The last sentinels seem to be falling. First it was the judiciary, which till very recently was seen as being absolutely upright, which took heavy blows to it’s reputation when scam after scam tumbled out of their closets. And now it’s the turn of the army to get singled out for their share of blame with skeletons of Sukhna land scam implicating the top most echelons of it’s hierarchy. It would be so very easy for me to get sentimental on this issue as I too have my umbilical chord attached to this institution which otherwise has been an absolute honour for me to have been associated with. To be quite candid, my confidence today stands shaken to the very core and I wonder what the future has in store for us.

Yesterday, while watching this debate on Times Now, my pain and embarrassment was further aggravated when I saw some very senior retired officers shying away from accepting the fact that there have been misdemeanors on the part of some officers which needs to be condemned. Their argument ranged from being ridiculous to pathetic, to put it rather mildly. Some of them argued that the officers in the army are from the same lot of our society which politicians and police officers come from. They said if these people can be corrupt so can officers of army be. May be they do have a point. They are from the same race, no doubt about it. But what I would like to point out is that our officers are physically and mentally grilled into the sacrosanct oath which they take when they get commissioned. Just to recapitulate, here is the famous Chetwode oath which I’m talking about.

“The Safety, Honour and Welfare of your Country come first, always and every time. The Honour, Welfare and Comfort of the Men you command come next. Your Own ease, Comfort and Safety come last, always and every time.”

This is not just a sentimental quote but the ethos on which the army actually works. These are words which define the moral fabric of our army. And these are words which drive our officers to achieve what they do when facing the enemy. Unfortunately, when some senior lot reach the level of  being a General and when they have long been detached from actual soldiering on ground do we see such scams. This is the lot which over the long period of thirty odd years of their service have forgotten what they learnt in their academy.

Also, the arguments of these people falls flat on it’s face because of the simple reason that just because many politicians and police officials take bribes, by this analogy can you justify others also doing the same? It would be rather stupid to accept this kind of argument from anyone committing a crime or even justifying it.

Another argument given was that army is not paid well enough and this was one main reason why such things happen. They said that the officers and men have to live and fight even at altitudes of twenty thousand feet and they are paid peanuts as compensation for what they do. Well, let me tell you guys. My husband Manish has voluntarily served in Siachen glacier and at altitudes even higher than what is being talked of. Do you know how much extra money he got for serving there? It was twelve hundred bucks per month. Take a deep breath, people. Just twelve hundred stupid bucks for fighting the Pakis at altitudes which were even more than twenty thousand feet. Was he dissatisfied with this amount? Yes, may be he was but he did his duty irrespective of whatever was being paid to him. Money was not exactly his concern. His love for his country was. And that’s exactly the reason why he volunteered to go there. Take another guess. Do you know how much extra money is being paid to officers for serving in those areas now? It’s more than twenty thousand bucks. It may not be enough for some people but in my view it’s rather adequate, given the country that we live in and the general standard of living of people of our country.

Also, here’s a screen shot of my husband’s recent pay details which he downloaded from the Internet.

I know these are very personal details and nobody likes to share these in public but we don’t have anything to hide. There’s no need to. Take a look at those numbers. What Manish gets is not exactly earth shattering but it is more than enough for four of us. We may not be able to live extravagantly on this amount but it is quite sufficient for us to lead a pretty decent life. And we are happy with it. Mind you, Generals get nearly 50-60% more than this. Also, it does not include housing and medical expenses which the army caters for separately. Fact is that there is no end to greed which people have. Actually, no one minds getting more money and there’s nothing wrong with that either. So go ahead and make more money if you can. Just ensure that it is morally and legally correct. This may be a very old and cliched term but it is still as relevant as it was when it was first coined.

Some of you may say that we are too simple and unambitious people. Simple for sure but not unambitious, for sure again. I wouldn’t mind Manish getting a pay raise as and when our country can afford more. It is just that that we don’t want any illegal money in our house. Well, we are digressing from the main issue here. The whole aim was to show that we are not exactly living in poverty. And neither are those Generals who have been named in this scam.

Agreed, there are issues which the pensioners have, like one rank one pension but that is a different issue and is not directly related to this scam. Nonetheless, this was also quoted by one of the panelists on Times Now as one of the weaknesses of the army, which it may well be.

Having said what I have, I wish to say that these officers need to be punished for what they have done. I know the army will do the needful but it has to be done at the earliest. Also, these officers should have resigned their commission on their own by this time. This would not only be morally correct but also a need of the hour. It would be very difficult for anyone to serve under them in the army anymore. General Deepak Kapoor too needs to speak to the countrymen on what actions the army is taking in not only punishing these officers but also in making efforts in stemming this rot. May be there is a case for having more checks and balances within the army. May be there is a case for being ruthless in punishing officers guilty of corruption. May be there is a case for stemming the rotten. Or may be there is a case for preventing the rot from reaching the stem. May be……..

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Posted on December 2nd, 2009 Feelings, India calling • Tags: army, corruption, ethos, general, hierarchy, money, pay, scam. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback