Kudos to the Service Chiefs, Stick to Your Guns

The chiefs of the army, navy and air force need to be commended and congratulated for their upright and bold stand for the men and women under their command, as reported on the front page of The Indian Express of September 02, 2008. The chiefs have represented strongly against the glaring disparities between military and civilian officers of equal rank and service, as listed in the notification relating to the implementation of the sixth pay commission (6 CPC) recommendations, issued after cabinet approval. This is as should be, for emoluments and status, especially the latter; affect morale, which is one of the immutable principles of war, followed not just by the Indian military, but all militaries of the world.

Since 2006, when the 6 CPC was in the offing, the chiefs had requested the government to ensure that the commission when set up should have representation from the defence forces. Despite making polite noises, the political leadership did not accede to this legitimate and logical request. When the setting up of the commission was formally announced, the chiefs went back to the government and again asked it to ensure representation, even in the shape of an advisor, if not a member in the commission. That this was a legitimate demand is amply borne out by the numbers involved. More than one third of government employees, under the purview of the commission, comprise serving military personnel. The percentage of military veterans, who also fell under the commission's purview for deciding their pensions and related emoluments, was even more at nearly 25 lacs. Once again, the request was ignored.

When the pay commission submitted its report in March this year, there was an understandable uproar from serving personnel and military veterans alike. The government then set up a review committee under the cabinet secretary, but again without representation from the military. Why this 'apartheid' against the only organization that delivers and does so efficiently and effectively? The obvious reason, well established amongst the serving personnel as well as the military veterans, was appeasement of the bureaucracy by the political leadership, especially those from the IAS, who were loath to have a representative from the services, lest their plans of accumulating everything for themselves were foiled. That is how the bureaucracy works in our democratic country – everything for themselves!

What the chief's are objecting to and rightly, is the lowering of the status of defence officers' vis-à-vis their civilian counterparts. The IAS has, unfortunately, tried very hard since Independence and also succeeded to a great degree, in the lowering of the status of the service officers. They did so by making themselves indispensable to the political leadership and even being identified with politicians and political parties unashamedly. The politicians found this an ideal arrangement to further their activities for perpetuating their individual causes as also those of the party they belonged to. This is possibly the main reason for the deterioration of governance everywhere and corruption reaching stupendous proportions. In the bargain, the 'aam aadmi' remained 'aam', whereas both the politicians and the bureaucrats continued to become 'khas' in every respect! How unfortunate that democracy in our country has reached this rock bottom?

No doubt there were and are some political leaders who are above this self-perpetuating syndrome, but alas not enough to matter. As for honest, diligent and efficient bureaucrats, they disappeared many decades back, leaving the field wide open for clever and self-serving ones, whose dharma is to exploit and loot both individuals and the nation. I am sorry I have digressed from the main theme of this piece, but unless such activities are publicly exposed in and by the media, how will the nation know the truth?

Reverting to the reason for this piece, I would urge the service chiefs to stick to their guns and not waver in their determination to get a fair deal for their men. The essence of command of troops is well known to them; otherwise they would not be chiefs of their service today. It is once again their dharma to ensure that they lead highly motivated troops, for then alone will victory be achieved on the battlefield and for making our nation safe and secure. The serving as well as retired military personnel, but more importantly the nation, looks up to you to not let the security of the nation be frittered away because some civil officials want to have their cake and eat it too!

Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd)

We have objections, put pay hike on hold: 3 service chiefs again
It's the uniform: Express Editorial A derogatory editorial fittingly rebutted! A Soldiers Honour, Dignity, Status and Rank needs to be upheld by all citizens. Today, in the Bihar floods who is the savior of its citizens? The civil bureaucrats have fled the villages ravished by floods. The Defence Forces are the only dependable rescue agency at times of earthquakes, floods and other national tragedies. This has been proved time and again.