INS Vagir commissioned

Source: By The Indian Express

The Indian Navy commissioned the fifth diesel-electric Kalvari-class submarine Vagir. It is among the six submarines being built by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), Mumbai, in collaboration with the French M/s Naval Group under Project 75. Four of these submarines have already been commissioned into the Navy and a sixth will be commissioned next year.

The induction of Vagir is another step towards the Indian Navy consolidating its position as a builder’s Navy, as it also reflects MDL’s capabilities as a premier ship and submarine building yard”, the government said in a press release.

What are the specifications of Vagir?

The latest submarine gets its name from the erstwhile Vagir, a submarine which served the Navy between 1973 and 2001 and undertook numerous operational missions. The construction of the new Vagir began in 2009 and it took its maiden sea sortie in February last year. Also known as Sand Shark, the submarine was delivered to the Indian Navy in December 2022.

According to a government press release, Vagir represents stealth and fearlessness, as it comes with features like an advanced acoustic absorption technique.

Vagir will boost the Indian Navy’s capability to further India’s maritime interests and is capable of undertaking diverse missions including anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying and surveillance missions, the government release said.

Kalvari-class background

Vagir is a Kalvari-class submarine, which includes other vessels, such as the INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Karanj, INS Vela and INS Vagsheer. Of these, Kalvari and Khanderi were commissioned in 2017 and 2019, and Vela and Karanj were inducted in 2021. Vagir has now been commissioned and Vagsheer was launched in 2022 and is expected to be inducted next year.

The submarines in the current Kalvari-class take their names from erstwhile decommissioned classes of submarines named Kalvari, which included Kalvari, Khanderi, Karanj and Vela classes — comprising Vela, Vagir, Vagshir. The now-decommissioned Kalvari and Vela classes were one of the earliest submarines in the post-independence Indian Navy, which belonged to Soviet origin Foxtrot class of vessels.

In maritime parlance, a class of ships is a group of vessels which have the same make, purpose and displacement. In the Navy and Coast Guard in India, the ships belonging to a particular class are named in a specific manner. Many times the names have the same first letters, prefixes, and similar meanings or the names belong to a particular type of word, for example, names of cities, persons, mythological concepts, animals, rivers, mountains, weapons, etc. The class is generally named after the first vessel in the category. In some cases, a particular class of vessels takes their names from an earlier class of vessels which are now decommissioned.

Like Kalvari – which means Tiger Shark, Vagir has been named after a Sand Fish, a predatory marine species. Khanderi has been named after an Island Fort built by Chhatrapati Shivaji, which played a key role in his Navy. Karanj has also been named after an Island located South of Mumbai.

Technical details of INS Vagir

The design of the Kalvari-class of submarines is based on the Scorpene class of submarines designed and developed by French defence major Naval Group formerly DCNS and the Spanish state-owned entity Navantia. This class of submarines has Diesel Electric transmission systems and these are primarily attack submarines or ‘hunter-killer’ types which mean they are designed to target and sink adversary naval vessels.

The Kalavari class of submarines has an estimated endurance of approximately 50 days. They also have the capability of operating in a wide range of Naval combat including anti-warship and anti-submarine operations, intelligence gathering and surveillance and naval mine laying. These submarines are around 220 feet long and have a height of 40 feet. It can reach the highest speeds of 11 knots (20 km/h) when surfaced and 20 knots (37 km/h) when submerged.

The modern variants of the Scorpene class of submarines have what is called Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) which enables non-nuclear submarines to operate for a long time without access to surface oxygen. It also needs to be noted that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has an ongoing programme to build a fuel cell-based AIP system for Indian Naval Submarines.

The Kalvari classes of submarines are capable of launching various types of torpedoes and missiles and are equipped with a range of surveillance and intelligence-gathering mechanisms.

Strategic importance

India currently operates one submarine in the nuclear-powered class of Chakra and two other nuclear-powered vessels in Arihant in addition to submarines belonging to three classes of Diesel Electric category — Kalvari, Shishumar and Sindhughosh, some of which are ageing.

The nuclear-powered and diesel-electric submarines have their designated roles in the Carrier Battle Groups, which are formations of ships and submarines with Aircraft Carriers in the lead role. As per the basic principles of submarine deployment and minimum requirement for India to create a strategic deterrence, there is a specific number of submarines of both types that India needs to have in active service.

Currently, India has less number of submarines than what is required with some more of those from both types being at various stages of construction. Currently, India has a less-than-ideal number of submarines, with many new ones being at various stages of construction.

In the late 1990s, around the time of the Kargil war, a three-decade plan took shape for indigenous construction of submarines which is known to have two separate series of submarine building lines – codenamed Project 75 and Project 75I — in collaboration with foreign entities. The Ministry of Defence is also known to have put in place a roadmap for indigenous design and subsequent construction of submarines which will further add numbers to the Navy’s arsenal.

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Give transgender access to justice

Source: By Rajashree K: Deccan Herald

The transgender community has been an integral part of Indian society. References to the role played by them are replete in scriptures such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. During the Mughal rule, the transgender were recognised and vested with specific duties in the royal courts and harems. Their status started declining with the colonial invasion of India and the enactment of the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871. The Act criminalized a transgender person and stipulated punishment up to two years if they appeared in public dressed as a woman. But after the enactment of the Indian Constitution, the right to equality under Article 14 and the right to life under Article 21 were made equally applicable to them.

The Supreme Court, in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (2014), treated them as the third gender for safeguarding their fundamental rights under Part III of the Constitution. The court, through its judgement, issued directives to the Centre and the state to provide reservations in educational institutions and public appointments, frame social welfare schemes, provide access to medical care, and conduct in-depth studies to understand their problems and sensitise the general public.

Despite the directives and various measures undertaken by the government, there are no provisions to ensure that they are legally protected. In Shanavi Ponnunswamy v. Ministry of Civil Aviation (2022), the court categorically observed that the transgender are yet to be “included” into mainstream society. The case was an eye-opener, as it noted that discrimination still persists and there is a need for “mainstreaming” them. Hence, this necessitates the need for appropriate state interventions by providing the transgender community with free legal aid and awareness to create and enhance access to justice.

Interventions in the form of legal aid and awareness are crucial elements in ensuring transgender rights. In the majority of instances, a transgender person is forced to leave their home, give up their entitlements, and turn to either begging or prostitution. Access to employment opportunities and admissions in higher education institutions is still negligible. Their discrimination not only blatantly disregards human rights but also is antithetical to the very essence of the Constitution. This “othering” of them from society exposes them to the risk of being subjected to atrocities and legal exclusion. The transgender community has found some respite through the enactment of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and Rules of 2020. Despite the letter of the law recognising them, they are still ostracized and fighting to make inroads into mainstream public life. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) indicates rising crime, and the National Portal for Transgender, hosted by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, indicates that a large amount of identity documentation for the transgender community is still pending. Hence, the issue needs to be addressed from a legal angle by providing them access to legal institutions through legal aid and awareness mechanisms.

As per the 2011 Census data, there are 4, 87,803 transgender people in India. As per the information available with the Ministry of Social Justice, only Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Tripura, and Mizoram have constituted transgender welfare boards or commissions.

The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), which successfully defended the rights of the transgender before the SC, is yet to formulate any schemes for their welfare. The situation necessitates the implementation of extensive awareness programmes about their rights and sensitising people about transgender issues, currently lacking in NALSA’s awareness campaigns. The State Legal Services Authority should engage in such awareness drives in association with the Law Schools Legal Aid Clinics actively involving students in sensitising community members and undertaking social action litigation on their behalf.

If the State is serious about mainstreaming the transgender community, they must be included under Section 12 of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987, which entitles the transgender community to avail of free legal services.

Globally, the UN has laid out 17 goals to achieve sustainable development by 2030. As a UN signatory, India needs to integrate Goal 5 and Goal 16, which call for achieving gender justice and promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development by providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. If the State intends to bring the transgender community into mainstream society, it should actively engage in legal awareness and provide access to justice through free legal aid.