Quick notes: Plastic ban, Chandigarh gang...
- Thick or thin, State to ban all plastic: Karnataka bans several plastic items irrespective of their thickness.
- India's global ad giant: InMobi, based in Bangalore, India, is the third largest player in the fast-growing mobile advertising industry, behind only Facebook and Google.
- Import lobby and the Chandigarh Gang: Take the selection of a new rifle for the Indian Army. After cancelling an Indian design, the army has invited foreign vendors to supply 66,000 new rifles for an estimated $3 billion to $4 billion.
Danvir Singh, former Commanding Officer of the Indian Army, writes in Indian Defence Review that he is in no doubt the deal is gamed:
“It should come as no surprise if probed, that there are forces supported by the politico-bureaucratic-military nexus serving the designs of the arms mafia, who deliberately want this indigenous effort quashed. It may be surprising, but not really though, that our scientists can develop and launch a probe to Mars but fail to produce an assault rifle.”
Indeed, almost every weapon produced by the DRDO has been rejected by the defence forces, forcing the government to release funds for imports. Take the Augusta Westland scandal. Initially, former air chief marshal S.P. Tyagi was under investigation for allegedly tweaking the technical requirements of VVIP helicopters. Later it transpired that the specifications were changed on the orders of Brajesh Mishra, the National Security Adviser, who was reporting directly to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The scandal shows that it is in the interests of a clique comprising the military brass, politicians and middlemen to scuttle indigenous defence projects.
R.S.N. Singh, a former military intelligence officer who later served in the Research & Analysis Wing, writes in Canary Trap about the Chandigarh Gang that surfaced as the “mainstay of the international arms lobby” during the decade long UPA rule.
“This gang is not necessarily in Chandigarh alone, but nevertheless is centered around it,” Singh writes. “It comprises some retired officers, politicians, journalists and prominent newspapers.”
- 3D-Xpoint: Intel to make its revolutionary memory chips in China. ...But why??
- Tesla in trouble: Consumer Reports drops its Tesla Model S recommendation
- Spectre of automation hangs over Indian manufacturing:
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