Do we need a common yardstick to evaluate valour for grant of gallantry awards?

“Honors and awards distinguish the mediocre. While the superior are embarrassed by them, the decoration itself gets devalued when awarded forlesser deeds”

Let the Figures Speak for Themselves
The Param Vir Chakra(PVC) and the Ashok Chakra (AC) are the highest gallantry medals awarded in India. The essential wording for both these decorations is the same; they are granted for “most conspicuous bravery or act of daring or pre-eminent valor or self- sacrifice...” The essential difference between these two supreme decorations is that while the PVC is granted for acts against the enemy the AC is for similar acts in the peace time. The investiture of both these medals is done on the Republic Day parade and the monetary compensation admissible is of the same order. It is learnt that till date about 40 brave hearts have received this medal, though we do not have a comprehensive list of their names or deeds on the Internet. The PVC awards are well documented, and only 21 soldiers have been awarded the highest decoration till date:

From 1947 to 61: Six (including one in Congo)

The 1962 Indo-China Conflict: Three

The 1965 Indo-Pakistan War: Two

The 1971 Indo-Pakistan war: Four

Clashes with Pakistan in Siachen and Kargil: Six

Statistically speaking, during the 61 years since our independence, exactly sixty one men have qualified for the highest honor, making it one per year. Now, if eleven persons receive it in 2009, there sure has been a significant departure from the norm!

Norms for Evaluating Courage and Valour
Those who have dealt with the Pay Commissions know about the systematic manner in which jobs are evaluated and functional relativities are established to assign pay scales to the different posts. No such exercise has been conducted for measuring or estimating bravery or courage. Perhaps it is not possible to do it either. But over the years, the military has evolved some kind of general norms for grant of medals and decorations which has found general acceptance. These decorations are granted to individuals, but it is well known that the award recognizes the action of the unit and the regiment to which the soldier belongs. Thus when some is granted a medal, the whole unit is proud of it, since no one fights the battle alone. The overall number is kept within limits to retain the sanctity of the award. Thus, if four PVCs were awarded in 1971, it roughly signifies the importance attached to that war. Notice that the above pattern reveals a balanced picture. Now, if we choose to give eleven ACs in a single year, it seems to convey the impression that during the last year the threat to our national integrity was three times more than what we faced in the 1971 war. Would any one buy that story?

The Tyranny of the Printed word and Television
The Mumbai episode got blown out of proportion because of two reasons: one that those two hotels entertain high profile guests and two, because of the media coverage it received. The general public was led to believe that something of great significance had happened. The ten odd irregulars were able to instill fear of a greater magnitude than the entire armed forces of our adversary! And then the politics took over. The results are there for every one to see. We have created an imbalance, the ripples of which will take quite some time to fade.

Disregarding the Courage of Valiant Survivors
There is one more serious imbalance in this list. All the eleven medals have been awarded posthumously. Was there not a single man who showed courage and survived to tell the tale? There seems to have been a definite bias towards the ‘martyrs’ while preparing the lists. It may be noticed, that of the 21 PVCs awarded so far six were granted to soldiers who were not killed in action. (One of the six survivors succumbed to frost bite in Chinese captivity) Similar is the case with the Victoria Crosses (VC) awarded by the British. More than one-third went to living soldiers. In fact three of them went on to win a second VC. It needs to be noted that it needs greater skill to survive in the midst of fire than to fall a victim to the fire. At the Academy they taught us, “A good soldier does not die for his country. He makes the enemy die for his!”

The Imperative Need to Evolve a Common Standard for Gallantry Awards
Courage can not be measured, weighed or counted. That much is certain. Awards are, and will forever remain the exclusive preserve of the personages who sit on the awards committees. But just as we have, as a nation, evolved grades for jobs and posts, and also created a ceremonial table of precedence for apex ranks, it is imperative that some standards be created for determining gallantry awards. I do not know whether military officers form part of the committee that determines the winners, but if they are not represented on the awards committees, there is a serious lacuna. Getting killed or wounded in an ‘operation’ can not be the sole determinant of valor or courage. It must not be allowed to become a dominant factor for granting the supreme gallantry awards. And if media coverage is allowed to sway the awards committees then the soldiers who perform similar feats under the following kinds of situations will remain unrewarded, for exactly similar acts of ‘conspicuous’ bravery:

Counter insurgency in remote areas where a low-intensity war has been continuously raging for the last four decades and several hundred soldiers are killed or wounded every year. The press and the media give them scant coverage. A soldier getting killed in the Valley gets less than two column centimeters in our national newspapers.

Pilots of service aircraft perform heroic actions as a routine. On an average, ten to twenty of them make the ‘supreme sacrifice’ every year. The fighter pilots have the option to ‘eject’ and save themselves, but many of them die in an effort to save the aircraft or prevent it from crashing in populated areas to save civilian casualties. Many others make miraculous landings on damaged aircraft. I think each one of them deserves an Ashok Chakra.

Officers and men who live and operate in high altitude areas face avalanches and landslides as a routine. In a single incident in Sikkim in 1982, a whole company was washed away in a flash flood. Several vehicles fell into ravines. Soldiers performed heroic acts to save the victims and salvage war-like equipment. But there was no one; not even birds and animals to see and recognize their acts of valor. And so, they shall remain unsung.

Naval divers go deep into the water on rescue missions. But that is considered to be a part of their duties.

Care and Consideration for the Living
It is my belief that, during the last few years, the balance has tilted in favor of those killed in action or otherwise. There was a time when we used to raise money for the widows of soldiers who died of illness or were killed in accidents, since there was no provision of ‘family’ pension. The pendulum has swung the other way now. The State now bends backwards to look after the widows. Their numbers are small, and so the government can afford it. But when it comes to the living veterans, our government holds back. The past pensioners get crumbs. The government neither has jobs for them nor proper pension. And when the soldiers die of mal-nutrition the family pension is even lower. The families could be justifiably envious of those who died or were killed in the field areas. The need of the hour is to do something for those “jo laut ke ghar aa gaye” The present situation is relates to the old saying, “Haathi zinda laakh ka; mara sawa lakh ka” (When artifacts were carved out of elephant tusks, the living one was cheaper than the dead beast)

The Summing Up
Life is a series of waves. Events swing from one extreme to the other. A few years ago the “Padma” awards went berserk. The list of the “Bharat Ratnas” was verily drawn from the political party in power. Then some one went to the court, and the award itself got discontinued. Now it has been restored, but it has lost its sheen. Neither the press nor the public takes any notice of a “Padma Shri” It is my fond hope that the gallantry awards do not meet the same fate. The marching columns in the Republic Day Parade this year were reduced to create space for the award of the 11 Ashok Chakras. Now, if all States and political parties start demanding their share in the largesse based on the current norms, we might have no parade next year. Since the “investiture ceremony” will take up all the time. If I am allowed to offer a solution, it is, “Please involve military officers in all decisions related with security of our country” This is far more important than “One Rank One Pension” and resolution of pay anomalies. In fact non-inclusion of a service member is the root cause of much that ails our system.

Acknowledgement
I was struck by the imbalance when I saw the parade, and wanted to write something. But when I saw the mails sent by Brig PT Gangadharan, that urge turned into this paper.

Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)