Left- NEW PERSONAL KIT ITEM FOR THE ARMED FORCES
Showing posts with label Indian Army. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian Army. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Pillars of the Kashmir House
A few incidents, wherein senior army officers, in their official capacity, reportedly, ran foul of the majesty of law and were deemed to be in contempt of court, brings forth a long held apprehension that as the nation integrates the armed forces into the main stream, our senior functionaries will be blinded by intensity of the media glare and public scrutiny, akin to a rabbit, who tends to freeze to the spot, blinded by headlights of an incoming car .
In the recent incident, well not so recent, the DGBR (Not the incumbent) was found frozen to the spot for last 4 years. He has been found to have acted against the orders of the Gauhati High Court in not equating the SE(FG) with a full colonel. For those who have the opportunity to serve a tenure in the BRO as young subordinate officers, the strife and discord among the service and GREF oficers is amply evident as overbearing and invasive throughout the tenure.
A few naysayers would scoff, but rest assured they would be the ones who served in a Project headed by a service officer.
Coming back to the issue of the high court, (read the judgement here) or http://idse.org/judgement.pdf
(Do note the web address above- because this is from the other pillar of the corps of engineers, which may bring the (Kashmir) House down!)
You got to hand it to the hon'ble judge Roy at Gauhati. He was able to gather the intent behind the original govt notification of 2005 and sift through the ECM/ flares. Those officers who served in the BRO, circa 2005- did bring the issue of the Rajpatra (Gazette Notification) and the inner Shenanigans of the GREF clique to the attention of a few senior service officers. A layman could see the intent was to ensure that the GREF cadre officers were moved up one rank vis a vis their existing army equivalents without so much as 'by your leave' of the head of that organisation, the Director General.
The GREF officers could achieve this coup since they belong to the MoRT&H and not MoD. But the collective brasspot response was to put their heads into the ostriches’ nest. That the Notification was "only for the purpose of the Army Act", was obviously a lie floated for internal consumption. It would have been hilarious, if the matter was not this serious, that an order of the Government given in such clear language and adequately elaborated upon by the courts, could be handled such cavalierly.
IMHO, the release of this Gazette Notification in Feb 2005 was a watershed event in the history of disconnect between the armed forces and the civilian bureaucracy and along with the non compliance by the army in releasing the Muslim personnel data, (which alienated the politicians) should count as the two immediate precursors to the present 6CPC imbroglio, which has put armed forces at loggerheads with the executive.
Further, negligence of the kind exhibited in the above court case, sows sense of doubt amongst the judiciary and ultimately our masters, the common public! Surely we have a special army with bright, talented functionaries.
A Personal Aside-(From a verbal briefing by a BRO veteran!)
Remember, ye all youngsters
When under a GREF officer- the first rule of engagement is to make sure that you allow the colour of your uniform to morph into a dirty shade of khaki while at the same time scrub your inner-self so as to rid yourself of any vestige of Chatwodian principles and brotherhood of the armed forces. (Each one on his own, sir, and the most slimy, survives!).
In the recent incident, well not so recent, the DGBR (Not the incumbent) was found frozen to the spot for last 4 years. He has been found to have acted against the orders of the Gauhati High Court in not equating the SE(FG) with a full colonel. For those who have the opportunity to serve a tenure in the BRO as young subordinate officers, the strife and discord among the service and GREF oficers is amply evident as overbearing and invasive throughout the tenure.
A few naysayers would scoff, but rest assured they would be the ones who served in a Project headed by a service officer.
Coming back to the issue of the high court, (read the judgement here) or http://idse.org/judgement.pdf
(Do note the web address above- because this is from the other pillar of the corps of engineers, which may bring the (Kashmir) House down!)
You got to hand it to the hon'ble judge Roy at Gauhati. He was able to gather the intent behind the original govt notification of 2005 and sift through the ECM/ flares. Those officers who served in the BRO, circa 2005- did bring the issue of the Rajpatra (Gazette Notification) and the inner Shenanigans of the GREF clique to the attention of a few senior service officers. A layman could see the intent was to ensure that the GREF cadre officers were moved up one rank vis a vis their existing army equivalents without so much as 'by your leave' of the head of that organisation, the Director General.
The GREF officers could achieve this coup since they belong to the MoRT&H and not MoD. But the collective brasspot response was to put their heads into the ostriches’ nest. That the Notification was "only for the purpose of the Army Act", was obviously a lie floated for internal consumption. It would have been hilarious, if the matter was not this serious, that an order of the Government given in such clear language and adequately elaborated upon by the courts, could be handled such cavalierly.
IMHO, the release of this Gazette Notification in Feb 2005 was a watershed event in the history of disconnect between the armed forces and the civilian bureaucracy and along with the non compliance by the army in releasing the Muslim personnel data, (which alienated the politicians) should count as the two immediate precursors to the present 6CPC imbroglio, which has put armed forces at loggerheads with the executive.
Further, negligence of the kind exhibited in the above court case, sows sense of doubt amongst the judiciary and ultimately our masters, the common public! Surely we have a special army with bright, talented functionaries.
A Personal Aside-(From a verbal briefing by a BRO veteran!)
Remember, ye all youngsters
When under a GREF officer- the first rule of engagement is to make sure that you allow the colour of your uniform to morph into a dirty shade of khaki while at the same time scrub your inner-self so as to rid yourself of any vestige of Chatwodian principles and brotherhood of the armed forces. (Each one on his own, sir, and the most slimy, survives!).
Finally, as always-
'VOTE' to be relevent.Else continue on a wing and a prayer.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Together- We Can
It will be foolish to assume that after the happenings of the last couple of months, the GOM will be not clear about any aspect of our pay status vis a vis any other service of the govt. These gents can sell ice to an eskimo and to think that they require any further explanation on this issue will be surely living in a fools paradise.
In the past two months here, we have shown varied emotions to a singular problem- bewildered, scandalised, sanguine, hopeful, in denial, flustered, desperate, rebellious, hapless and even resigned....
I hope, for the sake of our training, we do not approach an operation with this variety. Remember to Vote sensibly and vote together so that we stay relevent to safeguard the izzat and future of services
In the past two months here, we have shown varied emotions to a singular problem- bewildered, scandalised, sanguine, hopeful, in denial, flustered, desperate, rebellious, hapless and even resigned....
I hope, for the sake of our training, we do not approach an operation with this variety. Remember to Vote sensibly and vote together so that we stay relevent to safeguard the izzat and future of services
In the coming general elections service pers have options to
A) Vote at their native place or
B) vote at their place of service
Take a constituency such as Dehradun, Pune, Chandigarh where reasonable No of Sevice pers have settled. Also these stns host large services establishments. Take a station with 20000 service pers posted . All be requested to vote for one common candidate, say 'X'. Now if this major stn is also the native place/ place of settlement to another 20,000 service pers and their families, All to nominate one single Indl as the nominee for their proxy vote. The indl is further instructed to vote for the chosen candidate 'X'.
We shall have a bank of 40,000 votes at these places. This is adequate to make these people sit and listen. Isrealies do it all the time. The question is Can we look ahead together or we expect alms from the ungrateful
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Struggle for PB4. Lt Cols
A blog post is needed for the Lt Colonels of the Indian army, who have been left in the lurch due to the steep pyramidical heirarchy of the army despite being fit and able.
Now the Pay commission's recommendations have really delivered a sucker punch.
The chiefs have taken a welcome step to protest the anomaly wherein Lt Cols have been placed in PB3
It is noted that the officers who have been promoted to the rank of Colonel, are found to be least interested in the cause of their brother officers. Whereas, most of them, have acquired the promotion through less than honourable means, or have been plain lucky.
It is in the interest of all junior serving officers to identify the officers of the rank of colonel and above, who are actively or passively opposed to the allottment of PB4 to the Lt Cols.
Their names should be highlighted so that Lt Cols who are not empanelled or are not under these myopic, hare brained colonels can teach them something about the organisational ethos.
Now the Pay commission's recommendations have really delivered a sucker punch.
The chiefs have taken a welcome step to protest the anomaly wherein Lt Cols have been placed in PB3
It is noted that the officers who have been promoted to the rank of Colonel, are found to be least interested in the cause of their brother officers. Whereas, most of them, have acquired the promotion through less than honourable means, or have been plain lucky.
It is in the interest of all junior serving officers to identify the officers of the rank of colonel and above, who are actively or passively opposed to the allottment of PB4 to the Lt Cols.
Their names should be highlighted so that Lt Cols who are not empanelled or are not under these myopic, hare brained colonels can teach them something about the organisational ethos.
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