Sanjha Morcha

Rank parity in MoD Sitharaman fails to quell heartburning

Rank parity in MoD

Any country that repeatedly calls upon its armed forces to take care of active security threats finds itself having to concede resources, honours and space to the uniform brass. The state of civilian-military relationship in India is getting marked by an increased testiness; particularly elusive remains a satisfactory protocol of equivalence between the serving military officers and the civilians working in the Ministry of Defence. In October 2016, an order was passed and it was intended to address the perceived anomalies in the rank-parity; instead, it ended up aggravating matters.

The military brass felt offended. The disciplined force members flagged their objections at the administration level, while their ex-fauji comrades took to the social media, even invoking an affront to izzat. Last week, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ordered the withdrawal of the October 2016 order. The minister’s belated action, in effect, calls for a truce in the Armed Forces Headquarters (AFHQ). Created about 50 years ago, the AFHQ was to provide continuity in the functioning of the Integrated Headquarters, Defence Staff Headquarters and the Inter-Service Organisation under the Ministry of Defence.

The restoration of status quo ante will not resolve the crux of the grievance. The civilian and the military officers work in close proximity on a daily basis. Familiarity does not always produce admiration and mutual respect.The armed officers remain a part of a disciplined, and hierarchical organisation, and they are not unaffected by the increasing sense of impatience among the military officers towards the civilian and bureaucratic leadership.  All bureaucracies in India — civilian or military, federal or state — have issues of promotions, pay, perks, parity; each pay commission becomes an occasion for another round of bad blood between the civilian and uniformed bureaucracies.  In the last decade, as the political leadership has come to depend for its success on the competence, dedication and professionalism of the armed forces, there is an all too discernible angst among the soldiers’ fraternity. Political opportunism has also encouraged the glorification of the soldier.Yet, it would be worth our while to keep in mind that we still have in place something called the Constitution of India.