Defence Industrial Policy & Production Programme – Tamil Nadu
AF’s TEJAS Light combat aircraft
S. Sivathasan
together with armament production, procurement and policy related thereto fall within the ambit of the central government of India. No country that develops economically, neglects to grow militarily. The quality of armaments decides success in diplomacy and victory in war. This is no discovery but a commonplace. The critical decision that India took in recent years, declared or unannounced, was to turn militarist; not for aggression but for defence. On the issue of integrating Goa with India, Patel said at the cabinet meeting, “If you are agreed, I need only 24 hours”. Horror struck Rajaji said, “We must conquer Goa by love”. In 1962, Krishna Menon boldly declared to the world “India never abjured violence when it came to safeguarding her interests”. He did a Patel and with Police action, Goa became integrally Indian.
Not for nothing does Patel stand tall in steel in Gujarat; the tallest in the world. Not without sense was he called the Bismarck of India. Now Modi’s diplomacy works with remarkable success. When buttressed by more impressive arms, it will work with greater potency. The Indian bureaucracy, technocracy, military and the nation’s leadership are learned enough and adequately experienced not to repeat the Sino – Indian debacle of 1962. So quite adroitly, the correct moment is now seized, to burnish military prowess with unstoppable forward movement.
Compulsions for Indigenous Defence Production
India’s strength is a compound of economic power and demographic growth. Increasing assertiveness already displayed, permits of no stepping back. Threats in the western frontier, danger from the North, ravenous appetite and drool for Indian territory seen in the east are ominous enough. To add to the woes is the risk of what was called the ‘Permanent Aircraft Carrier’ in the south of Indian Ocean being hijacked. To students of history greater danger lurks in the “soft underbelly that is South India”. The latest incursion by the British in the 18thcentury was not from the northern passes, but through the South.
To Kautilya, that state which is on the borders of another state is an enemy. Hitherto, such a prospect might have been staved off through adroit diplomacy. Now the wisdom of Frederik the Great, “Diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments’, is a constant reminder.
In 1976, KPS Menon the distinguished scholar, a student of history, diplomat and writer declared open the Foreign Affairs Unit of the BMICH, Sri Lanka. In the course of his speech, he said that the US President had appointed a group of scholars to study and forecast how the world will be 20 years from then ie around 1996. The group had said among other things “India will grow into a great power, SHE WILL BE A DANGER TO HER NEIGHBOURS…,”. Then with a touch of humour Menon said that it does not mean India will be a threat to Sri Lanka. There was laughter. He added “I don’t know how learned men can make such a statement”. To this writer, it was the learned men’s learning that brought forth this warning.
Imperatives Before India
