ARMY MUST USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO ITS ADVANTAGE: GEN RAWAT
Army personnel can’t be denied the use of smartphones, army chief Bipin Rawat said on Tuesday, underlining that social media could be used for psychological warfare and to combat proxy war.
NEW DELHI: Army chief Bipin Rawat said on Tuesday that army personnel cannot be denied the use of smartphones, maintaining that social media can be used as an effective weapon for psychological warfare and to combat proxy war, terrorism and insurgency.
Referring to a mobile application — Arpan —being developed by the Army to help its personnel and their kin reach out and seek solutions for their problems, he said,“If we are creating our own apps then how can we deny the usage of smartphones to our soldiers. Smartphones are here to stay. We must learn to utilise them to our advantage.”
Rawat was delivering a keynote address on ‘Social Media and the Armed Forces’ to a gathering of senior officials from the three armed services.
He added that social media could be leveraged for psychological warfare and deception not just in conventional warfare, but also in combating proxy war insurgency and terrorism. “...we need to have an organisation in place at all levels. It is in the backdrop of this, we have undertaken a study in the Army headquarters for restructuring the headquarters within. How do we then ensure that the social media platform becomes an important adjunct of our information warfare strategy. Do we need a Directorate General of Information Warfare? ”
The Army chief said if the army doesn’t keep abreast with the manner in which the social media was moving ahead, the forces will be left with “fire-fighting” to keep up with time.
With better use of existing resources, the social media can be made part and parcel of “our life in the Army”, he said.
Armed forces personnel are not encouraged to use smartphones because of the sensitivity of their task.
Meanwhile, referring to Major Leetul Gogoi who was found guilty of “fraternising” with a local woman at a Srinagar hotel, General Rawat said moral turpitude and corruption will be dealt with sternly.
An Army Court of Inquiry indicted Maj Gogoi for “fraternising” with a local woman at a Srinagar hotel and being away from his place of duty last month Maj Gogoi was detained by police in May following an altercation when he was allegedly trying to enter a Srinagar hotel with the 18-year-old woman.
Rawat said action will be taken against Major Gogoi according to his guilt. “I had clearly said that any case of moral turpitude and corruption will be dealt with in a very stern manner. The Court of Inquiry has recommended that we should go in for court martial proceedings,” he said.