Net security is a timely defence call

Amidst tension on both the eastern and western borders, and continuing terror attacks, India in 2017 took a step toward playing the role of the "net security provider" in the region and also pushing domestic defence manufacturing in the country.

The year also saw India getting its first full-time woman Defence Minister in Nirmala Sitharaman who, since taking over, has visited a number of installations across the country, including the forward areas. She also started a new norm of meeting the services chiefs daily and vowed to clear all pending projects under consideration of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) by year-end by holding fortnightly meetings.

The year saw India bring in a new system to push the private sector in defence manufacturing in the country, with a chapter on Strategic Partnership being added to the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) in May. The first contract under this arrangement, where an Indian private company will be selected for tying up with a foreign company to manufacture certain crucial defence equipment, is yet to be signed.

Ceasefire violations spurted along the India-Pakistan frontier, with 771 being reported on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir -- that is under the Army's operational control -- up to December 10 this year. This is a three-fold rise compared to 228 by Pakistani forces in 2016.

Along the India-China border, while no bullets have been fired in 40 years, a 73-day stand-off was witnessed at Doklam in Sikkim over the building of a road by the Chinese military in the area that is claimed by Bhutan. Indian troops stalled the work citing the disputed status of Doklam and its proximity to a key artery in the northeast. The crisis was resolved on August 28 after both the armies retreated from the point of the face-off.

Submarines and ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) have maintained a regular presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in the name of conducting anti-piracy patrols, with an average of seven to eight PLAN ships in the region at any given time.

But, in August, for about two weeks there were 14 Chinese Naval ships in the IOR, which has been attributed to the vessels heading for an exercise, and a changeover in anti-piracy patrol duties.

Maritime security came in the forefront of India's defence and diplomatic negotiations with a number of friendly nations, and the trilateral Malabar naval exercise between India, the US and Japan from July 9-17 that saw China bristling.

It also remained in the forefront of India's diplomatic and defence engagements. While Malabar saw India's prominent naval exercise with the US, India and Russia held their first ever tri-services exercise -- Indra--in 2017.

The armed forces also pitched in for search, rescue and relief operations after a number of natural disasters in the country, including flood relief operations in several states, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Bihar, the Ockhi cyclone in Kerala and also in providing aid to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Some progress, though small, was made in the inclusion of women in the armed forces. Also in September, the Indian Army announced it would induct women in the Corps of Military Police.

By Anjali Ojha