March 14, 2016
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/officers-rue-timid-strategy-on-china/article8349174.ece
Military upgrade on border lags Chinese modernisation.
India will only be making incremental improvement in its military infrastructure along the border with China, even as its most ambitious plan for dealing with the neighbour’s military prowess is stuck due to a resource crunch.
Military officers call India’s China strategy “timid” and in no way matching the aggressive modernisation by the communist neighbour of its border capabilities and overhaul of its military structure. “The momentum is lost,” a senior officer said, on the adverse impact of lack of resources for the military infrastructure upgrade along the border.
The Indian Air Force, which re-launched two upgraded Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) on Saturday in Arunachal Pradesh, will upgrade six more of those World War II vintage strips in the border State. The entire project, approved in 2009 and budgeted at about Rs.1,000 crore, has been inching ahead to provide better logistical access for airdropping troops and equipment in forward areas.
The IAF has upgraded three of the ALGs with paved runway surfaces and facilities such as aprons for ground manouevring, air traffic control towers etc. It says the new runway surfaces and other infrastructure are at par with any other modern airfield in the country. Three more ALGs — Mechuka, Pasighat, Tuting — are scheduled to be inaugurated in the next three months.
“Those are good moves, but not good enough,” a senior military officer dealing with the China border says, pointing out that these are incremental but not enough to catch up with the Chinese modernisation and threat from across the border.
Military officers argue that the Indian military’s most ambitious plan to deal with Chinese challenge — raising a dedicated Mountain Strike Corps — is languishing for lack of government attention and financial allocation.The 17 Corps, which would be country’s fourth strike corps, is now temporarily headquartered in Ranchi. “There are not much resources available to complete the raising,” a source said.
The UPA government had sanctioned the strike corps in 2013, projecting a total expense of over Rs. 64,000 crore and a total of about 90,000 personnel. According to reports, the Army started equipping it with War Wastage Reserves, in the expectation that budgetary support would follow. Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag has claimed that the strike corps would be ready by 2021.
However, officers said that they are far from reaching that target.
“We have a complete division in Panagarh, and that is it,” one of them said. A strike corps would require at least two full divisions. With no significant budget increase this year, there is no hope that the second division can be raised anytime soon, they argue.
Many officers point out that the policy focus that was brought on dealing with China border in recent years has slowed down significantly.
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