Author Archives: sword

Posted on September 13, 2016 by sword

What are the options before the service chiefs in view of MoD overruling their reservations on the 7th Pay Commission anomalies? Continue reading →

Posted in Military | Tagged anomalies, armed forces, chiefs, defence minister, parity, parrikar, pay and allowances, pay commission | Leave a comment

Beyond the headlines

Posted on August 15, 2016 by sword

In today’s milieu of crisp sound-bites, newsbreak a minute and short attention spans, the struggle to capture eyeballs and mind space of readers and viewers has become fiercely competitive. We, as consumers of news have become increasingly laid back and … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Politics | Tagged bias, headlines, Media, politics, presstitute | Leave a comment

The Great Indian Dream

Posted on June 13, 2016 by sword

It’s that time of the year when dreams of a few thousand are realized. And those of a few hundred thousand shattered. Declaration of results – from the Class XII boards to competitive exams like IIT-JEE and CPMT invariably throws … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Tagged career, coaching, Education, exams, IIt JEE, kota, toppers | Leave a comment

Browbeating of service officers by defence journalists

Posted on May 30, 2016 by sword

This is a follow up of a prior post on the issue of online intimidation by journalists, specially of serving armed forces officers. I was witness to a similar incident, where a pair of journalists ganged up upon someone, … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Military | Tagged correspondents, defence, journalists, Media, reporters, social media, twitter | Leave a comment

The Nehru Row

Posted on May 28, 2016 by sword

A spate of articles extolling the virtues of Nehru and castigatingng those criticizing him have appeared in the past few days. On the other hand, social media is flooded with posts deriding him and trashing his legacy. My take on … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Tagged debate, Jawaharlal, legacy, Nehru | Leave a comment

Biting the Tail

Posted on May 14, 2016 by sword

There’s a need to redefine the ‘teeth’ and the ‘tail’ to carry out a meaningful reduction of flab in Ministry of Defence Continue reading →

Posted in Military | Tagged civilians, combat, cuts, defence ministry, logistics, modernization, rationalization, study | 3 Comments

Diesel Smoke

Posted on May 1, 2016 by sword

The unique bond between a man and his steed is as old as time itself. More accurately, it goes back to the time when man first domesticated animals and, in addition to new source of food, found a better way … Continue reading →

Posted in Military, Tanks | Tagged armour, cavalry, tanks, traditions | Leave a comment

Citizen Soldiers

Posted on March 5, 2016 by sword

This post is a result of the 140 word tyranny of Twitter which, while well suited for one-liners and retorts, handicaps expressing of a complex idea coherently. I was trying to refute a view that serving soldiers of the armed … Continue reading →

Posted in Military, Politics | Tagged Democracy, freedom of expression, soldiers, voting | Leave a comment

FOE- Who Will Guard The Guardians?

Posted on February 23, 2016 by sword

With volumes having been spoken about Freedom of Expression in the past few days, its difficult to write about it without a wee bit of apprehension. Has everything that’s to be said on the subject already been said? Why bother … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Military | Comments Off