Playing with fire

That the Indian army and the Defence Research and Development Organisation DRDO are conducting the 8220;first training trial8221; of the Agni I missile will impress no one but our captive domestic audience. Our scientists have got accustomed to national applause at the mere mention of 8216;Prithvi8217; and 8216;Agni8217;. The missile programme, however, looks average when seen in the light of the dramatic advances made by our nuclear neighbours Pakistan and China. While our scientists pat themselves on the back for the incipient 8220;induction8221; of the 700-km range Agni I missile, Pakistan is way ahead in developing nuclear capable missile systems. Whether it is in the area of hardware 8212; the production of missiles in large number8212; or the software that organises these vectors into a credible nuclear deterrent, Pakistan has marched ahead of India since the two countries tested nuclear weapons in May 1998.

The implications go beyond the domain of nuclear deterrence. China is producing short range missiles, comparable to Agni I, in their hundreds every year and deploying them on its eastern frontiers facing Taiwan and in Tibet facing India. While DRDO might whisper that the Agni I is 8220;nuclear capable8221;, China has so many of them that the People8217;s Liberation Army now treats them as part of its conventional arsenal. So the balance of conventional air power between India and China has long shifted in favour of the latter. Has the Indian Air Force woken up to this new challenge?

Defence Minister A.K. Antony should be asking for a comparative assessment of India8217;s missile programme in the broader context of Asia 8212; from the Middle East to the Far East. Even a cursory look at those figures should force a comprehensive review of a project launched nearly a quarter century ago. It8217;s about time we put an end to what can only be called national self-deception on missiles and demand a little more accountability and a lot more speed from the DRDO and the ministry of defence.