update: Just as predicted the Opposition is blaming the present ruling party and rumours abound ‘suggesting’ that the Chief resign. (13 Feb 2011)
I am only a student of Military Studies with a Masters Degree and have not and never will have the opportunity to serve the country as part of the Armed Forces. I am just a poor blogger trying to apply what I’ve been taught and learned to the present and try and foresee future courses of action, which will be the best for the common good.
Thus I can pat my back on my prescient post on the plight and outcome of the Date of Birth controversy of the present Chief of Indian Army, General V.K. Singh. In the same vein is how the General can turn this ‘setback’ into a ‘victorious legacy’.
Now there are multitudes, even on TV, ‘Military Analysts’ and former Generals and what not, blathering that now, when the Supreme Court has dismissed the petition of the Army Chief, he has a limited course of action. The pathetic suggestions range from outright questioning on the application of mind my the Supreme Court on the submitted documents (by a former General) to suggesting that he resign as the Army Chief (by a military analyst) on Times Now TV today evening.
As a student of Military studies, my question is, ‘Does a fighting man who commands people in battle facing a setback, run away, or submit to the enemy commander that his attack wasn’t as per manual, or resign his commission, just because his tactics has been found faulty?’
‘Or does the *leader* learn from his mistakes and makes sure that he doesn’t do it again or his subordinates aren’t subject to such a situation again?’
‘Isn’t it a duty of a leader of men, especially Army commanders, to make sure that such mistakes never happen again?’
If that is so, let us just take a look at what led to this fiasco. The controversy is the sole result, make no mistake, sole result of the Army not reconciling the discrepancy in records w.r.t. the date of birth of the Army Chief, over the last 5 decades. The civilian GoI, either past or present aren’t at fault for proceeding with the facts in front of it.
Which leads us to the crux of the problem. The Indian Army (and its sister forces of the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard by extension) are plagued with the problem of Un-Unified Records.
That should be what General V.K. Singh should address to set right now, it should be his legacy. He is still the undisputed leader of the Indian Army till May 2012. As Army Chief, General V.K. Singh has enormous resources at his command and I think he should on Monday, if not immediately, accept what destiny has set out for him.
He should constitute a task force to suggest and adopt procedures to overhaul the records of the Army (and other Armed Forces by extension) so that such a lacunae is never faced by his successors, ever.
I admit the time is short - about90 110 days. But as stated above, he has vast resources and the country already has a ‘pilot’ project underway by way of UIDAI/Aadhar cards database, by way of example. With that as a starting point, how difficult would it be for the task force to suggest procedures in place to regularise the records and ensure ‘Enough-No-Data-Discrepancy’ (ENDDIS Plan), say in 60 days?
In the present circumstances, even the GoI would not be able disregard such an ENDDIS Plan.
Will you do that General Singh? Remember that successful commanders and Generals aren’t there by turning tail, but by turning setbacks into opportunities (to victory) - more important, ensure that his juniors never have to face the same situation or setback again.
Instead if you do adopt an ENDDIS plan General, (instead of going into a shell or God forbid, resign in pique), you would earn the eternal gratitude of the Nation and my Salute!
Jai Hind!
My Begging half pleads, ‘Please do this General, as it will ensure your name in the History of Indian Army!’
My Greedy half grunts, ‘And if you do do it, after reading this post by chance, please mention it in the passing, as I would personally be grateful for all the attention and traffic.’
:-D
I am only a student of Military Studies with a Masters Degree and have not and never will have the opportunity to serve the country as part of the Armed Forces. I am just a poor blogger trying to apply what I’ve been taught and learned to the present and try and foresee future courses of action, which will be the best for the common good.
Thus I can pat my back on my prescient post on the plight and outcome of the Date of Birth controversy of the present Chief of Indian Army, General V.K. Singh. In the same vein is how the General can turn this ‘setback’ into a ‘victorious legacy’.
Now there are multitudes, even on TV, ‘Military Analysts’ and former Generals and what not, blathering that now, when the Supreme Court has dismissed the petition of the Army Chief, he has a limited course of action. The pathetic suggestions range from outright questioning on the application of mind my the Supreme Court on the submitted documents (by a former General) to suggesting that he resign as the Army Chief (by a military analyst) on Times Now TV today evening.
As a student of Military studies, my question is, ‘Does a fighting man who commands people in battle facing a setback, run away, or submit to the enemy commander that his attack wasn’t as per manual, or resign his commission, just because his tactics has been found faulty?’
‘Or does the *leader* learn from his mistakes and makes sure that he doesn’t do it again or his subordinates aren’t subject to such a situation again?’
‘Isn’t it a duty of a leader of men, especially Army commanders, to make sure that such mistakes never happen again?’
If that is so, let us just take a look at what led to this fiasco. The controversy is the sole result, make no mistake, sole result of the Army not reconciling the discrepancy in records w.r.t. the date of birth of the Army Chief, over the last 5 decades. The civilian GoI, either past or present aren’t at fault for proceeding with the facts in front of it.
Which leads us to the crux of the problem. The Indian Army (and its sister forces of the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard by extension) are plagued with the problem of Un-Unified Records.
That should be what General V.K. Singh should address to set right now, it should be his legacy. He is still the undisputed leader of the Indian Army till May 2012. As Army Chief, General V.K. Singh has enormous resources at his command and I think he should on Monday, if not immediately, accept what destiny has set out for him.
He should constitute a task force to suggest and adopt procedures to overhaul the records of the Army (and other Armed Forces by extension) so that such a lacunae is never faced by his successors, ever.
I admit the time is short - about
In the present circumstances, even the GoI would not be able disregard such an ENDDIS Plan.
Will you do that General Singh? Remember that successful commanders and Generals aren’t there by turning tail, but by turning setbacks into opportunities (to victory) - more important, ensure that his juniors never have to face the same situation or setback again.
Instead if you do adopt an ENDDIS plan General, (instead of going into a shell or God forbid, resign in pique), you would earn the eternal gratitude of the Nation and my Salute!
Jai Hind!
My Begging half pleads, ‘Please do this General, as it will ensure your name in the History of Indian Army!’
My Greedy half grunts, ‘And if you do do it, after reading this post by chance, please mention it in the passing, as I would personally be grateful for all the attention and traffic.’
:-D
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