India’s Troubled Soldiers

Indian soldiers on patrol

Image Credit: REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta

A string of violent incidents reveals some festering problems in India’s military.

A string of incidents involving indiscipline and insubordination in the Indian armed forces has set off alarm bells in India’s defense establishment. Since May last year, there have been at least four violent clashes between officers and jawans (soldiers) of the Indian army. Two of these occurred over a span of five days last month.

On October 10, jawans of an infantry battalion in Meerut near New Delhi beat up officers after an altercation over a boxing match. The officers had reportedly “roughed up” a jawan for losing the match. Four days later, the commanding officer (CO) of a battalion in Batala in Punjab was assaulted when he took disciplinary action against a jawan for reporting late to work.

In May last year, the army witnessed one of its most serious cases of indiscipline when officers and jawans of an artillery regiment in Nyoma in eastern Ladakh were involved in a brawl. The unit was training at a firing range some 20 km from India’s disputed border with China when its soldiers, enraged at officers who had bashed their colleague and then denied him medical treatment, went on a rampage, even occupying the armory.

The incident was described variously in the Indian media as a “brawl,” “a free for all,” “a mutiny,” and even “a revolt.”

While the army sought to downplay the gravity of the incident by describing it as a “minor scuffle,” “at worst an isolated act of indiscipline,” it was nonetheless clearly rattled. This, after all, was the most serious breach of indiscipline in the army since 1984, when Sikh soldiers mutinied following military operations to flush out militants from the Golden Temple.

Barely had the dust kicked up by the Nyoma incident settled than another jolt came, this time from an armored unit at Samba near India’s border with Pakistan. Jawans here protested against their commanding officer when one of their colleagues shot himself on being denied leave to go home.
The 1.2 million-strong Indian army is the world’s third largest and widely regarded as a professional force. Its soldiers are highly motivated and trained to cope with pressure.

However, there are “worrying signs” that “all is not well” in the armed forces, a retired army doctor (who asked that his name be withheld) told The Diplomat.

Especially over the past decade, personnel are turning their guns on each other and themselves. And they are leaving the armed forces in droves.

The figures are worrying. Between 2001 and 2011, 1330 personnel in the army, navy and air force committed suicide, with the army alone accounting for 1056 of the cases and displaying a troubling uptrend. There were also 75 deaths from fratricide during this period, with the army accounting for 72 of these.

In fact, the army seems to be losing more men to suicide and fratricide than to enemy bullets. The number of soldiers who die “battling their internal demons” is said to be four times the number killed in counter-insurgency operations in India’s conflict-wracked Kashmir and the Northeast.

Given the nature of their job, stress is inevitable among soldiers the world over. The problem has deepened in India as soldiers are deployed to deal with insurgencies over prolonged periods. Because of operational requirements and a shortage of personnel, they are rarely given time off to visit their families or to deal with problems back home.

And problems at home seem to be a major source of stress. According to Col K C Dixit, a former research fellow in the New Delhi-based Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses and author of the book, Building Army’s Human Resource for Sub-Conventional Warfare ,“The most common stress factor among defense personnel, especially those who hail from rural India, is land disputes back home.”

Vacation time to go home is primarily meant for jawans to rest and recoup. However, when they go home, they are preoccupied with “tackling land disputes, without any fruitful results.” When they return to work with the “enhanced burden” of unresolved domestic issues on their minds, he said, their motivation at work and emotional and mental well-being suffers.

Besides personal/domestic matters there are issues at work that stress soldiers.

Dixit tells The Diplomat that relations between officers and jawans have deteriorated over the past decade. This is in part the outcome of the huge shortage in the officers’ corps. According to the doctor, “Overworked officers have little time to spare for their jawans or to pay attention to their problems or even to notice their depression.”

Analysts have attributed officer-jawan tensions to class conflict in the armed forces. Not only do officers look down on the lower ranks but also officers whose fathers were jawans are “subjects of condescension and worse; senior officers in the military have gone to lengths to conceal the fact that their fathers served as enlisted men.”

And increasingly, the rank and file are unwilling to endure quietly humiliating treatment meted out to them by the officers. An official in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) attributed growing insubordination in the army to increasing awareness among jawans. “Unlike in the past, when there was a big gap in their socioeconomic backgrounds, jawans today, especially those from urban areas, are educated. “They do not consider themselves as inferior to the officers.” In addition, corruption scandals involving officers have contributed to undermining the stature of the officer class in the eyes of the lower ranks.

Indeed, an extensive study by Dixit on stress in the army, which was based on surveys conducted among soldiers and drew on published material and reports, found that “most cases of fragging” were the outcome of “humiliating taunts by seniors on mundane matters.” “Humiliating comments,” he wrote, trigger “emotions of revenge in the already aggressive solider,” prompting him to turn his weapon against his seniors.

The role of the sahayak (personal valet) system in institutionalizing humiliation of jawans is hard to ignore. A colonial institution wherein officers were assigned what were then called “batmen” or “orderlies,” the sahayak system survives today. The sahayak is meant to assist the officer so as to free him to focus on his work. His support is vital to the officer’s efficient functioning especially in field areas. Indeed, Dixit describes sahayaks as “an inescapable requirement in training and operations” and that their working together there cannot happen unless sahayaks work with officers in peace areas too.

However, the system has been gravely misused with some officers expecting their sahayaks to do menial tasks in their homes. A major who took premature retirement from the army in 2005 told The Diplomat that several sahayaks “help the officer’s wife with her shopping, polish his children’s shoes and even walk the dog.” It “deeply undermines” the morale of a soldier, he observed.

What is more, the sahayak system has encouraged officers to look upon their sahayaks as their personal property to be dealt with as they wish. And jawans are increasingly unwilling to accept the ill-treatment handed out.

This was underscored in the Nyoma incident. It was the brutal thrashing of a sahayak by officers that triggered the “revolt” by the soldiers.

The army is not taking the incidents of indiscipline lightly. Following the Nyoma incident, for instance, an Army Court of Inquiry recommended disciplinary action, with court martial proceedings against 168 personnel, including the unit’s commanding officer.

Handing out “exemplary punishment” has some deterrent value in dealing with indiscipline. But this is a symptomatic approach that leaves underlying problems festering.

Military authorities have raised the issue of land-related problems of soldiers with the government through the defense ministry. “But the government does little beyond issuing advisories to the state governments to ensure that local officials are more responsive to jawans,” Dixit said. “Until such time the home ministry and revenue ministry at the central and state levels prioritize settlement of land disputes involving soldiers,” this major stress factor for soldiers will remain alive.
Blaming the army leadership for the declining morale in the armed forces, the major said that officers are “preoccupied with their own promotions and postings, rather than concerned about the welfare of their troops.” What is more, MoD officials are “apathetic to problems of soldiers on the ground.”
According to Dixit, there are “adequate and fair mechanisms to address soldiers’ complaints of unfair treatment/humiliation by their seniors.” A jawan can seek an interview with his commanding officer and if he is not satisfied with the outcome he can meet officers higher up in the chain of command. If these options prove unsatisfactory in redressing his grievance, he can appeal to the army tribunal court. Similarly, there are support systems to help soldiers deal with personal stress and crisis, he pointed out.

The question is whether these support systems and mechanisms for redress are working efficiently.
Defense ministry officials deny they are indifferent to the problems of the lower ranks. Several measures, including a liberalized leave policy, provision of family housing to personnel in peace areas, enhanced officer–soldier interaction, upward revision of salaries, creation of a pool of counselors at the unit level, etc. have been taken to address “stress triggers” in the armed forces. The sahayak system is on its way out, the MoD official pointed out, drawing attention to the army’s announcement last year that it was considering doing away with it.

The defense establishment may be taking steps to address the problems but these seem cosmetic, scattered and piecemeal at best, underscored by the governments’ insubstantial handling of key sources of soldiers’ stress such as the land-related issues and the army’s officer- class’ colonial era/feudal attitude and treatment of its soldiers, evident from its inaction on sahayak-related issues. Eighteen months after it announced it was considering ending the sahayak system, no steps have been taken on even reforming it. The issue is on the back-burner.

It is this habit of putting issues on difficult issues on the back-burner that is erupting in violence. India’s failure to grapple comprehensively and assiduously the festering issues troubling its soldiers could prove costly.

Dr. Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore, India. She writes on South Asian political and security issues and can be contacted at sudha.ramachandran@live.in.

Experts Call For Setting Up SEZs in Northeast

By Raju Das

Shillong, Dec 5 : The Northeastern region urgently needs Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to boost trade and economy, experts pointed out here today.

Speaking at an International “Policy meeting on Economic and Transport development in the border areas of Eastern and South Asia,” MP Bezbaruah, member of the North Eastern Council (NEC), said that the Northeastern region “badly” needs SEZs to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of trade and economy.

The policy meet has been jointly organised by the United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Asian Development Bank and the Government of Meghalaya with participants from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Philippines and other countries.

Bezbaruah said that during the past few years the trade between India and South East Asian countries has doubled, but during the same period the quantum of trade from the North East has gone down.

He said that most of the trade happening from the region to other countries is in primary goods with no value addition. “The region needs to increase productivity with value addition and this could be done by creating urgently SEZs in the region,” Bezbaruah said. He further pointed to the 16-km “informal” trading zone in Moreh, Manipur and said that the trading hub is an area of concern as far as the region is concerned. The NEC member said that most of the trade is being done on the Mynmarese side and the goods are from “third countries”, especially China.

“Whatever that is happening in Moreh is not encouraging from the North East’s perspective. The requirements of the border areas of Myanmar are being provided by China and there is very less that is going from the Indian side,” he said.

Observing that there are many items that are in great demand in Myanmar that India and the North East could supply, he added that “there is a great demand for generic drugs from India, but bringing such drugs from Delhi and other big cities to Moreh does not make economic sense. So if these could be produced on the border in SEZs than the region could benefit,” he said.

Bezbaruah said that at the current pace of development the North East would never catch up with the rest of India in terms of economic development. Even if the region’s growth doubles vis-a-vis with the rest of the country, the region would need 25 years to be at par with the rest of India,” he said.

The NEC member further added that the region’s best option would be to have better linkages with the South East Asian countries and further east to put its economy on the fast track. Experts said the “largely unexplored” South Asian region is a 200 billion dollar potential market.

'Brahmaputra Cruises' Among World Top 10 Adventurous Cruises

Wildlife and wilderness are main features of cruises in Assam on vast Brahmaputra river. (AP)

Guwahati, Dec 4 : Wildlife and wilderness are main features of cruises in Assam on vast Brahmaputra river.

'Brahmaputra Cruises' by Assam Bengal Navigation Company has been recognised by CNN International as one of the top 10 Most Adventurous Cruises in the World for 2013.

The 'Brahmaputra Cruises (Jungle Book Tour/India)' has been ranked sixth among the cruises including the Amazon, the Antartica, the North Pole, Australia and Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Managing Director of Assam Bengal Navigation Company, Ashish Phookan, told PTI.

Recalling that Assam Bengal Navigation Company, an Indo-British joint venture, had pioneered long-distance river cruising in India in 2003, he said the company completes ten years of cruising on Brahmaputra river on the 'ABN Charaidew' this year.

The Company also has 'Bengal Cruises' with their second boat 'ABN Sukapha' operating on the Hoogli river since 2007 and on the Ganges since 2010, Phookan said, adding, their third boat 'ABN Rajmahal' will commence commercial operation on the Ganges from February next year.

For this pioneering venture, the Assam Bengal Navigation, a sister concern of Jungle Travels India, was conferred the National Tourism Award by the Union Ministry of Tourism for 2004-2005, he said.
'Brahmaputra Cruises' feature visits and attractions such as wildlife viewing, both by jeep and on elephant back, village walks, visits to tea gardens, exploring towns in cycle rickshaws, barbecues on deserted river islands, dance performances and visits to archaeological sites, pilgrimage centres and craft workshops, Phookan said.

Wildlife and wilderness are the main features of the cruises in Assam on the vast Brahmaputra river. The river bed is often 20 or 30 km across - an empty world of sand spits and water with marvelous bird life and the occasional Gangetic Dolphin, he said.

The cruises also give access to a number of National Parks, including rhino habitat Kaziranga in upper Assam and The Project Tiger Reserve, Manas on the Indo-Bhutan border, besides Orang National Park across Darrang and Sonitpur districts, Phookan said.

"Between October and April, we offer a combination of 7-night, 10-night and 4-night cruises named after the Assam Despatch Service, the daily mail-cum-passenger service that once plied from Calcutta up the Brahmaputra to Dibrugarh in Assam," he said.

The Cable News Network in its website describes the 'Jungle Book Tour, India,' as "While the cruise aboard the delightfully anachronistic 24-person Charaidew trundles along from Guwahati to Tezpur, you can sip local tea and enjoy mild Assamese curries onboard. A visit to the UNESCO-listed Kaziranga National Park, for elephant, rhino and (maybe) tiger spotting, is one of the diversions en route".

"The Brahmaputra River begins in the glaciers of Tibet before winding through India and emptying, 2,900 kilometers later, into the Bay of Bengal", the website says.

Preparation on for Mizoram Vote Count on Dec 9

Aizawl, Dec 4 : Full preparation is on in all the district headquarters of Mizoram for counting of votes of the November 25 assembly election.

Vote counting will be done on December 9. As per direction of the Election Commission of India (ECI), each counting centre will be under vigil of a micro observer on the day of counting.

In Aizawl district, votes from the 14 constituencies shall be counted at the counting centre placed at Pachhunga University College campus.

Three counting halls are being arranged in this counting centre. Two hall will be equipped with 10 tables each,while in the other hall, 8 tables will be placed.

Counting officials will have a thorough rehearsal on December 4 and 6 .

Comprising seven assembly constituencies, Lunglei district is arranging two counting halls both in Saikuti Hall.

The counting halls will be equipped with adequate tables. Counting supervisor and assistants will get training on December 6 .

In Saiha district, votes from the two MLA constituencies in the district namely- Saiha and Palak constituency- will be counted at the counting centre being placed at DC office.

The counting centre will be equipped with 6 counting tables.

Votes from Saiha will be counted first, as per plan.

Counting supervisor and counting assistants have been given necessary training.

In Champhai District which comprises 5 Assembly constituencies, MLA votes will be counted at the 2 Counting centres arranged at the District DC office.

Of the counting centre arranged at popularly known Emergency Operation Centre, votes from Lengteng and Tuichang constituencies will be counted, while in Counting Hall II, which is placed at DC Office General Branch, votes from Champhai North, Champhai South and East Tuipui shall be counted.

Each of the two Counting Halls consists of 8 Counting Tables.

In Serchhip district, MLA votes from the 3 assembly constituencies will be counted at two counting halls placed at the deputy commissioner compound.

Votes from Serchhip and Hrangturzo constituencies will be counted at the counting hall placed at the deputy commissioner Conference Hall, while votes from Tuikum constituency will be counted at the counting hall placed at establishment room.

The counting halls are equipped with 8 counting tables each.

Vote counting officials will be given training on December 4 .

In Kolasib distirct which consists of 3 constituencies, votes will be counted at the counting hall arranged at Revenue office.

12 counting tables are being placed in the counting hall.

Counting officials will be given training on December 3 .

In Mamit district, which also comprises 3 assembly constituencies, votes counting will be done at DC conference hall, where counting centre is being arranged.

Counting centre will be equipped with 8 counting tables.

Vote counting officials will get training on December 3 and 5 .

In Lawngtlai, votes will be counted at two places- DC conference hall and BNRGSK hall.

10 counting tables are placed in each of the counting hall.

Counting supervisors and assistants, who have got training once, will get another training once more.

On 20th August, 1961, Dr.Ao was shot and wounded at Mokokchung by an underground gunman while he was on his way home from his pharmacy.

He was taken to the Army Hospital but succumbed to his injuries on 22nd August 1961.Most of these leaders sacrificed, toiled and even risked their precious lives while striving for the cause, though the Naga political issue remained unresolved.

Although the talks between the Naga underground leaders and the Government of India are still going on to find solution, the leaders of NPC were architects and founding fathers of the Nagaland State and it would be only befitting to mention their names on such occasion by the President of India.

source: Newmai News Network

Mizoram Churches Yet To Make Facilities For Disabled

Aizawl, Dec 4 : Mizoram Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities B Sairengpuii today lamented that while different denominations constructed big and expensive churches, they were yet to create facilities for people with disabilities in the churches.

Addressing a function here on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Sairengpuii said that there should be facilities in churches and other public places for people on wheelchairs, users of rolators and clutches like ramps and railings.

The function was jointly organised by the state Social Welfare department, the SSA state mission, Health Services, Hospital and Medical Education departments and NIOH North East Regional Centre.

She added that the schemes meant for people with disabilities were being implemented by the Social Welfare department, which was designated as the nodal department by the government.

As ethnic tensions rise over kidnapping of Mizos, Bru leaders send envoys to gain release

Aizawl, Dec 4 : With Mizo groups' pointing out of Bru militants' involvement in the Nov 23 kidnapping of three men near the Indo-Bangladesh border getting shriller, Bru leaders have pooled money to finance a team of four interlocutors who entered Bangladesh Tuesday to speak to the kidnappers and get them released.

In a joint resolution with the Mamit unit of the Young Mizo Association, Bru leaders in Mizoram also called upon the 5000-odd Bru refugee families in Tripura's relief camps to return home by next year because "there is a perception of anti-social elements being active in and because of the camps," according to Bru Coordination Committee chairman Elvis Chorkhy.

Twenty Bru village councils are contributing about Rs 2000 each to finance the team's travels, and the resolution falls in line with demands of various Mizo groups who condemn the continued existence of the relief camps in spite of a repatriation package for the Brus to return to Mizoram.

Meanwhile, Mamit SP Rodingliana Chawngthu said police have located the kidnapped men who he said are safe, and that they expect to bring them home soon.

The kidnapping of three men, two Mizo drivers Sanglianthanga and Lalzamliana and a Kolkata-based telecommunications professional Deep Mandal, has been roundly condemned by various Mizo and Bru groups and rallies demanding their release taken out at various towns and villages over the past week.

But with fresh ethnic discontent simmering for more than a month now after the Election Commission's move to allow 11,000 Brus to vote in the just-concluded Mizoram Assembly elections from within Tripura, the involvement of Bru militants in NLFT kidnappings within Mizoram is taking an ethnic turn although no incidence of violence has occured thanks to community leaders' calls for non-violence.

Groups such as the powerful Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP, or Mizo Students' Association) have demanded the Brus in Tripura return before the Lok Sabha elections or be removed from Mizoram's electoral rolls, a demand supported by incumbent CM Lal Thanhawla.

The MZP is planning a "Long March for Peace" from Aizawl to the western town of Tuipuibari, near where the kidnappings took place. The MZP is one of a few Mizo groups blamed for the burning down of Bru villages in 1997 after Bru militants shot a Mizo game warden at the Dampa Tiger Reserve. That ethnic conflict led to a mass exodus of Brus from Mizoram to Tripura.

MZP President Lalhmachhuana said Tuesday the student's body "is aware some Bru leaders in the relief camps instigated this kidnapping to incite Mizos to violence to disrupt the repatriation process. It is in their interest to have as many families in the camps so they gain financially from the dole-outs they receive. But we are not going to fall for it, and this long march is going to be completely peaceful."

An ongoing repatriation process for displaced Brus has been able to bring only 1000-odd families home: many in the Mizoram government believe Bru leaders in the relief camps gain financially from informal taxes recovered from the thousands of families there who receive rations.

The Home Department blames this "incentive" as a motive behind the killing of Mizo youth Zarzokima ny Bru militants in 2009 just as the repatriation process was about to begin.

Village Chiefs reject bill to restrict entry of outsiders to Meghalaya

Shillong, Dec 4 : Tribal village chiefs today rejected the proposed bill aimed at containing entry of outsiders and illegal immigration by regulating tenancy in Meghalaya, saying it was not relevant to the issue.

"We resolved to reject the proposed bill outright as it is not related or relevant to the influx issue, but instead provides more scope for infiltration into the state," General Secretary, Synjuk ki Rangbah Shnong, R L Blah, said in a letter to Chief Minister Mukul Sangma.

Synjuk ki Rangbah Shnong (SRS) is a conglomeration of locality chiefs and chiefs of 43 villages in the state capital and on the outskirts of the city.

The SRS did not mention an alternative to the proposed bill nor did it mention whether they supported the pressure groups demanding introduction of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act, 1873, that facilitated the restriction of outsiders into the state by way of an Inner Line Permit.

A ministerial committee headed by CnRD Minister Prestone Tynsong is in the process of conducting public consultations across the state on the proposed Meghalaya Regulations of Landlords and Verification of Tenants bill.

Students of colleges under the North Eastern Hill University have also rejected the bill during a special consultation held with them last month.

NGOs Being Used To Spread Political Propaganda

Aizawl, Dec 3 : The Zoram Nationalist Party has expressed "sadness" for what it says is Mizoram's major NGOs being used to spread political propaganda just before the Mizoram Assembly polls that concluded on November 25.

Speaking at a meeting of party workers at the party headquarters in Aizawl on Monday, ZNP Vice-President K Liantlinga said the state's powerful NGOs "need to rethink" on their actions just a few days ahead of polls, accusing them of becoming "political weapons".

The state's major NGOs and student unions had, in the last days of the week before the November 25 polls, issued joint public statements condemning the use of violence and militants to garner votes.

While the NGOs had not directly named any party, word was fast spreading on social media as well as in public discussions that the ZNP was being supported by Hmar and Paite militants to intimidate voters.

The Congress and the Mizoram Democratic Alliance had also accused the ZNP of working with these militants, soon after which the NGOs had issued statements appealing to people not to vote for parties working with ethnic militant groups.

Mass based voluntary civil society organisations hold great sway over public opinion in Mizoram, with some claiming to have members in every Mizo family.

"The ZNP does not and will never have written agreements with these groups unlike the other political parties who have signed pre-poll covenants with them in the past. Even these NGOs had not found any evidence of us working with these groups and yet they allowed themselves to become weapons of political parties to spread their propaganda," K Liantlinga said.