Saturday, April 18, 2015

Was Kalimpong a Smugglers Den and centre for espionage?

At a time when the West Bengal government is ambitiously promoting tourism in the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, a recent revelation from a US based historian on Asia might come as a shocker to tourists wishing to visit the legendary hills and Buddhist monasteries of Kalimpong in picturesque north Bengal.


The town of Kalimpong (Image Courtesy - Yuvachit Tours)


According to Tansen Sen, an associate professor of Asian history and religions at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, USA, the settlement of Kalimpong has traditionally been a centre of Indo-Tibetan smuggling, outlaws and hub of espionage which may have played a crucial role in the Indo-China War in 1963.

View of the hills from Kalimpong (Image Courtesy - www.defenceforumindia.com)


“Kalimpong was a hub for trading between India and China which finally resulted in an increased amount of smuggling in the area… There’s a whole lot of refugees particularly in 1950s but it also becomes a spying centre later on in the ’50s and 60s”, the scholar said.

He said the development of the hill-station is based on the trade between Tibet and India which resulted in smuggling becoming a prominent activity in the region. However, it was also important as it was a centre through which Muslims from Xinjiang, an autonomous region in China went for Haj as well as it sheltered defectors from China which finally resulted in an increased level of espionage activity during 1950-1960.

Historically, Kalimpong handled cargo worth Rs. 100,000 in the year 1900 which rose to Rs. 600,000 in 1921. Medicinal drugs, cigarettes, gold, silk, cotton, fountain pen and watches were the primary components of the historical trade; contrary to the belief that Kalimpong only handled silk and woolens originating from the ancient Silk Route.

The ancient Silk Route showing prominent halt points for traders (Image Courtesy & Copyright - www.sikkimsilkroute.com)


Presently, tourism and ginger cultivation account for the major chunk of livelihood for the 42,998 odd people living in the area.

Bengal, under the British Raj had played a crucial role in linking India with China.

“Bengal was the epicenter of Indo-China relations in the first half of the 20th century and three centres in the state were very important – Kolkata, the capital and hub of British trade, Shantiniketan, where a centre for Chinese studies (China Bhavan) was set-up and Kalimpong which drew its legacy from the ancient Silk Route”, the Silk Road archaeologist said.

The Taxi Stand at Kalimpong in modern times


Sen claimed Chinese banks and firms were operating in the British controlled Kalimpong which had extensive branches in Kolkata, Lhasa in Tibet, Nepal and China which made the Chinese well acquainted with the topography of north Bengal; a decisive move which resulted in Chinese victory in the war in 1963.

“Before 1942, there were only 70 Chinese in the area which rose significantly to 300 to 400 in 1944. Bank of China was operational in the area besides the Kuomintang, the ruling party in Taiwan (Nationalist China)… Leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Mao Zedong spoke about spies operating in the area”, he said.


An example of Kalimpong's wildlife (Image Courtesy - www.wildinida.com)

According to the historian, events which happened in the strategic hill-station bordering China, Bhutan and India in the past has implications in modern times particularly in India’s relations with China and it’s stand on Tibet.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Niti Aayog and Smart Cities may open up waves of cyber attacks

The central government’s ambitious plans of Digital India and Niti Aayog may open up greener pastures for cyber criminals, an industry expert said.





Logo of NITI Aayog which replaced the Planning Commission in India

According to R. Vittal Raj, international vice president of Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), an organisation focused on IT governance, the nation’s new initiatives on the digital front may open up newer loopholes in the IT system which hackers and possible terrorists may exploit.


“Cyber-crime is on the rise and with the government determined of it’s plans with the Niti Aayog and Smart Cities plan, criminals will find new opportunities”, he said.

He said although the Niti Aayog may not provide all online facilities to the end-user, any bank account nowadays is linked online at the back-end which hackers may exploit.

Indian Prime Minister at an event speaking about the NITI Aayog and Planning Commission (Image Courtesy - Mint)

“It is not that hackers are predicted to attack particular accounts. They may opt for salami attack at the clearance house from where a miniscule part of each transaction can be routed to the hacker’s account”, he said adding that it often goes undetected.

However, the nature or types of the attacks are hard to predict at this stage but botnets, which spans across a hacker controlled network is a likely contender.

“When we look at more of digital India coming in… we are looking at a scenario when the hacker will actually be very pleased”, he said.


Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announcing the NITI Aayog (Image Courtesy - IANS)

The IT trainer said once a hacker is able to exploit the shortcomings in a network in a smart-city, it will lead to absolute chaos which will disrupt daily life severely.

He reasoned that as infrastructure in smart cities is based on a network, close monitoring and apt security needs to be provisioned beforehand to make it a success in India.

According to the association, the global market of connected devices is set to exceed USD 7 trillion by 2020 and mobile connections is expected to rise from 7.4 billion in 2014 to 10 billion by 2020.

Raj said today’s world comprises of connected devices and with the dawn of the e-age, organisations and governments are exposed to newer breeds of threat which was never heard of or predicted.

“The online world is anonymous where one can veil his identity and co-operate with fellow criminals across borders to launch an attack… the entire system is automated now”, the cyber-security expert noted.




“A terrorist will love a situation where he is able to impact actual physical life by digital means… even the best missile systems in the world is prone to attacks from cyber-criminals”, he added.

“Talks are on at the global level but it is not easy… the question is how to monitor the international forum”, Raj concluded.

The central government’s ambitious plans of Digital India and Niti Aayog may open up greener pastures for cyber criminals, an industry expert said.

However, the situation may become far more complex as national security threats may open up as well.

As cyber-warfare continues to gain importance with missile-defence programmes, drones and several other projects under implementation, Raj said it will take time for nations across the globe to arrive at a consensus to handle national security threats.


A Russian Spring for India

What began as a cultural exchange between two countries soon developed into strategic cooperation and defence deals under the prevalent world order of the 1970s and then turned into a bond of friendship which lasted the test of time. This is the story of India and Russia.

Strategically, India had used Russian aid (then Soviet) to balance its strategic defence as well as deter any major threats in a then bi-polar world to its advantage. In turn, Russia emerged as the largest defence supplier to India right from the T90, Akula II and MiGs to the prevalent Sukhois and Vikramaditya benefiting the Russian defence industry.


A Su-30 MKI in full glory (Image courtesy - IANS)


With Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reassuring Russia to remain its largest defence partner in face of the recent deals with Airbus, Apache copters, M-777 and Chinook, it is obvious that Indo-Russian relations are strong as before despite recent breakthroughs with USA.

Post the Modi-Putin conference, the Prime Minister said, “Even if India's options have increased, Russia remains our most important defence partner... we have conducted joint military drill of the three wings in the last six months” while the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov tweeted “We have a strategic partnership that is incomparable in content”.



Indian PM Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a conference in December 2014 in New Delhi, India (Image courtesy - IANS)


In all this strategic cooperation, trade between the two countries has been often overlooked. While India preferred the USA, British Commonwealth and the Middle-East for its Exim policy, Russia became dependant on USA and Europe for the same and Indo-Russian trade didn’t pick up much. Now with the crisis in Ukraine starting to affect Russian trade, particularly its imports, the former superpower is looking at India for rescue.


“Because Russia is facing sanctions from EU and America, their (provisions) market is empty… They are looking for other partners who can supply”, EIC director S.K. Saxena said.

Russia is losing $40 billion a year due to sanctions, around $100 billion on account of falling oil prices, and some $130 billion in capital flight. It seems likely that the Russian economy is entering its second recession since 2005 and there lies the chance for India to capitalise its exports and discover newer avenues for trade.


Indian PM Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Press Conference in December 2014 in New Delhi, India (Image courtesy - IANS)


Apparently, it turns out that on the trading front, the two countries have not shared close bonds.

According to data from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, India’s exports to Russia from April to December 2014 stood at US$ 1.08 billion while the imports for the same period stood at US$ 2.35 billion. Interestingly, despite India’s Look-East preference and a series of strains between Indo-US relations, Indian exports to USA accounted for US$ 22.2 billion and imports stood at US$ 10.56 billion for the same period.

Global developments have again paved another series of engagements between Russia and India, it is time for India now for the payback it has so long spent on the strategic and defence deals with its strongest partner.

With a series of trade sanctions in place for the country, opportunities galore for the Indian export segment to the possibility of US$ 30 billion (Source – Tass). Priority areas for expanding bilateral economic cooperation are pharmaceuticals, IT, steel, diamonds, aviation, fertilizers, infrastructure, heavy engineering and food products.