Recently the nation witnessed
the tragic death of a Delhi Police Constable, Subhash Tomar. Constable Tomar
was seriously injured while controlling the protesters at the India Gate who
were demonstrating against the recent gang rape in Delhi. He was rushed to
hospital in an unconscious state and was kept on ventilator before he died on
18th December, 2012 after battling for his life for two days. He is
survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.
This is yet another example of the ultimate sacrifice made by our men in
uniform irrespective of its color. Be it olive green, khaki, black, white or
blue, our men from the armed forces, police and other paramilitary forces have
proved numerous times that when it is
the question of defending the territorial integrity of our nation or, that of
maintenance of law and order, they are most dependable.
Now what is painful is that,
everybody is talking of the brave lady who lost her life after she was brutally
raped but Constable Tomar has soon become a forgotten hero, and nobody is
talking about the sacrifice that he made and that of his family. Does donning
the uniform mean that there is no value of your life or does it mean that it
what you are supposed to do as part of your duty because that’s what you get
paid for? Isn’t the life of a jawan or a policeman of this country as precious as
that of any other citizen?
I believe that the death of
Constable Tomar was avoidable. While there are contradictory reports as to
whether the constable really died controlling the mob or due to any personal ailment
like heart attack. While we debate this and the investigations are on what can
be said for sure and with utmost conviction is that, no proper first aid or
ambulance was available in expectation of any emergency, when you had a
situation where in hundreds where descending to the India Gate and clashing
with the police. The visuals of the clashes showed that the policemen were
largely in their plain khakhi outfits devoid of any helmets or bullet proof
jackets, except some. When will we understand behind these men in uniform, are
also their families and children. As a nation-state of the 21st century,
we are duty bound to defend and protect those who protect the territorial
integrity and defend the law and order within. Because the maintenance of ‘law
and order’ and protection of the territorial integrity, is what is innate to
the very concept of nation –state and those who defend it should be treated
with utmost regard.
From the point of view of the
Army also we know that during the regular operations in the Siachen Glacier
last month we lost 6 soldiers to an avalanche. I am not saying that these casualties
could be prevented, may be not. When nature’s fury is at its maximum at places
like Siachen, there is a lot of uncertainty bound to prevail. Nevertheless
what we can do at least that we can set up some mechanism which goes down into
the causes of each of these incidents and tries to mitigate its occurrence in
future. Else such casualties will keep taking place. The price of a jawan is
not only precious for the forces but also we are accountable for his safety, to
his family and next of kith and kin. Even in low intensity warfare in the
hinterland as per the Annual Report of the Ministry of Defense of 2012 for the
95 terrorist killed and 35 apprehended, while we lost 15 soldiers. 530 soldiers
were martyred during Kargil war under Operation Vijay. But 3,987 soldiers have
been killed afterwards during the years 2000-2012. This makes an average of 330
soldiers per year.
Apart from this a total of 394
Army personnel have committed suicide between 2009 up to November, 2012. The
case of an Army man who spent five days atop a mobile phone tower in the heart
of Delhi to highlight his grievances — he threatened to jump but was somehow
brought down safely — seemed to epitomize the crisis. Incidents of ‘fragging,’
or the fratricidal killing of fellow soldiers or superiors, also continue. It
is clear that measures that were put in place by the armed forces after a study
done by the Defence Institute of Psychological Research to identify
stress-points are not efficacious enough. Some senior officers have contended
that more than the physical and mental strain that extended deployment in
counter-insurgency roles exerts, domestic, family and financial problems
account for much of the distress.
Take the example of the Indian
Air force. As per statistics the Air force has lost 171 pilots in crashes
involving the Russian-origin MiG series of fighter planes in the past 41 years.
The IAF had purchased 872 MiG aircraft of various types between 1966 and 1980.
Out of these, 482 met with accidents between the financial year 1971-72 and
April 19 2012. This makes an average, one pilot was killed in a MiG crash every
three months. This is the state of Air Defense in our country. Imagine the
morale of the pilots behind these machines which have far exceeded their
service life but their replacement have not yet taken place. No wonder the
MIG-21s came to be called as ‘Flying coffins’.
Now what the armed forces requires
is a multi-pronged strategy at multiple levels in order to arrest these
alarming trends. First, convert the peace areas to full-fledged family stations
even for the jawans. This will allow the jawans to withdraw their families of
from their ancestral places and keep them stationed in the Cantonments. This is
more secure, gives adequate facilities, and ensures that children’s studies are
unhampered and that they have other families around, who are in a similar
situation, to empathize or provide the necessary support. Today, out of the 17
years that a jawan puts in as service he may be able to keep his family with
him may be for just 3-4 years. This arrangement is absolutely skewed and is a
certain drag on his mental makeup. Government has to ensure that the family
life of jawans also remain undisturbed, as is the case with officers who are
able to keep their families throughout except in field areas. The breakup of
the joint family system has made the situation for the jawans even more
problematic. Nuclear families have to fend for themselves now. And these stresses,
within their families, even if they are miles away, get transmitted rapidly because
of mobile phones, on a day to day basis, aggravating his stress levels furthermore.
Secondly, having a better pay
parity is another aspect which is of utmost importance. Today the comparison is
made with the private sector where the salaries are higher and there is a
better quality of life. A poor economic situation can easily lead to lowering
of the morale. There has to be a better parity between the officers and the
jawans. The risk that the take are alike only the responsibilities differ and
therefore one cannot be paying the jawans 1/10 of what is paid to the officers.
Thirdly, retirement and
reemployment of the Jawans is another critical area. Imagine that you have to
retire at the age of 37 yr. Will it not call for anxiety when at the peak of
your life you are faced with the fact of retirement which could be aggravated
by the fact that your children are still at school. And financial liabilities
are all the more. I for one thing, am for the extension of the retirement age
for jawans. Why do we want to lose these experienced soldiers so early in whom
we have invested so much. And even if we provide their early retirement, what
are we doing to get them suitably reemployed elsewhere. I strongly feel that
there has to a centralized repository of database of organizations which could
absorb these jawans and make the transition much easier. At least they could
also be absorbed into the many auxiliary arms of the armed forces itself like
the Defense Accounts or Defense Estates, etc.
Fourthly, provide all forces
with the best possible equipment and intelligence before any sort of
engagement. We heard that during the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai how we lost so
many policemen due to inadequate bullet proof vests. Spending of a few lakhs
could save umpteen lives. The decision makers must understand that showing
generosity in terms of distributing compensation, to a martyr’s family is of
less meaning when the family feels that the sacrifice could have been avoided. The
defense equipment acquisition process should be both streamlined and expedited.
If required the Planning Commission should be made in charge of planning the
defense needs of the nation along with that of the economic development so that
we do not land up in a situation where we are not able to defend our economic
interests domestically and abroad alike, with , minimum casualties.
This is the minimum we could
do for those who give the best years of their lives, in the service of the
nation. You need motivated men with advanced weapons to make a 21st
century Armed forces which is capable of striking hard and striking deep. With
a defense budget (2012-13) of Rs.1,93,407 crore, of which Rs.1,13,828.66
crore (58.85%) is earmarked for revenue expenditure, there is some optimism that our men in uniform (Army, Navy, air Force) will get a fair deal in the years to come, if this trend in expenditure
continues for a while. For no excuse or compensation, upon the loss of a life of a
soldier or policeman, on account of a poor strategy, misjudgment or under
equipment especially during peacetime, is justifiable. For this is no reason
that even the family of the deceased soldier can take pride in, and if that is
so, a nation should certainly not.
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