By Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 26th Nov 15
On Tuesday evening, close by where military
veterans are staging a long-running protest to support their “one rank, one
pension” demand, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was handed a 509-page report
by an expert committee on measures needed to repair relations with serving and
retired soldiers, sailors and airmen.
With civil-military relations deteriorating
over the years, and with a communication gap widening between the military and
the ministry, Parrikar has identified the need to correct this as one of his
priorities.
If the committee’s 75 recommendations are
accepted and implemented by Parrikar, the military will start recognising and catering
for ailments peculiar to soldiers like “post traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD);
and “disabilities due to the inherent stress and strain of military service”.
In a revolutionary change to the culture of
military discipline enforcement, informal interactions and face-to-face
conversations will replace the highly formalised courtroom culture in which
accused get little opportunity to convey their viewpoints.
A chapter on “military justice reform”
recommends a transformation of the currently ad-hoc dispensation of military
justice through institutions like the “court martial”. If these recommendations
are accepted, “courts martial” will be permanently established in specific
military stations, so that they are guided primarily by institutional norms,
rather than the personality of local commanders.
Further, the committee has recommended
cutting down on almost 17,000 pending military cases by eliminating unnecessary
appeals. “We have recommended that court decisions in favour of employees
should be respected by the ministry, with the verdict appealed in only
exceptional cases”, says one of the committee members. Currently, the ministry
appeals almost reflexively against all adverse verdicts.
In a nod to social media and modern
communications, the committee recommends that commanders run blogs “to promote
an interactive process with the rank and file.”
The committee has attempted to attract more
“short service commission officers” (SSCOs) to the services, who would serve
for 5-14 years, thereby providing junior battlefield commanders who do not stay
on to compete for higher rank vacancies. It has proposed to entitle SSCOs to
the “ex-servicemen’s contributory health scheme” (ECHS) for the rest of their
lives, and to a contributory pension scheme.
Since there are just about 10,000 retired
SSCOs, this is not expected to have any major effect on the ECHS which caters
for 3 million retired personnel and dependents.
Many of these recommendations will be
considered revolutionary by conservative government officials, as well as by
the conservative military hierarchy. However, Parrikar, in his constitution of
the committee, made it inevitable that he would get unorthodox, even radical
recommendations.
In contrast to the garden-variety defence
ministry committee peopled by politicians and bureaucrats, this unusual five-member
committee included: Kargil war veteran and limb amputee marathon runner, Major
DP Singh; military jurisprudence expert Major Navdeep Singh; former top
military judge, Major General T Prasad, and two well-regarded retired
lieutenant generals, Mukesh Sabharwal and Richard Khare.
In a statement after submitting their
report, the committee members thanked Parrikar “for not just being willing to
take the bold step of identifying these issues which have caused major
heartburn but more importantly for ensuring that only apolitical personalities
with domain knowledge were a part of the Panel.”
The committee, constituted in July, has
submitted its report in four months. According to the committee: “The process
of consideration of the Report would be initiated (by the ministry) after 25th
December 2015.”
In a statement, the defence ministry has
acknowledged: “The Committee has postulated practical, workable, reformatory
and gradual solutions.”
That is such a sensible & practical thing to do! I wonder why this has not been attempted in the last 67 years!!
ReplyDeleteWhat abt roke of bureacracy
ReplyDeleteALL MOD APPOINTMENTS OF CIVILIAN RANKS INCLUDING ARMED FORCES HQ MUST BE MADE FROM RETIRED BRIG AND BELOW RANKS INCLUDING SHORT SERVICE RETD OFFICERS BOTH MEN AND WOMEN . ONLY JS AND ABOVE BE FROM THE CIVIL SERVICES . IT MEANS THE ARMED FORCES CIVILIAN CADRE BE SLOWLY DISBANDED AND WASTED OUT AND CENTRAL CIVIL SERVICE RANKS BELOW DIRECTOR AND LOWER RANKS NEED NOT BE POSTED TO ARMED FORCES HQ AND MOD .
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Sir,
ReplyDeleteI am very glad to know that Mr Manohar Parrikar has started something new for the first time. I am sure something good may be decided by him. I feel there should be a discussion in media also, so that all can come to know about it.
Your writing on thus matter is very nice and I am thankful to you. I feel we need to do a lot as a Nation for Strengthening our Armed Forces, N consequently Strengthening Security of our Country both inside and from outside.
Thanking you,
Colonel SK Padhi (Retd)
excellent suggestions from the expert group.Hope the Hon RM will act on it and give a ruling that unnecessary appeals by the Govt will not be sorted to. The Def Min should be seen to be services friendly .After all it is the Mai Baap of the Forces.
ReplyDelete