Commodore's Comments: Maritime security - Incidents, implications and immediate solutions

When the nation's conscience was outraged by the tragic events of 62/11, the focus belatedly shifted to the threat to our national security from the seas, and one hoped that the "sea blindness" of our strategic thinkers would soon be a thing of the past.
And alas, while the media and the arm chair strategists alike are dissecting Mr Jaswant Singh's "India at risk", MV Seaman Guard slips in and out of India's maritime territory, sometimes with arms and sometimes without, and nobody seems to have a clue as to why she is there, but more importantly, how did she get there in the first place.
The TV channels in Chennai are working overtime finding someone with even a tenuous connection with matters maritime  -  on the last panel discussion that I was on, my co - panelists were the Secretary of the State Fishermen's Union and a retired Inspector of Police who runs a Detective Agency. The Fishermen's representative had the audacity to state that while they, the fishermen were doing their patriotic duty bey engaging in fishing, the Navy and the Coast Guard were only working for a living!
The crux of the matter is that even though the public is ill informed about maritime affairs - maritime security is well beyond their understanding - they are quick to raise questions as to whether the measures supposed to have been put in place post 26/11, like close coordination between the many agencies tasked with guarding our sea frontiers, such as the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Marine Police, and the concerned(?) bureaucratic organisations both at the Centre and State level , activation of technology driven maritime surveillance and reporting systems, 'feet on the street' measures such as OPVs, IPVs, Hover craft etc, are sufficient, whether the men needed to man them have been correctly recruited, trained, motivated,. whether the 'soft power' and the 'soft ware' required to garner, analyse and act on maritime intelligence exists etc.
And if so, how did MV Seaman Guard slip in and out?
At a slightly more enlightened level of discourse, questions are being raised about the adequacy - even existence - of legal measures to apprehend, interrogate, and take action against   perpetrators of 'maritime crime' against the state.
Meanwhile we will blunder along debating ad nauseum the hardy perennials of communalism against secularism, Nehru versus Patel, RAGA versus NAMO etc.
Mera Bharat Mahan!
Cheers,
Commodore (Retd) S Shekhar
XXII NDA
3673 Kilo

Why not NAVAGATI? A new direction for the nation!

The nation is going gaga over RAGA and hypo over NAMO. 

There is a strong premise that  a BJP led coalition will form the next Government at the centre.

But this is a long shot, the hagiographic attempts on both sides ( the two so called national parties)   not withstanding.

My own analysis, merely from the English language press and media inputs (and you will agree with me, that this really does not account for much in our country) is that both these parties will barely touch the one third mark - 181 seats.

So who will get the remaining 181 seats?

It is a no brainer - the likes of Amma, Didi. Behenji , Netaji, and the rest of the regional satraps, the Thakres, the Badals, et al, and the comrades thrown in for good measure

So are we going to see another sanctimonious effort at keeping the "communalists" at bay , and the "dynasty" out, with disastrous consequence for the country?

My wishful thinking is that the BJP, (and incidentally, I am totally apolitical) along with its two remaining allies of the NDA, the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal will edge past the Congress and its cohorts and emerge as the largest 'pre-poll coalition'.This will give the Revered Pranabda no other option but to invite the NDA ( and if still led by Narendra Bhai - as you know there are whispers that the daggers within the saffron family have only been hidden away for the present, and will be brought out with a flourish when within smelling distance of power, to stab you know whom) to form the next government.

And then, automatically, the horse trading will begin in real earnest, and we will land up with a UPA 2 Redux, only this time called NDA 2!!

So my wish list is not for an action plan for what to do when ( really speaking, if) the BJP comes to power, but to ensure that it does.

My action plan is for Narendra Bhai to ensure that not only the BJP comes to power, but with a moral and physical authority to activate the action plan which you and others have designed, re-designed and calibrated.

And this is:

a) Understand internally that there is no way that the BJP by itself , or with its two existing allies of the NDA, can from a stable government for the next five years

b) Identify, through a psephologist's support, (and there is no dearth of them), the ground realities as to how many seats each of the regional parties will bring to the table

c) Analyse, ideological similarities with each of these 

d) Conduct serious in camera discussions with each of the leaders identified as possible stable partners for a ruling coalition

e) Conduct the horse trading now, rather than after the poll results have come in

f) Boldly announce the constituents of the new pre poll alliance - and for God's sake discard the appellation NDA ( you and I would agree that they have disgraced the acronym which actually belongs to the cradle of leadership of the Armed Forces - the National Defence Academy) ! 

g) Call it by a name which symbolises the hopes and aspirations of today's India  -governance, accountability, transparency, and inclusiveness -  why not GATI ,which invokes both progress and direction? And just to catch the attention of the electorate, prefix it with National Alliance for Value Addition?

Incidentally the modern word "navigation" is said to be derived from the Sanskrit wordNavagati   - or new direction!!! And that should keep the Sangh Parivar also happy!

See you all at the "swearing in" and not at the "swearing at"!

Cheers!

Commodore (Retd) S Shekhar

XXII NDA

36730 Kilo

98409 36730