SCPC: Status of Armed Forces Officers degraded and eroded at the behest of bureaucrats?

'I feel cheated' published 18 months ago... revisited

Lt Col A K Rai (Retd) 2008-12-19 12:49:47
My father Daroga Prasad Rai, who was Chief Minister of Bihar in 1970, motivated and encouraged me to join Sainik School Tilaiya with a view to make me join Armed Forces as an officer.

He always spoke of the Indian Armed Forces with the highest regard. At that time I was only about nine years old. At that impressionable age I became highly motivated. I do not deny that I was thrilled by the prospect of joining the most noble profession, where one gets a chance to make the supreme sacrifice for his country.

Accordingly I competed and joined Sainik School Tilaiya. But I did not want to leave any stone unturned in my ambition to become an Army Officer. When I came to know about Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun (RIMC), which was considered to be the best, I competed and joined the RIMC in January 1973. Even though my initial enthusiasm had not waned, by the time I reached 11th standard, with whatever understanding I had, I started enquiring about a career in the Armed Forces.
Also Read: Unsung heroes: Part I Unsung heroes: Part II Unsung heroes: Part III

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

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

Having convinced myself, I put in my best in the NDA exam, and ranked eighth in the final merit list. After successfully completing my training at NDA Khadakwasla and IMA, Dehradun, I was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in June 1981 in the 7th Battalion the Sikh Regiment, on my own choice i.e., after exactly 11 years of hard training and spartan living. But due to an injury, attributable to Military Service, I was placed in a permanent low medical category. Consequently, I was transferred to the Army Ordnance Corps in 1988 i.e., after seven years of regimental service in Infantry. On transfer I was posted to the Ordnance Depot, Shakurbasti, Delhi.
Also Read: The IAS cannot dictate pay scales

It was here I learnt that whatever I had been thinking about the career in the Indian Army was wrong. In the Ordnance Depot, I discovered that the JCOs who are Gazetted Officers (I have seen the Gazette Notification of JCOs) are equated with non-gazetted civilian employees and that too of Class-III i.e., Group-C. The point has only been made to emphasise the arbitrariness and irrationality of orders regarding the relativity of ranks. And as the de facto equation stands today, there cannot be any service with worse career prospects than the Army except some Group-B services. But is this the result of a “steep pyramidal hierarchy” as is often claimed? No.
Also read: Are our forces lower caste?

It is the result of a conscious effort by the bureaucracy to degrade the services ever since independence. To undo this, i.e., if the Government is sincere, the solution is to revert to the pre- A V Singh Committee implementation stage and reintroduce the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, and to offer one-rank one- pay scale in the standard pay scales as was applicable to all the Organised Central Group-A Civil Services (erstwhile allied services).

Till recently, the Warrant of Precedence stated that a Major is equal to an IAS Officer with not less than 12 years of service and a Superintendent of Police with not less than 15 years of service. The status of Army officers was further degraded as per the underlying thrust of the Sixth Pay Commission, at the behest of bureaucracy. Why are these facts not disseminated to the young aspirants to the Armed Forces? If bureaucrats and policemen are higher in rank and status, then why are Army officers debarred from taking the IAS and IPS exams? I do not think that anyone today, if he is aware of of these facts, would join the Army, except to earn hsi bread. As for myself, had I known this, forget the Sainik School or RIMC, I would have never joined the Army.

The relativity in rank and status is irrational and arbitrary, against the letter and spirit of the Constitution and violates my fundamental rights.

Lt Col A K Rai is alumnus of Sainik School Tilaiya, Rashtriya Indian Military College, Deharadun, NDA, Khadakwasla, the author was commissioned into the Sikh Regiment in Jun 1981. he was transferred to the AOC in 1988. He took premature retirement after serving the mandatory period, he now works as the Chief Administrative Officer of a 150-bed hospital in Patna.
I feel cheated: sify.com

What is the resultant outcome?
The Armed Forces career is not attractive precisely for the degraded honour (not for pay and salaries as projected by the media) inflicted on the Personnel subject to Army Act which literally silences them! End result acute shortage of Officers now averaging and hovering around 25% deficiency.

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

Billion Votes- How Hawala money hots up election frenzy?

It’s raining currency notes in Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad, April 1 (IANS) It may be a time of global recession but it’s raining money in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh as politicians use all means to woo voters. In ongoing search operations across the state, the police have seized cash worth over Rs.50 million during the last 10 days.

The police Wednesday seized Rs.4.1 million cash and 21 kg of silver from two cars in Nalgonda. They arrested 10 people in this connection and are investigating as to whom the money and silver was being transferred. They also seized Rs.3 million at different places including Mahbubnagar and Warangal districts.

The police have recovered wads of cash during search of vehicles in different places in the state. They have set up check posts to check illegal transfer of money, liquor, weapons and explosives before the simultaneous polls to the state assembly and the Lok Sabha on April 16 and April 23.

The police seized Rs.13.6 million in cash on a single day Tuesday. In a sensational development, police recovered Rs.1 million from three pastors who were staying in a lodge in Karimnagar district. They had come to attend a meeting of pastors addressed by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s son-in-law and evangelist Anil Kumar.

The seizure came amid allegations by the opposition Telugu Desam Party that Anil Kumar was using religious meetings to campaign for the ruling Congress party. Four supporters of the Congress candidate from the Kollapur assembly constituency in Mahabubnagar district were arrested after police recovered Rs.185,000 from their vehicle. Police also seized Rs.250,000 in cash from the car belonging to a close friend of Congress candidate Shashidhar Reddy in Medak town.

The police also held a bank manager who was transferring Rs.3.6 million in cash from Palakole to Rajahmundry in East Godavari district. He could not give any satisfactory explanation as to why and for whom he was transferring the money. Earlier, the police had seized Rs.1 million from the vehicles of former minister and Praja Rajyam Party member T. Sitaram in East Godavari district.

Additional Director General of Police A.K. Khan said 431 check posts have been set up across the state including at the entry points where vehicles were being searched to prevent the illegal flow of money, liquor and smuggling of explosives and weapons ahead of elections.
It’s raining currency notes in Andhra Pradesh

Comments: Kudos to AP Police to nab Hawala money. The Police in other states should be active to unearth the Hawala cash flow. The Southern States are notorious for handing out cash to voters. Indian Democracy is a joke. Home Ministry should wake up to curb illegal money flow for elections. The culprits are more than terrorists!
The Hawala money translated to "Cash for Votes" is mind boggling. In AP alone it is projected as Rs 2000 crores of rupees. All India projection is a whopping 50,000 crores. This translates to Rs 1000 per vote (assuming only 50 crore population vote). The Hawala money trail will lead to terrorists. In fact it can be safely assumed that elections are conducted by terrorists speaking figuratively of course!

Armed forces ask their personnel to exercise the right to vote

26 Jan 2009, 1026 hrs IST, IANS

NEW DELHI: For the first time, the armed forces have asked their personnel to exercise their fundamental right to vote in the areas of their posting during the general elections slated for March-April.

In an unprecedented move all the personnel of the army, the navy and the air force have been asked to get themselves registered with the Election Commission office in their area of posting and exercise their right to vote.

"All of us have been asked to get ourselves registered wherever we are posted and exercise our franchise. Voter registration forms and other certificates required are being circulated among all units and departments," a senior naval official told IANS requesting anonymity.

A majority of Indian defence personnel have never voted during their service tenure for want of an effective mechanism. However, there is a provision for the armed forces personnel to vote in their areas of posting only during the general elections, provided they are registered with the Election Commission.

India's armed forces comprise a 1.1-million strong army, around 140,000-strong air force and nearly 60,000-strong navy and they can be a sizeable vote bank especially in cantonment areas.

"The main reason behind this proactive participation of the armed forces in the electoral process seems to be the armed forces being shortchanged in the Pay Commission and their lack of a say in the decision making process," said a high-ranking army official, wishing not to be identified.

Though there is a postal ballot and proxy voting system, most personnel are not aware of it.

Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Fali H. Major confessed to IANS in a candid interview: "Though there is the proxy voting system and the postal ballot system, things have not materialised as desired."

The IAF chief has himself not been able to vote for the last 10 years because, like most people in the armed forces, he has not been home during election time. "The last I voted was 10 years ago when I was home on vacation. I have voted only four times (in his 41 years of service)," Major told IANS.

The IAF chief's statement underscores how successive governments have failed to give effective voting rights to the armed forces.

The postal ballot system has proved inadequate due to the long delays involved in sending out voting sheets.

In September 2003, parliament had approved the proxy voting system for armed forces personnel whereby they could authorise a family member - usually a parent or a sibling or a spouse - to cast their vote by proxy.

This system draws heavily from that prevailing in Britain but has proved to be ineffective because soldiers do not even know the provision exists.

The defence ministry has time and again stressed that it is looking into the matter but has not taken any steps to rectify the problems.
Armed forces ask their personnel to exercise the right to vote