Stem the disaffection

The paramilitary forces are critical to India’s security. It’s time their grievances were addressed

Something is rotten in the way we treat the jawans who guard our borders and other vital installations across the country. Recently, a jawan of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) shot dead four of his fellows at the Nabinagar power plant in Bihar. By Friday, a video by an army jawan complaining that he was being victimised by his seniors for writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying orderlies should not be made to polish their officers shoes went viral. Earlier, a jawan of the Border Security Force (BSF) made headlines with a post showing what terrible food they got to eat.

What provokes these soldiers to break the discipline of a lifetime? Can we put it down to individual caprice and brush the whole thing under the carpet? At the root of the problem is the hierarchical nature of the armed and paramilitary forces, whose protocols are still rooted in a colonial-era ethos. In the decades since Independence, very little has changed in the way the armed forces treat their recruits. But the recruits have changed; their worldview and expectations have changed. Especially in this age of social media, old shibboleths about how enlisted men should behave can no longer hold true. There have been efforts to reform, like for example, the way leave is granted for example; this being one of the main causes for unrest in the ranks; the other being the often inhumanly long hours they have to stay alert and on their feet.

Hierarchy is inevitable, and indeed necessary, in an armed force. But this also enjoins a greater responsibility on the officers who literally hold the power of life and death over the men and women they command. The army, navy and air force are comparatively better equipped to deal with these problems. The worst-off is the BSF jawan huddled over his gun in a desolate corner somewhere on the country’s borders or the CISF jawan patrolling an airport or the CRPF jawan in the jungles of Bastar. These paramilitary forces perform functions critical to the country’s security, but have never been given their due. The recent incidents should prompt some action before the disaffection spreads any further.