Jamil Chughtai
A US writer, Aaron Sorkin, once very rightly commented on importance of military service by saying that, ”we live in a world that has walls, and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns”. The military of a country is one such asset that comprises men and material whose real value does not come to be realized till the nation goes to war or is faced with a catastrophe. The men in uniform, generally considered rough and rude, continue to stand on watch to guard country’s geographical frontiers day and night, rain or sun, ready to face violence in order to keep their fellow citizens unharmed and ensure they sleep safely. Every state needs a continuous supply-line of daring men and women who prove themselves physically fit and mentally eligible to first undergo rigorous training and then accept hardships on way to their professional military life. World over, military service in general is regarded by daring youth as an ideal career and one of the top-priority professions; hence their demand-to-supply chain never breaks – rather the supply always remains much higher than actual requirement.
India, however, is experiencing an embarrassingly opposite situation at present, as the eligible Indian youth have started to look the other way while Indian armed forces’ recruitment & selection centres continued calling them to join military service as officers in the army, navy and air force. Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre apprised Lok Sabha last month that the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force are facing shortage of more than 9,000 officers while Indian Army alone is deficient of 7,298 officers. Moreover, thousands of officers are short in para-military forces as well. The statistics were put before the house in reply to query raised by a member Dr A Sampath regarding veracity of the media reports that there was an acute shortage of officers in the tri-services. But the most alarming aspect of the details shared with Lok Sabha pertained to number of personnel who committed suicide during last four years. As many as 650 military-men took extreme step of taking their own life while on duty.
Military experts opine that no doubt India has acquired latest firepower gadgetries at an amazingly fast pace for her armed forces during this decade; including missile defence system S-400 from Russia and top-notch fighter aircraft Rafale from France, but they failed in securing eligible manpower to meet military requirements. Especially the issue of officers’ shortage has raised unexpected alarms for India that has since long nurtured tall ambitions to lift herself from regional supremacy onwards to global power status. Considering the challenges ahead, this outright disregard from talented Indian youth to gradually relegate military career to lower rungs of options has not only caused embarrassment for the armed forces but also resulted in limiting their ability to run routine operations effectively. This is a worrisome situation for the country that has to maintain 1.4 million strong military to guard 7,516 kilometers coastline and 15,106 kilometers long frontiers with neighbours it never desired to make friends besides facing grave internal security challenges in the shape of growing insurgencies and separatist movements. Doing a diagnosis from apparent indications, the veteran military-men in India have attributed this indifference of youth towards armed forces to three main reasons: harsh service conditions and everyday risk to life in the line of duty, slow as well as less significant promotion prospects in the military vis-à-vis the civil service, and lastly very attractive pay/perks on-offer by corporate sector for the capable young men.
Quite contrarily, pecuniary perks, life threats and service hardships are not the real reasons for the Indian youth to close eyes on military service, rather this rising disillusionment among the youth towards armed forces has been caused by consistent involvement of military leadership and defence officials in corruption cases of late. Growing incidents of financial dishonesty on account of kickbacks, bribes and frauds by senior military commanders in recent years have badly tarnished the erstwhile respectful image of military service among the budding lot in India. A US veteran of WW-II Field Marshal Douglas MacArthur has rightly encompassed the demoralization factors that affect military-men saying, ”I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious working forces working from within”. Beyond doubts, corruption is fast turning into a real enemy for Indian defence establishment.
Last year ex-Indian Air Chief S P Tyagi was put behind bars for receiving 450 crore rupees as bribe in a deal for procuring 12 Agusta-Westland VVIP helicopters. Prior to this, investigations unearthed an extensive history of bribes to the tune of US$ 17 million taken by Indian military officials from UK’s Rolls-Royce company over the contracts for trainer-aircraft jet engines worth US$ 310 million. The worst scam in India’s defence transactions involves purchase of 126 Rafale fighter aircraft from French manufacturer Dassault Rafale. The original transaction involved an estimated $10.2 billion deal inked in 2012, with 18 aircraft to be delivered in “fly-away condition” and remaining 108 to be manufactured in India. However, in April 2015 PM Modi not only scrapped the earlier deal unilaterally but also revised it to purchase a total of 36 Rafale aircraft in “fly-away condition” for $8.7 billion instead. The deal was modified merely to benefit Modi’s businessman friend Mukesh Ambani by forcing Dassault Rafale to do a joint venture with Ambani’s Reliance Defence Group for manufacturing aircraft’s spares in India. Modi’s revised deal conceded a loss of over $16 million per plane to the poor nation’s exchequer.
Prima facie, the growing incidents of corrupt practices by military leadership has badly tarnished the already not-so-pious image of Indian armed forces. As a result, the military in general has become less-professional and more materialistic at higher echelon, producing thereby an utterly disgruntled lot at lower officers’ and soldiers’ level. The 2017 incident of Border Security Force constable Tej Bahadur who posted videos criticizing the quality of food served to soldiers is a case in point. Deplorable has been the reaction of Indian military establishment to his bold act; as he was not only dismissed from the service last year but his 22-year-old son Rohit has also been found dead at their home in Haryana on 19 January 2019. Such incidents in addition to rampant corruption among defence personnel are pushing the Indian youth further away from joining the armed forces. The real worry for India’s defence strategists in the days ahead would invariably be as to how their military may be able to regain the trust of the nation that it has lost on way to accumulating dirty wealth through bribes, kick-backs and other sleazy acts of corruption.
