The dire need to talk about 1962

Source: The post is based on an article “The dire need to talk about 1962” published in The Hindu on 19^th October 2022.

Syllabus: GS 1 – Post-Independence History

Relevance: reasons behind the defeat of India on Sino-India war of 1962

News:  It has been almost 60 years to India-China (Sino-India) war in 1962. The war went for 30 days (October 20 – November 20, 1962).

In this war India’s 1,383 soldiers were killed, 1,047 were wounded, 1,696 went missing and over 400 prisoners of war were captured by China. India lost the war.

What are the main issues linked to Sino-India war of 1962, that requires attention?

Lack of preparedness: The then PM Jawaharlal Nehru had friendly relations with nations around the world including China. This made him believe that China would never attack as it tried to have peaceful relations with India. This misbelieve resulted in lack of preparedness of the Indian Army which further became one of the reasons for the defeat.

Lack of trust on IAF: The strength of the Indian Air Force (IAF) was not used and was underestimated. According to various reports the use of fighter aircraft would have been a game changer as Chinese air force was operationally handicapped due the high altitude of the airfields.

Hierarchy: The war involved people from politics, bureaucrats and military. This multiple involvement and hierarchical nature of the decision led to insufficient managements of the events from the top to bottom.

Insufficient effort: There were lack of coordination and efforts made from the senior military officers as most of the work was done by the junior grade officers. This caused lack of expertise in the field and led the defeat of India.