[nukkad] Give him something to fight for

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Give him something to fight for - Admiral (retd) J G Nadkarni, Rediff.com

His eyes scan the horizon for any movement, while his ears are alert to the 
slightest sound. He is at a forward post in Siachen at 19,000 feet. It is 
pitch dark outside and the temperature is zero in summer and minus 40 in 
winter. He and his colleague have the job of manning this post for three or 
four days before he returns to the base camp. It took one day's trudging to 
get to the post and it will take him one day to get back to a hot meal. In 
the meantime he has to be happy with his packed meals, frozen like hard 
rock, which he has to heat over a stove before eating.

During his tenure at this inhospitable post he has an even chance of losing 
a toe or two due to frostbite. There is also the frequent shelling from the 
other side. More than a thousand of his colleagues have lost their lives 
here, some in the shelling, some due to the cold and some because of the 
terrain.

He is the Indian jawan. He and thousands like him keep a constant vigil day 
and night in some remote forward posts to ensure the integrity of this 
nation. Why does he do it? The jawan has enough time to ponder over this 
question while he keeps guard. What motivates a young man to brave the 
weather and guard the nation's frontiers under such conditions?

To some, but not all, it is a job. In a country with 350 million below the 
poverty line and endless lines at the employment exchange, an entry into the 
armed forces is the acme of ambition. He may not be paid highly but a job is 
a job is a job. He is well fed and clothed and certainly gets more respect 
than he ever did before. So what does it matter if he gets less than half 
the salary of a lower division clerk whiling away time on the lawns outside 
South Block and doing less than two hours of productive work every day? He 
still gets enough to send his wife and small child, tucked away somewhere in 
an obscure village in UP or Bihar and whom he will see for only two months 
of the year.
But surely salary is not everything. Otherwise he would be only a mercenary. 
Money rarely makes a man put his life on the line. Most of them do what they 
do for what the army proudly calls izzat (respect). Tradition. Esprit de 
Corps. Call it what you will, it is that something which made the Indian 
jawan charge up the impregnable fortress at Cassino or rush through the 
minefields at El Alamein. It is what made him face bullets while scaling the 
steep heights at Kargil, losing 600 of his friends in the bargain.

Tradition has made the Indian soldier fight for centuries. The tradition 
started long before the victorious armies of Chandragupta and Ashoka. It was 
alive when a half-starved Maratha army decided to battle rather than 
surrender at Panipat. That is one reason why the Indian Army places so much 
importance on izzat and tradition.

During the past fifty years India's politicians and bureaucrats have 
succeeded in steadily eroding these values from the armed forces. If there 
is one demand the armed forces have above all else, it is this; give us back 
our izzat. Tradition aside, if there is one thing which motivates India's 
armed forces to protect their country, it is the love of their nation. Yes 
indeed, it is that corny word in today's cynical world, patriotism. In his 
regiment, every Republic Day the jawan has taken an oath to defend his 
country and its Constitution. He has been repeatedly told that in the 
ultimate it is his job to preserve and protect the Indian way of life.

In the early days of Independence it was easy for him to do this. The 
leaders were veterans of the Independence movement and each a political and 
intellectual giant. Corruption was at a low level. He could see progress in 
many areas around him. His village was electrified. New schools had come up. 
His country was a well respected nation in the non aligned movement. In 1971 
they won a resounding victory. Above all television was a long way down the 
road.

Today it is becoming increasingly difficult for the jawan to be patriotic. 
The TV brings him instant and vivid pictures of what is happening in the 
country. He sees the proceedings in Parliament frequently stalled and 
erudite debate giving way to the shouting brigade. Adjournments have become 
frequent. He sees the Tehelka tapes and the rampant corruption, not only in 
the political parties, but touching his own officers. He sees scandal after 
scandal. He sees the breakdown of law and order, frequent and violent bandhs 
and political chicanery. He sees not only lumpen elements burning down 
hospitals but boasting about it on national channels. He might be forgiven 
then, when he sits at that lonely post in Siachen, for thinking, "What the 
hell am I doing here. Am I required to lay down my life to preserve this way 
of life?"

Some ten years ago, the then Army chief, General S F Rodrigues said in an 
interview that good governance was also a concern of the army. He was pulled 
up for this by the defence minister and the Opposition but never a truer 
word was said.

The general may not have said it tactfully, but what he inferred was quite 
clear. Good governance of the country has a direct bearing on a soldier's 
motivation. The soldier is indeed proud of his country. But the country also 
must make it possible for him to be proud of it.
India's army is not a mercenary army. It is poorly paid, badly armed and has 
to preserve the integrity of this country in some of the most inhospitable 
areas of the world. Yet every man in it is a volunteer. He is in it of his 
own free will. Every man in the army from the highest ranked officer to the 
new jawan is willing to lay down his life because he loves his country.

But Indians cannot take this patriotism for granted. And they cannot just 
leave it to the army to motivate their ranks. It is indeed the job of very 
Indian citizen to ensure that the jawan feels like defending this country. 
If you want to be protected then you must be worthy of protection.

The jawan will be automatically motivated to do his job if he finds a 
progressive, law abiding, prosperous country behind him. It is indeed the 
job of the government to create conditions that keep him motivated. To 
restore order and decorum in public life, to ensure law and order, to reign 
in corruption and to bring back prosperity. And oh yes, win a few test 
matches also.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/sep/06nad.htm


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