The geopolitical landscape is facing unprecedented changes and today nations have shown the willingness to use hard power, the Chief of Army Staff, General Manoj Pande, said at the maiden NDTV Defence Summit today.

The Army chief said the centrality of national interest and the growing salience of national security in the international system are distinctly visible. Today Nations have shown willingness to resort to the use of heart power to secure their interest. A situation of return to conflict to achieve political and military objectives., adding that “While conventional warfare has gone under changes, emerging technologies today are not central only to rich nations. Disruptive technology is transforming warfare.” 

Asymmetry In Warfare

Access to modern technologies is not limited to superpowers but non-state actors can access such technology. The asymmetry in conflict has increased the risk of a fallout with an increased propensity of risk-taking behaviour to initiate a low-threshold armed conflict, the army chief said.

General Pande said, “Our legacy challenges of unsettled borders continue and newer threats in the spectrum of conflict have added complexity and the grey zone actions and aggressions from adversaries are manifesting across domains – Land, sea, and air.”

Army’s Vision For Future

General Pande stressed the fact that we need to secure our national interest and the focus should be on possessing capabilities that require continuous progression. Highlighting the vision of the Army, the COAS said, the Indian Army, a large land-based force, has to transform into an agile, future-ready force that can operate in a multi-domain environment and have synergy with other forces. These elements are important for the force to be future-ready.

The Army Chief said, “Swadeshikaran (indigenisation) se sashaktikaran (empowerment)” is a work in progress. All sectors have a crucial role to play. It is essential to develop core competencies.

Aatmanirbharta or self-reliance in defence manufacturing and procurement has been a vision as well as a goal of governments. The Indigenous defense industry is critical for war-fighting capability. The Army Chief said the disruption in the supply chain in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has highlighted how wars can disrupt in supply of technology and weapons and it also entails the risk that nations may not transfer critical technology. To pursue our aspirations, self-reliance is important and sustenance of the existing ones is necessary too. 

The transformational nature of war hybridization of threats and the emergence of cyber war has brought the focus on the development of safeguarding platforms with technology.

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cyber biotechnology, and space – It is essential to harness these technologies and use them in defense, the Army Chief said, adding that our technological prowess has been a driver for global tech. The government has taken initiatives to promote an effective ecosystem in the country that enables simplification of industry in licensing, foreign investment, and Research and Development projects. The establishment of defence corridors and others are such steps.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi fired barbs at the Trinamool Congress over the raging Sandeshkhali issue, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today led a rally of women supporters in Kolkata.

Incidentally, some women from Sandeshkhali island in North 24 Parganas district, which has made headlines for the serious allegations against local Trinamool leaders, also took part in the rally. The theme of the rally is Mahilader Adhikar, Amader Angikar (women’s rights, our commitment). The rally is in signature Mamata Banerjee style – a foot march with her at the front. Among the prominent women Trinamool leaders to join her are Sushmita Dev, Shashi Panja and the party’s newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP and journalist Sagarika Ghose. Ms Banerjee’s nephew and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also joined the march. 

Addressing the rally, Ms Banerjee said, “Yesterday, BJP leaders said women are tortured in Bengal. I can challenge that women are the safest in Bengal.”

Targeting the Prime Minister without naming him, he said, “Where was he when women were paraded naked in Manipur, when a woman was raped and her body forcibly cremated in Hathras? Have you forgotten Bilkis (Bano)?”

Ms Banerjee also responded to former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijt Gangopadhyay joining the BJP. “A BJP babu was sitting on the bench and he joined BJP. How can you expect justice from them?”

Every year, Ms Banerjee leads a march of women to mark the International Women’s Day on March 8. But this time, the rally is being held on March 7. It is learnt that the reason behind the date change is Shiv Ratri, which will be celebrated tomorrow.

Women voters form a key support base for the Trinamool Congress. Over the 13 years that the party has stayed in power, Ms Banerjee has consolidated this support base through schemes such as Kanyashri, Rupashree and Lakshmir Bhandar. But the Sandeshkhali episode and BJP’s aggressive campaign threatens to divide this voter base, and the Trinamool is taking no chances.

In his remarks at the BJP’s Mahila Morcha event in Barasat yesterday, Prime Minister Modi described the Trinamool government as “anti-women”. He also said women in Bengal are outraged and the “storm of Sandeshkhali” won’t remain restricted to Sandeshkhali and spread across Bengal.

He also alleged that the Bengal government is using all its might to protect Sandeshkhali strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, who is now in the CBI’s custody. Sandeshkhali residents have accused Shahjahan and his aides of land grab, extortion and sexual harassment.

After the allegations surfaced and the BJP raised a political storm, Ms Banerjee had, in a speech in the Assembly on February 15, hit back and accused Enforcement Directorate (ED) of targeting Shahjahan. But as the issue garnered national attention, the Trinamool changed tack and arrested the strongman. He was also expelled from the party for six years. The Trinamool then tried to turn the tables on the BJP, daring it to act against leaders who face serious charges.

In the Trinamool’s response to the Prime Minister’s remarks yesterday, party leader Derek O’Brien said,

“Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lectured on Nari Shakti. Three questions to you, Sir – Why are there 51 cases of crimes against women every hour? Why does BJP have 13 per cent women in Lok Sabha, why only 14 per cent women in 195 candidate list? Why no action against BJP MP charged with sexually harassing wrestlers?” The Trinamool leader was referring to BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who had to step down as the national wrestling federation chief in the wake of sexual harassment allegations.

The Trinamool’s move to get a group of Sandeshkhali women in today’s march is to counter the Prime Minister’s meeting with some women from the island after his public address yesterday. BJP leaders have said the Prime Minister had heard the women “patiently, like a father figure, as they narrated their ordeal”.

Karnataka’s ruling Congress is having trouble finding candidates to field in the Lok Sabha elections. Sources told NDTV that several ministers of the state — which is also the home state of party chief Mallikarjun Kharge — have already turned down the request to contest. Reason: No one wants to leave positions of power in the state and dive into uncertainty, sources indicated.

In the 2019 general election, the BJP won 25 seats, the Congress won one and HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal secular, which is currently in alliance with the BJP, won one seat. One seat went to an Independent, supported by the BJP.

This time, with the party’s victory in the state in last year’s assembly election and good response to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress is hoping for a change in fortune.

Sources said the party’s Central leadership wants ministers of Siddaramaiah government to contest some of the state’s 28 Lok Sabha seats. The ministers on the Central leaders’ list include Satish Jarkiholi, B Nagendra, Krishna Byre Gowda, K H Muniyappa, H K Patil and Ishwar Khandre. But sources said none are on the same page.

Several, including Lakshmi Hebbalkar, have  refused.

Ms Hebbalkar, the minister of Women and Child Development in the Siddaramaiah government, said she wants her son Mrinal Hebbalkar to contest.

“This is the hope of the people of Belagavi and the leaders here, his name has also been recommended,” Ms Hebbalkar told reporters.

“I have come to know from the media… even when my brother was chosen to be made a member of the Legislative Council, all the leaders of the district together took this decision,’ she added.

Social Welfare Minister SC Mahadevappa has flatly refused, without citing any reason.

“I am not a Lok Sabha candidate. I will not contest elections. I will try for the victory of whoever the high command gives the ticket to,” he told reporters.

Sources said the party is going to take a hard line on the issue. State party chief DK Shivakumar said, “Everyone will have to accept whatever the party high command decides, even I will have to accept it. We all are here because of the party. Everyone will accept the decision and will win most of the seats”.

Congress general secretary in charge of the state, Randeeep Surjewala, said, “Only one minister has been asked to contest so far and he has asked for time to consider the matter”.