By Maj. Gen. Mrinal Suman
Venting of grievances by soldiers on social media is a new phenomenon. The recent torrent of videos has caught the Services unaware. It is a challenge whose severity is bound to increase with the development and proliferation of technology. It is time serious attention is paid to address the issue, as it has the potential to promote indiscipline, spread disaffection, weaken officer-man cohesion and undermine morale. Three critical imperatives need to be kept in mind.
First, the quality of the contemporary soldierly stock is different. Earlier, rural youth with little education joined the Army. They accepted the privations of the environment without question. But the Army today draws manpower from all segments of society. The current generation is better educated. Like the rest of society, it questions policies and practices, and is quick to spot iniquities in the system.
Secondly, the nature and character of the media have undergone major changes. There has been a massive proliferation of 24/7 news. As most Indian media do not possess resources for gathering ground reports, they tend to presuppose details and base their reports on hearsay or conjecture. Worse, Indian media thrives on sensationalism. For example, running the soldiers’ videos on news channels repeatedly was hardly warranted. An unhappy soldier’s shot of an over-cooked chapatti was not an issue of national concern, as was made out. But in the media-led world of today, perception is reality and is based on the image projected by the media. Therefore, the media cannot be ignored or dismissed as irrelevant.
Thirdly, technology is a double- edged weapon. Social media has unprecedented reach and can be cleverly manipulated to tweak the truth. When under stress, our troops may be tempted to resort to venting their disenchantment through it. While soldiers can be deterred by threats of disciplinary proceedings, the same cannot be said of their families and friends.
It is a challenge that defies a straightforward solution. In a 1.3 million strong force, it is well nigh impossible to keep everyone happy. There will always be some with grievances, both perceived and real.
Three steps can be taken. One, efforts should be made to ensure time-tested norms of man management are given additional importance to improve satisfaction and minimise complaints. Two, well-established grievance redressal mechanisms should be strengthened and made more credible. Three, the environment should be made aware of the true state of affairs in the Army to contain the negative fallout. Changed environment demands a change in leadership techniques. Leaders have to learn to handle the soldiers with more compassion. Compassion does not mean dilution of discipline. On the contrary, a compassionate leader acquires moral authority.
Soldiers face much higher levels of stress these days. Regular contact with the families keeps soldiers embroiled in day-to-day problems—children not studying or troubles caused by neighbours. Soldiers feel helpless and become fretful. Further, the wives of many soldiers are highly qualified. They stay at one place for the sake of their career and children’s education. As a result, soldiers are deprived of support in times of emotional disturbances.
In addition, the modern soldier is highly conscious of his self-esteem. Most soldiers abhor sahayak duties and consider them degrading. To start with, no soldier should be detailed on these duties in the stations where families are allowed. Similarly, soldiers resent being detailed to sweep roads or maintain golf courses. All tasks related to the maintenance of cantonments must be outsourced to civilian agencies.
The Army has a sound mechanism in place for the redressal of soldiers’ grievances. For personal issues, every soldier has a right to seek audience with his seniors through ‘Arzi Report’. In case his company commander is unable to solve the problem, the matter is referred to the unit commander. The level of ‘Arzi Report’ keeps getting raised, till the aggrieved soldier gets full redressal. If still unsatisfied, the soldier can approach the Centre.
For the media, attractiveness of news is proportional to its shock effect. As it lacks resources and intimate knowledge of the Services, it follows the easy path of collecting bits of information to create news. Invariably, such one-sided reporting tends to be factually incorrect and damaging to the Army.
On the other hand, the media justifiably faults the Army for being unduly secretive. There is a need for mutual sensitisation. Appreciating media’s compulsions and limitations, efforts should be made to educate it as regards Army’s ethos and functioning. Information should be shared with media in an honest manner, accepting weaknesses upfront to retain credibility. A well-informed media will not fall prey to rogue videos that malign the Army.
Unfortunately, the Army has failed to respond to the videos in a mature manner. Instead of reposing faith in the time-tested mechanism for the redressal of grievances, the Army Chief has ordered placement of complaint boxes at all formation headquarters. It was an immature and panic reaction. Asking soldiers to forward complaints directly to him is a highly terrifying and perilous proposition. It undermines the complete chain of command, the keystone of army’s disciplinary bedrock. It is a proposition where the cure is worse than the disease.
In some units, due to shortage of officers, a certain degree of complacency has crept in the ‘Arzi Report’ process. Written complaints rarely elicit response in the specified time frame. The system must be made more responsive and compassionate. Troops must be convinced that their genuine concerns would be attended to in a fair and time-bound manner.
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