In 2010, Colonel Vinay Dalvi’s (Retd) first book titled Role Model (Pentagon Press) addressed the aspects of the selection procedure for officer cadets by services selection boards and their training thereafter at academies. Col. Dalvi, a second generation officer, commissioned into Maratha Light Infantry in 1971, opted after eight years of service to join the Army Physical Training Corps, meant for imparting physical training to all ranks of the Army and paramilitary forces. Serving as an instructor over a period of three decades in three of India’s premier institutions, National Defence Academy (NDA), Indian Military Academy (IMA) and Officers Training Academy (OTA), he observed that it was high time some concepts and procedures got reviewed in keeping with all the changes that have occurred since independence.
Col. Dalvi strove to draw attention to this book widely among armed forces and some other organisations with a view to raising consciousness about the issues he had discussed.
This effort resulted in his second book, Victory India (Pentagon Press), which is a collection of articles/papers by 19 writers including former Naval Chief, Admiral Arun Prakash, former commandants/deputy commandants/instructors of academies, defence analysts, professors/lecturers and sports medicine specialists, all of who pulled no punches in dealing with the subject.
The book’s release preceding government’s announcement of establishing the Indian National Defence University is timely and just as well as institutions like NDA so far under Jawaharlal University should come under it.
And hopefully, some deliberations which began and picked up steam after a civilian staff recruitment scam in mid 2012 involving its then commandant and an army officer was exposed, will bear fruit of implementation of new techniques.
Apart from Col Dalvi’s campaign, some others like former commandants, NDA, Vice Admiral S.C.S. Bangara, Marshal Air T.S. Randhawa and Lieutenant General Arun Chopra, Major Generals V.K. Madhok, I.A. Satur, Raj Mehta, G.K. Duggal and G.D. Bakshi, Brig Pramathesh Raina (son of highly regarded Prof Triloki Nath Raina, who taught English at NDA) and some others, not only wrote papers for Victory India, but were also involved in discussions about the problems and/or wrote articles for other publications.
This writer reviewed Role Model for The Asian Age, wrote a chapter for Victory India and is observing whatever is transpiring to comment on progress or otherwise.
But what has really blown the lid off the prestigious tri-service NDA is a paper written by Colonel R.S. Khandpur, former director, training, NDA, recently, after his retirement from service.
His observations:
Lack of external audit of training: NDA is headed by a three star General/ equivalent from other two services by rotation. HQ integrated defence staff, headed by another three star general/ equivalent exercises budgetary and technical control, the administrative inspection is carried out by HQ southern command and Army training command continues to issue advisories from time to time. However, except for the commandant there really is nobody who is concerned with the quality of training being imparted to the cadets. Thus the focus of training tends to shift with every change of command.
Substandard academic staff: At its inception, the NDA managed to attract the best academic staff mainly due to the edge it enjoyed over counterparts in civilian training institutions of enhanced emoluments and facilities. However after the NDA academic staff adopted the UGC scales, this edge was lost (NDA special allowance for academic staff was `150 in the 1960s, which amounted to about a third of the lowest academic pay. As in 2010 it still stood at `150 which was less than 1% of the lowest academic salary. The work of an academic instructor in the NDA involves much more effort and commitment than what is required in a civilian college. Due to lack of incentives, the best and ablest do not apply to join the NDA, and those already there tend to be highly de-motivated.
The shortfall in academic instructors is made up by hiring ad hoc staff and by posting in additional instructors from the education branch of the three services. So at any given time, more than 50% of the academic staff in NDA are below the standards required for even an average institution.
Poorly motivated/ untrained squadron commanders and divisional officers: squadron commanders and divisional officers are required to have an intimate understanding of the behaviour and group dynamics of cadets barely out of their teens, but there is no appropriate training imparted to them, formal or otherwise. Moreover, most of the divisional officers are of 4 to 5 years of service and tend to behave more like “seventh termers” than officers.
Anil Bhat, a retired Army officer, is a defence
and security analyst