To a casual bystander, the impassioned plea (Re:VIth Pay Commission) emanating from a collective body of servicemen, is so akin to the cry of a neutered stallion. Here the protagonist, an embodiment of all that is strong and virtuous is so rendered impotent by the dark forces of circumstance that he lets out a heart rending wail of helplessness and dismay.
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The very perspective, from which one views this farce that the Pay Commission has played out, can greatly alter how one sees this services vs the rest debate. Those in service may perhaps find it difficult to comprehend how marginalized the services are as contexted against the great Indian dream. However, for someone on the outside it is easy to see that in the collective national conscience the services do exist, albeit at the very fringes. The reason for this is not hard to find. There have been no earth shattering events in the past few years that have required the Armed Forces to step into the limelight as saviours of the day. Also, since Kargil there has hardly been a kind word in the national media regarding the services, we do remain much in the media but for all the wrong reasons.
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Unable to contain either their greed or their libido, our Senior Officers have been acquitting themselves commendably and providing enough grist for the mill. Images of the armed forces that today pervade the media and consequently permeate the nation's conscience are those of the 'Ketchup Colonel,' the 'Booze Brigadier,' the 'Frisky General' and their lot. Quite a handful those!
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Public memory is short. Everything that happened till yesterday is history. In a nation obsessing either with stock market fluctuations, DLF IPL and Kareena's size zero on the one hand or, the next meal on the other, there is no place in public mind for the sentinel at Siachen. For the teenager at the glitzy mall, the executive hankering after his seven digit salary, the bureaucrat salivating over his next billion, the obsequious neta genuflecting to the high command, you do not exist, period.
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That the services need to make themselves heard above all this din is given. But How?
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No amount of gloating over history and chest thumping is likely to get us heard. All this talk of silent marches and lighting candles as a civilized means of ex-pression went out of fashion after the Jessica Lal do. In any case pretty girls lighting candles make for a far better photo op than old fogies with stiff whiskers.
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Suddenly, one finds old Generals erupting like a cases of bad rashes. Each seeking his place in the sun. One even went so far as to write to the PM. If only the bugger had spoken out while he was still Chief. Pardon the irreverence guys. Will someone tell me, did he get a Governorship or an equitable compensation?
Suddenly, one finds old Generals erupting like a cases of bad rashes. Each seeking his place in the sun. One even went so far as to write to the PM. If only the bugger had spoken out while he was still Chief. Pardon the irreverence guys. Will someone tell me, did he get a Governorship or an equitable compensation?
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In a world where everything from the ad for your daily bread to Rakhi Sawant's assets, is so in your face, is it worth pursuing modes of protest that hark back to Gandhian times. Leave lighting candles to the babes and writing letters to the Generals. Think of something new dudes. .
In a world where everything from the ad for your daily bread to Rakhi Sawant's assets, is so in your face, is it worth pursuing modes of protest that hark back to Gandhian times. Leave lighting candles to the babes and writing letters to the Generals. Think of something new dudes. .
What the services need to do so as to be hard is to opt for a mode of protest more in line with its core competencies. Think like the enemy, think TRPs and eyeballs. To exist in the realm of the nations consciousness you have to be like the ubiquitous SRK, larger than life 'always and every time.' Before being heard you need to be seen. Get the media on your side. Learn from the Americans, they have been past masters of the game. While the politicos roast in the fire of Iraq, the military comes out smelling of roses, well, almost. Let truth be so embellished that the nation sits up and takes note of every little turn of a military event.
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There is so much sacrifice that the armed forces make, each encounter brings forth instances of unparalleled bravery, so much deprivation that they face, yet some misplaced sense of secrecy makes us hide instances of glorious content. Let every patrol, every ambush make headlines.
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Meanwhile lets get our house in order. When you supercede 75% of your officers by the rank of Colonel, you got serious trouble baby. If every bloke who joins the IAS makes it to a Joint Secretary, why are we crying foul. We have brought the present predicament upon ourselves. Till, some years back did'nt we hear that we had the best selection system in the country. So what has changed now. The problem dear friends, is not with our stars but with us that we refuse to learn.
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Learn from politicians, learn from the bureaucracy. When the ruling party wants to appease a coalition partner, it offers it ministerial posts, when it has none it creates new ministries, even odd sounding ones like the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Closets. When the bureaucracy wants to upgrade its cadres it creates new departments under such ministries, such as the Department of Open Defecation under the Ministry of Sanitation and WCs, with one Secretary and maybe two Joint Secretaries each heading important sounding sub-departments such as Sub Department of Open Defecation along Railway Tracks and Sub Department of Open Defecation in Fields. There, you have one additional Secretary and two Joint Secretaries. So let a thousand Major Generals Bloom.
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Many would say it is difficult as all appointments have to be okayed by the bureaucracy. Difficult yes, impossible no. As Lord Krishna said to the brave Arjuna, the battle lies not without but within.
By- Col (Retd) Sanjiv Sharma
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