Five security personnel have been reportedly killed in the last Maoist ambush in Bastar region. Such incidents have been occurring on a recurring basis as politicians continue to pass the buck on each other. Both these activities co-exist. So what do we expect the result to be? Our society and polity both have become very corrupt and irresponsible and the things are not progressing in the right direction. We learnt about the mishaps involving Naval craft and the resignation of Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi and subsequent debate showing that defense procurement is not satisfactory.
We have found that there is concentration of wealth in the hands of Godmen and middlemen who receive kickbacks during defence deals. Our Defence minister banned certain companies saying, “Why are you dealing through middlemen” without realizing that the officialdom loves the middlemen. He has not taken any steps to eliminate the middlemen who are living nearby and banning foreign firms. Do you think that the officer in the ministry will accept bribe directly? No, he deals through the middleman who also doubles up as fund manager. A.K. Anthony will make a good Education Minister but not a Defence minister. Leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Manish Tewari or Kamalnath could have done better justice to the the Defence ministry.
Our officers of Central and State Civil services are not performing their work amicably and are failing to advise the political bosses effectively. There is a need for offering better training at induction stage and retraining from time to time. Fifty per cent of the Defence ministry officials should receive some training at Dehradun. It has also been observed that many officers in the Navy retire too soon in search in a quest to earn more money through other vocations. This creates a shortage of experienced officials in the forces.
Naval training offered is of high standard (including electrical training at Valsura) but there is always scope for improvement, which no one can deny. Taxes must be imposed on BCCI and Sahara for modernizing the Navy. Confiscate wealth of Asaram Bapu and Narain Sain and the money should be used for improving the Defence standards.
All these years Sahara have been progressing at a fast pace as they had built a good residential enclave at Lucknow. You never checked or cautioned them ( the step taken by you is not right) and now you want to penalize him. He also needs to be criticized for being excessively showy and trying to become a hero which often creates jealousy. You should be sincere and sound like the Tatas. The greed of corporate houses needs to be moderated which is the government’s job.