Advice to the Oracle of South Block

The Military Secretary’s Branch at the Army Headquarters deals with the career of army officers, somewhat like the human resources development department of a corporate house. But unlike the latter, it handled problems faced by officers in the most bureaucratic manner lacking the human touch. It used to behave like the proverbial three monkeys which never heard, saw or said anything; even where it could help out the officer it behaved like the oracle of South Block, where it is located.

In my own case, when it unilaterally extended my service for three more years when I was with the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka. I accepted it willingly as operations were on; I had only one request: please post me to Chennai before retirement so that I can sort out my outstanding personal problems before retirement. The MS Branch had agreed to this request, I was informed. 

But when I had barely one more year to serve, IPKF was pulled out MS Branch ordered my transfer to a Corps Headquarters in Chandigarh area. I was told there was no vacancy in Chennai. When I was travelling to Chandigarh, I met another Colonel in Delhi airport. He told me he wanted a posting to Chandigarh and unfortunately MS Branch insisted on his transfer to Chennai.  This is one small example of how the MS Branch used to behave; I am sure many others have even more unpleasant memories of how MS Branch behaved just like a bunch of paper pushers rather than serious professionals committed to leadership development in army.

I was pleasantly surprised to read in a recent article in the Sunday Guardian the advice of Lt General SA Hasnain, who is the present Military Secretary, to the MS Branch to be a friend and not play the God to the officer class.I hope the MS Branch translates it into action under his leadership. I am reproducing the article by Suman Ghosh, courtesy Sunday Guardian.

Play friend, not God, Hasnain tells officers

Lt Gen S.A. Hasnain, the Military Secretary, wants the MS Branch to be considerate while deciding postings.

Suman Sharma

Indian Army's Military Secretary Lieutenant General S.A. Hasnain has been trying to revamp the Army's Military Secretariat (MS) branch in a bid to make it more professional like an HR department. The MS branch deals with the promotions and postings of all Army personnel. The new motto of the MS branch has been "Play Friend, Not God" after Lt Gen Hasnain took over as the new military secretary in May this year.

The MS branch has more than 20 sections, dealing with various aspects like regular permanent officers, short-service officers, women officers, postings with the country, postings abroad, conversions from and to other arms and branches, annual confidential reports, records of officers and Territorial Army officers. Besides Army officers, these sections also have civilians working at senior levels. The sections that deal with senior officers are "MS Brigadiers" and MS "X", both dealing with one, two and three-star officers.

An officer told this newspaper, "Basically, officers were always a little apprehensive of approaching anyone in the MS, even if they had genuine problems. But now, the aim of the new motto is to take away this fear. All officers posted in MS branch have been told to give every officer a patient hearing and deal with each case with a more humane touch. Also, the entire MS branch has been re-oriented into working more professionally like a corporate HR."

With the motto "Play Friend, Not God", Hasnain wants to ensure that genuine cases where a patient hearing is required, in order to render help in postings, must be adhered to. Cases like illnesses of dependent family members, children's education or other domestic commitments which require personnel to be in a particular station a little longer. With an HR culture coming in, the officer wants to make sure that the branch does not merely post personnel in and out, based on the data available on the computer, but also takes up cases more personally like a "friend".

Hasnain has a history of adding a human touch even in the most operationally sensitive areas. It may be noted that he was the corps commander of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps before coming to Delhi as the new military secretary. In Srinagar, he tried to reach out to the locals by coming up with a concept of "Jee Janab" (yes sir), which emphasised on being respectful to the locals.

In December 2010, he became the second Muslim Indian Army officer to command Srinagar's 15 Corps after two decades since Lt Gen M.A. Zaki commanded it between 1989 and 1991. The "Jee Janab" exercise, besides being interactive and an accessible option for local Kashmiris, also included other welfare activities.

This exercise proved helpful and effective in improving the Army's image in Kashmir, especially after it was rocked by violent incidents for months from June 2010 and has constantly been criticised for the misuse of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the state.

Courtesy: Sunday Guardian, New Delhi, September 16, 2012

http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/play-friend-not-god-hasnain-tells-officers