Shekhar Gupta: Still marching in the past

Modi government had a rare chance to reform and modernise India's military. But it blew up the chance and settled instead for tinkering

Shekhar Gupta 

Shekhar Gupta

Everybody is entitled to make a few genuine mistakes. That defence, however, is not available for deliberate inaction. A missed opportunity is an indefensible and unwise blunder.

As is the Modi government’s missing out the opportunity to institute fundamental reform in the Indian military and defence structure. A full-term government with a full majority after 30 years, with a strong leader and a military-friendly image, had a rare opportunity for reform, desperately needed but delayed for decades. There is no point blaming previous governments. They all lacked majorities, time, ...

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First Published: Fri, July 13 2018. 23:53 IST