The unseemly controversy surrounding the Army Chief General VK Singh does not seem to be dying out. It got further complicated when a front page scoop in the Indian Express by the editor-in-chief, hinted at New Delhi's panic reaction when two army units moved towards New Delhi the day General VK Singh's case came up for judgement in the Supreme Court. Although, the sensational story was of dubious construction, and vehemently denied by the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister, the damage has been done to the reputation of the Army Chief and the Army - the innuendoes questioning their patriotism was obvious.
In this context, I am reproducing another article by General VP Malik, former Chief of Army Staff, that appeared in the Tehelka today, courtesy Tehelka Magazine for your reading.
Army should not look like it's losing its values
VP Malik, Former Chief Of Army Staff
As A former Chief of Army Staff, I have no hesitation in admitting that the
unprecedented events of the last few days have deeply damaged the reputation of
a very precious institution. One is tempted to say in despair, what is left?
It would be equally damaging, however, to broad brush the whole institution
and equate it with the aberrations. It is very important, therefore, to
understand the real implications of the situation and put some urgent
correctives in place.
There are four major issues that this controversy has highlighted. The
first is the harsh fact that in civil and military relations, which have
never been very cordial, the friction seems to have increased. Jaswant Singh, a
former defence minister and an army man himself, had written about this very
categorically in his book Defending India (page 109), where he records
that relations between the defence ministry and the services top brass has
always been dogged by antipathy, mutual suspicion, bureaucratic one-upmanship
and a combative mentality.
The other three issues that arise are (a) the Chief’s allegation of
a bribe offer and both his and the Defence Minister’s response to it, (b)
the deficiencies in our defence planning and our procurement procedures, and (c)
the fact that all these issues have been turned into such a public
spectacle, which is not helping the government, the army or any of the
personalities involved.
Let’s take the first issue. The underlying tension and communication gap
between the political and military establishment that has become so apparent
now has been written about many times before. The group of ministers (GOM) set
up after the Kargil war and the Kargil Committee Report had discussed this and
made some very strong recommendations. For instance, the Ministry of Defence
needs to be integrated properly so that there is no space for finger pointing
and blame games and both responsibility and accountability are commonly shared.
However despite this, the service headquarters have only been integrated in
name. These are still functioning as attached headquarters, with civilian
bureaucracy sitting between the political leadership and the army. The
friction and suspicions continue, as is evident from frequent media leaks
emerging from both camps.
To circumvent this, there needs to be a much more
direct contact between the political and military leadership not only during
war time but during peace, which is when defence preparedness is planned.
The defence control organisation needs to be overhauled even for strategic
reasons. The nature of war has changed with technology. Decision making has to
be faster; the organisations made flatter and unnecessary ladders removed.
Rules of business should be changed. ‘Double files’ system should be done away
with. There is a need for greater interaction between the political
authority and the Chiefs in all matters.
The issue of the bribe offer made to the Chief is a serious matter. There
are many disturbing aspects to the case. Since Bofors, everyone knows there are
dealers and middlemen who will try to corrupt the system. We have to guard
against that, tighten our procedures, and take deterrent action. Both the
current Defence Minister and the Chief have a high reputation for honesty and
for fighting corruption and indiscipline. It is absolutely inexplicable why
neither of them acted on the information and turned a blind eye instead.
Something has obviously gone very wrong. The CBI inquiry, hopefully, will bring
it out.
One does not wish to point fingers at anyone, but it is true that many of
us — both serving officers and ex-servicemen — are very sad. The way things
have been handled has hurt both the image of the army and the institution of
the army chief.
One cannot compare corruption in the army to civilian corruption. In an
army, the leadership has to ask its subordinates to face the bullet. To do
that, you have to maintain very high standards. Corruption just cannot be
tolerated. We come from an institution where subordinates look up to you as a
demigod. I saw that during the Kargil war and my service as army chief. It was
humbling.
The moot question is, how did anyone have the gumption to walk into the
Chief’s office and offer a bribe of Rs 14 crore? It is unthinkable. This is not
an oblique conversation. This is a specific bribe offer. One has never heard of
anything like this ever before. If such a specific offer of Rs 14 crore was made,
it is unfathomable why the matter was not pursued by either of the gentlemen
concerned, beyond a verbal mention.
The first thing I would have liked to do if such a situation arose, would
be to have the company blacklisted, ban its personnel from entering South
Block, order a probe, and proceed against the company and person concerned once
sufficient evidence was gathered.
Now, all of us servicemen, including former Chiefs, have been put under a
cloud. In his interview to the media, the Chief stated that the officer who
offered him a bribe told him that ‘many officers prior to him had taken bribes
and many would do so after as well’. Such a remark should not be allowed to go
unchallenged.
The third issue to be confronted is the Chief’s letter to the Prime
Minister about the army’s defence preparedness and procurement requirements
being leaked to the media. This is an extremely sensitive and serious matter
and must be investigated in every military and civil department concerned. It
has done a huge disservice to the nation. However, I must assert that the
letter per se is neither uncommon nor against the rules. All chiefs take stock
and write such letters to draw attention and urgency to this lacuna. I have
done so myself.
It is a fact that we have many shortages and our overall defence planning
and its implementation is poor. We had big budgets (last year’s defence budget
was over Rs 1,60,000 crore) but our procurement priorities and procedures are
weak. We set five-year defence plans, which are not implemented properly and
allotted budgets are often returned unspent because our procedures are so poor.
After TEHELKA’s sting investigation Operation Westend, many people within
the army and even in the defence vendor community became more prudent and
cautious. While he was defence minister, Pranab Mukherjee started new defence
procurement procedures to bring about transparency and smoothness. It appears
that we need greater transparency within integrated ministry and a special task
force assigned for big ticket procurements where things are discussed
face-to-face and then recorded, rather than files from room-to-room.
Finally, instead of being held behind closed doors, all these issues have
been reduced to an unsavoury spectacle. Media is a useful tool to bring about
public awareness. But let us not forget that it is a double-edged tool. We
cannot afford to wash dirty linen in public.
The army’s strongest ammunition is its values and Chetwode credo; it is the
deepest bond when you go to the frontlines to fight. We cannot let a situation
arise where it appears that we have lost these values. This is what is worrying
many of us now.
It is impossible to deny that there has been a negative impact on the
institution’s morale. However, it is extremely important to maintain a balanced
view. The discipline and values the Indian Army is proud of are still intact. It
is still the most dependable organisation of the nation.
There may be some aberrations, but it is by no means the norm.
Courtesy: Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 14, Dated 07 April 2012
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