Reforms Required in our Defense Services

The crash of the Soviet origin AN 32 of the IAF has once again highlighted the grave threats to the lives of our defense personnel, who are constantly battling a formidable enemy within, in the form of either faulty or substandard equipment, or inadequate training to take on the mighty challenges in their day to day lives, while on duty.

Yes, danger or threat to lives is an inherent part of one's duty while serving in the defense forces, but then aren’t our systems, political leadership and bureaucracy aggravating the same, by not doing what is required, to lessen such dangers to a significant extent ?

Yes, an inquiry would be ordered into this incident, and the report would sooner or later join ranks with umpteen such inquiry reports, which inquired into various crashes in the past. And then it would be life as usual for all of us.

All those who lost their lives in this crash were young and promising youth of the nation, who had ambitious dreams to serve their motherland till age permitted. But tragically enough, these dreams were cut short so abruptly, leaving their bereaved families shattered for the rest of their lives.

It is high time that some reforms were initiated in the defense sector as well. Every incident, both during peace time and war, which leads to the death of any defense personnel on duty, should necessarily be followed with an inquiry commission , which should have a specific brief to suggest measures to prevent a repeat of the same in the future, besides thoroughly analyzing the cause behind the incident. The commission should submit this time bound report to the senior defense officials concerned including the chief of the staff, as well as the senior bureaucrats in the defense ministry.

Perhaps, in order to ensure that some concrete steps are taken to prevent a repeat of the same, recommendation and request for appropriate assistance from the defense minister should be put up jointly by the defense chiefs and the senior bureaucrats of the ministry. Specific recommendations should then be elevated to the cabinet level for the necessary approvals

The cabinet should also take the necessary steps on its own, by demanding a follow up action report from the defense minister on its approvals or any other serious incident such as this crash, matter which who inturn should source the same from the relevant defense chief, and so on.

Perhaps, even the Prime Minister’s office could be proactive on such matters and seek direct intervention of the defense minister to get into the details of such incidents which can have severely demoralize not only the existing serving defense personnel who may suffer from undue fear psychosis, but also from all the brilliant and promising high school students, who may be nursing ambitions to join our defense forces but would be facing stiff opposition in their families for obvious reasons

To begin with , the Prime Minister’s Office could seek a detailed report from the defense chiefs, on the issue of availability of quality spares for the equipments and weapon systems, capabilities available to ensure appropriate maintenance of the same, and available infrastructure for ensuring state of the art training of the defense personnel. This report should then be the basis for the reforms required, in the interests of our own security and of course maintaining the morale and motivation of our defense personnel at high levels, besides of course correcting the general perceptions about a career in defense forces among many parents who discourage their wards from venturing into the same.

And last but not the least, it should be the responsibility of the Defense Minister, to ensure that the past inquiry reports are not simply gathering dust, and are put to the right use by making the recommendations a part of the Standard Operating Procedures of the defense services.