Lessons unlearnt

There was a time, not long ago, when the list of Major Generals cleared by the Army’s special promotion board was held up on account of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) wanting to include an officer who was found wanting by the service. Then there was the case of a Vice Admiral whom the MoD wanted to bring to Delhi against the wishes of the Naval Headquarters. A more damaging case has just been concluded in the Delhi High Court with the Air Force having to absorb more Air Marshals than it has jobs for, and the former Defence Secretary tendering a sheepish apology. These are some of the publicly known instances of wrong doing that bedevil the relationship between the MoD and the armed forces. For there are numerous other cases where the officers who have been wronged against go home quietly, beaten by the system into retirement. Thus anyone who thinks that the problem has been tided over with the intervention of the courts is grossly mistaken.

At the root of the poor relations between the service headquartersand the MoD is the conflict over the promotions and appointments of officers. It is not an issue of judicious and timely disbursement of scanty resources. Rather, it is all about who controls promotions and appointments. To understand the stresses under which officers function, there is need to appreciate their strange conditions of work. Unlike other government jobs, the tenure of service for armed forces officers and jawans is determined by the rank that they are able to attain. While there can be no quarrel with this rule, since the armed forces must have a young profile owing to their nature of duty, there has to be a greater appreciation for what is at stake for the soldiers. They are frequently transferred, depriving them the comfort and joy of family life. And at the end of it all, an under secretary in the MoD is directed by his superiors to manipulate the soldier’s next rank. It is time this stopped, for if the number of promotion-related cases pending in the courts are anything to go by, the rot hasdeeply set in.

The country has to address this issue with a bi-partisan approach. On their part, the armed forces can ensure greater transparency in the promotion process by broad-basing the board. It will give the board results greater authority, a sure antidote to being challenged in the courts. As its contribution to sorting out this problem, the government can introduce lateral induction of armed forces personnel in the various departments and ministries where the expertise they have gained over many years can continue to benefit the state. Why should the country persist with a practice that adds only to the pension bill? This is one of the bizarre customs in the governance of India, where each government has treated state sector jobs as a dole. The state can’t afford to be an overarching employment exchange, just as the armed forces cannot any longer be taken as mere uniformed sentinels of society, either on parade or in the barracks. They are intelligent, qualified and capable of handling anyresponsibility that comes their way. Their expertise can no longer be allowed to be frittered away on account of the rank-linked retirement age. The country simply cannot afford the costs that accrue from this wasteful practice.