Commandant's note

The Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry is a unique Regiment of Indian Army.  It is the only infantry regiment born out of `patriotic volunteers’ of Jammu and Kashmir which rose to fight against Pakistani raiders in October 1947 on a clarion call given by Shiekh Mohammed Abdullah. The volunteers held the Pakistani raiders at bay until arrival of Indian Army on October 27, 1947,after which they fought with them shoulder to shoulder till the attackers were ousted.

In recognition of their valour they were organized as the 'J&K Militia’, the first force to be raised after Independence. Since then the J&K Militia has participated in all operations with valour and courage.

In recognition of their bravery, 7 and 14 J&K Militia were converted into `Ladakh Scouts’ after 1962 war and merged with Indian Army. Rest of the force too was converted into regular army in 1972 after they performed exceptionally well in the 1965 and 1971 wars.

This regiment is a true symbol of national integration and secularism.  For the first time in 1948, it introduced the concept of `MMG’ (Mandir, Masjid and Gurdwara under one roof), which was later adopted by rest of the Indian Army as `sarv dharm sthal’.

The regiment has been conferred four Battle Honours, of which three were earned while it was a para-military force. No other para-military force has earned any battle/theatre honour in our country. The fourth one was earned during Kargil War. JAK LI has earned the distinction of becoming the only Param Vir Chakra winner of the Siachen Glacier.

Inspite of being the youngest regiment of Indian Army, it is one of the highest decorated. They include one Param Vir Chakra, two Ashoka Chakra, 11 Mahavir Chakra and 21 Unit Citations/Appreciation, amongst  others  awards.

Unbeknownst to the world outside, the regiment has rendered yeomen  service in containing militancy by motivating youth and providing them respectable and secure jobs in large numbers every year, especially at the height of militancy.

JAK LI’s Regimental Training Centre is located at Srinagar in the most picturesque environment. The regiment has won accolades when assigned jobs overseas, including in Sri Lanka and various UN Peacekeeping missions.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

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A matter of honour

JAK LI, a predominant Kashmiri Muslim regiment, is doing the Indian army proud. It also remains a bulwark against youth turning to militancy. Mayank Singh reports from the valley. Photo: Sujan Singh

Lanky Peer Mohammed Ummer from Anantnag has succeeded in fulfilling his father’s ultimate dream. He has joined Indian Army’s Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regiment (JAK LI), a unit his father served with distinction for 26 years.

Soldier Ummer is the only brother among five sisters and despite his father’s death in 2000, the family was very keen he takes over the mantle of warrior. So when Ummer recently marched at the attestation parade at Srinagar’s JAK LI parade ground, his family including two sisters - one a teacher and the other pursuing a Master of Arts degree – were in attendance, proud of their ward.

Or Rifleman Ishfaq Ahmad Malik, 21, from Rajouri, who is first in the family to join the army. Son of a farmer, Malik says he is raring to go. ‘‘It is an honour to serve the Indian Army. My family is proud and I am very excited to go and serve in areas which are terrorist-infested.'' His father cannot stop smiling at his son's achievments.

This sentiment was shared by every parent present at the parade ground that day. In a state torn by militant violence and separatist politics, Ummer like other Kashmiri recruits, is prepared to take the risk of being targeted by militants by joining the Indian Army. For those questioning the loyalty of Kashmiris towards India, this is a story worth reading.

The JAK LI regiment that Ummer plans to serve, consists of volunteers from Jammu and Kashmir. It has 50 percent Muslims while the rest represent other ethnic groups from the state.The army has taken thoughtful steps to create and carry with them the rank and file of the regiment; among their most remarkable steps to accommodate all is a common ground of worship, a time-honoured tradition of the Indian Army.

The regiment is by no means new. It came into being between April and August, 1948, trying times for the state when it faced the prospect of plunder, loot and annexation at the hands of tribal marauders who walked across the Line of Control (LoC) sponsored by the Pakistan army. While the shadow of cessation and independence is not entirely removed, JAK LI remains a testimony of how much the people of Jammu and Kashmir are willing to keep violence out of their lives.

Former Colonel of the regiment Lieutenant General ML Chibber likens the JAK LI regiment to the state’s fabulous Chinar trees, which have majestically withstood one storm after the other without any apparent signs of wear and tear. JAK LI’s historical defence of the state with its overwhelming majority of Muslim troops is rightfully the new symbol of Kashmiriyat – away from the shenanigans of vote bank politicians and cynical naysayers.

The birth of JAK LI is entwined with India’s historic freedom struggle.It is the only regiment in the Indian Army which can take legitimate pride in the fact that it emerged out of volunteer citizens who spontaneously rose as a cohesive group to resist the tribal invasion launched by Pakistan to capture Jammu and Kashmir on October 22, 1947. These sons-of-the-soils organized themselves and were called Leh Militia in Leh, Border Defence Scouts and Bal Sena in Jammu, Poonch Scouts in Poonch and National Home Guards in the Kashmir valley.

Then they had fought shoulder to shoulder with the Indian Army, their motivation fired by a burning desire to not just save their family and friends but also the land widely acknowledged to be the ‘Paradise on Earth.’ They not only succeeded in warding off invaders but put into place a hoary tradition – the practice of standing up and being counted when the country needed it.

The militias conducted themselves with great distinction during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 and earned three battle honours during the Bangladesh conflict of 1971. But these successes, far from lulling them into complacency, spurred them on to greater heights – quite literally.

In 1984, JAK LI was deployed to the Siachen Glacier, the world’s highest battle ground, to thwart Pakistan’s designs there. Christened Operation Meghdoot, the 8th battalion of JAK LI earned plaudits by capturing a Pakistani post at 21,000 feet on the Siachen Glacier in 1987.

Celebrated Naib Subedar Bana Singh of the regiment earned the country’s highest military honour, Param Vir Chakra, and that too in fine fettle! Steeped in true warrior tradition, Singh believes a regiment is like a nursery which turns boys into men inculcating the basics of battle. Bana Singh became a Subedar Major and was later conferred with honorary rank of Captain. Says the legendary warrior,“ Jammu and Kashmir has been continuously under enemy attack. The immediate reaction to crisis without losing one’s balance is in our genes.’’ He adds: ‘‘You talk of any state and there are malcontents there. But here every jawan is proud of his tradition and the army's honour.''

Subedar Major and Honorary Captain Mohammed Ashraf Bhat, who belongs to Tral in Abantipur district, concurs with Bana Singh and attributes the boys’ success in battlefronts to their natural strength, coming as they do from the mountains. ‘‘Since the boys belong to rugged mountainous terrain, fitness is never an issue. It provides them the edge in action. Also, our boys know the people from the other side (across the border) and they can easily read their body language. Their analysis comes in very handy during operations,’’ he says. Naturally, when it comes to regimental honour, the troops tend to surpass themselves.

Mountains are not JAK LI’s only forte. In 1987 they went to Sri Lanka as part of Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF)’s Operation Pawan and performed with distinction in the prevailing political circumstances. Its successes during the Kargil War where it earned distinguished awards for gallantry, was epitomized in 1999 with the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) making a special instant award of "Unit Citation" to the 12th Battalion of the Regiment for their exceptionally gallant and sterling performance in the Batalik Sector.

Their exploits in Kargil saw them win additional honours, the rise of another regiment carved out of the troops which fought the enemy as militia. Ladakh Regiment was carved out of eight companies taken from 7th Battalion which is now the 1st Ladakh Scouts and 14th Battalion became the second battalion of Ladakh Scouts.

Ladakh Scouts was raised on June 1, 1963, following the 1962 Indo-China war. Troops of Ladakh Regiment have also been at the forefront of various battles since 1965. During Operation Vijay at Kargil, Major Sonam Wangchuk, received the Maha Vir Chakra for Ladakh Scouts, displaying exemplary bravery in the face of non-stop enemy fire. The Ladakh Scouts was given the status of a full infantry regiment in 2000 and more battalions are planned to be raised.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Digital dharma

Social media could influence more than 150 of 543 Lok Sabha constituencies in 2014. Chandran Iyer examines the implications. 

Social Media is poised become the most potent weapon for political parties girdling their loins for the 2014 general elections. Apart from party propaganda work which appears to have already started in right earnest, there is the added promise of lampooning rivals, highlighting personal achievements and scoring brownie points in the fond hope that the voter will catch on.

To be sure, the days of dust-bowl election campaigns in India’s boondocks are not a thing of the past but the cutting edge to arguably the most explosive election campaign likely in 2014, is most certainly going to be provided by a proliferating social media.

Right on top of this list are two of India’s main candidates, Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and BJP strongman Narendra Modi whose recent Twitter monikers, ‘Pappu’ (naïve) and ‘Feku’ (boastful) respectively, have already acquired a life and logic of their own. As elections draw closer, many more such parallels may be thrown up, to the delight of the public, specially the social media-using public.

Political parties, quick to spot the potential of this newly-emerging bandwidth, are aware that an issue breaking out on Twitter or Facebook is more likely to catch eyeballs as compared to the mainstream media which is increasingly been seen as ‘compromised’ and ‘affiliated’ to one or the other political party. For the first time, social media is being seen as a direct connect with the people – without the well informed journalist and blue collared analyst coming in with his or her two penny bit.

Speaking at a debate on ‘Will Internet and social media be a game changer for the next general elections’, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari recently said, “Content agnostic new media platforms are definitely not something that any politician or political party can ignore. However, elections are a complex exercise where voting preferences depend more on local/regional variations. Therefore, one variable may not be a game changer.” May be.

Admits archrival, BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad, “the power of social media cannot be denied and political leaders will be forced to take the demands of young India into consideration.’’ By the looks of it, they probably, already are.

Just how significant is the scale of this social media outreach? According to a recent study, it is set to play a very vital and decisive role in influencing the outcome of general elections in at least 160 Lok Sabha constituencies. In other words, a significant portion of the urban vote. In a tight contest, such as the type being predicted in 2014, it can become anyones game.

Says a study conducted by IRIS Knowledge Foundation and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI), “There are 160 high impact constituencies out of the total of 543 constituencies, which are likely be influenced by social media during the next general elections.’’ In such a situation, a little tweet or a throwaway line on the net could lead to a frenzy of talk shows, high decibel comment and seemingly endless controversies, all stirred in one direction - impending elections.

In situations such as these, the mainline media, particularly the 24x7 news matrix, on the look out for little tit bits to start a talking heads chat show, can ideally feed on the social media. In turn, both can feed on each other.

India has about 60 million-plus social media users and the numbers are continually increasing. The study categorises high impact constituencies as those where “Facebook users account for over 10 per cent of total voters in a constituency.’’ Even though, the country’s internet penetration is relatively low; about 150 million people out of a total population of 1.2 billion go online. According to the IRIS-IMAI survey, these numbers are poised to go up as D-Day approaches.

Away from dreary and cliched election speeches, a whole new world is opening up – a world where an issue can snowball out of proportion - like the Anna agitation or Kejriwal anti-corruption stir - to be lapped up by an adoring public. Social media's first impact were felt in the now celebrated Twitter spat between former IPL head honcho Lalit Modi and the Congress minister Shashi  Tharoor in 2010 over the equity pattern in the former IPL Kochi team. The seemingly minor exchange ballooned out of proportion and cost Tharoor his job as the junior minister for external affairs. It also made Lalit Modi scamper for cover in London. And guess what Modi is doing from London? Tweeting against the present management of BCCI of course and grabbing headlines!

According to a study on social media usage by The Nielsen Company conducted in collaboration with analytic and research company AbsolutData, nearly 30 million Indians who are online are members of social networking sites and about two-thirds of them spend time on the net on a daily basis.

More importantly, says the study, Indians spend more time on social media than they do using personal email. According to it, an equal number spend up to an hour on social networking and email. However, while just 8 percent spend between an hour and three hours on personal email, 20 percent spend the same time on social media sites.

The growth of social media has given rise to a new breed of entrepreneurs whose job it is to provide specialised election-related services to individual candidates or to political parties using the digital platform. In this, they are taking the help of software professionals. In some instances, political parties are outsourcing work to newly-cropped IT companies which provide niche information of the kind they require.

This novel experiment was witnessed during the 2012 Gujarat assembly elections, as well as the recently-concluded Karnataka assembly elections. Pune-based Xtech Infocom, an information technology-enabled service provider company, was given the task of managing Congress propaganda. Explains Riyaaz Sheikh, head business relations of Xtech Infocom, “We work for political campaigning through digital medium for individual politicians, regional and national parties. We have provided technological support for campaigning, propaganda, giving information to voters about the party’s policies through bulk SMS, Bulk Voice and cloud telephony”.

Sheikh’s company helped the Congress in Gujarat in the last assembly elections in implementing their election strategy. “We worked hand in hand with the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) in Ahmedabad.  Our boys worked with GPCC's IT cell. Our task was to reach out to maximum voters in the state through mobile telephony and internet and ensure that the party message reaches them. We helped the party in planning total electoral strategies”.

While this social networking may not have been enough to take Narendra Modi off his high pedestal, it certainly suggests the pattern of things to come. The methods employed by Sheikh’s company helped in deploying state-of -the art telephony system along with updated voting slip database and putting into place a call centre where voters phoned up for getting detailed voting slips on their mobile along with the name of their leader.

During the Karnataka assembly elections, political parties set up their own election cells with IT experts and professionals to propagate party agenda and to take liberal pot shots at the opposition.

In Karnataka, BJP became the first political party to set up a professional wing to take care of the social media, christened the Communication Cell. Points out Channamallikarjun B Patil, cell convener: “Our total campaign via the social media was designed by members of our Communication Cell. Our five-pronged strategy included letting the world know about the achievements of the first BJP government in south India through the social media. Second was the party manifesto and the party's future plans; third exposing UPA’s corruption - we released an online version of UPA 100 not out scams – a complete ready reconnoiter of the scam-infested of UPA in the last nine years. Fourth,was the voter awareness programmes via social media and the last, details of clean governance provided by Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar’s government.’’ To be candid, this is one case where even the social media could not help a beleaguered state government and party mired in graft but the general elections could throw up another picture.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

The inscrutables

China’s new Premier leaves behind an aura of goodwill but border tensions will overshadow ties, say Ranjit Bhushan and Mayank Singh

On May 19, at the 7 Race Course Road private dinner hosted by Manmohan Singh for visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the dignitary told his host how much he had enjoyed Amir Khan’s ‘Three Idiots’ which had been very well received in his country.

It would have been hard to believe by Keqiang’s easy and warm demeanor that little over two weeks ago, the two countries had ended a three-week military standoff in the chilly cold of Ladakh’s Depsang plains after endless military flag meetings and some deft diplomatic maneuverings by New Delhi and its envoy to Beijing S Jaishankar.

While the mutual withdrawal of troops from both sides was interpreted differently by different people, India is seen to have scored a point by extending Manmohan Singh’s visit to Japan later this month by one day – an unprecedented request to the Japanese foreign ministry – and a factor which may have prompted the Chinese side to consider the possibility of a withdrawal to pre-April 15 position.

Tensions between China and Japan have flared up recently after Beijing asserted its rights over Senkaku islands, a disputed archipelago claimed and controlled by Japan. Significantly, the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe assured the Diet that he was “willing to use physical force to repel any aggression.’’

In an hour-long chat with Keqiang before the dinner and at official meetings after that, a usually reticent Manmohan Singh sought to use the April 15 Chinese ingress of 19 kms into eastern Ladakh’s Daulti Beg Oldi sector to draw the red line on border incursions, saying that peace and tranquility was the ‘foundation’ of Indo-China relationship and must be maintained. Singh reportedly said that while there are well established mechanisms to deal with a situation like this, in this particular instance it had taken an unusually long time to resolve.

The Chinese side emphasized on its old bug bear, Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, but inked eight agreements in trade, culture and water resources. The Indian response too was well stated: Dalai Lama is a spiritual figure and a guest but he is not allowed any political activity.

But the overall tenor of the Keqiang visit, who first came to India 27 years ago as a Communist youth leader, turned out to be positive. In a leader write up which appeared in The Hindu on March 20, the Chinese Premier, in an apparent effort to assuage Indian feelings post-Ladakh, called for ‘A handshake across the Himalayas’. He wrote: “Both China and India have a long and great history that goes back thousands of years. The Chinese and Indian civilizations are among the oldest of human civilization. They represent the two pillars of the civilization of the East. The towering Himalayas have not prevented them from mutual attraction and illumination….’’

Then again, there were very warm personal references. “When I visited India 27 years ago, I was struck by her warm sunshine, brilliant colours, beautiful arts, hard working and talented people and amazing splendor and diversity. As far as I know, the India of the 21st century is taking a fast track of innovation-driven development…’’

Significantly, this is Keqiang’s first foreign visit after taking over as Premier. He will later visit Pakistan, Switzerland and Germany aimed as a formidable global PR exercise to reassure and engage with the world. According to some observers here, it shows the new Chinese Premier’s willingness to engage with India as well as address its sensitivities on issues of an unequal balance of trade. Its deputy foreign minister Song Tao said last week that “China attaches great importance to the China-India trade deficit issue. We are willing to expand our market for India's products and provide facilitation.’’

Bilateral trade between the two countries touched $73 billion in 2011 – it virtually did not exist in the 1990s - making China India's largest trade partner, but slipped to $66 billion last year. At the meeting, Singh told Keqiang that it was important to balance out trade as the two countries aim for $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2015.

But while diplomacy prevailed in the end, the Indian civilian and defence sectors are apparently at odds on its China policy. Indian army officials say there is no well defined policy on the border. “Border talks have been going on since 2003 without any tangible results,’’ says an expert linked to the talks between the two countries.

China and India disagree about many areas on their 4,056 km long border and fought a brief but bloody war in 1962. This year is the 50th anniversary of that war. While there has not been a major shooting incident in a few years, the long-running border dispute comes in the way of improving economic ties between the world's two most populous and fastest growing economies.

Says  Zorawar Daulet Singh, a China expert, “The Ladakh intrusion was a political signal by Beijing. Now the key question is whether both sides can commit to new confidence-building measures (CBMs) to stabilize the border from heating up again.’’ Given the vastness of the border, any immediate agreement looks unlikely.

Indian army officials say privately that unlike China where defence policy and its modernization programme is a continuous process, in India it is defined by personalities and political parties. They also say that military preparedness and improving diplomatic relations have become mutually exclusive in the Indian context.

Army sources say that China proposed a border defence cooperation agreement (BDCA) a month before the Depsang Valley incident. The details are not clear but when clubbed with the transgression, it seemed a ploy by the Chinese to bind India to agree to its proposals. “It becomes clear if we club it with the demand placed to remove a bunker in Chumar sector of Ladakh, as is being reported,’’ says one official.

While some details have emerged in the several rounds of talks held so far, Indian steps to bolster its defences and offensive capacity along the Line of Actual Control (LoAC) seems to have irked the Chinese. In Ladakh for instance, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has reactivated three forward landing airstrips at Daulet Beg Oldi, Fukche and Nyoma. In addition to raising a strong force in Northeast, it has also placed strategic Sukhoi 30 MKIs. While a new Strike Corps is waiting to be approved, two Army divisions have already been put together for this border.

Importantly, New Delhi’s decisions vis a vis Beijing have increasingly come to be determined by the China Study Group (CSG) headed by National Security Adviser (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon – and a former foreign secretary whose inputs are regarded as most significant by both PMO and the Cabinet Committee on Security. In CSG the highest-ranked military representative is the Vice Chief of the Army Staff apart from the Union Secretaries from Home, Defence and Foreign Ministry and the NSA.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA