{"id":97,"date":"2010-04-02T04:20:34","date_gmt":"2010-04-02T04:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goodnewz.in\/Blog2\/?p=97"},"modified":"2010-04-02T04:20:34","modified_gmt":"2010-04-02T04:20:34","slug":"challenges-before-the-new-army-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rohitagarwal.in\/swordarm\/2010\/04\/02\/challenges-before-the-new-army-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenges Before the New Army Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\"T72<\/a><\/dt>\n
Image by jeffjose<\/a> via Flickr<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Modernisation is main challenge for new army chief says this article<\/a>. And there is no doubt that a great deal of his energies will be spent in this high priority area. The delays in procurement of equipment have received adequate press in the last few years. Interestingly, the outgoing chief had also spelt this out as his primary goal on taking over<\/a> in Oct 2007, as had his predecessor<\/a> in Jan 2005. The fact that this continues to be a major challenge points to the plethora of ponderables and imponderables that make the modernisation process so complex.<\/p>\n

But modernisation of the force in terms of induction of state of the art equipment is only one facet of preparing to face the challenges of the future battlefield. Another important aspect is adapting to the changes that the current environment necessitates, and taking corrective actions where required.\u00a0 These relate to the very fabric of the force, which has withstood the tests of time to emerge victorious every time. The rising challenge is in preserving that fabric while adapting to the changes.<\/p>\n

The core of this fabric is the regimental system, which grooms young officers into leaders of men by instilling in them values and ethos that transform them from ordinary young men into extraordinary leaders of men.\u00a0 Of course, there are no formal classes that achieve this transformation. It is achieved through spending formative years in the unit going through the grind with the men, with continuance guidance by senior officers through words and by setting personal examples.<\/p>\n

Today this regimental system is under threat due to a number of factors. Changing socio economic values is one, but that is a part of the overall environment about which nothing much can be done. Two additional factors, about which action can be taken, are shortage of officers and the performance appraisal system in vogue.<\/p>\n

Impact of shortage of officers is axiomatic \u2013 with fewer officers in the unit, each officer is taking on more and more, severely impacting the process of grooming. The young officer who is to be groomed, and the senior officers who are to groom him, are so caught up in just getting through the day that the urgent overshadows the important. \u00a0One would expect the system to take corrective measures by cutting out a great deal of minutiae and allowing the reduced strength of officers to focus on the high importance but low urgency tasks of regimental soldiering. A lot of well intentioned expressions of doing this are regularly articulated but unfortunately what is manifesting on ground is the opposite.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, major contributing factors for of this are the other two mentioned earlier \u2013 the changing mores and performance appraisal system in vogue.\u00a0 Changing mores because career progression is valued over other considerations \u2013 and, as mentioned, nothing substantial can be done about individual aspirations caused by changing mores. The appraisal system therefore, lies at the core of the \u2018area of influence\u2019 \u2013 a contributing factor about which it may be possible to do something about, but first it must be understood and acknowledged that a problem exists.<\/p>\n

The problem is that at every level, obtaining a \u2018good chit\u2019 is becoming exceedingly important. In fact, actually merely a \u2018good chit\u2019 is not adequate to ensure the next career course and as a logical adjunct, the next rank. So the aspiration is outshining peers and obtaining the prized string of nines. The path to this is seen to be through the never ending stream of minutiae, and the window very short due to limited tenures of people at either side of the ACR. Of course, the equally damaging adjunct is the extreme aversion to risk of any kind in any activity, which might lead to an abrupt end to a promising career. This has a spin off effect of making caution rather than audacity a way of life \u2013 not something one wants to instil amongst soldiers and their leaders.<\/p>\n

A young officer who joins the unit all charged up and full of ideals drilled into him at the academies soon faces these realities. It doesn\u2019t take him very long to gauge the situation and understand where the focus lies, and adapt himself accordingly. Grooming and regimentation are prime casualties, and disillusionment brings with it a degree of disdain for seniors and cynicism about the values professed. A strong organisation like ours can carry on for a while on the strength of resilience \u2013 and that is what is happening so far. But it needs to be taken off resilience and put back on values before things start to unravel.<\/p>\n

The two areas of focus for preserving the fabric therefore are:-<\/p>\n