Thanks for posting this.
India is making a huge mistake if it really intends to spend the money to become a blue-water navy. The money would be better spent on land and air forces.
India is a land power, vulnerable to invasion from both the east and the west, and must focus its energy and resources to defending those borders.
Any diversion violates the primary dictum of economy of force.
History has shown us legions of nations that disobeyed this rule and suffered for it. France in the Napoleonic wars and China during the Mongol years are two prominent examples.
India must - and will - focus its attentions on the land fights in process, including the ongoing insurgencies.
Umm,that's a bit hard to agree with.The Indian Navy is a big force multiplier & it's importance will only grow with the increasing maritime traffic of oil & goods through the Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean region.The terrain of India's borders with Pakistan & China is such that any sustained land war will lead to a stalemate.The Indian Navy can play a big difference in launching a naval blockade of resource starved Pakistan.Besides,China is expanding it's naval activities to Pakistan,Myanmmar & Bangladesh-it would be deadly foolish to expect the IN's budget to be diverted.It's true that possibilities of an Sino-Indo naval clash are remote,but then deterrence is the name of the game.
Lastly,N-subs armed N-weapons are easily the most survivable assets of any N-triad.Land & air based weapons esp against China have limited scope due to issues of range & vulnerability.An Indian N-sub or subs hanging around the Indian Ocean & upto the South China Sea can make a world of difference.FOr Pakistan,however SSKs equipped with AIP are more than enough.
India is already a blue-water navy (I'd add Japan and China to that list). And overall India would be smewhere in the lower half of the top 8 Navies in the world.
And overall this is just a MSM hit-piece. Most navies have the occasional embarrassing accident (didn't some nation's submaribe recently try to knock over a seamount)