Military ethics and scams

Talking of Ethics in an era of Scams! by Col Karan Kharb
Ethics, morals, principles, honesty, sacrifice, patriotism... blah blah... The more these expressions are traded, the more stink the discussion kicks up. Our politicians- demagogues all, orators few, patriotic none– have polluted these words so much that their very mention now triggers more suspicion than inspiration. Time was when people would be jubilant and voluntarily throng the lawns in front of Red Fort every Independence Day. I recall how as schoolboys we had kept awake all night and eagerly squatted there in early nightly hours only to have a closer glimpse of Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru whom we treated like an angle from the celestial world. Leaders of that time looked too lofty, too pious, and too other-worldly! A touch or a handshake with them was a gift one cherished to preserve for life!

That genuine eagerness for darshan of leaders evaporated from the public long ago. Corruption has divested today's leaders of the aura and charisma that once captivated masses. Now politicians have to resort to ingenious ways and weird means to muster up a gathering by luring crowds from slums offering them free transport, food packets - some even offer cash allowances to show-off their ‘impressive following.’ And then on mikes they blare "... ham Hindustan se garibi hata ke rahenge; minorities ka hanan ho raha hai, reservation dila kar rahenge; Matribhumi par sankat hai - apni jaan par khel jaenge..." By late evening they disperse to get-together at Park Hotel to analyse and celebrate 'media coverage' on their performance.

Rampant corruption has opened easier ways for criminals to find entry into state legislatures and Lok Sabha. As many as 153 of our sitting MPs today are involved in criminal cases already registered, 54 of them in serious crimes including murder! No wonder our corrupt leaders are becoming more daring and do not shy away from dishing out explanations like "... my action may be immoral but it is certainly not illegal". If you thought that was an individual politician's view-point, now look at the audacious argument from the Government in the Supreme Court: ‘impeccable integrity’ is not an eligibility criterion for appointment of CVC! (Vahanvati’s argument in SC refers!). It obviously implies that it would be perfectly in order to appoint men of compromising integrity, purchasable character and even those charge sheeted like Thomas to hold high constitutional offices. I agree. In an era of Andher Nagri Chaupat Raja, Chor banenge Thanedar! If you can manipulate, hoodwink or work your way through machinations, your records can be dumped. The moral: "Nothing succeeds like Success!"

The Indira Gandhi era would perhaps be better remembered as an era of political-bureaucratic intrigues. Corruption has to be integral to intrigues. This way corruption grew in the politico-bureaucratic power circles rapidly with every successive government and politicians patronising the evil covertly because it paid them dividends. Even judges found corruption a lucrative pursuit. Today we have a horde of tainted judges including retired CJsI who opened up their pants for a quick buck! With ample evidence against, some of them are facing possible impeachment too. And yet they are so brazen and shameless that we still find them not only sticking to their chairs but dispensing ‘justice’ too! What a shame!

Over the years when pillars of governance started falling apart under the weight of corruption, India became a fertile land for crime, communal hatred and terrorism to flourish. Bureaucratic inefficiency and callousness also grew up as natural hedge to protect all evil and ward off any threat.

Even as pessimism was enveloping the nation, people pinned all their hopes on one symbol of national pride, which they believed to be infallible in character and integrity – the Armed Forces – the ultimate mighty power of the nation! A universal belief the masses harboured in their minds was that if everything else failed, our Armed Forces would effectively save the country and do them proud even if sacrifices were called for.

Alas, our generals too have today shattered that last hope of our people. Two lieutenant generals have been court-martialled. Some are awaiting their trial. Three former Services Chiefs have been indicted for their involvement in ‘Adarsh’ scam. Some more Courts of Inquiry are said to be in progress against senior officers suspected to be involved in cases of corruption and moral turpitude. What is even more shocking is that none of the senior commanders is facing a case for being defiant, taking a stand, refusing to bow or disobedience. They have exposed their shallow character by compromising on star qualities like integrity, honesty, uprightness and much clichéd ‘officer like qualities’. They have undoubtedly betrayed the faith of the nation and brought us all shame.

I do empathise with many honest friends, excellent leaders in high positions in the Indian Army today. But, sorry friends, even though I will always be proud of you all and my profession, your sacrifices, your reputation and your command on people’s hearts have been brutally ruined by a few greedy generals. It is shocking that they – all men of negotiable character and easy virtues – managed to reach such lofty heights successfully hoodwinking the system all the way up! You will have to suffer and endure the public suspicion this breed of greed has injected in people’s minds about today’s higher military leadership. I cry as I stand on the wayside watching you carry the Cross on your shoulders with Jesus’ serenity and poise. I salute you for doing your best to preserve and nourish whatever is left of our military honour!

Imagine the mental turmoil the budding officers passing out of the IMA would be going through when they hear the reviewing officer repeat the IMA credo in the backdrop of recent scams:

“The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first – always and every time.
The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next.
Your own ease, comfort and safety come last – always and every time!”

It will certainly sound most ill suited, hollow, phoney and blatantly hypocritical in a scam-humming environment. We are quick to blame the British for ‘looting’ India without giving them credit for giving us systems of governance we find irreplaceable even after sixty four years of Independence – our dislike for them notwithstanding. They brought together plundering bands of our local chieftains and built up the Indian Military into institutions of national pride. What an irony that we find General Chetwode’s exhortation thoroughly genuine, more patriotic, more nationalistic, more Indian than our own even today!

We need to learn our lessons afresh! May be some strong detergents and acid are required for purging the system. Sooner the better.
Regards,
Karan Kharb

Related Reading
Corruption demeans us before our own people: PM

The army must never try to ‘manage/manipulate the media’
Redeeming the Standing of the Army by Major General Mrinal Suman, AVSM, VSM, PhD

Dear Friends,
Here is an article from the Pioneer of Wed 09 Mar 2011 by Shri Manvender Singh, It is indeed aa great irony that our own government continues to deny our martyrs their due honour and place in the national capital. We all need to take this up strongly. I am sure many other MsP and political, intellectuals and beaucrats will support us for this onerous task. An ode to the Indian soldier March 10, 2011
Lt Gen NS Malik, PVSM (Retd)

United States Military Academy (West Point, NY)
Speech Delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, West Point, NY, Friday, February 25, 2011
Dear Sir,
Something very interesting that I came across and I believe worthy of being shared on “Report My Signal”.Click here
Regards,
Col TS Gururaj (Veteran)

Bridging the Gap: General Colin Luther Powell

The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people. As you grow, your associates will change. Some of your friends will not want you to go on. They will want you to stay where they are. Friends that don't help you climb will want you to crawl. Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don't increase you will eventually decrease you.

Consider this:
Never receive counsel from unproductive people. Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how. Not everyone has a right to speak into your life. You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person. Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere.

With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it. Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life. Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships. If you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl. But, if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights.
"A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses."

The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate - for the good and the bad.

Note: Be not mistaken. This is applicable to family as well as friends. Yes...do love, appreciate and be thankful for your family, for they will always be your family no matter what. Just know that they are human first and though they are family to you, they may be a friend to someone else and will fit somewhere in the criteria above.

"In Prosperity Our Friends Know Us. In Adversity We Know Our friends."

"Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them."
"If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude..."
Colin Powell

We thank Brig PT Gangadharan for sending us the link
Bridging the Gap

Military Secretary's ACR system breeding Black Sheep?

One would hate to be in the shoes of the Chief of Army Staff these days. Having to wake up every morning dreading what bombshell the newspapers would bring can’t be a pleasant experience. Being at the helm of an organisation consisting of over 10, 00,000 bodies in this age of scandal hungry public and an ever obliging media, this is a cross that he perhaps has to bear. The sad part is that the antics of a few black sheep with unbridled libido, greed or ambition inevitably overshadow the sterling work done by the other 99.9% comprising the organisation. The latest scandal screaming at us from the headlines and ubiquitous red ticker tapes of breaking news is yet another such incident.

There is a need to drastically cut down on all non-core activities that serve not only to detract efforts from professional pursuits but also provide opportunities for career advancement to those thriving on these.

Training events must reflect this professionalism and should be shorn of attempts at showmanship, and consequent assessments must also be on professional basis. In fact, the need for a revamp of the entire assessment system has been talked about for long but there have been only cosmetic changes limited by the stifled imagination of the MS Branch. For a comprehensive reform of the appraisal system, there is a need to throw out the old rule book and take a fresh look at the entire game. The reporting officers up the chain of command must be made to exercise their moral courage by being less non-committal about their assessments. We need to change the environment where an overwhelming majority of the reports are like a ‘dining out speech’. The reporting must be less generic, and unequivocal. For instance, how can attributes like loyalty and integrity be rated on an analog scale? Logically, these are qualities that are either present or absent in the absolute, and half measures or shades of grey are not possible. Also, the reviewing officers up the chain need to make greater efforts to familiarize themselves with their indirect reports, and must also be made accountable for their assessments. To make the appraisal system truly meaningful, a 360 degrees appraisal must be put in place.
Courtesy Swordarm Blog: Click link to read more including valuable comments
Baa Baa Black Sheep

Cyber Warfare is the New Gen Security Threat: Antony

The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony today asked the top brass of the Armed Forces to work in unison and make cyber systems 'as secure and as non-porous as possible'. Addressing the Army Commanders here, Shri Antony said cyber-warfare is becoming a serious threat to security.

"The paradigms of security in the age of Information Technology are seldom constant. The evolving security matrix is complex and calls for co-operation and coordination of the highest level. Today, no single service can work in isolation. Cyber warfare and threats to cyber security are fast becoming the next generation of threats. We need to make our cyber systems as secure and as non-porous as possible", he said.

Shri Antony made a strong plea for synergy among the three Forces and said the future security matrix calls for a high-degree of cooperation and inter-dependence among the Services. He said the primary area of focus should be to develop as a force capable of operating in joint network – centric environment. Besides these the other emerging areas that warrant synergised development are space, NBC, Cyber Warfare capabilities, Air Defence, Rotary Wing Assistance, precision munitions, standoff targeting and missiles, communication systems, logistics and joint training.

"Though significant progress has been made towards accomplishing jointness in various operational training and administrative facets among the three Services, there are a number of areas congruence that need to be strengthened further", he said.

Referring to the Modernisation Plans of the Armed Forces, the Defence Minister said it is in our long term national interest that we become self reliant in the field of critical defence equipment. He said modernisation plans of the Armed Forces encompass force modernisation and development of critical combat capabilities, not only against potential adversaries, but across the spectrum of conflict. Sitanshu Kar / RAJ
PIB: Cyber Warfare is the New Gen Security Threat: Antony

Army Commanders’ Conference
The Army Commanders’ Conference commenced at Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Army) on 17 May 10. The five days conference, scheduled from 17 May 10 to 21 May 10 is being chaired by Army Chief General VK Singh. The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in his inaugural address emphasised on the necessity for force modernisation to meet emerging threats. He stressed on the requirement of Tri-Services synergy across the spectrum of conflict to meet our National Security needs. The Defence Minister brought out that Cyber Security is the next generation of threat. He stressed the need to make our cyber space fully secure. He said that the Govt was taking all necessary steps to ensure that the Indian Army is kept in a high state of operational preparedness as also ensuring high morale of troops through training and welfare measures.

The Army Chief General VK Singh during his address reviewed the Regional security situation, in which he spoke of the Asymmetric means adopted by non state actors and terrorists to achieve their objectives. He also mentioned the multi spectral threats, which directly affect military doctrines and restructuring.

General Singh stressed on the need to transform the Indian Army so as to customise its operational effectiveness. Talking about training, the Army Chief emphasised on realistic, imaginative and practical training. Referring to Low Intensity Conflict he stressed on “zero tolerance” to Human Rights violations.

Army Chief also emphasised on morals, ethics and value systems in the Army. He brought out that professional commitment, loyalty, sacrifice and integrity were the need of the hour and that there would be no compromise with respect to the image of the Army. Veerendra/Rajendra
Army Commander's Conference commenced: PIB

Is the VIP culture demonizing Indian Military?

Let’s stop cribbing and concentrate on ‘homework’: A wake up call
Charity begins at home they say. While we continue cribbing about the treatment meted out to us by others, what have we done to set our own house in order?. Cynicism is something I detest and the aim of this is not to be critical, I’m looking for insight on how things have come to such a pass and I’m sure many of us are on the same trip. Seniors and juniors alike, it’s our collective responsibility to restore the past glory of the forces. Especially in public, we should stop cursing the system, our seniors, our bureaucrats- all and sundry, there is so much lack of positivity around us these days. We must realise that we are in this so called 'system'. We could definitely do with a little more optimism and project our services in a better light.

How we behave with our own people becomes a benchmark for others to emulate in life outside the cantonment. While we tend to compare our status, stature and salaries with other services, isn’t there an underlying negativity in behavioural patterns being displayed with impunity by us? Are we setting the right example for others to follow or sending the right signals? Are we projecting our service as a hallmark of pride of the nation?. The answer is definitely in the negative. Our internal organisational behaviour ultimately extends to how we are treated by the outside world and we definitely need to improve on how we interact with our own. There is no dearth of examples as to how we dig our own graves. How often do we see more than one Commissioned Officers being bunched into below-status single rooms in Messes on the ground of non-availability. I, for myself have seen situations where ample accommodation is available but still officers being asked to stay in small living spaces on the pretext that the (abundant) vacant accommodation is a contingency back-up for (imaginary) ‘VIPs’. Do we see the same on the civil side ? Do we see SDMs who are equivalent to Lieutenants of the Army being asked to live and stay in rooms like we do ? Never. Often we see junior officers being asked to travel in heavy trucks despite the availability of respectable light transport, why do we do this? Do we expect people outside to be impressed by a strapping young Captain in Combats sitting in a Three Tonner ? Do we, by this action, attract youngsters to join the services ? No amount of ‘Do you have it in you ?’ campaign would work unless we bring the pride, the glamour and the respectability back into our uniform and the so called ‘baboos’ are not responsible for this, the problem lies closer to us than we think – each of us is to blame. Honour has no rank. A Subaltern is much more capable than merely looking for an apt place to put the shamiyana in the Mess lawn. That Subaltern’s civilian counterpart - an SDM or an Addl DC/DM with the same education and from the same recruitment pool, looks after the revenue, executive, administrative, law & order and quasi-judicial functions of an entire sub-division and sometimes even a district and we are not even able to trust our own guy with a Light Motor Vehicle !

How we behave and conduct ourselves outside ultimately has an indirect effect on how people in uniform are perceived and it percolates down to the last rank in the file. PB-4 or no PB-4, the Indian military officer is not badly paid but still we see senior officers in uniform driving around scooters and mobikes to save a few bucks. I’m not such an elitist to be against officers driving two-wheelers out of passion, but we should not project such a miserly picture to the outer world. Officers can absolutely afford respectable means of personal travel. And still we see Commissioned Officers using such means of public transport definitely below their status and class, why ? Irrespective of remuneration, it does not happen in the civil services so why in the defence services ?. We sitting in Headquarters try to impose restrictions on our own people, for example in travel and accommodation guidelines even when the govt does not. As you read this, someone sitting somewhere would be working on how to impose an in-house restriction on the new TA-DA regime introduced after the 6th CPC !, on how to ensure that officers are not able to draw thousands per day for hotel accommodation and to ensure that they continue staying in small rooms in messes with three other roommates clamouring for time in the single attached bath.

Excessive ‘Sirring’ outside the organisation should also cease. While ‘Sir’ may just be a substitute for ‘Shreeman’ for us, it does not have the same connotation outside. It is a symbol of servility in the civil world. Broadly speaking, in my humble opinion, constitutional appointments and senior civil officers elder in age and with an established longer length of Group-A service should only be addressed as ‘Sir’ while ‘Mr’ should be the correct form of address for others. We are so naive that we ourselves first pamper others with our servility and then curse when a Pay Commission degrades our status. When a Major calls up his counterpart in a civil department, he talks less and Sirs more and when that civil counterpart calls up a Colonel, he addresses him as ‘Colonel Sahib’. And once you sir them, they would expect all officers of similar rank to behave likewise. The problem is that to get a piece of work done, we stoop to any level, don’t we ? And in the bargain end up damaging our service for personal short-term gains. There are, on the other hand, also examples of military officers not sirring their own seniors in length of service (who are junior in rank) within the services but displaying servility towards junior civilians. I’ve also seen selection grade officers not sirring senior time-scale ones, where are we going ? Have we forgotten the age old adage that in the defence services, irrespective of rank, ‘once senior is always senior’ ?. Sirs and Ma’ams, I do not mean to talk sharp but to earn respect from outsiders we need to first respect our own juniors and seniors.

So friends the time has come to get out of the cocoon, be aware of what’s happening around us and finally WAKE UP in the interest of our dignity and the pride of our respective services. There should be prudence all around but not such silliness that we reduce all our privileges, facilities and benefits provided to us by law to a poor joke. We need to stop cribbing about ‘baboos’, they are not that bad. On the contrary, we need to take pride in our uniform and what we do, we need to put more responsibility on the shoulders of our youngsters and redeem our self-esteem, ego should be shunned but self-respect has to be granted its utmost due. Let us do our homework.
Posted by Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh

Professional Ethics

Revolt of the Generals: A Case Study in Professional Ethics

There is a very nice aricle by MARTIN L COOK on the above subject, in the US War College Quarterly.
Those interested may read it at
Revolt of Generals: A case Study in Professional Ethics