Why? Rameshwar Why?

THE SYSTEM NEEDS AN OVERHAUL

It does not serve my purpose to make a comparison of the venality in civilians vis a vis officers of the Armed Forces. While the construct of both these separate and native class of people is from the same indigenous environment, their selection, nurturing, training, work ethos, demands of profession and its inherent hazards etc are as distinct and different, as chalk from cheese. “The officer corps is the heart and soul of any military organization and it must be the reservoir of character and integrity, fountainhead of professional competence and the dynamo of leadership”. With this, then, being the fundamental requirement to qualify to become an officer and a de jure leader of men, media expose` on unbecoming acts by officers which stink of a lack of probity and rectitude in their personal and official life respectively is heart rending, to say the least. And, one more such story to spill out in the public domain through the pages of Times of India, New Delhi 28 September 2011 is about the Director General of the Assam Rifles (DGAR), misusing private funds for his wife’s personal expenditure. The story mentions about Lt General Rameshwar Roy spending about Rs 23,000/- from regimental funds for his wife’s clothing, hair dressing ,gifts etc.

Rameshwar and I officially interacted with each other while serving in Army Headquarters, New Delhi in 2002. He was then the Military Assistant (MA) to the Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Training & Coordination) and I was Director Military Training, Section 8. That he grew and rose in the organization within seven years from a Colonel to a Lt General and later as DGAR, is to his credit and demonstrated professional ability. The question which poses itself to me time and again is, how do such senior officers beat the system and get exposed only after having reached their exalted offices. The laundry list of all those who were found guilty of having committed unbecoming acts is replete with the names of those having the honorific of Brigadier, Maj General and Lt General. Of course General (retd) Nirmal Chand Vij and Deepak Kapoor were both an exception, who even brought the institution of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) to disrepute by their involvement in and being unsanctioned beneficiaries of the infamous Adarsh Housing Society scam. One can only imagine the hurt and pain which Kipper, Timmy, Sam Bahadur and others would have felt in sharing the Roll of Honor of COAS with these two  Generals, who await the outcome of the departmental inquiry and CBI investigation into the matter.

Notwithstanding the claims of the Military Secretary’s (MS) branch that, our assessment and promotion system is the best which can be thought of, the ground swell of the prevalent culture of sycophancy, spinelessness in the officer corps who negotiate values for success and manage postings, confidential reports and promotions leaves much to be desired. Despite the best intentions of General V K Singh to restore the primordial soldierly values of character driven leadership amongst its officers, the task is quite akin to cutting the Gordian Knot. Extremely difficult to achieve. Because, over the years character has been traded for success, without a thought to the means used for it. The erosion of family, social and professional values in the inclusive National environment, which only pedestalises success, the raw stock of young men and women who make the Army’s officer corps are similarly impacted in their thoughts and deeds. Specialized training and personality development during the formative years, evens out some of these character angularities and builds upon what has been imbibed in the family and schools. Should the stock be wanting in principled upbringing during puberty and adolescence, the likelihood of much being achieved from training alone in character building is rather remote. The train may be moving on the right rails but is going in the wrong direction. So, there is a need to accept our failing in this regard and take unusual steps to correct an unusual situation, wherein our existing SYSTEM is unworthy of sifting the grain from the chaff and precluding the possibility of more and more senior officers abashing the organization.

There is no gainsaying that, leadership in the army is more positional than personal. Therefore, the harm and damage which an unbecoming officer can do to his command is directly proportional to the position he occupies in the military hierarchy. The more senior in rank he is, more is the suffering to those who come within the ambit of his official authority. Moreover, he makes a very poor role model of character driven leadership but yet enjoys a privileged status. The message which reaches out to those aspiring for success in this steep promotional pyramid within the army, is to suck up to such an officer and earn his goodwill. Over time, the entire band of officers is infected and who in their own turn similarly pass on the contagion to others. The likes of Avdesh,  Rameshwar, Deepak, Nirmal, Kaul and others will continue to spring up from time to time and embarrass the army, unless an overhaul is done of the SYSTEM to restore the primacy of character, competence and courage as its keystone.

Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal,VSM

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