CHANGES IN ARMY AFTER JAN LOKPAL BILL

Courtesey Virendra Singh:

Changes at Regt Level:-

(a) All offrs especially COs and above will use only one Sahayak that also only for making offrs uniform.

(b) The CO Memsahib will return the mess cook back to the regtl mess and will start cooking, washing.

(c) The garden will be manicured by the offr and memsahib

(d) The regt fund acct will be audited by the LAO

(e) No CSD profit will be taken to the regt fund/ mess fund. The rules of percentage written by the stupid British will be changed and the old regt fund rules will be burnt at Ramleela Maidan after Anna vacates it.

(f) COs/ offrs will return all the regt properties like Tv, fridge, and cutlery back to unit.

(g) All offrs taking tpt allce will not use mil veh for conveyance from residence.

(h) Offrs who have unknowingly taken tpt allowance and used conveyance will repent and will make a draft of the amount illegally taken by them and will give the cheque to Anna at Ramlila grnd.

(i) No veh will be modified. If at all a veh is to be modified offr will pay it from the pocket and will not use regt fund.

(j) COs will not use Acs in the office. It is not auth and we will not use it.

(k) If we use it at home we will connect it only through a meter and will never send a JCO with rum bottle to MES.

Changes at Bde and above:-

(a) All att vehs and pers will be detached immediately. We will live with WE auth and will fight with stupid IAS baboos to change the WE.

(b) If IAS lobby do not listen to us we will org a Darna at Ramlila Maidan and sort them out. Few from “ WE GNRS” who are specially qualified sorting out IAS baboos and their help will be solicited.

(c) For regt reunions the tickets for the Sahib and Memsahib will be paid by the offr himself. If any Bania offers to do that he will be shot.

(d) Brigs and above when visiting any station will not stay in hotels. They will stay in the mess guest rooms and will dine with the mess members.If forced to stay in a hotel offr will settle the bill directly with the hotel.

(e) Offrs will pay the mess bill in reality and not with a cosmetic touch.

(f) Brigs and above traveling by air will not expect a capt/maj to come to air port and bribe people and get the VIP launch opened. It is

authorized only for army cdrs and above (not even DGs) and we will satisfy with what is authorized for lesser mortals. (g) No senior offr will take rations directly from sup. We are all Anna’s soldiers and will be truthful and will get the normal rations from QM store.

(h) Chicken for the parties will be purchased and will not be adjusted in the rations.

(i) The present day culture of having ASC/AOC/EME COs more close to the General ship will stop. The fighting unit COs will always get love , affection and priority.

(j) The GE will be shown his way.

(k) If Italian marble is required for the toilets the offr will pay for it.

(l) Offrs with genetic “Italian” hatred will use Indian marble.

(m) Guest room toiletries will not be stolen. If any items are used we will pay for it.

(n) The sanitary napkin placed in the room will be used only if the lady requires it in an emergency. We will not carry it home for the daughter or grand daughter.

(o) The Maj Gens will accept JCO LO and the practice of detailing local staff offr( Honorable Batman to Memsahib) will stop immediately

ARMY'S DOUBLE STANDARDS ON WITHHOLDING PROMOTIONS

When the Adarsh scam came to light, and there was great dirt flying about, most of it directed in the direction of the Army's top brass, serving as well as retired, the Army went into damage control mode. And quite rightly so. It was the need of the hour to save it's reputation and the COAS himself gave went to his anguish over the fact that the highest office of the service too was under the scanner.

Accordingly a Court of Inquiry was ordered to probe into the affairs relating to the Adarsh scam and the principal officer facing the brunt of the inquiry was Maj Gen RK Hooda who was the latest officer to have demitted the office of GOC MG & G Area and was now serving in Army HQs. He was approved for the rank of Lt Gen, but because he was facing a Court of Inquiry he was put under a Discipline and Vigilance (DV) ban and his promotion put on hold. All this was perfectly by the book and this was how things happened.

In due course the inquiry got completed but in the meantime, Maj Gen Hooda attained his age of superannuation and had to retire from the service in the same rank. The Army Chief has recently made some statement in Poona regarding the culpability of Maj Gen Hooda fixed by the inquiry but that is not the crux of our story.

What we need to focus on is that in yet another case involving a Maj Gen, the Army did not follow the rules and in fact let him get away virtually scot free to his next rank.

Lt Gen SA Cruz was serving in the rank of Maj Gen in HQs Western Command in Chandimandir as MG (Medical) when a Court of Inquiry was ordered against him by HQs Bengal Area. The genesis of this inquiry lies in days when the General officer was commanding a military hospital in Panagarh and the allegation of private practice levelled against some of his subordinate doctors. Now, after a stay in the high court had been vacated and the two officers court martialled, evidence had come forth incriminating the General and so, to investigate the allegations and give him a fair chance of defending himself, the Army ordered a Court of Inquiry against him.

The General, like Maj Gen Hooda, was approved for the rank of Lt Gen but in his case, no DV ban was put on his promotion. He was allowed to pick up his rank in complete disregard of rules and precedence and today he is serving as Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Medical) in New Delhi.

I am told this this is not an isolated case in the Army where rules are bent to favour a few. There are enough examples which go on to show how some officers manage to get away while others suffer. Why this happens is not known. I had sent a query to the Army but they did not bother to reply.

And so while the Army goes about boasting about how the General found partially guilty in the Adarsh Court of Inquiry has been punished by not allowing him to pick up his next rank, it is conveniently not addressing why yet another General facing an inquiry has been allowed to get promoted.

Silence is not going to make the questions go away.

WHEN COMMON SENSE APPEARS TO BE UNCOMMON

It would have been hilarious had it not been so infuriatingly stupid. The story which I am about to recount shows how certain officers in our Army, right through the spectrum of seniority, are not only ignorant of military laws but are also brazen enough to go about showing it for all to see. Not realising, therefore, that the times are changing and the average Jawan is not a class 5 pass out anymore.

As you will make out by seeing the accompanying documents, this story is about Sapper Lenin Chakraborty, serving in a engineering regiment, who was put through a summary trial and sentenced to 14 days RI for taking part in auditions of 'Indian Idol' while he was on leave.

There are some Army instructions on taking part in reality shows on television and it was quite evident that the Sapper would have to be disciplined for not having informed his superiors and taken their permission before embarking in the talent contest.

However, in an act which can be called a 'legal suicide', the unit of the jawan first punished him without specifying the exact law which he had violated, thus giving him an opportunity to go to the Armed Forces Tribunal in appeal. Then, it proceeded to tie itself in more knots by writing a letter to the Jawan warning him about his seeking legal redress without permission for superior officers and then directing him to withdraw the petition within a specified period of time.

That such an order is illegal in the eyes of the law goes without saying.

Perturbed by the punishment meted out to him, and perceiving it to be wrong, Sapper lenin, wrote to the Colonel Commandant of Bengal Sappers, Lt Gen Gautam Bannerjee, for redressal of his grievances. Now, this gave an opportunity for Lt Gen Bannerjee to give a piece of his mind to the young soldier on matters of military discipline and the cardinal mistake that he had done by writing to a senior officer.

Then he compounded the matters by pointing out that Sapper had been punished for his "arrogant behaviour" and that he "indicated signs of being AWL (absent without leave) while on leave". Now that is as good as it could get for the legal remedy available to the erring Sapper. Arrogant behaviour can hardly be a cause for a Summary Court Martial and the law would be hard pressed to find a clause in the Manual of Indian Military Law which permits court martial of a jawan for "indicating signs of being AWL while on leave".

Not surprisingly the Sapper seems to be getting some sympathy from the tribunal and the Army is on the receiving end.

What all this brings to fore is the fact that military officers are quite ignorant of law. And in the changing environment where recruits are graduates if not post-graduates, especially in technical arms and services, such ignorant officers end up harming the service rather then helping in imposition of discipline.

The case of Sapper Lenin Chakravarthy should serve as an example for all those who take such cases lightly. In fact, it should be made into a precis and disseminated to all units so that the Commanding Officers can learn what not to do in a situation like this.

WHO GIVES A DAMN ABOUT LAW?

Frankly, it was quite expected. HQs Western Command has not replied to a RTI application filed by me asking how and why has the vehicle registration plate been removed from the staff cars of the GOC-in-C and replaced by a plate saying WESTCOM 1 and WESTCOM 2 respectively.

I would certainly be taking the application to the logical conclusion and will exhaust every means available to eclicit a response, but that is besides the point. The moot point is why should the official car of the Army Commander be adorned with such a plate in utter and complete contravention of law? Is this going to percolate down the chain of command? Are we going to have Corps Commanders too going around with KHARGA 1, WHITE KNIGHTS 1 and Divisional Commanders going around with BLACK ELEPHANT 1, ACE OF SPADES 1, COCKEREL 1 and what not?

There are flags, star plates and pennants which adorn vehicles of officers of flag rank. These are meant to inform the observer about the rank and position of the officer travelling in it so that suitable compliments can be paid. What else is needed? The Army Commanders vehicle already has a very distinct flag with Ashoka emblem, three stars and formation sign on it apart from the star plate which has three stars on it. If someone still does not recognise the vehicle then clearly something is wrong with his or her eyesight and adorning the vehicle with WESTCOM 1 is not going to help.

Next, some eccentric commander would want to have stars on the sides of the vehicle also because there are no such distinctive feature there. And not to forget the top of the car AND the bottom for whoever is looking!

Surely there are more important things which should be occupying the mind of a formation commander then just adorning his vehicle with heraldry?

There have been some examples of funny displays in days of yore. But those have not been in any violation of law. There was one Brigade Commander who used to have the star plate displayed on the forehead of his horse when he went riding. Another Brigadier I know had a Jawan running after his horse bearing his pennant! Having a star plate on the golf cart is not even worth discussing here, it is so common.

But violating the Motor Vehicle Act is something else. No one has the right to so that. These staff cars bearing WESTCOM 1 and WESTCOM 2 should be challaned by the traffic police as they break the law with impunity. The Panchkula Police and the Chandigarh Police will soon have to answer some uncomfortable questions even if the Western Command chooses to remain silent. The media will be on the lookout.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF EXERCISE PINE PRAHAAR TAKING PLACE IN PUNJAB

Air Marshal NAK Browne will be the next Chief of Air Staff

Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal NAK Browne will be the next Chief of Air Staff on the retirement of Air Chief Marshal PV Naik from government service on July 31, 2011. Born in Allahabad on 15 December 1951, Air Marshal NAK Browne was commissioned into the Fighter stream of Indian Air Force on 24 June 1972. With about 3100 hours of flying to his credit, he has had a varied operational experience that included flying Hunters, all variants of MiG-21s, Jaguars and SU-30s. An alumnus of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune, he is a Fighter Combat Leader, who has also served as an instructor at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) - a premiere flying establishment of the IAF and the Tri-services Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington. A graduate of the Air Command and Staff College, Albama, USA, he had trained with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the United Kingdom, on Jaguar aircraft and went on to command a Jaguar Squadron subsequently. During his long career spanning 38 years, he has held various operational and staff appointments that include - Joint Director at Air War Strategy Cell at Air Headquarters, Chief Operations Officer and Air Officer Commanding of a SU-30 base, Air-I at New Delhi based Western Air Command (WAC) and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Intelligence) at Air Headquarters. He was also responsible for establishing the Indian Defence Wing in Tel Aviv, Israel in April 1997 where he served as the Defence Attache till July 2000. From March 2007 to 31 May 2009 he functioned as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS) at Air Headquarters and was responsible for lAF's major Modernization Programmes. Before taking over as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) at Air Headquarters on 01 January 2011, he was the AOC-in-C of Western Air Command, lAF's most vital operational Command. Under his command and personal supervision, the first ever landing of an AN-32 (fixed wing aircraft) took place at Nyoma, advance Landing Ground (ALG), located at an altitude of 13,300 feet on 18 September 2009. Air Marshal Browne is recipient of Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM), Ati Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM), Vayu Sena Medal (VM) and is appointed as one of the Honorary ADCs to the President of India. Married to Kiran Browne, they have a son, Omar, a fighter pilot in the IAF and a daughter Alisha, who is working with a multinational company.

EXERCISE VIJAYEE BHAVA SNAPS

Photographs released by the Indian Air Force of the Exercise which is taking place in Rajasthan involving 2 Corps and elements of Western Air Command. Lt Gen SR Ghosh, Western Army Commander, got to take a joyride in a Jaguar in the exercise.