Monthly Archives: August 2018

COL MAHESH CHADHA (Retd)

JAWANS are said to be the best judge of officers, more so in the combat arms — Infantry, Armoured and Artillery regiments — where they serve together for very long in the same unit. As the officer after joining the unit rises in rank and status, from Lieutenant to Captain to Major and so on, so do the men from the ranks to JCOs, developing a life-long relationship.

Even though officers go out of the unit to attend long-duration courses of instructions or on staff appointments, they invariably return to the same unit after about two to three years. That is till an officer is promoted to the apex rank and appointment as CO, which takes 16 to 20 years, and leaves the unit for good to undertake other appointments.

Thus, over a period, men start judging their officers by their own well established yardstick of leadership qualities — not by precept but by practice, forecasting their future. An officer’s physical toughness reveals itself while undergoing BPET (battle physical efficiency test) that involves a 5-km run, crawling through extremely lowly laid concertina wire obstacles, etc. His skill at arms is tested at the ranges while firing along with men his personal and team weapons. His learning prowess is seen while performing duties of a gunner — carrying and loading a 20-kg shell of a tank or positioning a cumbersome base plate of a howitzer or a mortar much before the laid-down parameters; or taming an unwilling mule to harness it.

His technical keenness is observed while lying under the tank with hands and face smeared with grease and oil. The mental robustness is tested during night watch and inclement weather while manning posts in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East borders and during long-range patrols across some inhospitable terrain, snow-clad mountains or the sweltering deserts of Rajasthan — indefatigably leading 20-30 men self-contained for two to three weeks, carrying his own stuff, rations, weapon and ammunition.

The professional competence is judged by his performance during courses and competitions, joint exercises with other arms and services, as also when he is given charge to conduct classes to prepare the men for promotion to the next rank. His sportsmanship and team spirit are viewed at his skill in snatching a win for the unit. His jurisprudence comes to the fore during operational tasks when he factually establishes whether the jawan deserves an award or punishment for an act of omission or commission — dispensing justice.

His character is known by professional and personal integrity, punctuality and meaningful conduct during social gatherings, mess and other regimental functions. The humane aspect is judged when he despatches a strongly worded letter to the Deputy Commissioner or the Superintendent of Police to look into the problems faced by a jawan in his village — water from a nearby canal or an electric connection to his house or delivery of due benefits to his old non-earning parents, or taking to task some scoundrel casting an evil eye on his assets.

Displaying all this and more at every step, an officer to be accepted as an undisputed leader proves his nerve during a difficult situation — rescuing his men unscathed.

No astrologer can foretell an officer’s move up the ladder — Colonel to Brigadier to Major General and so on. It matters little though if the jawans, your comrades in arms, hold you in high regard. That is the highest compliment.

The tone of the hymn Abide with me, which has been played at the Beating Retreat ceremony, is unquestioningly moral, decent and lofty, and despite being Christian in origin, its sentiments and tone remain universal and non-denominational. But for the BJP and its RSS minders, it has one fundamental flaw and one that both believe needs erasure in keeping with their enduring nationalism and chauvinism: it is Christian in origin.

Rahul Bedi
Senior journalist

The federal government has decided to include the poignantly melancholic Christian hymn Abide with me as the penultimate score played at the grand Beating Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on

January 29. A January 23 official notification by the Indian Army has refuted numerous media reports that Vande Mataram, a Sanskrit poem written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1870, would replace Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite hymn, which has been part of the Retreat ceremony since the 1950s.

The announcement, following widespread criticism of dropping the hymn, has declared that alongside Vande Mataram, which has acquired politically incendiary Hindutva overtones over the past five years under the BJP rule, the hymn will feature at next week’s dazzling Retreat.

Official sources claim the government’s earlier consideration to terminate Abide with me at the Retreat, emanated from its broader, but woefully feeble, Make in India, initiative. It was deemed to be part of its policy to progressively include more indigenous tunes for the three services’ splendidly attired buglers and trumpeters alongside pipe, fife and brass bands to stage at the Retreat ceremony with digital wizardry.

It is unlikely, given the level of scholarship amongst the BJP’s upper echelons, that the Hindu nationalists were conversant with the hymn’s moving lyrics, which are simply about life’s vulnerabilities, omnipotence and the magnanimity of a compassionate, merciful and forgiving God.

Written by Henry Francis Lyle, a curate from the county Wexford in Ireland in the early 19th century, who later became a vicar in England, the hymn’s haunting Eventide score was composed in 1861 by William Henry Monk, an English organist and church musician. Other than the Mahatma, the hymn was also a favourite of England’s King George V and is sung at the annual Anzac Day services in Australia and New Zealand and at assorted military Remembrance Day celebrations in Canada and the UK.

Its widespread acceptance springs from its simplicity, sensibility and grace. It talks profoundly of human loss, as it was composed after Lyle visited a dying friend, who continually and fearfully asked the priest to ‘abide with me’. Ironically, the hymn was first sung at Lyle’s own funeral in Nice, years later.

The sanguine hymn rejoices in God’s steadfastness: Even as earth’s joys grow dim and its glories pass away. It exhorts God’s presence — every passing hour through cloud and sunshine — to assist the helpless ‘shine through the gloom and point to the skies’.

The hymn’s tone is unquestioningly moral, decent and lofty, and despite being Christian in origin, its sentiments and tone remain universal and non-denominational. But for the BJP and its Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS minders, it has one fundamental flaw and one that both believe needs erasure in keeping with their enduring nationalism and chauvinism: it is Christian in origin. After all, it is no secret that the fundamental role of the RSS, founded in 1925 as a right wing paramilitary volunteer organisation based on the Italian fascist Black Shirts, is to defend Hinduism by keeping it ‘pure’ from outside influences like Islam and Christianity. This is a goal that the Sangh and BJP continue to avidly pursue.

More importantly, Abide with me is part of India’s post-colonial history, crafted largely by the rival Congress party, in which the RSS and fellow Hindu nationalists were not even a footnote, or, at best, were a disparaging fragment.

Hence, irrespective of the Mahatma’s partiality to the hymn, its rendering at the showcase Retreat ceremony had made the RSS uncomfortable since 2015, even as its rendition unfailingly demonstrated its stirring and pathos-laden potential at Vijay Chowk in twilight.

The stunning backdrop of the red sandstone Rashtrapati Bhawan, the motionless line of resplendent Border Security Force camels lining Raisina Hill and the equally dramatic and cleverly illuminated adjoining North and South Blocks were consummate props in the hymn’s rendition.

Its intense climax, however, peaks every January, with the purposeful pealing of bells from the nearby Cathedral Church of the Redemption, also known as the Viceroy Church, leaving in its wake few dry eyes in the audience and few throats without an emotional lump.

Meanwhile, like most things military, particularly those that are pageantry related, the choice of tunes at the Retreat follows a well-determined procedure directed by the Indian Army that manages the Republic Day parade and the follow-on Retreat.

The Army’s Adjutant-General shortlists the tunes for the Retreat ceremony, but only under the overarching supervision of the Defence Ministry that is the final arbiter in the matter. In 2016, for instance, the newly elected BJP government tried nativising the Retreat, by incorporating classical instruments like the sitar, santoor and tabla into some bands. Fortunately, this unprepossessing spectacle was subsequently discontinued, following widespread censure by the military officers.

Laughably, this misadventure prompted a former Army Vice-Chief to bluntly declare that bringing the sitar, tabla and violin was fine for shows or concerts, but not to a military parade. The Retreat, he fulminated, was a parade with dignity, sanctity and tradition and one that could not be reduced to a tamasha.

Meanwhile, the ‘Indianisation’ of tunes at the Retreat has progressed gradually over the decades. Last year, for instance, 19 of the 27 tunes, like Jai Janam Bhumi, Kumaoni Geet and Veerta Ki Misal, presented at the Retreat, were by local composers. The remaining eight, which included robust martial tunes like Fanfare by Buglers, Drummers Call and Post Horn Gallop, were English in origin.

Thankfully, Abide with me, that also featured in this list, has survived another year.

Our parliamentarians could learn a thing or two from the American system. Seventy per cent of all Americans are baying for more evidence to be produced before the trial. Then again, the country has a jury system for trials in courts and all capable citizens are expected to do jury duty. Those in our military are fortunate as they get opportunities to serve on juries during court martial. This gives a sense of fairness.

Group Captain Murli Menon (Retd)
Defence analyst 

Two hundred and fifty years versus seventy… the gross disparity in the years under the belt of the American and Indian democracies may explain why we are way behind in some of the decorum and solemnity aspects of parliamentary conduct by the elected representatives. No cell phones, no mutual consultations and strict exhortations by the Chief Justice or president of the Senate to take violators to task, makes one wonder about the virtual bedlam that prevails in our own sabhas during most key discussions and deliberations.

Though the Indian Constitution only caters for a presidential impeachment — a provision statedly ‘borrowed’ from the Americans by our own Ambedkar — we are yet to invoke these even once in our country, whilst the Americans are in their third round now. The graphic coverage by all leading TV channels, superlative presentations by senators employing vivid audio visuals, use of social media platforms like WhatsApp and email to elicit evidence and the right to information provisions make the US Senate impeachment proceedings a spectacle to behold. The strengths and weaknesses of the American Congress/Senate parliamentary system are on display for all to see and emulate as deemed fit by the other aspiring democratic dispensations.

After Day 1, my take as a near-innocent bystander in New York, is that the Grand Old Party (Republicans) has taken a beating, perception battle- wise, regardless of the fact that the trial may well be headed for an acquittal of President Donald Trump.

The irony of the situation has not been lost on anyone — the same country which had been pressuring the Ukranians to shun corruption in their government — finds its own President under trial for the malaise. Withholding of US military aid to Ukraine against a caveat to target his own political foes back home, through witch-hunts in that country, was the primary cause of the Democratic ire alright.

It was vividly brought out in a lucid presentation by first-time Senator and ex-US Army Captain Jason Crow of Colorado, who talked of how as a soldier in Iraq, he had felt deprived of equipment thanks to a paucity of US government funding, as indeed President Trump had sought to do to US ally Ukraine. It is a different matter that the resilience of the US Congress managed to still pass the military aid to Ukraine ultimately, despite a presidential effort to deny the same illegally.

Some of the charges against Trump are right out of Hollywood: threats to US Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, for one, who was apparently stalked by Trump cronies and advised to return home, as the President and his main pointsman and lawyer Rudy Giuliani wished. It is no coincidence that most of the players in the Trump impeachment saga are lawyers by profession, as the political dexterity they are able to orchestrate in manipulating prevalent rules and regulations finally casts the ultimate vote in their favour.

The Indian parliamentary system has the chief executive, the Prime Minister, not directly elected by the people, but elected indirectly by the Houses of Parliament. Hence, his being left out of the impeachment ambit. He could, however, be removed by a no-confidence motion, alright.

Perhaps, our parliamentarians could learn a thing or two from the American system. Seventy per cent of all Americans are baying for more evidence to be produced before the trial. Then again, the country has a jury system for trial in courts and all capable citizens are expected to do jury duty. Those in our military are fortunate in this context as they get opportunities to serve on juries during a court martial. This experience gives one a great sense of fairness in trials and, possibly, is a good system for us to emulate.

The catchwords in modern educated governance are transparency and fairness. In the American system, their forefathers built in safeguards to ensure fairness. Their whistleblower Act protects government servants who blow the whistle on wrongdoings within the establishment. Besides, having their Chief Justice preside over the Senate during an impeachment trial, is another novel idea. They have managed to integrate the judiciary and the legislature in a good manner to provide a check and balance on the executive.

A problem area here in the US is the availing of executive privilege. The President tends to exercise this, as in the case of Trump refusing sub-poenas, in the present case.

Also, the executive tends to invoke national security considerations so as not to divulge information held by intelligence agencies or even routine information from functionaries, such as the Attorney-General of the country.

The argument by the Opposition here is that unless one knows the vulnerabilities, if any, to national security, how does the elected body of representatives protect the people? Cases in point in India, such as the cost factor in the Rafale deal not divulged by the ruling government in Parliament, would need to be seen in this context of the Parliament being supreme even for national security aspects. Even the much-vaunted parliamentary oversight of our national security and intelligence agencies is another matter for consideration by our policymakers.

And last, but definitely not the least, the dangers of foreign meddling in the sovereign electoral processes of any nation cannot be over-emphasised. First, the supposed Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential polls and, later, the supposed involvement of a server located in Ukraine, the $391 million of military aid was sought to be denied to Ukraine, should they not toe the Trump/Giuliani line about ordering an inquiry into Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden and their purported linkages to a Ukrainian energy conglomerate named Burisma.

The Ukrainian story is unfair and manipulative in every which way — a frontline state against Russian dominance is being dealt a raw deal. Someone needs to account for these wrongdoings, in the name of promoting sound democratic norms around the world.

http://

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 27

Owing to strained relations between India and Pakistan, the Border Security Force (BSF) did not exchange sweets with their counterpart Pakistan Rangers on the occasion of Republic Day at the Attari-Wagah joint check post here on Sunday.

The Pakistan Rangers had declined to exchange the greetings when BSF officials sent a message in this regard on Sunday, it is learnt. The relations between two neighbouring countries touched a low after the abrogation of Article 370, granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The BSF and Pakistan Rangers follow the tradition of exchanging sweets on religious and national festivals of both countries, barring a few occasions when the diplomatic relations hit a low.

This time, they shook hands but no hugging and exchange of sweets took place. The visitors on the Indian side could be heard shouting pro-India slogans and dancing to the tunes of patriotic songs.