Army men are not allowed to have media contact unless authorised

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 3

In January, the Indian Army was alerted about a message on smart phone application ‘WhatsApp’ that had phone numbers of leading TV channels and it exhorted jawans to share videos and audio recording of any act of corruption or exploitation with media houses. Army men are not allowed to have media contact unless authorised in writing.The message was not an aberration, rumours and falsehoods have been peddled on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. In the past two weeks, two fake letters have been circulated listing emoluments of the much-awaited 7th Central Pay Commission. One of these had the complete format of a government gazette. In one case, the Ministry of Defence had to intervene and deny having issued any such letter.The Army, alarmed at the manner in which the social media was being “wrongly” used by its own, has now issued an advisory to all seven Commands spelling out “do’s and don’ts” for the Army men as also their spouses, families and dependents.The Army believes “too much” of wrong information has been flowing on to the Facebook and Twitter accounts of personnel and also through WhatsApp messages.In its letter to the Commands, it has also named a particular ex-servicemen’s group for spreading rumours and falsehood through the social media. These messages are then spread using the family members of jawans. Most are rumours aimed at “dividing” the officers and jawans. The Army has asked its Commands to ensure that its forces are made aware of the restrictions on sharing information relating to Army operations, its style of functioning, false opinions on pay and pensions.These include passing on messages that are detrimental to the functioning of the Army, giving out place of posting of specific battalion (regimental shoulder epaulets are discarded in operations).The Army headquarters says these messages exaggerate issues and tell half-truth. “There have been incidents of individuals and groups with vested interests propagating blatant falsehoods,” says the letter while citing examples of how attempts were made to spread falsehood that “one rank, one pension” was only for officers; how the 7th CPC delayed all benefits to jawans, but not officers; ‘ill-treatment’ of jawans as buddies; and alleged poor quality of food.