The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:
One can never forget the huge plethora of articles in the English media about the “Armed Forces Special Powers Act”. Continuous stories on how the government of India has given the least priority to Human Rights in the Northeast and J&K, dominated their publications whenever it was a slow news day. The sound this English media made was in direct contrast to their deathly silence in the year 2018.
Because in 2018, the Modi government revoked AFSPA from Assam, Meghalaya & most areas of Arunachal Pradesh. The media was now in a classic fix – should they celebrate the revoking of what they have screamed to be a draconian law? Or should they remain muted because the revoking was done by the man they hate the most?
The AFSPA was revoked because of the improved security situation in various parts of the Northeast. It is of course still in vogue in certain areas, but with its revoking in other areas, there is always hope that any law perceived to be draconian will be revoked once the security situation improves. We are yet to read an article in any mainstream publication as to how this transformation has come in!
This monumental decision is just one of the many instances where the Narendra Modi government has made the country safer for all Indians.
Unprecedented scale in equipping our armed forces
In a recent speech to the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister of India revealed yet another startling fact. Sonia Gandhi’s UPA government did not, I repeat, did not purchase even a single bullet proof jacket for our jawans. Not a single one. In direct contrast to this, the Modi government has purchased nearly 2 lakh bullet proof jackets for the jawans of our armed forces.
If you were wondering that aircraft purchases are the only thing the UPA delayed, you are in for shock after shock. Wherever possible, the UPA simply took its own sweet time to come to any conclusion – it’s as if lives never mattered to them.
Further reading made me understand why the armed forces today are stronger than ever – this government awarded 82 contracts worth a whopping 3 lakh crore rupees to equip our armed forces with new guns, jackets, tanks, vessels, helicopters, sonar & radar systems, aircrafts, simulator and much more! 3 lakh crore worth contracts, out of which ~1.3 lakh crores are with Indian companies only.
This recent (brilliant) article gives some details of these purchases done during the tenure of Late Manohar Parrikar. Our armed forces are better equipped than ever before – and not a whiff of corruption in any of the 82 contracts! The earlier policy of not buying anything but only continuously negotiating is now gone. If this doesn’t deserve an applause, I don’t know what else does.
Faster decisions, simpler rules
There is yet another significant change that generations to come will remember. A large number of powers were centralized at the ministry level. In one stroke, many such powers, that include financial too, have been delegated to the service headquarters and other centers. For example, the Vice Chiefs will be able to exercise financial powers with an enhanced ceiling of Rs. 500 crores and will not need to rush to the ministry each time emergency purchases have to be made. A brand new Defense Procurement Procedure (DPP) has been implemented by the Modi government. Defense purchases are notoriously known for prolonged negotiations and near zero results. Nearly every analyst worth his/her salt have continuously highlighted the notorious procedures and the heavy backlog in terms of equipment. It took the Modi government the iron will to bring in a sea change to how our armed forces use their financial powers to make the right purchases.
Superior intelligence gathering and a free hand in the counter terrorist operations
For a country that frequently had to hear news about bomb blasts and deaths in civilian areas, pause for a moment and think about this – there has not been a single terrorist attack on any civilian area in the past 5 years. This is not by any means a fluke achievement. This reflects the exceptional improvement in our intelligence gathering capabilities and therefore preventing many attacks. Do note that an attack that was thwarted doesn’t make it to the news. Superior intelligence gathering must also be accompanied by strict action against the terrorists. Did you know that our security forces have eliminated nearly 1200 terrorists in the J&K and Northeast regions? Twelve Hundred! And as many as 6000 are reportedly injured.
What happened to the Naxalites?
Did you know that out of the 126 districts that were classified as “Left Wing Extremism affected”, 44 are no more on that list? Naxalites have been either eliminated or their source of funding was badly choked. In addition to this, multi-pronged developmental programs ensured that gullible villagers could not have access to better infrastructure. A telling statement was made by the Prime Minister while inaugurating the airport in Bastar – where we could once not build roads, today we are able to even operate an airport! The phenomenal success in reducing the influence of the violent Naxalites is one of the most underplayed achievements of the Modi government.
The long pending projects
I will be frank – until Narendra Modi spoke about OROP at a rally, I didn’t even know what the problem was. I came to know that the problem has been pending for 40 years. And I also came to know that Sonia Gandhi’s government has magnanimously allocated a whopping 500 crores in its final budget, whilst the actual requirement is nearly 6000 to 7000 crores per year! I don’t have to tell you who solved this problem! India didn’t have a national war memorial – another pending project for 40 years! Don’t have to tell you who solved it. There was no permanent commission for women earlier. Infact, women pilots were inducted into IAF for the first time. And girl students were admitted into Sainik schools for the first time!
All this is fine, what about the favorite topic of the media – safety of Muslims in India?
Yet another telling statistic was revealed through an answer in the Lok Sabha. The statistics clearly show that we have seen a drastic reduction of communal violence in India as compared to the UPA times. If all these don’t amount to making India safe for everyone, then what else will?
Each one of the topics discussed above have a direct impact on citizens of our country. Our armed forces are well equipped (thereby being safer themselves) to keep us all safe. While the surgical and air strikes have indeed shown the strong political will to deal with the terrorist menace, the multiple other things done indeed prove that the Narendra Modi government has transformed the security apparatus of India, like never before.
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