Depleting Force, Depleting Confidence
Armed Forces are in the news for wrong reasons. And that is very unfortunate. I think we Indians value only two institutions in this country – The Supreme Court and The Armed Forces.
Police are made fun of in movies, but nobody takes a dig at these two institutions. They remain our greatest hope.
Three disturbing developments:
1. Last week we heard the TV channels shouting hoarse about depleted force of Indian Navy. The news report says that Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report released on Friday said that the submarine fleet is ageing and by 2012, 63 percent of the vessels would have completed their operational life.
2. We heard in the last two days that two retired Army officers were being questioned for their role in Malegaon and Modasa bomb blasts.
3. We have heard last month that the Armed Forces were not happy with Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations. A committee headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is formed. The committee will also have Defence Minister AK Anthony and Finance Minister P Chidambaram as its members. The proposed committee will look into the grievances of the Armed Forces related to the remuneration being offered to them in the Sixth Pay Commission.
It is time for us to realise that something is going wrong, terribly wrong! Is someone listening in Delhi?
Vivek
Besides ones parents, usually one values one’s teachers and the defenders of the country. It is clear that teachers were devalued years ago, and so were the defenders of the country. These folks have already been taken for granted for years. The obscene salaries offered to people half the teachers age, in this age of IT, have further served to corrupt impressionable minds. It doesnt help that most folks who pretend to represent us, are money centric and , for lack of a better word, crooked. They need to give the armed forces the prestige, importance and respect it deserves.
There sure has been great discrepancy regarding the sixth pay commission. More than the money, it is about the status accorded to the service officers. In this particular pay commission, the bureaucrats have lowered the status of the service officers as compared to the para military services and it is not acceptable. In times of crisis, it is the Armed Forces who are called to serve the nation, but when time comes to pay them and accord them the deserving status, they seem to be at the bottom of the ladder. If the recommendations are not addressed to within time, a day will come, when there won’t be many to serve the country (as such we are very short of the officers and men).
Your post brings to centre stage, that which is in the sidelines. The armed forces are our lines of defence. Because of them and the secuity they provide, we go about with our lives.
This is unacceptable. I hope New Delhi removes its ear plugs !