North East Rising

OPERATIONAL LOGISTICS READINESS OF THE INDIAN ARMY

1. India is a peace-loving country and wishes to have good relations with its neighbours. India always prefers to resolve issues through dialogue. While talks are in progress to resolve the issue of borders with China in Eastern Ladakh, at military level it is well prepared for the prolonged standoff.

2. Altitudes in Ladakh ranges from High to Super High Altitude and there is a lot of snowfall, after the month of November upto 40 feet of snow is experienced. Coupled with this, temperature dipping down to minus 30-40 degrees is a usual phenomenon. Wind chill factor makes matters further worse for the troops. The roads also get closed due to the snow. But despite all this, most encouraging part for India is that the Indian soldiers have a huge experience of winter warfare and are psychologically tuned to operate at short notice. While this fact is known to the world, the operational logistics capabilities are hardly known. Global Times (China) media reports that India’s Operational Logistics is not geared up adequately and will not be able to fight through winters effectively. This can best be attributed to ignorance. Indian Army is fully prepared and more than capable of fighting a full-fledged war even in winters in Eastern Ladakh.

3. Logistic capability relates to mobility, habitat and billeting, quality services from health, special rations, repair and recovery, heating systems, high-quality weapons, ammunition, quality clothing, and so on. While much of this capability existed earlier and troops could simply plug and play, a lot has also been boosted since May this year when China showed first signs of aggression.

4. It is important to understand that the Army has experience of Siachen where conditions are much more demanding than the frontiers with China. Traditionally there were two routes for moving into Ladakh, that is through Zojila and Rohtang Passes. Recently India commissioned the third road from Darcha to Leh which is much shorter distance-wise and less prone to closure. Completion of Atal tunnel on the Rohtang route has force multiplied the logistic capacities. In addition, we have a large number of airbases with the help of which we can maintain the army well. Modern snow clearing equipment has also been placed on these routes to keep them open beyond November, thus giving us more time for daily maintenance of the troops.

5. Special fuel and lubricants for tanks and armoured personnel carriers have also been stocked adequately, including spares for their maintenance. Water points and tube wells have been established for the troops and animals like mules and yaks. The living barracks have also been prepared which are comfortable and warm. Facilities such as central heating system are some of the high points of these facilities. Ammunition of various types including small arms, missiles and tank and artillery ammunition have also been adequately stocked. The medical system is also in place for any eventuality.

6. Compared to Indian troops that are battle-hardened physically and psychologically, Chinese troops are mostly from urban areas and not used to hardships or prolonged deployment under field conditions. China’s concept has always been to win the Wars without fighting, hence if they create conditions for war, they will come across a better trained, better prepared, rested and psychologically hardened Indian Army troops. These worries have been percolating the minds of Chinese troops and are visible in Chinese media.

India, September 14: Delhi riot; Former JNU student and activist, Umar Khalid being arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell on Sunday after being questioned for about 11 hours. He was presented before the Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat through video conferencing. Police sought his 10-day custody. Special public prosecutor Amit Prasad told additional sessions judge that he needed to be confronted with huge amount of data.

He has been arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for his alleged role in the role in the communal violence that broke out in North East Delhi over the Citizenship Amendment Act in February. Delhi Police claimed in the FIR, the communal violence that took place during the riots was a “premeditated conspiracy” allegedly carried out by Khalid and two others. They have been booked for sedition, murder, attempt to murder and several offences under the Indian Penal Code. The FIR also claimed that in this conspiracy, firearms, petrol bombs, acid bottles and stones were collected at numerous homes.

Khalid’s father, however, have accused the Delhi police of targeting those who participated in the protests against the CAA and NRC. “This is nothing but an attempt to corner the activists and silence the voices of those who dissent against the government. The Delhi police have been trying to weave a false story by naming few people who participated in the anti-CAA-NRC protests, including Umar, as the ‘masterminds’ behind the north-east [Delhi] violence. However, everyone knows who was actually behind the riots,” said Sayed Qasim Rasool Ilyas, Khalid’s father.

Activist group United Against Hate, said in a statement, “The fairy tale narrative that DP [Delhi Police] has been spinning and criminalising protests in the garb of investigating riots, finds yet another victim.“

Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav has tweeted on this issue calling Khalid a thinking idealist. “Shocked that an anti-terror law UAPA has been used to arrest a young, thinking, idealist like UmarKhalidJNU who has always opposed violence and communalism in any form. He is undoubtedly among the leaders that India deserves. DelhiPolice can’t detain India’s future for long.“

Umar has however denied the allegations and called the inquiry a conspiracy.

Chennai, September 14: Indian Institute of Technology Madras Researchers have studied flood in and around Chennai and have proposed the construction of ‘Straight Training Walls’ at the mouth of Ennore Creek in order to minimize the flood risk significantly on its upstream.

The study focused on extreme storm surge scenarios and high tide levels along with flooding in the river. It found that heavy siltation in the creek mouth and narrow opening in the mouth posed a flood threat to the areas adjoining the river.

The study showed straight training walls at the creek mouth and some regular de-silting of the river will improve the situation and minimize the flood risk significantly in North Chennai. It also showed that an alternative proposal of curved training walls proposed earlier will worsen the situation, by blocking the free exchange of Seawater with the creek, thereby, increasing the flood risk.

The Study was commissioned by Kamarajar Port (formerly Ennore Port) in Chennai to propose solutions to reduce flooding around Kosathalaiyar riverbanks. It was undertaken by Prof. K. Murali, Prof. S.A. Sannasiraj, and Prof. V. Sundar, faculty in the Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras.

Elaborating about their proposals to construct ‘straight training walls,’ Prof. S.A. Sannasiraj, Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, said, “Based on the expertise and experience of the Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, the Researchers working with training of river mouths, the proposal has been made to construct a pair of training walls extending perpendicular from the shore up to a water depth of -5m on either side of the creek.”

Further Prof. V. Sundar, Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, said, “A straight structure with sufficient crest height is essential to ensure the tidal prism ingress for flushing. Further, in the event the shoreline south of southern training wall reaches its tip, either dredging or its further extension into a water depth of 6 to 7m is feasible with ease. Further, the straight training walls would act in complement with the present series of groynes which were designed by IIT Madras for shore protection too.”

In the history of flooding in and around Chennai, the three creeks – Adyar, Cooum and Ennore – remain as major bottlenecks due to sand bar formation at their mouths, this results in significant flooding over the settlement along its banks, impact on coastal villages, disruption in fishing activity, industrial network on the upstream, road encroachments and illegal waste disposal.

Providing the background for the issues studied by IIT Madras Researchers, Prof. K. Murali, Head, Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, said, “Several earlier attempts that were made towards the prevention/reduction of sand bar formation at Cooum mouth by constructing a pair of training walls have not yielded the required outcomes due to various reasons. The major reason is due to the inclination of the southern training wall with shoreline (marked in Figure 1) that hinders flushing of sediments effectively into the sea particularly during the non-monsoon seasons. Fixing a lower crest elevation much less than required allows the sand moving along the coast termed as ‘littoral drift’ pass over it and deposit in the mouth.  These serve as lessons to be learnt from the past mistake.”

The Ennore creek is located at about 1 km southward of the Kamarajar Port at Ennore, Chennai. Historical imagery showed that the inlet width varies seasonally depending on the net longshore sediment transport rate due to waves that vary monthly and with the occurrence of cyclone as well as rainfall.

In a well-balanced ecosystem/environment, the mouth of the inlet should remain open and continuous exchange of water is to be ensured. Owing to the large volumes of sediments transported along the bed as well as suspended in water, such inlets act as a sediment sink resulting in sand bar formation. Like a chain reaction, the hydrodynamics are altered; the inlet stability fails; and, flooding on riverbanks follows.

The comprehensive report of IIT Madras examined different possibilities of extreme event cases both from the land and the Sea.  The studies reveal that it could lead to an overflow in the region of elevation lesser than 2.71 m with respective MSL. A detailed study for the Adyar and Cooum estuaries will also be taken up for investigation by IIT Madras.