CHAPTER 4

DEMANDS FOR GRANTS 1966-67

Lok Sabha, 30 March 1965

Mr. Deputy-Speaker, I must express my gratitude to the hon. Members who participated in this debate in a constructive way, and I am sure the way the defence debate was conducted here, is certainly a tribute to the Parliament and a tribute to the armed forces too. I join all the hon. Members who have paid tribute to the valiant armed forces of this country who stood the test of the time last year when they had to face the Pakistani aggression.

Sir, 1965 will go down in the history as a critical year which provided an opportunity for the armed forces to face the crisis (Interruption). And, it would certainly go down in the history in a glorious way. It also provided a test for the political leadership of this country, and here I must, in all humility and gratefulness, make a mention of our departed leader, Shri. Lal Bahadur Shastri, who provided that necessary determined leadership to the country faced with crisis.

As far as the debate is concerned, I would go into some of the detailed points a little later, but I must say the context in which the debate has taken place is certainly somewhat significant. I have been replying to the defence debate for the last four years. This is the fourth occasion when I am standing in this hon. House to meet some of the arguments and explain the defence policy of this Government. This year the context is somewhat different. In the first place, there is the atmosphere of confidence in the armed forces. Both the army and the air force had to face difficult time, but the valiant manner in which they gave account of themselves is certainly a tribute to them. Certainly it was an opportunity for them too.

Looking back to the development of the defence forces in the last 18 or 19 years, normally we had to depend upon the experience of the Second World War and the knowledge of wars fought in history in different parts of the world. This certainly was an occasion to draw our own lessons in terrain of our own country and a country which is nearer to us. As one of the hon. Members, Shri Indrajit Gupta, asked yesterday, have we availed of this opportunity to learn lessons out of this experience ? I would like to assure the hon. House that this opportunity has been well availed of by the armed forces. We have learnt our lessons.

We have certainly tested our army leadership, we have tested our equipments, we have tested our leadership, we have tested our training methods. And, generally, I should say, our training methods have stood the test of time. That certainly has strengthened our confidence in our training methods as well. At the same time, I must say, we found certain deficiences. It will be wrong for me not to mention that we did find some deficiencies and we will certainly try to remedy those deficiencies in times to come. This is going to he a continuing experience and a continuing process of learning things.

The other thing, which is very important and which has certainly some sort of long-term bearing on our plans and thinking in this matter, is where, we had to face certain political attitudes of friendly countries during this crisis.