The gloves were off in Karnataka. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing an election rally in Bangaluru, accused the Congress State government of ‘ease of doing murder’ instead of ‘ease of doing business.’ The tenor of the speech sounded anything but prime ministerial, more in keeping with a visiting Tammany Hall boss in overdrive. India is sufficiently polarized already and could well do with less of the poison that makes a fraught situation worse.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, determined not to take such incendiary abuse lying down, came out of his corner and got in some telling blows of his own. ‘Modi is morally unfit to be PM, since he has been propagating lies.’ Pointing to Rajasthan, where the BJP government is on the back foot, following its recent by-election reverses, he asked, ‘Where is Modi’s acche din,’ [Good days] Where indeed.
With a well timed turn of the screw, Mr Siddaramaiah referred to the Godhra riots in Gujarat riots of 2002, when Narendra Modi was State Chief Minister. Karnataka State Governor Vajubhai Vala, addressing the State legislature in Bangaluru, complemented the State government for maintaining law and order and implementing welfare schemes for the poor and for all-round development of Karnataka (Hindu February 6).
Karnataka surge in innovation
As 2017 drew to a close, Bangaluru was in good cheer at the news the Dornier 228 civil aircraft would be setting up its production facility in the city’s environs. Bangaluru is where the defence public sector facility Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is headquartered. HAL and other defence-related research laboratories, along with premier institutions such as the Indian Institute of of Science and the National Aerospace Laboratories have been located for the past few decades. It is where software major Infosys was founded in 1981. Biocon, one of India’s foremost pharmaceutical companies, is Bangaluru-based. Bangaluru retains its epithet as India’s ‘Silicon Valley.’ Karnataka received $4.7 billion in Foreign Direct Investment in the first six months of the current fiscal 2017-18 (ending March 31, 2018) (Economic Times February 7).
Indian submarine project flounders
Eighteen months after an extension by the Defence Acquisition Council for Project P- 75 (O1), the construction of six diesel electric submarines have yet to take-off as the expiry date lapses. No shipyard has been selected, as the cumbersome bureaucracy and its equally cumbersome procedure have called shots. The Prime Minister’s Office, which had delivered a rocket at the Defence Ministry over its implementation procrastination, must wield a big stick when Mr Modi returns from his Karnataka sojourn (Business Line February 6).
Submarine upgrades
To make up the shortfall of submarines and ships in the Indian Navy, the Defence Ministry has programmed an upgrade of its Russian and German-made submarines presently in service. Four Sindhugosh (Russian Kilo class) and two German (HDW class) submarines were identified for a Rs1000 crore each being refitted in Russia and Germany respectively, extending their span by ten years.
Indian partners
Russian and German companies have selected Indian partners to collaborate in the venture. Mumbai-based engineering giant Larsen & Toubro has been selected by the Russian manufacturer to refit some of the submarines in the Mazagaon shipyard in Mumbai, with full transfer of refit technology. A similar undertaking in underway on German submarines with ThyssenKrupp supervising the transfer of technology to an Indian partner, the work also to be carried out at the Mazagaon dock. (Business Line February 8).
Upcoming tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh
With continuing friction along the Sino-Indian border, connectivity is a vital security imperative for India. Hence the government is engaged in building border infrastructure as a major priority. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley informed Parliament of a new procurement policy in this regard. ‘To secure the country’s defences, we are developing connectivity infrastructure in border areas…I now propose to take up construction of a tunnel under Sela Pass, he said. The Pass is a critical high altitude site in Arunachal Pradesh featured in the Sino-Indian border conflict of 1962, with China laying claim to the entire State.
Rohtang, Zozila Passes
Minister Jaitley referred to the Rohtang tunnel, which ensures all-weather wheeled transport to the Ladakh region in the quickest possible time. He assured the House that the 14km under the Zozila Pass, linking Kashmir to Ladakh, was progressing well.
Defence Corridor
A defence corridor, linking Chennai and Bangaluru,has been approved. It will be a facility for defence equipment for public and private sector companies. A second corridor is to come up later, its location awaiting an official announcement (Hindu February 2).
Former Air Chief sounds warning
Former Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha has issued yet another warning to a somnolent government on the protracted delay in the procurement 12 squadrons of fighter aircraft in the country’s depleted Air Force. Its projection of 42 squadrons has been running short as old aircraft are taken out of service. The present Air Chief Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa has long been crying out for replacement orders to a seemingly deaf Defence Ministry (Times of India February 3).
Defence Minister’s secrecy pledge
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has told MPs that she is unable to divulge details of India’s acquisition of 36 French Rafele as she was pledged to conditions of secrecy. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (formerly concurrent Defence Minister) made a robust defence of his embattled colleague in Parliament, arguing that Congress ministers Pranab Mukherjee and C. K. Antony had taken a similar stand on the Rafele contract in their time. Disclosures of the money involved might have revealed the weapons system of the aircraft, thereby threatening national security. Thereafter opposition Congress criticisms were toned down, with the reptilian Shashi Tharoor asking only for financial detail. The controversy continues (Hindu, Times of India February 7, 8, 9).
Congress would have been better served by referring to Air chief Arup Raha’s warning on the continuing under-strength of 12 airworthy squadrons in IAF service, and of the government’s studied silence on the Fifth Generation Aircraft deal of co-production From which direction comes the obstruction?
Start-ups spreading their wings
It’s the economy, stupid proclaimed former US president Bill Clinton on his election trail. Indian politics having plumbed the depths, it’s the Indian economy and all things related to it that will surely be the country’s lifeline, now and well into the future. A reported surge in applications for patents is evidence that Indian start-us are blazing a promising trail of innovation. In 2017, there were 909 applications submitted for patents, up nearly 15 times from the 61 filed in 2016 when a meagre 61 were filed. ‘A lot of start-ups are not just inviting something, but looking at making their products and services more affordable. For example, companies are also filing patents for simple processes they have invented,’ said Parthasarathi Guha Patra, founder of Asadel Technologies – video analytics and enterprise safety company ( Business Line February 7).
Tata Motors in third quarter surge
Tata Motors reported a consolidated net profit of R s1,214 crore for the third quarter of the current fiscal ending December 31, 2017. In the third quarter Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) , despite tough market conditions, continued its volume growth trajectory with strong response to its new product range. ‘We have delivered a satisfactory quarter of profitable growth,’ said N.Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Motors (Hindu February 6).
Upbeat Jim O’Neill
Jim O’Neill, the economist who, as CEO of Morgan Stanley, coined the acronym BRIC [Brazil, Russia. India, China] as the upcoming economic powerhouse, spoke recently of an emergent India as the economic loadstar of the first half of the present century. Addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group, on the contribution of Indian companies in Britain and the launch of the Manchester India Partnership, he ‘India could do so much better’ given demographic trends had the potential to grow at 12.5 per cent annually.
Future possibilities
‘Between 2015 and 2035 just the increase in India’s working age population will be bigger than the combined working age population of of the four largest EU countries….if that translates into people actually having jobs and they boost productivity…in my judgment India could easily repeat in the next 20 years at least what China has done in the past 30 years and grow by double digits …they need to do more in order to achieve this,’ he said. He also stated that England’s north should focus on growing links with India, which presented a ‘as big if not bigger opportunity than China, given the demographic trend. ‘If we have this event in another 15 years I’ll be saying “guess what? India creates a New Zealand every three months’ …we are not at that stage yet but that’s coming down the road.’ (Business Line February 3).
Sonia Gandhi prepares for early election
Addressing a Congress Party Parliamentary gathering, Congress Chairperson and former president, Sonia Gandhi, said she had detected the ‘winds of change’ in the Gujarat and Rajasthan Assembly elections [in which the ruling BJP] suffered reverses, with the possibility of an early general election (Times of India February 9).
