Whims and fancies of people in power, vote-bank pressures and a loose ‘discretionary’ clause can imbalance protocol-based events, resulting in controversies and debates. While honours accorded to well-known personalities have generally not been objected to, what has vexed people is the draping of Tricolour over bodies of some of the departed.

Lt Gen SR Ghosh (Retd)
Former GOC-in-C, Western Command

RAMAKANT Achrekar, a cricket coach known for having nurtured Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli, passed away recently. However, even before the embers had cooled, a controversy flared up about a ‘state funeral’ not being accorded to him. The Maharashtra Government had to go into overdrive and apologise for the ‘omission’.

Such controversies have erupted several times. In 2017, the Karnataka Government was slammed for according a state funeral with a 21-gun salute to Gauri Lankesh, a journalist known for her support to Naxals and views on right-wing Hindu extremism. The administration claimed that the gun salute was given as “a mark of respect for her selfless service and not for ideological reasons”. Another recent case was that of Sridevi, who was given full state honours at her funeral under the Chief Minister’s discretionary powers for being an “eminent personality who has done public service”. A third case is that of Sarabjit Singh, convicted of spying and subsequently killed in a Pakistani jail in 2013, for whom the Punjab Government ordered three-day mourning and a state funeral.

It is these powers of discretion that give rise to controversies and hype among the public. Over the past several years, state funerals under the discretionary powers have been given to several other personalities, including Rajesh Khanna, ex-cricketer Ajit Wadekar, journalist Muzaffar Hussain, Mother Teresa, Sathya Sai Baba, singer Gangubai Hangal, BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, who held no ministerial position when he lost his life, and Dada JP Vaswani. It is strange that Bollywood star Shashi Kapoor was also given a state funeral, complete with a three-gun salute by the police, while legendary thespian Raj Kapoor had been accorded none of these honours. 

However, nothing can be as glaring as the difference in the treatment meted out to two giants of the Armed Forces. In September 2017, Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh was cremated in Delhi with full state honours. The Tricolour was flown at half mast and both the President and the Prime Minister paid tributes at his residence, where the body lay in state. The funeral was attended by top political leaders, including Manmohan Singh and LK Advani, the Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) and the three Service Chiefs. A 17-gun salute, a fly-past by three Sukhoi fighters and helicopters carrying the IAF colours were part of the honours accorded to the ‘Air Warrior’.

Compare this with the shocking treatment meted out to India’s most iconic soldier, Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw, the Chief of the Indian Army which liberated Bangladesh in 1971 and captured over 90,000 Pakistani prisoners of war. Sam passed away in June 2008 at Wellington, Tamil Nadu. However, for reasons unknown, the Indian Government appeared to deliberately downplay the state honours that this great soldier so richly deserved. In any other country, such a funeral would have been attended by the highest officials of the nation. However, here no national mourning was declared and not one among our constitutional and central political leadership, including the Defence Minister, found time to attend his cremation. Nor did the Governor or Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The sole representative of the government was the Minister of State for Defence. Even the Air Force and Navy Chiefs did not attend the funeral and instead chose to send two-star-ranked officers.

All these cases exemplify how politics, whims and fancies of people in power, vote-bank pressures and a loose ‘discretionary’ clause can imbalance such protocol-based events, resulting in avoidable controversies and debates. While honours accorded to well-known personalities have generally not been objected to, the two main issues that have, however, vexed the people are the draping of the Tricolour over the bodies of some of the departed and the rendering of gun salutes to them.

A ‘state mourning’ was initially reserved only for the President, Prime Minister and former Presidents, while Governors were added to the list for ‘state funerals’. However, this came with a clause that in the case of other dignitaries, the Centre could issue special instructions or order a state funeral. Thus, over the years, rules have been relaxed or overlooked on several occasions to accommodate some personalities. There is, therefore, a need to review existing instructions and streamline and standardise these to ensure uniformity and transparency across the country.

Some recommendations are: ‘National mourning’ and a ‘national funeral’ should be authorised only for the President, Vice President, Prime Minister and former Presidents. These dignitaries would be entitled to most of the existing protocols, including a 21-gun salute by the military and a recommended four-day period of mourning during which the Tricolour would fly at half mast. Based on a Fifth Pay Commission recommendation in 1997, the government had notified that a public holiday would be declared only in the event of the death of the incumbent President and Prime Minister. It is now recommended that this practice be abolished in totality.

‘State funerals’ should be reserved for former Vice Presidents and Prime Ministers, sitting Cabinet ministers, Governors, Lieutenant Governors, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Chief Ministers and Bharat Ratna awardees. The Honour Guard at such funerals should be drawn from the state police or the Central Armed Police Forces, which would fire three volleys by seven riflemen. Bodies would be draped in the Tricolour, but there would be no lowering of the National Flag.

State funerals with full military honours, including the 17-gun salute, should be accorded to Field Marshals/Marshals of the Air Force/Admirals of the Seas and all Param Vir Chakra/Ashok Chakra awardees.

All other prominent citizens of great stature could be accorded a ‘ceremonial funeral’ at the discretion of the Central or state governments. A ceremonial funeral should also be authorised for former Union Cabinet ministers or equivalent former government dignitaries.

Such a funeral would basically entail logistical and security arrangements by the government, provision of a police escort and attendance by appropriate elected/government dignitaries. Bodies of such departed citizens would neither be draped in the Tricolour nor would rifle volleys be fired.

National mourning with flags lowered to half mast throughout the country should be proclaimed if the nation goes through any major calamity or natural disaster resulting in large-scale loss of lives.

Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat has an ambitious blueprint to restructure the bloated Indian Army and make it a lean and modern fighting unit. Will it succeed?

The biannual army commanders’ conference, presided over by the army chief and his eight seniormost lieutenant generals, is the force’s supreme decision-making body. So, when General Bipin Rawat called for an informal meeting of the army commanders in September 2018, a month ahead of the scheduled conference, the brass knew something was afoot. They were right. In the huddle in New Delhi, Gen. Rawat unveiled plans for reform and restructuring of the force unlike any attempted in decades. The defence budget last February had left the army with one of its lowest budgets to buy new equipment-just 13 per cent or Rs 26,826 crore. This was because nearly 87 per cent of its budget would be spent on paying salaries, buying fuel and ammunition. When the army commanders met again, formally in October, they had already flagged off four study groups to move into thrust areas identified by Gen. Rawat. The four studies, each headed by a Lt Gen., have a fourfold mission. They are meant to reshape the field army into an agile, operationally effective force capable of handling conventional and hybrid warfare, restructure the army headquarters in New Delhi, give its officer cadre a younger profile and revise the terms of engagement of the soldiers, a vast majority of whom retire at the age of 35.

The 1.2 million-strong Indian Army, the world’s second largest after China’s 2.1 million-strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA), hopes this restructuring will cut back up to 100,000 soldiers and reduce its crippling revenue budget (what it spends on manpower). Revenue spends are projected to rise to over 90 per cent in the years ahead. The goal of Gen. Rawat’s radical reform plan is to make the army fighting fit and to find the resources within the existing budget to make it happen. At the heart of the plan is the new concept of bulked-up brigades-called Integrated Battle Groups or IBGs-to replace division-sized forces. As Gen. Rawat puts it, his plan has three objectives: “to be prepared for future warfare by strengthening our capabilities, become more efficient and better manage our budget (see interview).”

Army officials are calling this the deepest cadre restructuring of the force in over three decades and, depending on how effectively it is implemented, potentially the army’s most far-reaching change since Independence.

The army reforms are a continuation of the ones set in motion by the defence ministry in 2017, when it began implementing the recommendations of the Lt Gen. (retd) D.B. Shekatkar committee report of December 2016. These reforms will see the redeployment and restructuring of 57,000 men, including officers, junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and soldiers.

The first stirrings of reform are kicking in. Two of the army’s advanced base workshops in Guwahati and Udhampur, each with over 1,500 personnel, have been shut down, the personnel transferred to army units. The nearly 50 station workshops, partly staffed by civilians and the army’s corps of military engineers (EME) are next on the chopping block. A majority will be outsourced to industry under a government-owned commercially operated model (GOCOMO). The World War II-era army postal establishment and military farms in peacetime establishments will be shut down. While the Shekatkar committee reforms, the brainchild of former defence minister Manohar Parrikar, targeted the flab within the army’s support elements like the supply corps and the engineers, it left the field army untouched. That’s where Gen. Rawat aimed his restructuring.

THE BIG IBG FORCE

Gen. Rawat, known for speaking his mind, can often be a journalist’s delight and a media advisor’s nightmare. His recent comments on the unsuitability of women officers to lead soldiers in combat set off a storm on social media. But beneath the candour lies a steely determination to leave a legacy. At a recent meeting of military veterans, Rawat said he wanted to bequeath an organisation to his successors that is lean, agile and capable of realising the military’s objectives.

The army’s Land Warfare Doctrine, released in December, bears the Rawat stamp. It reiterates conventional war as being central to the army’s operations and that it will continue to wage counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations to ‘ensure deterrence through punitive responses, against state-sponsored proxy war’.

His reorganisation hopes to reshape the army to fight under two overhangs-nuclear and budgetary. Both its potential adversaries-China and Pakistan-are nuclear armed. The defence budget is unlikely to rise substantially to meet their collusive threat. The chief has taken the axe out on the field formations that will fight conventional conflicts.

Structural reforms in the army, especially of the field formations meant to fight battles, are usually personality-driven attempts to alter the status quo. The last time this was done was in the mid-1980s when the visionary army chief General K. Sundarji adapted the US air-land battle concept to reshape four infantry divisions into the Reorganised Army Plains Infantry Divisions or RAPIDs, mobile divisions each comprising an armoured brigade equipped with battle tanks that would punch through enemy lines and two mechanised infantry brigades that would carry troops in newly acquired armoured personnel carriers.

The son of retired army deputy chief Lt Gen. Lachu Singh Rawat, the current army chief was deep-selected by the government over two other senior generals in December 2016. Since then, he has constantly pressed his field commanders on their preparedness to fight wars at short notice. ‘Cold Start’, the army’s battle strategy evolved after the 10-month Operation Parakram standoff with Pakistan in 2001, envisages the army going into battle at a few hours’ notice.

But, as a general says, a lot of Cold Start-related tactical work was up in the air before Rawat’s time. “What he’s trying to do is actually implement those on the ground,” one general says. In the pipeline is a plan to reduce the number of army commands facing China from the present four to just two.

If Gen. Sundarji gave the army RAPIDS, Gen. Rawat has called for raising IBGs. Equipped with infantry, tanks, artillery and mechanised infantry, the IBGs will be commanded by a major general and operate under the 14 corps-sized formations in the army. The concept is similar to the US army’s basic manoeuvre unit, the infantry brigade combat group, and the PLA’s ‘combined arms brigades’, a feature of China’s military reorganisation under way since 2013.

The IBGs will replace the primary all-arms fighting unit, the infantry division. Each infantry division is a force of around 14,000 soldiers backed by an armoured brigade of 80 tanks and artillery brigade of 500 guns, and can independently fight a ground war. One school of thought within the army calls for replacing all the 40 infantry divisions with nearly 140 IBGs. This will, however, depend on the results of a test bed in two of the corps in the Chandimandir-based Western Command this year, where field exercises will be carried out to see how it will work. The 2,900-km Indo-Pak border is not uniform-the LoC in Kashmir is rugged mountains, Akhnoor and Chhamb in Jammu are in the plains, Punjab is crisscrossed by rivers, Rajasthan and Gujarat have deserts and marshes. Each IBG on the western border with Pakistan will be sector-specific, each area getting the resources it needs to strike across the border in case of a conflict. The deserts will have a different application. “The chief wants to fix troops and equipment for each of these sector-specific IBGs,” a senior army official says.

The IBGs, the army feels, will kill several birds with one stone. They will operate direc­tly under the Corps HQ, thus, doing away with division headquarters. They will see an increase of nearly 95 major generals, needed to command nearly 140 IBGs, thereby increasing the promotion prospects of lower ranks. Currently, a colonel has to wait for nearly six-to-eight years to become a brigadier. The army has proposed diminishing the importance of the brigadier rank by making it a ‘non-selection’ grade appointment as it is for the equivalent ranks of air commodore and commodore in the Indian Air Force and Navy. All colonels will thus automatically become brigadiers, drawing higher pay and with better prospects of becoming major generals. These measures will reduce the total number of brigadiers from 1,165 to 936, increase the number of major generals from 301 to 396 and, overall, reduce 134 officers in the army.

The army has proposed doing away with all its division headquarters because the corps will now directly control the IBGs. They will also abolish the NCC Directorate, the Military Training Directorate and the Deputy Director General Military Farms. Several other separate directorates will be merged. The DGs of Perspective Planning and Weapons & Equipment directorates are to be merged into a single director general (PP & WE). The Director General Signals and Telecom and Director General Information Technology are to be merged into the DG-ST.

Some of the officers it thus saves will be moved into the Directorate General of Shaping of Information Environment (DGSIE) to fight hybrid warfare, another of Gen. Rawat’s pet themes. Hybrid warfare is a military strategy that is a lethal cocktail of conventional warfare with irregular warfare, lawfare, cyber warfare and diplomacy. This proposed specialist vertical will enable the army to fight a defensive hybrid warfare challenge.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

The world’s second largest army faces multiple challenges, each of which has changed in varying degrees over the past three decades. It is fighting an insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir that has flickered with varying intensity. Its troops are strung out over 4,000 km of disputed boundaries with Pakistan and China. Fighting a full-scale conventional war on a collusive Chi-Pak axis is now cast in stone in its military strategy. “It’s not just about fighting a two-front war, it’s also about obtaining decisive military objectives on both fronts,” a senior army official says. What has changed dramatically, however, is the army’s ability to pay for all of this.

Over the next decade, the army needs to find Rs 100,000 crore to pay for new attack helicopters, utility helicopters and missiles to replace its 1980s arsenal. The army has over 800,000 infantry. These numbers mean even the cheapest item on its shopping list-assault rifles, carbines and light machine guns-will cost Rs 15,000 crore. Yet, the army also needs to find the manpower and equipment for its Mountain Strike Corps-three divisions that will move into China in the event of a military conflict-and to staff new directorates it is creating to respond to nascent threats like information warfare.

All these require huge jumps in budgetary allocations at a time when the government is focused on reducing the fiscal deficit-the gap between revenue and expenditure. In its budget this year, the army got Rs 17,756 crore less in capital outlay and Rs 24,755 crore less under the revenue head than what it had sought. The army accounts for 55 per cent of the defence budget, but swallows 69 per cent of the revenue budget of all the three services. The defence budget, at 1.58 per cent of the GDP, is the lowest in over 50 years, the army has said while arguing for a budgetary hike. The government is unlikely to relent.

A July 23, 2018, statement tabled in the Rajya Sabha by MoS for defence Subhash Bhamre captured the government’s thinking. “The defence budget as a percentage of GDP may appear to be decreasing due to increasing trend in the growth of GDP,” Bhamre said. “However, it is increasing in absolute terms, implying higher spending.”

SYNERGY QUOTIENT: A tri-service exercise in Karwar, Karnataka, in Nov. 2018

To bolster his argument, Bhamre mentioned the ‘total defence budget’ this year-Rs 4.04 lakh crore (and not the Rs 2.9 lakh crore which the government spends only on the armed forces). This also includes military pensions, which was delinked from the armed forces’ budgets and placed under the MoD budget in the 1980s. Seen in its entirety, the defence budget is actually 31 per cent larger because of this hidden pension component. All told, Bhamre said, the defence budget in 2018-19 would account for 16.6 per cent of the total central government expenditure.

Bhamre nudged the armed forces to “optimally utilise” their budgets, asking them to “reprioritise schemes to ensure urgent and critical capabilities are acquired without compromising operational preparedness”. The statement shocked the armed forces, particularly as the MoS mentioned the touchy issue of defence pensions.

India pays out $15 billion (Rs 1 lakh crore) for its 20 million defence pensioners a year, a figure almost equal to the salaries it pays to serving personnel. This figure, analysts note, is more than Pakistan’s $9.6 billion defence budget this year and is projected to climb over the years, further increasing the military budget’s revenue component.

The navy and air force have received smaller outlays. The navy asked for Rs 37,932 crore but was given only Rs 20,848 crore, Rs 17,084 less than what it had sought. The IAF got Rs 41,924 crore less than what it had demanded. With minor budgetary increases barely sufficient to cater to inflation, there is despondency all around. To make matters worse, in 2017, the government took away duty exemptions on the import of defence equipment, which means the defence services have to pay more for hardware. This translates into a 20 per cent hit on the capital budget across the services.

The budget cuts, as one service chief told india today, show the yawning gap between intent and reality. “We aspire to be a superpower and we want to be strategically autonomous, which means we can’t have military alliances. But creating hard power requires a hike in defence spending, which isn’t happening either.”

WILL IT SUCCEED?

The revenue capital mismatch has been faced by several of Gen. Rawat’s predecessors. As far back as 1975, then Lt Gen. K.V. Krishna Rao headed a panel that spoke of the need to reduce the army’s teeth-to-tail ratio or the ratio of fighting personnel to the supply and logistics personnel. In 1998, under what was informally called ‘save and raise’, Gen. V.P. Malik ‘suppressed’ 50,000 vacancies within the army. The army would work with manpower deficiencies and not replace retiring soldiers. It was a great idea, but got scuppered by the Kargil war of 1999. Overnight, the army grew by over 150,000 soldiers as it raised two new corps, one in Ladakh and another in Pathankot, to man the gaps along the LoC. In order to brighten career prospects in the armed forces, they pushed for higher pay and allowances and pensions under the sixth and seventh pay commissions over the past 20 years. These have now come back to bite. “We are in a Catch 22 situation,” says a senior army officer. “The armed forces are a low priority career option, so pay has to be kept at the level it is to attract people, otherwise you won’t get good candidates.”

Gen. Rawat is confident the government will approve his restructuring. This shouldn’t be a problem because ever since the defeat in the 1962 war, when the Nehru government was accused of foisting an unpopular general on the army, successive governments have left the army to itself. The army is yet to project the savings on account of reorganisation, but back of the envelope calculations show it could shave off up to Rs 6,000 crore from its revenue budget if it reduces 50,000 soldiers.

But will the finance ministry, which allocates budgets, transfer revenue savings to the capital account? There is no evidence to show this will be the case. Still, Rawat believes the government will meet him halfway. “I am quite confident the government will support us. You know when we tell the government that ‘we are coming halfway, are you also willing to come halfway?’, I’m sure they will understand.” It remains to be seen how the finance ministry reacts to this.

Graphics by Tanmoy Chakraborty

“The defence ministry already accounts for 33 per cent of the government’s entire capital spend,” says Laxman Kumar Behera, a scholar at the MoD think-tank Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). “It is difficult to see how the finance ministry will want to increase this allocation. All savings will only go into the Consolidated Fund of India.”

Former Northern Army Commander Lt Gen. H.S. Panag says the reforms are meaningless without the government finalising a national security strategy after which it can kick off resource-intensive modernisation plans like seamlessly linking up soldiers on the battlefield through information-technology and sensory networks like those in the armies of the US or China. “Technology acquisition is an expensive exercise which needs the government on board. Since this is not a priority for the government, this (the reforms) will remain nothing more than a plan for internal reforms,” he says.

Downsizing the army is a concern shared by the government. A report submitted to the National Security Advisory Board, which operates under NSA Ajit Doval, last November recommended cutting 20 per cent of the standing army into reserve formations to save costs. The report, independent of the four studies being undertaken by the army, was prepared by former Northern Army Commander, Lt Gen. D.S. Hooda. A big imponderable, though, is the fate of all such reform plans-Gen. Rawat’s included-at a time when the government is rapidly slipping into election mode. And it’s easy to be sceptical. The Indian Army is a behemoth that inherently defies any attempts at change. None of the army’s right-sizing moves over the past three decades have succeeded. And last but not the least, a change at the top frequently results in a change in priorities.

THE MIRAGE OF ‘JOINTMANSHIP’

The bane of all attempts to reform budgets is the fact that these are single-service endeavours. Analysts point out that the army’s attempts to reform itself suffer from the same problems afflicting national security. It reflects a single-service action when the remedy lies in a joint approach. “Future wars will not remain only army- or infantry-centric. They will need all three services to fight together. Hence, jointness-the three services fighting together-is the need of the hour,” says Lt Gen. Shekatkar, who headed the MoD reforms committee. “The services haven’t even touched the toenail of this elephant in the room,” says an MoD finance official. “Why do the services need 17 separate commands? Why is there a Southern Naval Command in Kochi and an Air Force Southern Command in Thiruvananthapuram?”

Graphics by Tanmoy Chakraborty

These are solutions which have to be pushed through at the political level. But here again, the government is yet to act on one of the most contentious recommendations of the Shekatkar committee-the creation of just three joint theatre commands: north, south and west-which will merge the existing 17 commands. Each command will report to a theatre commander. The theatre commanders will report to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the single point military advisor to the government. It is also yet to act on the proposal for a permanent chairman, Chiefs of Staffs Committee (a halfway house to a CDS). The post is presently held in rotation by the seniormost of the three service chiefs. For years, the services could never build a consensus on the roles and responsibilities of the permanent chairman. This year, however, after years of infighting, they did the unthinkable. Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, chairman, CoSC, says the services finally buried their differences on a permanent chairman, CoSC, and submitted a proposal to the government last year. Now, the ball is squarely in the government’s court.

Gen. Rawat says the army’s reformed structure will lead to more jointmanship and has called for officers from the two other services to be posted within each others’ commands to increase efficiency.

Rawat has another year to go before he hangs up his boots, the first chief in nearly two decades to enjoy a full three-year tenure. This year will be crucial for him to realise his vision. He is confident his successors will carry on his reforms, a task that could take up to five years to realise. His success or lack of it will determine whether the Indian Army turns into a 21st century fighting machine or be fated to remain in the last century.

NEW DELHI: For the first time in Indian Army’s history, a lady officer will lead a contingent on the Army Day Parade on January 15.
Lieutenant Bhawna Kasturi will lead a contingent of 144 personnel of the Service Corps, which is participating after a gap of 23 years in the parade. It handles the logistic support function of the Army.
Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat will take salute on this occasion.
After rehearsal parade, Lt Kasturi said, this is the first time ever a lady officer is leading a contingent. Earlier, never a lady officer led a jawans’ contingent. Boys are putting too much effort and we have been practicing since past one year.
Our centre is in Bangalore and I’m coming from our regimental center and it’s been six months we are practicing. Along with me, there are two male officers from the center are practicing as contingent commanders, the army officer said.
She also lauded the Army for this opportunity and said, this shows the kind of acceptance, the change and the evolutions which is happening in the entire organization.
This shows acceptance for woman officers also.
On permanent commission for the women officers, she said that the higher authority in the Army is working hard for it and they also recognising the efforts being put by the lady officers.
Indian Army will celebrate its 71st raising day on January 15. (agencies)

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 4

Describing the Prime Minister as “a master of deceit and disinformation”, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday challenged Narendra Modi to show even one instance of a promise fulfilled by his government in the past five years, which had witnessed India plunging into utter ruin and devastation under his anti-people and divisive policies.

Taking Modi head-on over the statement made by him from the dais in Gurdaspur yesterday, Captain Amarinder said the “jumlebaaz” Prime Minister had brought the nation to its nadir with his deceptions and fabrications, and was staring at his moment of judgment at the hands of the people, who were set to throw him out of power for good.

Disputing every single statement made by Modi in Gurdaspur, the Chief Minister said the Prime Minister was misleading the people in the face of his imminent defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “Modi once again lied on every issue, from the 1984 riots and Kartarpur corridor to the farm debt waiver,” said Capt Amarinder Singh.

Questioning Modi’s silence on the BJP/RSS workers named in the Tilak Marg police station FIR related to the 1984 riots, the Chief Minister said he desperately trying to drag the Gandhi family into the matter even though no fingers had been pointed at them.

“And what about the 1992 riots in Gujarat which happened right under your nose and in which your own party members were squarely blamed and named?” Captain Amarinder asked Modi, demanding to know why the Prime Minister continued to remain silent on the issue.

Captain Amarinder also lambasted the Prime Minister for trying to seize credit for the Kartarpur corridor, which the Congress had been actively pursuing since the days of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, right down to Dr Manmohan Singh. He himself had been taking up the issue with Pakistan for years, said the Chief Minister, asking Modi to reveal what he had done to get the project going.

“You have not even given a single paisa so far for the celebration of the 550th Parkash Utsav of Guru Nanak despite our repeated pleas and requests and yet you claim to be the guardian of the Sikhs and their religion,” asserted the Chief Minister, pinning Modi down on the issue.

Smita Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 28

Amid the euphoria of groundbreaking ceremony of Kartarpur corridor by Imran Khan, India has dismissed remarks made by the Pakistani Prime Minister on Kashmir. New Delhi underlined that the Kartarpur corridor opening is a religious issue between the two countries and must not be given an overarching political context.

“It is deeply regrettable that the Prime Minister of Pakistan chose to politicise the pious occasion meant to realise the long-pending demand of the Sikh community to develop Kartarpur corridor by making unwarranted reference to Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral and inalienable part of India,” said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.

Earlier during the ceremony in Kartarpur in presence of his Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa, Indian government representatives and Union Cabinet members Hardeep Puri and Harsimrat Badal, Punjab Minister Navjot Sidhu and invited Indian media delegation among others, Imran Khan brought up the Kashmir bogey. “The only issue between us is Kashmir, all it needs is just two capable leaderships to resolve this issue. Just imagine the potential we have if our relationships get strong,” said the cricketer-turned-politician and now Pak PM.

“Pakistan is reminded that it must fulfil its international obligations and take effective and credible action to stop providing shelter and all kind of support to cross border terrorism from territories under its control,” added Raveesh Kumar in his response.

This after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Hyderabad categorically rejected a fresh offer from Pakistan to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the SAARC summit to be hosted by Islamabad. 

The Kartarpur corridor groundbreaking happening just two days after the 10th anniversary of the Mumbai attacks and ahead of the G20 summit where PM Modi is expected to flag issue of terror financing and safe havens and Pakistan’s grey listing by Financial Action Task Force to world leaders, including Donald Trump, means India would continue with its sharp attacks on Islamabad regardless of the new found warmth generated among the Sikh community on both sides of the border.

“It’s a step towards peace which our region needs. Barbed wire at borders is measure by a sovereign state to check/deny illegal crossings. Corridors & Gates are for legal peaceful visitors. So is the case for all our neighbors,” said the Pakistani Army Chief on the corridor ground breaking occasion.

@adgpi

Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat reviewed the security situation along the Line of Control and the hinterland in Jammu and Kashmir. Gen Rawat, accompanied by Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh and Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen AK Bhatt, visited the frontier district of Kupwara yesterday.

Army Chief was briefed about the recent counter-infiltration operations. Gen Rawat interacted with the troops and spent the first day of 2019 with troops in the Kashmir Valley.

Army spokesperson said, Gen Rawat was appreciative of the sharp vigil and ness along the Line of Control and high morale of the troops, and further exhorted them to remain for any eventuality.

Army Chief also interacted with senior police officials and discussed the prevailing internal security situation in the valley. Gen Rawat also appreciated the seamless cooperation and synergy being maintained among all the agencies.

Army Chief arrived in Kashmir valley yesterday on a two-day visit to the state.

New Delhi, November 25

As India and Pakistan prepare to lay the Kartarpur corridor project foundation, Islamabad hopes it will send a message globally.

Ahead of the ground-breaking ceremony by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on November 28, his Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhary today said the step proved that Islamabad meant peace.

In remarks alluding to the Modi government’s U-turn on proposed talks in September in New York, Chaudhary tweeted: “Pakistan, through its conduct, has once again showed who stands for peace in South Asia and which force is not sincere.” 

Meanwhile, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who, along with Cabinet colleague Harsimrat Badal, will attend the ceremony, hailed the movement forward. Calling it “one pilgrimage every Sikh longs for”, Puri tweeted: “I feel blessed that I will be able to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib.”

The American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has also welcomed the move to open the corridor. However, sounding a cautionary note, it said no individual should take undue credit, referring to leaders across parties in Punjab and the Centre patting their own backs. — TNS

In a recent interview, chief of army staff General Bipin Rawat spoke at length about why the Indian Army is not ready for women combat officers.

Women in combat is not just a contentious subject, it is also one which brings out passionate reactions from both aspiring women who wish to shatter yet another glass ceiling and Indian Army officers fiercely holding the ceiling in place, lest it starts to crack.

While both the disruptors and the resistance have valid arguments, Gen. Rawat strangely chose the most chauvinistic, illogical and factually untenable points to insist why the Indian Army would not have woman combatants any time soon.

From “…there are orders that we have to cocoon her separately. She will say somebody is peeping, so we will have to give a sheet around her” to “I make her a commanding officer. She is commanding a battalion. Can that lady officer be away from her duties for six months? Do I put a restriction on her to say that in that command tenure you will not be given maternity leave? If I say that, there will be ruckus created,” his arguments were infantilising women at best and ridiculous at worst.

Also read: Dear Bipin Rawat, Let’s Talk About Strong Women

Take the first point. Why would a woman officer complain about men peeping inside her hut/cabin/room, unless somebody is indeed peeping inside? And if somebody is peeping inside a woman’s room without her consent, then it is not the woman’s problem; it is a problem of discipline. And as any military leader would agree, indisciplined troops are a nightmare for any commander.

Taking the same argument forward, Gen. Rawat said that since a majority of Indian soldiers (people below the rank of officer) still come from villages, they will have a problem taking orders from a woman commander.

There are two flaws with this excuse. One, soldiers are trained to follow orders given by their superiors in rank. Period. They are not trained to take orders from a ‘male’ superior. In military, a rank is what matters, which is why it is worn on the shoulders. Now if trained soldiers chose to look at the breast of their commanding officer instead of the rank on her shoulder, then in addition to being a problem of indiscipline, it represents the breakdown of command too.

The second flaw is that men from rural areas have been taking orders from women for several decades now, whether as security guards, domestic helps, office assistants and even in the military. After all, except for combat, women officers are already serving in the military. Aren’t they giving orders to their juniors, including jawans? And aren’t those orders being obeyed?

As far as the country not being ready to receive the body bag of a woman officer is concerned, is anyone ever ready to receive a body bag of their loved one?

His most facetious argument was about women asking for maternity leave during their command tenure. In India, even the male officers who get approved for command tenure rarely do so before the age of 40. Given this, which woman, especially after enduring physical and mental rigours of military training to get commissioned as a combatant, would decide to have a child at the age of 40 or more? Even in the civil sector, the percentage of women opting to have children at 40 is miniscule. What’s more, of every ten officers, only half manage to command a unit. A woman who reaches this position is hardly likely to throw it all away because she belatedly decides to have a child. And even if she does, she would know that this would involve a compromise as far as her military career goes. This should worry the woman concerned, not the army chief.

Gen. Rawat, please look at the social profile of the officers you are commanding. Most have more than one child even before they hit their 30s; almost a decade and half before they can have a shot at commanding a battalion. Why would women be any different?

And as far as the country not being ready to receive the body bag of a woman officer is concerned, is anyone ever ready to receive a body bag of their loved one? It’s not about being ready. It’s about hoping and praying that your loved one does not return in a bag, yet accepting it when that happens.

Clearly, Gen. Rawat was caught off guard by the intrepid journalist. And the misogynist banter which usually happens in the army messes found its way into the interview.

Watch: Why General Bipin Rawat’s Remarks Were Unbecoming Of His Office

Contrast this with the press conference the chief of naval staff had a few weeks prior to this infamous interview, on December 3, at Kota House in Delhi. In response to a question on women officers being inducted in the combat role, Admiral Sunil Lanba said, “Navy is a gender-neutral service. We have already commissioned women officers in combat. They are flying the P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, which is a combat platform.”

According to Admiral Lanba, women officers have been trained to release weapons from P-8I, which is combat in the navy.

In response to another question, he added that all the modern under-construction warships are being designed to accommodate women officers. The only reason women have not been deployed on surface ships so far is because the naval training ships are not equipped to train women officers. “We are working on this. As soon as we have new training ships, we will train women for deployment on combat ships,” he told the assembled journalists.

Admiral Lanba offered no timelines and none were asked. A new training ship could start training women officers next year, or it may not do so for another five years. But at least the chief conveyed that the navy has no prejudice against women, instead of belabouring the fact that a woman officer may have to be alone on the ship with male colleagues for several months on operational deployment.

Inducting women in combat is a serious subject, which is why very few armed forces in the world induct women in the fighting arms. It deserves a serious and well-considered response. If he was not giving so many interviews at a breakneck speed, perhaps Gen. Rawat would have had time to consider his responses and he wouldn’t have exposed his regressive mind-set.

Surely, the head of the largest volunteer army in the world could have done better.

Ghazala Wahab is executive editorFORCE newsmagazine.

Any kind of fundamentalism is inconsistent with the message of Guru Nanak, who preached all religions had merit and it was necessary to learn from each other for harmonious living.

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 22

Societies worldwide are facing the challenges of terrorism and environmental degradation. What can we draw from the teachings of Guru Nanak to tide over these?

Three things in Guru Nanak’s life are very important. First is his emphasis on gender equality. Guru Nanak wanted men and women to be treated equally and his message was “so kyun manda aakhiye jit janmain rajjan”. Today in our own country atrocities against women and children are on the increase. It is, therefore, necessary to take Guru Nanak’s message to all nooks and corners of the country to emphasise the need for paying adequate attention to the wellbeing of our women and children.

Guru Nanak laid great emphasis on the protection of environment —water, air and Mother Earth. We end Japuji Sahib with a reference to the need to protect environment. The challenge is to live in harmony with nature.

Thirdly, the Guru emphasised the need for inter-faith harmony and sustained dialogue among religions and religious communities. He travelled the world to promote the culture of dialogue among various religious groups, whether it was the yogis of the Himalayas or the maulvis of Mecca.

His message is that all religions have merit and it is necessary to learn from each other to ensure harmonious living. This message of Guru Nanak is as relevant today as it was when he lived.

The Guru preached a world without boundaries but we are living in a world increasingly defined by boundaries. Is this why the world is moving away from his teachings?

Well, the world will have to come back to the path shown by Guru Nanak Dev ji. It is true there is so much strife in our country, so many religious disputes and caste rivalries. These are not conducive to harmonious living and, therefore, the message of Guru Nanak of promoting inter-faith dialogue and harmony is paramount. Guru Nanak said ‘naa koi Hindu naa Musalman’. Everyone is to be judged by what one does in his life.

Guru Nanak lived for the poor and shared his earnings. But world is becoming increasingly self-centred…

The basic message of Guru Nanak is equity and equality. Therefore, equitable distribution of income and wealth is an integral part of the teachings of Sikh Gurus. Equitable distribution of income, dealing constructively with social and economic inequalities, is integral to the message Guru Nanak gave to the world.

Radicalism has been on the rise across the world. Is there a lesson to be drawn from Guru’s teachings?

All sorts of fundamentalism are inconsistent with the message of Guru Nanak and other Sikh Gurus. Caste barriers were decried by the Guru. He emphasised equality of human beings and, therefore, the need for promoting inter-faith dialogue.

So you are saying that inter-faith dialogue is the best solution to religious fundamentalism?

Yes, that is the only solution.

Guru Nanak established the city of Kartarpur where there was harmony of every kind. Do you think such a society is possible today?

I think technology has brought new challenges. I don’t believe we can reverse the march of technology, and with technology comes growing urbanisation. I don’t think we can bring back the type of model Guru Nanak Dev ji showed and worked on in Kartarpur. But his message of ‘kirat karna, wand chhakna, naam japna’ is as relevant in modern society as it was during Guru Nanak’s time. The basic message is still valid for the wellbeing of humankind.

The youth appear to be increasingly losing touch with religion and spirituality… your thoughts?

My message to the youth is they must get away from the path of drugs, which is destroying the vitality of the youth of Punjab. The path shown by Guru Nanak can lead us to a life of piety and self-control, which is essential for harmonious living.

Are lack of jobs and economic strife also reasons why youth are unable to turn to spirituality?

Joblessness is a major problem affecting our young. This problem must be tackled frontally.

What does religion mean to you personally?

It means being a good citizen, trying to do my duty and leading a life of dignity and self-respect.

Do you think religious identities and religious symbolism are important?

Well, we cannot wish away symbolism but it need not be used to promote destructive ends.

Sikhism has spread worldwide because of the Sikh diaspora. What would you say to the Sikhs living outside India?

The Sikhs are today an international community, found in every part of the world. And where there is a Sikh, there is a gurdwara. Gurdwara is also a place where the tradition of langar, feeding the hungry regardless of their religion and caste, is still practised. To the Sikhs living outside India, my message would be that they have an obligation to be good Sikhs and good citizens of the countries to which they have migrated because their conduct will influence people’s judgement about the community. And, therefore, it is very important for the diaspora, the Sikhs in particular, to set an example of nobility and good living, practising teachings of the Gurus.

It is also necessary in our own country to ensure that our religious institutions are not misused to promote religious hatred.

What according to you is the role of the SGPC?

The SGPC is the supreme religious institution of the Sikhs. It must, therefore, guide the Sikh community to follow the righteous path shown by our Gurus.

Punjab has just seen an attack on Nirankari Bhavan in Amritsar on the eve of the 550th Parkash Utsav. Do you see this as an attempt to revive militancy in the state?

Terrorism is the enemy of humanity and, therefore, it is the responsibility of all to work for its elimination. No problems are solved by resorting to terrorism and it is, therefore, necessary that all our institutions — political, religious and social — are mobilised to deal with the scourge of terrorism.

Punjab has suffered a great deal in the past and it will be a very sad day if terrorism takes root in Punjab again.

Politics is being played out even on Parkash Utsav. The SGPC and the Punjab Government are organising their own functions. All this when the Guru preached unity…

My feeling is that all segments of the Sikh society and other religious communities, whether Hindus or Muslims, Guru Nanak was common to all. Guru Nanak’s message has universal validity and this must be an occasion to unite all communities in promoting the cult of good and honest living among our people.

An aura of sombreness and serenity generally prevails around war memorials the world over. There is an unwritten code of conduct for the visitors. It is sacrilegious to talk loudly, shout and laugh or have picnics at these monuments. But not so at India Gate. We need to have a code of conduct.

Lt-Gen SR Ghosh (Retd)
Former GOC-in -C, Western Command

RECENTLY, I visited India Gate in New Delhi to show the “Amar Jawan Jyoti” to an American visitor on his first trip to our country. India Gate, an architectural masterpiece, was constructed in honour of our gallant soldiers who had laid down their lives during World War I and the Third Anglo-Afghan War. The names of 13,218 of these soldiers are inscribed on India Gate. Designed by Edwin Lutyens, the 42-metre tall memorial was inaugurated on February 12, 1931 by the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, who said in his inaugural speech, “The stirring tales of individual heroism, will live forever in the annals of this country. This tribute to the memory of heroes, known and unknown, will inspire future generations to endure hardships with similar fortitude and no less valour”.

Four decades later, and after many more deaths of Indian soldiers, the Amar Jawan Jyoti was created under India Gate to commemorate the memory of those who had lost their lives during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. Since then, the Eternal Flame and the reversed rifle with a helmet on top, stand in mute remembrance of the immortal souls of all Indian soldiers who “gave their today for the nation’s tomorrow”.

Almost every country that has lost soldiers in a military campaign has created war memorials, many of them constructed and maintained through private funding by residents of that area and who look after these with care and pride. In the UK, France, Canada and Australia, war memorials have been constructed in hundreds of villages and towns by residents in honour of their fallen. In Russia, newly married couples traditionally pay homage at a war memorial immediately after their wedding in remembrance of the great sacrifices made by the soldiers of the Soviet Union in previous wars. 

Washington DC memorials

The US has some of the finest war memorials in Washington DC which are visited by almost five million people every year. 

• The famous Vietnam Memorial is a place of sorrow and memories, where the names of over 58,000 dead are etched on the highly polished, black granite Wall.
• The Korean War Memorial comprising 19 statues of US soldiers on a patrol represents more than 36,000 American military personnel killed in that war.
• The  World War II Memorial, constructed in 2004, honours the spirit and sacrifice of the over 4,00,000 dead.

Just across the Potomac river lies the National Arlington Cemetery, cradling over 4,00,000 graves, including that of President John Kennedy, and the Tomb of the Unknown.

War memorials are silent symbols of heroism, sacrifice and patriotism and are looked upon with utmost reverence across the world. When a soldier stands in homage at a memorial, a sea of silent emotions flows through his body and mind, as he remembers battles fought and fallen comrades. Citizens come here to remember and honour the sacrifices made by the soldiers, or to grieve for a father, a brother, a husband or a son who has laid down his life for the country.

These memorials are also historical touchstones which link generations of families and remind them of their forefathers who fought and died for their country.

Interestingly, each year, more than 300 “Honour Flights” are organised by non-profit American organisations to bring World War II, Korean and Vietnam War veterans, many of them on wheelchairs, to these Washington DC memorials, at no cost to the retired soldiers.

An aura of sombreness and serenity, therefore, generally prevails around these monuments. There is an unwritten code of conduct for the visitors. It is sacrilege to even talk loudly, let alone shout and laugh or have picnics at these monuments.

Shocking scene at India Gate

I had not visited India Gate for many years and it was with these sombre thoughts that I stepped on to Rajpath and walked up to the Eternal Flame. But what greeted me was something that shook my sensibilities. While the enclosed segment of the Amar Jawan Jyoti was immaculate, the entire area around it was a huge “tamasha”, with hordes of men, women and children shouting, laughing and making merry. Children were having rides on mini cars behind the memorial, while vendors and hawkers sold ice creams, bhelpuri and other eatables. Dirty paper plates, water bottles and plastic packets littered the area and the stench of food and waste hung around like a shroud. Stray dogs roamed around or basked in the afternoon sun. It was shocking that this national monument of sacrifice, valour and patriotism had been reduced to such levels…..a sacrilege to the memory of the fallen soldier.

Who was responsible for this? Was it the fault of the government agency tasked for the upkeep and sanctity of the area, or was it the general apathy of the citizens?

Take steps to restore dignity

It is imperative that we take steps to restore the dignity of the immortal soldier and the sanctity of the memorial.

• At the outset, there must be strict enforcement of the rules or code of conduct in and around the memorial.
• This could be done through education, monitoring, levying of fines and infrastructural changes.
• We need to make the circular road around India Gate into a no-horn/no-parking zone.
• Hawkers, vendors and all other commercial activities must be banned in the road and no food items allowed to be carried by visitors.
• Strict enforcement should be put in place against littering, defacing or urinating.
• Visitors must also be educated by official guards and through notice boards to maintain silence and decorum within the memorial area.
• And finally, we need a dedicated organisation to manage and take care of the National War Memorial area. Nobody can do this better than the military itself as can be seen in the manner that they maintain the upkeep and sanctity of war memorials within cantonments.

It would, therefore, be in the fitness of things to hand over the responsibility of the National War Memorial to the Territorial Infantry Battalion located just across India Gate. This unit, with a little reorientation, training and reorganisation will be ideal for this vital job.

As we wait for the Prime Minister to inaugurate the National War Memorial in the coming months, let us start now and put in place some urgently needed rules, regulations and codes of conduct so that the spirit and dignity of the soldiers who have laid down their lives in the defence of our nation is honoured for all times to come.