The real defence failures: The price we pay for not building capacity

Mr Modi has been realistic about the facts on the ground, and chosen discretion over valour while resolving (hopefully) that India will prepare to fight another day, writes T N Ninan

Is Narendra Modi to blame for blinking first in the confrontation with China along the de facto border in Ladakh, and allowing China to score some territorial points? In the immediate context, no, because despite all the improvements in border infrastructure and in the capabilities of the armed forces, India does not have the capacity to forcibly remove entrenched Chinese troops from positions that they have occupied in strength. Once the army allowed China to gain ingress, and to support its frontline troops with artillery and armoured vehicles, possession became nine-tenths of the law.

Whether the damage was done