Triumph of Will

The Indian Army has been in the eye of controversy of late. Despite its changing social composition, better opportunities in the corporate sector and disenchantment with politics, the Indian Army officer continues to exhibit exemplary qualities of patriotism and leadership.

Suman Ghosh is an Indian Army jawan and the designated sahayak of Major A K Sharma of the 226 Field Regiment. A sahayak — alternatively known as ‘batman’ in the Indian Army during the Raj — has a demeaning role in the modern democratic context and may soon become a relic of India’s colonial past if the government implements the recommendations of a parliamentary committee on defence. The committee has sought a ban on deploying jawans as sahayaks on the home front of army officers rather than on the battlefront. The job is almost like a domestic servant, catering to the personal needs of the officer and his family. On May 10, 2012, in the frontier town of Nyoma in Ladakh, five officers beat up Ghosh in front of almost the entire unit. Reprimanded by their commanding officer Col. P Kadam, they attacked him too. This provoked the jawans to assault Major Sharma and his friends. An inquiry is on.

Is the Officer no longer a Gentleman? Has the Indian Army, created as a volunteer force during the days of the Raj, and acquired the mythology of being a force led by officers whose code was ‘death before dishonour’ changed dramatically since the sun set on its previous masters 65 years ago? The army has been in the news for the wrong reasons of late: General V K Singh alleged corruption was rampant among senior army officers; the Sukna land scam claimed the scalp of a serving Lieutenant General and the Adarsh scam at the expense of Kargil widows which involved former chief of staff General Deepak Kapoor saw the arrest of Major Generals, Brigadiers and other army officers.

Courage as tradition

A Nyoma or an Adarsh does not reflect the face of the Indian Army leadership. It has a meritorious record of sacrifice. Nearly 550 soldiers and officers were killed in the Kargil War of 1999. In the Indo-Pak War of 1971 — the shortest war in recent history — 3,000 Indian soldiers fell and 12,000 were wounded, but some 93,000 Pakistani soldiers were captured as POWs. During the first Indo-Pak War of 1948 the Indian soldiers fought valiantly. In the Indo-China War of 1962, the Indian Army fought fiercely, inflicting and receiving many casualties: dead bodies of Indian soldiers were found in the ice in Aksai Chin — some years later — with weapons in hand where they had fallen. The Chinese hailed the valour of the Indians; reports from Peking said Indian officers and soldiers were unwilling to surrender even if it meant death.

The Battle of Rezang La is part of martial legend. Rezang La pass was guarded by a company of 123 Indian troops. Of the defenders, 109 were killed and nine of the survivors were severely injured. They had fought fiercely to the end in the unforgivingly cold Himalayan heights: a Defence Studies and Analysis paper estimates the number of Chinese dead at around 500. Vir Chakra awardee Gen Ian Cardozo writes in Param Vir Chakra, Our Heroes in Battle: “When Rezang La was later revisited dead jawans were found in the trenches still holding on to their weapons... every single man of this company was found dead in his trench with several bullet or splinter wounds. The 2-inch mortar man died with a bomb still in his hand. The medical orderly had a syringe and bandage in his hands when the Chinese bullet hit him... Of the thousand mortar bombs with the defenders all but seven had been fired and the rest were ready to be fired when the (mortar) section was overrun.” The hero of Rezang La was the Company Commander, Major Shaitan Singh. Seriously wounded by a Chinese sniper, he kept dashing from post to post, encouraging his soldiers. The citation on his Param Vir Chakra reads: ‘When Major Shaitan Singh fell disabled by wounds in his arms and abdomen, his men tried to evacuate him but they came under heavy machine-gun fire. Major Shaitan Singh then ordered his men to leave him to his fate in order to save their lives. Major Shaitan Singh’s supreme courage, leadership and exemplary devotion to duty inspired his company to fight almost to the last man.’ His body was found some days after the battle behind a boulder, weapon in hand.

The thick red line

The relationship between officers and men is part of the mythos of the Indian soldier. Naik Digendra Kumar of 2 Rajputana Rifles — also known in his unit as The Cobra—was responsible for the crucial capture of Tololing hill in the Dras sector during the Kargil war. Pakistani troops commanded the hill that was at an altitude of 15,000 feet. At base camp, The Cobra was sickened at the sight of bodies of dead comrades being brought down after futile assaults. Morale was low and many jawans were breaking down. The Cobra volunteered to Army Chief General V P Malik with a plan to take Tololing. He knew it was so dangerous that he may not come back from the mission alive. On the cold, snowy evening of June 10, 1999, the Cobra hugged his comrades farewell. Most believed it could be their last meeting.  In the cover of night, Digendra led his men uphill, using a rope to climb; when his hands froze, he held on to the rope with his teeth. Fourteen hours later, Tololing was theirs. General Malik sent a message to Digendra that said, “Son! Accept congratulations of V P Malik forty-eight hours in advance of our success. Son! If we win the Kargil, Malik himself will bring breakfast for you tomorrow morning.” And he did.

“The leadership quality of an army’s officer can be judged by the operations on ground. Take the ratio of officers and jawans who have been wounded or martyred during operations. The ratio of officers is very high. It shows they were leading from the front. Ours is the leadership even in the face of the bullet,” explains LtCol Gurnarinder Singh of Army Supply Corps.

Thousands of Indian soldiers — officers and men — have bloodied the mud of many battlefields across the world. In World War I, around 1.3 million Indian soldiers fought for the Empire and nearly 75,000 men were killed. In World War II, nearly 87,000 Indian troops died. For every major who assaults his sahayak, there are scores of war heroes: Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav of 18 Grenadiers; Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey, 1/11 Gorkha Rifles; Captain Vikram Batra, 13 JAK Rifles; Captain Anuj Nayyar,17 JAT Regiment; Major Saravanan, 1 Bihar; Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, 13 JAK Rifles and Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari, 18 Grenadiers were some warriors who were awarded high honours after Kargill. For every jawan and officer who clashed in Nyoma last week, there are heroes like Naik Digendra Kumar and General Malik. The Army, in its wisdom, describes Nyoma an “isolated” incident of “indiscipline”.

Change in command

However, it cannot be ignored that change has come to the Indian Army officer class, just as it has across professions; all of it inevitable, but some not so good. Some old soldiers point to the changing class structure of the army. Others comment on the change in inherited British standards of the Indian Army officer.

 (Brig AS Sidhu)

Brigadier A S Sidhu, one of the few test pilots of the Indian Army and presently posted as Brigadier Aviation of South Western Army Command (SWAC) says. “The value system of society has changed, so the kind of persons joining the armed forces has also changed. Now, people from all walks of life and a large number of children of other ranks are joining the forces. Presently, monetary condition and financial security is primary consideration.” He says his son’s value systems are very different from his. “He is now doing hotel management,” he says. The brigadier joined the Army in 1981. “When I joined, 90 per cent of army men came from affluent families, so money was not the criteria. I was getting money from home even after I got commissioned,” he adds. Brigadier Sidhu contests any view that the Army’s new officers are short of leadership qualities. “One is born with leadership qualities. They can be honed if you have it. But, it cannot be grown. You can make managers but not a leader. The fundamentals of the Army are still strong.”

New India’s aspiration standards are slowly eclipsing the martial family traditions of the officer class. Naib Subedar Krishan Lal of 26 Rajput is looking forward to the passing-out parade of his son at the National Defence Academy. His son was always a rank holder in school, but he considered the army as a career over plum jobs outside. “I am excited about his passing out parade. I have been a sipahi for my whole life. I have saluted officers. Now I will get a chance to salute my son,” says Lal with pride. “Chaati chaudi ho gayi (My heart swells with pride),” he says in rustic Hindi. His younger son is also aspiring to follow his brother’s bootsteps.) The Lals belong to the Scheduled Castes, and he feels the Army’s impartial selection process proved to be a touchstone of his son’s merit. The profile of those who want to become officers has changed. World War II was a milestone in the history of the Indian Army; writes General S K Sinha, “Prior to the war, the strength of the Army was 1.37 lakh and recruitment was confined to the martial classes. A large number of soldiers came from traditional military families. During the war, floodgates had been opened for recruitment. The Army had been expanded from 1.37 lakh to 2.2 million.”

Officer's choice

The world war made the British realise the importance of the Indian soldier, especially the officer. The Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College was established at Dehradun in March 1912 with the purpose of educating young boys from aristocratic families so they could enter Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Sixty-nine officers were commissioned between 1918 and 1932, the numbers growing incrementally but steadily after the Indian Military Academy was created in 1932. Today there are around 35,000 officers in the Indian Army, commanding more than one lakh men. And they are proud of it. Like Colonel Neeraj Shukla, a second-generation officer whose father Col A S Shukla was from the Signals Corps.

For the Colonel, the Army is not a career but a way of life. He has been awarded the Sena medal twice for exemplary valour fighting terrorists. He has been the Aide-de-Camp to two presidents of India. Shukla was studying medicine in Delhi, when he got the itch to don fatigues.

 (Col Neeraj Shukla)

“I didn’t join for money, I wanted to serve the motherland,” he says with the conviction of a battle-hardened military officer. “If I am born again I would want to be nothing but an Army officer.” The Colonel feels no civilian job with infinite money can ever compensate for his status as an officer. He is a war hero who has commanded men in the freezing altitude of Siachen as well on amphibious task forces at sea. Once, he was shot twice in the leg, but the Colonel continued to fight terrorists on the Pakistan border in an eight-hour long battle and killed seven of them.

Yet, almost three hundred officers opt for premature retirement every year, heading out to greener corporate pastures. Col. Shukla explains, “Ours is a very steep pyramid structure. After twenty years of service, only 20 per cent of my course-mates became colonels. What about the rest? What will keep them motivated?” Yet, he believes in the Army. Before joining, Shukla was a Nanoscience and Technology Consortium (NSTC) scholarship holder and the secretary of National Student Union of India (NSUI) while in college. He attributes attrition rate to the manner in which merit is considered in the armed forces. “In the civil services, merit only matters at the time of selection. In the armed forces, merit is the basis for promotion at each stage. Many officers are left behind by a decimal. So what do they do? For those who are left out, the temptations are aplenty,” he says.

Is this reason for yielding to these temptations responsible for the beating the army’s image has taken? “Society has certainly turned materialistic. Those who want cushy lives will not come to the Army. Earlier, the ceremonial part played an important role, which attracted the people from royalty and upper-class gentry. Today’s army is more professional,” says Lt Col Gurnarinder Singh.

Lt Col Singh’s family has a long-standing army background. His father, Brigadier (Retired) Gurmel Singh served in the Army Supply Corps (ASC). The lieutenant colonel and his brother who is an infantry officer are only continuing in their father’s tradition.

The money gap

Tradition alone may not be enough to keep officers from deserting the olive green pastures for greener ones. After all, a general with almost four decades of service to the nation makes about as much as the average IIM graduate. A fresh Army officer starts with a monthly salary of around Rs. 42,000. A management trainee starts out at Rs 1. 2 lakh in any of the top IT companies. A Colonel after twenty years of service is paid around Rs. 85,000. A mid-level executive in a multinational firm after 15 years in the job makes anywhere between Rs 2-5 lakh a month. The chief of the Indian Army takes home Rs.1,53,000 before tax. The CEO of a top multinational earns around Rs 25 lakh a month as basic pay, plus sops, bonuses and lavish perks. However, Major Vishal Chauhan of 61 Cavalry, a second generation officer and polo player says people still want to join the Army, but are not qualified enough. He feels corporates mimic the army in many things. “All the MNCs are taking concepts from the Army’s experience like sports activities for employees, the appraisal system and so on.”

The Army looks after its own with subsidised housing, food and travel, but that doesn’t seem to be enough for today’s young go-getters. Col Shukla says, “We need to sell the glamour of the army, and now is the right time. Today as an officer I am entitled to two months of paid leave. Where in the corporate world can you get that kind of a perk? The Army takes care of my medical requirements and that of my family’s, even after my retirement. We have the advantage of travelling and the membership of the best of the clubs for a meagre amount. In a cantonment, even the temperature is five degrees less.  If you add up all this, my gross emoluments will be around Rs. 4.5 lakh a month.” The Colonel is off to the US for a command course.

Major R Dhiman has similar sentiments. He joined the Indian Army’s Medical Corps after completing his MBBS instead of taking up private practice. His father was an airman and his mother was in love with uniform. “Outside you can make money, but you will not have time to enjoy life. Here I am able to do professionally good and also take out time for my family,” says the Major.

The parity problem

The Indian Army is currently facing a shortage of around 10,000 officers. Earlier, each fighting unit had close to 25-26 officers, while today it has to do with 8-10 officers. Brigadier Sidhu says: “Army life in the old days meant fun and frolic in peacetime. But now you are on the job all 365 days a year. The education level of both troops and officers is higher. Earlier we were just passing orders without caring about the men. Now they are thinking soldiers. We have to convince them.” The daring aviator has flown Army helicopters through the perilous passes and heights of Ladakh.

The lack of parity with the civil services is a big issue with Army officers. Many serving officers on conditions of anonymity say: “In the Order of Precedence of the country, the ranking of service chiefs have come down. This lowering of stature in the protocol list is also the broad reflection of the declining importance of armed forces in the national scheme of things.” The Order of Precedence of India is the protocol list (hierarchy of positions) in which the functionaries and officials are listed according to their rank and office in the government. In 1979 the service chiefs were at position 12 ahead of Members of Parliament. But today they sit at 23rd position in the group of 26 categories. So much so the rank of Field Marshal (a five star general; the Army Chief is four star) does not even find a place in the precedence. In 2008, the Defence Minister, service chiefs and MPs did even not attend the funeral of the legendary Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw, who scripted the 1971 victory for India.

“If you are talking about the declining standards in the force then you have to understand that all of us are coming from the same society. Any change in society will be impacting us as well,” says Major Dhiman.

A NEW BREED TO LEAD

Change in the army is evident in the example of eighty-year-old Krishna Devi from the village of Nizampur Majra of Sonepat district in Haryana. Her grandson Gentleman Cadet Nishant Sharma is studying to become an officer in the Indian Military Academy (IMA). It’s a dream come true for Krishna Devi. Her brother was a jawan who was killed in the 1971 war, whose son is an airman in the Indian Air Force. “Nishant is the first one in our family to become an officer. It is the culmination of aspirations of many generations,” says Devi. The young officer-to-be epitomises the one great driver of change across the Army’s officer class; an expanding middle class riding the rising demands of a growing army. The British believed the Empire’s success was thanks to the generation of public school educated Englishmen who went to Oxford and Cambridge in the late eighteen hundreds, which became a class that was born to lead. As times change and democracy and economics blur class barriers while expanding career choices, the army officer’s job looks no longer glamorous to most middle class students who prefer Wharton to Dehra Dun. But what remain eternal are the patriotism and a willingness to die for the country. 

“Patriotism is surviving because of the Army. The officers of new generation are no less patriotic,” says Brigadier Hamir Singh, Vir Chakra in 1971 War. “Compare the casualty rates of officers in the Indian Army with that of any paramilitary forces of the country and you will get the answer. You have to persuade your man to the highest sacrifice and for that you have to lead from the front.” The Brigadier should know. He was captured by the Pakistani forces and was held as a POW for a year before returning to fight again.

(Four generations into Army. Brig Hamir Singh second from Left)

The Indian Army wages wars on many fronts. Kashmir is one at home. In July last year, while on patrol in Dessa, Major Kamlesh Pathak fell to terrorist bullets. He had been wounded in an earlier encounter, but had insisted on going back to join his men. In the last letter to his family who lived in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, the young Major wrote about his injuries, “There’s still some pain, but the injury is healing fast.”

The Nyoma incident has caused much injury to the image of the Indian officer and his jawan, who are united by ties of blood for centuries. The wound will heal. As the relationship undergoes a change, socially, economically and legislatively, one of the world’s finest fighting machines will understand that for warriors, there can be no gain without pain. There never has been.

The Chief’s Letter

In 1986, when General K Sundarji took over as Army Chief, one of the first things he did was to send a note to all his officers. The letter created quite a stir in the Indian Army at the time, candidly identifying prevalent ills and offering solutions. Excerpts:

 ■ Field Marshal Cariappa used to say, “Good officers - good Army; bad officers - bad Army”. This is as true today as it was then. We should, therefore look at ourselves first and be not only frank but hypercritical. As a whole, the Corps of Officers has lost much of its self esteem, pride and élan; it is becoming increasingly careerist, opportunist and sycophantic; standards of integrity have fallen and honour and patriotism are becoming unfashionable. Paradoxically, all this is happening, while in the narrow sense, professional competence has been going up at all levels since 1947. Broad-based though our intake has become, our young officers have proved in every action which they have fought, that they are brave and lead from the front—our officer casualty ratio in every action testifies to this. Where then, are we going wrong?

■ First, let us look at ourselves — the senior officers; most of us are senior to some of the others and so this includes almost all of us. We have obviously NOT set the right example. Many of us have not professionally kept ourselves up-to-date, doctrinally or technologically; we have felt that we have ‘got it made’, and rested on our oars; we do not read enough; we do not think enough, and some of course, have been promoted well beyond their capability! In the practise of our profession, we have not insisted on standards being maintained and turn our eyes away from irregularities (living in a glass house?); we have not been tolerant of dissent during discussion and encourage sycophancy (a result of our having ‘switched off’ professionally?) we have not been accepting any mistakes (due to hankering after personal advancement?), thus encouraging our juniors to either do nothing worthwhile or to oversupervise their juniors, who in turn are not allowed to develop professionally or mature as men. This leads to frustration. Finally, some have perhaps unthinkingly developed a yen for 5-star culture and ostentation which flows from new-rich values in our society, where money is the prime indicator of success and social position. This adoption of mercenary values in an organisation like the Army which depends for its élan on values like honour, duty and country above self, is disastrous for its élan and for the self-esteem of the individual in it. And once we start thinking of ourselves as third class citizens, it is not long before our civilian brethren take us at our own valuation, and some of them perhaps not without a touch of glee!

■ All of us talk about ‘Officer-Like Qualities’ and about being officers and gentlemen. I am not sure whether to many of us these terms means the same thing. Being a gentlemen does not mean Westernisation and becoming a poor imitation of a ‘White Sahib’; it does not mean a tie and a jacket or the ability to handle a knife and fork just so! It refers to the ‘Sharafat’ that is ingrained in the best of Indian culture; of honour and integrity; of putting the interests of the county, the Army, the unit and one’s subordinates before one’s own; of doggedness in defeat; of magnanimity in victory; of sympathy for the underdog; of a certain standard of behaviour and personal conduct in all circumstances; of behaving correctly towards one’s seniors, juniors and equals. I am very concerned about the increasing sycophancy towards seniors which unless checked will corrode the entire system. Much of this, I realise, is due to the pernicious system of recompense and financial advancement being totally linked to higher ranks. These are of necessity limited due to functional compulsions, and which notwithstanding cadre reviews, are microscopic compared to prospects of our peers in other Government services.

■ There is a lot that we can do to improve our quality of life. The standards of officers’ messes in all areas have deteriorated badly. Dust, dirt and grime, sloppily turned out mess staff, chipped and cracked crockery, unpolished furniture and silver etc, are more and more in evidence. A pseudo-plush decor is attempted, with expensive and garish curtains and upholstery, wall to wall carpeting and so on; these cannot compensate for lack of care, attention to detail and maintenance of standards; nor can aerosol room fresheners substitute for fresh air and cleanliness. Messes are generally run down and seedy on a daily basis and though special efforts are made to spruce them up for special occasions (generally following the aerosol route) the lack of standards still comes through. This must be put right by the painstaking method of insisting on standards. We must keep the messes traditional without opting for a 5-star decor. The standard of food is generally poor and lacking in variety, not because the ingredients are not available but because of lack of attention to organisation and poor training of cooks. With free rations, there is no reason as to why we cannot spend a little on training our cooks and modernising our kitchens. While on the quality of life, I must mention that by custom and usage of service, some privileges do go with added responsibility and senior rank, and I am sure that none would grudge these if used sensibly. However, in some cases senior officers tend to get delusions of grandeur and overdo their privileges on a Moghul style. This is bad and must stop. Otherwise privileges themselves might be withdrawn.