Weekly #173: Exporting Power: India’s BrahMos Missiles Reach the Philippines

[00:00:00] The Indian elections are afoot. We have a billion people who are about to vote in the largest elections in the world and

[00:00:09] we've just started yesterday and it's going to happen over the next two or three weeks. I hope you vote as well.

[00:00:17] Namaste and welcome to this Bharatvaarta weekly. I am Roshan Karyapa. I have with me Abhishek Paul

[00:00:23] and we'll run you through the news and events of the week that was pretty slim pickings for this week, we should say.

[00:00:30] Obviously the action continues with Israel and Iran. Israel struck back at Iran after they launched drone strikes against them.

[00:00:39] Then we had the case of security forces killing a wanted nexolite Shankar Rao

[00:00:45] and we'll also talk about Brahmos, the missile export to the Philippines and of course a few updates from the IPL to round things off.

[00:00:55] All this and more on this Bharatvaarta weekly. If this is your first time on the channel do follow or subscribe to us for content on politics, policy and culture focused at India.

[00:01:07] Let's start with some geopolitical stuff. Late last week Israel struck back at Iran in response to Iran's attacks the previous week.

[00:01:20] This was a small deterrence move from Israel to demonstrate that the country has the capacity to hit Iran's innermost cities as the missiles were aimed at Isfahan, a city in the middle of Iran.

[00:01:32] Neither Israel nor Iran have made a big fuss about these attacks suggesting that this was a one-time limited move.

[00:01:39] The rest of the world however is concerned and has called for an immediate de-escalation of the situation as a wider war in the region could hurt everybody.

[00:01:49] Abhishek last week when Iran launched these drone attacks and all of those drones were intercepted I had asked Neerava friend if this was all costly signalling on the part of Iran.

[00:02:03] Well Israel has sort of done the same thing right? I mean they've shown their capacity to kind of retaliate. Do you see this escalating further into a full-fledged war as such?

[00:02:16] Yeah we don't know basically because each of these countries has various calculations to keep in mind right?

[00:02:25] So for example Israel's Gaza operation has kind of reached a sort of standstill right or a sort of place where it's not really able to do much more because of the tremendous pressure that it is facing.

[00:02:44] From the international community right? So it is kind of going slow there. There is obviously always the chance that something might open up in the northern front from Hezbollah and Syria etc.

[00:03:01] So Israel has to sort of keep its eyes wide open on all directions and then of course Iran is like the mastermind behind many of these right?

[00:03:13] And so I mean 330 missiles and drones is sort of unbelievable if you think about it right?

[00:03:20] Then the fact that countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, held out Israel was also a bit surprising in the sense that it seems everyone is keen that this conflict does not go out of control right?

[00:03:41] And so from what I saw the Israelis have been saying that you know they had a tough time waiting out while Iran was planning out their attack right?

[00:03:53] It took about two weeks for Iran to retaliate from the initial April 1 strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus right?

[00:04:04] So it seems that you know Israel has given a small taste of medicine this week but it may not be the end of it right?

[00:04:17] Israel will also probably want to keep Iran guessing right instead of you know totally telegraphing its moves.

[00:04:25] So it is I think a very very volatile and unpredictable scenario and both sides will try to take the other by surprise probably so yeah it's a very hard to predict scenario right?

[00:04:44] Yeah I mean it's a pretty surreal situation right? I mean and especially now that you know technology has gone to a point where you know wars can be almost remote right?

[00:04:57] I mean you are fighting through some advanced machines and drones and so on and so forth.

[00:05:02] Really the cost of such signaling is not as much as let's say you know getting your troops to cross the border for instance right?

[00:05:11] So yeah it's a weird situation obviously and this has huge impact on the rest of the world as well right? Oil prices are going up right?

[00:05:20] And as uncertainty rises gold has also risen by significant amount right?

[00:05:26] Overall I think you know everything is happening all at once on the macro front right? I mean you have the US elections at this point well the Fed was supposed to cut the rates it hasn't done that yet.

[00:05:39] So there's a lot of uncertainty on the macro at this point of time so yeah navigating you know the next year or so might be really challenging for most countries I feel.

[00:05:52] Well alright let's talk about something we haven't heard in quite a long time more precisely since 2016-2017.

[00:05:59] In possibly one of the biggest anti-Maus operations security personnel in Chathisgarh neutralized at least 29 Naxalites in Kanker district.

[00:06:09] Reports state that the top Maus leader Shankar Rao was among those killed in a raging gun battle between Naxals and District Reserve guards and border security forces.

[00:06:19] A large amount of arms and ammunition was recovered during the operation including 7 AK-47s and 3 light machine guns among other smaller weapons.

[00:06:28] Well like I mentioned I think post demonetization you know the back of the Naxalist operation was kind of broken right?

[00:06:36] And since then there were security strikes and so on so most threats were neutralized so this is you know unusual in some sense right?

[00:06:45] But yeah Abhishek I mean do you see that you know this could perhaps flare up to sort of a bigger problem or a nuisance or you know this is just some kind of a remote thing?

[00:06:58] Well I mean on the positive side this is the most let's say if we can say the biggest success that our security forces have had in Chathisgarh since the creation of that state right?

[00:07:15] So in fact the top two let's say number of Maus killed in encounters both of them have happened in over the last month right?

[00:07:27] So yeah I think they are continues to remain some you know very interior terrain in Chathisgarh where the Maoists do hold out right?

[00:07:44] And so what has been happening is that over time slowly but surely the Indian security forces are trying to you know push deep into these Maoist strongholds.

[00:07:56] These are difficult terrain they don't have roads and so on and so yeah I mean it's slow planes taking work for our security forces to you know completely clear out these areas of these Maoists.

[00:08:15] I don't know if it will ever happen that will get rid of it 100% but I mean this current government and hopefully the next government if they are elected back will continue to you know remain strong in this fight against Maoist terrorists.

[00:08:36] So national security has been one of the strong points of this government right? So yeah I hope we are able to crack down on these noxals.

[00:08:46] Well alright the central piece of news for this week the festival of democracy has begun India has begun its elections in 102 constituencies across 21 states and the first phase has just started.

[00:09:02] These states include Tamil Nadu voting in all constituencies Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh and others with partial seats.

[00:09:12] The voter turnout across states ranged from 50 to 65% these were numbers reported by about 7pm in the evening.

[00:09:22] Well it doesn't feel like election season so to speak in Bangalore at least I mean you don't have as many banners as many rallies even leading up to the polls as such right?

[00:09:34] I mean I understand this is a cool off period and you know there is a restriction but yeah I mean it feels sort of matter of fact at this point right?

[00:09:44] The exit polls all seem to indicate you know thumping majority for the current government.

[00:09:50] Opinion polls all, wait let me say that again.

[00:09:55] The opinion polls all seem to indicate a thumping majority for the current government right?

[00:10:02] But yeah it's not without a few of these controversies right? I mean you are already seeing almost you know in coordination a few articles on

[00:10:13] let's say the EVMs or you know the fact that you know the BJP has gamed these elections or the elections don't matter or that

[00:10:23] you know the South states are a bulwark against you know rising electoral autocracy and so on and so forth right?

[00:10:31] What's your favorite pick Vishak?

[00:10:34] Yeah I think there is something going around in the New York Times about how the character of the lions has changed in India's symbol right?

[00:10:47] It seems they used to be earlier very meditative contemplative lions who have now become you know this very hyper aggressive Hindu beasts so

[00:10:57] I think that was my favorite out of all of these but yeah I think phase one I mean it did not go without incident

[00:11:08] I believe there were some incidents of violence in West Bengal and probably Manipuri yesterday

[00:11:17] So but yeah I think the turn around was kind of on expected lines I mean each of our states has a very different sort of character you can't generalize right?

[00:11:29] So for example West Bengal is a high turnout state it probably get up close to 80% but Bihar on the other hand is you know around 50%

[00:11:42] So turnout is around those lines and yeah we just have to wait and see how the rest of the phases go.

[00:11:54] Yeah my favorite bit was Hugh and Kray about Dhurdasan changing its logo to a saffron color right?

[00:12:03] Well we'll see more of this but one thing for sure I mean if you look at you know how enthusiastic people have been about voting and exercising their franchise

[00:12:13] One can't deny that it is democratic right? I mean at least the people's will is being respected and represented and reflected right?

[00:12:24] Alright on Friday India delivered the first batch of the Brahmos supersonic missiles to Philippines the delivery comes as a part of a 375 million deal

[00:12:35] 375 million dollar deal stuck between India and Philippines back in 2022.

[00:12:41] The missiles were delivered aboard a C-17 Air Force aircraft by the IAF who also took some suites for the Filipinos.

[00:12:49] This delivery comes amid a showdown between Philippines and China and the South China Sea which has been ongoing for a couple of months

[00:12:57] and the delivery will also significantly augment the country's defensive capabilities.

[00:13:04] Well I wish I come in we're getting to a point where it actually serious about exporting on in the defense sector right?

[00:13:12] I mean from being like a massive importer of defense equipment and so on and so forth I think this is a milestone moment.

[00:13:21] Yeah I think if I am not mistaken when the deal was signed also we had discussed it in Bharatwarka weekly like couple of years ago right?

[00:13:35] Kind of tells us how long we have been doing this but yeah so India did sign the steel I think in 2022

[00:13:46] and now it's good to see that we are actually you know going ahead and delivering these missiles over to Philippines.

[00:13:54] I believe India has been conducting training as well of the naval personnel of the Philippines Navy you know to train them to use these missiles as well.

[00:14:05] So yeah it continues to be part of the larger cooperation that you see India having with many countries in the Asia Pacific as part to counterbalance against China.

[00:14:20] It is not only the big headlines making news items with the quad but also you know partnerships such as Philippines which will be very crucial in this aspect.

[00:14:35] Yeah I mean 375 million is obviously I mean it's jump change when it comes to you know.

[00:14:41] It's a good start but it's a great start right and I think this is something that people routinely miss you know the government is also procuring about 1 billion dollars worth of GPUs from NVIDIA

[00:14:54] and someone had suggested that you know for the third largest economy we should be a procuring 30 or 40 billion dollars worth of you know GPUs right.

[00:15:04] And I was just thinking you know that's approximately I think maybe like 40% or something of the annual education budget right and you know just to put things in perspective right.

[00:15:15] I think some of these things it's so important to be directionally right at least because I think then it then you can iterate and compound right.

[00:15:24] I mean you get to 30 40 billion over time but the fact that you know you show will to do something like in this case you know equip our neighbors let's say against China.

[00:15:35] I mean it shows a strong will and that you cannot underestimate for sure right.

[00:15:42] All right we'll wind up with a few IPL updates.

[00:15:46] I wish like a lot of high scoring games you know any standout performances from the games that have happened thus far.

[00:15:54] So I am not at all been watching IPL this season.

[00:15:59] That's the experience of every RCB fan.

[00:16:02] Yes so but so for example I saw the news about a youngster called Ashutosh Sharma who performed you know very credibly.

[00:16:13] And you know it's a bit sad like reading about him that he had made his debut about three four years back and then you know he got kind of lost.

[00:16:23] He didn't get good cooperation from his coaching staff and things like that so in a way it's actually good that IPL exists right you can always change teams or move around places which it's not so easy to do in the domestic circuit always for youngsters.

[00:16:42] I was actually listening to a couple of podcasts that our captain Rohit Sharma attended at least he's you know since probably he's no longer captains the Mumbai Indian side is kind of more free to talk about things.

[00:16:59] So there's a podcast called I forget the name but it is hosted by Michael Vaughan and Adam Gilchrist which he was the guest on and they were talking about this impact player rule right which is kind of skewing the balance between baton ball now right.

[00:17:20] And since it does not actually translate into international cricket which does not have the rule what is happening is some of our all round options are no longer bowling in the IPL right.

[00:17:35] So let's say you have someone like Shivam Dubey who is batting really well for CSK but ideally you would have wanted to see him bowl also a couple of overs every match but it's probably not required in this impact player scenario and that is kind of a detriment to our national team chances so yeah.

[00:17:57] Right. Yeah I happen to watch the Chennai Super Kings Lucknow Super Giants match yesterday right and LSE obviously you know pulled off an upset winning against CSK tight match right I mean came down to I think the last but one over similarly the

[00:18:17] Mumbai Indians and Punjab match as well right I mean which MI won. So today we have Delhi playing Sunrises Hyderabad and of course tomorrow we have RCB playing KKR as an RCB fan or you know whoever is left off RCB the RCB fandom that is well we will still watch the match let's see what happens so hopefully you know something new right.

[00:18:47] Anyway that brings us to the end of this Parath Partha weekly thank you so much for joining us if you have suggestions for you know topics we could cover guess we could invite please let us know in the comments and we will try and do that.

[00:19:01] Thank you again for joining us from Abhishek and myself do stay safe take care and Jai Hind.