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MEDIA WATCH
Asian Voice - Saturday 29th May 2010
Scrutator’s Something curious happened in India last week. The Indian Army placed a second order for 124 Arjun Battle Tanks to supplement the 124 it had ordered earlier. Domain-b.com online produced a scathing report (May 17), highlighting the relentless campaign against the tank and the scientists and engineers of the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) responsible for its design and production. Leading this campaign was The Times of India, which a year or so ago even wrote an editorial calling for the scrapping of the tank and the DRDO itself. The self-styled economic guru Gurcharan Das added his voice to the hostile chorus. He told how his high powered friends in Singapore had pooh-poohed the DRDO as a white elephant, a drain on India's scarce resources that violated good sense. The Indian Army was eventually prevailed upon to put the Arjun through the most testing trials (in March) in the Rajasthan desert, where it was pitted against the leading models from Europe and the formidable T90, Russia's best. The Arjun came up trumps by beating its rivals on every count. An elated Indian Defence Ministry spokesman said: “After many years of trials and tribulations, the tank has now proved its worth by its superb performance under various circumstances, such as driving cross-country over rugged sand dunes, detecting, observing and quickly engaging [and hitting] targets..... both stationary and moving with pinpoint accuracy.” The Defence Ministry decided immediately to authorize the development of the second generation of the Arjun MBT. The additional Arjuns, to be produced at the Avadi-based Heavy Vehicle Factory, apart from enabling the army to raise two fresh armoured divisions, gives the Arjun programme a new lease of life.
Anti-DRDO campaign What requires close critical scrutiny is the significance of the anti-DRDO campaign in some sections of the Indian media. This could have been financed by foreign interest groups keen to penetrate the lucrative Indian arms market. When the short range Prithvi missile systen was first tested in the late 1980s, The Economist said India would have been better served with a western variant. Sam Pitroda's C-Dot telecom system attracted critical media comment in the West,
be surprised to know that there is whole slew of DRDO designed and developed products that have proved to be a big hit with the armed services, in addition to saving the exchequer many crores of rupees. Let us look at some specific examples. “When it comes to military modernisation, some of the priciest systems to modernise are radars, detection and surveillance and electronic warfare equipment..... So how did DRDO respond to Indian requirements in the above area?”
Arjun Battle Tank put through its paces
since a number of high profile western bidders were competing for the contract. Wisely, the late Rajiv Gandhi gave the nod to Mr Pitroda. However, to return to DRDO, rediff.com (January 19, 2005) published a special report on the subject by Kaushik Kapisthalam. Entitled “DRDO: A stellar success,” it was an expert and prescient refutation (as it turns out) of the many media canards directed at the organisation and its work. Among the writer's opening paragraphs were two in sequential order that deserve special attention. “But the reader may
Mr Kapisthalam took us through his list, and impressive it was. In January 2004, the Indian Army accepted DRDO's Samyuktha electronic warfare system; also the Rajendra advanced weapon-locating radar, which doubles up in the Akash medium range surfaceto-air missile system. DRDO has supplied state of the art electronic warfare systems for the Navy and Air Force and much else besides. India's frontline SU-30MKI warplane “relies on cutting edge Indian components such as the Mission Computer, Display Processor, Radar Computer, Integrated
communications equipment, Radar Altimeter and Programme Signal Processors, all designed and developed by DRDO under a project titled 'Vetrivale'. And what about the Agni missile systems and their nuclear warheads, not to speak of the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile, developed in conjunction with Russia? All of these have the DRDO imprint.
Highway in construction
Manganese nodules India has used the remote operable vehicle to trace manganese nodules at the polymetallic nodule site in the central basin of the Indian Ocean. The robotic vehicle reached the maximum depth 5,000 metres. After reaching capturing video pictures of the ocean bed the robot was lifted with samples of manganese nodules (Domain-b.com May 14).
Indian dean Nitin Nobria has been named as Dean of of the Harvard Business School. He is the first Indian to be appointed to this prestigious position. Mr Nobria, the Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business, will take up his appointment on July 1. Harvard University President Drew Faust said: “At a pivotal moment for Harvard Business School, and for business education more generally, I'm delighted that Nitin Nobria has agreed to lead HBS forward. He's an outstanding scholar, teacher and mentor, with a global outlook and an instinct for collaboration across boundaries.” Mr Nobria responded: “I feel a profound sense of responsibility for continuing Harvard Business School's proud legacy of ground-breaking ideas and transnational educational experiences.” A specialist on leadership and organizational change, Mr Nobria was previously the School's associate dean for family development and chair of its organizational behaviour unit. He is current cochair of the HBS Leadership Initiative and has been a member of the HBS faculty since 1988 (Indian Express, May 5). Mr Nobria received his Bachelor of Technology degree in chemical engineering in 1984 from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and his Ph.D in 1988 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, where he earned the outstanding doctoral thesis award in behavioural and policy sciences.
Indian road building Brajesh Upadhyay writes (BBC News, April 23): “As India aspires to a double digit annual economic growth, infrastructure is the new priority. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has underscored the need to double
infrastructure spending from $500 billion to $1trillion in the next five-year plan....Roads and highways are a particular focus of attention and the government's high-profile highways minister Kamal Nath has set himself a tough target of 20km of roads a day from June, meaning 7,000 km a year and 20,000 km of work in progress. It could be the biggest and most ambitious infrastructure roll-outs in the world today,” says Mr Upadhyay. He asks, “Mr Nath has sold the dream, can he pull it off?” Minister Kamal Nath, in an interview, told his interlocutor: “It was a well thought target. If we want the project to have an impact, it cannot be less than 20km a day.” He admitted that the target is “ambitious but it can be achieved.” However, Vineet Agrawal of Transport Corporation of India said it wasn't only a question of the length of the roads but also their quality that should be the goal. Mr Upadhyay again: “Whether it means writing articles in Wall Street Journal to woo foreign investors, criss-crossing the globe with his team to drum up interest or negotiating with state transport ministers to clear bureaucratic bottle necks, he says nothing is being left to chance. He says funds will not be an issue and says that apart from government funds, the additional investment will come through public-private partnerships.” The proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
Pakistan major According to a Times of India report (May 21), the Pakistani authorities, following mounting pressure from the Obama administration in Washington, have arrested Major Iqbal, serving officer of the Pakistan Army, for possible links to Faisal Shahzad, who is being held in the US for his recent attempt to bomb Times Square in New York. Indian agencies have identified Major Iqbal and Major Samir Ali as key figures in the conspiracy in the 26/11 terrorist assault on Mumbai. Indian
sources have said that the names of Majors Iqbal and Ali were included in the dossier submitted to the Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir when he visited India. It is believed that Major Iqbal was the principal handler of David Headley, the American jehadi, who played a critical role in the 26/11 events.
Beijing anger The Daily Telegraph's Dean Nelson (May 12) told of China's anger at the Dalai Lama's presence at the IPL3 Twenty20 cricket match last month between the Chennai Super Kings and the Kings XI in the sylvan Himalayan setting of Dharamsala, the Tibetan leader's official abode. China's ire was reflected by the country's People's Daily newspaper, which accused His Holiness of pretending to like cricket to please his Indian hosts. The Dalai Lama was severely taken to task for describing himself as a “son of India.”
Dalai Lama greeting the people
The Tibetan government-inexile rejected the attack, which it said “reflects the Chinese government's arrogance; since His Holiness the Dalai Lama had no freedom in Tibet, he left for India, where he enjoys freedom. What he does or does not do, depends on his choice,” said a Tibetan spokesman. Curt and to the point. News of the tragic plane crash in Magalore, with the loss of 158 passengers and crew came as we were going to press. There will be more on this next week.