By Barun Das Gupta
The Centre has reportedly decided to undertake a ‘review’ of the 17 Mountain Strike Corps (MSC) which is being raised to defend India’s borders in the high Himalayas in the North-East. The object of the review is to downsize the corps. The Centre’s decision has come at a time when two infantry divisions and an independent armoured brigade have already been raised and other brigades are being positioned. The reason is said to be the very high cost – Rs. 64,678 crore – that will have to be incurred to bring the corps to its full strength.
This is rather surprising. When the BJP was in Opposition, it used to criticize the UPA Government for not doing enough to raise our defence capability vis-à-vis the Chinese in the north-east. The criticism was justified. But during the later part of its second term in office, the Manmohan Singh Government did take steps to make up for the backlog and build up adequate defence capability quickly. This led to the idea of raising the MSC.
The logic of high cost does not seem to be tenable. In this year’s budget Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reduced corporate tax by five per cent – from thirty to twenty-five per cent. It means a largesse of two lakh crore rupees to the corporate sector in the next four years. No explanation was given why this tax concession was allowed. With less than half of this money, completing the raising of the 17 Corps could have been accomplished. No cost is too big where defence is concerned.
Secondly, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has already said that a railway station would be built in Arunachal Pradesh right near the international border. Railway minister Suresh Prabhu confirmed what the Defence minister had said and added cryptically that “whatever Mr Parikar had stated, he had with full responsibility and right now we cannot divulge more”. He added in the same vein that expanding rail network to the remote border areas of the north-east was a priority of his ministry.
Laying railway track in mountainous terrain on the high altitudes of Arunachal Pradesh along the border with China will involve huge capital cost.. If the Government is willing to bear it, why should it be stingy in spending money for completing the 17 Corps? After all, the railway line would be used to transport troops and materiel. If there are no troops to be dispatched, to what use will the railway track be put?
In the present context, defending India means defending her against the Sino-Pak axis. Quite recently, General Khalid Kidwai, Adviser, National Command Authority of Pakistan, resorted to open nuclear muscle-flexing at the Carnegie Conference on Nuclear Policy when he said: “India must think thrice, ten times, before attacking Pakistan.” If India still embarks on such a military misadventure, “the result will be MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction)”, he threatened, knowing full well that India has no military designs on Pakistan.
At the global phase, economic sanctions imposed by the US and EU on Russia on the Ukraine issue have brought Moscow and Beijing closer together. India will have to fine-tune her relations with Russia in the developing situation. Earlier this month, Russian president Vladimir Putin approved the sale of Russia’s latest and most advanced air-and-missile defence system ‘Triumph S-400’ to China. Initially, two to four systems will be delivered. The acquisition of Triumph will enable China to extend its air dominance to countries like India and Japan.
In a related development, president Xi Jinping of China is expected to announce the sale of eight submarines during his visit to Pakistan beginning April 20. Some experts fear that it may eventually enable Pakistan to have the capability to use nuclear weapons from under sea, thus posing a challenge to India. The idea is to enable conventional submarines to launch nuclear-tipped missiles. This will lead to the nuclearisation of the Indian Ocean with its consequent impact on all the littoral countries, as Chinese submarines are already prowling in the waters of the Indian Ocean. India has a programme of building six nuclear submarines in the coming years.
All these developments make India’s security scenario far more complex than it was earlier. The supremacy of the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is going to be challenged by both China and Pakistan. A holistic view of the security scenario has to be taken. India has to be able to defend her land, skies and waters.. Seen in this perspective, the defence of the North-East is as much important as maintaining naval dominance in the IOR.
The 17 Mountain Strike Corps is meant not only to defend the North-East but, if the need arises, to engage in counter-offensive operations in Tibet, where the ethnic Tibetans are facing constant persecution from the PLA, like machine-gunned people being left to bleed to death instead of being taken to hospital. Downsizing the strength of the 17 Corps at this juncture will be unwise. (IPA Service)