aviator

While India's defence budget for fiscal 2008-09 has been hiked by only five per cent in real terms to Rs 105,000 crore ($26.4 billion), China's People's Liberation Army has been given a 17.6 per cent increase in planned defence expenditure to Yuan 417.77 billion (58.79 billion). China's defence expenditure has grown at between 12 and 15 per cent annually in real terms over the last decade. Chinese analysts have sought to pass off the rather steep hike in the defence outlay as having been "caused by the sharp increase in the wages, living expenses and pensions of 2.3 million-strong PLA officers, civilian personnel, soldiers and army retirees". However, the world is sceptical. Defence analysts look at the spectacular anti-satellite test successfully conducted by China in January 2007, recent pictures of an aircraft carrier under construction, the acquisition of SU-30 fighter-bombers and air-to-air refuelling capability, the drive towards acquiring re-entry vehicle technology to equip China's ICBMs with MIRVs (Multiple Independently-targeted Re-entry Vehicle), and a growing footprint in the South China Sea. They cannot help wonder whether a 21st century arms race has well and truly begun. In the 2004 White Paper on National Defence, the Chinese government admitted that additional funds were needed for modernisation of the PLA, even though these were classified as 'moderate'. In the 2006 paper this reason has been mentioned only in passing. The allocation of additional funds for force re-structuring and a qualitative increase in the levels of training is emphasised in both White Papers, as also rising inflation as a cause of increased defence expenditure. However, nothing in the White Papers of 2004 and 2006 fully explains the double-digit inflation-adjusted growth in the annual defence expenditure. It is this lack of transparency that has fuelled speculation about an arms race. On certain parameters, China's defence expenditure compares favourably with the other major powers. China's defence expenditure overtook that of Japan ($42 billion) and Germany ($37.5 billion) in 2007, but still lagged behind the United Kingdom ($62.38 billion) and France ($50.78 billion) whose economies are now much smaller than that of China. It is, of course a small fraction -- less than one-tenth -- of the United States' defence budget of $532.8 billion, not counting the supplementary grants sought by the Pentagon later in the year. The United States spends almost half (48 per cent) of the total defence budget of the world. China, France, Japan and the United Kingdom each spend four to five per cent. Complete transparency in defence spending has seldom been a strong point even among countries that take pride in being liberal democracies. Air Commodore Jasjit Singh has written, 'All countries try and protect what they consider to be crucial information about their defence capability for understandable reasons; and defence expenditures are obviously part of that information except where democratic states practice greater transparency as part of their liberal ethos, domestic obligations and public oversight, and well established procedures of accountability..." Totalitarian regimes like the one in China also lack egalitarian accounting practices and do not have a real grip on all the details of what they actually spend. David Shambaugh, a well known China analyst, finds China's defence budget the most difficult aspect of the country's armed forces to research. In his view, "Few areas of China's military affairs are more opaque and difficult to research than the revenue/expenditure and budget/finance domains -- but perhaps none is more important to understand." Clearly, China's estimated military expenditure is far higher than the officially published figure. In response to international calls for greater openness, one Chinese military official countered that 'transparency is a tool of the strong to be used against the weak'. Shambaugh lists several items of expenditure that do not figure in China's list: "China's official defence budget does not appear to include all funds for (1) Chinese-made weapons and equipment production (as distinct from procurement); (2) some RDT&E (Research, Development, Test & Engineering) costs; (3) the paramilitary People's Armed Police; (4) funds for special large weapons purchases from abroad; (5) funds directly allocated to military factories under the control of the GAD and funds for defence industry conversion; and (6) military aid." Defence analysts Ted Galen Carpenter and Justin Logan point out that greater transparency would be in China's interest: "China needs to recognise that it gains little from opacity in comparison to what it loses… Any respectable observer of the PLA knows about China's growing capabilities. We know about the Sovremenny destroyers, the Sunburn missiles and the Kilo submarines. We know about the Sukhoi 30s and the new F-10 fighter. Large-scale hardware acquisition and development is hard to hide." China's military aims and modernisation strategy have been enunciated in the Defence White Paper of December 2006. The strategy is "…a three-step development strategy in modernising China's national defence and armed forces, in accordance with the state's overall plan to realise modernisation. The first step is to lay a solid foundation by 2010, the second is to make major progress around 2020, and the third is to basically reach the strategic goal of building informationised armed forces and being capable of winning informationised wars by the mid-21st century." Compared with China, India's budgetary transparency is indeed noteworthy -- even though many Indian analysts are of the view that the government does not disclose sufficient details in the annually published Defence Services Estimates. Except in the last two years, the annual increase in India's defence budget has barely kept pace with inflation. India's defence budget is less than half of China's officially claimed figure and is between one-fourth and one-third of China's actual defence expenditure. Due to China's vigorous military modernisation drive, the military gap between India and China is growing every year. With the improved logistics infrastructure in Tibet, including the Gormo-Lhasa all-weather railway line, improved road axes with good laterals linking them and many new air strips, the Chinese are now capable of inducting large numbers of troops into Tibet in a time frame that is likely to unhinge Indian war plans. India needs to invest more in improving the logistics infrastructure along the border with Tibet, in hi-tech intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems for early warning and in generating land- and air-based firepower asymmetries to counter China's numerical superiority. India also needs to raise and suitably equip four to six mountain strike divisions to carry the fight into Chinese territory if it ever becomes necessary. All of these capabilities will require a large infusion of fresh capital. India's growing economy can easily sustain a 0.5 to 1 per cent hike in the defence budget over a period of three to five years, especially if the government simultaneously shows the courage to reduce wasteful subsidies. The weaponaries - A quick comparison In 2006 India's active military personell numbered over 1,325,000 while China was significantly higher at 2,255,000. In air defence, China's PLA (People's Liberation Army) Air Force has 9,218 aircrafts of which about 2300 are combat aircrafts, operating from its 489+ air bases. The Indian Air Force has 3382 aircrafts which includes 1335 combat aircrafts operating from 334+ bases and its sole aircraft carrier INS Viraat. The air superiority in China's PLAAF is maintained by its fleet of Russian Su-30 MK and indigenously built J-10 fighters. Indian Air Force, on the other hand has French built Dassault Mirage 2000s and Russian Su-30 MKI as the best aircrafts in its combat fleet (no indigenous fighters or aircrafts have been deployed by India so far). Indian Navy is the world's eighth largest navy with a with a fleet of 145 vessels consisting of missile-capable warships, advanced submarines, the latest naval aircrafts and an aircraft carrier in its inventory. It is experienced both in combat and rescue operations during wartime and peace as seen from its wars with Pakistan in 1971, the December 2004 Tsunami, etc. In comparison, China's PLA Navy with its fleet of 284 vessels is quantitatively larger but lacking in actual war experience, which could undermine its strategic capability. As of 2007, China has no aircraft carriers in its naval fleet but is slated to build and induct an aircraft carrier by 2010. In strategic nuclear defence and delivery systems, China's PLA is miles ahead of India's nuclear forces. The PLA's stockpile is estimated to have 200-400 active nuclear warheads. In comparison, India's strategic nuclear force is estimated to have stockpiled about 50-70 nuclear warheads. The most powerful warhead tested by India had an yield of 0.05 megatons which is quite small compared to China's highest yield of 4 megatons. India's nuclear delivery system consists of bombers, supersonic cruise missiles and medium range ballistic missiles. Agni 2, India's longest range deployed ballistic missile is capable of a range of 2500 km, carrying a single nuclear warhead of ~1000 kg. In stark contrast, China's nuclear delivery system is far more capable with multiple warhead (MIRV) ICBMs like DF-5A [12000+ km] and DF-4 [7500+ km]. It also fields submarine launched SLBMs like JL-2 [8500+ km] and strategic fighter bombers like Su-27 Flanker in its nuclear delivery arsenal. Economic theory teaches us that incentives drive decision making by a nation or an individual. In case of India, a democracy with no serious military adversary, its militarisation drive is often overshadowed by internal militancy issues and political struggles. In case of a communist China, it has a powerful military adversary in United States; the conflicts over Taiwan give China a strong incentive to beef up its military defence to counter the US military might. The situation is much similar to that of USSR vs USA Cold War, albeit on a much smaller scale. The end result is China walking far ahead of India in military might with overpowering superiority if both conventional and nuclear forces are taken into account. With the increaing china's intrusion, what are the option that we have??

Is it regional or across india? Saw add on TV....It said something about regional....... Similar to corridor packs by tata indicom

Total people killed in acts of terror across India in 2007-08 = 2016 This is around 6 people per day. It is justified that we have around 15 lakh army personell and still our 6 nationals are killed everyday. What happens wen an american dies in an act of terror or is kidnapped? The whole world gathers just for that single fellow. Acts of terror implant fear in the minds of the civilians. If parliament is attacked, we just watch and everytime we search for a diplomat way....... Does a setback in economy due to war so fearful that we are letting our citizens die? Will pakistan leave kashmir (the epicentre of Indo Pak disagreement), the piece of land it has been claiming for 20 years now, by mere talking??? The politics in PAK revolves around kashmir and their Netas are no better than ours........ Pak itself is going to dogs with political and economic instability, its just a matter of time when it will be taken over by men of terror. If it can be prez a few years back, why it can't be a JeM leader a few years ahead. What if they then lay their hands on nukes which they are so desperate to get since inception. Its high time India should act. Either sweep the terror out of Pak (by specific targetting) or sweep it out of the world map.

I think aircel has a similar plan .......... for WAP i suppose

Seems zoo zoo has impressed them all.

Bro, Dependence on U.S cannot be a reliable option. U.S has now started targeting pakistan, its base for terror against LET. They can offer a diplomatic support but definately not militia support. The only ally of trust can be Russia maybe... The biggest element of a war is 'Surprise'. If germany would have known that allies will land on normandy, they would have defeated them. Its the element of surprise that's one of the prominent winning feactor. The opposition wants you to exactly feel that nothing will happen. Imagine a scenerio wherein the enemy attacks first and destroy all your important bases. I am not disaggreing that it will end up in a nuclear holocaust, but the early bird do catches the worm. M not a expert on the war strategy, but moves like Israel do help. To counter that, we should not be defensive. "Aggression is the best form of defence". I think its high time we wake up, allocate atleast 30-40% of budget to defences, bring up a few ICBMs ( Which drdo can never produce..) and strengthen ourselves. Nevertheless, the privatisation of defence arms and ammunations, similar to what U.S. did long back may help in talking us ahead. Sarkari babus can do nothing except for their sixth pay commision and bribes.

'Nervous' China may attack India by 2012: Defence expert A leading defence expert has projected that China will attack India by 2012 to divert the attention of its own people from "unprecedented" internal dissent, growing unemployment and financial problems that are threatening the hold of Communists in that country. "China will launch an attack on India before 2012. There are multiple reasons for a desperate Beijing to teach India the final lesson, thereby ensuring Chinese supremacy in Asia in this century," Bharat Verma, Editor of the Indian Defence Review, has said. He said the recession has "shut the Chinese exports shop", creating an "unprecedented internal social unrest" which in turn, was severely threatening the grip of the Communists over the society. Among other reasons for this assessment were rising unemployment, flight of capital worth billions of dollars, depletion of its foreign exchange reserves and growing internal dissent, Verma said in an editorial in the forthcoming issue of the premier defence journal. In addition to this, "The growing irrelevance of Pakistan, their right hand that operates against India on their behest, is increasing the Chinese nervousness," he said, adding that US President Barak Obama's Af-Pak policy was primarily Pak-Af policy that has "intelligently set the thief to catch the thief". Verma said Beijing was "already rattled, with its proxy Pakistan now literally embroiled in a civil war, losing its sheen against India." "Above all, it is worried over the growing alliance of India with the US and the West, because the alliance has the potential to create a technologically superior counterpoise. "All these three concerns of Chinese Communists are best addressed by waging a war against pacifist India to achieve multiple strategic objectives," he said. While China "covertly allowed" North Korea to test underground nuclear explosion and carry out missile trials, it was also "increasing its naval presence in South China Sea to coerce into submission those opposing its claim on the Sprately Islands," the defence expert said. He said it would be "unwise" at this point of time for a recession-hit China to move against the Western interests, including Japan. "Therefore, the most attractive option is to attack a soft target like India and forcibly occupy its territory in the Northeast," Verma said. In view of the "imminent threat" posed by China, "the quickest way to swing out of pacifism to a state of assertion is by injecting military thinking in the civil administration to build the sinews. That will enormously increase the deliverables on ground -- from Lalgarh to Tawang," he says.

Gosh......it seems ebay's all over......... Maybe, my experience with ebay.com is an exceptional case. I have ordered 4 times using ebay and only my touchscreen reached me in good condition (not to say 03 out of 04 were power sellers) I am still waiting for 2 of them to reach me. (Its been a month now & the seller is telling me to still wait). The only other item i recieved (invisible shield +case for HTC fuze) was of poor quality. The sellers were from hongkong though.......... Chinese......seems they only know one thing............how to paint indian stones in red..........lolz

Fully agree........... plus buying from E Bay won't give u peace of mind simiar to buying on Rimweb. On rimweb, u knw the seller and the price is genuine too. Add to that, some sellers, like sadikk bhai, give u 3 months warranty.

I think u can use HCC for transfering no. to treo. The procedure has been explained by Kshah sir a few pages back.

Customer is the king bro.... If he thinks that per sec billing is good for him , he may shift from airtel/voda the day no. portability comes. As far as i m concerned, it cud altleast save me 100-200 rs. in my bill. So, why not?

@ sahab I faced the problem of touchscreen yesterday with my treo 755P. Since it was 10 PM in night, i had no option but to open it myself. By fiddling with it, just found that top circuit of digitizer was not properly attached to the screen. Reattached it and it works M attaching a paint file with pics. See if it helps in repairing your touchscreen (It may help if there is no fluid/white lines running below your screen) Just remove the tape behinf LCD and fix the top circuit.

100 LOT WHOLESALE TOUCH SCREEN FOR PALM TREO 650/680 US @ 245 $ + 30 $ shipping. The link's here : http://cgi.ebay.com/...34.c0.m14.l1262</H1> Just posting in case someone wanna stock them.......

Does the car unlocking one work???

Dude, Just a passing thought........ Why don't u go on E-Bay and sell them man.... They are so good.......Might help u in earning some extra bucks........... Just a thought...no offense meant.....

Is there a way to find out the city of registration too........... Hope a mobile directory like BSNL directory existed

Just post pics in Buy n Sell section........... Post a suitable price....... If it not more than 6 months old, i think the right price wud be around 8000, plus or minus 500 Rs.

Every wife thinks the same about her husband irrespective of whether your phone is working ok or not. Lol..............thank god, m still a bachelor............. Not answerable to ny1.......not even to Gf........

Screen replaced. Touch screen working fine as of now. Lets see after a week or so (if it lasts for a week...lol) Here's the method to replace touchscreen, hope someone in need finds it useful: Have a clean (lint free) cloth handy The case splits in front and back... once you take the six screws out of the back, you want to separate the back and the front The video may help : Once you have sepearted the screen, you need to disintegerate digitizer and touch screen The digitizer is glued to a metal frame. A teeny little bit of prying force with a plastic knife was sufficient enough to separate the front metal frame from its mate which is attached to the LCD panel. Try running the plastic knife on the edges of the glass screen. one needs to use a bit of force. Don't panic if the glass digitiser breaks. It may break at 2-3 places as in my case. Just take care not to damage the metal beneath Use the aforementioned knife to gently separate the digitizer from its metal frame. The glass digitizer I received had protective plastic on both sides... remove the plastic from the back side only, then remove the paper over the conveniently included double-sided tape and attach the digitizer to the metal frame. Peel the front protective plastic off the digitizer before installing into the front bezel.

Got the screen today. Tried fixing it but it seems the old screen is permanently glued to digitiser (the metallic part) Any ideas how i can seperate them. It seems very tuf indeed. @shahab Hw did u fixed the screen?

BTW..........Come to J&K sometime dhiraj bhai....... It will be a pleasure meeting you........

Does that mean all application of 755P can be made to run on this??

Ok........... U can try International PRL but with me (i am a tata user), the prob was with channels which kalpak sir fixed up. I think they change the channels for security reasons, atleast that ws wat tata ppl told me. U can also PM Kshah sir to help......

@ shahab Using palm without touchscreen is very tuf........ one has to let go group text msgs.......... Even u cannot copy a contact and send it via sms........ Will be real tuf........ Have u searched for any reliable touchscreen in india