With the existing
relations between the Ministry of Defence and uniformed people, having hit its
nadir, is akin to the good old India
–Pak talking at each other through the media. That it is an unhealthy trend is doubtless
but the ramifications are extreme, which unfortunately are not being
appreciated by the powers that be. Similar happenings of 62 led to the Chinese
debacle where the politicians, babudom and military leadership combined to
ensure a military defeat. That the soldiers and junior leadership did their
jobs with glory notwithstanding everything being against the men in uniform –
equipment; clothing; weaponry; infrastructure; higher direction and
deficiencies in every aspect of war waging. Reasons are reasonably well listed
out in some of the books though India seems to be unable to declassify the
Brooks Henderson report till date.
The reason for this
state of affairs is in the zone of speculation – its ministry controlled by
clueless babus who advise the defence minster. The rationale for this can be
traced back to the period post-independence when the Pakistan Army and host of
other nations were being taken over by the army because of inadequacy of
political leadership amongst the newly independent nation states. To avoid such
an occurrence in India, the defence forces were side-lined and kept away from
the core decision making system of the country. This wisdom was kind courtesy
the babus. Since the defence forces did not contribute to the vote bank collectively,
politicians had little inclination to manage the army. The babudom fully
exploited the fears and took charge. They being equally clueless devised their weapons,
viz, processes rather than results became the prime focus and barricaded the polity and the military.
With little expertise on defence matters, the battle of control shifted to
delaying proposals and assuming complete authority without accountability.
Defence forces also had little say post the humiliation of 62 for which it was
fully blamed and could not retort and slowly and steadily the
strangulation kept become worse. In
spite of the grand victory of Liberation of Bangladesh defence forces had lost
almost all the ground in decision making.
It’s not the babus
alone who are to be blamed. The
uniformed leadership must share the blame more than the babudom. The defence
leadership totally failed to build any influence with the politicians and
were quite happy dealing through the babudom and thereby permitted erosion of advice
and access.
The leadership also failed to use the veterans, politicians who
understood matters military; media and think tanks to shape military matters.
The mobilisation of veterans intelligently done had the potential of
transforming the society. With their presence across the country, a
disciplined, young dedicated manpower was available. This could have been used
to spread awareness; monitor implementation ; get a genuine feedback and
act as a force multiplier to ward off militancy threat and finally train the
youth of rural areas in various fields like sports, army induction training;
training of home guards; police; NCC, provide backup for disaster management as
the first response force. These men were left to fend for themselves in very
harsh environments. A great opportunity was lost; ideally it should have been
spearheaded by the men in uniform, whereas there was utter failure. Even the
political leadership failed to tap this resource. This would have ensured
influence, relevance and tremendous contribution towards nation building.
Defence forces also failed to ensure lateral move into civil services which
would have ensured mutual better understanding and harmony. From blame and
confrontation it would have been cooperation and optimisation.
We have reached a sorry
state of affairs wherein the veterans have to go for rallies and dharnas to ask
for basic rights or correcting the ills due to various reasons, primarily, pay
commission anomalies. The failure of the government to address the genuine
issue is an unhealthy sign; unfortunately, the solution is expected to be found
by the creator.
What needs to be done?
Chiefs of three services
need to be one on one with PM and RM and must call on the Supreme Commander
occasionally. They must interact in confidence rather than through the babus or the media.
The service chiefs must
get the requisite security inputs and be part of all defence related meetings/committees
rather than be represented by defence secretary. NSA/RAW/IB inputs must be
shared. Strategic assets and internal threats like LWE must be professionally
advised, harmonised and optimised by the Defence forces.
Defence forces chiefs
should have major involvement in PSU/DRDO/Defence labs/Ordnance factories
dedicated to services.
Matters regarding
welfare of serving and veterans must be headed by services rather than
insensitive babus. This organisation must mobilise the veterans as society
builders as advocated earlier. The potential of veterans in nation building
needs to be exploited.
Forces must be willing
to cross attach officers and men with sister services in other uniforms and
civvies.
The overall defence
working hierarchy needs transformation. The RM of course has to be a
political chosen representative. The defence secretary should be someone who is
subject expert rather than pick up a clueless babu. Integration of Ministry may
be the way ahead. It could be a QR, for Director having attended Staff College;
HC/HDMC for JS and NDC for Secretary Defence. This will to some extent reduce the knowledge deficit of decision makers.
The trust deficit
between the defence and babudom could have disastrous ramifications for the
nation. To resolve the issue it may be time to constitute a committee of wise
men who have no vested interest in the turfs with known integrity and professional
wisdom and at a stage beyond lure to come up with options. All the warring
parties could be told to give their inputs and the committee can call anyone
from security, management, retired or experts for inputs. This has been
followed by certain developed countries with very positive outcomes.
The morale of any force
takes time to degrade and it cannot be restored overnight. Army still carries
the scar of 62 debacles; therefore, to prevent reoccurrence of humiliation, both sides need to get the act together.
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