Soldiering on, against all odds

The Indian Army celebrates its coming of age as Army Day on January 15 every year, commemorating the appointment of Gen. K.M. Cariappa (later honoured as Field Marshal) as the first Indian commander-in-chief of the Indian Army.

In democracies, like India, military power is employed under political directions and the Indian Army is no exception. Armies reflect a nation’s land power as a component of its overall military power and, perhaps, Army Day 2013 is an appropriate occasion to reflect on the Indian Army, a national institution that is truly a people’s Army as it represents every ethnic group and level of society in the country.
The history of the Indian Army is prestigious, spanning a colonial past and a national present and future as the Army of a sovereign and independent republic. The Indian Army came into existence in the 17th and 18th centuries essentially as a low cost, low-maintenance local gendarmerie recruited by the British East India Company, a leading multinational of the time, to protect their commercial interests and trading installations in India against other in-country European competitors like the French, the Dutch and the Portugese, besides fending off rapacious local chieftains. Over time, this erstwhile security gendarmerie of a foreign trading company evolved into a first class, multi-capable military force with extensive operational experience across the entire spectrum of conflict.
The Indian Army has evolved into the largest component of our homeland defence, a role it has carried out with unflinching devotion, often against heavy odds, which reflect adversely on our leadership and the country’s strategic planning capability. The Indian Army has fought four high intensity maximum-force defensive wars against Pakistan in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999, and one against China in 1962, besides almost continuous engagement since 1947 in internal security operations to preserve the integrity of the country against separatists, many with sponsorship and support from Pakistan. It must also be always remembered with pride that India’s military victory over Pakistan in the 1971 Indo-Pak War resulted in the creation of the independent nation of Bangladesh, an achievement not many countries or their armed forces can lay claim to after the Second World War.
The Indian Army has always been a volunteer force, where service has been traditionally considered an immensely prestigious calling. This perception remains unchanged, notwithstanding changing times and social aspirations of its traditional feedstock, the urban and rural middle and lower middle classes. The availability of almost unlimited resources of high-grade military manpower is one of Indian Army’s chief assets.
Throughout the present socio-economic turmoil, with the attendant collapses in ethics, values and institutions, the Indian Army has steadfastly held on to its traditions of integrity, patriotism, courage and devotion to duty. In so doing, the Army has retained the admiration and affection of the people and is viewed as an exemplar for the country.
But on this Army Day, it is disturbing to note that the traditional dismissive attitude towards the military and its requirements continues to flourish. There is almost no other way to rationalise or explain the almost peremptory reduction of `10,000 crore from the defence budget this year despite the ground realities. There is undoubtedly a strong and growing public mood for peace in this country, and this is entirely as it should be. Yes, a semblance of external peace does seem to prevail all around, that is, if one can look past the throbbing pustules of small wars, like the recent provocation from across the LoC, terrorism and insurgencies in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Central Asia, Latin America, Africa and even parts of South and Southeast Asia.
Yet, in spite of the “million mutinies” proliferating within the country, India remains relatively secure and undisturbed from major external threats emanating from the neighbourhood. A share of the credit for this has to be given to the presence of the Indian Army across the country, even when sequestered in cantonments and military stations.
Notwithstanding the reality of high technology, it must never be forgotten that soldiering will always remain a somewhat traditional and even conservative, old-fashioned, soldier-oriented profession, where the centrepiece is leadership, and not management. Fortunately, that is an area where the Indian Army has never been found wanting.
There is also a revived perception amongst the country’s policy elite, of the old and somewhat shop-soiled adage that war remains too important a matter to be left to the generals. However, the connected and natural corollary has not been accorded adequate space, that peace is too important to be left to politicians and their supporting bureaucracy.

The writer is a former Chief of Army Staff and a former MP