The government is stumbling on the defence issue

The government is stumbling on the defence issue:

A nationalist government that views national security as a sacred patriotic responsibility has strangely slowed down and taken a relaxed stance on two crucial defence issues: PBOR recruitment and the selection of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

Much has been published about the unexplained hush around the CDS, but nothing has been published about the recruitment freeze. I’ve read about the government's 26-month recruitment moratorium. "This is a highly severe situation, and its adverse repercussions have already damaged our operational capabilities," the Brigade Commander responded when questioned. The issue has been mentioned in Parliament, but everyone is unusually upbeat, almost casual about it. The well-known Brigadier said: "It appears that the government is no longer interested in defence."

The Government has gone numb and started fumbling on crucial matters after milking the military forces through cross-border strikes – the Uri surgical raids, Balakot airstrikes, or hot pursuit in Myanmar against dissident Naga groups — that brought great electoral returns. At a time when the Chinese PLA is breathing down our necks across many un-vacated incursion points, late CDS Gen Rawat would not have allowed recruiting to stall for so long. Nothing explains why troop recruitment in combat and combat-support weapons has been halted.

Infantry battalions, according to the Brigadier, are on average 150-200 troops short of combat strength. Why had COVID prevented recruitment rallies when elections could be held, religious holidays, melas and yatras organized, and masses requisitioned for political rallies?

Unless it was simply lipped service and showmanship, this government, and in particular Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had elevated soldiering to the highest echelon. As a result, unemployed adolescents who desire to be warriors are depressed.  Stories abound on social media of soldier aspirants who have turned 18 and have begun peacefully protesting missed opportunities.

The stories about young men running miles to join the army usually end badly.

Many local academies in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana that were training potential Fauj candidates have run out of jobs. This is the first time in the country that a recruitment ban has been imposed during the 75th anniversary of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

No-recruitment echoes can be heard in Nepal, which supplies Gorkhas to the Indian Army's 40 Gorkha battalions. The famous Gorakhpur Gorkha recruitment depots have not organized any recruitment rallies. To boost their spirits, want to be Gorkhas to paste false recruitment posters on their walls. Is it possible that, despite the lifting of most COVID restrictions and the satisfactory control of the third wave, the recruiting ban has not been abolished because it is tied to the ridiculous idea of a 3/5 Tour of Duty proposal? Is it simply a matter of saving money by lowering wage and pension costs?

ToD should not be discarded out of hand, according to the thinking Brigadier. It should be tested in one or two units, just as the proposal of converting pure single-class regiments into all-India classes was. Another commander in his Brigade claimed that the Army had over-sanitized itself during COVID, rejecting calls for assistance from civilians even though it was a fantastic time to reach out to people "but we were cocooned in our cantonments." The Army should have been called up to assist migrants in returning to their villages. As a value add, the military could have aided in a variety of ways.

The current state of defence isdefense owing to CDS’ absence. However, the cat is out of the bag now. After six months of waiting, MoD officials are leaking information to justify the delay in naming CDS that some of us in the strategic community predicted — that the Government is rethinking the charter of CDS, particularly the remit of the Department of Military Affairs, which has stripped the Defence Secretary and his bureaucrats of their control over the military. The civilian authorities were marginalised when the Defence Secretary transferred numerous sections/departments to DMA.

The CDS became extremely powerful: single point of advice to the Defence Minister, Permanent Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, Secretary DMA (which is a demotion for the CDS because he is several notches above Secretary to the Government of India in Warrant of Precedence), advisor to the Nuclear Command Group, the final arbiter in defense acquisitions prioritization, and operational head of Theatre Commands. Although the CDS is the highest-ranking service leader, his work charter makes him more powerful than the colonial-era C-in-C, who was at odds with the Governor-General.

When Rawat was abruptly appointed CDS on December 31, 2019, CSCCoSC worked out his charter of tasks, and NSA Ajit Doval, who chairs the Defence Planning Committee and is de facto the security supremo, approved the unique DMA. The selection of Lt Gen (retired) VG Khandare, who had previously served as military advisor to the NSA, as the first-ever military advisor to the Defence Secretary, is likely the spark that sparked the schism between the Defence Secretary and the CDS/DMA. With or without CDS, the Defense services are likely to revert to complete control of civilian bureaucracy in the Ministry of Defense. Atmanirbharta, long live!