Singh appears to have made up his mind to take the plunge and join the BJP, a few weeks ahead of the coming Lok Sabha polls.

BJP sources said the former Army chief is likely to join the party here on Saturday. Gen. Singh who has earlier shared the stage with the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at an ex-servicemen’s rally in Rewari in Haryana is reported to have met the BJP chief Rajnath Singh recently.

He is likely to be considered for a ticket from Rajasthan. “He has shown an inclination to contest from there. There is a fair chance that the party will consider him as a contestant,” party sources said.

Gen. Singh had caused a flutter when he revealed that he was offered Rs. 14 crore as bribe to clear the purchase of vehicles for the forces. He was also locked in a legal

tussle with the Defence Ministry over a row regarding his age. He retired as Army Chief in mid-2012.

The BJP has seen former bureaucrats, including former Home Secretary R.K. Singh and former diplomat Hardeep Puri, coming into its fold in the past few weeks.


Govt. considering ordinance route to confer special status on Seemandhra

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT The UPA government is believed to be exploring the possibility of promulgating an ordinance to confer ‘Special Category State’ status on Seemandhra as promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha during the debate on Telangana Bill.

The issue could come up at Friday’s Cabinet Meeting.

A day after The Hindu reported that Seemandhra does not fulfil the criteria for special status and only the National Development Council alone can alter the norms, Jairam Ramesh, a key member of the Group of Ministers that drafted the Telangana Bill, wrote to Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on the issue.

Mr. Ramesh had said the GoM originally wanted the revenue from Hyderabad divided, post-bifurcation, between Telangana and Seemandhra. But the idea had to be dropped after Constitution experts pointed out that revenue from a State could not be shared with another.


Chacko: pepper spray issue infructuous

J. BALAJI The Committee of Privileges cannot proceed further on the issue of L. Rajagopal using pepper spray in the Lok Sabha because it has become infructuous after the House was adjourned sine die , panel chairman P.C. Chacko said on Thursday.

“We can only give the report, and it is for the House to decide what to do with Mr. Rajagopal even if the committee recommends punishment [for his action when the Telangana Bill was being introduced on February 13]. Moreover, he has resigned his membership [of the Lok Sabha],” Mr. Chacko told The Hindu from Kerala.

Mr. Chacko said he could not contact the committee members as they were busy with election work. But the committee could still summon Mr. Rajagopal and seek an explanation. The issue had been referred to the committee by Speaker Meira Kumar.


Rs.45,000-cr. pyramid scheme scam busted: CBI

DEVESH K. PANDEY Says two private companies cheated over five crore investors

The CBI said here on Thursday it had unearthed a Rs.45,000-crore pyramid scheme scam run by two private companies on the pretext of allotment of farm land to over five crore investors.

“Initial investigations have revealed an alleged scam to the tune of Rs.45,000 crore by a Delhi-basedprivate company and others by raising investments through a collective investment scheme under the garb of sale and development of agricultural land,” a CBI spokesperson said.

Pursuant to a Supreme Court directive, the agency registered a case against the company and another firm which employed a similar modus operandi to cheat investors after the first company was directed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to wind up the scheme and make repayments to the investors.

“During the past five days, a series of raids were conducted on the official and residential premises of the company directors, besides other suspects. The searches carried out in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab led to seizure of documents related to deposits from general public and diversion/mis-utilisation of funds. We have also come across evidence indicating benami properties in and abroad. Some investments made in Australia are also under scrutiny,” the CBI official said. The official said searches were also conducted on the premises of directors Harcharan Singh, C.B. Dhillon, Premchand, Gurmeet Singh and Subrato Bhattacharya.

IM was planning 26/11-type attacks on police, politicians Deeptiman Tiwary,TNN | Feb 28, 2014, 04.40 AM IST

The NIA chargesheet against Yasin Bhatkal has elaborate details of the outfit's disenchantment with triggering

blasts and its growing desire to carry out fidayeen attacks on politicians and police to shake up the government.

NEW DELHI: Indian Mujahideen was keen on 26/11—type fidayeen attack, targeting

police and politicians, instead of planting bombs andrunning away. IM operative Mirza

Shadab Baig and Hyderabad blasts accused Asadullah Akhtar had discussed that bomb

explosions killing common people had little impact as the government moved on after

paying compensation to victims.

The 277—page chargesheet filed by National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Yasin

Bhatkal and three others has elaborate details of the outfit's disenchantment with

triggering blasts and its growing desire to carry out fidayeen attacks on politicians and

police to shake up the government.

According to the chargesheet, IM founder Riyaz Bhatkal and its India operations chief

Ahmed Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal were particularly impressed with what Maoists

had achieved in Darbha, Chhattisgarh where a Congress cavalcade was ambushed

killing 27 people, including the party's top leaders. They had discussed that IM, too,

should do something similar that would shake the government.

With such a plan in mind, Yasin's associate Asadullah Akhtar was trying to procure

explosives and guns. He believed that it was time for the outfit to move towards

fidayeen attack. Interestingly, following his and Yasin's arrest on August 29 last year in

Nepal, Mirza Baig sent anonline message that he would avenge the arrests by targeting

police.

About the July 18, 2013 chat between Akhtar and Baig, the chargesheet says, "They

talked about the change in attack pattern from carrying out explosions to direct firing.

Mirza said: 'Main yeh Keh raha tha ki ab ptrn job ka chnge karnege (change from

explosion to 26/11 type action)'."

After the arrest of Yasin and Akhtar, Mirza left a message to Akhtar that read: "hello

tension nahii lena bahut jald iiii tera badla lunga,,,, bahut mehenga padega in ko yeh !!!!

(sic)...very soon they will pay for it."

The chargesheet detailing a chat between Riyaz and Yasin on June 1, 2013, notes:

"Riyaz appreciated the Naxal work of killing Congress leaders in that it was able to

shake the government. He mentioned that they had been targeting only the

general public, which didn't affect the government much, and the government was cool

after giving some compensation to affected persons. So they should also so such

activity of killing leaders."

BUSINESS


New CSR rules to come into force from April 1

Funds given to political parties will not count as corporate social responsibility activity

The much-awaited rules for the new ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) regime were notified on Thursday, under which companies with sizable businesses would need to spend a minimum 2 per cent of net profit for the benefit of the society.

The CSR activities will have to be within India, and the new rules will also apply to foreign companies registered here.

However, funds given to political parties and the money spent for the benefit of the company’s own employees (and their families) will not count as CSR.

Listing out the permitted CSR activities, the government said that they needed to be undertaken as per approval of the company’s board in accordance with its CSR Policy and the decision of its CSR Committee.

The CSR rules will take effect from April 1, as part of the new Companies Act. They will apply to companies with at least Rs 5 crore net profit, or Rs.1,000 crore turnover or Rs.500 crore net worth.

Such companies will need to spend 2 per cent of their three-year average annual net profit on CSR activities in each financial year, beginning the next fiscal, 2014-15.

For the purpose of deciding the CSR spending eligibility of a company, profit from overseas branches and dividend received from other companies in India will be excluded from the net profit criteria.

Besides, contributions made ‘directly or indirectly’ to any political party have been excluded from CSR ambit.

The CSR policy of a company should also specify that “surplus arising out of the CSR projects or programmes or activities shall not form part of the business profit of a company.’’

A company can also carry out CSR works through a registered trust or society or a separate company.

As per the rules, a company may also collaborate with other companies for CSR activities, provided they have to separately report about spending on such projects programmes.

“The CSR activities shall be undertaken by the company, as per its stated CSR policy, as projects or programmes or activities (either new or ongoing), excluding activities undertaken in pursuance of its normal course of business”, according to the notification by the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

In an official release, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot said the rules had been finalised after extensive consultations with all stakeholders.

A wide range of activities, including livelihood enhancement projects and steps for the benefit of armed forces veterans have been brought under the CSR ambit.

When it comes to having manpower for CSR works, the government has said that companies can spend only up to 5 per cent of total CSR expenditure for them in a single financial year.

This would be applicable for own personnel as well as those of their implementing agencies.

Among other activities, livelihood enhancement and rural development projects, promoting preventive health care and sanitation as well as making safe drinking water available would be considered as CSR activities. — PTI

THE TIMES OF INDIA

eBay leads Rs 830 crore fund infusion in Snapdeal Samidha Sharma & Shilpa Phadnis,TNN | Feb 28, 2014, 04.05 AM IST

With the latest deal, eBay's shareholding in Snapdeal rises to about 20%, sources privy to the matter told TOI.

MUMBAI/BANGALORE: One of the world's largest digital marketplaces eBay Inc is

leading a $134 million (Rs 830 crore) investment inSnapdeal in a deal that suggests

investor appetite for the potential winners in Indian e-commerce remains intact.

The domestic online retailers such as Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong and Snapdeal have

raised more than $600 million in the past nine months. The leaders are getting a bump

up while laggards are falling out of the race even as domestic online shopping is

expanding at over 80% annually.

India's e-commerce market, excluding online travel, is estimated at $3 billion. The

country's internet users have swelled to 200 million with over 20 million of them

transacting online. eBay is investing $100 million and the rest $34 million coming from

smaller existing investors like Nexus Venture Partners, Kalaari Capital, Bessemer

Venture Partners and Intel Capital.

TOI was the first to report about eBay leading an large investment round for the Delhi-

based Snapdeal on October 17 last year. eBay had initially picked up just under 10%

stake in the company 15 months ago. With the latest deal, eBay's shareholding in

Snapdeal rises to about 20%, sources privy to the matter told TOI.

The just concluded fund-raise has valued Jasper Infotech, which runs Snapdeal, at

about $1 billion. Rival Flipkart raised $360 million in two tranches last year attracting

$1.5 billion valuation.

Devin Wenig, president, eBay Marketplaces, tweeted post the announcement: "We are

excited to grow eBay India under a great management team, and to invest in the

complimentary marketplace Snapdeal." Founded by Wharton alumnus Kunal Bahl and

IIT-Delhi graduate Rohit Bansal in 2010, Snapdeal moved from being a daily deals site

modelled on the likes of Groupon to an online marketplace for products in 2012.

"We see eBay's second round of investment in Snapdeal as an endorsement of our

strategy and progress," Snapdeal Co-founder and CEO Bahl said. Snapdeal which

competes head on with Bangalore-based Flipkart has recently diversified in to offering

services by launching an education marketplace and expects 20% of its revenue to

come from services commerce over the next couple of years.

A decade long economic buoyancy and changing lifestyles of a large demography

makes India one of the last potentially big frontiers for global giants like eBay. The

world's biggest e-commerce engine Amazon has made quiet moves in the domestic

market and step up aggression, including buyouts, once regulations allow foreign direct

investment into online retailing.

The announcement today was in the making for long and comes in the backdrop of a

shareholder controversy with Wall Street investor Carl Icahn, who holds a 2% stake

eBay, is pushing for two board seats along with spinning off the money making PayPal.

eBay has had India operations since 2004 when it acquired Baazee.com. "Phase one of

Indian e-commece is coming to an end as finalists have emerged and have to fight it out

to be the winners. This phase was fraught with mistakes made by all players. Now, in

phase two, the real value creation and realization for investors will depend on how well

these companies execute going forward," said Baazee co-founder Avnish Bajaj, who

went on to start operations for Matrix Partners in India.

"The penetration of e-commerce as a percentage of retail is low which is attracting

players like Amazon and eBay to participate in the India's e-commerce story. It's also a

vindication of the fact that internet infrastructure, which hitherto was spotty, is coming of

age," said Sanjeev Aggarwal, senior managing director, Helion Advisors. "I think

investors had a big belief in the potential of e-commerce which outweighs the

scepticism previously attached to the sector," Prashanth Prakash, Partner at Accel

Partners, an investor in Flipkart, added.

INTERNATIONAL

MOSCOW, February 28, 2014

Yanukovych flees Ukraine, takes refuge in Russia

VLADIMIR RADYUHIN Ousted leader says he is still the ‘legitimate’ President as Crimea revolts


DISCORDANT NOTE:Pro-Russian demonstrators with St. George ribbons stand in front of a local governmentbuilding in Simferopol, Crimea, on Thursday.— Photo: AP

Ukraine’s ousted leader Victor Yanukovych insisted he is still the “legitimate” President even as he took shelter in Russia amid a growing revolt in Russian-speaking Crimea against the power takeover in Kiev.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Mr. Yanukovych said he still considered himself “the legitimate head of the Ukrainian state” and asked Moscow to guarantee his personal safety “from extremists.”

The new leaders in Ukraine have issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Yanukovych and some other officials held responsible for the death of more than 80 people in violent protests in Kiev.

An unnamed Russian official was quoted by news agencies as saying that Mr. Yanukovych’s request had been “granted on the territory of the Russian Federation.”

One report said Mr. Yanukovych was staying at a Kremlin sanatorium in Barvikha, an elite neighbourhood just outside Moscow.

“Decisions that are being taken by [Ukraine’s] Parliament… are unlawful… will soon prove to be ineffectual and will not be carried out,” Mr. Yanukovych said in his statement.

Vowing “to fight to the end,” Mr. Yanukovych called for returning the situation in Ukraine “to the constitutional framework.” He demanded that Ukraine’s armed forces not interfere in mass anti-Kiev protests that have swept Crimea and the eastern provinces of the country.

Lawmakers in Crimea on Thursday announced plans to hold a referendum on greater independence from the central government in Kiev. Crimea, where ethnic Russians account for 60 percent of the population, is the only region of Ukraine which enjoys the status of autonomous republic.

Denouncing “an unconstitutional power grab by radical nationalists, backed by armed gangs,” the Presidium of the Crimean Parliament in Simferopol called for holding “an All-Crimea referendum on improving the status of the autonomous republic and expanding its powers.”

Speaker Vladimir Konstantinov said the referendum would be scheduled for May 25, the same day Ukraine is to elect its new President.

Earlier on Thursday armed pro-Russian activists took control of the Crimean Parliament and the local government and raised the Russian flag on the buildings. They said they acted to ensure that lawmakers could meet unhindered.

A day earlier Crimean Tatars, who support the new leaders in Kiev, clashed with pro-Russian protesters and disrupted the Parliament session. Three people died in the clashes and dozens were wounded.

Ukraine’s Acting President Olexandr Turchinov said he had ordered security services to “unblock” the seized building in Simferopol and “punish the guilty ones.”

In Kiev, Ukraine’s Parliament on Thursday voted in a new government after candidates received “approval” from protesters in Maidan Square. Former Economic Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was appointed Prime Minister.

LONDON, February 28, 2014

Quiet schoolboys turned into ‘soldiers of Islam’

seeking justice:A demonstrator holds a replica of hangman’s gallows during a protest outside the Old Bailey courthouse in London on Wednesday.—photo: Reuters

The murderers who hacked British soldier Lee Rigby to death were both Londoners from devout Christian Nigerian families who became self-styled “soldiers of Islam” intent on martyrdom.

Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale butchered Rigby in order to generate maximummedia coverage, be killed by armed police and “gain a place in paradise”, judge Nigel Sweeney said Wednesday as he sent them to prison.

Adebolajo, 29, who was jailed for life, had been an ordinary, articulate London youth who ended up being monitored by the British security services for his growing radicalism.

His 22-year-old accomplice, imprisoned for a minimum 45 years, was bullied at school, suffered mental health problems and drifted into gang life before converting.

Minutes after attempting to behead Rigby in broad daylight on May 22 last year, Adebolajo told horrified onlookers he was “forced by the Koran” to “fight them as they fight us. An eye for a eye and a tooth for a tooth”.

Mobile phone footage taken by an eyewitness of Adebolajo ranting, his hands soaked in Rigby’s blood, stunned Britain.

A married father of six, Adebolajo was known to British security services.

He was arrested in Kenya in 2010, close to the border with Somalia – home to the Shebab Islamist militants.

He told a Kenyan court he had wanted to go and live in Somalia under sharia, or Islamic law.

Childhood friends remembered Adebolajo as a classroom joker with the same interests as any other British teenager – football, chasing girls, playing video games and listening to rap music.

‘Very peaceful chap’

Detectives have tried to piece together how he turned from a church-going boy into a Muslim radical.

He converted to Islam in 2003 while studying politics at Greenwich University in southeast London and adopted the name Mujahid.

Adebolajo appeared at several public events with members of Al-Muhajiroun, a group founded by banned Islamist preacher Omar Bakri and proscribed under anti-terror laws.

Anjem Choudary, the group’s former leader in Britain, told AFP: “He used to attend some of our activities over the years. Very peaceful chap actually, not violent at all, very pleasant.”

Adebolajo was “a normal guy”, Choudary said, adding: “He used to propagate Islam, (he was) concerned about foreign policy.

“He attended some of the activities, demonstrations, processions, talks.

“We lost any kind of contact with him about three years ago.”

In 2006 Adebolajo joined a protest outside the Old Bailey – the same London court where he himself was convicted – in support of a Muslim accused of calling for the killing of British soldiers.

In a scuffle, he was convicted of assaulting a police officer and received a 51-day jail term.

He and 22-year-old Adebowale owned speeches and books about religious war and martyrdom.

After returning from Kenya in 2010, Adebolajo was approached several times by MI5, Britain’s domestic security agency and, according to his family, reportedly turned down their offer to become a spy and grew frustrated at being “pestered” by them.

Adebolajo’s sixth child was born just four days before the brutal attack on Rigby.

Adebowale, whose father, a Nigerian High Commission official, split from his probation officer mother when he was a young boy, was haunted by a 2008 knife attack in which drug-crazed assailants wounded him and killed his best friend.

He suffers mental health problems and told prison psychologists he would hear his attackers’ voices in his head for 10 minutes in the morning.

His went missing from home several times and his mother thought he was coming under the influence of a local gang and getting involved with drugs.

She asked her friend Richard Taylor to mentor him. In 2000, Taylor’s son Damilola was murdered aged 10 in London in a notorious killing that shocked Britain.

“He was a young, loving boy, quiet,” Taylor said of Adebowale.

Taylor said he last spoke to Adebowale around two months before the killing.

“He said, ‘I’m cool, I’ve changed, I’ve become a Muslim.’"

Adebowale has never explained his actions, choosing not to testify in court.

“Nothing I could have said would have changed him,” Taylor said, adding: “They don’t deserve to live.” — AFP

EDITORIAL

February 28, 2014 Updated: February 28, 2014 00:25 IST

Looming military breakdown

In a nation where instances of admission of individual responsibility are depressingly rare, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral D.K. Joshi’s resignation following the tragic accident on INS Sindhuratna is welcome evidence that some officials, at least, still hold themselves to the highest standards. Behind his resignation, though, lies a terrifying story: India’s military is, literally, on the verge of breakdown. In recent years, each military chief has told Defence Minister A.K. Antony of the growing danger that India might prove unable to fight future wars. Even as the Army has been instructed to be prepared to fight a war on two fronts, acquisitions of desperately needed armour and artillery systems have been endlessly delayed. The Air Force is warning that its combat fleet will start shrinking from 2017; squadrons are rationing flying time to prolong the life of aircraft for as long as possible. The Navy is well below strength, and its increasingly obsolescent platforms are dangerous. Last year’s explosion on board INS Sindhurakshak, one of 10 significant accidents involving the Navy in the last seven months, caused more damage than the Navy ever suffered at war. Perhaps most dangerous, all three services face large-scale deficits of officers, because the armed forces’ pay scales and service conditions are too poor to attract the skilled young people modern militaries need. There are more than a few in the armed forces who are asking whether the civilian leadership is not just as responsible for the deaths on board the Sindhuratna as Admiral Joshi, whose resignation the Union government was so quick to accept.

Though Mr. Antony’s years in office have seen him maintain his stellar reputation for personal probity — which is no mean achievement in itself — he has done little to address the looming crisis in Indian defence. Equipment purchases have stalled at the whiff of scandal, often forcing the forces to restart the acquisition process, that can last years. In fairness to Mr. Antony, the problem is not all of his making. The depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, and India’s slowing growth, have stripped him of resources badly needed for modernisation. Yet, there is no glossing over the fact that too little has been done on defence reform and capacity-building. India can only hope it is not too late. The last Indian military chief to hand in his resignation was General K.S. Thimayya, who did so in 1959 to protest Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon’s refusal to consider his plans to prepare the Army for a war with China. Prime Minister Nehru persuaded the legendary General to take back his resignation, but chose not to persuade his Defence Minister to take the threat of war seriously. The consequences still haunt India.

kothari institute · quiet schoolboys turned into ‘soldiers of islam’ business ... best...

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