The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, September 12, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

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Army short of officers by 28 pc
From T. R. Ramachandran
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Sept 11 — The Army, which has been facing an acute shortage of officers, particularly at the lower levels, has woken up to the exigencies of the situation and expects to bridge the gap in two decades by 2020.

There has been intense criticism that in the past two decades the good crop of officer material is looking for other more lucrative avenues in the private corporate sector where the perquisites are infinitely better.

What armed forces experts find rather depressing is that even families with a proud history of being a part of the Army for generations are finding it extremely difficult to propel their wards to opt for a career in the uniformed services.

The argument of the armed forces brass that the service conditions and wages have improved vastly in the services compared to what it was in the 60s and 70s has failed to ring a bell in attracting the best talent.

This is evidenced by the fact that the Army faces an acute shortage of officers to the extent of a staggering 28 per cent. The ratio is indeed high despite bringing down the passing marks at the Staff Selection Board (SSB) interview.

The Army is endeavouring hard to justify this policy on the ground that merit is the sole criteria for selection. Besides, the SSB interview is the toughest for any aspirant keen to join the armed forces.

In a candid acknowledgement, Lt-Gen H.S. Bagga, Director-General of Manpower Planning and Personnel Services at the Army Headquarters here told mediapersons the deficiency of officers had reached “alarming proportions.” He attributed this to what he described as “wastages,” a euphemism for premature retirement, resignations and deaths.

The deficiency is rather worrisome in the lower ranks which puts much more workload on others with the same level of service. Then, the protracted anti-insurgency operations in some border states and coming to the aid of the civil administration in crises have also compounded the problem. It was pointed out that in the past six years the number of battalions posted in Jammu and Kashmir has gone up threefold.

Though General Bagga did not hold forth on the problems connected with the high attrition rate of both officers and jawans doing duty in virtually inhospitable conditions at heights varying from 14000-18000 feet where temperatures range from -20 to -40°C it is no secret that the Army has now to mount a vigil on some of these heights in the Kargil region of Jammu and Kashmir.

General Bagga said while the Ministry of Defence was considering measures to make the Short Service Commission more attractive, the army had also to adopt a pragmatic approach to bring down the officer deficiency to accepted levels. To this end the Army was working out ways to reduce the training period, improving the infrastructure and optimising the capacities of training institutes.

The figures pertaining to shortage of officers compared to the sanctioned strength as released by the Army revealed that the problem could be oversimplified and required to be tackled expeditiously. In a 13-year span, the shortage of officers has shown a steep upward graph by touching a record high of 30.11 per cent (13,751 officers) as against 17.31 per cent (7930 officers) in 1986. For the current year the Army was woefully short of 12,883 officers which amounted to 28.18 per cent.

Of late, the Army has been plagued by controversies because of cases of suicides. One of the reasons for the cadets taking this extreme step is allegedly due to lowering the standards of recruitment at the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun.

This was hotly contested by General Bagga, who maintained that “our selection process has no parallel in any other profession and is among the best in the world. The suicides were unfortunate and an inquiry is on but such things happen in the best institutions elsewhere too,” he added.

Fernandes enquires about Roopali
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Sept 11 — Less than 24 hours after the plight of a Kargil martyr’s abandoned daughter was highlighted in The Tribune, the Union Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, today called up to enquire about her whereabouts and condition.

A call was also received from the Defence Public Relations Officer stating that the Army chief wished to visit the girl during his ongoing visit to the city.

The girl — Roopali Suresh Jadav — is currently putting up with a social worker, Mrs Shreshta Mehta, in Sector 19 here. She, however, has no plans of staying back. “I want a job, not sympathies,” she asserted. “I have come here in search of work. If I do not get it, I will leave”.

Earlier during the evening, Mr. Fernandes called up The Tribune to express his concern. He enquired about the health and whereabouts of Roopali. The Defence Minister also requested the newspaper to ensure that the girl remained with the social worker till the needful could be done. The Minister then called up Mrs. Mehta before giving a call to The Tribune once again.

A large number of social organisations, defence personnel and other prominent residents also kept The Tribune office phones busy throughout the day.

Roopali’s father had died in the battle for Kargil and her mother had died of shock soon after. Abandoned by her family, the 25-year-old handicapped girl had claimed that she was turned out of the house by relatives without even a single penny. The compensation, she had added, was also taken away by the relatives.

Find martyr’s ‘abandoned’daughter: HC
By Our Legal Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Sept 11 — Mr Justice V.K. Jhanji of the Punjab and Haryana High Court taking suo motu notice of the news report headlined “Abandoned daughter of Kargil martyr” which appeared in The Tribune, today issued notice to the Union of India and Chandigarh Administration for September 18 and directed the UT Home Secretary to verify the facts in the report and submit the findings on the next date of hearing.

The Judge also directed the Home Secretary to find out the whereabouts of Rupali, the alleged abandoned daughter of Capt Suresh Jadhav, who laid down his life in Operation Vijay in Kargil, and the proper arrangement for her stay and maintenance until the next date of hearing.

It was alleged in the report that Roopali, an M.Com student, was thrown out of her house by her uncle after he took away the money her mother received after her father’s death. It was reported that the mother of Roopali had since died, then a relative grabbed the ex gratia she got from the government. Later the relatives started ignoring her and her brother. Besides, her brother also died mysteriously. She alleged that he used to work throughout the day and was not given food.

The Judge observed that after going through the report he was of the view that it was the duty of the nation to take care of martyr’s wards and also to see that in absence of parents they were not ill-treated by society.

Mr Jhanji while treating the report a public interest litigation (PIL) desired to see that steps were taken by various agencies, especially in this case.