Colonel Commandants an archaic and parochial institution

I am attaching an article on the institution of Col Comdts. It is bound to generate a great deal of debate. The article can be accessed at Click here
You may consider its circulation please.
Warm regards,
Mrinal

Colonel Commandants: An Archaic and Parochial Institution
by Major General Mrinal Sumana, AVSM, VSM, PhD
The concept of Colonel Commandants (Col Comdts) dates back to the 17th century when Colonels (both in rank and appointment) were the original owners and field commanders of their units (regiments). With the evolution of the concept of field formations in the early 18th century, these units lost their independent entity and were grouped into various tactical formations. Gradually, the Colonel lost his executive powers and the units came to be commanded by the duly selected commanding officers with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Subsequently, the Colonel became a mere figurehead with advisory functions only.

All regiments, which originated as a single tactical unit (infantry/cavalry), still have a ‘Colonel’ as head of the family, whatever be the size of that family now. Other corps/regiments, which originated as groups of tactical units, have Col Comdts. The number of Col Comdts is determined by the overall strength of the corps/regiment. Their selection is carried out by the respective regiments through secret ballot.

A Colonel Commandant is not involved in the operational affairs of his units. He is considered a ‘conscience keeper’ of the regiment and a guardian of regimental traditions. He is like a father figure whose basic duty is to foster esprit-de-corps and render mature advice when required. As he is expected to look after all aspects of welfare of his regimental troops, he must be of sufficient seniority to deliver. In case a regiment does not have any of its regimental officers in higher ranks, it can request a non-regimental officer to hold the mantle.

The aim of this article is to take a look at the relevance of this institution in the present day environment. With mushrooming of senior appointments, every regiment is well represented at higher ranks. Therefore, are the crutches of a Col Comdt necessary for a regiment to get its due? As the issue is of vital importance to the health and well-being of the army, an open and honest debate is warranted.
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India’s External Intelligence: Secrets of RAW: Outlook Scoop- 2007

Outlook scooped V.K. Singh's expose on RAW. Now, he's booked under the Official Secrets Act. Is this act meant for misuse? Saikat Datta: Draconian Law
What is wrong with the OSA?

Has several vague, "all-inclusive" provisions; anyone can be prosecuted for sharing even harmless information

What is "secret" has not been defined, leaving scope for misuse

Any document can be deemed secret on the opinion of an "expert"

Heavily loaded against the accused. Only Section 5 has a provision for bail which is rarely given.

Is used as a vendetta tool to book whistleblowers and unpliable officials.

Maj Gen V.K. Singh is the latest in the line of people to be targeted under the OSA. The law, which is heavily loaded against the accused, is usually invoked whenever the state wishes to settle scores or rein in whistleblowers. Here are some examples:

Capt B.K. Subbarao was hailed as one of the finest nuclear scientists in the country. He was seconded from the Indian navy to help with the nuclear submarine programme but ended up being branded as a spy
Reason: he detected serious flaws in the designs being drawn up for the prototype at the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Trombay. This upset the top brass in the nuclear establishment. Subbarao was hounded out of BARC and arrested under OSA at Mumbai airport in 1990 before he boarded a flight to the US. His repeated appeals to the judiciary fell on deaf ears till the prosecuting agency was directed to come up with the "evidence" it had to prove his guilt. It turned out to be Subbarao's doctoral thesis on nuclear science, submitted to IIT Powai! As the case began to crumble, Subbarao had to face 65 judges in the search for justice. Finally, two years after his arrest, Subbarao was acquitted.

Iftikar Gilani, a Delhi-based Kashmiri journalist, was picked up by the IB for allegedly accessing secrets "prejudicial to the safety and security of the nation". After several months in jail, it finally came to light that the case against Gilani was based on a book published by the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, 13 years ago.
Reason: The opinion of the director general of military intelligence (DGMI) stating that the material recovered from Gilani was not secret was kept away from the courts. Finally, after then defence minister George Fernandes directed the DGMI to personally appear in court with his revised opinion, it was taken into account. The case was dismissed.

Ajay Kumar, a low-level functionary in the Indian Parliament, was not so lucky with the OSA. The evidence against him: possession of parliamentary reports that had already been tabled. The prosecution chose to ignore the fact these were on sale in Parliament. His lawyer V.K. Ohri told Outlook: "They finally planted a hand-written map of a cantonment that even the army officers have said on record does not have any position authenticated. In fact, they don't even know whether the places marked in the crude map exist or not. Finally, in the age of Google Earth what is the relevance of a hand-drawn map?" asks Ohri.

Babulnath Maurya, a designer who served in naval headquarters, was also booked under OSA. Incredible as it may sound, the evidence submitted by the prosecution against Maurya were files which were on his desk. "Can you believe the absurdity of the case," asks Ohri, also Maurya's lawyer. "The papers which were supposed to be on his official desk were collected from his office drawer as proof that he was spying."
The OSA is a handy tool for the government because it is very vague on what is secret. A personal diary can be deemed "secret" if it is stamped by an official. Similarly, information passed on in the course of official work can become secret. And once anyone is arrested under OSA, there is little chance of bail.

With such blatant misuse, it was a welcome and overdue development when the Administrative Reforms Committee (ARC), in its first report a few months ago, targeted the OSA, saying it was "enacted in the colonial era". The ARC's chairman Veerappa Moily is unequivocal in his demand that the Act be repealed. "After the enactment of the RTI Act, the OSA, has no place to survive and even its relics may no longer remain," he says.

Echoing Moily is former member of the National Advisory Council and Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy. "The OSA should have been scrapped in 1947 when we gained independence," she says.

In fact, the scrapping of the OSA is a demand that has found support from across the political spectrum with former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, L.K Advani and Jaswant Singh stating that the OSA, at the very least, needs to be reviewed. Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, in an article published in 2001, had pointed out that unlike the British OSA, the Indian Act continues to remain "unrevised despite decades of effort". Calling the OSA "anachronistic", Singhvi argued that to empower society, the government must "reduce the culture of secrecy and limit the power of service providers (bureaucrats) with the reforms of the OSA".

Not only does the OSA threaten individual freedom and liberties, it has also been used as a tool to deny information as Moushumi Basu, an associate professor at the centre for international politics, jnu, found out. During her doctoral research on the World Bank, she was shocked to learn that the loan agreements executed by India with the World Bank to bail itself out of its financial crisis in 1991 are state secrets. Recalls Basu: "When I asked Manmohan Singh, who was then only a Rajya Sabha member, he insisted that all these papers had been tabled in Parliament. But that is not the case and they continue to be a state secret. So not only is defence under OSA but even development programmes are under its ambit," says Basu.

Veteran journalist B.G. Verghese had a similar experience when he discovered that maps of Indian rivers, freely available on the internet and in shops, was actually covered under the OSA. Points out Verghese: "Information is power and that is why the bureaucrats want to deny citizens information. But in India instead of taking corrective measures we usually shoot the messenger." B. Raman, former additional secretary with RAW, says then prime minister V.P. Singh had set up two committees during his government. One was to examine whether the intelligence agencies could be brought under parliamentary oversight and the second to review the OSA. "There was unanimous opinion within the intelligence community that the British model of parliamentary oversight should be accepted."

But in the case of Major General V.K. Singh, the government seems to have let vendetta blind it from the fact that it has no shred of evidence against him. Little wonder then that his book has so far not been banned.
official secrets act: The Iron Fig Leaf