India Lags Behind As Pak Army 'Guns' Ahead!

Good morning, readers!

Today's newsletter is in three parts -

• Briefly on today's 4th phase polling.

• What we saw in Kalahandi.

• And lastly, how Pak Army makes smart military procurement choices while India lags behind.

ICYMI: We hope you liked yesterday's special on Sheik Chinna Moulana, the nadaswaram vidwan . We had both Balakumar and Veejay Sai contributing.

- Amar Govindarajan

Voting to take place in 96 seats in the Fourth Phase

The fourth phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections will be held today (13 May).

96 Parliamentary Constituencies of 10 States and Union Territories (UT) will vote in this phase.

• Jharkhand and Odisha will begin polling today and continue till the last phase of elections on 1 June. In both seats, we will be voting on four seats each today.

• While Odisha will have the first phase of voting for the assembly elections, Andhra Pradesh will vote for both elections on all seats.

• All 17 seats of Telangana will also vote today. Madhya Pradesh will conclude its Lok Sabha elections with voting on the last 8 seats.

• 5 seats of Bihar, 11 of Maharashtra, 13 of Uttar Pradesh, 8 of West Bengal and 1 seat of Jammu and Kashmir will also vote today.

Key contests are to be seen in Hyderabad, where BJP's Madhavi Latha is challenging sitting AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi

• In Secunderabad Union Minister G Kishan Reddy is looking to retain his seat.

• TMC's Mahua Moitra is contesting against against BJP's Amrita Roy, a member of the erstwhile royal family of Krishnanagar.

• Sitting Congress MP in Baharampur, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary is being challenged by cricketer Yusuf Pathan.

• BJP MP SS Ahluwalia is challenging sitting TMC MP Shatrughan Sinha in Asansol.

• In Kannauj, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav is challenging sitting MP Subrat Pathak, who defeated his wife Dimple in 2019.

Special Report: The Kalahandi Tragedy

One of my clear memories of the UPA government era between 2004-2014 was Rahul Gandhi's visit to Niyamgiri - Kalahandi region.

In 2010, Rahul Gandhi visited Isrupa, a tiny hamlet in Odisha's Kalahandi district, to celebrate the denial of mining lease to Vedanta in the sacred Niyamgiri Hills for the Kutia-Kondh tribe. He vowed to improve their lives.

• We wanted to find out how the place was doing and how it will vote in this election.

• So Jaideep Mazumdar, our senior editor, last week made the trip to the villages where Rahul Gandhi went in 2010.

The reality in 2024:

• Isrupa lies deserted, its residents forced to flee by rampaging elephants into abject poverty.


• Phuldumer, a 'model village', has unusable govt facilities. Villagers live on Rs 15,000-18,000 yearly income.


• No schools, hospitals or jobs. Severe malnutrition, lack of basic amenities.


• Locals subsist on meagre farming, forest produce like ant eggs. Alcohol is an escape.


• No change despite decades of political promises from Congress, BJD leaders.

What will keep you up at night. We spent a day with the inhabitants of Phuldumer village to bring you the story of the mother - daughter duo, Mamata - Priyanka Majhi, the poverty of Ramo Majhi and his wife who walks 20 kilometers to sell their meagre produce and so on.

• Mamata Majhi is worried about getting polio drops for her daughter Priyanka. The ASHA worker who would occassionally visit their village has died. 


• Ramo Majhi's wife had left to the nearest larger village to sell their meagre agri produce. She can't afford the smallest charge of Rs 5 - just five - on the three wheelers that ply people between villages. So she walks 20 kms!


• Another villager Rupul Majhu: "I make about Rs 1,000 a month. Hadn’t it been for the free rations, we would have starved to death"

We dislike poverty porn: But the point is - how does this end? Can an election - a better government - fix everything quick enough?

• Apart from infra what kind of produce or productive economic activity can lift the people of these regions from soul killing poverty?

• We have many more questions. In any case, for now, - do click here to read Jaideep's full report from Kalahandi.

Pak Army Buys 400+ Arty Guns, India not so much!

Pakistan is rapidly procuring hundreds of Chinese-made SH-15 155mm Mounted Gun Systems (MGS). India's artillery modernization appears to be stuck in winter trials and ‘GSQR’s

Why it matters: The highly mobile, truck-mounted SH-15s give Pakistan's army a significant advantage in "shoot and scoot" tactics, allowing artillery guns to fire rounds and quickly relocate, avoiding counter-battery fire.

Pakistan's moves: The country has increased its MGS artillery orders to 432 units.


• Signed deal in 2018 to procure 236 SH-15 MGS from China.

• Received first batch in 2022, ordered 56 more.

• Deployed howitzers with Chinese drones near the Line of Control in 2023.

India's challenges: The army operates only 100 K-9 Vajra-T tracked self-propelled howitzers.

We’re far behind Pakistan's 400+ SH-15s and American-supplied M109s.

• The plan from 2017 was to buy 814 MGS and 100 tracked howitzers, but orders “delayed.”

• New tenders for additional K-9s and 200 105mm MGS in the works.

The bright side: Domestic artillery ecosystem emerging with Kalyani, DRDO, OFB producing towed, mounted, and truck-mounted guns. Bharat Forge even exported systems.

• But the Indian Army never places a big order for domestic players!

What's needed: For the Army to realise that the first local products may not be perfect but only beginning to produce them at scale will help build a local military industrial complex.

• We can't fight wars by importing weapons in small measures.

• We need to be able to replenish arms and ammunition from our own industries for extended periods of time. This is the lesson from the conflict in Ukraine.