The army had for decades been a ‘holy cow’, untouched by media. It had remained an enigma, ensconced in its cantonments, out of the public eye. It was visible, performed its tasks, was present when required and vanished quietly back into its cantonments. This slowly changed with time. Its exposure in the public domain, involvement in the insurgency in Kashmir […]
Events in the past one year has brought the military, mainly the army, into limelight for all the wrong reasons. While it has continued with its tasks of maintaining national security, dominating the Line of Control (LoC), ensuring a near normal environment in Kashmir thus enabling the government to commence dialogue through an interlocutor, it has been witnessing criticism from […]
The genesis of the article is derived from the vast flow of anti-army chief comments on social media, mostly from the veteran community. This article is not intended to defend any individual or institution or to assuage the support being provided by the veteran community, but to project realities, which are being glossed over. The present army chief assumed his […]
A recent report of senior decorated veterans being manhandled and pushed away from their protest venue at Jantar Mantar by the Delhi police, was largely ignored by the media. However, social media was abuzz with the news, including videos of police highhandedness. The last time it happened was pre- Independence Day of 2015, when police roughed up aged veterans, even […]
I had written a fortnight ago, in this column, on the ‘equivalence commission’. It is now back in the limelight, even before the earlier controversy had died. The previous commission formed in 2016, post the MoD issuing a controversial letter degrading military officers rank structure, was tasked to establish equivalence between them and the civil cadre. The commission had internal […]
Shortage of officers in every branch of the armed forces continues, despite captivating advertisements, variety of service options and interactions with the younger generation in almost all educational institutes, spread across the country. If the existing shortfall and the fact that only the military advertises, conveys a message that youth are unwilling to join, or the army is no longer […]
Two major inputs regarding the case in the supreme court on the Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU), granted to all other central services, but the military, are presently doing the rounds on social media. The first is a report in the press highlighting the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the armed forces HQs locking horns over the draft equivalence committee report. The […]
Lowering the status of the army has been an ongoing process since Independence. At the time of independence, there was mutual dislike between the polity and the army, which was exploited by the civil services. The army had been a tool with the British to curb the freedom struggle, in which all political leaders of post-Independence had been a part. […]
A recent article published on First Post, authored by Parth Satam, quoted figures of suicides in army units, from where he deduced that the army does not care for its soldiers. The article entitled, ‘Menial Jobs, poor rations affect jawans, but army does little to boost morale, says 2007 internal report’ ( http://www.firstpost.com/india/exclusive-menial-jobs-poor-rations-affect-jawans-but-army-does-little-to-boost-morale-says-2007-internal-report-4140977.html) was based on half-truths and complete misinterpretation […]
There has been rising discontent within the armed forces on reports of likely degradation in their status as against other central services. There are fears of it being downgraded to Group B services, rather than the Group A service, it presently is. Over decades, governments under influence of a powerful bureaucracy, have been lowering the status of the armed forces, […]