Command and control of red tabs over troops decline by the day

Ordered to do menial tasks, Army jawans desert Patiala unit
Last Updated: Friday, November 02, 2012, 18:40
Zeenews Bureau
Chandigarh: In yet another breach of discipline in the Indian Army, around 16 soldiers of an armoured regiment based in Patiala left their unit after being forced by their seniors to perform 'menial tasks'.
As per reports, the jawans were part of the 56 Armoured Regiment stationed at Patiala as part of the elite 1 Armoured Division.
The jawans were allegedly asked by some officers to carry out 'menial tasks'. They allegedly protested stating that they belonged to Army's clerk cadres and were supposed to do specific tasks only, The Indian Express reported.
Reports stated that the soldiers returned to their regimental centre in Ahmednagar after the Commanding Officer (CO) issued orders to punish them for showing dissent.
CO had the jawans put through a 'Battle Physical and Proficiency Test (BPET) which requires one to run several kilometres and cross obstacles in full battle gear. They were then forced to do a 'route march’.
The newspaper added that queries to Western Command's Chandimandir-based headquarters went unanswered and no statement was issued in this regard.
Over a 1,000 soldiers have committed suicide since 2003, with the yearly toll regularly climbing over 100. Incidents of fragging (to kill or wound a fellow soldier) have also become a regular phenomenon in the 1.13-million strong Army.
A report by the Defence Institute of Psychological Research had held that "perceived humiliation and harassment, over and above occupational and familial causes", by their superiors often serves as the final "trigger" for jawans in stress-related cases in the forces.
The Army has, meanwhile, ordered a probe into the matter.
Ordered to do menial tasks, Army jawans desert Patiala unit
Related reading
The UN indictment of Indian troops in that episode of sexual abuse had surfaced in a probe report, which had revealed "prima-facie evidence" against a number of Indian peace-keepers previously assigned to one of the units with the UN Mission in Congo.
CoI verdict against Indian peacekeepers expected soon
Comment: The red tabs (only the symbols on uniforms) of all full colonels need to be done away with immediately to reduce the psychological barrier between the troops and unit commanding officers. This gesture is likely to assuage the feelings of the troops under command. The VIP status and VIP culture ingrained in Officers must be slowly got ridden off. Generals need to meet the expenses of batmen, dhobis cooks and waiters from their own funds. No appointment comes with free services and privileges. Now a days there are adequate high tech gadgets to do away with combatants working in Generals houses needlessly in peace areas especially in AHQ and all Command/ Area HQ's.

India produces the finest Generals it possibly can

My Response to Ajay Shukla's "Wake Up Generals"... Click here
Dear Ajay,
(Ajay left the Army a few years ago as Lt Col/Col. He was in the Armd Corps I think)
I feel very very sad and disenchanted to read your article written for the Business Standard. You left the Army and became a journalist. Great. You have significant inside knowledge of the Army and the other two services. One thought you would use it to educate the Indian polity about National security matters, and not write trash as you have done in this article.
Let us try and imagine what will be the end effect of this article. Will it create better impression of our army in the minds of the general public, the politicians, the bureaucracy, the youngsters aspiring to join the Army. What about the negative effect on serving officers and men!!
Writing about how many people work in the Army House should be below the dignity of Ajay. How can a NDA/ IMA trained gentleman officer stoop so low!!
Also do you think this article would be considered a journalistic achievement of yours and raise your stock amongst the new fraternity you have chosen as a result of your second career!!
Ajay dear, I am from the 1st Course JSW/ NDA. Joined in Jan 1949. Have seen the Army since then. I have also seen the US Army/ Marine Corps some what. Worked with TATAs also. I see the Indian Army now. There are changes even since I retired in 1991 but let me inform you that these are more visible in peace areas. These are as a result of societal changes. The Army cannot be divorced from the rest of the nation. But in the field/ operational areas officers and soldiers are doing commendable job. You are fully aware that it is extremely difficult to rise in the Indian Army and one has to be really lucky in addition to having professional capabilities to pick up a flag rank.
I wrote this to the Shekhar Gupta after the most derogatory article published on the front page of the Indian Express a few weeks back.
THIS IS THE BEST GENERALS OUR COUNTRY CAN PRODUCE. INDIA HAS FOREIGN HOCKEY, CRICKET, BOXING COACHES. IF YOU OR THE NATION ARE NOT HAPPY WITH THE GENERALS, IMPORT THEM ALSO FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES, ESPECIALLY ITALY!!
I would be happy if with your experience in the Army you can come out with some positive suggestions on how to improve the quality of our generals. Deep selection is no answer, as we Indians are experts in beating any system. Also every policy has its pros and cons!!
Whatever we do, we should not hand over the process to the politicians and the bureaucrats.
Ajay please please do not throw muck on the Army of which you are a product. Please do ponder over the ill effects.
Best wishes.
Lt Gen Harbhajan Singh (Retired)

NDA, IMA and OTA train military leaders
A General leads his men by his example. He expects his men to do their duty to the fullest extent of the word. He will send no man to do what he himself would not do of his own accord. He will enforce discipline, and will establish that he is in charge. He must never hold himself higher than a deity, or have his men treat him as such. He must approach warfare from many angles, being flexible direct or aggressive as the situation warrants. He must also not be afraid of losing everything. The General who does not commit himself fully to victory will lose without honour.

Wake up, generals! Stop this 5 star culture

by Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 30th Oct 12
The Indian Army fish is rotting from the head. Memories are still fresh of the bruising confrontation earlier this year between the politically ambitious General VK Singh and an inept government that had precipitated a civil-military firestorm over the army chief’s quest for an extra year in office. Now, as Broadsword reports (Click here) another aggrieved general is going to court in his quest for the top job.
The current chief, General Bikram Singh, who took over from the divisive General VK Singh in June, has singularly failed to apply a healing touch and to undo the partisanship his predecessor unleashed. Most new bosses, even sports coaches, are expected to provide a new direction. In five months on the job, General Bikram Singh’s new direction consists only of orders that officers must greet each other with the salutation of “Jai Hind”, instead of merely giving each other the time of day. The new chief also wants meetings to end with everyone chorusing “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.
Intelligence reports have not yet confirmed that the Pakistani and Chinese militaries are quaking in their boots.
Let us be charitable; perhaps General Bikram Singh needs more time. His arrival in Delhi was traumatic and uncertain, since his predecessor assiduously sabotaged his elevation in the internecine fighting that now seems to be a part of the game. Once in Delhi, the new chief’s priority was to set himself up in the five-star style that now defines our culture of generalship. In his first days in the hallowed office of legends like General KC Thimayya and Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the new chief and his staff busied themselves with putting together a retinue of a dozen waiters, cooks, dhobis and assorted tradesmen to sustain life in Army House.
Called upon for retainers, a bevy of army formations milked out these retainers from combat units, where tough young officers and the legendary Indian jawan have learned how to make do with the dwindling resources that their own generals leave them. At least two senior flag rank officers personally screened the men who would serve their chief, knowing that a spilt drink or over-salted soup could reverberate unpleasantly in their own careers.
The chief will naturally deny this since none of these tradesmen are officially posted to Army House, his tony residence on New Delhi’s leafy Rajaji Marg. Conveniently, this entourage is on “temporary duty” with army units in the capital. But any visitor to Army House would find them working there, just as visits to many army posts and picquets would find combat soldiers cooking and washing instead of training and patrolling, simply because their cook or dhobi is languishing in Delhi.
This travesty faces no resistance from subordinate generals, many of whom are hardly angels themselves. Lieutenant General Nobel Thamburaj, who headed the Southern Army, was arrested by the CBI for gross irregularities concerning defence land. Two army chiefs, Generals Deepak Kapoor and NC Vij, along with several army commanders, received illegal flats in Mumbai’s infamous Adarsh Housing Society. Lieutenant General Shankar Ghosh, the Western Army commander until June, had his medical category downgraded last year, entitling him to disability pension. But when General VK Singh’s confrontation with the government made dismissal a possibility, Ghosh (then the senior-most army commander) upgraded his medical category to be eligible for a move to Army House.
If the generals believe that these shenanigans go unnoticed by junior officers or the rank and file, they are mistaken. The recent face-offs between officers and enlisted men in military bases near Samba, Amritsar and Leh suggest a decline in the ironclad faith that the army jawan has always had in his leaders. Today’s culture of entitlement at the top, where funds, resources and manpower are poured into supporting the five-star lifestyles of a few dozen senior generals, threatens to seep downwards poisoning the entire system. It is difficult to remain idealistic, motivated and dead straight --- the defining characteristics of young Indian officers --- when so much wrongdoing is evident at the top. Even honest officers are inevitably corrupted by a system in which outright financial dishonesty is condoned as “perks and privileges of office”.
As worrying as the corruption is the lack of intellectual direction that generals provide the army’s young leaders. This was evident from the recent flood of chain emails between mid-level and junior officers, expressing outrage that the army was being blamed in the media for the 1962 debacle. In the intellectual desert that the generals have made the army, every red-blooded officer has bought into the “Haqeeqat myth”, in which gallant soldiers, badly deployed by incompetent politicians and bureaucrats, mowed down hordes of Chinese before laying down their lives. While this is true in several cases, there are many more cases of entire Indian sub-units fleeing from strong defensive positions into waiting Chinese ambushes. Any professional military studies its defeats even more deeply than its victories. But professional study is not on the army’s agenda. The generals believe that officers and men must be busy with creating the illusion of command success, howsoever transient. With no time to read or guidance and inspiration from the top, human development is merely a buzzword.
Preening incongruously amidst this crumbling edifice, General Bikram Singh has taken his media managers’ ill-considered advice that controversies are best dealt with by avoiding the press. General VK Singh’s mistake lay in seeking out the media say the same advisors who had advised the previous chief. But with controversy increasingly swirling, the army’s leadership can no longer deal with its growing image problem by sticking its head in the sand.
Generals Wake Up!

Tatra Trucks: CBI has evidence of links with a shadowy set of former defence officers

CBI probing Tatra’s two decades of monopoly
Neeraj Chauhan, TNN | Oct 21, 2012, 05.52AM IST
NEW DELHI: The CBI, which registered a case against Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh on Saturday for allegedly trying to bribe then Army chief General VK Singh to clear the purchase of Tatra trucks for the Army, is conducting a parallel inquiry into the complaint regarding the monopoly Tatra has enjoyed for two decades in supplying all-terrain trucks to the defence forces. Sources said the chargesheet in the case is in the final stages and could be filed in a Delhi court shortly. The agency is expected to charge officials of Tatra and the public sector Bharat Earth Movers Limited.
Sources said the raids were conducted at the residences of Rishi's aide Gautam Thadani, MD of Global Healthline Private Ltd, Rajan Madhu, director of F-Bar in Ashoka Hotel and Rishi's employees Anil Mansaramani and Vikram Kakia. CBI sleuths recovered Rs 98 lakh from Thadani's house.
CBI sources said preliminary investigation established Tejinder Singh's meeting with the then Army chief as well as that the latter was unhappy with what had transpired. During its probe, the CBI also established Tejinder Singh visited General V K Singh on September 22, 2010 because "the file related to procurement of Tatra trucks was lying on the table of army chief that day" and that "Tejinder Singh offered bribe on behalf of Ravi Rishi as he is closely associated with the latter".
Defence minister AK Antony's confirmation of General V K Singh's "oral complaint" was found to be strong corroborative evidence.
But what strengthened the case for a formal investigation was evidence of Tejinder Singh's alleged dealings with lobbyists for arms manufacturers, including a Korean company. Tejinder Singh has been booked under section 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Under Section 12 of the Act, a person who abets the offence of making a public servant accept illegal gratification, whether or not that offence is committed in consequence of that abetment, can be punished with a minimum punishment of six months in jail which may extend to five years.
"We have evidence of his links with a shadowy set of former defence officers who were on the payroll of arms manufacturers and suppliers," said a senior CBI source.
CBI probing Tatra’s two decades of monopoly
Comment: "We have evidence of his links with a shadowy set of former defence officers". Do they include 2 decades of former chiefs? It is logical all must be investigated top downwards. MOD and AHQ need to gear up to let out their skeletons. Will they?

Army Jawans seek instant redressal

Army jawans ransack police station, beat up cops
PTI | Sep 11, 2012, 07.28PM IST
JAMMU: Army jawans allegedly ransacked a railway police station and beat up cops on duty, injuring six of them, in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. Cases were registered against the army troopers for allegedly beating up and injuring the cops last night, police officials said here today. The trouble erupted following an altercation between an Army jawan and GRP personnel, they said.
The jawan had allegedly unplugged the metal detector installed at the railway station to charge his mobile phone.
When the policemen objected to this, an altercation ensued between them after which the armyman was taken to the police station. On getting information about the incident, the jawan's colleagues, including some officers, reached the police station and allegedly went on a rampage, the officials said. They beat up the policemen on duty injuring six cops, they said. They also took away the jawan with them. The army jawans were waiting for a train at the Kathua railway station for their journey outside the state.
Police booked the jawans for beating and injuring the cops, the officials said. When asked about the incident, the PRO Defence said the Army was yet to come out with a statement on the matter. The jawans belonged to the 225 field regiment stationed at Janglote in the Kathua district.
Army jawans ransack police station, beat up cops
Lessons Learnt
Jawans do not have access to online booking because they are posted at a location without internet or telephone. The only thing the Railways can do is to give them one bogey for hundreds of Jawans going on leave from J & K. Alternatively the units need to book their tickets online in bulk for the leave party. Jammu Railway Station is always chaotic and unfriendly.

Indian Army’s growing morale problem
Today the cost of living has risen much more than the wage increments. Given increased land prices and other avenues of income, the army has lost some of its sheen as a sought-after employer. A recent comment in the Indian media reads:
“An objective review of the manner in which the pay, allowances and status of the military have been lowered over the last two decades reveals some startling facts. The average ‘fauji’ (soldier) retires at a much younger age than the civilian counterpart who serves up to age 60. Many anomalies abound.”
Indeed, it is important for New Delhi to closely look for solutions to pre-empt the disgruntlement among the jawans turning alarming levels. There are already rising instances of industrial unrest in India.
Dissatisfied workers of car manufacturer Maruti brutally assaulted management cadres recently, killing a senior executive and injuring several others. The Maoist violence in large tracts of Central and Eastern India is linked to mining companies exploiting the local tribal populations resulting in deep grievances.
Unlike its neighbors Pakistan, Bangladesh or Nepal, the Indian army has remained largely apolitical and has worked well under civilian political leadership since India’s independence in 1947. The Indian jawan deserves his due.
(Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist. He can be reached at sidsri@yahoo.com)
Read the full article of declining Morale of Troops
Indiscipline growing due to disconnect in the command and control structure: This video clip proves the point!

Corruption case: Maj Gen under the scanner

Corruption case: Maj Gen under the scanner
Press Trust of India / New Delhi August 30, 2012, 15:15
The Army has been hit by yet another corruption case with a Major General coming under the scanner for alleged financial irregularities during his stint at the Udhampur-based Northern Command.
Sources said the Maj Gen belonging to the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME) has been asked to appear before an ongoing Court of Inquiry (CoI) against a Colonel.
The CoI was ordered after allegations of misappropriation of funds through forged bills surfaced in the Northern Command.
However, the Army Headquarters maintained that the Maj Gen has been summoned by the CoI only to appear as a witness and there was no separate investigation against him. The sources said the Colonel has claimed that he was only following the instructions of the Maj Gen.
Another Maj Gen of the Army Services Corps in the Northern Command is facing a Court of Inquiry (CoI) for allegedly accepting bribe from a local contractor in supplies for formations deployed in Siachen and Jammu and Kashmir.
In the last few years, the Army has seen a number of corruption cases involving Lt Gen-rank officers of which three have been court martialled already.
Corruption case: Maj Gen under the scanner
Comment: Most of the senior officers are physically unfit. One way of weeding out the corrupt senior officers board them out in large numbers.

Premier Military Training Institutions: Are they afflicted with corruption?

'No order yet on Lt Gen Jatindar's transfer'
Zee News Thursday, July 05, 2012, 13:14
Pune: A National Defence Academy (NDA) spokesman Thursday said it had not received any official communication "so far" regarding immediate transfer of Academy commandant Lt Gen Jatindar Singh, ordered by Defence Minister AK Antony.
"No official communication from Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been received at NDA in this regard so far", Lt Commander G Girish, PRO NDA said here.
Asked as to who is holding the charge at the Khadakwasla based Academy, embroiled in a bribery scam, he said "the status quo continues till we get official orders." A release issued by MoD in Delhi yesterday said, "Defence minister A K Antony has ordered that Lt Gen Jatinder Singh, Commandant NDA, be immediately shifted from the Academy. This is with the view to ensure a free and fair investigation in the alleged bribery racket in the recruitment of Group C posts in NDA, Khadakwasla." The CBI-ACB has arrested Col Kulbir Singh, staff officer to the NDA commandant, Col Anil Kumar Singh presiding officer of NDA's recruitment board and a few others in connection with the alleged scam that was unearthed on June 25.
Jatindar Singh had assumed charge of the premiere defence academy on January 1, 2011.
The NDA sources said training activities of the cadets of the 128th batch of the Academy were being carried out as usual. PTI
No order yet on Lt Gen Jatindar's transfer
Lt Gen under lens for recruitment scam shunted out
Defence Academy recruitment scam: AK Antony orders shifting of commandant Lt. Gen Jatinder Singh
Comment: Corrupt Officers leading the Training Establishments is very dangerous. All the nine pointer ACR Ratings are a suspect. How are the 9 pointer ACR reflected Corrupt Officers are to be weeded out. The only method now is to get hold of the reporting officers who are skewed in their judgement. Promotions based on ACR's will ruin the Military and its reputation will hit ground zero. We need to eliminate senior officers on physical and medical standards. The Medical records should not be fudged for promotions. Lt Gen Jatinder Singh is a classic case of poor Medical and Physical Standards. We need to gun for the corrupt and physically unfit officers and not depend on skewed ACR's for promotion.

Are Generals compromising quality of weapons, equipment and food supplies?

'Five-star culture of senior officers is bad for Army'
Saira Kurup, Nov 7, 2010, 05.01am IST

He was the first head of the UN peacekeeping force in the former Yugoslavia. That was 1992. Two years later, Lieutenant General Satish Nambiar, 74, retired as deputy Chief of Army Staff. But this highly decorated officer still remains intensely engaged with military affairs. He talked Army pride, probity and the disturbing rise of a "five-star culture" with Saira Kurup. Excerpts:

As a distinguished retired officer of the Indian Army, how do you react to the alleged involvement of top serving and retired Army officers in the Adarsh building scam?
Without being unfair to the people concerned or to the establishment that I had the great privilege of serving for many years, I must say that it is an issue that causes all of us a great deal of anguish. One accepts that moral values have taken a beating in society in general. But it is disturbing to find that this degeneration has found its way into the armed forces too. Particularly because the armed forces are a unique institution in many ways; in which, quite often as leaders in battle, we ask of our subordinates the ultimate sacrifice in terms of their lives. Hence their trust and faith in us is something you cannot quantify or compromise. While on the one hand, young officers and men of the Indian Army have literally sacrificed their lives in ensuring the security of the country, on the other hand, we have sections of the senior leadership indulging in actions that bring shame on the organization.

Your son is a lieutenant-colonel. Might this scam affect the morale of relatively young officers like him?
The morale of the young officers and the men is not so easily affected because there is a great deal of resilience in the armed forces as an institution. But that is not to suggest there is no impact. Unfortunately in recent years there is already a disturbing five-star culture among the senior officers to which they have already been exposed and to that extent, I presume they are not too surprised. My advice to the current leadership in the armed forces would be to refocus on and promote the basic character qualities of integrity, loyalty to subordinates and courage. Moral values that sustain you in battle. This issue assumes wider ramifications when we hear of senior leaders falling prey to compromises on the quality of weapons, equipment and food supplies for the men in the Army.

Read more: 'Five-star culture of senior officers is bad for Army' - The Times of India Click here

Military needs to respond to media onslaught of corruption charges

Dear Veterans,
Yesterday evening, the team of Head Lines Today, comprising Sawant Gaurav, Manoj Joshi & the anchor Rahul Kanwal, was at it once again with another expose. The Formation involved was 2 Corps, one of our Strike Corps. This time, the Army as well as the well meaning Veteran Fraternity, were left speechless. The onslaught was so vehement, in spite of some sensible points & suggestions made by Gen VP Malik & Ajay Shukla, the Defence Analyst. In normal circumstances, I would have reacted to such expose in a different way. But, viewing the full episode, telecast at 8 pm & 9 pm, I felt some thing is drastically amiss in our system of checks & balances. In fact, it was abundantly clear that any such system is totally absent.

Through out the show, on the top left hand corner of the screen, there was an in set window, showing a Subedar Major of the Provost Unit, counting wads of currency notes given as bribe, in his own office. While counting the currency, he also instructs the contractor to send bills for 3 colour TV sets, 'bills only'.

There was a Lt Col from the Ordnance, seated in a Delhi Restaurant with the under cover contractor, placing orders for Radiator Caps. When the contractor mentioned as to who will believe that a Radiator Cap if quoted as Rs 6,400/- the Lt Col advises him to change the nomenclature to "Cap Radiator with Chain Assembly".

Some of the banners streaming below the show were:

'Sold the honour for a few thousands'

'If uniformed Army Officers can be bought so cheaply, how can we blame the ISI for breach in our National Security.

'Chinks in the Armour'

'Rot in Ordnance Units'

'Traitors in Unifrom'

Gen Malik accepted that the expose was in the interest of the Nation & also of the Army. But, by sensationalising the issue the Channel is also doing a great disservice to the morale & reputation of the Army. With deep sense of anguish, visible on his face, he regretted that some where down the line the present lot of officers were caught in five star culture & living beyond their means. In our days the Officers Mess functions used to be better than a five star in its grace & dignity.

In the previous show at 8 pm, Maj Gen Ashok Mehta made a pertinent point that we cannot keep explaining every corruption case in the Army highlighted by the media, as mere aberration by a few individuals.

Is corruption in the Army becoming a habit or still to be regarded as an aberration?

The entire panel agreed on the point that Army does not spare anyone, however high he may be in the hierarchy. Point given said Sawant Gaurav, "but only after the expose from the Media. Where are your checks to ensure that the same is nipped in the bud"?

"Most of the present purchases & bribe pertains to Annual Training Grant. The Generals must show the way. The senior Officers must be held responsible for negligence in carrying out specific checks" said the Anchor. A Col or a Lt Col, the former from the Provost Unit, are senior enough. Still what deprivation they can have after the Sixth CPC, to accept the bribe of a few thousands, at the cost of honour, dignity & fair name of the Army. So, salary is not the criteria any more. Greed is the reason.

At least now the Army should wake up. With the effort of every individual, right from the Jawan to General, the Army's reputation has been built over the decades. The road to such a high pedestal was paved with valour, honour & sacrifice.
Veteran Raman
Col (Retd) TN Raman
Video Clips Part 1 to 8
Friday | July 30, 2010 | 00:00 IST
Headlines Today's camera exposes how some corrupt Army officers of Ordnance Corps are taking money after passing inflated tenders at the ordnance depots.
Army officers caught taking bribe: click here