Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Slipping down of army status

When India was granted independence status of army was very high. Commander chief enjoyed grade next only to the prime minister. Over the years and every war fought the status of army chief has been downgraded . In a democracy army is at back benches under civil control. But not under control of civil servents. The clash with IAS, IPS over the equivalence and other aspects are well known. There were clashes with police in cities such as Agra, amritsar, Hyderabad etc. Cadre review in Army has done very great damage to the status of army. Batallion commanders are now Colonels while earlier they were of the rank of Lt Col. Thus the rank of Colonel was down graded. The crest on the caps of Colonels was changed to regimntal badges in 1985 and it was highly disliked by Colonels. But what to do? They swallowed as bitter pill. Some time ago the cap of Head constable in AP Police was similar to that of a Colonel. . Finally the police chaged it.Army uniforms are copied in all security services. The Darwans at five star hotels wear armr type ceremonial uniforms and open doors and also ask for tips. What a shame ?
The state of affairs can be judged by the agitation by ex servicemen in Hyderabad few months ago, where thy were lathi charged by police. Where are things heading? Now no bright yougster wants to take up commission in army. Even third rate stuff knocks at the doors of Indian Militay academy. Few days ago there was a photograph of newly commissioned oficers at IMA throwing their peak caps into sky as celebrations after the passing out parade. What culture is this? This type of antics are seen at USuniversities where the newly graduated guys celebrate in this way. The dignity of uniform probably has gone into wild. God bless Indian army.
Dr K Prabhakar Rao

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