Lately, the media has been awash with reports of just 86 cadets joining the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun against a course strength of 250. And, instead of 300 applicants, just 197 boys turned up at the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, at Pune.
These media reports also highlighted the staggering number of officers who have sought premature release. Worse, this knell has rung at a time when the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force combined are already crippled by a shortage of 14,060 young officers. This should worry not just the ministry of defence but the nation, too, for like nation-building or statecraft, the war machine too depends on mettlesome leadership to deliver results. And young officers are the sword-arm of any force.
This plight has been blamed on the usual welter of reasons: unattractive salaries, tough working environment, limited growth opportunities, dimming respect for the Armed Forces in the society and a green civvy street.
Also, there were reports of the army chief hinting at conscription as a way out if the trend snowballs into a crisis. Given that conscription is an unworkable doctrine in India, I believe the allusion was the army chief's oblique attempt to remind the Sixth Pay Commission of the desperate straits he is in. Earlier, Defence Minister A K Antony had urged the Pay Commission to issue bumper pay-packets so as to help in retaining those itching to leave and to entice bright youngsters into signing up.
In short, both the defence minister and the army chief have apparently exhausted other options and have pinned their hopes on the Sixth Pay Commission to stem the peacetime attrition. What if the Pay Commission misfires? After all, Pay Commissions are a typical governmental exercise in jugglery, so it's foolhardy to be bullish about its sixth avatar being Santa Claus.
Let me be less sceptical and assume that the Sixth Pay Commission will shower manna on the services. Let's also assume that the brightest lads, unable to resist the alluring emoluments, flock to the armed forces' training academies. What if they lack the hardiness to endure the physically exacting regimen of military life? My point is: You need certain attributes to be an officer and a warrior, and many bright sparks need not have it in them to be service officers. The right recruits are those with an innate desire for soldiering and the capacity to endure hardships.
Though the intake to the corps of officers has been on the wane, the UPSC and the SSB (Services Selection Board) have not compromised on their standards; they continue to pick the right material. Had it not been the case, our army would have begun crumbling in the nineties under the onslaught of the inimical elements in J&K and the Northeast.
No doubt, the men and women serving in the forces need to be remunerated handsomely. But to zero in on paltry salaries as the sole reason for the jam is like mistaking the trees for the forest. I believe the solution lies in catching them young and priming them up to become the 'right material'.
Sainik Schools
The make-up of the officer cadre of the Indian armed forces a decade after Independence was disquieting for a Republic still writhing from the throes of its birth. It was a monopoly of the patrician, blue-blooded alumni of public schools and the so-called martial races -- the 'more-than-equal' gentry who had little in common with the men they led.
The officer cadre patently lacked the grassroots character and ethos of the newborn nation and needed to be 'Indianised'. The infrastructure to nurture the essential levels of physical, mental and intellectual calibre for induction into the officer cadre was found wanting in common schools. Since public schools were beyond all but the affluent, in 1960, then defence minister VK Krishna Menon envisioned Sainik schools -- at least one in each state -- to select boys from across the spectrum through an open entrance examination and to rear them for leadership in the armed forces.
The Sainik schools were modelled on public schools minus the elitism and snobbery. The syllabus-examination approach- the bane of our education system- was cast aside. These schools would aim at all-round development to enhance competitive and survival skills, and to foster personality development subliminally. To ensure mainly smart boys from the economically backward bracket joined these schools, the states were mandated to provide merit-cum-means scholarships. The campus life would be free from communal and social bias, and insulated from the rumpus that bedevil student life outside.
Given their background and grooming, they would identify themselves with the men they command. Sainik schools would thus serve as feeders to the National Defence Academy and the three service academies.
Did it work? Of course. The Sainik school cubs had their baptism of fire in the 1971 Indo-Pak war and emerged with flying colours. Remember how the young officers led their troops upfront, uphill, undauntedly through the cannonade to recapture the Kargil massifs? And last year, General Deepak Kapoor, a Sainik school product, took over as the army chief.
Some More History
The call to establish an Indian military college to raise an army officer cadre on the lines of the Royal Military Academy (Woolwich, later Sandhurst) and the United States Military Academy (West Point) was made in a Congress resolution way back in 1887. This demand was renewed subsequently at the Indian National Congress session of 1917. These ultimately led to the institution of the Indian Military Academy in 1932. This is a testimony to the vision and quality of leadership during the freedom struggle. Madan Mohan Malaviya confirmed this when he argued in the legislative assembly in 1928: 'The question whether a military academy shall or shall not be established is a question of life and death to the people of this country. The whole question of future government in this country hangs upon that question.'
This shows our leaders of yesteryear -- including the much-maligned Krishna Menon -- were tall visionaries compared to the present lot. Our unconcerned polity and their vision deficit are responsible for nudging the three services to the precipice, perhaps the consequence of defence ministers being appointed for reasons of narrow politics than their grasp of matters defence.
Solutions and Suggestions
1. In the past two decades, the profile of those joining the officer cadre and the students entering the Sainik schools has changed. Earlier, sons of officers followed their fathers' footsteps into the officer cadre. No more. Now boys from a lower pecking order are the ones joining the service academies, a sign of social mobility up the ladder.
As for Sainik schools, initially boys from indigent and not-so-rich background made it, but gradually they were replaced by those from the better-off stratum. Two reasons: one, in quest for sound education; two, given the steep rise in the fees, only the well-heeled could afford education in Sainik schools. Thus, Sainik schools, once acclaimed as the poor man's public schools, became unaffordable to the poor man!
Since the economic boom in the nineties opened several avenues, since their parents were paying up the fees, their wards were not motivated enough to see the armed forces as their profession. Naturally, the tally from Sainik schools dipped. Setting this right is a solution to the intake-deficit ailing the services.
The need to nurture and maintain the talent pool and its cost are an important dimension of overall defence planning. If the government is canny, it would regard the 22 Sainik schools (plus the five Military schools and the Rashtriya Indian Military College at Dehradun) as the catchment area-cum-nursery of the 'right material' not only to overcome the present shortfall of officers but also as an inexhaustible wellhead for future officers. The annual overhead of the 22 Sainik schools is nearly Rs 80 crores. That is less than 0.1 percent of the defence budget (Rs 96,000 crores for the year 2007-2008). The ministry of defence should pick up this tab as grant-in aid, not as largesse but as sagacious investment.
With aspirations booming proportional to the GDP growth, defence planners need to target the section of society likely to see becoming service officers as upward mobility and select boys from this segment to the Sainik schools. If 20 to 25 percent make it to the academies, the services will never face a shortage of officers. As for the rest, they will serve the country in other capacities. This will also accomplish the upliftment of those languishing on the margins of our society. Hence, the Centre footing the bill will provide a fresh lease of life to the Sainik schools currently fighting a battle for survival, with phenomenal returns on this investment. A win-win scenario. In brief, rediscover the Sainik school to bridge the shortfall.
2. The National Cadet Corps needs to be made universal and mandatory for two or three years at the school level. NCC, besides doing the students a world of good, should inspire a few to join the services.
3. Because of an article penned by this writer that appears in the Standard X English textbook in Maharashtra, I have had the opportunity to interact with thousands of students in the past 12 years. Many boys and girls had expressed their desire to don the uniform but, shockingly, most of them did not know how to go about it. Hardly anyone had heard about the various service academies. At a time when the services have to compete fiercely with the rest to attract talent, not hardselling the defence forces surely earns a C minus. As they say, if the mountain will not come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain.
4. As retention of officers is getting difficult by the day, it's time to rewrite the manpower policies so as to swell the cadre of short service officers. Many out there may be willing to serve the forces for five years.
5. Lastly, many officers have sought premature release for reasons other than lucre. Like elsewhere, corruption has been corroding the vitals of the services, and the skeletons tumbling out apace have severely dented its image. Few will be tempted to prefer a career in the forces if the slide downhill is not undone. It's time for the top brass to set the house in order. Besides, the services need to frame a modern appraisal system to ensure that only the deserving ascend the totem pole.
Flt Lt M P Anil Kumar (Retd)
A Former Indian Air Force Pilot
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Flt Lt Anil is a quadriplegic staying in the paralegic home at Kirkee, near Pune. He is one of the oldest inmates. This officer became a quadripligic in an accident ( Not plane accident). The only mobilty he has of the neck and hence he operates a computer with the help of a small stick, held in the mouth. He is a genius and writes well. His lessons in English is prescribed for x std students of Maharashtra. This young officer in his thirties is an inspiration to all living beings. All those dejected of life should learn from him, how to cope with adversity in real life.
PT Gangadharan
Brig (Retd)
Showing posts with label Conscription. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conscription. Show all posts
Friday, February 1, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Conscription need not be the final solution
Deficiency of 11 to 12 thousand officers in the Indian army has persisted for years. In a country plagued by endemic unemployment, such large deficiencies can only be explained in terms of unattractiveness of military service. Since independence, the politico-bureaucratic combine have been working over time to downgrade military service and consequently it has become the very last option for the youth. Both in terms of pay and status, the military has hit rock bottom.
On its part the military has been pleading, both with the government and successive pay commissions, for a fair dispensation for the troops and officers, but to no avail. In a desperate attempt the military tried to avail the services of an advertising agency, at a huge cost, to show case the career, but this too has drawn a blank. The fact is that no advertising agency can whitewash the obvious drawbacks of a career in the Indian military. Because no informed and discerning person can possibly miss the unenviable position in which the military has been placed.
Therefore, as a last option, the army chief has fielded the idea of conscription to meet the perennial shortfall. His concern is on two counts. One endemic shortage in the officer cadre and second, those already in it want to troop out in large numbers. He could not have gone public on the issue without coming to the conclusion, after meeting failure on all fronts (government and successive pay commissions) that there will continue to be lack of volunteers and that only option left is conscription.
However conscription appears anathema in a liberal democracy. Yet national security is not something that can be outsourced! Why so few are willing to join the military and those already in it want to leave in large numbers! There are far too many disadvantages. Poor promotion prospects, inadequate pay and allowances, low pension, early retirement, long periods away from families in uncongenial environments with attendant medical problems, running two establishments, disturbance in children’s education, risk to life in an unending fight against insurgents and all the other travails, attendant to life in the Indian military. All these can be clubbed under what may be called ‘ X’ factor, which has to be duly compensated.
We live in a materialistic world and self serving environments. It is therefore, unrealistic to expect idealism and sacrifices, from only one small section of society, while the rest go about mending their own fences. Disadvantages of a military career vis-à-vis civil services are far too many. Between various organs of the government there must be equity with special dispensation for the military for the ‘X’ factor.
Consider this. Only at the threat of resignation, were the service chiefs able to get, ‘running pay band’ for their officers from the Fourth Pay Commission. The Fifth Pay Commission took away the ‘running pay band,’ introduced 33 years conditionality to earn full pension, a clause that works only against defence personnel; nearly ninety percent of them. It assembled 138 officers and staff (including those from the Postal Service, Indian forest Service etc) to compile the report and did not take even one, yes even one officer from the defence forces for this task. The Sixth Pay Commission is a repeat of the same pattern. Fifth Pay Commission’s report runs into over 2100 pages. Defence forces case is covered in just 50 pages or so, when they are nearly 40 percent of the central government employees; with the largest officer cadre. It gave more pension to a brigadier than, a Maj Gen.
The Committee of secretaries assembled to review the report of this Pay Commission, had an officer from the police but, even on the urgings of the three Service chiefs, had none from the armed forces. MoD’s role was at best obdurate.
This then is how the defence forces of the country have been dealt with. No wonder the shortages persist, lower standards of intake not withstanding. There is, near exodus from the army and the IAF. In the army between 2001 and 2004, in all 2000 officers sought release and this included 2 Lt-Gens, 10 Maj-Gens, 84 brigadiers and remaining colonels and below. How many from the IAS, IPS and other civil services have likewise applied for release from service! How can any government remain oblivious of the discontentment and disenchantment in the defence services! Therefore, the question, who will soldier for the country!
Only on my pointing out to the PM, during our meeting with, that in the case of ‘one rank one pension,’ only the other ranks, upto havaldars have been given monetary increase in their pension, whereas JCOs and officers have been left out. Since then JCOs have been given increase in their pension but officers have again been left in the cold. Does, the incidences of shooting of seniors, comrades, suicides and thousands fighting their cases in the courts reflect on the state of morale!
While other armies opted to live with shortages, the Indian Army, because of insurgencies in J and K and North East and deployment against Tibet etc finds it hard to live with the shortages. In Britain , the top brass simply dug its heels and made the government relent on making the military service more attractive than the civil services. The Army has to compete with the civil services in the job market and ‘X’ factor is integral to that competition. Equally nothing is more valuable than one’s life.
Serious problems in the management of officer cadre are due the pyramidal structure; a service imperative and any further tampering with it, by increasing numbers in the higher ranks will be detrimental to the functional aspects of the service. There is a strong case to enlarge the short service cadre ( six months training and five years service ) and on completion of 5 years service there should be assured induction into state and central police, civil services and or professional educational institutions, (with appropriate stipend), depending on qualifications, choice and suitability. There ought to be a statutory provision for this. Such a course would be more in keeping with democratic values etc than conscription and at the same time mitigate the perennial problem of cadre management and shortages.
The rank and file in the military is equally if not more disadvantaged than the officer cadre. There are no shortages because of unemployment in the country. Even here the better material goes to state police, CPO and other government avenues and only the left over seeks entry into military. A soldier retires at the age of 34 to 38 years. There is no alternate job for him. His pension, because of lesser length of service and 33 years conditionality works out to less than half of that of a peon from the government. He is the same soldier to whom the PM gave the award, ‘Indian of the year,’ at the recently held, NDTV award ceremony!
Responding to the army chiefs loud thinking on the issue of conscription, the defence minister stressed the need to create more facilities and better pay packets to make job in the defence services more attractive rather than resort to conscription. Such false promises have been made in the past by the politicians. Perhaps Mr Antony is of a different genre. The country has to address these pressing issues and give fair dispensation to the defence forces.
Lt Gen Harwant Singh, PVSM, AVSM (retd)
Former Deputy Chief of Army Staff
(This article is also posted in "Report My Signal Professional Matters" Blog with other linkages and comments)
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Comments from Readers
The orignal sin was to cut down our Salaries while KCIOs & ICS were not touched. In 1947 I was an Instructor at the IMA Dehra Dun- Company Commmander (Major) of Miektila Coy of the Postwar 2nd & 3rd Courses of Cadets, when this happened.
Pandit Nehru visited the IMA. Nehru sitting in our Mess at lunch said within my hearing "we have no need for an Army we are a peaceful Nation". Soon thereafter 1st SIKHs had to be flown to thwart PAK attacks into Kashmir, and the so called PAK raiders were Stopped around Baramulla, and India's dependence on Armed Forces has been on the Increase since then. In between others eg BSF and other such like organisations have chipped in, to add to the overall Defence Budget. Still, Army's Role has been on the increase in spite of raising many other Para Military Organisations. While I agree with HARWANT SINGH there is now also an all round realisation that Army has to be paid much better but, its present size is bound to result in hugely increased Budget. Then there is the requirement of newer Weapon Systems. Conscription will not solve anything- Soldiering requires Soldiers, NOT Conscripts. I have First Hand experience of the British Conscripts in the last War. CHEERS.
Brig RS Gill (Retd)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Firstly, I fail to understand as to why the Service chiefs are worried about the shortage of officers after they have apprised the Govt. Is it the responsibility of the Service chiefs to recruit officers or is it of MOD.I do not agree with the General Harwant Singh's statement, "It is therefore, unrealistic to expect idealism and sacrifices, from only one small section of society, while the rest go about mending their own fences". There are still very many Indians who value the value system and would like to join the defence forces provided they are guided well. Let's put our house in order first. Do the generals and the senior defence officers behave in a fashion commensurate with their rank/ office both in office and outside. Are they free from personal prejudices and idiosyncrasies/ whims/ fancies. The number of court cases is a barometer of the same. Govt will succumb only when the senior officers look after their juniors correctly and do not compromise for their personal benefit.
Col Shivraj (Retd)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On its part the military has been pleading, both with the government and successive pay commissions, for a fair dispensation for the troops and officers, but to no avail. In a desperate attempt the military tried to avail the services of an advertising agency, at a huge cost, to show case the career, but this too has drawn a blank. The fact is that no advertising agency can whitewash the obvious drawbacks of a career in the Indian military. Because no informed and discerning person can possibly miss the unenviable position in which the military has been placed.
Therefore, as a last option, the army chief has fielded the idea of conscription to meet the perennial shortfall. His concern is on two counts. One endemic shortage in the officer cadre and second, those already in it want to troop out in large numbers. He could not have gone public on the issue without coming to the conclusion, after meeting failure on all fronts (government and successive pay commissions) that there will continue to be lack of volunteers and that only option left is conscription.
However conscription appears anathema in a liberal democracy. Yet national security is not something that can be outsourced! Why so few are willing to join the military and those already in it want to leave in large numbers! There are far too many disadvantages. Poor promotion prospects, inadequate pay and allowances, low pension, early retirement, long periods away from families in uncongenial environments with attendant medical problems, running two establishments, disturbance in children’s education, risk to life in an unending fight against insurgents and all the other travails, attendant to life in the Indian military. All these can be clubbed under what may be called ‘ X’ factor, which has to be duly compensated.
We live in a materialistic world and self serving environments. It is therefore, unrealistic to expect idealism and sacrifices, from only one small section of society, while the rest go about mending their own fences. Disadvantages of a military career vis-à-vis civil services are far too many. Between various organs of the government there must be equity with special dispensation for the military for the ‘X’ factor.
Consider this. Only at the threat of resignation, were the service chiefs able to get, ‘running pay band’ for their officers from the Fourth Pay Commission. The Fifth Pay Commission took away the ‘running pay band,’ introduced 33 years conditionality to earn full pension, a clause that works only against defence personnel; nearly ninety percent of them. It assembled 138 officers and staff (including those from the Postal Service, Indian forest Service etc) to compile the report and did not take even one, yes even one officer from the defence forces for this task. The Sixth Pay Commission is a repeat of the same pattern. Fifth Pay Commission’s report runs into over 2100 pages. Defence forces case is covered in just 50 pages or so, when they are nearly 40 percent of the central government employees; with the largest officer cadre. It gave more pension to a brigadier than, a Maj Gen.
The Committee of secretaries assembled to review the report of this Pay Commission, had an officer from the police but, even on the urgings of the three Service chiefs, had none from the armed forces. MoD’s role was at best obdurate.
This then is how the defence forces of the country have been dealt with. No wonder the shortages persist, lower standards of intake not withstanding. There is, near exodus from the army and the IAF. In the army between 2001 and 2004, in all 2000 officers sought release and this included 2 Lt-Gens, 10 Maj-Gens, 84 brigadiers and remaining colonels and below. How many from the IAS, IPS and other civil services have likewise applied for release from service! How can any government remain oblivious of the discontentment and disenchantment in the defence services! Therefore, the question, who will soldier for the country!
Only on my pointing out to the PM, during our meeting with, that in the case of ‘one rank one pension,’ only the other ranks, upto havaldars have been given monetary increase in their pension, whereas JCOs and officers have been left out. Since then JCOs have been given increase in their pension but officers have again been left in the cold. Does, the incidences of shooting of seniors, comrades, suicides and thousands fighting their cases in the courts reflect on the state of morale!
While other armies opted to live with shortages, the Indian Army, because of insurgencies in J and K and North East and deployment against Tibet etc finds it hard to live with the shortages. In Britain , the top brass simply dug its heels and made the government relent on making the military service more attractive than the civil services. The Army has to compete with the civil services in the job market and ‘X’ factor is integral to that competition. Equally nothing is more valuable than one’s life.
Serious problems in the management of officer cadre are due the pyramidal structure; a service imperative and any further tampering with it, by increasing numbers in the higher ranks will be detrimental to the functional aspects of the service. There is a strong case to enlarge the short service cadre ( six months training and five years service ) and on completion of 5 years service there should be assured induction into state and central police, civil services and or professional educational institutions, (with appropriate stipend), depending on qualifications, choice and suitability. There ought to be a statutory provision for this. Such a course would be more in keeping with democratic values etc than conscription and at the same time mitigate the perennial problem of cadre management and shortages.
The rank and file in the military is equally if not more disadvantaged than the officer cadre. There are no shortages because of unemployment in the country. Even here the better material goes to state police, CPO and other government avenues and only the left over seeks entry into military. A soldier retires at the age of 34 to 38 years. There is no alternate job for him. His pension, because of lesser length of service and 33 years conditionality works out to less than half of that of a peon from the government. He is the same soldier to whom the PM gave the award, ‘Indian of the year,’ at the recently held, NDTV award ceremony!
Responding to the army chiefs loud thinking on the issue of conscription, the defence minister stressed the need to create more facilities and better pay packets to make job in the defence services more attractive rather than resort to conscription. Such false promises have been made in the past by the politicians. Perhaps Mr Antony is of a different genre. The country has to address these pressing issues and give fair dispensation to the defence forces.
Lt Gen Harwant Singh, PVSM, AVSM (retd)
Former Deputy Chief of Army Staff
(This article is also posted in "Report My Signal Professional Matters" Blog with other linkages and comments)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments from Readers
The orignal sin was to cut down our Salaries while KCIOs & ICS were not touched. In 1947 I was an Instructor at the IMA Dehra Dun- Company Commmander (Major) of Miektila Coy of the Postwar 2nd & 3rd Courses of Cadets, when this happened.
Pandit Nehru visited the IMA. Nehru sitting in our Mess at lunch said within my hearing "we have no need for an Army we are a peaceful Nation". Soon thereafter 1st SIKHs had to be flown to thwart PAK attacks into Kashmir, and the so called PAK raiders were Stopped around Baramulla, and India's dependence on Armed Forces has been on the Increase since then. In between others eg BSF and other such like organisations have chipped in, to add to the overall Defence Budget. Still, Army's Role has been on the increase in spite of raising many other Para Military Organisations. While I agree with HARWANT SINGH there is now also an all round realisation that Army has to be paid much better but, its present size is bound to result in hugely increased Budget. Then there is the requirement of newer Weapon Systems. Conscription will not solve anything- Soldiering requires Soldiers, NOT Conscripts. I have First Hand experience of the British Conscripts in the last War. CHEERS.
Brig RS Gill (Retd)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Firstly, I fail to understand as to why the Service chiefs are worried about the shortage of officers after they have apprised the Govt. Is it the responsibility of the Service chiefs to recruit officers or is it of MOD.I do not agree with the General Harwant Singh's statement, "It is therefore, unrealistic to expect idealism and sacrifices, from only one small section of society, while the rest go about mending their own fences". There are still very many Indians who value the value system and would like to join the defence forces provided they are guided well. Let's put our house in order first. Do the generals and the senior defence officers behave in a fashion commensurate with their rank/ office both in office and outside. Are they free from personal prejudices and idiosyncrasies/ whims/ fancies. The number of court cases is a barometer of the same. Govt will succumb only when the senior officers look after their juniors correctly and do not compromise for their personal benefit.
Col Shivraj (Retd)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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