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Valley must be saved
Back to work |
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Women in uniform
Pak Army as dominant factor
The three on two wheels
The armed forces are short of 14,244 officers, as stated by Defence Minister A.K. Antony in Parliament. As the security environment throws up huge challenges, manpower issues continue to plague the armed forces, especially the officer cadre and some
technical trades. The need to attract talent to maintain the forces’ cutting edge cannot be
over-emphasised.
Check exodus of technical manpower
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Valley must be saved
With the death toll continuing to rise in the unending violence in the Kashmir valley, both the Centre and the state government need to swing into action to bring the situation quickly under control. Monday’s high-level meeting in New Delhi, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, besides others, came out with the consensus that any political or administrative initiative cannot bear fruit unless people are prevented from taking the law into their own hands. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister believes that what is being witnessed in the valley today is more a political problem than anything else. And hence his demand for a political package from the Centre. There is a clear hint that the troubled state needs more autonomy. He also referred to the question of withdrawing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and creation of ample job opportunities to arrest the growing unemployment problem, contributing to the unrest in Kashmir. His observations deserve to be given serious thought. Surprisingly, he did not refer to the role of Pakistan’s ISI in fanning the trouble in the state. It seems quite logical that the ISI has devised a new strategy of instigating people to throw stones at security forces and resort to mass protests at every available opportunity to settle scores with India after it failed to destabilise Jammu and Kashmir through “fidayeen” (suicide) attacks. However, any outside agency can succeed in implementing its destructive designs only when there is strong resentment among the people against the government of the day. There is, therefore, need to first concentrate on the resentment factor. Removing people’s grievances as far as possible and reviving economic activity on a large scale through massive investment in development projects can work wonders under the circumstances. However, it must be pointed out that the Omar Abdullah government did fail to realise the gravity of the situation in the beginning, when it would have been easier to handle it effectively. By its lacklustre style of handling the crisis at the initial stage, it allowed the situation to worsen with every passing day. Omar must be wiser now. |
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Back to work
It is a matter of regret that Parliament could not transact any business last week because of disruption by the Opposition. The government was reluctant to give in to its demand for a discussion on price rise under an adjournment motion that entailed voting. While the Opposition’s conduct was unfortunate and undemocratic, the government’s failure to evolve a consensus on the issue contributed to the impasse. Now that Parliament is back to work, thanks to Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s initiative, members should rise above party considerations and make proper use of the monsoon session. If Parliament does not perform its main function of legislation effectively through proper debate and discussion in both Houses, it will lose its utility and significance. While it is not clear whether the current session would be extended beyond August 24 to compensate for last week’s loss, among the 59 bills listed for introduction in this session are 36 new Bills, including the Goods and Service Tax Bill and the Direct Tax Bill. Parliament will also examine the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill and the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill. Two contentious pieces of legislation — the Women’s Reservation Bill and the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill — are also listed. On March 9, the Rajya Sabha passed the Bill seeking to reserve 33 per cent of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies amid vociferous protests by the Samajwadi Party, the JD (U) and the RJD. As they continue to demand quota for the OBCs, Dalits and minorities within the Bill, the government needs to deploy all its skills to ensure its passage by the Lok Sabha in its present form. The Civil Liability for Nuclear Dialogue Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha in the Budget session, was referred to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Science and Technology following opposition from the BJP and the Left. Though it makes the operator exclusively liable in case of an accident, it is silent on the suppliers’ liability. In the wake of the recent Bhopal gas tragedy verdict, it remains to be seen whether the government would change its stand on the Bill. In any case, as all these Bills are crucial, forward movement is possible only if there is a political consensus. Consequently, the government and the Opposition should understand their collective responsibility in the larger interest of the nation and act accordingly. |
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Women in uniform
In a man’s world women have to consistently fight battles to get what should be rightfully theirs. Time and again they have to beat all odds to break the glass ceiling that men have created for them on grounds that are at best frivolous but otherwise reek of blatant gender discrimination. What else can explain the Army’s stubborn refusal to grant them a permanent commission? But now serving women officers in the Army have a reason to smile about as after seven years of legal battle the government has assured to give them a permanent commission in the legal and educational branches of the Army. Since a commission in the combat arms like infantry and armoured corps is still out of bounds for them, the government’s acceptance of their demand symbolises a limited, albeit, a significant victory. In times when women occupy unassailable positions of power in various domains, to deny them a proper role in the defence forces is not only illogical but also discriminatory. In fact, women in uniform may be in a minority but their presence is being increasingly recognised and accepted. Not too long ago, women in the Indian Air Force had won a long court battle that allowed them a permanent commission in all branches. The Border Security Force’s all-women battalion has even celebrated one year of its existence. What is also heartening is that women were part of the retreat ceremony at the Attari-Wagah border this year. The Indo-Tibetan-Border Police too has got its first women contingent. Why should the Army then have taken such an intransigent stance on women’s role? No wonder, the apex court pertinently enquired – if you can’t give permanent commission then why at all give short service commission to women in the Army? The Army which is besieged by shortage of officers should welcome women who have time and again proved their merit in various fields from business to banking to foreign affairs to politics. In a free democratic nation no one should be denied an equality of opportunity, more so on the basis of gender.
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For the sin ye do by two and two ye must pay for one by one! — Rudyard Kipling |
Pak Army as dominant factor
The recently concluded negotiations between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan got stalled, ostensibly at the behest of the Pakistan Army. As soon as the Army realised that the direction in which the talks were heading was not in keeping with its thinking, the Pakistan Army Chief, Gen Ashfaque Parvez Kayani, hastened to meet Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari who had to postpone their previously scheduled meetings with India’s External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna in order to receive the General. General Kayani has, therefore, emerged as the most important player in shaping Pakistan’s foreign policy. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, notwithstanding his taunts about Krishna seeking advice frequently from Delhi during the course of the negotiations, had to hold comprehensive consultations with his Army Chief before meeting India’s External Affairs Minister. General Kayani, who has managed an extension in service for himself, is the key element in Pakistan’s power structure and controls the mechanism for taking decisions on major policy issues. He even summons the civilian bureaucracy to General HQs for finalising agendas, particularly on matters of foreign policy. Grant of a second tenure as Army Chief is not without reason. The Gilani-Zardari combine has managed to pre-empt the chances of military takeover and ensured mutual safety for the next three years at least. The Pakistan Army cannot escape the blame for the India-Pakistan talks getting derailed. Even when the talks were in progress, the Pakistan Army was playing spoilsport. It kept the LoC alive by intermittent heavy firing and infiltrating militants in ever-increasing numbers. Whenever an Indo-Pak engagement takes place at the political level, something untoward happens that stalls the talks and ensures that the status quo ante is not disturbed. The Army is constrained to hold the Indo-Pak normalisation process hostage. It cannot let its primacy slip away. India must, therefore, remain a cause for concern for the Pakistan Army. Surprisingly, India always appears keen to engage Pakistan in talks despite Islamabad’s repeated attempts to strike at it in various ways. It was Pakistan that attacked India in 1947, 1965 and 1971 without any provocation. The Kargil misadventure of 1999 was planned by General Musharraf at a time when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was visiting Lahore for peace talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Could there be worse perfidy than this? If one is to consider the other means employed by Pakistan to destabilise India, the list is long and devastating. Attacks on Indian Parliament, Akshardham in Gujarat and the Mumbai terrorist killings in November 2008 are just a few examples of how provocative Pakistan’s behaviour has been all these years Pakistan has been exporting terrorism since the days of Gen Zia-ul-Haq with impunity. Despite promising repeatedly that it would not allow terrorists to operate from its soil, Islamabad has failed to honour its pledge so far. Pakistan’s proclivity to go back on its promise and deny its hand in most brazen acts of terrorism perpetrated by its state agencies bewilders India, to say the least. And yet India continues to show genuine restraint, extent of provocations notwithstanding. However, India is worried about its mounting security concerns. The military leadership in Pakistan has to be careful that it does not cross India’s threshold of strategic restraint. Pakistan may like us to believe that there is some sort of trust deficit between the two nations due to which their relations remain perennially tense. But the facts are different. Pakistan’s insatiable desire to cut India to size has led it astray on a path of compulsive hatred and animosity. The Pakistan Army in particular views India as its national enemy number one. It is not trust deficit, therefore, but the lack of strategic vision on its part due to which it continues to push India beyond a point all the time. Why does India fall in such honey traps and tow Pakistan’s line of trust deficit? It has been one-way traffic all the time. “Non-state actors” is yet another Pakistani invention. By calling its militants/extremists whom it provides all the succour they need as “non-state actors”, it washes its hands off any responsibility for their acts of subversion and mayhem in India. How can a government disown its responsibility when its citizens, operating from its soil and often under official patronage, try to destabilise a neighbouring country? How does India accept such ridiculous alibis from Pakistan? The problem with Pakistan is that it has not been able to reconcile itself to the asymmetries in our size, resources, population, GDP and comprehensive national power. India’s growing strategic capabilities, particularly after the civilian nuclear deal with the US and progressively increasing conventional force superiority should have convinced Pakistan about the rationale of India being the dominant South Asian power. But Islamabad refuses to see the writing on the wall. It continues to compete and seek parity with India. It fails to realise that it is an unequal match and, therefore, it is futile to aspire for parity. But as long as the military remains the dominant factor in Pakistan, the possibility of better understanding or any rapprochement with India is rather remote. It must be mentioned here that the Pakistan Government, a facade for a democratic dispensation, is in no position to take any action against the perpetrators of
26/11. The writer is a former Director-General, Defence Planning Staff |
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The three on two wheels
IN Delhi, the capital of perhaps the most liberal democracy of the world, you often see three uncouth-looking youth riding a two-wheeler at great speed, honking all the while, flailing their arms in ecstasy, letting all sorts of sounds to amuse the persons passing by and believing innocently that the traffic regulations do not apply to them. I tell you, they are a great sight. At least this is what they think of themselves. They seem to believe that the road all but belongs to them. After all, the person from whom they have borrowed the bike must have paid his road taxes. For some reason, they are always in a tearing hurry. Perhaps the bike is available to them only for a while and their idea is to enjoy their short ride to the hilt. They weave their way deftly through the traffic, riskily and noisily startling one and all. But this does not ruffle many feathers because we are such a patient lot that we can take all sorts of nuisance and noise in our stride. Even when much of traffic is not there, they drive in such a curly manner as would put a ‘nagin’ (female snake) to shame. Once I saw one of these threesomes riding a scooter in Dwarka sub-city of Delhi. They were driving on the wrong side, and, as usual, at quite some speed. To top it all, the one who was driving had a mobile tucked between his right shoulder and head and he was talking on it all the while. Often he felt the need of taking away his right hand from the handle to adjust the ever-slipping mobile. As luck would have it, a truck appeared in front of them rather suddenly. The truck was on its right side and more importantly, it was being driven by one who, after all, was a truck driver. He drove it close to the scooter in a manner that brought its riders to the mother earth instantly. Their mobile was cast quite a distance away. The bike grazed against the divider hissing angrily and finally skidded on the ground. Its riders fell front-rolling over each other in the manner of judo fighters. The truck driver got down, held them by the shoulder one by one and brought them to their feet. They now looked lost and bewildered. Someone recovered their mobile and put it in the listless hands of one of them. It took some time for their vacant looks to get into a properly seeing mode. Fortunately, there were no fractures. But they had bruises all over. However, it was not the bruises that bothered them. It was the visible damage to the borrowed bike that was worrying them no
end. |
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The armed forces are short of 14,244 officers, as stated by Defence Minister A.K. Antony in Parliament. As the security environment throws up huge challenges, manpower issues continue to plague the armed forces, especially the officer cadre and some
technical trades. The need to attract talent to maintain the forces’ cutting edge cannot be
over-emphasised.
Compared to other government establishments and the private sector, service conditions of the armed forces, which continue to receive step motherly treatment, are a lot more strict and difficult. Even the Supreme Court has opined that the government treats them as beggars. No wonder, therefore, that the well informed youth of today are not attracted to donning the military uniform, the prestige and love for it having considerably waned. A number of academies that came up in the 50s and 60s to train aspirants for getting a commission in the forces, have closed shop for this reason. Against authorisation of 23 officers, infantry units, for example, are having a posted strength of only 10 officers. Considering officers on courses, leave or temporary duty, those actually present in a unit at any one time are just five of six. This adversely affects administrative and training commitments. The situation gets accentuated for units deployed in operational areas like J&K. Substantially increased authorisation of 48 junior commissioned officers (JCOs) in a battalion is a welcome step to create more avenues of advancement for the ranks. For active operations, however, old, slow, less educated and less adventurous JCOs, at the fag end of their career, cannot fill the void in frontline leadership provided by young, dashing and adventurous officers. This is amply borne by the number of officer casualties during anti-terrorist operations. A colonel from 18 RR killed in June, a lieutenant colonel from of 37 RR injured on July 13, a major killed on July 14 and another major injured on July 15 are recent instances. As a tool of the government, the army is used in aid to civil authorities for all sorts of jobs, ranging from rescuing children from bore wells to combating natural calamities. It is now being considered to fight Maoists, which will further add to the demand on officer leadership for operations in a number of the Maoist affected states. Yet, the government seems to have a "chalta hai" attitude about the shortage of officers, perhaps in the belief that a conventional war with potential adversaries is a remote possibility. In this context, the leaders could do well to refer to erstwhile Deputy PM V. Patel's letter of November 7, 1950 (mentioned in Unsung Battles of 1962) to the Jawaharlal Nehru, wherein giving a detailed visualisation of China's long term designs in the region, he emphasised the need for preparing the country for a military threat from that quarter. Twelve years later in 1962, we got a rap from China, the obvious reson of which was the scant attention paid to his assessment and warning. The contents of that letter are all the more relevant now with resurgent China's emphatically increased assertions of its interests in Tibet, Arunachal and Ladakh, as also for its multifaceted collusion with Pakistan to change the balance of power with India. As regards Pakistan, its foreign minister Quereshi's consultations with Pak army chief a day before the July 15 meet at Islamabad and later his arrogant conduct during parleys, allegedly on behest of Gen Pervez Kayani who has now secured a three-year extension, represents the extent of the army's predominance in that country. Again, it is chiefly for the doings of its army that Pakistan has positioned itself as indispensable to the two world powers. To match this strategic success, the Pakistani army, having received massive US military aid may undertake any Kargil-like adventure to try and wash the stigma of its successive military defeats at India's hands. The ISI sponsored 26/11 strike in Mumbai may well be a feeler to gauge our capability and will to strike back in reprisal. As such, armed conflicts with our neighbours caused by a Mumbai like provocation or other geo-political reasons are a distinct possibility. In any case, the best way to avoid a war, as the saying goes, is to be prepared for it. The capability to hit or to hit back well, despite all what we possess in terms of armaments and equipments, calls for requisite leadership and that too in adequate numbers at the cutting edge of the armed forces. Unit commanders, as the proverbial wearers of the pinching shoes, should not just serve time to somehow complete their tenure of appointments, but formally represent in black and white about the shortages of officers. Such representations should then be processed up the channels for the services chiefs to ring the bell and ring it well in the concerned quarters to impress upon the government to make the armed forces effectively strong and kicking at the delivery ends. As a military power to count in the region, besides befitting our rising prestige and place in the international polity, we would certainly dissuade the adversaries from offending us at will. The need, therefore of attracting the aspiring youth to the armed forces by ensuring the warranted adequacy of pay, perks, pension and above all prestige for defence officers to be seen, heard and held in respect, cannot be over
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Check exodus of technical manpower Driving a car is easier than maintaining it. Moreover, the car and its systems are relatively less in number and simple as compared to an aircraft. A modern day aircraft costing hundreds of crores of rupees is a very intricate and complex machine. To maintain it in a fly-worthy condition round the clock is a challenging if not daunting task. Therefore, the men entrusted with this task have to be fully fit physically and more so mentally. This however is not the case, if one looks at the number of technicians seeking pre-mature release. Technicians are among the most important assets of the air force, constituting almost 65 per cent of the manpower. For the past many years, they are leaving in large numbers. There are many important aspects linked to this that need consideration. Firstly, they are leaving in the prime of their lives, at an age of 38-40 years. Secondly, they are leaving after an experience of 20 odd years, which is too good to be lost. Thirdly, those who are leaving are no dead-wood. In fact they are generally the best. They are skilled and have enough confidence that they will be able to settle in another job outside. On the contrary those who are not confident of themselves prefer to remain in service, keep cribbing about the not-so-conducive environment and continue giving their second or third best to the organisation. There may be many reasons why technicians leave, but the sad part is the organisation is apparently not interested in knowing these. This feeling arises from the simple fact that there is no system in place to obtain the exit feedback. The air-warrior gives his unwillingness to continue in service almost 30 months before he can hang his uniform. During this long period, he is not interviewed by his immediate section commander or the commanding officer or any other specialist from higher echelons. He is neither advised nor counseled against leaving or continuing in service. He is just asked by Air Force Records Office, which he visits for final clearance, to fill a two-page performa stating his reasons for leaving. What happens to this lone performa, no one knows. Upward communication in any organisation, is as essential as downward communication for proper functioning and growth. In fact many organisations regard it more useful and value upward communication from its employees, since it is considered good for growth as well as employee morale. The defence forces, at one point of time, used to employ this method to great use. There used to be "barakhanas" (lunch or dinner with subordinates in their mess) and "welfare meetings" that were meaningful. Subordinates were made comfortable and coaxed to come out with grievances, small or big, relevant or irrelevant. The fact that they were able to do so in the presence of their commanding officer, considered to be the father figure, gave them a lot of solace and mental satisfaction. All this is being done today, but apparently without any heart and soul in it and merely as a formality on the part of seniors. Even subordinates tend to feel uncomfortable at such meetings and in fact, are reluctant to bring out irregularities or disturbing points for fear they may be harassed and victimised. Another important area in which the air force has not done anything except making cosmetic changes is related to security duties by highly skilled technicians. Imagine technicians who are paid Rs 25,000 or so per month are required to do night duties guarding buildings and hangers. How effective they are in performing such duties is anybody's guess, but one thing is clear. Professional security personnel such as pre-maturely retired army personnel can perform such duties more efficiently. Yet another important point is that technical airmen seeking pre-mature release make a beeline for clerical jobs, preferably in banks, while there is a great shortage of trained technicians in civil airlines. There is no cell in the vast Air Headquarters to look in to this aspect and do the necessary tie-up with Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The air force is going in a big way to modernise its ageing fleet. More complex and state-of-the-art aircraft would require trained and skilled technicians. Before the new aircraft arrive, the air force needs to modernise its thinking process, look into the reasons for the large outflow of the skilled manpower and take timely steps to arrest the trend. Only then will it be able to "touch the sky with glory". |
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