By Brig Sarvesh Dutt Dangwal (Retd)
I quote here from a book authored by two officers of the US Army in the aftermath of the enduring reverses suffered by an army trained and schooled in the finest institutions of the military, which fought against rag tag communist Viet Cong guerillas supported by the North Vietnamese Army from 1954 to 1975 – “To no class of students is dogmatic prescription more dangerous than to a student of the art and science of military. For disciplined as he already is he acts upon it without reflection. This doesn’t mean that, on the command to press the trigger they don’t, but they should not leave their minds in the locker room. Whereas the guerilla uses the power of his creative mind to extract a decision where it is most desired.”
The military training in our establishments, institutions and schools of learning, is tailored on the model of the British Army/Navy/Air Force and over the years we have made incremental and cosmetic changes to suit our requirements. But, largely, the legacy bequeathed to us has remained unchanged and given the dilution in the Indian character over the years, our model of training needs a comprehensive overhaul, nay transplant, to optimise the outcome of its end product. In the immediate years following Independence, the Indian Army was recruiting candidates from an environment which was charged by a sense of Patriotism, Nationalism, Moral Values and Principles. Our political leadership was looked up to and people had ideals to learn from and emulate as inspiring role models. This was our legacy then. But, over the years, like it happens the world over, we as a nation were sucked into the economic juggernaut in the quest for development. Commerce became a byword for economic growth and profit by any means a driving force in the emerging market space of a growing country. With socialism as our national outlook, the licence permit raj gave enormous power to the authorities in power. And it is from here that the evil nexus between the neta, bureaucrat and the businessman started. Society started pedestalising success as against goodness and the Indian people started changing. Our moral values took a beating, and the Indian character started showing cracks. Corruption in our dealings, which insidiously compromised individual integrity, rectitude and probity became a norm than an exception. While the Indian psyche struggled with this newfound invasion and was battling with its lust for lucre and eternal moral principles, which is steeped in our spiritual bloodline, it generated the phenomenon of hypocrisy as a preferred modus operandi for the literate majority. The flaws of adopting Democracy as a form of government, in the absence of social and economic equality, played havoc in our political stratagems, where ideologies and principles were sacrificed for attaining power.
Political corruption was institutionalised. The fish had started to rot in the head, which means that, in addition to being a major contributing factor in an organisation’s success, leadership is also the root cause of an organisation’s failure and demise. This is true whether that organisation is a country, a company, or a sales force. There is much in the public domain, which exists to substantiate this narrative. An example to put forth my conversation with greater clarity here, is by quoting from an extract from a book by Parakala Prabhakar – The Crooked Timber of New India. Western thinking once subscribed to the idea of original human sin, or what philosopher Immanuel Kant described as “crooked timber” morality. It’s the belief that humans are fundamentally broken, but that our life’s purpose is to confront our brokenness and build a better, stronger character. “70% trust the Government. 61% trust the Media. Within the Government, the Army, Upper Judiciary and Heads of Government inspire high trust whereas police, government officials and political parties do not. Outside our homes, we seek comfort in our religious or cultural identities and treat those who share these identities as our extended family. The distinguishing feature of Indian families is forgiveness: we overlook the faults of other members out of a sense of love and adoration. This is why we are willing to forgive governments’ mistakes, too. Corruption is rampant, with 39% of Indians having paid a bribe. Governments have failed to provide basic needs of life, such as clean air and water. India has 22 of the most 30 polluted cities in the world, with a child dying every 3 minutes from inhaling toxic pollutants; 35% of children under 5 are stunted, due to undernourishment.”
Now, this is where we are today and our educational system does little to change the averment made herein. As the human capital of the Military comes from such a society, there has been a huge change which has engulfed the leadership of this monolith. Today, we stand on the threshold of becoming largely bankrupt in the most critical and enduring human quality of Character, amongst our officers in general and the senior military leadership, in particular. With sycophancy masquerading as loyalty and dissent (if any) seen as insubordination, the quality of our higher military leadership has been substantially emasculated and weakened. It is this challenge, which the Military in general and the manpower intensive Army faces to resurrect as an underlying quality of its leadership training and practices. We must bring in paradigm changes and not incremental and cosmetic ones, in the Army.
