Catch 22 of official secrets.

On 6 November, one officer of the Indian Navy died and 4 are still missing, despite a wide search. They did not die trying to earn honor by fighting for India against enemy attack but drowned when their ship, a torpedo recovery vessel, sank off the coast of Vishakhapatnam when water flooded into the engine room and a steering compartment, when one seal gave way. The list of accidents involving our naval vessels make sick reading. Torpedoes exploding, ships running aground, fires breaking out, collisions with other vessels and water flooding in, a shocking list of incompetence and poor maintenance. The loss of aircraft by our air force is even more disastrous, 872 MIGs lost, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, with an unacceptable loss of 200 pilots. The terrorists who attacked Mumbai in 2008 came from Pakistan by ship, hijacked a trawler and then landed on the beach using rubber dinghies. If Pakistanis can walk in unhindered imagine what China could do. Our ships will probably run into each other or explode while our planes will disintegrate killing our hapless sailors and pilots while enemy soldiers stroll in, stopping to have a meal at one of the restaurants on the way. Pakistan continues to add to its arsenal of nuclear weapons while China has just unveiled its first aircraft carrier. We pay Rs 4.8 billion for refit of our submarine after an explosion, only for it to explode again killing more people. The reason is rampant corruption in defense procurement. And the cause of corruption is the Officials Secrets Act. Who was responsible for this wonderful piece of legislation? The British, brutal occupiers of India. Ministers refuse to modify this act because there has not been any ' noticeable ' misuse of the act. How can something be ' noticeable ' if it is kept out of notice by making it a secret? There must be a Catch 22 somewhere. Since all our defense equipment is imported it is not really a secret. But keeping it secret makes it easy to take huge bribes while bringing in third rate, out of date weapons. On the other hand the fear of getting caught slows decision making so that our soldiers are denied essential, life saving equipment. In 2012 General VK Singh had to write to then Prime Minster to complain about lack of critical equipment. In March General Bikram Singh said that the army lacks adequate ammunition. Seems that our politicians and civil servants still fear an army coup so maybe that is why they deliberately keep it weak. Because they know that a sizeable number of citizens want the army to take over and hang these corrupt fellows. Or maybe they are taking orders from some foreign power. We do not know. Because it is a secret.