Disband the Indian Army

A shattered army
Pay commission has ill-served the nation
by Lt. Gen. (retd) Vijay Oberoi


THE Indian army, used here generically to include the navy and the air force, has now reached the end of its tether, with the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations for the defence forces. The citizens of our country have not really understood the magnitude of despair amongst the rank and file of the army. There is great anger and a high degree of frustration at every level, but particularly at the level of the PBORs (personnel below officers' rank) and the junior and middle level officers. Both constitute the 'cutting edge' of the defence forces.

India has a hundred per cent volunteer army. Officers and men have joined the army for a variety of reasons, the main ones being the honour that comes by wearing the uniform; a desire to serve the nation in the best way possible; family traditions; and of course, suitable remunerations that are compatible with the highly turbulent conditions of service.

Its ethos has been painfully nurtured by the hierarchy of the army for the last 60 years, despite major provocations from many quarters, especially the self-serving bureaucracy, which the country has to unfortunately endure. The latter has consistently prevailed on the political leadership and subtly instilled fear amongst them that the army needs to be kept down, lest it also follow what militaries in the immediate neighbourhood and in the extended region have done, in usurping power by force.

This is despite the unflinching loyalty the army has displayed in even the most difficult circumstances. It is surprising that our political leadership, which is so astute in politicking, nurturing vote banks and diffusing highly volatile situations of all types, has been unable to see through this game of the bureaucrats. Or is it that they deliberately do not want to understand it?

The institutions, structures, ethos and working environment built painstakingly and prevailing in the army, ensures that all ranks fully understand their duties, obligations and power-equations in a democracy like ours. In simple terms, it means that the nation has nothing to fear from the army. The earlier it is understood by the political leadership and all other instruments of the state, the better.

The defence forces came under the purview of pay commissions with the Third Pay Commission and since then every pay commission, loaded as it was by the bureaucracy, has worked very hard to ensure that there is a gradual decline in the pay, emoluments and the status of all military personnel.

All requests by the hierarchy of the defence forces to set up separate pay commissions for the military have been studiously ignored and at the behest of the bureaucracy, even a representative of the defence forces has not been permitted to form part of any of the pay commissions. This, when nearly 40 per cent of the government servants under the purview of the pay commission are defence forces personnel!

That the defence forces have tolerated this skewed arrangement speaks on one side of the perseverance, patience and discipline of the defence forces and, on the other, the utter insensitivity of the political leadership to the only institution that works effectively in our country. The Sixth Pay Commission has of course taken the cake for their utterly callous approach to the guardians of the nation.

There is no need to emphasise what has already been stated regarding the highly adverse effect the recommendations of the pay commission will have on the intake of officers in the defence forces, except to state that every middle level serving officer I have talked to has either already put in his papers or is planning to do so shortly.

The disastrous implications need not be amplified when it is well known that our fighting units are already functioning at 50 per cent strength of officers. The PBOR, unfortunately, do not have the option of leaving the service, because they will end up with no jobs, considering the present situation in the country of gross unemployment and under-employment. However, in the long run, the impact of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission on the PBOR is bound to be a fall in standards of the recruits who will be willing to serve for the peanuts thrown at them by the Commission.

The government's response to the large-scale resentment has been the usual ploy of forming a committee! First, a committee of three bureaucrats was formed, but it was the Railway Minister, at whose behest an enlarged Review Committee has now been formed, while the Minister of Defence only repeated homilies and soothing words, as he had done in the past!

Even the Review Committee has no representative from the defence forces, while the railways, the postal department and sundry others not so well known, have found a place for themselves. So, we are back to square one. This committee will repeat, ad nauseum, what the Commission has stated, perhaps in more flowery language, except for some minimal tinkering that will satisfy no one in the defence forces.

A continuation of such inadequate and delaying tactics will slowly destroy a first rate army, which has served the nation with sacrifices and élan and has saved the nation umpteen times in these last 60 years. The political leadership is either unable or unwilling to ameliorate the genuine demands of the defence forces.

Under the circumstances, it may be best to disband the army and let the bureaucracy become 'pseudo soldiers' and look after the security of the nation. In the bargain, they will be able to further improve their cadre too! If the reader discerns a sense of cynicism, déjà vu and desperation, it is indeed intended. Sudden death would any day be a more satisfactory arrangement. The noble "profession of arms" is being turned into a "profession of alms"!

The writer is a former Vice Chief of Army Staff

egregious - outstandingly bad
mollify - to lessen anger or anxiety
quibble - slight object or criticism
proscribe - officially forbid
provenance - a record of ownership of a work of art or antique
cadaverous - corpse like thin and emaciated
condescending - behaving as if one is better than other people
remit - cancel a task/ task given to an individual or organization

"This is the first day of the rest of our lives"
- Dante Hicks from Clerks 2

"In view of the somewhat nebulous and inexplicit nature of your remit, and the arguably marginal and peripheral nature of your influence on the central deliberations and decisions within the political process, there would be a case for restructuring their action priorities in such a way as to eliminate your liquidation from their immediate agenda."
-Sir Humphrey Appleby to Jim Hacker, upon a terrorist organization's withdrawal of its assassination threat to Hacker

desultory - lacking enthusiasm and purpose
dervish - member of a Muslim community vowed to poverty and wild rituals
denigrate - criticize unfairly
ingrate - ungrateful person

"This is war
And I swear that I'm not giving up or giving in
This is war?
Then I swear that I'm not giving up or giving in
Giving up
This is war"
- Il Nino: This is War

Pyrrhic victory - victory won at a very great cost to the victor
egalitarian - believing that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities
inexorable - impossible to stop
colander - a bowl with holes in it for draining fluid
facetious - treating important issues with inappropriate humour
specious - seeming reasonable but actually wrong
veritable - rightly so called
jingoistic - negative way of describing someone who is being excessively patriotic

Got from Yes Minister - The compassionate society.


Billy Fraser: "We are striking against unemployment. We will bring London's hospitals literally to their knees. There will be a complete standstill: no blood transfusions, no operations, no cancer treatment, nothing! Not until we have brought back the compassionate society."

Reporter: "Shouldn't you think twice before inflicting these terrible sanctions on innocent members of the public?"

Billy Fraser: "I can assure you, and I'd like to take this opportunity to assure the general public that every stone will be left unturned in the search of a settlement."

buttonhole - to stop someone for an informal conversation
rigmarole - lengthy and complicated process
kosher - legitimate and proper
rabbit - informal chatter
witter - speak about trivial things
beatific - feeling very blissful/ happy

Got from Yes Minister - Jobs for the boys.

"... certain projects have certain aspects which, with sensitive handling, given reasonable discretion, when events permit, there is no prima facie reason why, with appropriate give and take, if all goes well, in the fullness of time, when the moment is ripe ..."
- Bernard Wooley from Yes Minister

schizoid - having a mental condition similar to schizophrenia
belligerent - hostile and aggressive
ingratiate - gain favour with someone by flattering or trying to please them
flounce - move in a way as to express anger and disdain
burble - make a continuous murmuring noise
self-effacing - not wanting to attract attention to oneself

Got from Yes Minister - The right to know.

A thought: apparently it seems to be the in-thing for today's youth to rant about failed love on their blogs. My assumptions are based purely on the extrapolation of a few observations, and indeed are nothing to go by, but this has just got me wondering whether today's youth are getting more serious about love, or is it just another fad to fill the void? Ah well ...

cogent - very clear, logical, convincing reasoning
incumbent - holder of an office or position
devolve - transfer, shift
concomitant - naturally associated thing

Got from Yes Minister - The Right To Know.

"Minister, the traditional allocation of executive responsibilities has always been so determined as to liberate the Ministerial incumbent from the administrative minutiae by devolving the managerial functions to those whose experience and qualifications have better formed them for the performance of such humble offices , thereby releasing heir political overlords for the more onerous duties and profound deliberations that are the inevitable concomitant of their exalted position."
-Sir Humphrey Appleby of Yes Minister.

euphemism - a less direct/blunt way of referring to something unpleasant

Dunno, this word has been ringing in my mind for sometime; no particular source.

"Luck is the remarkable marriage of relentless preparation with well-presented opportunity."
- Robin Sharma

sully - give a bad name
squalid - extremely unpleasant
approbation - approval
sepulchre (british spelling) - tomb
pedantic - academic, bookish
peerage - peers as a whole e.g, lords, nobility etc.

Got from the book Yes Minister, Episode: The writing on the wall.