Why is India pussyfooting? Because India is a soft state – Genesis of India’s Problems

Genesis of India’s Problems

1.    The British created a privileged class of bureaucrats and called them the Indian Civil Service (ICS) who dutifully toed the British line in governing undivided India with an iron hand. Their loyalty was not to India but to the British Crown.  After Independence, the ICS mutated into a more virulent breed called the IAS. Its loyalty is not to Bharat but to itself. Its credo is: I, Me, Myself. Greed, selfishness, indulging in unethical & corrupt practices and betrayal of the Nation are its hallmarks. IAS today is a mafia and a law unto itself. Bharat today is in the stranglehold of the IAS mafia. From Kashmir in the North to Kanyakumari in the South, from Nagaland & Manipur in the East to Punjab & Rajasthan in the West, it is the IAS Mafia which rules the Country.

Corruption & Venality

2.    There is unfortunately a mistaken belief that it is the politicians of this country who are corrupt & venal and responsible for all the ills the nation is facing. I am afraid no. It is the IAS Mafia that is responsible. The politicians of this country are mere pawns in the hands of the IAS mafia. If we say, politicians as a breed are corrupt, we must ask: who taught the politicians to be corrupt or indulge in mal-practices & corruption? Without doubt, it is the IAS mafia. They are a wily class. Has anyone belonging to the IAS ever been caught & punished for being corrupt or for amassing wealth beyond his or her known sources of income? NO, except for a stray case or two. The members of the IAS are highly intelligent & motivated in the art of self-preservation; they are experts in covering their tracks (read covering their backs).

Emasculating & Destroying the Integrity of the Police and other Central Services

3.    Today, the IAS Mafia rules supreme; and all other Central Services, whether the IFS, the IPS, the IRS and others, are considered inferior. The implicit assumption is that members of these other services must play second fiddle & pay obeisance to the IAS. When a young man joins the IPS and is posted as Superintendent Police of a District, he is, generally, full of patriotic fervor and vows to rid the district of thugs & hoodlums. But soon, he is disillusioned; and if he does not toe the line of the District Collector (an IAS) & his political bosses, he is soon consigned to the wilderness. Result? He quickly learns how to “blow with the wind”. A terminology coined recently!! Please do not ask me who coined it?

Institutionalising Corruption

4.    Take any scam, whether it is the 2G or CWG or Coalgate or Railgate; and there is no dearth of them. In all these scams, no politician can dare make money without the expert advice, active support and connivance of the IAS. If Shri Madhu Koda siphoned off Rs. 4,000 or 40,000 crores, how did he do it? Do I need to elaborate? And what about scams before? Whether it was the Bofors, the HDW and others, who siphoned off the money, how and on whose advice and with whose help? Do I need to elaborate? If, today, billions & billions of Rupees are stashed away in Swiss Banks and in banks in numerous other countries that are tax havens, we tend to name the politicians as the culprits. But why not the IAS? Surely, the politicians could not have done it on their own. Do I have to still elaborate as to who helped them and connived with them to deprive this country of its wealth?

Emasculating & Destroying the Institutional Integrity of Constitutional Bodies, viz. the Central Election Commission (CEC), the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and other key national institutions like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

5.    The Constitutional Bodies, like the CEC, the CVC, the CAG and other important national institutions like the CBI have critical roles to perform in order to ensure good governance and to safeguard democracy in this country. Yet, the institutional integrities of these vital organisations have not only been eroded but has been ruthlessly emasculated & destroyed by the IAS. This was done by having pliable individuals nominated to head these constitutional agencies and other pivotal organizations. The primary victim is good governance. The recent case of the CBI Director confessing to the Hon’ble Supreme Court that he had shared the Draft Report on the Coal Scam with the PMO, the Law Minister and the Ministry of Coals & Mines, is a case in point.

Emasculating & Destroying the Institutional Integrity of the Army, Navy & Air Force

6.    Right from day one of Independence, ie. 15 Aug 1947, the ICS and its successor service, the IAS, had laid down for itself, as one of its Key Result Areas (KRAs), the downgrading and emasculation of the institutional integrities of the Army, Navy & Air Force. They accomplished their agenda with aplomb and remarkable dexterity, with the active support of the politicians (the elected representatives of the people). Don’t our politicians hold the Defence Services in high regard? Undoubtedly, they do. But when the IAS mafia constantly dins into their ears that they must not trust the Army and when they regularly conjure up the spectre of an ‘Army Takeover’,  (which undoubtedly has been happening with predictable regularity in India’s neighbouring countries), the politicians with their uncanny instincts of self preservation, fall prey to the machinations of the IAS mafia. They become a willing tool in the hands of the latter and join hands with them to destroy the institutional integrities of the Army, Navy & Air Force. As late as April 2012, the IAS with the help, assistance & connivance of an unscrupulous scribe with a fertile (read “perverted”) imagination (who was perhaps hoping to be rewarded with a seat in the Rajya Sabha) said that Gen VK Singh, the then COAS, had planned a military coup by moving certain active units to Delhi. This piece of hallucination made headlines in a leading national Daily on 4 April 2012. All this was done to defame Gen. VK Singh and to show the Army in poor light. Such is the venality of the IAS mafia.  Please click on the following link and read
http://creative.sulekha.com/alleged-coup-attempt-by-indian-army-on-16-17-january_556572_blog

7.    There is an old saying: ‘Nobody can bully you and make you feel inferior; unless you too feel so, and are not willing to stand up to the Bully’. Unfortunately, successive Army Chiefs with their misplaced sense of “Civilian Control over the Military in a Democracy” have been kowtowing to the IAS. Civilian control over the military in a democracy means control exercised by the ‘Elected Representatives of the People’ and NOT by the civil service. If only, successive Army Chiefs had stood up to the IAS mafia’s machinations and rendered frank & forthright advice to their political masters, India ie. Bharat would not have come to such a pass, as we find ourselves in today.

The Culpability of the IAS Mafia and the price the Nation is paying today

8.    1947-48 Kashmir Operations. 1st SIKH (First Battalion of the Sikh Infantry Regiment) landed at Badgam Airfield Srinagar on 27 October 1947; and soon the Indian Army had the Pakistani forces on the run. By Jan 1948, the Indian Army was in a commanding position in Kashmir and it was only a matter of time that the whole of Kashmir would have been liberated from Pakistani forces. Alas, it was not to be. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, inspite of sane, mature & professional advice of Gen (later Field Marshal) KM Cariappa not to halt the Military Operations at that stage, went in for a ceasefire and took the Kashmir dispute to the UN. Who advised Nehru to do so? No doubt, the ICS coterie surrounding Nehru. And, that was the start point of the Kashmir problem, complicated & compounded by each successive Prime Minister. Please click on the following link to read about the 1947-48 Kashmir Operations.
http://www.claws.in/SW/SW%20i-10.10.2012.150-178.pdf

9.    1962 War. The humiliating defeat our country suffered at the hands of the Chinese in 1962  would NOT have taken place, had the political leadership, viz. the then Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Defence Minister paid heed to Gen PN Thapar’s entreaties for speedy provision of requisite arms, ammunition & equipment to the Indian Army, considering the inadequacies in our Defence preparedness vis-à-vis the Chinese, in NEFA (present Arunachal Pradesh) and in Ladhak. Gen PN Thapar was then the COAS. Earlier to that, in 1950, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, then Home Minister, in his letter to Nehru dated 7 Nov 1950, warned him that CHINA is our ‘potential enemy’. Yet, no action was taken by Nehru. Why? It was on account of the utter disdain shown by the coterie of ICS / IAS  surrounding Nehru that no heed was paid to either Sardar Vallabhai’s letter or to Gen PN Thapar’s entreaties. That was not the first time the IAS betrayed the nation; it has happened time & again and continues even today. Please click on the following links to read Sardar Vallabhai’s letter dt. 7 Nov 1950 addressed to Nehru.
http://www.vigilonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1142&Itemid=1
http://www.friendsoftibet.org/main/sardar.html

10.    1965 War. Hajipir Pass on the road linking Uri with Poonch was captured in the 1965 war with Pakistan. The capture of Hajipir Pass would go down in Indian history as a brilliant piece of military action, an audacious move exemplifying raw courage & sacrifice by the troops of the 1st Parachute Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. Major Ranjit Singh Dayal, the Hero of the Battle of Hajipir Pass was awarded Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) for displaying exceptional bravery & courage. Click on the following link to read about the Battle of Hajipir Pass.
http://www.defence.pk/forums/military-history/95263-battle-hajipir-pass-1965-a.html

11.    Haji Pir Pass was and is of strategic importance; as it dominates the entire area around, especially the Indian side of the border in the area of Uri-Poonch bulge. Yet, Haji Pir pass was most unfortunately handed back to Pakistan as per the Agreement signed at the end of Tashkent Talks in Jan 1966 by Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Hon’ble Prime Minister Of India; on the advice of the IAS mafia entrenched in the PMO. Gen JN Chaudhury, the then COAS, stoutly opposed the hand over of Haji Pir Pass back to Pakistan; and advised Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri as such. Yet, Haji Pir Pass was handed back to Pakistan? Why? Because, it is the IAS mafia which rules the roost in the PMO.

12.    1971 War.  The war with Pakistan in Dec 1971 would go down in the annals of Indian history as a brilliant campaign executed with precision. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw was indeed a charismatic General and a great strategist. Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, the Eastern Army Commander, was an audacious General, rightly called the Liberator of Bangladesh. The war resulted in the dismemberment of Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh. The humiliating defeat of Pakistan saw  94,000 soldiers of the Pakistan Army surrendering in the East; these PoW were later held in various PoW camps across India.. At the end of it, what did we really achieve? Did we set ourselves any strategic goals before the War and after the War? Having inflicted a humiliating defeat and won the War at great cost to human lives (thousands of soldiers killed & wounded in battle), the question that begs an answer is: what did our country gain or achieve? The answer, unfortunately is: A BIG ZERO. It is sad that, whatever advantages or gains were achieved on the battlefield by our soldiers, by spilling their blood and sacrificing their lives, have invariably been negated or surrendered by our politicians, across the negotiating table, aided & abetted by the self-serving IAS mafia.
 
13.    The Shimla Agreement between India and Pakistan in July 1972 enabled the repatriation of 94,000 Pakistani PoW to Pakistan. It was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Pakistan who had their way and walked away with everything at the end of the Shimla talks. What a shame! Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the then COAS, very much advised  Indira Gandhi, the then Hon’ble Prime Minister, ‘India MUST insist on the vacation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) by Pakistan in return for the repatriation of 94000 Pakistan PoW’. This was because the back of the Pakistan Army had been broken and its morale shattered, Yet, at the Shimla Talks in July 1972, thanks to the disgraceful coterie of IAS officers advising Indira Gandhi, India got nothing and frittered away all the gains of the 1971 War.

14.    OP Blue Star. OP Blue Star would go down in the history of India as one of its dark chapters. After the killing of Shri Atwal, the DIG of Punjab Police, on 25 April 1983, by militants in Darshni Deori within the precincts of the Golden Temple, Amritsar, Shri PC Sethi, the then Union Home Minister, announced that the police would soon apprehend the killers of DIG Atwal. But within 24 hours, he, on the directions of Indira Gandhi, retracted his statement and said that the police would not enter the precincts of the Golden Temple. That was a ruse to ensnare Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale in the Golden Temple. As expected, an encouraged & emboldened Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale walked into the Golden Temple and occupied the Akaal Takht along with his band of outlaws. Then started the open smuggling of arms & ammunition into the Golden Temple and its conversion into an armed fortress. Indira Gandhi and the IAS cabal surrounding her orchestrated OP BLUE STAR which was unfortunately executed by the Indian Army on 5 June 1984. At what cost? It was a matter of shame that Sikhs, the bulwark of the nation were alienated overnight. In the aftermath of OP BLUE STAR, Sikh troops deserted their units after looting the armouries and set off by road in Army vehicles, from as far away as Tripura, Ramgarh & Trivandrum. It caused mayhem in the Army.

15.    Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) Operations in Sri Lanka. In 1987 Shri Rajeev Gandhi, the then Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, ill-advised by the IAS, needlessly & thoughtlessly sent a large contingent of the Indian Army as a Peace Keeping Force to Sri Lanka. Rajeev Gandhi did so, inspite of being warned by Gen K Sundarji, the then COAS, about the serious ramifications of such a move. But who bothers to listen to the Chief of Army Staff when the IAS is around? Result? The IPKF soon got embroiled in the internal fight between Sri Lankan Forces and the LTTE; and, got into a firefight with the LTTE. The outcome: in an unknown territory, with no intelligence inputs, IPKF was mauled & bruised, with hundreds of soldiers killed & maimed. At the end of the IPKF Operations, India had nothing to show, but a big ZERO.

16.    Chinese intrusion into Ladhak in April 2013.  Towards the end of April 2013, the Govt. of India acknowledged that troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China had intruded 19 kilometres inside our territory in Ladhak and set up a camp in the area of Daulat Beg Oldi. The nation is aghast; but the Govt of India run by the IAS is nonchalant and says that the intrusion is on account of differing perceptions between the two countries about the location of the International Boundary. Great! An agitated nation is asking: what is the Army doing? How on earth did the Indian Army allow the Chinese t
intrude into our territory? The Indian Commanders, ie. the Army Chief, the Northern Army Commander, the Corps Commander, the Divisional Commander and Commanders down the line in Ladhak are embarrassed, red-faced and fuming with rage. Rage? Why? The sector of International Border between India and China in the area of Daulat Beg Oldi where the Chinese have intruded is under the jurisdiction of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Army has no control over it. The ITBP is a police Force, as the name suggests and comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs; and hence, does not report to the Army. Sad state of affairs. Who is to be held responsible? Undoubtedly, the IAS, with its penchant for creating confusion and muddying waters, without an iota of concern for national security. Please click on the following link to know more.
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/news/lac-impasse-and-army-itbp-spat/

Who is best suited to be the National Security Advisor

17.    National Security is a matter of serious concern and is treated as such by countries all over the globe, but not so in India. In India, the National Security Advisor to the PM or to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is an IAS or IFS or IPS Officer. Strangely, a General of the Army or an Air Chief Marshal of the Air Force or an Admiral of the Navy is never appointed as the National Security Advisor. That should tell every citizen why the security of this country is so badly neglected.

Do IAS officers retire on completion of 60 years of age?

18.    It is indeed a strange question. The answer is both ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Officially, IAS officers retire on completion of 60 years of age. But that is only on paper. In actual fact, IAS officers carry on & on beyond the age of 60. Well before they reach 60 years, they manage to rehabilitate themselves in various appointments, as Chairman or Commissioner or Officer on Special Duty in some Govt Dept or the other; and if no such position exists, they create one! Check who are the Chief Information Commissioners in various States. After retirement, the IAS manage to slot themselves in one post after another, slowly graduating from Chairman / Commissioners to Advisors (including National Security Advisor) and then go on to become Governors and Ambassadors. Mind you, age is no criteria for holding these appointments or posts. What matters is good networking! In case you are looking for good case studies: study Brajesh Mishra and Shri MK Narayanan, Governor of West Bengal.

Partition of India in 1947: Who drew the Boundary line? Who is responsible for the loss of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)?

19.    On 15 July 1947, the Indian Independence Act 1947 of the Parliament of United Kingdom stipulated that British rule in India would come to an end just one month later, on 15 August 1947. The Act also stipulated the partition of the Provinces of British India into two new sovereign dominions: the Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. Sir Cyril Radcliffe was appointed as the Chairman of the Boundary Commission in July 1947 with the onerous responsibility of demarcating the boundary between the two nations, India and Pakistan, slated to come in to being on 15 Aug 1947. As per the provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947, agreed to by the  representatives of the future countries of  India and Pakistan, only the ruler of a Princely State had the privilege of deciding whether to join India or Pakistan. In other areas, the boundary was to be demarcated depending on the majority of population based on religious denomination. And going by the provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947, Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) which had 97% Buddhists (Chakmas) should have automatically been part of India. Unfortunately, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the Chairman of the Boundary Commission made a grievous mistake and the entire area went to East Pakistan when the Boundary Commission announced its award on 17 Aug 1947. Who let down the Chakmas? No prizes for guessing. The culprits were the ICS, who were then busy grabbing power, pelf & everything for themselves. There was not even a whimper against the award of CHT to East Pakistan. Please click on the following link to read more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radcliffe_Line

Dividing India into many more States: Who gains?

20.    Over the past sixty six years since independence, India has been divided into numerous States, with more in the offing. There is talk of carving Vidharbha out of Maharashtra; carving Telengana, Raayalseema and Coastal Andhra from Andhra; carving Paschim Pradesh, Awadh Pradesh, Poorvanchal Pradesh and Bundelkhand out of Uttar Pradesh. Who stands to gain by creation of more States? Answer: naturally the IAS. With the creation of six more States there would be six more Chief Secretaries, a host of Principal Secretaries and scores of Additional Secretaries, Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, etc. In other words the IAS would enjoy more power, more pelf and more opportunities to loot the Country. One must give the Devil its due. The IAS mafia knows how to get things done through the politicians.

Career preference of children of IAS Officers

21.    People often ask me:
Q1.     Are there any Officers in the Army, Navy & Air Force who are children of IAS Officers.
A1.    To the best of my knowledge, there are none.
Q2.    Why is it that children of IAS officers do not join the Army, Navy & Air Force?
A2.    Lack of pride in themselves and in the Nation. The IAS mafia knows that there is nothing to gain by sending their children to the Army, Navy & Air Force. They feel that a career in the Army, Navy & Air Force is meant only for lesser mortals. The word “patriotism” is anathema to the IAS..

To end
22.    The Question is where do we go from here, as a nation? Answer: Nowhere, except downhill. As long as we have a bunch of imbecile & corrupt politicians ruling this country, ably aided & abetted by self-serving & servile IAS officers, what else can we expect?
23.    GOD help our country.

 
Col SS Rajan was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army on 30 June 1963 and retired on 31 Oct 1996. As Major, he commanded an Engineer Construction Company during the 1971 war in the Boyra- Jessore – Khulna sector in Bangladesh.

    

Responses