Mohammad Jamil
India tested its Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from Wheeler Island off Odisha, and will soon be inducted into Strategic Forces Command (SFC) after two user-trials. The Agni-V is capable of carrying one ton nuclear war head and can even reach the northernmost parts of China with its strike range of over 5,000-km. “All the test parameters of the missile, which was tested for its full range, were successfully achieved. The missile splashed down near Australian waters,†said an official. As earlier reported by Times Of India, this fourth and final experimental test of the three-stage Agni-V comes after a gap of two years due to minor technical defects as well as the need for India to exercise some strategic restraint when it was seeking entry into the 48-country Nuclear Suppliers Group, which was thwarted by China, and also by the 34-nation Missile Technology Control Regime. Apart from the shorter-range Prithvi and Dhanush missiles, the SFC has inducted the Agni-I, Agni-II and Agni-III missiles that are mainly geared towards Pakistan, whereas the Agni-IV and Agni-V are specifically meant for deterrence against China. Beijing, of course, is far ahead in terms of its missile and nuclear arsenals. However India is trying to develop the latest and most advanced version gni-6, capable of being launched from submarines as well as from land. It will have a strike-range of 8,000-10,000 km, means it could reach every corner of all the continents. However, it is reported to be in early stages of development. Showing utter disregard to the teeming millions living in abject poverty and meanly defined as living below the poverty line, India is spending a fortune on enhancing nuclear arsenal and also on purchase of conventional arms due to Indian leadership’s megalomania for great-power status.According to latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on global arms purchases released the other day, India remains the world’s largest weapons importer over a five-year period. The report also says that China sold most of its weapons to India’s neighbors, as India has started the arms race in the region. India accounted for 14 per cent of total imports between 2011 and 2015. China ranks second with 4.7 per cent, Australia (3.6 per cent), Pakistan (3.3 per cent), Vietnam (2.9 per cent) and South Korea (2.6 per cent) the report titled “Trends in international arms transfers-2015†said. However on an annual basis India ceded its top spot to Saudi Arabia in 2015. Besides India’s eastern maritime ambitions, the latest step has involved an Indian geostrategic push for the South China Sea, which India considers of vital strategic importance. On May 18, India had sent four ships of the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet for a two-and-a-half-month operational deployment to the South China Sea and northwestern Pacific. India’s step that came on the heels of several bilateral steps to increase maritime cooperation with the United States in the Indian Ocean and the Asia-Pacific had been widely interpreted as pitting India against growing Chinese maritime dominance in the region.
Despite the fact that the US and the West are propping India to be a regional power, India can never achieve this status in the presence of China; and it should be remembered that geography cannot be changed. In 1962, when India tried to flex its muscles, Chinese troops had advanced to 48 kilometers in Assam plains and also occupied Indian forces’ strategic posts in Ladakh in 1962.
India has the habit of testing the patience of its strong neighbors by flexing muscles, as it did with China in 1962 and faced the consequences. Last year, India had invited Dolkun Isa, a leader of the World Uighur Congress, to a conference held on 28th April organized by the US-based Initiatives for China. Uighurs and other Chinese dissidents in exile were to attend the conference and discuss democratic transformation in China. However, Isa’s visa was withdrawn days after China lodged official protests through diplomatic channels, and reminded Delhi about the “red corner notice†on him. New Delhi was also reminded that Chinese will make it a major bilateral issue, sources said. In addition to demarche, the Chinese side had hinted that Beijing may raise the issue of India allowing a “terrorist†to come and attend a conference, at the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan.
India is 6th on the Global Terrorism Index. According to New York Times report; India is the largest exporter of fake medicines, as 75% of counterfeit drugs supplied world over have some origins in India. Census of India states that India loses 3 million girls in infanticide; there were 914 girls to every 1,000 boys in 2011 compared with 976 in 1961. A UN report said that India ‘most dangerous place in world to be born a girl, with females almost twice as likely to die before reaching the age of five. India has highest number of suicides in the world – one fifth of all global suicides. India yearly reports more than 17,627 farmer suicides. India comes third in rape cases, second in murder in the world. Indian population living under $1.25 is 24.7% and $2 is 60.6%, which has brought ignominy to India.
India constitutes 40% of the world’s 800m malnourished population and the highest rate of underweight children; and 17% of India’s total population is undernourished. According to the Guardian report, India turned out to be home to the greatest number of slaves, with over 14 million people, making up nearly 40% of people in slavery worldwide. India has the highest number of people practicing open defecation at 597 million (out of 825m people worldwide) or 47% of the national population. Pakistan ranked 123 better than India at 132 on the gender inequality index of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 2013 Human Development Report. India world’s 2nd most racist country; India with 43.5 percent of the population who would refuse to live next to someone of a different race was named the world’s 2nd least tolerant country. This is the true face of so-called secular and the largest democracy of the world.
