CWG: Indian Army asked to fight mosquitoes

Dengue fever is a febrile illness caused by an RNA flavivirus that is spread by the bites of mosquitoes. The symptoms of dengue include fever, headache, rash, severe pains in the muscles and joints, and pain behind the eyes. The severe muscle pains have led some to call the disease "break bone fever".
Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi has sought the help of Indian Army personnel for specific tasks to ensure a successful conduct of the 2010 Games.

Suresh Kalmadi seeks Indian Army’s assistance for Common Wealth Games 2010

Commonwealth Games: Army asked to work for free by Rajat Pandit, TNN, Aug 21, 2010, 12.44am IST

New Delhi, Sept. 8: With dengue cases in the city crossing the 1,400 mark, the Indian Army will be drafted to fight mosquito menace near the Commonwealth Games Village, where athletes and delegates will stay during the Oct-3-14 mega event, an official said Wednesday.

A decision to deploy the army was taken at a meeting of health officials held by Delhi health minister Kiran Walia and Lt. Governor Tejendra Khanna has accorded it his approval, according to Municipal Corporation of Delhi's
Public Health Committee chairman V.K. Monga.

A letter will soon be sent to the army authorities, and army personnel willin a day or two start working with the help of MCD staffers, who apparently are finding it difficult to drain out water from the Village surroundings.

The services of the army's engineering department are being secured to help in this task, officials said.

Due to massive construction work in and around the Games Village, which has been built on the Yamuna's river-bed in east Delhi, and ar other venues for the mega sporting event, Delhi has witnessed a surge in dengue cases.

Monga told IANS that the Army will drain out water from water pools near the Games Village, spray anti-larval chemical in the area, and clean and level pools flooded with incessant rains and Yamuna water.

He said the Army's help has been sought as it is better equipped to deal with such situations and its pesonnel can go down in the water.

"They also have all the equipment required for the work," Monga added.

At least 24 Commonwealth countries have made inquiries about the status of dengue in the capital.

Mosquito breeding will be at its peak during the hot and humid October and the Yamuna banks are likely to be the main breeding ground for mosquitoes responsible for dengue and malaria, an official said.
Delhi asks Army to fight mosquitoes September 8th, 2010

Citizen comments
Submitted by Pasupathy on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 9:36am.
The Indian Army organized the International Military Games in Hyderabad with aplomb. Probably if the Army was tasked to coduct CWG four years ago they would have done it in a professional and economic way and the funds that has been spent/ going to be spent could have been utilised to equip the Army to meet their critical shortages. It is an irony that Indian Army has been called to fight mosquitoes in Delhi. What image we are projecting for the Country and the Army? May be some international players may withdraw from competing due to the mosquito menace.

Submitted by AKC on Wed, 08/09/2010 - 11:51pm.
Why should Indian Army get involved in this filth that our politicians created. This clearly shows that there was no proper planning done either by Common Wealth Games Organization Committee that is conducting the games and the Govts at the center and Delhi UT. Army should outrightly reject this request. There are other things that the Army can take care of. This (cleaning) needs to be done with the help of other departments as well as with the help of social organizations. Don't we have NCC cadets and other people from surronding muncipalities who can take care of this mess. As a last resort, para-military forces can be used but certainly NOT Army. Personally, I feel that these games will project India in bad-light and will bring bad name. It is too late to call it off now, anyway. Possible Corrective measures need to be taken at the earliest and save some pride.

Submitted by blaze on Wed, 08/09/2010 - 8:17pm.
ha ha ha mosquitos are more harmful than maoists. Politicians are money eaters and should be given the highest punishment for their crime.

Submitted by Ravi Shendarkar on Wed, 08/09/2010 - 7:58pm.
Either the Delhi government needs to be admitted to a mental hospital or the Army Authorities who will sanction troops to such unnoble cause.

Indian Bureaucracy and how it works for itself

Spend Your Budget. This is the most important rule of bureaucracy and starkly differentiates bureaucracy from the purposes of private business. In a bureaucracy, however, profit is not an issue. If you don't spend your budget, you may be congratulated on your economy, but then the reasoning will be that now you don't need that extra money in your next budget. So your budget will shrink, without any other benefit accruing to you. A shrinking budget then means shrinking power in the bureaucratic system. This is the last thing that a bureaucrat wants. Therefore, you must always spend your budget, and economizing is a sin devoutly to be avoided. Spending your budget, you can proceed to the next step, which is:

Fail. Whatever it is that your bureaucrat is supposed to be doing, if you don't do it very well but can produce a reasonable argument that your failure is from lack of money (or enough power), then you can (if you've spent your budget) always ask for more money, i.e. to be "fully funded. The success of such deception, of course, is the fruit of the next rule:

Cover Your Ass. If you are a bureaucrat, you want to be sure that nothing is ever your fault. If it were, and if you were not simply starved for the money and power that you are seeking, then the reckoning might actually cost you money, power, or even the existence of your job.

Replace Useful Work with Useless Work. A good way to avoid accountability is if a new bureaucratic goal is created that is unrelated to the actual supposed mission of the bureaucracy. It is then easy to meet the fictitious goal and proclaim success, when nothing has been done about the original mandate.

Multiply Procedures and Paperwork. Something like "Outcomes Assessement" is an example of another excellent bureaucratic strategy. If there is a problem or complaint, then obviously we need to do something about it; and to do something about it we obviously need studies, more bureaucrats, and "solutions" that involve new rules, new procedures, less autonomy for those on site, esoteric jargon, and a great deal more paperwork. If the studies take long enough, and the procedures and paperwork are voluminous enough, then the original problem or complaint may simply be forgotten long before the system actually gets around to doing anything substantive. Even better, if the rules and procedures are of the "useless" variety, then there is no threat that anything would ever get done about the matter anyway. Useless procedures and paperwork provide much of the steam for the operation of Parkinson’s Law (Cyril Northcote Parkinson, 1955), that "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion." After all, if extra time actually helped in accomplishing the original mandate, then the original mandate might actually be accomplished. But if the original mandate doesn't get accomplished, then obviously more time is need and, as we have seen, more money and power are probably also going to be needed. This will all benefit the bureaucracy marvelously. GOM or EGOM are typical examples.

Pass the Buck. An excellent way to cover your ass is to deny you have responsibility, not just for things that go wrong, but for the whole issue. The Bhopal Gas tragedy and 25 years of fooling the victims is a fine example.

Don't Rock the Boat. An excellent way to avoid responsibility in bureaucracy is not to be noticed. That is one meaning of not rocking the boat, or not making waves. And, of course, an excellent way of not being noticed is to pass the buck.

Jerk People Around. Once bureaucrats have their unions and their power, what do they do with them? Well, they "serve the public." If they don't actually serve the public very well, there is not much that can be done about it, since they will have the protection both of the civil service system and of the unions, and it may be all but impossible to fire them. So why not have some fun in the meantime? Just say no. The public needs to be reminded that they are at your mercy, so you might as well make things as difficult for them as possible. It helps that an inefficient "spend your budget" bureaucracy is going to have tons of rules and regulations, where they are most likely to be incoherent and even self-contradictory. So you will have no difficulty quoting one rule to one person and another to another, requiring them to do different things, both of which can then be retroactively invalidated by a switch in the rules which can be described as:
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?

The reasonable response of the bureaucrat (who isn't even of the choosing of the voters in the first place) to this would be, "Sounds like a good idea to me!" You do not want law or regulation to be a "rule of action," because then people would know beforehand what is required, prohibited, or allowed. Your power, to decide all those things arbitrarily, would be diminished. Indeed, looking at almost any part of National or state regulations, no one can honestly deny that they "be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood." This is not an accident. It serves a purpose. And we see something else. Regulations are not created by elected legislators. Politicians have covered their own asses by passing the power of making regulations to bureaucrats, creating the unconstitutional system of "administrative law." The irresponsible bureaucrat thus comes to rule the modern state. The only drawback of this is its twilight existence. The bureaucrat needs to be faceless, both so as not to rock the boat with superiors but especially so that he can play his essential political role. The politicians who give bureaucrats power will always take credit for whatever works but then will always blame the bureaucrats for whatever goes wrong. As long as those bureaucrats are kept faceless, and it is the "system" that is the problem, then we actually have blame without accountability and without consequences. Nothing need be done, unless, of course, it is to give the bureaucrats more money and more power, because, after all, what else could really be wrong?

The above Rules have been cleverly applied by the successive Central Pay Commissions to degrade/ downgrade the Rank and Pay of the Indian Armed Forces.
Extracted and Modified from the original:
The Practical Rules of Bureaucracy
Justice Hegde resigns: The Good and the Bad- Fighting the corrupt Bureaucratic system is impossible

The Soldiers' 2nd Innings

Dear friends,
Truncated career is a well known deprivation which the soldiers suffer. This inherent disadvantage is further compounded by the fact that a large number of officers and men are superseded at the first selection level when they are no more than forty years old. They are then faced with a Hobson’s choice of whether to stay on in service with the ignominy of moving from one lack luster appointment to another or quit.
I began to study the post retirement lives of military veterans about fifteen years ago. Later, while serving with Ashok Leyland, I conducted some courses on “Preparation for retirement” for service officers as well as the executives of the company. I came to the conclusion that with a bit of planning and preparation, it is possible to convert military experience into civilian success. I find many of my friends having done extremely well in their second innings. I discussed this with my esteemed friend Lt Col KD Singh who migrated to the USA in 1984 and has had an illustrious career there.
We decided to record our experiences and observations in the form of a book entitled, “The Soldiers’ 2nd Innings”
The result of our labor of love has been accepted for publication by Macmillan India Ltd and is likely to be released in January 2010. The summary of its contents is given below. Our pension is inadequate as well as iniquitous. But it is somewhat unlikely that OROP will be sanctioned. But if all of us brace ourselves up, there is nothing which prevents us from augmenting our income through socially useful and productive work.
The sum and substance of this book is that the veterans must learn to make good use of their time and energy. It is not frightfully difficult to earn money. The erudite amongst the retired officers should be going to the government with a solution, and not a begging bowl. In the words of the late president Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you...”
With best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year,
Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)

Table of Contents- Chapter wise
I. With No Regrets- This is a personal testimony. It traces my journey through the life; in military service and after hanging up my uniform
II. Profile of Military Service in India- In this chapter, I have given a balanced picture of the military, as a career in India, and compared it with other services III. Angry Old Soldiers- During the last two years, veterans have been protesting against the government. Their grievances are analyzed in this part.
IV. In Search of a Solution to the Problem- An attempt has been made in this chapter to solve the complex problems associated with the rising pension bill and resettlement of veterans. An ‘out of the box’ solution has been offered.
V. Time to Part Ways- There comes a time in the life of every soldier, when he is faced with this difficult question, “Should I leave or stay on?” The pros and cons of seeking pre-mature release are discussed in this chapter.
VI. SWOT Analysis and Classification of Options- And a Word of Advice to those who choose to Stay Back in Military Service. Landing the right job is like a good marriage. It must suit both the parties equally, or else there will be a conflict situation. The ‘SWOT’ analysis is a good technique to assess one’s own prowess and limitations. This chapter also contains a brief advice for those who choose to stay on in the service even after being by-passed for promotion.
VII. Writing Resume or CV- Writing one’s CV is the first step in the process of seeking a job. Most soldiers do not know how to go about it correctly. Some tips on how to prepare a good Resume are given in this chapter.
VIII. The interview for a civilian job is quite different from the kinds of interviews which the soldiers are familiar with. Some tips on how to handle this process are given in this chapter.
IX. Salary Negotiations- Salary in the military is determined by Pay Commissions. The soldier does not have to even think about his remuneration. In the civil, the rules are very flexible. The veterans have to find their own place in the new environment. The nuances of this process are discussed at some length.
X. The Culture Shock- Military service is very different from the life on the civil street. The veteran has to adjust to his new environs, and that needs a lot of emotional resilience. This chapter prepares the man for his new life.
XI. My Second Innings at Ashok Leyland- This is based on my personal experience. It is actually a story of my service in the corporate world with special emphasis on the first few months, when I was trying to settle down in the new environment.
XII. Self Employment Avenues- For those who do not wish to take a nine-to-six job, there are other options available. This also needs some planning and fore-thought. Some ideas on this subject are given here.
XIII. Management of Personal finances- At the time of severance, soldiers receive some lump sum money. Many of them are not accustomed to handling this sort of cash. Some generic dictum on money management are discussed in this part.
XIV. Social Service- For those who are endowed with the spirit of ‘social service’ with no financial gains in view, this chapter contains some hints.
XV. Hobby Writing after Retirement- The likes of me, who like to record their experiences for the benefit of posterity this chapter has been written. It contains some rules for writers.
XVI. Growing Old Gracefully- This chapter touches on ‘relationships’ since these undergo a sea change. The elderly have to accept their new position in society.
XVII. Health Care- The geriatric problems are discussed in some detail in non- medical terms.
XVIII. A General Guide to Making Your Will- There comes a time in our lives, when it is necessary to ‘pass on the baton’ to the next generation. Some tips on writing one’s will are given here. This has been written by my advocate daughter-in-law.
XIX. The Immigration Option- By Lt Col (Retd) KD Singh, now settled in the USA- Immigration to a foreign country is an option these days. Col KD Singh who has made an indomitable success in the USA has written this chapter.
XX. Service in Education Institutions By Brig (Retd) Surinder Singh- Education in India has assumed the dimensions of an industry. Scores of military officers are working in these institutions. This piece has been written by a veteran who has made a successful career in the academia.
Readers Responses to Second Career
Suggestions from Readers: Second Career for ESM

Civil Military Relations: There is urgent need to bridge the gap

It is acknowledged that India’s military has historically been apolitical. Unlike other militaries in developing countries early in the post colonial period, there has never been an instance of the Indian military transgressing its bounds. This has consistently been among the indicators of India’s democratic good health. However, it is averred that this has resulted in the military’s marginalisation in core security decision making structures and processes. This refrain in security studies commentary testifies to the continuing distance between the apex military leadership from political decision makers on policy issues. Details of the critique are well known. These include: the strategic grasp of the generalist bureaucratic cadre dominating the ministry is suspect; in modern defence systems elsewhere officials in uniform share desk space with civilians having appropriate background in national security; the current system results in manipulation of service differences by bureaucrats playing arbiters, thereby precluding efficiencies, jointness, etc. But the fact that the system persists begs the question: Why?
Extracted from:
The central debate in India’s civil military relations
Ali Ahmed: IDSA

The probable reasons for the widening gap
Military service changes one's way of thinking and gives one a sense of patriotism, a sense of working for something bigger than one's self. It helps to provide a more realistic view of what the Indian Armed Forces can and cannot do. Most of the Politicians and Bureaucrats lack that military experience and do not know what Military Service means. Sadly their children too are averse to the Armed Forces.

The average Indian knows very little about the military anymore... and even more troubling, the average middle- and upper middle-class family doesn't tend to look on the Defence Forces as a career they want their kids to follow... only about 0.02 percent of the total population of our nation are directly or indirectly connected as either serving, retired or family members of the Armed Forces.

SCPC: Pension anomalies are created by bureaucrats

Date: Saturday, 15 August, 2009, 11:28 AM
Sir,
This is with reference to the injustice done to the Majors in fixing their pensions.
Have the three service chiefs taken any action on the issue of unacceptable level of pension the officers of the rank of 'Major', which is considered a 'senior officer' in the services, have got? It is just ridiculous that an officer just one rank lower than a Lt.Col. and in some cases equal service should get over Rs. 10000/- less. Earlier, Lt Cols were unjustly put in the lower pay band by the 6th CPC just because there is no equivalent grade in the Central Civil Services. And they got their due because the govt capitulated on realising the strong reaction from the serving officers and the service chiefs and its overall repercussions.

It is apparent that the anomalies arise because the CPCs (bureaucrats) first fix the pensions of the CCS and then attempt to find equivalent ranks of personnel in the Armed Forces personnel- both Commissioned officers and PBORs by a method which can be termed "fill in the gaps". They are unable to find precise equivalence because of the fact that the hierarchical structure of the Armed Forces is basically different from that of the CCS. It is a rank structure as distinct from the grade structure in the CCS. This structure has evolved to suit the peculiar nature of their job which is entirely different from that of any civil service job.

So the answer to that is to have a separate Pay Commission for the Armed Forces which the (Prime Minister?) govt has accepted in principle for future. But we need to take care of the present. IESM must take up the case of Majors, Squadron Leaders and Lieutenant Commanders who form the backbone of the officer cadre of the Armed Forces.

The same treatment has been meted out to non-commissioned ranks. The proper terminology for the (Air Force) airmen of the rank of Corporal is non-commissioned officer,Sergeants-Senior Non-Commissioned officer and above are Junior warrant Officers, Warrant Officers and Master Warrant officers. Likewise in the Army and the Navy. So why and when was this term PBOR coined? This was after 1980s. When a class II person in CCS is a called a Section Officer, why are service personnel of Class II gazetted grade called Personnel Below Officer Rank? The aim is clear.

IESM must take up these causes else there will be more 'anomalies' in store for the Armed Forces!
Regards,
Shashank Bendre
Wg.Cdr.(Retd)
Member PC,IESM

India's Greatest Failure

INDIA JOURNAL
MAY 20, 2009, 3:25 A.M. ET.
By PAUL BECKETT of Wall Street Journal/ U.S.
NEW DELHI -- Since he retired as India's most senior civil servant in 1998, T.S.R. Subramanian likes to say that he can be spotted frequently on a golf course. Recently, using a stenographer (four decades climbing the bureaucratic ladder means you don't learn to type) he put his mind to a question that appears to nag him as he marches the fairways: What has gone wrong in official India?

Paul Beckett
It is a timely question, given that we are at the start of a new administration. And it is one Mr. Subramanian is eminently qualified to address, given his rise through the Indian Administrative Service to become Cabinet secretary under three prime ministers. It is also one he is eminently capable of fudging, given that same resume and the many vested interests he might feel obliged to protect.

Fortunately, he takes the attitude that if you're going to go to the trouble of thinking and writing, why coat it in gloss? The result is a pithy tome, almost a Victorian-style treatise, called "GovernMint in India." It assesses whether the Indian government is up to par when measured against the mandate of the Indian constitution. His verdict, if I may paraphrase: If the Indian government were a golfer, it would score quadruple bogeys on every hole, cheat on the score card, then grab the stakes the other players had bet with.

The average Indian, Mr. Subramanian says in a chat over lunch, just wants the basics from his government. "I don't think Indians care about disparity but they want a minimum standard of living, food, a place to stay and clothing," he says. These are all things that the government has singularly failed to provide to the masses in the 62 years since independence.

“Since no part of the Establishment has an interest in punishing corruption, trying for a more sweeping solution quickly leads into the realm of blind hope.”
Why is that so? We start with history. The British may have committed many atrocities here but Mr. Subramanian speaks admiringly about the efficiency with which they ran the civil service and the caliber of those who inhabited it. An important factor in their success, however, was the fact that their political masters were thousands of miles away and unable to interfere.

Then India minted its own constitution. The well-meaning framers, he says, failed to appreciate what would happen when the civil service and politicians operated in close quarters without significant checks -- legal, administrative or otherwise -- on how far the legislative class could influence the executive.

Thus the framework was set for a steady, and alarming, transformation in the balance of power and the purpose of government. Politicians, unleashed by the knowledge that they are very unlikely ever to be called to account for their actions, have come to dominate the civil service and twist it for their own gain.

T.S.R. Subramanian
The executive, staffed by bright men and women schooled in the limits of their authority, have proven no match. As he writes: "Sadly, many of the middle-level officers, with growing children to educate, elderly parents to look after, cannot bear the constant pressure, and buckle; they either switch off and become irrelevant to the system, or they join the politician, and all is well thereafter!"

The judiciary comes in for equally scathing criticism for its failure to bring politicians to heel and to exempt bad behavior that ordinary citizens would be jailed for. I sense no love lost between Mr. Subramanian and his brethren on the bench. At one point, he offers a theory as to the root of these judicial shortcomings. Judges and bureaucrats traditionally stemmed from the same English-educated class of graduates, he says. And "most people who came to the judiciary were people who failed the civil service exams."

Where does all this leave us? "The political class," he writes, "is the only one which is not constrained by any checks or balances, follows no effective code of conduct and considers itself a king or an emperor, while extolling the virtues of democracy." In person, he puts it more starkly: In the last government, there were three Cabinet-level ministers making money. Yes, that kind of money. And nothing was done about it.

GovernMint is a narrow polemic that doesn't go much beyond Mr. Subramanian's purpose of a governance scorecard. He is the first to admit that it doesn't seek to provide big answers partly, I suspect, because that is really where the hard thinking begins.

He does offer a few practical suggestions: Suspend politicians facing criminal charges, as civil servants are suspended pending trial. Establish a fast-track court just for government officials so that cases are resolved expeditiously. Persuade judges to make an example of a few political wrongdoers as a public flogging for the rest.

Since no part of the Establishment has an interest in punishing corruption, trying for a more sweeping solution quickly leads into the realm of blind hope. Mr. Subramanian believes the best way to retake the government and re-bend it to the will of the people is through what he rather surprisingly terms "a messiah."

"Could one hope that there will be a new messiah, who will rise from the political class, to deliver the nation?" he asks in the final paragraph of the book. At a book launch party last week, some members of a panel filled with The Great And The Good (Retd.) of Delhi lambasted that notion, suggesting it was hopelessly naïve.

The criticism seems to have stuck. Over lunch a few days later, Mr. Subramanian suggests that no one else on the panel had any better answers. And he makes a point of explaining that he did not mean "a person falling from the sky" but someone from within the system with the will and the public backing to cleanse it.

Does that person exist today? Maybe, he says, we just don't know yet. Maybe it's Rahul Gandhi, maybe its Nitish Kumar. One thing, he says, the public is starting to send a message with the election's focus on development that if that person emerges, he or she will have mass backing. Of course, the flip side is also true: "This government, if it doesn't look into development, will bite the dust and anger against the political class will come."
—Paul Beckett is the WSJ's bureau chief in New Delhi
India's Greatest Failure

I feel cheated: Military Rank and Status Irrational and Arbitrary

Friday, 19 December , 2008, 12:49
My father Daroga Prasad Rai, who was Chief Minister of Bihar in 1970, motivated and encouraged me to join Sainik School Tilaiya with a view to make me join Armed Forces as an officer.

He always spoke of the Indian Armed Forces with the highest regard. At that time I was only about nine years old. At that impressionable age I became highly motivated.

I do not deny that I was thrilled by the prospect of joining the most noble profession, where one gets a chance to make the supreme sacrifice for his country.

Accordingly I competed and joined Sainik School Tilaiya. But I did not want to leave any stone unturned in my ambition to become an Army Officer. When I came to know about Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun (RIMC), which was considered to be the best, I competed and joined the RIMC in January 1973.

Even though my initial enthusiasm had not waned, by the time I reached 11th standard, with whatever understanding I had, I started enquiring about a career in the Armed Forces.

My seniors who were at the Indian Military Academy by then, fed me some comparisons. First, they showed me that all the Class-I Services officers (including IAS and IPS) started their career at a basic salary of Rs 700/- per month, whereas in the case of Armed Forces officers it was Rs 750/- per month. (I later came to know that this extra Rs 50/- was special disturbance allowance, which was merged with basic pay by the Third Pay Commission).

Second, they also showed me the orders where a Major was equated with an IAS Officer with not less than 12 years of service. The obvious conclusion, which will be drawn by any 16 or 17-year-old boy, would be that the Army as a career was almost equal to the IAS, and certainly better than the IPS or other Class-I central services.

Having convinced myself, I put in my best in the NDA exam, and ranked eighth in the final merit list. After successfully completing my training at NDA Khadakwasla and IMA, Dehradun, I was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in June 1981 in the 7th Battalion the Sikh Regiment, on my own choice i.e., after exactly 11 years of hard training and spartan living. But due to an injury, attributable to Military Service, I was placed in a permanent low medical category. Consequently, I was transferred to the Army Ordnance Corps in 1988 i.e., after seven years of regimental service in Infantry. On transfer I was posted to the Ordnance Depot, Shakurbasti, Delhi. It was here I learnt that whatever I had been thinking about the career in the Indian Army was wrong.

In the Ordnance Depot, I discovered that the JCOs who are Gazetted Officers (I have seen the Gazette Notification of JCOs) are equated with non-gazetted civilian employees and that too of Class-III i.e., Group-C. The point has only been made to emphasise the arbitrariness and irrationality of orders regarding the relativity of ranks. And as the de facto equation stands today, there cannot be any service with worse career prospects than the Army except some Group-B services.

But is this the result of a “steep pyramidal hierarchy” as is often claimed? No. It is the result of a conscious effort by the bureaucracy to degrade the services ever since independence. To undo this, i.e., if the Government is sincere, the solution is to revert to the pre-A V Singh Committee implementation stage and reintroduce the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, and to offer one-rank one-pay scale in the standard pay scales as was applicable to all the Organised Central Group-A Civil Services ( erstwhile allied services).

Till recently, the Warrant of Precedence stated that a Major is equal to an IAS Officer with not less than 12 years of service and a Superintendent of Police with not less than 15 years of service.

The status of Army officers was further degraded as per the underlying thrust of the Sixth Pay Commission, at the behest of bureaucracy. Why are these facts not disseminated to the young aspirants to the Armed Forces? If bureaucrats and policemen are higher in rank and status, then why are Army officers debarred from taking the IAS and IPS exams? I do not think that anyone today, if he is aware of of these facts, would join the Army, except to earn hsi bread. As for myself, had I known this, forget the Sainik School or RIMC, I would have never joined the Army. The relativity in rank and status is irrational and arbitrary, against the letter and spirit of the Constitution and violates my fundamental rights.
By Lt Col A K Rai (Retd)
An alumnus of Sainik School Tilaiya, Rashtriya Indian Military College, Deharadun, NDA, Khadakwasla, the author was commissioned into the Sikh Regiment in Jun 1981. he was transferred to the AOC in 1988. He took premature retirement after serving the mandatory period, he now works as the Chief Administrative Officer of a 150-bed hospital in Patna.
Why Do I Feel Cheated?
Cheated yes: Answers with Proof of Relative Pay Tables?

Declining Status of Armed Forces

Changes in the WoP in recent times, has seen the chairperson UPSC upgraded to article 9A over Service Chiefs (at article 12). Chairperson UPSC was earlier at article 17 below Service Chiefs and also below officiating Chiefs of the rank of Lt Gen who were on article 16. Chairpersons for SCs and STs were added on article 17. Both these chairpersons are higher than Army commanders / Vice Chiefs who are on article 23. Members of SCs and STs placed at same level of Army Commanders /Vice Chiefs at article 23.

As was well known Army Commanders / Vice Chiefs were equated with secretaries to Govt. of India on article 23. However, Note 10(c) of the WoP makes an interesting distinction: In official functions held at Delhi, New Delhi, Army Commanders / Vice Chiefs of the Army Staff or equivalent in other services will always rank after the secretaries to the Government of India.
To summarise as to what has been achieved currently, (status and parity wise):

DIG is now officially equivalent to a Brigadier.

Ministry of Home Affairs has declared that all IPS officers shall attain the rank of DIG in 14 years’ service.

Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) is now officially equivalent to the rank of Major General.

Department of Personnel and Training has declared that all IAS officers shall attain the SAG in 14 years of service.

What would be achievable by 100% IPS officers in 14 years would now be achievable by 7% defence officers in 28 years.

What would be achievable by 100% IAS officers in 14 years would now be achievable by 2% defence officers in 33 years.

It is this corrosive and remarkably steady erosion of a soldier’s status over the past sixty years that has driven his sense of honour to a point where he has resorted to, within his own definition, the most vilified form of protest that he could ever consider: making “public” his ire. Mutiny is defined as a collective form of disobedience to a lawful and legal command, an anathema to a solider whose whole conscience domain is dominated to obedience to orders and is an intrinsic and an impregnable part of his DNA. His character combines honesty and loyalty as a moral asset and an absolute reverence for ‘izzat and iqbal’. That the veterans have been driven to dissent bears serious ramifications not only for the well being of civil-military relationship but also should be a matter of serious concern to those who are in a leadership positions including the armed forces.

Lt Col K Channan Ashwini (Retd)
Extracted- full article click link:
A Disquiet Within: Astigmatism In Civil-Military Relations by Ashwini Channan

Comment: Continuous degradation of Defences Forces "Sacred Rank and Honour" structure will eventually dent its motivation and leadership. More so if the Military Gallantry awards are confused with Police Medals. The bureaucrats are attempting to belittle the sacrifices of the Defence Forces who are defending the nation whose law and order in all states is crippling due to corruption from top to bottom.

South Asia Defence & Strategic Review is published by Akash Media. It is a leading publication on matters related to Defence and Strategy, Internal Security and Military Technology. A bi-monthly publication, the magazine was started in Mar 2007 and is gaining fast in stature and credibility. It has already secured a large subscription and readership base in the entire region.

Col A K Sharma, a former cavalry officer, edits the magazine. He sought to leave the Indian Army after a successful career panning 28 years, and held many important assignments and acquired a variety of qualifications.

S Abhimanyu, the Assistant Editor also doubles up as the researcher for the magazine. He is a regular contributor to the magazine, with special expertise in defence technology.

Sabine Kulow is the Associate Editor. She is based in Germany and writes on matters related to environment and social issues.

The Editorial Board consists of eminent personalities from all walks of life. HE Sh NN Vohra, Governer of J&K was our advisor Dr K Santhanam, Amb C Shekhar Dasgupta, Lt Gen S K Sharma (retd) and Air Marshal SK Malik are members of our Editorial Board.

Our foreign contributors include Brig. Gen. Alain Lamballe from France and Ms. Mariam Safi from Afghanistan. The magazine is printed at Rave Scans, a premier printing press in India.
South Asia Defence and Strategic Review

Firing from the other man's shoulder?

Dear Fauji Friends,

Last week Maj Gen Joshi called on me. He was an esteemed instructor during our Degree Course days, and EME officers would remember him as one of our finest engineers. Indeed, he spent most of his time with the DRDO. He was commissioned in Jun 1960 and was in the Eastern sector during the 1962 debacle. He has analyzed the event very systematically, and his study reveals the following :

Pt Nehru, the architect of modern India suffered a severe stroke of depression from which he never quite recovered. He died in May 1964 at the comparatively young age of 73.

VK Krishna Menon was removed from the post of Raksha Mantri for his incorrect assessment of the situation.

Gen Thapar, the COAS was sacked. The careers of Lt Gen Kaul and scores of other military officers took a "U" turn.

A few thousand soldiers died; many more were wounded and some were taken prisoners.

The psyche of the country received a severe blow. It was considered a 'National Shame'

The question he asked me was, "Who was the Defence Secretary? And what was the punishment meted out to him?" I have asked several friends and also surfed the Internet but I am unable to find an answer. In all probability nothing was done to him, because he had no role in this!

Gen Joshi then took this discussion a step further. He observed that during the recent attack on Mumbai, dozens of soldiers and policemen have been killed. The whole nation is shaken. Mr Shivraj Patil has lost his prestigious job. The CM of Maharashtra has been axed and several heads in the government are likely to roll. Can some one tell us as to what action has been taken against the Union Home Secretary or the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra? (Thomas tells me that they will all be "promoted" soon though he does not know why).

Having spent many years in and around the South Block, I marvel at the way our government has been structured. The Civil Servants rule the roost. In terms of promotions and status they are ahead of every one else by miles. They are central in the Pay Commission and the Cabinet Secretary is involved in every major decision making process. Yet, when things go wrong, they wash their hands off so clean that one wonders how!

A slightly closer examination reveals the secret. I have figured it out this way:

They never do anything themselves. They always find some one else to be the head, and they know how to reduce him to be a 'figure head'. (In the Pay Commissions, they have a retired Judge). However they place themselves in a spot which has the maximum opportunity to influence matters.

After the event, they never face the Press or the Media. Their role is amorphous.

The senior amongst them rarely sign a letter or order. Our pension letter is signed by a Director, who is not directly recruited IAS officer. Only rarely do you find a paper signed by a Joint Secretary. Officers above that level do not sign any document.

They have a strong association. It protects the interests of its members dutifully and diligently.

So we have our Defence headquarters in which the postings, promotions, rewards and punishments of all senior officers are controlled by the civil servants; and they also have the final say in the process of procurement of weapons and eqpt, but they are not "responsible" if things go wrong! It is authority without responsibility. (For those who may not know, a lowly officer in the MoD can have a Deputy Chief posted out, but a Service Chief can not get even a Desk Officer moved)

When Gen Joshi left, I found myself perplexed. What sort of system have we evolved? And how has it survived all these years? It is a bit like a unit in which the clerks are running the unit and the CO is so dependent on the Head Clerk that he can not move without their help!

Can someone give a cogent answer to the questions raised by Gen Joshi?

Regards,
Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)

PS: Politicians wear the dress of the people they represent, to identify themselves with the masses. Soldiers and Policemen wear uniforms. Can some one tell what the Civil Servants wear? The answer came from the wag who said, "Civil servants wear thick skins".
IAS lobby Protects corrupt officials:
Bihar flood scam: Govt reinstates ailing IAS officer
The crumbling steel-frame of bureaucracy
Military, Bureaucracy and Political Leadership: Lessons
Public Accountability

Height of Prophesy
Winston Churchill had the following outburst on the eve of independence of India...
"Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles".

It has proven to be even worse than his prediction. May we, the people unite and start taking those rascals and rogues to task...
Jai Hind!
Col RP Chaturvedi (Retd)

Retired general chosen Veterans Affairs minister in Obama cabinet
US president-elect Barack Obama has chosen retired general Eric K Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary, turning to a former Army chief of staff once vilified by the Bush administration for questioning its Iraq war strategy.

Shinseki is a recipient of two Purple Hearts for life-threatening injuries in Vietnam.

Upon leaving his post in June 2003, Shinseki in his farewell speech sternly warned against arrogance in leadership.

"You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader," he said. "You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it. And without leadership, command is a hollow experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and arrogance."

Shinseki also left with the warning: "Beware a 12-division strategy for a 10-division army".
Rumsfeld nemesis named in Obama Cabinet

Question: Can we not have an Ex- Serviceman or Soldier to head the ESM Welfare Deptt in the MoD? Do civil servants have the competence to comprehend the burning issues beseeching the ESM fraternity?

Civil Services Examination: Concessions for ESM

Age Limits
upto a maximum of three years in the case of Defence Services personnel disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof:
upto a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1st August (year of application) and have been released.

on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1st August) otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency.

on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service.

on invalidment.

Upto a maximum of five years in the case of SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years Military Service as on 1st August, and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three month's notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.

The term ex-servicemen will apply to the persons who are defined as ex-servicemen in the Ex- Servicemen (Re-employment in Civil Services and Posts) Rules, 1979, as amended from time to time. The age concession will not be admissible to Ex-Servicemen and Commissioned Officers including SSCOs who are released on own request.
Civil services Examination

Comments: The MOD and Defence Authorities should encourage Short Service Commissioned Officers, more especially the women officers to apply for the Indian Civil Service competitive examinations. This measure will boost the morale of Short Service Commissioned Officers. There is also a need for additional concessions for personnel from Military who seek a second career in the Civil Services.