POLITICS-INDIA: Army’s Image Hurt By Arms Bribery Scam

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Analysis - Rahul Bedi

NEW DELHI, Sep 3 2001 (IPS) - An arms bribery scoop by a web magazine has dealt a debilitating blow to the Indian military’s image, by portraying senior officers as openly accepting graft and offers of sex with women in return for official favours.

The naked venality and crass hedonism captured on film by investigative reporters from the website Tehelka.com has shocked most Indians, who considered the country’s army officers, unlike politicians and civil servants, above blatant thievery and licentious behaviour.

When the expose first went on the web in March, it led to the resignation of defence minister George Fernandes and several politicians linked to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s coalition including his own party president, Bangaru Laxman.

It also forced the government to order an inquiry headed by a retired Supreme Court judge. Three army officers caught accepting bribes on film — a major general, brigadier and a colonel — are now facing court martial proceedings.

“Standards have changed. Bribery and corruption have seeped deep into the army,” retired Lieutenant General Harish Chander Puri said. Many officers in the army, particularly the senior ones, are as corrupt, if not more so, than their civilian and political counterparts, he added.

Until the 1980s, military officers were considered upright men, respected in society and eagerly sought after by parents as suitable matches for their daughters.

In contrast, by December 1998 when serving fleet admiral Vishnu Bhagwat was sacked on charges of disobedience, he hit back with serious allegations of corruption in defence purchases.

Retired military men talk nostalgically of the days when a mere note from the commanding officer on behalf of any soldier to the local authorities back in his village, carried weight.

Those were times when the esprit d’ corps in the apolitical service was strong and invitations to riotous, swinging, regimental officers messes, run in the best colonial traditions, much sought after.

Salaries were low, but the lifestyle lavish in what was largely a gentleman’s army. Many officers were, in reality, eager boys trapped inside grown bodies, seeking to indulge passions like, riding, polo, outdoor living and danger at state expense.

From independence in 1947 until the third war with Pakistan in 1971, there was ample opportunity for the latter. And except for the disastrous 1962 war with China, blamed on the political rather than the military establishment, the ‘boys’ acquitted themselves well.

The flamboyance, bravery and tactical brilliance of all ranks in the three wars with Pakistan is well recorded and the subject of study in combat institutions around the world.

Politics was rarely discussed by officers who, if passed over for promotion, retired gracefully. Promotions were merit-based and, by and large, fair with undeserving candidates, adhering to the Peter Principle and rarely ever crossing their limits of incompetence.

Army chiefs and senior commanders brooked no political interference in operational matters and were listened to with respect by the civilian establishment.

When asked by prime minister Indira Gandhi to move into East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) in early 1971, the chief of army staff Gen. Sam Manekshaw firmly told her that it would take at least 10 months before his force would be ready for combat. Gandhi listened and Bangladesh came into being in December that year.

In short, the olive green uniform enjoyed an exalted status it was soon to lose.

Its professionalism and apolitical stance began to unravel after the Third Pay Commission in the late 1970s when officer ranks were diluted, ostensibly to enhance career prospects. In reality, responsibilities were reduced in inverse proportion to promotions.

Periodic cadre reviews further led to a lopsided rank structure. This created a situation where lieutenant generals, amongst the senior most army officers, and their equivalents in the navy and air force, discharge duties previously performed by middle ranking lieutenanc colonels and equivalents.

At present, there are around 600 brigadiers, some 213 major generals and 60-odd lieutenant generals, around a third of whom are replaced every two to three years.

The cadre re-assessment was the moment for which politicians and civil servants had long been waiting. Having always looked upon the military with suspicion, they were simply waiting for to gain ascendancy over the services.

Over the years, the military’s standing deteriorated to the unbelievable stage where it is almost entirely excluded from the “security loop.”

The service chiefs were informed of India’s multiple nuclear tests in 1998 just hours before they happened and that too, as insurance against any “adverse reaction” from neighbouring Pakistan.

The military was also unaware of India’s cache of chemical weapons stored at various Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratories across the country that are now being destroyed under the global chemicals weapon convention.

Today, India’s army, with one of the highest teeth-to-tail ratios, faces a crisis of confidence.

Besides the corruption charges prompted by Tehelka.com, it also has to battle lopsided promotion systems and arbitrary equipping policies as it struggles to re-order and modernise itself within a nuclear-weapon state.