Interview with Lt Gen Abhay Krishna (Retd).
He served as Commander of Eastern Command, Central Command and South West Command and has vast experience in man-management, developmental projects and matters related to Science of IT tools and Algorithms.
Question
We all have heard about 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' and Atmanirvhar Bharat. These are the two slogans of New India and of Modi era. Yet, there are problems. There are joblessness and other challenges. The so-called NEET paper leak and the protest in July shook Govt's foundation. One Minister resigned; Leader of the Opposition was lifted and left injured. And now opposition wants Home Minister's ouster. Are you as a retired soldier perplexed or anguished ?
Lt Gen Abhay Krishna (Retd) :
Your question is a googly for me. I hardly understand politics. But I am perturbed at the manner in which things have turned out to be. Why should there be a question paper leak at all and that also so repeatedly?
NEET is just one of them. Essentially, all these are happening because as citizens we encourage paper leak. The wrong doers know there is a good market. He can make fortunes and he is confident that the money he makes from the notorious deal can be used to suppress the case and investigation even if he is caught.
The stringent law ... now that has come only handles one part of the problem. Punishment and judicial process. But what about the prevailing greed of people in the society?
The greed to make your child a doctor? Why? To serve society and heal people? No. You want to buy medical seat and question paper today because tomorrow you want to loot people in hospitals?
Nirendra Dev (blogger)
May be I could provoke you. You are angry at many things. First of all our society.
Lt Gen Abhay Krishna (Retd) :
Of course, I am feeling disturbed. The youths and their anger are all part of the society. They are the streams. But what is the source of the stream? In army we have different culture. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji often talks about it. Nation First.
If you implement that spirit... all problems can be solved.
Nirendra Dev (Blogger) :
What about the terms 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' and Atmanirbhar Bharat?
Lt Gen Abhay Krishna (Retd):
I will come to that. The Atamnirbhar Bharat is the vision of our Prime Minister. Under this, the defence sector finally got a long-awaited big boost.
This big push was given under a clear and well-planned roadmap, treating it as a critical sector for boosting the Indian economy. This will bring self-reliance.
Next, if you recall, when the nation had celebrated its 75th year of Independence, we called it “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”. It was a time to cheer up.
In year 2014 when the new Govt came into power the country started to witness a decisive roadmap unfolding towards Viksit Bharat. Even after Corona pandemic, India managed to turn into a fastest growing major economy globally surpassing even China. In 2022-23, I think a GDP of 3.37 trillion dollars and our defence and technology related exports touched a figure of Rs 13,000 crore.
Many countries were obviously unnerved. So certain things behind the curtain started in India. We saw the same pattern growing in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Question (Blogger) : So, you are pleased in the manner things were handled.
Lt Gen Abhay Krishna (Retd) :
I will tell you this way. The Govt is telling the wrongdoers; hello dear; beware of stealing question papers in future. I think, our Govt has taken a correct and decisive step to protect the future of India’s students.
This will go a long way in protecting and upholding the merit-based system. And the new law will make it clear that those who 'corrupt and make the system dirty' and subjected to manipulation by unfair means, will face the harshest consequences.
Nirendra Dev (Blogger) :
Once you said, technology is the backbone of any military power and also the economic strength of a nation. What will be your take on this in 2026? We have AI making waves and people are losing jobs. We still have miles to go in many things, such as defence manufacturing.
Lt Gen Abhay Krishna (Retd):
I agree to a large extent to what you are saying. As far as I know we are the third largest in defence spending. It is true, over a period of time, India had slowly developed number of ordnance factories, several laboratories, R&D centres etc but still we continued to remain as one of the largest importers of defence equipment.
This is a critical paradox. The Armed Forces of all developed countries have been rapidly enhancing their defence capability since many decades. Both the US and China already being way ahead of all the countries in the world, but somehow, India did not remain so focused till 2014 onwards.
Nirendra Dev (Blogger) :
What about initiatives such as 'Make in India’?
Lt Gen Abhay Krishna (Retd):
(smiles) I have a different name for this. I call this as ‘the route to progress’. The big push to ‘Make in India’ is a reality for all of us to see where defence export has risen to almost eight times compared to what was just five or say seven years ago.
India is now seen as an emerging major arms supplier at the global level and we are making arms for ourselves too. Import is reduced.
The government has also handled middlemen well. The Prime Minister did accept the indispensability of agents for defence imports, so now these agents have to register themselves (smiles).
Nirendra Dev (Blogger) :
Maybe you can talk a bit about defence production corridors and the states showing deep interest.
Lt Gen Abhay Krishna (Retd):
Yes, that's correct. The year 2018 had seen the Govt of India taking a major policy decision to set up two defence production corridors, one each in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Gujarat then came with a request. I would say, taking similar great initiative, states of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, too have come forward to set up defence manufacturing hubs.
I see this development as a revolutionary step.
It ensures job and improves economy too. These certainly contribute to the growing indigenous arms export.
Nirendra Dev (Blogger) :
Lastly, maybe I can ask you about terms such as GenZ and the powers of social media and Algorithms.
Lt Gen Abhay Krishna (Retd):
This is a vast subject. India’s demographic structure and youths is very large. Therefore, there is an unprecedented concentration of political and social power in the hands of a single cohort.
The age group roughly corresponding to GenZ, that is, aged between 14 and 29 years old in 2026 actually numbers approximately 407 million.
This is 28% of our national population and is larger than the entire population of the US.
Look here, when hundreds of millions of young people devote this volume of attention each day to algorithmically curated feeds, then we must not ignore one disturbing fact that the content that reaches them is not a neutral reflection of reality.
It is the product of systems engineered to maximise engagement and to 'guide and misguide' them.
Ends
No comments:
Post a Comment