IIPM Prof Arindam Chaudhuri on Our Parliament and Parliamentarians' Work
With an increasing number of armed forces personnel found to be involved in cases of moral turpitude, it is being pertinently asked if the most disciplined system in the country is losing its grip over itself. Mayank Singh wonders
Usually considered to be the most incorruptible institution in the country, the Indian armed forces' reputation has seen some of its sheen waning in the recent years. Call it media activism (or rather over-activism, as Army officers love to call it) or whatever, but an increasing number of cases of corruption within the rank and file of the forces are coming to the fore. Be it the eloping of a colonel with his girlfriend, a lieutenant general accused of sexual harassment by a female colleague or high ranking officers found to be involved in land scams, the impeccable image of the forces does take a beating.
The flurry of media reports about officers of the Indian armed forces getting involved in acts of moral turpitude, deception and treachery has caused much consternation among the masses. What is more perturbing is that it's not just the lower rank officers whose name crop up in connection with corruption, moral or financial. It's the officers of the colonel, brigadier and lieutenant general ranks whose names come up in cases of debauchery and swindles. A.K. Nanda and Avadesh Prakash, both lieutenant generals, are the most recent and well-known examples.
The question is, if our armed forces are getting increasingly corrupt by the day or is it just that now such cases have started coming into the public domain, thanks to an aggressive and prowling media? The former conjecture can be true, so can be the second. May be both suppositions hold water. It depends on what side of the fence you are.
A senior officer in the South Block who has completed his staff tenure blames of sorts the media of 'dramatising' the things. He believes that corruption has not gone up in the armed forces. 'I appreciate that media reports things but sometimes it tends to paint everything black. It should not make generalisations. People don't let the inquiry finish and come out with the results. Officers accused of misconduct are declared guilty,' he says while talking to TSI, on the condition of anonymity.
Vice Admiral (retired) A. K. Singh is of the view that the organisation of the Indian armed forces is still as strong as it used to be, and should not be viewed as if something is wrong with them. He says, 'The system in the armed forces is very efficient and it reacts very quickly. It is a 1.3 million strong force and it may have one or two bad eggs. It gives immediate justice and does not wait for 25 years like in the Bhopal tragedy or the Tehelka case where the only people punished were the people from the forces.' He attributes the targeting of the armed forces by media on the saturation of reports on corruption by politicians and bureaucrats. He adds, 'The public consider the armed forces as the last institution in the country standing upright. It is fed up of the news about politicians and babus.' Some people opine that the armed forces draw their personnel from the general public. Every years lakhs of people vie for limited vacancies in the training institutes like the Indian Military Academy, Officer's Training Academy, Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy.
The editor of defence magazine Purple Berret, Commander Atul Bharadwaj, considers it to be over-fussiness to be so critical of the officers and men getting involved in the unexpected acts and behaviour. He says, 'Why is there so much fuss when the training and value system are strong. The armed forces never try to shield even very senior officers. Major General A. K. Lal was commanding a combat division and he was not spared.'
Armed Forces draw their men and officers from the same talent pool of society. 'In the post-globalisation world, the options have increased and the armed forces, too, are coming close to the society. The officers are leaving forces to join the corporate world. The armed forces have been traditionally kept away from society for this very reason that they do not catch the vices prevalent there,' says Bharadwaj, adding, 'Also keep in mind that there are very few senior positions in the organisation and this makes it vulnerable to all kinds of pushes and pulls and allegations.'
The forces have been at the receiving end because the cases which are filed against them are not defended or reported once they are found to be wrong. The case of Captain Poonam Kaur was found to be totally fabricated where she had alleged her senior colleagues of sexual harassment. The Shopian rape case is the most recent one where forces received an overwhelming negative publicity but when it was found wrong, it did not get any space or airtime in the newspapers and news channels. Same happened in Agartala Military Hospital where a civilian had levelled allegations of molestation against Colonel B. K. Das, which were later found to be incorrect.
The data of human rights violation, too, has a different picture to put forward. In 2006 and 2007, the number of cases reported were 21 and 27 respectively in Kashmir. Out of these 48 cases, 36 were found incorrect and some are still under investigation with three people already punished. Same picture comes up in the northeast as well. In 2006, 2007 and 2008, there were 19, 21 and 14 cases respectively reported. Of these 54 cases, 38 were found outrightly false. In the three legitimate cases, two people have been punished.
Vagaries of the changing times seem to be hitting the armed forces as well. The game of maligning fellow officers to knock them out of the reckoning for the higher posts has been happening, but the way issues of corruption and infighting are coming to the fore does talk of a decline in the discipline and the standards. These will have to be curbed before the forces totally lose their credibility as being the most ingenuous institution of the country.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board
Run after passion and not money, says Arindam Chaudhuri
Award Conferred To Irom Chanu Sharmila By IIPM
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
IIPM Lucknow – News article in Economic Times and Times of India
Prof Rajita Chaudhuri follow some off-beat trends like organizing make up sessions
IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri's Snaps
With an increasing number of armed forces personnel found to be involved in cases of moral turpitude, it is being pertinently asked if the most disciplined system in the country is losing its grip over itself. Mayank Singh wonders
Usually considered to be the most incorruptible institution in the country, the Indian armed forces' reputation has seen some of its sheen waning in the recent years. Call it media activism (or rather over-activism, as Army officers love to call it) or whatever, but an increasing number of cases of corruption within the rank and file of the forces are coming to the fore. Be it the eloping of a colonel with his girlfriend, a lieutenant general accused of sexual harassment by a female colleague or high ranking officers found to be involved in land scams, the impeccable image of the forces does take a beating.
The flurry of media reports about officers of the Indian armed forces getting involved in acts of moral turpitude, deception and treachery has caused much consternation among the masses. What is more perturbing is that it's not just the lower rank officers whose name crop up in connection with corruption, moral or financial. It's the officers of the colonel, brigadier and lieutenant general ranks whose names come up in cases of debauchery and swindles. A.K. Nanda and Avadesh Prakash, both lieutenant generals, are the most recent and well-known examples.
The question is, if our armed forces are getting increasingly corrupt by the day or is it just that now such cases have started coming into the public domain, thanks to an aggressive and prowling media? The former conjecture can be true, so can be the second. May be both suppositions hold water. It depends on what side of the fence you are.
A senior officer in the South Block who has completed his staff tenure blames of sorts the media of 'dramatising' the things. He believes that corruption has not gone up in the armed forces. 'I appreciate that media reports things but sometimes it tends to paint everything black. It should not make generalisations. People don't let the inquiry finish and come out with the results. Officers accused of misconduct are declared guilty,' he says while talking to TSI, on the condition of anonymity.
Vice Admiral (retired) A. K. Singh is of the view that the organisation of the Indian armed forces is still as strong as it used to be, and should not be viewed as if something is wrong with them. He says, 'The system in the armed forces is very efficient and it reacts very quickly. It is a 1.3 million strong force and it may have one or two bad eggs. It gives immediate justice and does not wait for 25 years like in the Bhopal tragedy or the Tehelka case where the only people punished were the people from the forces.' He attributes the targeting of the armed forces by media on the saturation of reports on corruption by politicians and bureaucrats. He adds, 'The public consider the armed forces as the last institution in the country standing upright. It is fed up of the news about politicians and babus.' Some people opine that the armed forces draw their personnel from the general public. Every years lakhs of people vie for limited vacancies in the training institutes like the Indian Military Academy, Officer's Training Academy, Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy.
The editor of defence magazine Purple Berret, Commander Atul Bharadwaj, considers it to be over-fussiness to be so critical of the officers and men getting involved in the unexpected acts and behaviour. He says, 'Why is there so much fuss when the training and value system are strong. The armed forces never try to shield even very senior officers. Major General A. K. Lal was commanding a combat division and he was not spared.'
Armed Forces draw their men and officers from the same talent pool of society. 'In the post-globalisation world, the options have increased and the armed forces, too, are coming close to the society. The officers are leaving forces to join the corporate world. The armed forces have been traditionally kept away from society for this very reason that they do not catch the vices prevalent there,' says Bharadwaj, adding, 'Also keep in mind that there are very few senior positions in the organisation and this makes it vulnerable to all kinds of pushes and pulls and allegations.'
The forces have been at the receiving end because the cases which are filed against them are not defended or reported once they are found to be wrong. The case of Captain Poonam Kaur was found to be totally fabricated where she had alleged her senior colleagues of sexual harassment. The Shopian rape case is the most recent one where forces received an overwhelming negative publicity but when it was found wrong, it did not get any space or airtime in the newspapers and news channels. Same happened in Agartala Military Hospital where a civilian had levelled allegations of molestation against Colonel B. K. Das, which were later found to be incorrect.
The data of human rights violation, too, has a different picture to put forward. In 2006 and 2007, the number of cases reported were 21 and 27 respectively in Kashmir. Out of these 48 cases, 36 were found incorrect and some are still under investigation with three people already punished. Same picture comes up in the northeast as well. In 2006, 2007 and 2008, there were 19, 21 and 14 cases respectively reported. Of these 54 cases, 38 were found outrightly false. In the three legitimate cases, two people have been punished.
Vagaries of the changing times seem to be hitting the armed forces as well. The game of maligning fellow officers to knock them out of the reckoning for the higher posts has been happening, but the way issues of corruption and infighting are coming to the fore does talk of a decline in the discipline and the standards. These will have to be curbed before the forces totally lose their credibility as being the most ingenuous institution of the country.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board
Run after passion and not money, says Arindam Chaudhuri
Award Conferred To Irom Chanu Sharmila By IIPM
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
IIPM Lucknow – News article in Economic Times and Times of India
Prof Rajita Chaudhuri follow some off-beat trends like organizing make up sessions
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