NCC Seeks Infrastructure for Shaping Youth

The Minister of State for Defence Dr. MM Pallam Raju inaugurated the Conference of the Joint State Representatives and Deputy Directors General (JSR&D) of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) here today. JSR&D is a biennial event attended by the senior representatives from all States of the country and the NCC heads from the defence services of the respective State. As the control and conduct of NCC activities is a joint responsibility of the Central and State Governments in terms of policies, finances, administrative and other aspects, this conference provides a platform to plan, implement and coordinate the NCC activities in the entire Nation.

Inaugurating the conference, Dr Pallam Raju said, "NCC is responsible for moulding our youth into becoming responsible, disciplined and motivated citizens and for providing leadership in all walks of life. The curriculum followed by the cadets in their two years of association with NCC is extremely challenging and it is our responsibility to provide the required support. The benefit that we get is directly proportional to the effort that we put in. Disciplined youth with patriotic and secular values is the sine quo non to ensure stability and growth of the nation.”

The conference had very meaningful and fruitful deliberations on various issues concerning NCC, such as the need to provide suitable camping sites and other training facilities, raising of financial grants for training and administration of cadets commensurate with the contemporary price index, changes in the curriculum to meet and accommodate the present aspirations of the youth. The Director General, NCC Lt Gen PS Bhalla gave a detailed presentation on the progress and achievements of the NCC over the years. He apprised all States of the need to establish NCC Nagars that are well equipped with camping and training infrastructure, in various parts of the States. He also strongly presented a case for providing tangible and substantial incentives to NCC cadets so that the disciplined youth of unquestionable integrity and possessing core human values are well compensated for their dedication of time and energy to train with the NCC.
PK (Release ID :76165
NCC Seeks Infrastructure for Shaping Youth

Ex-servicemen to fill NCC vacancies

Punjab Newsline Network Friday, 18 June 2010
CHANDIGARH: Facing manpower shortage, the National Cadet Corps (NCC) is roping in retired armed forces officers on contractual basis to fill vacancies in units as well as higher establishments.

this was stated by NCC Director General Lt Gen RK Karwal, who was in city for a visit to the NCC directorate here, which looks after cadets from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

The NCC has a sanctioned strength of about 1,500 officers drawn from the three services and at present is short of about 25 per cent regular officers. “This deficiency is commensurate with the shortage of officers in the regular forces,” he said.
http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/ex-servicemen-fill-ncc-vacancies/21318The NCC has plans to increase its cadet strength from 13 lakh to 15 lakh. This will require additional officer strength of 140. About 100 of these will be re-employed officers.

“The Army, too, is engaged in raising new formations and the pressure on manpower is immense,” General Karwal said.

“Re-employing ex-servicemen in the NCC is a suitable means of meeting our needs and we have drafted qualitative requirements that retired officers must fulfil for joining us,” he added. While the commanding officer of a unit would always be a regular officer, re-employed officers would be placed as second-in-command or staff officers in group headquarters and directorates. Final approval from the Defence Ministry for re-employment was expected soon. Selected officers would be on a one-year probation before being approved for tenure of another four years and their remuneration would be at par with their last drawn salary.

“All three services have a crunch as far as the officer cadre is concerned. The minute the services can provide us with the supervisory staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force, we can increase them to almost any level,” the Ministry of Defence’s representative had stated before the committee.

According to the parliamentary report, there are 529 vacancies existing at present in the NCC. On the other hand, the Army is facing a shortage of 11, 456 officers, while the navy and air force are deficient of 1,439 and 1,343 officers, respectively.

General Karwal said there was a move to increase the vacancies reserved for NCC C-Certificate seeking a commission as officers in the Army. These vacancies were being increased from the annual 64 to 90 in the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun for permanent commission and from 100 to 125 in the Officers Training Academy at Chennai for short service commission.
Ex-servicemen to fill NCC vacancies
CHANDIGARH NEWS: NCC To Rope In Ex-servicemen

Distorted Kargil war history to be rewritten

Wrong history, wronged officer
Tribunal says generals distorted Kargil war account
SUJAN DUTTA
New Delhi, May 26: The history of the Kargil war should be rewritten because some generals distorted the records, the Armed Forces Tribunal has ordered in an unparalleled judgment.

The judgment was delivered after the tribunal concluded that Lt Gen. Kishan Pal, a superior of Brigadier Devinder Singh who commanded the Batalik sector, doctored Singh’s “battle performance report” and the “after-action report” that went into the writing of the official history of the war.

The official army history prepared by its military operations directorate is titled Op Vijay — Account of the War in Kargil.

Brigadier Devinder Singh had also predicted the pattern of intrusions by the Pakistan Army and by militants supported by it. He was injured during a battle while personally leading his forces.

Brigadier Devinder Singh was since forced to retire because, he had alleged, his “battle performance report” was fudged by the commander of the 15 corps, Lt Gen. Pal, and he was not considered for promotion to major general. The brigadier is now a senior manager in a private aviation firm. Pal has also retired.

The brigadier lodged a complaint within a year of the war but the tardy processes through which such entreaties are considered has taken nearly 10 years. That too has been possible after defence minister A.K. Antony facilitated the creation of the Armed Forces Tribunal to which thousands of military disputes pending in high courts have been transferred.

The Armed Forces Tribunal judgment made available today could open a can of worms because there are at least three other officers who served in the Kargil war — Brigadier Surinder Singh who was dismissed during the hostilities as the commander of the Kargil-based 121 brigade among them — who complained that their roles were either undermined or that their warnings were not heeded by superior officers.

Eleven years after the war that peaked around this time in 1999, the way it was fought, the lapses that allowed the intrusions into Indian territory and the role of superior officers are still hotly debated in military and strategic communities.

Not surprisingly, while the BJP-led NDA government that was swept to power in October 1999 celebrated the “victory” in the war with much fanfare, subsequent Congress-led UPA governments have kept the ceremonies low-key. Inside and outside the army, some people deeply suspect that a clutch of generals who were close to their political masters allowed the intrusions to snowball into a war and then manufactured a victory that came about with US pressure.

At the height of the war, then defence minister George Fernandes predicted “victory” in 48 hours but the hostilities lasted 80 days and cost the lives of nearly 550 soldiers and young officers. The then director general of military operations, Lt Gen. Nirmal Chandra Vij, who later became army chief and currently heads (with cabinet rank) the National Disaster Management Authority, also went against military protocol to go to the office of the BJP to brief its leadership on the war.

The tribunal judgment notes that the role of Brigadier Devinder Singh, who commanded the 70 infantry brigade in the Batalik sector, was not acknowledged in the 15 corps “after action report” by his reviewing officer, Lt Gen. Pal.

The report was accepted by the “senior reviewing officer” — northern army commander Lt Gen. H.M. Khanna — and forwarded to army headquarters’ military operations directorate.

Before the hostilities peaked, in a wargame in the 15 corps headquarters in Srinagar, Brigadier Devinder Singh, acting as the enemy commander, had forecast the pattern of intrusions along the Kargil front covering the sectors of Batalik, Kargil-Drass and Mushkoh.

Even in the middle of the war, during a visit by the then army chief, Gen. V.P. Malik, the brigadier assessed that the number of intruders in the formidable heights of his sector would be in the region of 600 regulars of the Pakistan Army.

This was contested by Lt Gen. Pal who put the figure at 45 irregulars (militants), a ridiculous number, as was concluded from the recovery of enemy arms and munitions from Jubbar and Khalubar Ridge.

It was probably such an assessment that goaded the government into thinking that the heights could be cleared “in 48 hours”.

Likewise, in the army headquarters military operations directorate’s Op Vijay – Account of the War in Kargil, Vol III, it was noted that the deputy in the 3 infantry division (under the 15 corps), Brigadier Ashok Duggal, “controlled the Stangba-Khalubar Ridge operations”.

But the commander of the division, Maj. Gen. V.S. Budhwar, contradicted this and told the tribunal that Brigadier Devinder Singh was in command and that Brigadier Duggal was temporarily (for 72 hours) moved to the eastern flank of the Batalik sector “to assist and co-ordinate”.

Brigadier Devinder Singh was recommended for a Mahavir Chakra (the second highest award for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the face of the enemy). But after Lt Gen. Pal dealt with his “battle performance report” and approved the “after action reports”, Brigadier Devinder Singh was awarded a Vishisht Seva Medal (for distinguished service of an exceptional order), usually given for peacetime duties.

A brigade usually comprises about three battalions but after Brigadier Devinder Singh and his 70 infantry brigade was moved to the front from counter-insurgency duties in the Kashmir Valley, there was a time when he was commanding as many as 11 battalions, two more than the number usually allotted to a division.

A division is headed by a major general and a corps by a lieutenant general. The commanding officers of the battalions filed affidavits and gave written depositions saying that they were under the command of Brigadier Devinder Singh.

It will be exceptional for the army to now turn the wheel back and restore to Brigadier Devinder Singh his awards and, may be, a promotion. He himself told the tribunal that he wants his military reputation restored because that is what matters most for a professional soldier.

Army headquarters can either accept the tribunal order or challenge it in the Supreme Court. Brigadier Devinder Singh can also go to the apex court if army headquarters does not accept the ruling. All these steps will be in uncharted territory because there is no precedent. But the controversy over the assessments of the Kargil war is set to be stoked again after the tribunal judgment. More so now that the tribunal will also hear the prayers of three more officers – Brigadier Surinder Singh (sacked for allegedly failing to gauge the depth of the intrusions), a battalion commander, Col. Neeraj Mehra, and Major Manish Bhatnagar who was court-martialled and thrown out of service for allegedly fleeing the battlefield during operations in the Siachen sector.
Wrong history, wronged officer
Tribunal says generals distorted Kargil war account

Military officers who write well spend less time fighting the crazy Bureaucracy

The Regimental Rogue
The Young Officer and Staff Duties By Michael M. O'Leary, Captain, The RCR

Time, time, and the saving of it, should be the soul of every order and instruction, of every report and of every message. - J.F.C. Fuller, 1943

The line officer despises the lowly "staff officer," and rues the day he might become one himself. But every officer, regardless of rank, position, or responsibilities requires the fundamental skills on which the capable staff officer depends. These skills are best acquired when opportunity presents at the most junior levels, for they are much more difficult to master (or fake) if early years of commissioned rank are spent avoiding putting pen to paper, for this, when dealing with the bureaucracy on behalf of one's troops, is where the rubber meets the road.

Even the most enthusiastic platoon commander, between assaulting enemy objectives and leading troops to hell and back, must be ready to write a brief, comprehensive and clear memorandum ensuring one of those troops for which he is responsible receives an entitled benefit or is identified for an opportunity. Whether writing Performance Evaluation Reports, letters of recommendation, Summary Investigations, or requests for adventure training funds, young officers are never far from occasions requiring the development of their personal military writing skills. As painful as it may seem at the time, each time a Company 2IC, OC or Adjutant, bleeds red ink over a carefully crafted memo it should be seen not as a condemnation of effort, but as a chance to refine one's abilities. No less important than indications of MPI and individual hits on a rifle range are to an infantry rifleman.

Officers who write well spend less time fighting the bureaucracy and more time training with resources they managed to convince the staff to provide them. Those who see staff duties as a dead or unneeded art spend a lot of time running in circles and finding things unobtainable when the good old boy net fails them. Easy to set the blame on those others when one's own staffwork is non-existent, even if it means you've set aside one's own commitment to doing the best for the troops.

In this age of e-mail and instantaneous passage of information and queries, it is hard to develop a concrete understanding that good staff duties are as important as ever. Let me set forth one example:

In the days of hand-written drafts, and clerk-typed correspondence, a staff officer might take a day or two to mull over the perfect wording for a set of four or five questions to another unit or headquarters. Passing this to a clerk, it might be a day or two before the typed version of the draft was returned. By then, the staff officer had time to consider the issue, and then to view the content, structure and tone of the letter with fresh eyes. Amendments might be in order, to either remove or insert points, or even to completely alter the tone or format of the letter. Extra work for the clerk perhaps, but it did ensure that the final product was as good as the staff officer could produce - in this case the staff officer's contribution was the intellectual effort to create and revise the document, the clerk's was to prepare it in the requested format. Must read: click here to continue reading...

Reunion and parting are emotional experiences Soldiers endure

WHEN WE LEFT THEM BEHIND
The other day, while surfing, the channels my attention got arrested on the scene of the 70s movie VAJETE where the son, Angad (Kunal Kapoor), a flight cadet is leaving for his advance training. The scene has the first class compartment in the back ground with the parents, Shashi Kapoor, the father and Rekha the mother are facing the son. All professionals and masters at emoting. the father, composed with a stoical continence hiding the turmoil inside, the mother has her face depicting the whole gamut, overwhelmed with a plethora of diverse emotions: pride in her son, her affection for him, pain of looming separation also apprehension and uncertainty of the future, while the son is torn between feelings of leaving the parents and the excitement of joining his comrades soon.

The scene then cuts away to the sitting room of the parents in Bombay. Both a bit distraught: as Kapoor hands over a coffee mug to Rekha who breaks down in a flood of tears with the gates of pent-up emotions opening wide. ‘Let me Cry, Let me Cry,’ she wails, between her uncontrolled sobs as Kapoor tries to comfort her unsuccessfully.

The scene did hit some emotional cord deep inside reminding once again that the fate of the servicemen is that they have to leave the loved ones behind more often than not for the frequent calls of duty.

On such occasions, overwhelmed and preoccupied with my own feelings, emotions, excitements and apprehensions, I was only mildly conscious of the turmoil going on inside of those whom I was left behind over and over again many times over a span of 30 years of service in the Army...

Possibly the first time such a situation arose was when I left along with my brother for Lucknow. I do not recall the occasion but I must have been too excited of the prospects ahead of me of joining the university, to notice the feelings or emotions of my parents.

Things started becoming clear and more specific beginning with my receiving call for training at the erstwhile NDA now known as IMA in 1954.

`Today I have sold my son!’ exclaimed my mother with tears in her eyes; a simple, affectionate and loving lady from a village. My father had just signed the bond required before a cadet could report at IMA. The truth of what my mother had said dawned on me now and I realised that one has to pay a heavy price for wearing ‘OG’.

I could only wave half heartedly at my father that day. Unaware as to his feelings at that time and on my way to Kathgodam from Naniatal from where I was to catch the train to Dehradun. He was too busy controlling an incipient riot-like situation on the road down with the ongoing strike by the roadways employees and waved me on to push ahead quickly without stopping.

Every time I left my parents behind to report for duty, I would look back, at the threshold of the house, to notice a melancholy demeanour and a faraway look in my mother’s eyes as if she was trying to discern what lay in future albeit a “matter of fact” demeanour on my father’s as he came to see me off on the bus stand or the railway station as the case may be.

Later another set of those being “left behind” were formed when I met my future wife Rosy. She along with the family had come to see me off at the Dehradun bus stand. As the bus started off towards Saharanpur Rosy was hidden from my eyes but not from my mind. I was in a dream, lost in my thoughts of the short time spent with her, totally bereft of any awareness or knowledge of her feeling at that time; those that I was to learn much later, post her demise, from her jottings in my diary.

The picture of hurt in Jeet’s eyes, Jeet as I called her post marriage, and her pained expression accompanied me all the way back to Pathankot to join duty, when I had to leave immediately after the delivery of our daughter and also later when, like a good soldier, I abandoned my wife of less than two years and the child of nine months or so to join the unit by 29th October 1959 in far away Assam. ‘Abandoned’ was the word she used then and again many times later to remind me of her mental state on being left behind. What she was feeling at that moment of separation, of being torn from the father’s lap, in her child’s mind and limited experience of world is more difficult to describe or visualise.

The sad lament of the engine's whistle more so as heard in summer nights while sleeping on the terrace of our village home, had a lot more to do with both Jeet and me in later life. It would be reminding us night after night of my impending departure, causing so much pain, by the same train till one late night I would leave her behind tearing my-self from the last embrace, words unsaid to answer the call of Army. I can only visualize her feelings at that juncture. However, I was utterly miserable walking in that dark night, each step taking me farther and farther away from her, silent and lost in my own thoughts with no words being exchanged with the person accompanying me to the station to see me off.

The tenure in Armament Research and Development (ARDE) was immensely enjoyable and satisfying and of a settled life. Then I took the risk of changing track once again; changing from a scientist to a soldier once again. I left for the long journey from Poona, in the last week of December 1970, to the far east of India, this time to Kalimpong in West Bengal. By this time the children were of an age that they would have experienced their own feelings on the parting.

These partings and reunions happen off and on at varying intervals during the service career. A fate ordained for those who serve and their families, so others can sleep in peace and in the comfort of the feeling of security, unaware of the traumatic experience at every of one of those frequent partings.
Brig Lakshman Singh (Retd)

Indian Army unattractive career for the youth?

Indian Army- an unattractive career for the youth?

Major problems

The Indian Army is grappling with an acute shortage of officers. Despite the recession, it has been unable to attract more talent and contain their outflow. The army’s sanctioned strength is 46,615 officers, but it has been facing a shortage of 11,238.In 2008, the army was able to take in 1,500 officers – but over 1,800 left the force. The army now faces a shortage of 11,238 officers.

India’s army, the world’s fourth largest, is failing to attract enough youngsters with “officer-like qualities” for its 1.13-million strong Army. The authorized strength of Indian Air Force is 12,136, whereas the Indian Navy has an authorized strength of 8,797 officers. Indian Army is facing a massive exodus from its ranks, with more and more officers opting for premature retirement. The problem was aggravated when about 3,000 officers sought premature retirement in the last three years. Most of them moved to the lucrative corporate sector. Inability to retain the trained personnel is a major issue.

Minor prolems

Today’s knowledge-based youth seeks not just superior salaries, but the freedom to retain mobility in the career market.

Poor service conditions and the other compensatory packages too make career in Army an unattractive one.

Innovative strategies to improve talent scouting for army officer positions

Today, there is no freedom of mobility in the job market for an army officer. The exit policies are archaic and the officers are akin more to a bonded labour, than a government functionary. The bogey of national security has allowed the military to get away with blatantly illegal and unethical exit policies for its soldiers for a long time. The long-term damage of an exit- barrier ending up as an entry-barrier has not even been considered by the military.

The armed forces need to view their splendidly trained officers as national assets rather than bonded labour. It needs to be understood that once a young man weighing various job options knows that he is free to leave the army whenever he wants to, he might well be attracted to getting trained and groomed as a leader in a military institution, if only in the realistic hope that it might enable him to get a better job in the market than he would get after doing simple graduation/post graduation from a university elsewhere. If he chooses to leave after training, the Army should be happy that it has created a quality national asset who will prove his worth somewhere else. That limited, insulated mentality has to be shed to internalize and accept this thought. Though some might leave immediately after training, many will choose to serve as officers for varying lengths of time

Presently, cadets passing out from the NDA get a graduation degree. They have to undergo further training in the training institutes of respective services before they become officers, but their academic qualification remains graduation. This additional training period plus an additional year or so of distance education after commissioning should enable all officers to get a post graduate degree in some disciplines. This will not only help increase their self esteem but also equip them to get better jobs and even pursue further studies should they choose to at any time.

The SSC acts as the support cadre to the regular cadre, which is twice its strength. A new proposal seeks to reverse the proportion. According to an internal report the shortfall of 11,000 army officers would be bridged in 20 years. The proposal is to take two short service officers for every permanently commissioned officer. This will help make up the shortfall in due course without affecting the promotion aspects caused by the pyramidal structure of the army. The army has sought to make SSC more lucrative by increasing the number of serving years from five to 10.

Another proposal is to give them a two-year study leave at the end of their service to help them find a better second career option.

Another probable reason for the Armed Forces not getting the right type of youth for their officer cadre is that youth from rural background and less developed states like UP and Bihar are not able to qualify in the selection process it being very scientific and tough. Instead of waiting for end product in these areas, the Armed Forces may identify the potential candidates when the students are in Eighth standard through the medium of National Cadet Corps and then groom them to come up to the right standards. These young minds should be taken to various remote areas where Army is deployed on adventure trips and made to see for themselves how the love for the country and adventure makes the adrenaline flow faster in the blood stream. Here, NCC can play a stellar role.

Remove stagnation at the middle level and thus improve promotion opportunities of the officers, close to that of civil and police services; After entering the army, an entry level officer must wait up to 10 years before donning the flashes of a lieutenant-colonel. Improve opportunities for officers and men to be able to spend more time with their families; re-establish social status and warrant of precedence of the armed force officers at the centre and state levels; compensate adequately the increased level of personal risk and hardships in the field areas; bridge salary and compensation gap between the private sector and government services, to the extent possible.

The Armed Forces will have to emulate the big IT companies and set up their own training academies— take the relatively rougher diamonds and polish them in-house. In other words, instead of trying to look for people with “officer-like qualities”, the Armed Forces will need to create them.
Posted by Nimmy on April 12, 2010
Read the full dicussion:
Indian Army -an unattractive career for the youth?

The Value of Moral Courage

Courage is a highly admired virtue. Most often we associate the word with physical prowess or bravery. But there's another form of valour that's much more important because it comes up more often. It's called moral courage - the willingness to face not physical danger but emotional pain, disapproval, financial insecurity, or uncertainty rather than compromise an ethical principle.

Moral courage is essential not only for a virtuous life, but a happy one. Without courage, we have no control over our lives. Our fears corrode our spirit and confine us like a barbed wire fence. That's why they say a coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave man but one.

Integrity is essential to self-esteem and the admiration of others. It requires us to put our comforts, possessions, friendships, and even jobs at risk in the defence of deeply held principles.

It takes moral fortitude to be honest at the risk of ridicule, rejection, or retaliation or when doing so may jeopardize our income or career. It takes boldness to be accountable and own up to mistakes when doing so may get us in trouble. It takes backbone to stand tough with our kids when doing so may cost us their affection.

Mark Twain said, 'Courage is not the absence of fear but the resistance of fear, the mastery of fear.' To paraphrase President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the enemy is not what we fear; it is fear itself. If our insecurities and anxieties cause us to lose confidence in the power of virtue, we will lose something very precious.

People with moral courage rarely get medals, but it is the best marker of true character and a virtue others can be proud of.
The Value of Moral Courage
Related articles:
No Medals for Moral Courage By Brig NB Grant
The U.S. military gives no medals for moral courage by John T Reed

Shortage of Officers: Can we win a war?

Present Shortage of Officers is 15,000 which is about 30% of the authorised strength
Authority and initiative are devolved to junior level leaders who must be relied upon to problem-solve rather than react according to fixed operating procedures because a war fighting doctrine premised on creating confusion and disorder in the enemy’s organization cannot be centrally controlled. If there is shortage whom do we train? Can the red tabs take on the Junior Leaders role?

Will the shortages of Junior Officers affect Indian Armed Forces ability to evolve and also succeed in a Military Strategy to defeat our adversaries?

The past five years have seen all three services articulate doctrines for their vision of the future of war. On the whole, this is a positive development in that a promulgated doctrine can provide a guide to help ensure that the services’ training, procurement and personnel policies are in line with their concept of future military operations. The problem is that military doctrines cannot be developed in a vacuum. In the absence of strong political guidance as to the nation’s strategic goals and the conditions under which the armed forces would be employed, the armed services are being forced to improvise – which can strip doctrine of many of its useful functions if they lack inter-service coordination and develop ways of fighting that are incompatible with the political objectives of the country’s leadership.

Bollywood Style Planning: Indian planners believe that they can use the incidents like Mumbai attacks as an excuse for the limited war backed by extensive “knock out” diplomacy to give in by Pakistani political leadership against world pressure. In the state of confusion of political leadership they can go for limited war and can achieve their military objectives. Ignoring the basic difference between a commando action and this kind of limited war. Very few politicians are well-versed in military affairs, and the actual expertise in defence matters of the Ministry of Defence’s IAS Bureaucrats are patchy at best. The Armed Forces have to do better to train Politicians as well if we wish to evolve a Military Doctrine to blunt our adversaries!
Armed Forces short of nearly 15,000 Officers: RM

Army’s officer intake hits new low

Tuesday, February 16, 2010
By Saurabh Joshi
The number of officers being commissioned by the Indian Army annually has fallen for the second consecutive year.

Figures revealed to StratPost indicate that the army commissioned 1374 officers in 2009. While in earlier years, the army has ordinarily commissioned some 1750 officers every year, which is also below par by 250, the intake fell sharply in 2008 to 1506 and has continued its slide in 2009.

Significantly, 2008 also saw a substantial deficit in the annual net intake of officers, with the number of officers being commissioned falling far lower than the number of officers leaving the service due to superannuation, premature retirement or resignation. While in 2004 and ‘05, the army saw a net gain of some 400 officers each year, this number dropped to a little less than 200 in 2006, to a figure of -22 in ‘07 and more steeply to -294 in ‘08.

This is the result of a steep drop in the number of officers commissioned in 2008 from previous years and a concurrent, gradual and continuing increase in the number of officers leaving the service. The number of officers leaving the service annually increased from a little over 1300 in 2004 to 1800 in 2008.

While 2009 did see a net gain of 83 officers, in actual terms, worryingly, the number of officers being commissioned in comparison to earlier years has continued its fall, in spite of the circumstances of the economic recession as well as the enticements of the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. The army has also taken measures in the past to increase recruitment, like easing benchmarks for recruitment and allowing a ten to fifteen per cent over-subscription of the capacity of the military academies in accordance with operational imperatives.

Also, although the number of applications for premature retirement and resignations fell in 2009, largely due to the recession and the recent pay hikes, the army has further tried to stem the flow of officers out of the army by curtailing approvals of such applications. While around 57 per cent of the applications for premature retirement were approved in 2006, the figure fell to around 36 per cent in 2009. Similarly, while almost 50 per cent of resignations were approved in 2006, only 18.6 per cent were permitted in 2009.

Although the second Officers Training Academy (OTA) coming up at Gaya with a likely capacity of around 700, may contribute to beefing up the army’s officer intake, sources in the army say it will take up to 2014 to be established and may be too late for urgent action to be implemented to bolster the strength of the officer intake, especially since existing academies are already running below capacity.

These figures are likely to worsen the shortage of some 11,500 officers in the 1.2 million-strong army that has a sanctioned officer-strength of over 46,000 officers

Army’s officer intake hits new low

Leadership Qualities, Governance and Hockey

From The Tribune, Chandigarh of 15 Jan 2010.
Rites of passage by Vijay Oberoi (click here)
A very nice story by Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi Retd.

You all might remember a few odd cases where some of our colleagues were indicted/ faced action for LMF or lack of moral fibre. Well, the very young hero of this tale seems to have a lot of MF as well as OLQ.

Two more items of interest from The Tribune, Chandigarh of 15 Jan 2010
Reform Governance and Rejuvinate Hockey (click me)
Regards,
Cdr K K Punchhi (Retd)

Armed Forces: Best and worst of times

Dear Brig Kamboj,
To put the record straight, I am impelled to share some experiences with you and my friends.

Last week, I was invited to a party organized by an officer who is due to assume command of his unit shortly. He told me that the army is in very good shape and the morale of the soldiers is high. And I could see that from whatever I saw around. On my way to his house, I had noticed a sprinkling of cars in the JCOs quarters and most NCOs possess motor cycles. The standard of service houses has improved a lot and you can see air conditioners popping out of several windows.
Later during the week, I met the son of my sister in law, who has joined his father's unit, 161 Field Regt. He has been selected for the Staff College in Paris, and he is undergoing the language course in preparation for the same. He told me that the selection process was completely fair and I do not have to say that he sees rainbows and sun peeping out of the clouds all around him.

And then yesterday evening I was with a group of elderly veterans who are convinced that our ungrateful nation has 'forgotten' the sacrifices made by the soldiers and that the military service is condemned to indignity. They complained about the inequity in pensions, the absence of a war memorial and military museum in the country and the apathy of the polity. The 'babudom' is of course the root cause of all that is evil in our 'saare jahaan se achha, Hindostan' In short, they fear that a debacle of the kind we suffered in 1962 is inevitable.

I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between. If Charles Dickens were to describe the situation he would perhaps say: "It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, it is the age of wisdom, it is the age of foolishness, it is the epoch of belief, it is the epoch of incredulity, it is the season of Light, it is the season of Darkness, it is the spring of hope, it is the winter of despair, we have everything before us, we have nothing before us, we are all going direct to heaven, we are all going direct the other way"- in short, the period is so far like the good old days, when we were in service, that some of our noisiest authorities insist on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
With best wishes,
Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)

Married to the Military

My dear Chander,
I have been off the newspaper radar essentially because of these moves (he was away to USA for some time).
Though I have written a longish piece on Kargil which will appear in the Indian Defence Review. A 'middle' that appeared in the Tribune from my wife is linked below.
Regards.
Harwant
Lt Gen Harwant Singh, Former DCOAS, Chandigarh
Married to the military by Amrita Harwant Singh: click me

Bravery of Indian Defence Personnel

Dear Sir/Madam,
A nation, if it wants to retain its freedom, must honour its martyrs and soldiers. We Indians have been guilty of grave neglect of our martyrs, ex-servicemen, soldiers and their families. We hardly remember those who have given their lives or limbs for the country. The perfunctory homage paid on Independence Day and other such occasions is not enough. A salary, a pension, the grant of a piece of land or the dealership of a petrol pump are not a sufficient reward for the loss of a dear son, brother or husband. Can we pay the price of our soldiers' and martyrs' blood by some currency notes or a pension?
Our soldiers fight and die for the honour of our country, yet we forget them after a few months or years. For example, on July 2006, the death anniversary function of Kargil War hero, Param Vir Chakra recipient, Captain Manoj Pandey, was attended, apart from the hero's family, only by some members of an NGO. And this is the case of someone who was awarded the highest honour of India and whose statue has been installed in a public park named after him. What of those who did not win bravery awards but died fighting for us?
I came to know of four families whose only sons have sacrificed their lives fighting for India. Their families are lonely and desolate. The public does not know about them or remember them. A soldier loves his family. While he is fighting for us, his family is left to face the innumerable difficulties of life alone. Should we not make committees to visit the soldiers' families and help them cope with the problems of life in the absence of the head of the family? Such a move will give solace and strength to our soldiers. Assured that their families are being looked after, they will give be able to give their full attention to the task of protecting the country.

We, the citizens of India, must pay our debt of gratitude to these soldiers, ex-servicemen and martyrs' families. Should not the Nation integrate these families and shower love and respect on them? If we honour them we will be honouring Mother India through them. Because of them we and our children sleep in peace. Here is a simple scheme to accomplish this:
"Honour Our Soldiers"

We should get the names from the District Soldiers' Boards of each district the names of all the soldiers, ex-servicemen and martyrs of that district. Let the schools invite and honour these soldiers, ex-servicemen and their families, as well as the martyrs' families of all ranks, in their 15 August, 26 January and Annual Day functions. They may be presented with flowers or cards. They should be requested to narrate to the students and other participants the stories of their bravery and valour. Hopefully, they may be invited by Lion's Clubs, the Rotarians, the Arya Samaj Schools, the Ramakrishna Vidyalayas etc. If you like the scheme please initiate and implement it in your schools.

Later, as the movement spreads, the more conscious amongst the public may invite them to their family functions. This scheme is immensely advantageous. Through its implementation the public will become conscious of the safety aspect of the country and of the sad reality of martyrdom. Through this simple scheme our students will imbibe bravery and patriotism and our hearts will become large and break out of the cage of narrow self-interest.

The cost of printing extra invitation cards and the necessary postage will hardly be much. Thus we can pay our homage to those whose valiantly guard our frontiers. Let us know them, love them and cherish them.
I hope Pondicherry will pioneer this scheme.
In the service of Mother India,
Ms Shyam Kumari

Ms Shyam Kumari was born in Muzaffarnagar U.P. in 1934. There she studied in the Vedic Putri Pathshala and S. D. Degree College up to her B.A. In 1965 she passed her M.A. from Lucknow University. She has read widely in Hindi and English literature, as well as religious and spiritual books.

Since her childhood she had a yearning to find God. In 1969 the Divine Mother accepted her in Sri Aurobindo Ashram and appointed her a teacher in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education.

Hundreds of her poems, lyrics, stories, plays, literary and social essays, both in English and Hindi, have appeared in national and international journals. She has also written and published more than 30 books, some running into several reprints. Many of her books have been translated into Hindi, Oriya, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati. She has written path-breaking rhymes and story books for children. In 1998 she launched a Hindi quarterly magazine, Swarna Hansa which she, single-handedly, writes, edits and publishes.

In 1998, she established Vraja Trust, a public charitable trust, and is at present its managing trustee. In 2001 started Sri Aravinda Sanskrit Vidyalaya, in Pondicherry, India, to impart free Sanskrit education to children and adults alike and she is its Chairperson. In 2005 she launched the, "Let Each School Adopt a Hero" scheme.

Books By Ms Shyam Kumari
Our Heroes: Param Vir Chakra Recipients Series
1: Major Somnath Sharma
2: Naik Jadunath Singh
3: Company Havildar Major Piru Singh
4: Lance Naik Karam Singh
5: Second Lieutenant Rama Raghoba Rane
6: Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria
7: Subedar Joginder Singh
8: Major Shaitan Singh
9: Major Dhan Singh Thapa
10: Company Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hamid
11: Lieutenant Colonel A.B. Tarapore
12: Lance Naik Albert Ekka
13: Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal
14: Major Hoshiar Singh
15: Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon
16: Naik Subedar Bana Singh
17: Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran
18: Captain Vikram Batra
19: Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey
20: Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav
21: Rifleman Sanjay Kumar

Kargil War Heros: Tribute

Armed Forces faces shortage of nearly 15,000 officers

July 15th, 2009
NEW DELHI - The Indian Armed Forces is facing an acute shortage of nearly 15000 officers, specially at the level of captain, major and Lt Colonel who actually lead the soldiers in the field.

Defense Minister A. K. Antony in a written reply to Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi and Dr. Gyan Prakash Pilania in the Rajya Sabha today disclosed that, the Army is in need of 11,387officers, Navy required 1512 and the Air Force needs 1400 officers.

Antony also informed members that during the last five years, 4300 officers of Army, 1177 officers of Air Force and 1096 officers of Navy had sought premature retirement or had resigned for various reasons. Antony said the Ministry is taking various steps to motivate personnel to continue in service and to also attract talented youths to join the Armed Forces.

All officers, including those in Short Service Commission (SSC) are now eligible to hold substantive rank of Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel after 2, 6 and 13 years of service respectively. The tenure of SSC officers has also been increased from 10 years to 14 years Antony informed the house.

A total of 750 posts of Lt. Colonel have been upgraded to Colonel towards implementation of A.V. Singh Committee Report (Phase-I).

Further, 1896 additional posts in the ranks of Colonel, Brigadier, Major General and Lieutenant General and their equivalent in the other two Services have been upgraded towards implementation of A.V. Singh Committee Report (Phase-II).

The implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission with substantial improvements, in the pay structure of officers of Armed Forces will also go a long way in making the services more attractive, Antony said. (ANI)
Armed forces faces shortage of nearly 15000 officers

Inference: Are we heading for a top heavy inflated Army deflated of Junior Officers who lead men in battle? The bureaucrats scheme of degrading the command and control structure of the Armed Forces is truly bearing fruits by implementation of AV Singh Committee recommendations.

Musharraf and our national shame

2009-05-12 11:35:11
Major General Mrinal Suman, AVSM, VSM, PhD, commanded an Engineer Regiment on the Siachen Glacier, the most hostile battlefield in the world. A highly qualified officer (B Tech, MA (Public Administration), MSc (Defence Studies) and a Doctorate in Public Administration), General Suman was also the Task Force Commander at Pokhran and was responsible for designing and sinking shafts for the nuclear tests of May 1998.

One of the most disgusting sights seen in recent times was media coverage of General Pervez Musharraf's visit to India. A leading magazine had invited him as a distinguished speaker.

It was repugnant to see media personnel attempting to outdo each other in fawning over him. He was treated as a peace loving and moderate leader who is a well wisher of India. One TV personality went to the extent of eulogizing him as a beacon of peace for the sub-continent. Another correspondent had no hesitation in calling him as the most erudite Pakistani leader who is held in high esteem in India.

Not one media personality questioned him for initiating Kargil aggression, lest he be offended. No one cared to ask him about numerous Indian prisoners of war rotting in Pakistani jails. Nor was he asked to explain reasons for his failure to stop terrorist training camps and infiltration of jehadis into India. Worst, he was never castigated for the most barbaric and inhuman treatment meted out to Lt Saurabh Kalia and his patrol.

One wonders what thoughts must have passed through the minds of the parents of the late Lt Saurabh Kalia when they saw Indian media going overboard in lauding Musharraf as a sagacious leader and a man whom India can trust. Lt Saurabh Kalia of 4 JAT Regiment was just 22 years old when he was captured by the Pakistani Army on 15 May 1999 along with five other Indian soldiers. Saurabh's patrol was on the Indian side of Line of Control and was the first to detect Pak intrusions in the Kargil area. The patrol was kept in captivity for three weeks and their bodies were handed over to India on 9 June 1999. The state of their bodies bore testimony to the brutal torture which they had been subjected to.

The Pakistanis had indulged in dastardly acts of inflicting burn injuries on them with cigarettes, piercing their ears with hot rods, removing their eyes before puncturing them and breaking most of the bones and teeth. They even chopped off various limbs and private organs of the hapless Indian soldiers besides inflicting unimaginable physical and mental torture. After 22 days of torture, the brave soldiers were ultimately shot dead. A detailed post-mortem report is with the Indian Army.

Pakistan is a signatory to Geneva Convention that governs treatment of Prisoners of War. Article 13 mandates - "Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest." Article 17 further stipulates that no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever.

Musharaf was never asked by the media to explain as to why the perpetrators of such heinous acts have not been brought to book to date. But, why blame media alone? Shockingly, inhuman and dastardly ill-treatment of gallant Indian soldiers has not stirred the conscious of India as a self-respecting country. The Government's response has been totally muted and apathetic. No political party has considered it worthwhile to pressurise the Government to demand explanation from Pakistan or take up the issue with international bodies for crimes against humanity. Although Indian human rights activists and bodies never tire themselves of crying hoarse over trivial and even concocted allegations against the Indian security forces, they did not find the abominable conduct of Pakistani soldiers worth condemning. As regards the Indian public, initial anger, indignation and revulsion have given way to indifference.

Instead of hauling Musharraf before international law commissions for crimes against humanity, India allows him to roam free in India to propagate his anti-Indian views. Even in the recent conclave, he humiliated India by calling terrorists as freedom fighters. It was nauseating, to say the least, to watch the media grovel before a vicious and remorseless enemy. Worse, the media scrupulously avoided asking him any discomfiting question, lest he be embarrassed.

Great nations are distinguished by their self-confidence and self-respect. India fares miserably on both counts. Had such treatment been meted out to Israeli soldiers, Israel would have made Pakistan pay dearly for it. In case US soldiers were brutalized in this manner, the US would have obtained custody of the guilty and tried them in the US for war crimes.

Our response to a matter of national shame has been indifferent and apathetic. It is only a soft state like India that utters a few protesting murmurs and thereafter receives the main perpetrator as a guest of India. It is inconceivable how Indian media could honour a man who dishonoured its soldiers.

Inviting Musharraf to participate in conclave of statesmen and thereafter giving him prime time coverage should make every Indian hang his head in shame.

A soldier is always prepared for the supreme sacrifice. Despite the immense pain of losing a son/husband/father, the family members of every martyr draw consolation from the belief that dying for the country is the ultimate honour for a soldier. However, they expect countrymen to remember and value their contribution to nation's security. Soldiers draw strength from the recognition received from their countrymen.

Major General Mrinal Suman, (retd) AVSM, VSM, PhD directs the Defence Acquisition Management Course for Confederation of Indian Industry and heads its Defence Technical Assessment and Advisory Service. A prolific writer, he is often consulted by policy makers and the Parliamentary Committee on Defence, and is regularly invited to address various industrial chambers in India and abroad. The views expressed here are his own.
Musharraf and our national shame
Related Reading
Captain Saurabh Kalia
Capt S Kalia: Kargil War Hero

Officers to become Colonel after 15 yrs of service

2 May 2009, 0322 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: In a major decision impacting the age profile of Army, Navy and Air Force commanding officers, the government on Friday fixed 15 years of commissioned service for substantive promotion to the rank of colonel, instead of the existing 20 years.

"The government today fixed 15 years of commissioned service as the minimum qualifying service for substantive promotion to the rank of colonel in the Army, captain in the Navy and group captain in the Air Force. The decision of the government has been received at the Service headquarters," sources said here.

Until now, lieutenant colonels in the Army, commanders in the Navy and wing commanders in the Air Force had to put in a cumulative qualifying service of 20 years after commissioning for promotion to substantive colonel and equivalent ranks. However, they became unit commanding officers even with just 16 years of service, as per the cadre management policies of the tri-services, but had to wait for another four years to be confirmed as substantive colonels and to receive the salary of a colonel. In effect, it would mean that there would be no more ‘‘acting’’ ranks of colonel, captain and group captain in the services.
Officers to become Col after 15 yrs of service

PBORs left out of the loop- No Lateral Employment after limited career in Armed Forces
Date: Saturday, 2 May, 2009, 4:28 PM
dear col
can someone think of our jawans/sailors/airmen who do not even become of havildar/ petty officer/ sergeant even after putting in 15 yrs colour service in our defence forces and they remove uniforms in pay band 1 only?
for NAVAL ASSOCIATION
V A THEVAR
MCMECH(P) Retd
SECRETARY

Short Service Commissioned Officers- Guinea Pigs left high and dry!

This was a very important point which has been raised by Sachin.
The short service commission officers(SSCO) are given second grade treatment... Probably the ESM organisations and the Government have started diluting their outlook towards this breed of commissioned officers who form the backbone in operations as young officers, sacrifice their youth and walk off from service when they actually need to leverage the benefits of service perks...
As per my understanding the paucity of officers in the armed forces is in the levels of Lt Cols and below. As an SS officer you can serve up to the rank of Major. Ideally in the army you are worth your salt only in your young days to lead the men into war and CI-Ops... thereafter you are just administering the daily routine which anyone can do. So an SS officer is a guinea-pig who will be sorted out during the younger days of his life and then gradually shown the way out after 5/10 years......and when he comes out after 5/10years he will be in his thirties with a family to look after. He will get nothing but a useless CSD facility and nothing more.....the army can use him during the prime of his life and then leave him...no pension benefits required to be paid......so a win win situation for the army but a lost situation for the officer. He is left high and dry..... If Directorate General Of Resettlement (DGR) or MOD wants to retain it's image of serving the interests of only the regular officers there is no problem at all. It's a question of policy, but my point is.. nothing should be hidden from the people of this country. The People must know the facts after having served for several years most of us are left in the lurch without any thing solid with us. Its high time to know that how many times our ESM Organizations have raised their voices against the disparity and let's hear their view about the SS officers and let the public know about it let us know the reason why an officer after having served for 5/10 years is not entitled for ECHS just because he was a SS officer? Let's know why a SS officer is denied entry into Defence Officers' Institute (DOI) or DSOI Delhi for that matter, where as the son of Mr Mulayam Singh is invited to become the member of DOI in Lucknow. What great has been done by Mr Akhilesh Yadav apart from marrying the daughter of a Lt Col and being a person of controversial nature. We have given our youth and fought for our Nation with the same valour and courage as anyone else did. We do not deserve this kind of treatment.......I do not want to victimize any one but believe that the nation must know about the outlook of the Army towards it's own ex officers.
Praveer Gahlaut
(This is from the website Jatland.com where 1964 visits till date have been made on the thread started by me on ORP.)
Needs introspection.
Brig Lakshman Singh (VSM)
One Rank One Pension (OROP) for Defence Pensioners- Jatland Forums

Short Service Commissioned Officers- Some pertinent questions.
1. Percentage of officers in each rank who hold short service commissions?
2. What is the estimated cost of training short service commissioned officers, including pay, allowances and maintenance costs to exchequer, prior to their posting to units/ Bns/ Sqns, and the period of such training?
3. The percentage of discharged short service officers who, within six months of discharge, obtain employment in the Public Sector firms/ industries, obtain other employment, and fail to obtain employment respectively?
4. For what minimum period prior to discharge these officers are posted to units near their home with a view to giving them opportunity for seeking other employment or training?
5. Number of SS Officers absorbed in Government service including para military forces?
6. Does the Nation have a scheme to use their services or is it that the resources spent on them is wasted after terms of engagement are over?

Army an unattractive career option: Kapoor

Press Trust of India
Monday, February 09, 2009, (New Delhi)
Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor feels the armed forces are an "unattractive" career option for the country's youth and is looking at steps to counter that image.

"It does worry the Army chief....very much," he said when asked about the Army's plans to fill up the 11,000-odd vacancies in the officer cadre and the dwindling number of youth wanting to join the armed forces.

"The armed forces have, after a study, come to the conclusion that the army is not too attractive as a career for a young man, who is looking for employment...for good productive life," Kapoor said in an interview.

To reach out to the youth, the Army has in the recent times proposed to make the Short Service Commission (SSC) an attractive option for the youth by encouraging them to go for additional qualification such as a Doctorate or an MBA to enhance opportunities in the private sector when they leave the force.

It had also moved another proposal to send the SSC officers for higher command courses to enable them to continue as permanent officers. These courses were hitherto offered only to regular officers.

Another plan was to provide the SSC officers 'gratuity' for the 14-year service in the Army that would make some funds available to them as a buffer when they left the service.

Patriotism as a motivation for the youth is not so strong today as it was soon after the country's independence, Kapoor said, pointing out that priorities of the youth were very different now.
More: Army an unattractive career option: Kapoor

No Communalising Armed Forces

No serving military personnel can have truck with a political party, leave alone a radical group. Therefore, the alleged involvement of a serving military officer of the rank of a Lt Col in the Malegaon bomb blasts and possibly association with a radical organisation, have not only sent shock waves within the military, but in the entire country, as well. Both as a rule and tradition the Indian military has always operated above and beyond the political and communal boundaries. Therefore, this incident is too serious to be overlooked. Military will have to carry out detailed investigations to determine if the concerned radical group or any other communal element has made any inroads into the rank and file. Commanders must remain alert and be on the lookout for signs of disaffection against any community amongst their officers and troops. They must act with the greatest promptitude and vigour to firmly put down any such tendency or inclination.

Yet the military cannot remain completely isolated and unaffected by the goings on in the country. Though terrorists have no religion, for they kill people of all faiths, including women and children, yet the media has been painting only a particular community in black colours. Often the investigating agencies to cover their own failures and to show quick results pin the blame on the community whom the public already perceives as the culprit. This creates heightened feeling of distrust and hatred against that community. In such conditions military personnel cannot remain completely isolated and not get influenced by prevailing feelings of animosity against the targeted community.

To protect military officers and troops from the virus of communal contagion and the dangerous fallout from this disease, good leadership and firm handling is necessary. Any signs of communal, regional or community bias surfacing amongst the troops and officers must be put down with a heavy hand. Loyalty, commitment and involvement of officers and troops with the national cause and country’s well being must transcend caste, regional and religious barriers. During periods of civil disorder officers and troops operate without any regard to the religion of the miscreants.

It would be relevant to recall just three incidents in the military, which relate to the manner of handling of such cases After Operation Blue Star, mutiny by few Sikh soldiers, incidents in Punjab and the killing of the PM coupled with the manner of coverage of these events by the media had led to a feeling of animosity towards the Sikhs. In this some of the military officers and troops too developed communal bias against Sikh troops.

At Kota two Sikh jawans and their wives were severely beaten by troops of another unit for no valid reason, what-so-ever One of the men had to be placed on dangerously ill list (D I list) while the other on the seriously ill list (S I list). This led to the court martial of the concerned officer (OC advance party) , dismissal of the Subedar Major (an Arjuna award winner) two other JCOs and three ORs. When some Principal Staff Officers at Army HQ recommended disbandment of ‘ class units’ (with the Sikh units in mind), general Sunderji would not hear of it and firmly put an end to this move...

The third incident relates to a senior officer (a Maj Gen) inflicted with communal virus On noticing that the guard at the army commander’s residence was from a Sikh unit, he ordered that it be replaced immediately. So a new guard was posted. The abrupt removal of guard escaped the army commander’s notice.

A few days later the Subedar Major of the battalion whose guard had been prematurely replaced arrived at the flag staff house to meet the army commander. He told the army commander that he had come to meet him without the knowledge of his commanding officer. He sought the reason for the removal of guard from his unit so abruptly: within few days of its duty at the flag staff house! He wanted to know if the army commander had lost faith in the troops of his battalion.

The army commander expressed concern at this abrupt change of guard It was without his knowledge and that he had failed to notice the change. He told the Subedar Major, that he did not want to prematurely replace the guard presently on duty, but once it’s tenure of duty of one month was over it would be replaced by the guard from his battalion. He thanked the Subedar Major for bringing this occurrence to his notice.

Then the army commander (a Coorgi officer) enquired as to who had ordered the removal of the previous guard and the reasons for the same. The concerned Maj Gen, presumably gave his reasons for the change. Those reasons made the army commander put an end to this officer’s otherwise promising career. There is no room for complacency in dealing firmly with such matters in the military.

The Indian military is the very epitome of national integration It’s strength lies in its cohesiveness, the quality of its officers and their ability to build on this unity and pan India character. Military is the country’s ultimate instrument to defend its survival. If it fails then there is nothing but Nadir Shah.

Lt Gen Harwant Singh (Retd)

Acknowledgement: We thank Gen Harwant for sending us the transcript. Good lessons of military traditions to be inculcated in our young officers.

SCPC Debate: The holy warrant of precedence
Why is the State unconscionably shoving its boots on the face of the military? What explains its downhill journey in the warrant of precedence?

Lately, in an article, retired Lt Gen Harwant Singh cited why the defence officers were being hard-bone-by. The bureaucracy, taking advantage of political corruption, kept the pot stirred by raising the odds of a military coup, and worked up this fear to emasculate the status of the top echelon, at the cost of the nation's overall strategic disadvantage.

A committee of secretaries revises the warrant of precedence periodically. Gen Harwant Singh writes that as the chief of defence staff in 1981, Gen O P Malhotra raised the issue of downgrading of service officers in the warrant of precedence (this has direct bearing on the pay).

In response, the committee of secretaries recorded, "Military officers were placed unduly high in the old warrant of precedence, presumably as it was considered essential for officers of an army of occupation to be given special status and authority. Mind you, it is not Mirwaiz Umar Farooq but the bureaucrats that called the Indian Army as an army of occupation!

Of course, Gen Malhotra riposted that the pliant colonial bureaucracy (civil servants and police) was the tool of oppression wielded by the Raj to quell the freedom movement, not the army. In fact, the strike of naval ratings in Bombay on February 18, 1946, that spread to major cities was what signalled to the British that it was time to pack their bags and decamp.

Gen Harwant Singh rightly concluded that it was highly malicious for anyone to decry the Indian Army as an army of occupation.

Once the political class colluded with the bureaucracy, there was no stopping the descent down the warrant of precedence. Perhaps the mandarins still see the military as an army of occupation, which should explain why they are pulling out all the stops to belittle it. Hence their effort to further throttle the services through the SCPC.
Heed the cry of the armed forces
Tailpiece: Henderson- Brooks report will spill the beans and belie if there is any truth to brand Indian Armed Forces an as "Occupation Force". The report after 40 years is still classified SECRET. The bureaucrats do (not) want the citizens to know the truth about the onslaught inflicted on the Indian Armed Forces?