TRAVAILS OF THE INDIAN AF - APATHY OF THE GoI

HAPPY EASTER 2016 FOR ALL 

MY SISTERS, BROTHERS & FRIENDS

OF BHARAT - OUR LAND

The season of giving and forgiving, 

first yourself; 

with the gift of forgiveness, 

and then all others.

Breathes There The Man 

with soul so dead,

Who never to himself hath said, 

 This is my own, my native land! 

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,

As home his footsteps he hath turn'd, 

From wandering on a foreign strand!

If such there breathe go mark him well 

For him no Minstrel raptures swell;

High though his titles, proud his name,

Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;

Despite those titles, power, and pelf,



The wretch, concentred all in self, 

 Living, shall forfeit fair renown, 

And, doubly dying, 

shall go down

To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,

Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung. 

Sir Walter Scott

A LETTER TO THE RM 
FROM W/O A VETERAN

(SHRI MANOHAR PARRIKAR)
(THE RM - NOT THE 'W'!)

Respected Shri Parrikarji,

The Indian youth join Army for many reasons. Some are romantics filled with patriotism and altruistic concern for the welfare of country. Some are looking for a job to support their poverty ridden family and some just blunder in. But they serve unto death for a higher reason, that is, `Guardian Attitude’. The Guardian Attitude is generated through a regime of tough training and strict discipline and strengthened by camaraderie between soldiers and officers and shared sense of glorious past which are hallmark of Military.

Very idea of Guardianship has to be rooted in the concepts of honour, higher purpose, and belief that the soldier-citizen is a standard bearer, who embodies the superior virtues of men’ but are loath to self-publicize. Consequently `the military elite, like other leadership groups is inhibited in proclaiming its special virtues’. 

The Indian military leader ship has, perceptibly not, been able to match up the shenanigans of a bureaucracy steeped in traditions of Delhi Durbar and unable to safeguard organisational interests of the military. This leaves elected leaders with responsibility to ensure that fiscal pedantry and bureaucratic skulduggery do not kill Guardian Attitude of military by depriving or stealing the special affections showered on it by a grateful society through special pay and perks given to soldiers and officers.

Examples which highlight progressive degradation of military since 1947, denial of fair wages and reduction in pension and recent recommendation for mass punishment by 7th CPC on military because some senior officers allegedly abused provisions of disability pension are matters of history and enough is available in public domain hence not repeated here. I am, however, keen to know your response to the following issues:-

•     One hears a common refrain from `interested’ 
       elements, especially bureaucracy that Armed 
       Forces are manpower happy. But it would come 
       as surprise to you that while three services 
       spend 37 per cent of their budget on `Revenue’ 
       account while the figure for `Revenue’ 
       expenditure of Civil Wing is massive 63 per cent! 
       Do you have any plans to review the `Outcomes’ 
       from this huge expenditure? 

•     As per Report of 7th CPC the MoD has 
       sanctioned posts of 5,85,000 civilians, which is 
       nearly half the strength of three Services. In 
       view of increased mechanization and IT enabled 
       offices has a review of their efficacy and efficient 
       been undertaken with a view to right-size it?

•     Civil element of the MoD has higher ratio of 
       Group A services at 4 per cent and Group B at 15 
       percent as against the Army, which has 3.79 
       percent officer and 12 percent JCOs against 86 
       percent Other Rank. As a result, not only less 
       hands are available for actual work on site on an 
       average expenditure on a civilian employee of 
       MoD is higher.

•     Please glance at page 28 of 7th CPC report and 
       you will find that MoD grossly understated 
      expenditure on its civilian staff. It will be 
      worthwhile to know whether it was done 
      intentionally.

•     You may also wish to check as to how the MoD is 
       spending more than Rs. 1000 Crore per annum 
       on pay, allowances and establishment of 
       Ministry 
       of Finance personnel! Do you genuinely need 
       such a large number of finance guys to manage 
       MoD budget or is it a case of freeloading at the 
       cost of soldiers? 

•     No wonder MoD spent Rs. 1883 on itself Crores 
       in last fiscal (Refer demand No. 21 of Union 
       Budget 2015-16). This amount is more than 
       combined total budget of MHA, MHRD, MEA 
       and 
       a few other ministries combined. Do you plan to 
       undertake any measure to reduce this 
       expenditure?

•     There are 62 Cantonments in India. Each of 
      these has a CEO and DEO. These two IDES 
      officials, who are equal to Major/ Colonel, occupy 
      large lavishly appointed bungalows which are 
      maintained by a retinue of staff! Do you have any 
      plans to find out as to how are these facilities 
      funded?

•    Military Engineering Service (MES) spends 60 
      percent of its budget on Revenue account! Is that 
      fair for an organisation which it only meant to 
      supervise works to spend Rs. 7200 Crores on pay 
      and allowances to supervise works worth 
      Rs.4800 Crores executed by contractors?

•    DRDO, purportedly a `Research’ organisation 
      spends 61 per cent of its budget on revenue 
      account. Thus leaving only 39 per cent for 
      'Research’!

•    The Defence Minister and other ministers of MoD 
      are entitled to civilian staff including civilian 
      staff cars and civilian drivers. Do you plan to 
      relieve Army drivers and any other combatants 
      attached to your office to let them perform their 
      primary duties in Army?

•     As a CM you must have enjoyed facilities of 
      having a Camp Office at home. Are there any 
      plans to do away with this archaic concept which 
      allows ministers and civil officials to garner staff 
      and other resources like electricity for personal 
      purpose at cost to public exchequer?

•    Are there any plans to remove/ reduce MTS and 
      telephone attendants from residences and offices 
      of government officials and ministers of MoD?

I close with a fervent hope of a reply and positive reaction to issues raised.

Best regards

Sincerely yours,

AN INTERNATIONAL SHAME 
ENACTED BY THIS GoI

THE CONTEMPT THAT THE CIVIL AUTHORITY HOLDS THE ARMY IN

WHO OBJECTED TO ONE BRIDGE FOR THE PRIVATE AoL PROGRAMME 

BUT 

WERE FORCED TO LAUNCH 

NOT JUST ONE BUT TWO OF THEM!!!

The title above is a link to an article written by Col Ajai Shukla, a fellow veteran, and published in the BS. Before you read the Article, I need to spell out a few more things laid out in Defense Service Regulations.

If my memory does not fail me, (30 yrs since I last referred to it), two paragraphs of it deal with execution of works for civilians, only when it can be done as a part of scheduled training. The cost of the work is assessed and is sanctioned by the formation commander. The civil party pays up, upfront, a part of which is deposited by the unit in the treasury and the rest goes to the regimental fund of the unit executing the work.

All routine training is carried out by engineer units in location with the resources authorised to it. Bridging training, however, is not considered routine. Unit level bridging training is carried out at a special location with equipment specially authorised for such training. The units do not carry out such unit level training with their own authorised equipment for very good reasons, mentioned in the Article by Ajai.

This route was, however not taken, as I can see it for the reason to save a large amount of money for the AoL, kind courtesy, not one but three govts, UP, Delhi and Central. Poor NGT activists! They were up against not just AoL but the combined might of the two state govts and the almighty GoI!!!

Whether it was or was not a public function is an academic discussion, given the approval of three govts to it. The moment the Delhi govt gave its sanction to a function where lakhs of people from all over the world were slated to come, the responsibility of law and order and infra became the responsibility of the state govt. In this particular case, since Delhi police is under the HM, law and order was the GOIs responsibility, exercised through the Lt Governor. 

As one can see, nothing would have been possible without the sanction of the Delhi govt and its requisition of three bridges. Why did the govt of Delhi, under Mr Kejriwal, bitterly opposed to the GoI, not only give approval to the function, but also requisition three floating bridges over the Yamuna?

If any one is to be blamed for this deployment of Army Engineers against their written objections, it is not the GoI but the Govt of Delhi, under Mr Kejriwal.

Ajai's article does not bring out the exact source of the bridging equipment used. Was it WE, 1st line or 2nd line ? 

It would be reprehensible if the equipment was WE or 1st line WR. The decision to deploy it would then be a callous one, at the cost of the Defense preparedness of our Nation.

It would also be interesting to know how much of the damage to the flood plains of Yamuna and the environment have since been undone, as was being touted by the AoL. It is a given that the National Media is hardly interested, but is the Nation interested ?

HOLIKA 

SLAYING OF THE DEMON

 A RITUAL TO SIGNIFY

 DESTRUCTION OF THE EVIL

Hope all of my sisters, brothers and friends of Bharat vidhivat observed Holika Puja in somewhat the following manner and lit only a nominal Holika, (fire), to spare the environment further pollution :

•     Took bath & wore fresh clothes.
•     Prepared a puja thali containing a kalash of water, haldi, kumkum, chandan, rice grains,     flowers, coconut, jaggery and gulal.
•     Offered these to the small puja fire, (Holika).
•     Chanted the following simple Narasimha Maha Mantra -

                    उग्रं वीरं महा विष्णुम ज्वलन्तम सर्वतो मुखम

            नृसिंहं भीषणम भद्रम मृत्युर्मृत्युम नाममि:अहम

        (Ugram Veeram Maha Vishnum Jwalantam Sarvato Mukham

       Nrisimham Bheeshanam Bhadram Mritoymrityum Namamyaham)

•     Did parikrama or pradakshina (circumambulation) of Holika, sprinkling water from                 the kalash while walking around Holika.
•        Distributed pieces of the coconut, offered to the Holika, as Prasad  to your family &                  friends. 
•        Once the Holika fire extinguished, applied its ashes on your forehead and took some                home too. 

QED

Now For the Holi Day :

HAPPY HOLI

The Festival of Dry Colours 

Save Water : The Most precious Commodity now

WHITHER BHARAT?

A Rejoinder to Rakesh Chibber’s ‘Historian’s Rant’ (His blog, which he invited me to read, is reproduced at the end of my rejoinder).

Dear Rakesh,

Whereas, I have no wish to enter into a discussion on the merits and demerits of either Guha or his writings/speeches, I definitely have a few things to say about some of the things that you have written in your above mentioned blog.

It has become fashionable to criticize Nehru. Yes, Nehru made a few monumental mistakes, which scarred the psyche of the Nation for years, till we were able to erase it with an outstandingly crushing victory in 1971. I am happy to have been an active participant of that operation. What, however, can never be overlooked is Nehru's vision in giving the Country the solid base of its heavy industries, without which an impoverished country like ours, made to live on imports from England, from mill made cloth from Manchester to heavy industrial products from Birmingham, would never have been what it is today. 

NDA I started the process of spinning crores, by selling just a few of these assets, to reduce their financing deficits. Ask an economist and he will tell you the same.

Today we insinuate that he grew to be a banyan tree, not to provide shelter but to disallow anything else to grow under it. Someone recently passed a remark that the banyan of ‘Nehruism’ has get eaten hollow by white ants and shall soon be uprooted, allowing the people of the Nation to grow freely. A joke. 

Never known a banyan to be attacked by white ants. Its roots grow deep.

Ironically, just yesterday, the PM of India, in the BJP's national conclave, is reported to have advised his party-men to reshape the party into a banyan tree, to give shade to all kinds of people, from all walks of life.

Soldiers have been progressively devalued since independence. Nehru and Indira are blamed for their sense of insecurity. What insecurity is bugging the present dispensation to speed-up that process of devaluation exponentially. The present Govt seems hell bent to grind the soldier to dust, nose down, under the sole of its dirty shoes. Strong words, but metaphorically true.

In the run -up to the last parliamentary general elections, no less than the PM candidate of the Party in power since,   repeatedly berated the then UPA govt  for not giving the soldier his due. He then solemnly promised to give them the true OROP, within 100 days of coming to power. After the election, those promises were said to be 'Election Jumla' and the soldiers were blamed for being simpletons to believe in the ‘Jumlas’. A cruel joke at the expense of not only the soldiers, but also the veer naris.

What did the RM say as recently as a few days back, to the invited few, (veterans), "This far and no further. The Govt has done enough". A cruel joke again.

A few of us still sing praises of the Chappan Chaati, (As he, more than once, called himself), while abusing the others in his party, who are accused of letting him down by denying the soldiers and the veer naris their rights. A man who projects himself as the strongest leader on the Earth, pretends to be helpless before his own colleagues! A joke of the Century.

The fact is that there is a well thought-out, unholy and structured plan, rapidly unfolding itself before the Nation.

Chappan Chaati says, "I will talk only of development and unity in diversity"; the others are commanded to do everything in the diametrically opposite direction. All failures would then be pinned on the ‘others’ and the 'Chappan Chaati', will remain unsullied and the darling of the Nation, to be voted back to power again and again and again. Masterly Plan !

I am unable to agree with your idea about our 'Hindu' ancestry.  

Our social and cultural heritage is not less than 10,000 yrs old. Read Tilak. The word 'Hindu' was not even coined till comparatively recently. In this matter, let me quote Swami Shraddhasudhasharananada :

"The fact is that BOTH the words "Hindu" and "India" have foreign origin. The word "Hindu" is neither a Sanskrit word nor is this word found in any of the native dialects and languages of India. It should be noted that "Hindu" is NOT a religious word at all. There is no reference of the word "Hindu" in the Ancient Vedic Scriptures, the Upanishads or the Vedanta.

It is said that the Persians used to refer to the Indus river, (Presently flowing partly in India and partly in Pakistan), as 'Sindhu'. The Persians, however, could not pronounce the letter "S" correctly in their native tongue and mispronounced it as "H." Thus, for the ancient Persians, the word "Sindhu" became "Hindu." The ancient Persian Cuneiform inscriptions and the Zend Avesta refer to the word "Hindu" as a geographic name rather than a religious name. When the Persian King Darious 1 extended his empire up to the borders of the Indian subcontinent in 517 BC, some people of the Indian subcontinent became part of his Empire and Army. Thus for a very long time the ancient Persians referred to these people as "Hindus". The ancient Greeks and Armenians followed the same pronunciation, and gradually the name stuck.

The word "India" also has a similar foreign origin. Originally, the native Indians used to address the Indian subcontinent as "Bharat". As a matter of fact in Mahabharat,which is one of the two "Itihasa", we find reference of the word "Bharat". As per legend, the land ruled by the great King "Bharata" was called Bharat. This too was much before coinage of the word Hindu."

In  recent times, we have, spun a religious web around the word 'Hindu'. Even more, the land of Bharat, my Bharat Mahan, has now become the land of 'Bharat Mata'. 

The original, (And the very first), pictorial description of Bharat Mata, drawn by Abnindra Nath Tagore, has since been reshaped into ‘Ma Durga’. Personally, most of us love that description because of the power it represents, but a section, (Not all), of Muslims prefer to refer to their country as 'Father Land', just as our Aryan brothers, (Germans), across the continents, prefer to refer to. This section of Muslims has a problem in referring to the country as a 'Motherland'. If they are happy saying, 'Jai Hind', why force them to bow to Mother India's depiction as Devi Durga and make them shout Jai Bharat Ma? Why call them anti-national? 

We in the Defense Forces say, 'Jai Hind'. 

The time is not far when a missive from the Parivar will change that too to 'Jai Bharat Mata' !!

Going by the present logic being touted by the fanatics of the Parivar, all those, especially the politicians, who can't sing the National Anthem, must be booked as anti-nationals.

Incidentally, I am aware of a strong and unabated subterranean current of propaganda, to declare the present National Anthem as a poem written by Tagore  in praise of the British King of the time and, therefore, unfit to be the National Anthem of our Republic and, therefore, to be replaced with Bande Mataram. My chest swells by a few inches while singing the latter song, but even more so while singing the National Anthem, which I do in an uninhibited manner, whenever and wherever I hear its chords, vocal or instrumental, without caring a hoot about who around me thought what.

The present trends are disturbing. The visible wave of intolerance, apparent in a number of attacks, by vigilantes, on unsuspecting individuals, without any action by the authorities, is  reprehensible too.

Tolerance is not a Hindu custom but was built into our culture 10000 years ago, when the Aryans came over to our doorstep moving Southwards from thousands of Kms up North and cohabited with the then residents of Bharat, who were strong in philosophy, unlike the Aryans, who were strong in rituals, and formed a composite culture, enshrined in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Vedanta, Srimad Bhagwat Gita and countless other philosophies, (Read Tilak).

The Parivar, whose 'Guruji' has eruditely written volumes in praise of Hitler and the Nazi led holocaust of the Jews, (He wrote that India and Indians have a lot of good things to learn from the Nazis), are hell bent upon imposing their version of culture, where you are a nationalist only and only if you agree with them. Otherwise you are branded as an anti-national. This portends great danger to the unity of our diverse Bharat.

We the soldiers, the protectors of the Nations safety and security must fight, till our last breath, to see this danger off.

'Mera Bharat’ is Mahan not because of a few vocally fissiparous people of our Country, going around today, spreading poison, but because we still have largely retained the 'Unity in Diversity'. 

Let's fight tooth and nail to preserve that unity.

======================================

HISTORIAN’S RANT

By Rakesh Chibber

On 17^th March 2016,  I came across a news item on the Zee News Online that an ‘Eminent Historian’ of the country Mr Ramchandra Guha, who also alternates as an expert on cricket, spoke at t he inaugural session of a literary festival in New Delhi. As per Zee News Mr Guha, the historian, had this to say and I quote:

“The rising of Hindu nationalism in the country is not new. It happened immediately after Partition and during Ram Janmabhoomi movement, and both were orchestrated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevek Sangh (RSS). It has severely affected the secular, cultural and political fabric of the country, and I hope that the situation shouldn`t escalate to that level.”  He also noted that Hindu fundamentalism is more threatening than Islamic terrorism in India. “The reason is within India, Hindus are 85 per cent. I am terrified at the thought of Hindu majoritarianism, because that is what we were not”, adding that Islamic terrorism is a dangerous phenomenon in the global scenario.

He goes on to talk about how the most dangerous politicians in the country were Amit shah and Azam Khan and “BJP is the most anti-intellectual party and they failed to produce a single scholar in Gujarat after being in power for many years. You can`t have spokespersons as Anupam Kher, Praveen Togadia or Smriti Irani, who will only drive discourse further into the mud. As long as the RSS has the role in the political dispensation, you will never get right-wing intellectuals, but you get right-wing ideologists,”

While Mr Guha is entitled to his views on politics and politicians as per his political leanings, what got my goat, so to speak, was his rather condescending remark that “Everyone has their own role. Soldiers have their place and students have their own. The attack on universities is worrisome,” insinuating thereby that soldiers were not students or had not been students and should not interfere in the so called academic pursuit of the students of our universities. In his scheme of things “Scholarship has a place in moulding the consciousness of the nation. The tendency to belittle scholars, scholarships and universities is unfortunate. Though one should not exaggerate how widespread it is, what is happening around JNU is worrisome”.

Mr Guha who is regarded as a Historian has authored books like `India After Gandhi`, `Makers of Modern India`, `Patriots and Partisans` and `Gandhi Before India` and felt that “the situation was not as hopeless as portrayed by media, but it could be more hopeful, as the interest in books is also increasing” while referring to the controversy at the Jawaharlal Nehru university. Guha’s new book `Democrats and Dissenters` is likely to hit the stands in October, as per Zee News.

Mr. Guha considers himself as a Historian, and his area of Historical research is restricted to India of 20^th century and specifically the history shaped by the two great Indians of that century i.e. Mr. MK Gandhi and Mr. JL Nehru. I must confess here that other than reading India after Gandhi, I have not read all his historical researches, but have heard him speak on Television and You Tube and have read a number of his articles which are published in the Main Stream Media as Op Eds. 

From what I have read it comes out quite clearly that Mr. Guha is a diehard Nehru Fan, and for him Nehru could do no wrong and the initial direction given by Nehru to the country is the reason India is such a great country. He is an out an out Congress supporter though he writes at times on the inadequacies of the present Congress leadership. Although he tries to project himself as a balanced political commentator, but I am afraid his political biases are pretty evident. He is a heavily left leaning ‘intellectual’ who dismisses any so called ‘Right Wing’ thought as inadequate and pedestrian, and in keeping with the contempt the left leaning historians have for anything saffron, he considers himself as the champion of ‘Left liberal thought’ and the self appropriated title of  protectors of ‘Secular ideals’. 

I have no problems with Mr. Guha’s leftist thinking as long as he restricts himself to criticizing the Right Wing politics and it’s champion the RSS, but I do take umbrage to Mr. Guha intruding in my space i.e. the Armed Forces and my religious belief. And therefore, I shall restrict my rejoinder to these two aspects.

Mr. Guha has been a long critic of imposition of Armed Forces Special Powers Act and has written extensively on the subject, to the extent of making some unsavory comments on the functioning of the Armed Forces. 

In one of his articles on Manipur he wrote about ‘the massive and at times overbearing presence of the Army’ and how the locals despised the Assam Rifles. While Mr. Guha is free to air his views about the Indian Army’s functioning, I find it rather appalling that Mr. Guha should deny me and the other veterans of the Indian Armed Forces the opportunity to air our views on the goings on in a University, of which some of us have been recipient of the graduation degrees. 

Equally appalling is the thought in the so called Left Liberal World that soldiers should do soldiering and not interfere in what goes on in the other institutions of the country, in the instance case the JNU. While the soldier is restricted by his oath to his country and the special restrictions imposed on him due to Army Act, during the course of his service, to assume that the soldier should not have an opinion on matters of concern to the well being of the country, even after he has hung his uniform is rather condescending and questions the thinking ability of a soldier. 

Mr Guha should realize that the soldiers also have gone through colleges and are at times quite well read and knowledgeable about the issues of national concern. 

To come to the case in point regarding JNU, it is surprising that Mr. Guha should feel that the soldiers of the country should keep quiet even when slogan alluding to war against the country and breaking it up in pieces are being openly shouted in the name of free speech. If nationalism and patriotism are not the sole propriety article of the Armed Forces, then neither is the intellectual space the sole prerogative of the so called ‘Left Liberals’ who of late are being referred to as ‘Adarsh Liberals’, due to their myopic politically correct views and double standards with regards to acceptance of Freedom of Expressions of people ideologically at variance to the Leftist world view. 

It would be contra factual to assume that the ex soldiers cannot have political opinions or ability to understand the political shenanigans of the campus politics. Be that as it may, it is high time that the soldiers when out of uniform, should be able to take studied and well considered view on issues of security and integrity of the country, whether on the streets of J&K and North East or in the campuses of universities like JNU and Jadhavpur University, and more importantly be able to articulate their views at the appropriate forum.

The other aspect of Mr. Guha’s talk that I disagree with is his insinuation that Hindu fundamentalism is more dangerous than Islamic terrorism. He professes to be afraid of Hindu majoritarianism, because India is 85percent Hindu country. What Mr. Guha tends to overlook, is the fact that, because India is 85 percent Hindu, Mr. Guha has the freedom to abuse the majority religion of the country without fear of any backlash and retaliation. 

India has a rich history of never imposing its ancient religion on anyone through fear or intimidation. Hinduism believes that the entire world is one big family or ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’ and that there is one Truth but the path to it may vary. Or ‘Ekum sat vipra bahudha vadanti’ which literally means “that which exists is One, sages call it by various names”. This is the spiritual heritage of India, where in every one has the right to follow his or her belief without fear of discrimination. 

Unfortunately this cannot be said of many other countries of the world that follow different beliefs. And yet Mr. Guha felt it necessary to belittle the rich tradition of religious tolerance of this great country. But then I presume it was more due to Mr. Guha’s ideological compulsions rather than his religious belief which made him say such things. Perhaps it may also be an attempt to create controversy ahead of his impending release of his book, to boost its sales that he made such a remark which is in line with his limited thinking on the issue of Hinduism, and therefore needs to be dismissed as rant of an Adarsh Liberal with the contempt that it deserves.

Mr. Guha had once written that ‘The threat to India from Hindutva bigotry was at its most intense from about 1989 to about 2004’ which was the period when this self confessed Nehru dynasty fan’s favorite family was not at the helm of power. He was out of favour with the political dispensation at the centre of that time and had lost his relevance as an intellectual. It seems Mr. Guha has become irrelevant again.