Rating Steel, Rating India

By B G Verghese It is good to learn that the long-stalled, stop-go, 12m tonne POSCO Steel plant sponsored by the South Korean steel giant in Odisha may be just… Read more »The post Rating Steel, Rating India appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.

By B G Verghese It is good to learn that the long-stalled, stop-go, 12m tonne POSCO Steel plant sponsored by the South Korean steel giant in Odisha may be just… Read more »

The post Rating Steel, Rating India appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/rating-steel-rating-india/

Whose integrity is it?

By M C Arun It does not matter whether one calls it ‘The Great June Uprising’ or ‘Unity Day’ in observing the historic June 18 incident of 2001. What matters… Read more »The post Whose integrity is it? appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.

By M C Arun It does not matter whether one calls it ‘The Great June Uprising’ or ‘Unity Day’ in observing the historic June 18 incident of 2001. What matters… Read more »

The post Whose integrity is it? appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/whose-integrity-is-it/

Signs Of The Times : Humra Quraishi

By Humra Quraishi Sitting in the midst of this terrible heat and dust , all that I’m somehow able to mutter and murmur is ‘ only a couple of live-able… Read more »The post Signs Of The Times : Humra Quraishi appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.

By Humra Quraishi Sitting in the midst of this terrible heat and dust , all that I’m somehow able to mutter and murmur is ‘ only a couple of live-able… Read more »

The post Signs Of The Times : Humra Quraishi appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/signs-of-the-times-6/

BRO`s Longest Bridge In Most Challenging Terrain Facing China-held Tibet

By Anil Bhat Celebrating the 52nd Raising Day of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) recently, Lt Gen S Ravi Shankar, its Director General highlighted the work done over this period in… Read more »The post BRO`s Longest Bridge In Most Challenging Te…

By Anil Bhat Celebrating the 52nd Raising Day of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) recently, Lt Gen S Ravi Shankar, its Director General highlighted the work done over this period in… Read more »

The post BRO`s Longest Bridge In Most Challenging Terrain Facing China-held Tibet appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/bros-longest-bridge-in-most-challenging-terrain-facing-chinaheld-tibet/

India – 2012 Presidential Poll: Sangma’s Numerical Equations

The numerical calculation of possible votes for 2012 Presidential candidate and the former Lok Sabha speaker, P A Sangma, seems to be at bleak to make him the 13th President of India. In a surprise move, earlier on Wednesday, Sangma quit the Nationalis…

The numerical calculation of possible votes for 2012 Presidential candidate and the former Lok Sabha speaker, P A Sangma, seems to be at bleak to make him the 13th President of India. In a surprise move, earlier on Wednesday, Sangma quit the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) contending that party’s opposition to endorse the 64-year-old one […]

The post India – 2012 Presidential Poll: Sangma’s Numerical Equations appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/india-2012-presidential-poll-sangmas-numerical-equations/

Top 10 Points to Know About Irom Sharmila And Her Fast Unto Death

By: W Rorrkychand Singh   “Wake up brothers and sisters The savior of the nation We have come out all the way Knowing we all will die Why the fear… Read more »

By: W Rorrkychand Singh   “Wake up brothers and sisters The savior of the nation We have come out all the way Knowing we all will die Why the fear… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/top-10-points-to-know-about-irom-sharmila-and-her-fast-unto-death/

Now is the Time for Unity for Manipur`s Integrity

By Rajkumar Bobichand Due to the geopolitical situation of this part of the world which is presently known as Manipur, its land and people have always been threatened by various… Read more »

By Rajkumar Bobichand Due to the geopolitical situation of this part of the world which is presently known as Manipur, its land and people have always been threatened by various… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/now-is-the-time-for-unity-for-manipurs-integrity/

Muddling Through Is Not Enough

By B.G. Verghese The presidential nomination process has been vitiated by the appalling manner in which distinguished names have been bruited about, scorned and discarded as damaged goods in games… Read more »

By B.G. Verghese The presidential nomination process has been vitiated by the appalling manner in which distinguished names have been bruited about, scorned and discarded as damaged goods in games… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/muddling-through-is-not-enough/

Muddling Through Is Not Enough

By B.G. Verghese The presidential nomination process has been vitiated by the appalling manner in which distinguished names have been bruited about, scorned and discarded as damaged goods in games… Read more »

By B.G. Verghese The presidential nomination process has been vitiated by the appalling manner in which distinguished names have been bruited about, scorned and discarded as damaged goods in games… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/muddling-through-is-not-enough/

BRO`s Fast-track Construction In Arunachal Pradesh Bearing Fruit

By Anil Bhat   Celebrating the 52nd Raising Day of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) recently, Lt Gen S Ravi Shankar, its Director General highlighted the work done over this period… Read more »

By Anil Bhat   Celebrating the 52nd Raising Day of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) recently, Lt Gen S Ravi Shankar, its Director General highlighted the work done over this period… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/bros-fasttrack-construction-in-arunachal-pradesh-bearing-fruit/

BRO`s Fast-track Construction In Arunachal Pradesh Bearing Fruit

By Anil Bhat   Celebrating the 52nd Raising Day of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) recently, Lt Gen S Ravi Shankar, its Director General highlighted the work done over this period… Read more »

By Anil Bhat   Celebrating the 52nd Raising Day of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) recently, Lt Gen S Ravi Shankar, its Director General highlighted the work done over this period… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/bros-fasttrack-construction-in-arunachal-pradesh-bearing-fruit/

Address ROHINGYA’S problems: Need Of the Hour

International Refugee Day:20 June ADDRESS ROHINGYA’S PROBLEMS: NEED OF THE HOUR -An article by Ravi Nitesh from New Delhi, India “When the tears came out from his eyes and when his… Read more »

International Refugee Day:20 June ADDRESS ROHINGYA’S PROBLEMS: NEED OF THE HOUR -An article by Ravi Nitesh from New Delhi, India “When the tears came out from his eyes and when his… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/address-rohingyas-problems-need-of-the-hour/

Indo-Pak relations: An empty score-sheet

by: Bibhu Prasad Routray What exactly has moved forward in the Indo-Pakistan relations in recent months? Even the ardent optimists would find it difficult to provide any evidence. On the… Read more »

by: Bibhu Prasad Routray What exactly has moved forward in the Indo-Pakistan relations in recent months? Even the ardent optimists would find it difficult to provide any evidence. On the… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/indo-pak-relations-an-empty-score-sheet/

The Globalized World, Technology for Education and Technology as plaything

By Ananya S Guha The globalized world and technology has its own rapidly changing contexts. How do we adapt to such rapid fire change? Technology is providing everything, but it… Read more »

By Ananya S Guha The globalized world and technology has its own rapidly changing contexts. How do we adapt to such rapid fire change? Technology is providing everything, but it… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/the-globalized-world-technology-for-education-and-technology-as-plaything/

A Tribal President: Busting the Myth

By Yuingam Jajo   I have been following the ‘campaign’ surrounding the candidature of P.A. Sangma, the former Speaker of the Lok Sabha and a National Congress Party (NCP) stalwart,… Read more »

By Yuingam Jajo   I have been following the ‘campaign’ surrounding the candidature of P.A. Sangma, the former Speaker of the Lok Sabha and a National Congress Party (NCP) stalwart,… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/a-tribal-president-busting-the-myth/

A tribute to Irish people that we can also learn from

A tribute to Irish people that we can also learn from Fluorescent jacket flashes in the dark, man and woman, old and young, walks or runs, even though beastly weather… Read more »

A tribute to Irish people that we can also learn from Fluorescent jacket flashes in the dark, man and woman, old and young, walks or runs, even though beastly weather… Read more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/06/a-tribute-to-irish-people-that-we-can-also-learn-from/

An Announcement: Khanghan Jaba Ama!

  By Bobo Khuraijam Transitory displacement from the town has deprived us from having a… more »

  By Bobo Khuraijam Transitory displacement from the town has deprived us from having a… more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/05/an-announcement-khanghan-jaba-ama/

Signs Of The Times – PARTIES ARE NO LONGER WHAT THEY USED TO BE

  By  Humra  Quraishi PARTIES ARE NO LONGER WHAT THEY USED TO BE … Shall… more »

  By  Humra  Quraishi PARTIES ARE NO LONGER WHAT THEY USED TO BE … Shall… more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/05/signs-of-the-times-3/

Mysterious Richard: Inculcating Racist Lingo and Protest.

By: Dr. Malem Ningthouja, Campaign for Peace & Democracy (Manipur)   There is articulation of… more »

By: Dr. Malem Ningthouja, Campaign for Peace & Democracy (Manipur)   There is articulation of… more »

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/05/mysterious-richard-inculcating-racist-lingo-and-protest/

Of India’s intelligence and un-intelligent men

There was apprehension and then it suddenly turned into a monumental embarrassment. The photographs sourced… more »

There was apprehension and then it suddenly turned into a monumental embarrassment. The photographs sourced by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of the five terrorists out on a suicide mission in India were found to be those of people leading honourable lives in Pakistani cities. Both Indian and Pakistani media left no opportunity to make a mockery of the RAW. The Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) used the opportunity to claim innocence even for its past acts. However, as critics go on an overdrive, it is important not to miss that this ‘egg on the face’ phenomenon is the direct result of the decades-long political myopia and mismanagement that has reduced the organisation to its present state.

Two Indian prime ministers must take the blame for contributing enormously to a thorough dismantling of RAW’s assets in Pakistan. The first one, Morarji Desai, the only Indian to receive Nishan-e-Pakistan, Pakistan’s highest civilian award. Coinciding with his assumption to power in 1977, a detailed list of Indian intelligence assets in Pakistan fell in the hands of the Zia-ul-Haq regime. The Pakistani dictator, who kept regular touch with Desai over phone to discuss ‘the effectiveness of urine as a medicine’, took little time to ensure that the assets are neutralised through a clinical process of ruthless killing, torture and also by turning them into highly effective double agents.

By 1979, Desai had changed his position on Pakistan, telling the then US ambassador that India would smash its neighbour should it test a nuclear bomb. But the damage had already been done. As the CIA took the ISI under the wings to counter the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s, thereby augmenting the capacities of the agency enormously, RAW struggled to maintain a decent network in Pakistan.

The second landmark was reached in 1997, with Inder Kumar Gujral becoming India’s 12th prime minister. Gujral, credited with formulating India’s Look East policy, was also the initiator of a benign strategy that took a conscious decision to close RAW’s covert action unit. This policy, which mistakenly interpreted intelligence to be an offensive wing of the government, resulted not only in the downgrading of RAW’s abilities in Pakistan, but also prohibited it from cultivating new assets.

Gujral appeared to conform with the popular Pakistani notion that India’s external outlook is determined by a troika of the MEA, Indian army and RAW. For a pacifist policy to succeed, the stranglehold of this ‘evil’ nexus had to be broken and RAW was found to be the easiest among the three to be weakened. Under Gujral, who believed that “both India and Pakistan should jointly fight the forces of colonialism”, the agency lost its entire ability to seek information, let alone be the source of subversive activities inside Pakistan. Gujral’s initiative, however, didn’t stop Islamabad from blaming RAW for having engineered a blast on a cross-country passenger train in the Sindh province that killed 26 people and an explosion in a theatre that killed three people in June 1998.

Gujral’s tenure came to an end in November 1997. However, his legacy lived on. Prior to the 1999 peace journey to Lahore by prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, informal pressure was put on RAW to refrain from projections indicating threats from Pakistan. Under the UPA government, at least till 2009, months after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, RAW did not have a single covert action specialist at the senior level. Undoubtedly, RAW’s operations have suffered tremendously due to political myopia as much as due to the appointment of some of the most undeserving chiefs in the recent past.

It takes years to build contacts and nurture assets in a country like Pakistan. For anybody familiar with the nuances of intelligence operations, revitalising the agency from a state of degeneration is not only a tedious task, but also one that needs constant political backing. This tactical disadvantage probably makes it expedient for RAW to depend on mobile assets for its activities in Pakistan. Reports have indicated the photographs of the LeT cadres on a suicide mission were sourced to ‘trans-border sources’. Such sources, by all means, can be mercenaries, liable to sabotage by the ISI. The ‘false’ information that was used to embarrass RAW this time can also be used to understate a real attack next time, with serious repercussions.

To quote George Santayana, the American philosopher and novelist who carried a Spanish passport, “Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are.” Lessons for India from the recent episode are, thus, simple. RAW needs to find strength, even when Indo-Pak relations are supposedly looking up.

Originally published on  expressbuzz.com

 

* The article was sent to KanglaOnline by Bibhu Prasad Routray

 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/05/of-india%E2%80%99s-intelligence-and-un-intelligent-men/