Defence leadership: Incentives required to attract talent

When the successive central pay commissions have finally created a crisis situation in the military, the RM has tried to find a solution, which is worse than the problem itself. However, it will eminently achieve the objective of taking the focus away from the current turmoil in the services and engage the military’s headquarters in yet another wasteful and time-consuming exercise. In the military each rank carries a certain degree of aura and authority and any dilution or serious alteration of this structure tends to upset the hierarchal system and response to command authority.

It matters little that a small state may have a large number of DGPs, even one for special enquiries and yet another for fire-fighting equipment and so on or in the IAS, financial commissioners for freedom fighters etc. Such a system of downgradation may work in the civil, because there is no such thing as rank, which is specific only to the defence services. For the military it will be counter- productive, devalue the rank and adversely affect the working and delivery systems.

The military has been forced to look for patterns adopted by the civil services and the police merely because some contrived rank equivalence is being established with the civil, forsaking the earlier patterns. A simple solution existed for close to a hundred years before partition, which linked status with pay, which, in turn, relates to length of service, and addition of rank pay and monetary compensation for the X factor and enhanced pension for early retirement etc. But now a new and perverse formulation is being thrust on the military.

The reason for the sustained absence of military leadership lay in the fact that there never has been a collective national security perspective and the existence of indifferent nature of governments and together they brought about military leadership deficit. Best minds never opted for the military. The same formulation is on display when M.M. Pallam Raju, Minister of State for Defence, informs us that sainik schools are the nurseries to groom future armed forces officers. Earlier, the FM had allocated Rs 44 crore to these schools in his budget with the same mindset.

Surely the future leadership of the armed forces cannot come from the constricted and cloistered environments of sainik schools. The military’s leadership in the 21st century has to be essentially a product of liberal university education with a strong science background. The RM’s new proposal is to have a cadre of short service commission officers, who serve for 14 years and then are discharged with a gratuity of Rs 2 lakh for every year of service and no pension. The sum of Rs 28 lakh, 14 years from now, will not buy a one- bed room apartment in a tier III city in a lower middle class colony!

The officer at the time of his release would be a Lt Col in his mid-to-late thirties with all the attendant family commitments. He would be about the same age at which a soldier is now being discharged with inadequate pension. Like the soldier, he will remain unemployed and frustrated. Their frustration will deliver the final fatal blow to the Army’s image because they will carry their rank into retirement. When the existing offer of regular commission fails to draw the right material, how does the RM hope to attract suitable material for this hopelessly poor career on offer?

These are the officers who will be required to lead infantry companies, armoured squadrons etc into battle and are expected to be the cutting edge of the military. Soldiering, unlike other professions, demands total commitment, involvement and dedication to the cause. One has to be highly motivated to motivate troops and be able to lead them into the very jaws of death. Battles are invariably full of surprises and the unexpected. Military leaders have to be intelligent to quickly regain balance when surprised, master the unexpected, innovate and deliver, all under an environment of intense stress and danger.

The type that will be drawn by this short service commission of 14 years would fall short on these essential qualities. Those who feel that by opening regular commission to women will meet the shortages in the officer cadre unwittingly project the view that women are available on the cheap! Will a career that has become unattractive for men because of poor prospects, pay etc draw to it women of the right talents in droves?

There is no gainsaying that there is a need to recast the structure of officer cadre in the military and make it an attractive career, both in terms of promotion avenues and pay etc. One possible solution is to have a regular cadre of 55 per cent and the balance 45 per cent made up by, 25 per cent short service (5 years,) 10 per cent from the ranks and the balance 10 per cent from those recruited direct into the JCO cadre. Those from the ranks/direct JCO cadre should have a minimum service of six to eight years and be able to clear the services selection board before entry into the officer cadre.

A new cadre of direct recruitment into the JCO rank could be introduced with graduation as the minimum qualification. These JCOs would be able to handle a large range of administrative duties such as boards, unit audits, minor courts of inquiry etc and thus relieve unit officers for training of troops and upgradation of their skills. The overall career prospects of the regular officers, which will form the core of the officer cadre, will remain reasonably bright. Irrespective of the type of commission, there have to be adequate incentives to draw on the right material, both for regular and short service commission. Short service commission officers should have a training period of six months, followed by five years service with the units. Some out of these may seek regular commission.

On release from the Army a large range of avenues should be open to these short service commissioned officers. Those opting for an alternate career should be absorbed in Central police organisations, central services (after qualifying a written test,) PSUs etc. Their period of service with the military should be counted in their new careers. Depending on qualifications and aptitude, some of them could be given free education in IIMs, IITs and hotel management institutions and law colleges etc against reserved seats with a substantial stipend. Such a system will make short service attractive, draw on the right material and these officers will carry the work ethos, discipline and dedication of the military into other areas of civil life.

The above mix of regular commission, short service commission and those from JCO/ranks will, by and large, meet the aspirations of regular commissioned officers and as such draw on the right material both for the regular and short service commission. However, it will take years before such a proposal can be implemented and its effect realised and, therefore, is no solution for the present turmoil in the services. To overcome the existing frustration and shortages in the military, the service will have to be made attractive enough to attract the right material and to provide a degree of satisfaction to retain those already in service. The RM by his proposal for 14 years short service commission has simply failed to grapple with the problem proper and instead is setting the military to chase a crooked shadow.

Lt Gen Harwant Singh (Retd)