DEFENCE NOTES
New Delhi, 25 July 2006
Review Selection
Criteria
FORCES NEED QUALITY
NOT QUANTITY
By B.K. Mathur
The National Security Council has prepared a document which
its Chief, M.K. Narayanan, has circulated to all the Chief Ministers. The
document contains a chilling revelation that two Lashkar-e-Toyyeba cadres have joined
the Indian Air Force (IAF). The alarming report has, however, been denied by
the IAF spokesperson who has stated: “We have got such reports and we have
looked into the matter. But there are no LeT elements in the Air Force and we
have carried out stringent check.”
Welcome relief. But there has to
be some basis about the report that has been forwarded to the IAF by none other
than the National Security Adviser. The counter-intelligence wings of India’s armed
forces must look into it, because the danger of undesirable elements entering
the armed forces cannot be ruled out.
The latest discovery by the intelligence agencies is that
various militant outfits have now started recruiting educated youth qualified
to join any civil or military service. The sneaking in of the jehadi elements
into the armed forces is a very serious matter requiring a good hard look at
the recruitment system for the three military services – the Army, Air Force
and the Navy. On paper, the system is
quite foolproof, leaving no scope for any undesirable element getting in. But to have a definite drill for in-take both
in the Officer cadre and the Other Ranks is one thing. To follow strictly the
prescribed criteria quite another.
Doubts about failure to select right type of boys have arisen, given
increasing reports of even some senior officers in the forces indulging in
undesirable activities.
The IAF’s spokesperson in the Directorate of Public
Relations, Ministry of Defence has talked about “stringent checks” while
denying the report of two militant cadres joining the Air Force. But the failure of the Services Selection
Boards for recruitment of the Officer cadre and Recruiting Offices for the ORs
(other ranks) to select right type of boys for the training Academies is being
increasingly felt. Take the case of
Officers who lead the jawans, Airmen and Sailors. First the candidate has to
clear a tough entrance examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and certain number of boys is recommended
to the Services Selection Boards (SSB) in order of merit.
This is where the flaw lies. The method of selection at the
SSBs. Remember, in early 1950s a feeling
had fast grown among some Star Officers at the Army Headquarters (AHQ) in New
Delhi that right type of boys, with the required OLQ (Officer-like qualities)
were not being sent to the training Academies.
This led the AHQ to send a group of SSB, Meerut,
to reassess
the second-term Gentleman cadets of the 13th course of the Indian
Military Academy (IMA) at Dehra Dun. Complete three-day selection exercise was
repeated at the Academy. The full report
of the SSB has not yet been disclosed but one of the recommendations was that
psychologically-centric selection mode needed to be amended.
One of the amendments then proposed was to give thought to
the method followed during the Raj for selection in the British Indian
Army. Stress
was given to the family background of the candidate for commissioning into the force. The second was his career
profile in school and college he attended in the field of sports and other
extra-curricular activities. Which
really meant that the President of the Board had more say in selecting a
candidate than the Group Testing Officer (GTO) or the psychologist whose assessment
is till today the main consideration for selection. Each of the three assesses
--- the President, the GTO and the President --- have equal number of marks.
Even if the President of the Board and the GTO, both in
service uniform, want to select a boy and the psychologist, a civilian, does
not want to clear him, the candidate is out.
In this scenario chances of wrong selection are more, especially when
corruption at all levels in military and civil, is the order of the day. How
else would you explain the fact that so many cases of spying and corruption at
the higher level are reported day in and day out. Look at the latest one: The
Navy war room leak by some senior officers. One can go on and on highlighting
cases of corruption and indiscipline in the armed forces. Imagine the
involvement of a three Star and a two Star General in the sub-standard purchase
of “Dal” for the troops.
Little wonder then that the “trio” at the SSB joins hands
and selects somebody wholly undeserving. That explains the increasing trend of
Staff Officers indulging in undesirable activities. At times boys with lesser score at the assessment stage get selected. The reason? Better quality boys with
seemingly high OLQ just do not want to join the armed forces, with the type of
boys who look for their personal gains rather than the national interest. To
fill up the vacancies at the Officer level, the Government is left with no
choice but to compromise quality with quantity, with the result that bad boys
manage to get into the forces and create problems like the increasing number of
General Court Martials.
Now look at the increasing trend in various Recruitment
offices across the country for Jawans,
Airmen and Sailors… Haven’t you heard of umpteen cases from time to time of
boys from the countryside having to pay for recruitment in various
Regiments? The system is getting from
bad to worse, with the police enquiries being fudged for undesirable elements
sneaking into the armed forces. There is
also the question of quality and quantity in the case of recruitment of the ORs. The youth get better opportunities elsewhere
than in the armed forces.
This forces the military headquarters to recruit sub-standard
boys to fill up vacancies in various Regiments. The process
may possibly lead to undesirable
elements getting into the forces. The
situation is worse in case of employment of civilians in Regiments, Squadrons
and Naval units. People like barbers,
bearers, cooks etc. can be employed on “considerations” that prevent the
authorities from having proper checks on their antecedents. Remember, a Court
Martial case at Mathura
some years go in which an Officer was punished on charges of purchases of
medicines for the civilian staff from a Chemist which did not exist. Fictitious
bills were made and passed by the
authorized Officer.
In such a climate which is currently prevailing in many
armed forces units and where the recruitment systems at all levels is
increasingly helping individuals, not the forces and, importantly the nation.
As repeatedly emphasized in this column time and again, and for years, there is
need, urgent need, to keep the country’s armed forces away from the
deteriorating civil environment.
Recruitment norms should be changed where necessary,
and strictly enforced in Selection Boards and Recruitment Offices. That will
ensure quality intake at all levels. Further delay on this front would be at
the nation’s peril. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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