Par panel asks Army to abolish Sahayaks for officers
New Delhi: A Parliamentary Committee on Defence on Thursday asked the Army to take a leaf out of the Navy and the Air Force to abolish the "demeaning and humiliating" practice of employing jawans as sahayaks of officers.
The strong recommendation from the committee comes after the Defence Ministry in its reply to a 2008 report on "stress management in the armed forces" had virtually rejected the suggestion that the sahayak system be done away with.
In an action taken report tabled in both the Houses of the Parliament, the committee said it was unable to comprehend why it was necessary to continue with the sahayak system that "lowers the self-esteem of a jawan" when the Navy and Air Force have abandoned it.
Par panel asks Army to abolish Sahayaks for officers
Join the Army, be a Batman
There’s no denying that our Army is professional and well-trained and prides itself on its war record. But fighting abilities somehow don’t seem to go with dish-washing talents. But with an employment crunch staring India in the face, perhaps institutions could come up with diplomas in sweeping, gardening, car-washing, dog-walking etc and the gentlemen holding these diplomas could get a direct entry as brave Batmen ready to show 'courage under fire'. I guess the only fire some of them may face may be in the kitchen.
The army feels an officer gets a sahayak for the upkeep of his uniform, weapons and other equipment, as also act as his radio operator and ‘‘buddy’’ during combat. So, let me get this straight. An Army officer, who undergoes such rigorous training and is responsible for a large body of men under his command, can’t even take care of his own uniform? He needs his ‘sahayak’ to polish his shoes and iron his clothes? Anyway, why would your 'radio operator' be with you 24x7 dusting your drawing room or getting 'baba' from school. Maybe he'll radio from school to inform 'sahab' that his son has reached school.
I don’t want to deride the courageous officers of the Indian Army. We all know how bravely many of them fought on the borders. But that doesn’t mean his perks should include treating a fellow soldier as a personal servant. All Army formations have been told to ensure sahayaks are not employed for ‘‘menial household work’’ since as combatant soldiers they should not be used for anything which adversely impacts their dignity and self-respect. Question is who’s following this new rule?
In the late 90s, I was staying in Army Cantonment, Jaipur. The Army Chief came on a visit and in his speech advised the officers to avoid treating soldiers as orderlies and misusing Army rules and benefits. At that very time, barely a km from the venue, three tents had been set up outside a 'separated family accommodation'. In these tents were staying 4 soldiers of a particular regiment sent from J&K by the commanding officer of their unit to look after his family in Jaipur. What medals would they have taken home?
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Join the Army, be a Batman
ABOUT MANAS GUPTA
Manas Gupta believes an article is incomplete without a dose of humour. An Assistant News Editor with the Times of India. His interests include defence, cricket and the bizarre world of international news.
Showing posts with label Sahayaks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sahayaks. Show all posts
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday, October 27, 2008
SCPC: After pay shock, Army officers set to lose batmen
NEW DELHI: Still smarting from "bureaucratic mischief" to downgrade their status in the new pay scales, here is another shocker for Army officers:
they may have to make do without orderlies, or sahayaks as they are now called, if MPs have their way.
The sahayak system prevalent in the 1.13-million strong Army is "a shameful practice", which "should have no place in Independent India", holds the latest report of the parliamentary standing committee on defence. In tune with what many believe is a vestige of the colonial era and an anachronism for any modern Army, especially since fresh recruits are now better educated unlike yesteryear's, the committee urged the defence ministry to abolish the sahayak system with immediate effect.
Though the committee actually dwelt upon "stress management in the armed forces", in view of the mounting number of fragging and suicide cases in their ranks, it felt that utilising soldiers as sahayaks was also a contributory factor in raising stress levels in the lower ranks. "The committee hardly needs to stress that jawans are recruited for serving the nation and not to serve the family members of officers in household work, which is demeaning and humiliating," says the report, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
This, of course, is bound to evoke howls of protest from the Army, which has 35,495 officers at present out of an authorized strength of 46,614. Its argument is that an officer gets a sahayak basically for upkeep of his uniform, weapons and other equipment, as also act as his radio operator and "buddy" during combat. That is certainly true. But the fact also remains that sahayaks are grossly misused by many officers, from being made to walk the dogs, taking kids to school to even washing clothes. Moreover, senior officers often have two to three sahayaks, particularly when posted outside the Army HQ in New Delhi, in blatant disregard of rules which lay down only one orderly or batman for Majors/ Lt-Colonels and above.
"But a few black sheep should not lead to a time- tested, age old practice being scrapped. There is no rampant misuse of sahayaks, who are combatants meant to support the officers in the discharge of their official duties," said a senior Army officer.
Added another, "Strict action is taken if any misuse comes to notice in the Army. Visit a district magistrate’s house or any other IAS officer and you will see the real misuse of lower government staff."
That may equally be true but the parliamentary committee, during its study visits and interaction with jawans, learnt that some soldiers had even been deployed to work as sahayaks with families of officers. When the committee asked an Army officer specifically about this, he replied that the sahayak could be "attending the work at home due to reverence" even though he was not supposed to do it "technically".
After pay shock, Army officers set to lose batmen
Comment:
This topic has regularly figured in the Parliament ever since 1983. No one has been able to do any thing about it. Now as one turns an eye towards other government services, the gross misuse manpower by way of this 'colonial' custom is widespread in all civil services. It may be worth the while for "India Today" or for that matter any magazine or newspaper to do a bit of investigative journalism to determine the magnitude of this 'malaise' in India. Here are some obvious findings:
The number of men in the house of an average police officer is two to ten. Some who believe that there is a threat to their lives have many more 'body guards' for security.
Railway officers are 'authorized' two men to work in their houses which includes a cook.
The Deputy Commissioners and SDMs have scores of people milling around their houses.
Officers of the Para Military Forces have a minimum of two orderlies. Senior officers have more.
The houses of Judges are provided security personnel And it is well known that the 'sentries' are misused to perform other chores such as upkeep of lawns and running errands.
India has a feudal past. The Moghuls set these traditions, and the British merely carried them through. Removing 'Sahayaks' without replacing them with something to compensate the officers is neither possible nor, perhaps, desirable. The subject needs to be studied systematically by a social scientist in its entirety before attempting a radical change.
One may consider doing a full story on this. You will find many readers wanting to know the cost to the exchequer of this feudal tradition. The misuse of manpower in the offices is even worse. Nearly every officer (including Desk Officers) has a 'runner' to give him tea and to move files, and most senior officers have stenos and PAs who take print outs of the officer's emails. And of course, every one who is authorized an official car is also given a driver, so that the vehicle can be used by the family or even friends when he 'sahib' is in the office. This increases the running of the vehicle by a factor of two or three.
Quite frankly, one does not mind all this. However one regrets that most of the government officers are ineffective. They are rude and inefficient. Common observation: "When Mr X reaches his office, he first does all his personal work. He then does whatever jobs have been given to him by his friends. And, if at the end of the day, he has some time, he 'clears' his official files. The peons and the PAs are necessary because the officers dislike 'dealing' with the public directly.
Why then, Chastise and admonish only the Armed Forces for this feudal Custom when the whole Nation of Bureaucrats are grossly and blatantly guilty of this practise?
they may have to make do without orderlies, or sahayaks as they are now called, if MPs have their way.
The sahayak system prevalent in the 1.13-million strong Army is "a shameful practice", which "should have no place in Independent India", holds the latest report of the parliamentary standing committee on defence. In tune with what many believe is a vestige of the colonial era and an anachronism for any modern Army, especially since fresh recruits are now better educated unlike yesteryear's, the committee urged the defence ministry to abolish the sahayak system with immediate effect.
Though the committee actually dwelt upon "stress management in the armed forces", in view of the mounting number of fragging and suicide cases in their ranks, it felt that utilising soldiers as sahayaks was also a contributory factor in raising stress levels in the lower ranks. "The committee hardly needs to stress that jawans are recruited for serving the nation and not to serve the family members of officers in household work, which is demeaning and humiliating," says the report, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
This, of course, is bound to evoke howls of protest from the Army, which has 35,495 officers at present out of an authorized strength of 46,614. Its argument is that an officer gets a sahayak basically for upkeep of his uniform, weapons and other equipment, as also act as his radio operator and "buddy" during combat. That is certainly true. But the fact also remains that sahayaks are grossly misused by many officers, from being made to walk the dogs, taking kids to school to even washing clothes. Moreover, senior officers often have two to three sahayaks, particularly when posted outside the Army HQ in New Delhi, in blatant disregard of rules which lay down only one orderly or batman for Majors/ Lt-Colonels and above.
"But a few black sheep should not lead to a time- tested, age old practice being scrapped. There is no rampant misuse of sahayaks, who are combatants meant to support the officers in the discharge of their official duties," said a senior Army officer.
Added another, "Strict action is taken if any misuse comes to notice in the Army. Visit a district magistrate’s house or any other IAS officer and you will see the real misuse of lower government staff."
That may equally be true but the parliamentary committee, during its study visits and interaction with jawans, learnt that some soldiers had even been deployed to work as sahayaks with families of officers. When the committee asked an Army officer specifically about this, he replied that the sahayak could be "attending the work at home due to reverence" even though he was not supposed to do it "technically".
After pay shock, Army officers set to lose batmen
Comment:
This topic has regularly figured in the Parliament ever since 1983. No one has been able to do any thing about it. Now as one turns an eye towards other government services, the gross misuse manpower by way of this 'colonial' custom is widespread in all civil services. It may be worth the while for "India Today" or for that matter any magazine or newspaper to do a bit of investigative journalism to determine the magnitude of this 'malaise' in India. Here are some obvious findings:
India has a feudal past. The Moghuls set these traditions, and the British merely carried them through. Removing 'Sahayaks' without replacing them with something to compensate the officers is neither possible nor, perhaps, desirable. The subject needs to be studied systematically by a social scientist in its entirety before attempting a radical change.
One may consider doing a full story on this. You will find many readers wanting to know the cost to the exchequer of this feudal tradition. The misuse of manpower in the offices is even worse. Nearly every officer (including Desk Officers) has a 'runner' to give him tea and to move files, and most senior officers have stenos and PAs who take print outs of the officer's emails. And of course, every one who is authorized an official car is also given a driver, so that the vehicle can be used by the family or even friends when he 'sahib' is in the office. This increases the running of the vehicle by a factor of two or three.
Quite frankly, one does not mind all this. However one regrets that most of the government officers are ineffective. They are rude and inefficient. Common observation: "When Mr X reaches his office, he first does all his personal work. He then does whatever jobs have been given to him by his friends. And, if at the end of the day, he has some time, he 'clears' his official files. The peons and the PAs are necessary because the officers dislike 'dealing' with the public directly.
Why then, Chastise and admonish only the Armed Forces for this feudal Custom when the whole Nation of Bureaucrats are grossly and blatantly guilty of this practise?
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Sahayaks are Soldiers
Dear Honourable Minister,
I am shocked by your statement to the Press that the Army needs to have a re look at the institution of sahayaks and the alleged undignified treatment of PBORs.
It looks like you have been briefed by your IAS advisors to make this statement just to put the officer cadre in poor light and also to create a rift in the Army between the PBORs and the Officer class. This is also to dilute the sting of widespread disenchantment with the Pay Commission and the disgust of having it reviewed by the same class of Govt servants that have created it.
It seems that you do not realise that by making the statement you are treading on dangerous ground by which you are undermining the very foundation of the Army viz. discipline. This can have disastrous consequences to the Country's stability. If ever you politicians and the IAS lobby succeed in creating instability in the Army the price the country will have to pay will be horrific. You might like to read the history of mutinies that have taken place around the world and the effect they have had on the country's stability .
Despite the serious blunders made by politicians in the past the Army and other Defence Services have stood firm in combating external and internal threats. By creating dissonance in the Defence Forces you are jeopardising the future of the country and the very jobs that politicians and the IAS have today.
We are aware that you are a relatively honest man. However if you look around your own establishment you will find that some of your personal administration is being handled by Govt employees which you are not entitled to. The other ministers are even bigger culprits in misusing Govt machinery for their own purposes and to line their pockets.
As far as the IAS is concerned you will find that the misuse of low level Govt employees by them is rampant. All you need to do is to visit the homes of DCs, district magistrates, even tehsildars: the higher the officer's status the worse is the misuse. You need to clean the Govt's Augean stables before you point a finger at the Army. We are far far cleaner, less corrupt and more dedicated in our work.
I have personally served in the private sector on infrastructure projects and have witnessed the rampant corruption and misuse of Govt machinery. The list is too huge to put down on paper. When you were the Chief Minister in Kerala you did not succeed in eliminating corruption or removing corrupt officials.
Please do not play politics with the Defence Forces, which is the last bastion of discipline, integrity and stability. As die hard patriots none of us service and ex servicemen would like India go the Pakistan way.
If your reputation for honesty and fairness is correct please display the courage to retract your statements. If your IAS advisers have the same courage they should put this and all other mails from ex- servicemen up to you.
These mails, statements in the press, the first ever protest rallies by ex- servicemen, media assessments should make you understand the dangers of implementing the Pay Commission recommendations that do not meet the aspirations of the over worked, underpaid, disciplined and self- sacrificing Defence Forces.
Jai Hind!
Col Vivek Bopiah (Retd)
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Officers and Orderlies
In the military, a soldier is assigned to an officer to attend to his small personal requirements such as prepare his dress, serve bed tea, keep his room in good order, etc. This sets the officer free to deal with more important issues demanding his attention.
A few years ago, someone thought that the term “orderly” was not in keeping with the democratic norms and decided to rename him as “Sahayak” though his range of duties and commitments remain the same.
Over time a strong relationship builds between the officer and his orderly (sorry Sahayak). The latter would go to any extent to make his officer comfortable. Thus an orderly of a Polish officer during World War II would bring hot meals from the enemy kitchen for his officer. He continued with this enterprise for quite some time till one day he was found out and taken prisoner.
When General Musservy came to India to attend the centenary celebrations of his regiment so did his long time Sahayak. The two went into a long hug with tears flowing down their wrinkled cheeks.
Sahayaks not only attend to the basic needs, but often proffer advice to the officer. While I was working as a staff officer, my Sahayak finding that I was not regular with the morning physical training would often lecture me on the need for an officer to remain physically fit. He continued lecturing me till the annual test of a five-mile run where I beat him by a wide margin. After that he never brought up the subject of physical fitness.
During training camps, the officers are accommodated in tents of various sizes, depending on rank. Camp equipment is an essential requirement, such as camp cot, a hurricane lamp, an odd stool or table and in the bath tent, the necessary items like foot board, bucket, mug, stool and a commode, better known as “thunderbox”, etc.
We were on one such camp when a young officer, straight from the academy, arrived late in the evening. He was assigned a tent and a Sahayak. On discovering that the officer had just his bedding and a small box with none of the camp essentials listed above, Sahayak was in a quandary.
The young officer after leaving his baggage with his Sahayak went to the officer’s mess. After dinner everyone moved to their respective tents and so did this officer. On opening the flap of his tent he found that his bedding was neatly laid out on a camp cot, there was a hurricane lamp, stool, a hanger or two for his clothes and the bathroom was fully equipped with a bucket full of water, “thunderbox”, etc. He felt happy at having come to a regiment where they took such good care of their officers!
He was immersed in these pleasant thoughts when someone shouted that his camp cot was missing and soon more protests were heard regarding other items. A search commenced and item by item were traced to this newly arrived officer’s tent. One by one these items were taken away with this officer helplessly watching the proceedings. Soon his bedding was on the floor and nothing else left with him.
Throughout these unseemly proceedings the officer’s Sahayak remained in the shadows and when every item was taken away, he was overheard telling another Sahayak, “Mein ta sub kuch ekatha kar detha se, par saab kolon sambhalya hi nahin gaya.” (I had collected everything, but the sahib could not consolidate his hold on these!)
Reproduced for benefit of Readers Article in Tribune, 26 March 2008
Lt Gen Harwant Singh, PVSM, AVSM (Retd)
A few years ago, someone thought that the term “orderly” was not in keeping with the democratic norms and decided to rename him as “Sahayak” though his range of duties and commitments remain the same.
Over time a strong relationship builds between the officer and his orderly (sorry Sahayak). The latter would go to any extent to make his officer comfortable. Thus an orderly of a Polish officer during World War II would bring hot meals from the enemy kitchen for his officer. He continued with this enterprise for quite some time till one day he was found out and taken prisoner.
When General Musservy came to India to attend the centenary celebrations of his regiment so did his long time Sahayak. The two went into a long hug with tears flowing down their wrinkled cheeks.
Sahayaks not only attend to the basic needs, but often proffer advice to the officer. While I was working as a staff officer, my Sahayak finding that I was not regular with the morning physical training would often lecture me on the need for an officer to remain physically fit. He continued lecturing me till the annual test of a five-mile run where I beat him by a wide margin. After that he never brought up the subject of physical fitness.
During training camps, the officers are accommodated in tents of various sizes, depending on rank. Camp equipment is an essential requirement, such as camp cot, a hurricane lamp, an odd stool or table and in the bath tent, the necessary items like foot board, bucket, mug, stool and a commode, better known as “thunderbox”, etc.
We were on one such camp when a young officer, straight from the academy, arrived late in the evening. He was assigned a tent and a Sahayak. On discovering that the officer had just his bedding and a small box with none of the camp essentials listed above, Sahayak was in a quandary.
The young officer after leaving his baggage with his Sahayak went to the officer’s mess. After dinner everyone moved to their respective tents and so did this officer. On opening the flap of his tent he found that his bedding was neatly laid out on a camp cot, there was a hurricane lamp, stool, a hanger or two for his clothes and the bathroom was fully equipped with a bucket full of water, “thunderbox”, etc. He felt happy at having come to a regiment where they took such good care of their officers!
He was immersed in these pleasant thoughts when someone shouted that his camp cot was missing and soon more protests were heard regarding other items. A search commenced and item by item were traced to this newly arrived officer’s tent. One by one these items were taken away with this officer helplessly watching the proceedings. Soon his bedding was on the floor and nothing else left with him.
Throughout these unseemly proceedings the officer’s Sahayak remained in the shadows and when every item was taken away, he was overheard telling another Sahayak, “Mein ta sub kuch ekatha kar detha se, par saab kolon sambhalya hi nahin gaya.” (I had collected everything, but the sahib could not consolidate his hold on these!)
Reproduced for benefit of Readers Article in Tribune, 26 March 2008
Lt Gen Harwant Singh, PVSM, AVSM (Retd)
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