Forces of honour

•The defence minister’s statement in Parliament that the three chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces are not exempt from frisking at airports is just a pointer to their wilful, planned, steady degradation. It is actually an insult to the dignity and honour of every serving soldier, sailor and airman and to the millions of veterans. It all started with our first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who neither understood nor was interested in military matters. The fact that he asked a British officer to stay on as commander-in-chief for a few years after Independence shows his frame of mind. Nehru’s disdain for military officers was emulated by his successors and the bureaucrats, who adopted devious methods to bring down the prestige of the services. This was particularly apparent in a succession of orders issued on the Warrant of Precedence. After the first Indo-Pak war the service chiefs were made junior to Supreme Court judges. In 1955 their designation was changed from commander-in-chief of their respective services to chief of staff. They further dropped in status after the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict and became junior to the Cabinet secretary. Their decline continued unabated and they were made junior to the attorney general after the Indo-Pak war of 1965. Yet again, after the 1971 Indo-Pak war they were put next to the Comptroller and Auditor General. The discrimination in the service condition of Armed Forces personnel is evident from the fact that whereas a peon, a police constable or an air hostesses can serve until 60, some 97 per cent of army jawans are compulsorily retired at an average age of 37 to fend for themselves on a paltry pension after giving the best years of their lives to the nation. Further, the disability pension of disabled army officers is almost one-third of his civilian counterparts. The list of disparities is endless.

... contd.