Why Nav Bharat

The Story of a Retired Sailor and Nav Bharat

                                                                             , 

Four decades in the Navy was enough to give me an insight into a whole range of  subjects that  go into governance of  a country. Surprised? Here is how it worked.

My first memory of meeting the political hero of India, Jawaharlal Nehru was at the Republic day parade at Delhi in 1962, when I was all of 16 years. I led  the Junior Division NCC Air wing cadets of India on a cold,hazy and freezing morning. There were no winter uniforms. Cotton full sleeve shirts, shorts and stockings and off we went marching down Raj Path. Thousands had lined up on either sides and the sheer sight of the President taking our salute and the feeling of pride kept us warm.

  Later at a special occasion Pandit Ji  presented me with a trophy which in effect was the start point of my Military career. My picture with him has been on my desk for the past  52 years.

My College days came and went, but not without giving me an opportunity to meet the then Raksha Mantri YB Chavan. Yes, the RM had the time to meet a lowly NCC cadet who was selected to represent India, at the Malaysian Air Training Corp Camp, in Singapore, in 1964. These were some impressionable events with Politicians, albeit of my teenage life. They appeared to be in service of the Nation-not Masters of the people who put them there.

The Indian Navy became my home from 1966. In 1970, I was sent to the Soviet Union. A remote island in Vladivostok was to be our training base for the next year. Frozen seas and temperature of -32 degrees did not deter us from venturing to challenge their way of life. Communism/socialism with all its ramifications and nuances were on display in day to day Governance of the Country and their Armed forces. Young as I was, it was still a lesson on a political systems of governance.

The 1971 war gave me firsthand knowledge of what Military action meant to people in uniform. The attack on enemy ships off Karachi and the port itself, gave me insights into human emotions and passion . Death and destruction  which is an inextricable part of war, demanded  a high quality of Military and Political leadership.  We were fortunate to have had  a lady PM, who showed courage, decisiveness  and  single minded purpose to carry the whole nation with her. Here was leadership on display as never seen thereafter. The soldier needs just that to die for his country. After all he fights for "the ashes of his father and the temple of his god"

Events leading to the declaration of emergency in 1976 however, by the very same leader, taught us the oft repeated lesson on how absolute power corrupts absolutely.

A stint with the British Navy at the then Royal Naval college at  Greenwich, coincided with the arrival of the iron lady-Maggie Thatcher, at the helm of British politics. I was given an opportunity to study a leader who single handedly lifted the  sagging morale of the British people as a whole.  Another lesson in politics.

Barely five years later in 1985, I was appointed as the Indian Naval Adviser at our High Commission  in Islamabad. For the next three years I had numerous occasions to study the political system run by a Military leader, in a non- democratic system of governance. Zia Ul Haq was able to provide a false sense of economic prosperity and political stability for very nearly nine years. His reign ended only with his untimely death in 1988, due to assassination through sabotage of his aircraft. Here was another dimension of governance and many political lessons  to learn.

Not many would remember the stellar role performed by our Armed forces consequent to a coup attempted at Maldives by 300 armed militants, in 1989. My ship was positioned to stabilize and oversee the withdrawal of our forces after the successful handing over of control to the legitimate Government of Maldives. Extensive interaction with the senior Ministers and President of the Maldives, gave me insights into restoring confidence in a shattered people, albeit of a small island nation.

Finally, owing to  a series of postings at the Integrated Headquarters at Delhi at senior ranks bestowed on me, I was closely involved in briefing and working with senior bureaucrats, Diplomats and politicians  tasked to govern India, including the PM. This is where the real lessons of governance or the lack of it was on display.

That my friends is, just one example of how the Military is exposed to Politics.

 There are numerous others who have not cared to pen down their experience. Yet whilst in uniform we remain completely apolitical,  forbidden  from interacting with media, foreigners,  political parties et al. That is not to say that as individuals we do not have political views based on which we are expected to  exercise our franchise at every election. The fact of the matter is most of us, except a small minority, could not exercise our right to vote, as the postal ballot paper never once reached us due to various reasons. We were thus denied the right to vote due to the callousness of all those involved with the electoral process.  It was left to the Supreme Court to rule in 1971, that every soldier should be permitted to vote at his station of duty. What about a large percentage who are in remote corners of India guarding our inaccessible borders and sailors who are at sea?

Two Sailors of Italy who were under trial in India were flown back to Italy to cast their votes -just less than a year ago. That is the seriousness and importance of voting in a democratic set up.

So, it was not surprising that on shedding my uniform I opted for a role in political activism to contribute my little experience and to start a movement to cleanse the system. Four years in Professionals Party of India(ppi) and now Nav Bharat Democratic Party are the logical courses of action for one, who refuses to fade away without a fight.

I hope you agree with my reason to fight and that you will join Nav Bharat to help us restore order in this chaotic democracy of ours. Distance without destination and mileage without mile stones is not what  the youth- our future asset of this country, deserve. Join us to put the right people into Parliament.

     
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
                                                                                     Edmond Burke                                    

JAI HIND

The Tragedy of Indian Politics-A Strong Desire to Self Destruct.

The media is full of pot holes-not the ones created by the rather good monsoon this year but by the emerging political scenario in India. Yes, we are just six and a half decades old with much to learn from other mature democracies. They too had their paths riddled with bad politics, poverty, internal and external mine fields to negotiate. They did it over many decades and in some cases,  centuries of trial and error. We do not have the luxury to traverse the same path due to the globalized environment and instant flow of information in a wireless era, compounded by accessibility with hand held devices.  So we have a well informed population but not necessarily with wisdom to supplement the knowledge base.

Instant solutions to complex problems is the demand of the youth increasingly equipped to process information but, without the time to assimilate and analyse. Compressing time required for decision making  may be advantageous in business matters, but perhaps not in complex socio-economic and governance related issues, that demand deliberation among knowledgeable and wise members of the society.

Our current democratic processes have failed to keep up with the rapid reforms required to implement lessons repeatedly learnt by successive Election Commissions.No political party has shown any resolve to implement electoral reforms,administrative reforms,Police reforms or Judicial reforms. A strong desire to cling to power and the added incentive to dramatically increase the financial status of incumbent politicians, as revealed by recent surveys, have resulted in a strange convergence of interests among otherwise squabbling political parties. Politicians all over the world irrespective of their ideologies display preference to overlook national interests over political expediency.This may be morally despicable to many not in power, but, it is not alien to human behavior. It is said that as long as the human race exists there will always be greed and conflict.

In our context, politicians display unanimity when doling out allowances to themselves,making RTI inapplicable to political parties, sacking honest bureaucrats,accepting criminals in parties and looting our natural resources or selling away spectrum. Vulgar display of VIPISM and armed commandos surrounding leaders of little value-forget about threat to themselves that they conveniently reinvent from time to time -do not appear as waste of public money.   Who in his right sense will regret the demise of one of those heavily protected Netas, should he be despatched to face God. Even the terrorists do not consider them to be good enough targets for publicity. Perhaps they expect celebrations and not grief among the people who are deprived of  the presence of such Netas among us.

 If this is the attitude of those in power and coalitions Governments are condemned to be the order of the day,  what are our options. There are a few worthy of consideration.

More participation in politics and not less is the first mantra. Politics is not dirty but the ones you elect or those elected by default, are. So why not participate in voting with a purpose and convincing your neighbours to do so too.

Second, why not convince those who have achieved financial stability and are known for their competence and character to stand up and be counted. Often the fear is of rejection and loss. There are ways and means to overcome such fear provided the' mohallas 'supports such candidates. Buying voters is fast losing its charm as people who are rising from poverty to reasonable lower middle class status are thinking of the future of their children. They are also displaying more courage of conviction to change the face of politics than the affluent and the rich who are not effected by the results of election,or,on  who is selected to legislate our future.Like the squabbling politicians who find common cause to unite, perhaps, the rich and the not so rich should find common cause to elect the right candidate.

Third, if coalition politics is a reality that cannot be wished away, why not start a debate on direct election of PM along with separation of the executive from the legislators. If you are weighed down by the need for constitutional changes, do not fret, we have amended our constitution 98 times in six decades.    Surely this is a good cause to unite us all. Act well before 2014-it is just round the corner. A New India or NAV BHARAT is what we need.   .     

Crisis Management In India

I had been an active participant in the Government of India's crisis/disaster management organisation in my capacity as head of operations of the navy for three years and thence as head of joint services operation in the newly formed Integrated Defence Headquarter in 2002.
On one of the TV debates yesterday-a more respectable one, where the anchor was not screaming or hogging time on the limited debate-a supreme court lawyer who appeared to be well informed, articulated some home truth. He referred to many disasters that he  was associated with for mitigation measures, including the last tsunami; lamented the total absence of capability and capacity of senior bureaucrats to handle them and pleaded that the entire operation be handed over to the Military. He was right on every count,but let us park the issue of the Military for the time being.

No Govt organisation in India including the police have a culture to create facilities to monitor and control situations such as natural calamities, emergencies including hi-jacks of Aircraft. Those that have graduated from the rudimentary to a time expired model have little or no capability to sustain operations. The Govt still has the process that works on written orders issued and forgotten, no drills to refine processes in 'peace time' and little emphasis on updating records of personnel expected to react.That, on many occasions, the   entire list of members of the crisis response team, which is drawn from multiple sources of the Govt,was out of date and their emergency contacts unavailable, cannot be disputed. Since there is no culture of manning operations Rooms 24/7 and  365 days in almost all civilian organisations,just rounding up the right people around a table, was a herculean task. This is equally disastrous in Hi jack situations as also  with natural calamities such as earth quake, which has no warning mechanism as yet. Consequent delays in action have caused considerable embarrassment and damage to life - a fact that would never be discussed in public, as there is no system of debriefing and lessons learnt in organisations chaired by the senior most bureaucrat of the Govt.



The Military, on the other hand, mans an ops room at every level of operations and the data exchange is almost real time. The rapidity of data flow including live pictures makes it eminently suited for emergencies. Secure communication,data transfer and built in redundancy make the Military in India most suited to handle all emergencies.

The only area of inadequacy in the current  situation, is  financial and other powers for mobilization of resources vested in the civilian bureaucracy and political leadership. The true potential of the Military thus remains unexplored in this country.

Ironically in every such emergency it is the Military or para military force which delivers   in the disaster effected zone.

Even when new structures are created such as National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA)  the Military, as in all other decision making structures,  is sidelined to a peripheral role. It may be true that the first NDMA was indeed led by a former Chief but that is more a proforma appointment to acknowledge the services rendered by an individual rather than recognize the potential of the force as a whole.

So what can we do to make our emergency /crisis management more effective and institutionally strong. Allow the the entire operation to be coordinated and conducted by CDS(when in place) or CISC. For this necessary ordinance/legislation need to be passed to empower the Armed forces for the limited duration of operations.

Frequent drills are necessary to fine tune and refine procedures. Participation of the entire machinery of civilian  and political leadership should be made  mandatory without which the whole exercise would be futile.

Finally, debrief and lessons learnt have to be acted upon by Central and State authorities with clear accountability at the appropriate level of the Govt.

While accepting that such a model does not exist currently and that such integrated systems fail more due to civil-military tensions and ignorance of capabilities, I make an appeal to try it at least in disaster/crisis situations which are war like conditions.  This needs empowerment of the Military and independence of execution as in war conditions.  No harm trying; but not half heartedly.

SMART PHONES AND AUTOMATION-ARE THEY DILUTING OFFICE PROCEDURES?

For those of us who grew up with the white hall system of managing office records, it was unthinkable to shift to a paperless office with partial or full automation. The old office assistant who was just a clerk was a walking-talking encyclopedia on all the files listed from A to Z. No references were required-only a mention of the subject or the initiator of the communication. He would produce all the relevant correspondence duly flagged so that at any given time,you had a full background of the case. It was also necessary that after each correspondence was in- warded with a number on  it,(which tallied with the register of incoming/outgoing mail) a collation cover(CC) was attached, in which the entire case was analysed by the coordinating officer. After obtaining the views of all those connected within the department, this file would go the boss with a clear recommendation of  the next step to be taken. The CC was not accessible to any one outside the department. The filtered output of the decision would then make its way to other departments in a file titled Branch Memo(BM) on which concerned  branches collated their respective views,.

Admittedly, the process was long and tedious but it  was so thorough that decisions taken   were perhaps the most well considered ones given that all the relevant information was available at all times. Was the system fool proof? To the extent that those handling it complied with all procedures.

Now that the paperless routine has been invented I find that communications are instant, hierarchies have been flattened and decisions are expedited. But inability to process all facts related to the case along with comments and suggestions offered by lateral and collateral  organisations remains a major area of concern. Generally, e mails accessed on cell phones just do not give you a historic perspective of the case,thus resulting in less than optimum decisions.  

While the private sector has been able to automate office work to suit their unique requirements which includes cyber safety devices and e signatures etc hacking and phishing continue to be areas of concern. Back up of correspondence,ability to store and retrieve data and most importantly limiting accessibility to authorized users, continue to challenge administrators.

Governments including the Central Govt find themselves caught between the devil of expediting decisions and the deep sea of automating office work such that the guiding  principles of the white hall system are not violated. Hence e mail which is the most preferred communication medium in the industry and private sector continue to be a secondary form of communication in the Government. At best progressive state and central govt organs have put in place a file tracking system which brings in accountability with respect to time.

The greatest of all concerns is that the good old systems of filing have been long forgotten, as the recruitment of clerks have been suspended along with the training that enabled them. The present lot of personnel neither know the manual system and its virtues nor the automation along with all its vices.

Are you surprised that so many scams are being perpetuated within the system-a system which can neither differentiate nor correct itself during the crucial phase of transition  from the manual office system to the fully automated one.  Administrative reforms need to address this by using personnel of yester- years and the  whiz kids of today.

Negotiations-A View From Down Under

Readers are undoubtedly aware of the importance of professionalizing the art of negotiations both in  Public and Private sectors. While the private sector is wholly focused on cutting costs to enhance profits,the public sector is oblivious of targets to be met within reasonable time frames. Consequently, opportunity costs incurred by the Government due to inordinate delays in concluding contracts is indeed mind boggling. The advanced jet trainer(AJT) for instance, took two decades to negotiate. The cost per aircraft continued to rise,modifications and modernization was a parallel process which also contributed to the spiraling costs. More than anything, we lost precious lives of trainee pilots since we did not have a suitable trainer to prepare them to man front line combat squadrons. 

My earlier blog in Oct 2011 covered the deficiencies in hostage negotiations. During my recent visit to Australia a report from their Defence Material Organization(DMO) caught my attention.Let me quote,"Defence Force mandarins are calling for private sector help after admitting the organisation lacks the skills and 'general business acumen' to prudently negotiate billion-dollar contracts with America's military-industrial complex".

The Australians who have had dealings with the USA for decades have at least accepted the need to have professionally competent negotiators to bring value to their own acquisition programmes. 

Since independence India has had to face strategic and tactical negotiation for settling cross border disputes,acquiring nuclear power plants,oil, military equipment and platforms costing billions of dollars and much more.
Yet there is no records of these proceedings for analysis or for teaching the art of negotiations. This is equally true of the private sector where record keeping for posterity is conspicuous by its absence. Personalities are trusted to negotiate, very often with least preparations and with minimum skills for it. When a deal is struck with a more proficient supplier, much is made of a win-win formula, the value of which  is never substantiated over time.

The answer lies in introducing negotiations in all business school curricula,  sending serving bureaucrats,men in uniform and private sector managers for courses in reputed institutions overseas or in India. We need to create a cadre of well trained negotiators in selected areas where continuity is of significance. SALT treaties between the erstwhile Soviet Union and USA were negotiated by the same group of people who met for decades.More importantly, given that equipment worth over a 100 Billion $ are on the cards for acquisition in the Ministry of defence alone, it is imperative that we form joint teams from public and private sectors to provide level playing fields to counter the very experienced commercial negotiators who are bound to descend  on us.

A word of caution, some of our well known academic institutions which claim to teach this subject have none or only a few with hands on experience of live negotiations,leave alone case studies of value.

This is a good time to clean up.

MODERNIZATION OF OUR ARMED FORCES

Much has been said about Arms Gate of India. Periodically, scams hit the headlines and TV anchors scream their heads off, virtually carrying out a media trial,without understanding the process of acquisition and the damage done to our forces by further delaying the modernization process.

The damage done to the reputation of those accused based on preliminary reports is another matter. CBI has rarely proved the guilt of those accused by the media but decades pass without any justice to the accused. Yet no one has filed for compensation either from the media or from those involved in the investigation and unproven charge sheets. The accused rarely have the energy or the resources to fight a system.

That there is corruption in arms deals is an accepted fact. An erstwhile Secretary of MOD has written a frank and objective piece on just this aspect in the OP-ED page of  Indian Express dated 21 Feb. He has asked for systemic reforms in the  process of acquisition. What he has left un said is that knowledgeable Politicians should occupy the chair of RM. This is not a portfolio up for grabs owing to loyalty to a party or the clean image a person enjoys. There is definitely a need for above average leadership qualities of the RM. No other Minister has to face the day to day challenges of running a large force of trained soldiers who are increasingly better informed and better connected with facts. This is a new era which demands understanding of service conditions, technical complexities and above all articulation of the strategic objectives of the Govt of the day.

In many years of my service in Delhi, I have had the privilege or the misfortune of dealing with both senior politicians and bureaucrats of MOD. It would be fair to say that I felt less privileged, as misfortune was the order of the day. . Barring one RM (unfortunately he held this portfolio in addition to his primary task-that too for a short while) not a single Politician was comfortable to deal with Senior officers of the Armed forces. The powerful presentations that are made to the PM and the whole hierarchy every six months, by no less than the Chief of the three services invariably results in  substantiating the proverbial 'water on the duck's back' syndrome. These were the  occasions when a large audience from the senior hierarchy of the Armed forces witnesses the deficiencies being brought to the direct attention of the PM and his Cabinet colleagues. Some Chiefs are known to be blunt while others, more diplomatic. In either case, no Prime Minister and least of all the RM, can claim to be ignorant of the crying needs of the Armed forces.

How then can a RM use the threat to cancel an acquisition, which takes five to ten years before it materializes,and having failed  repeatedly to remedy the systemic weaknesses in the Ministry that he oversees?

Those of you who care to read the Defence Aquisition procedures will soon realize that the Armed forces have direct control only on stipulating the technical contents and on evaluating a new platform/ system. The rest is totally and unambiguously under the Ministry of Defence. If Amitabha Pande, in the article quoted above, is right-and I have no reason to believe otherwise-it is not the quality of the system recommended by the services which is in doubt, but it is the subsequent process which need to be followed under the supervision of MOD.    
No  one has questioned the capability of Bofors, HDW submarines,SU 30 or Barak anti missile system. They were truly the top of the line systems/platforms. If money has changed hands it must be to expedite the procurement and so  it is advisable to look within the Ministry, in the first instance.

The Immoral India......

'THE IMMORAL INDIA'-What is the way ahead?

The symptoms were there for all to see. In one generation, i.e. from about 1970 till the turn of the century we witnessed historic if not paradigm changes in the Indian society. In the early Years of independence, conservative living with bare minimum creature comforts had disciplined most Indians to live within their means. Even the rich and well to do opted for Spartan life styles. From telephones to motor vehicles were considered to be luxuries of life which few could afford.

Then came the change. Destruction of institutions, which had been carefully created and nurtured. Political arrogance born out of a combination of dynastic politics and a suppressed people. Invasion of Television into the drawing rooms, liberalization of the economy, cable TV/Bollywood and the inevitable thrust towards consumerism. All this led to increasing trust deficit between the people and the Government. Social media began to empower a section of our society. The  power of ICT and its impact on moral and religious values were yet to be comprehended.

Poor infrastructure, induction of criminals with money and muscle power into legislative  and migration of rural population to urban centre coincided with another event. Empowering the socially isolated segments of society and the emergence of the nouveau riche.

Poor quality of political leadership led to crony capitalism, as that was an option for entrepreneurs and successful politicians to prosper. There were no level playing fields.

The fast lanes of urban life destroyed traditional joint family patterns leading to nuclear families. There was no one at home to illumine and stimulate impressionable minds on Indian epics and their lessons. Demographically, all this could not have happened at a worse time when India was leaderless and the density of population in cities continued its upward journey(likely to continue at least till 2030.)Given that, poorly governed city administration refuses to restructure and professionalize tools of governance, it only meant that we will witness the slow death of our Metropolitan cities.

How then can India regain her civilizational and cultural integrity? From a nation which claimed to be the epitome of  moral values, we have degenerated to an in disciplined, mindless ,valueless, insensitive and an aggressive people. Rapes and dead bodies do not move us unless it is so gruesome that it temporarily stuns us. Single issues can at best stimulate minds for a while. Palliative measures have to give way to prophylactic ones. The latter has to start with good politics, good economics, which in turn would hopefully result in adequate resources to address education, health, infrastructure, industry and all other essential segments that could and would restore the dignity of India. How would that come about?

A ray of hope. The middle class has begun to participate in demanding good governance. The middle class is growing rapidly and they inhabit urban centres. From the very inception, PPI has sought to mobilize this segment of our population in order to make some impact on the decision making mechanism that resides in the Parliament.

Getting good people into parliament and ensuring that their primary focus is on amending/creating laws and legislation that contribute to good governance, is the cornerstone of our strategy.

Anna and 'Nirbhaya', the 23 year old brave heart, might have just ignited the fire to awaken the middle class. It bodes well for 2013. Happy new year.

JAI HIND