Gen Bikram Singh, please improve the image of the army after you take over as the new chief. More than quality equipments, IA needs a complete image makeover, which has been tarnished by string of scams involving top brass in the recent past.
Age is just a number, just like weight apparently!
Why don't the Army's top brass shed a few pounds and lead from the front by revitalizing the Indian Army. What ever happened to fitness being central to a soldiers life ?
now forget age, General still should look like a Captain or a cadet would be better..
Image makeover !! Have we come up to the lavels of imperial Army ? Or US Army fighting wars thousands of miles away? Or does it mean image of the Army is a calculated Targets for many in the country !
We Army still not understood the gameplan but the media has !! They know what is TINA factor.
Anon 9.09 PM, Are you trying pull a "Nira Radia" sort of stunt in livefist? Are you completely ignorant about all those scams the top brass of Army and other arms of the military have been implicated in? Don't you think such incidents have tarnished the image of our military? Now don't come back and tell me that when everyone has been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, what's the harm if our top brass also try to "wet their beak".
Forget Captain or Cadet, most of these "staff" Officers are one step closer to Sumo Wrestlers than military soldiers. Have you seen the beer belly on the Air Chief ? Does this guy Bikram look like he is have ever done any push-ups in the last year ?? How do I know this guy isn't going to get a cardiac arrest and kick the bucket should god forbid he has to take the stairs in an emergency?
A bunch of fat, indolent little paper pushers who have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar . Now we're supposed to be all patriotic and blind to the malaise that has crept from their mind to their body ? What is this? North Korea ? Dear Leaders can't do wrong ??
The idea that these guys are somehow doing all of us a HUGE favor is ridiculous. They are government servants who get paid to do their jobs. If not them we have 1 billion more people to choose from.
anon @ 6:58pm while i agree with most of what you've said, you seem to be unaware of the criteria of promotion in the armed forces. apart from the performance reports and other stuff, All officers need to undergo an medical examination each year, and if they are found to be medically unfit, they are categorized as 'lower medical category' and can't be promoted any further…. so, if an officer's weight is found to be within the normal BMI range despite having a pot belly… he is considered fit. (keep in mind that these are all 55-60 year old officers) coming to corruption in the armed forces, these officers haven't dropped from the heavens. they come from the indian society, and if there is corruption everywhere in india, its bound to reach the armed forces as well. however, what's important is if the organisation takes action against the corrupt officials if proven guilty, and as far as i know, armed forces are the only organization where even brigadiers and generals are court marshaled. you will never hear about senior politicians or IAS officers being taken to task for corruption.
people seem to forget that incidents like adarsh, weren't exposed by the media…. they were detected by the army itself, and when inquiries were being ordered to look into all of this, the media's spotlight hit. and suddenly the army was being called a corrupt organisation.
anon@6:58 if we have 1 billion people to chose from. why is the army facing a shortage of over 12,000 officers.
i don't mean to defend the corrupt or the guilty, they should be sternly dealt with and shown no tolerance. but i personally feel the soldiers are indeed doing us a big favor.
the life of an army officer is not easy. considering the risks and difficulties involved
my grandfather was an officer who was wounded in the 1971 war in a pakistani air-raid (3 splinters were found inside his body)
my father was injured in the siachen glacier. he is 40% dissabled because of that (he also holds a commendation card for selfless service and being INCORRUPTIBLE). my parents have spent 15 years of their 25 year old marriage away from each other and i've spent half of my life away from my dad because of field postings.
my uncle still carries a bullet lodged next to his spine years back in a terrorist enounter.
so, honestly… HOW MANY OF THESE "1 BILION PEOPLE" YOU TALK OF ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH BECOMING AN OFFICER?…
Its actually not as easy as you may think. -regards
@anonymous 6:58- i don't intend to defend the corrupt officials. they should severely punished if found guilty,
but if we have 1 billion people to chose from. why is the army facing a shortage of over 12000 officers?
the soldiers and officers of the army are indeed doing us a big favor. life in the army is not easy!
my grandfather was an officer in the army, who was injured in the 1971 war during a pakistani air raid (2 big splinters were found inside his body)
my father is an officer who was injured in the siachen glacier and is 40% disabled because of that.(he btw, has been awarded with a commendation card for being INCORRUPTIBLE)
my parents have spend 10 years out of 25 years of their married life away from each other and i've spend almost half of my life away from my father because of field postings.
my uncle carries a bullet lodged next to his spine which he recieved during a terrorist encounter.
so, exactly how many of those "1 bilion" people are willing to accept the risks and difficulties involved in serving with the armed forces? its not as easy as u may think
All those who are accusing Army of facing shortage of manpower, have failed to mention the number of people who appear for the CDS exams. Today, particularly for people living in the hinterland and rural parts of India, Army or military is their only salvation considering their educational and social background. Today, the British army is reducing their strength to less than 100,000. When a country like Britain can't afford more than 100,000 troops, how can one of the world's poorest country, afford more than 1,000,000 troops? There is no accountability or responsibility as far as spending the meager resources of our country is concerned. Our defense budget is several times higher than our education or health budget. Is it any wonder why we are such a poor country? Expenditure on defense does not generates any revenues or wealth for the country. It's a crime to have such huge defense budget when more than half the 1 billion population cannot afford two square meals a day. Instead of recruiting more, we need to drastically reduce the number of troops. 500,000 troops should be the ideal number as we have several paramilitary outfits which can take up military duties if the need arise. This move will help generate funds for raising compensation of our armed forces to that of MNCs and top corporates. Better compensation will attract talent the Army is looking for.
Have you seen the stampede Army recruitment drive generates? Majority of the people join the army for a higher quality of life than what they are used to. And, not to take a bullet for you or me. They know very well what the job entails, hence it is low on part of someone from a defense family to seek special favors. I agree with Anon 6.58, that they are Govt servants doing a job for which they are getting paid. Btw, I am also from a defense family and serving the armed forces does not automatically means one in also a patriot.
Anon 10.48 AM, 1st of all Adarsh Housing scam was highlighted bcoz a babu blew the whistle on this matter and he had to bear the burnt for his intransigence. The Army did nothing as far as exposing this scam is concerned. This calls into question how billions are being spend in the name of "defense"? Is there no accountability or responsibility for this huge expenditure on defense?
Why don't we see pot bellied US or Israeli Army generals? It's only recently that we are witnessing people in poor physical condition rising up to top positions (and consequently falling moral std and rising corruption) in our armed forces.
People in the armed forces are supposed to defend the country. If they start behaving like thieves than what protection will they provide to the nation? Can we excuse the Police for being corrupt becoz the society itself is corrupt? In that case we should disband the police and form armed vigilantes as this will save us some tax money.
@anon 7:14 british economy is in total chaos, with a growth rate of 1.75% and dropping, i wasn't surprised. India is a WAYY larger economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). and is expected to grow at approx 7.5%. i take your point about 420 million people living in extreme poverty in our country, but thats because of a problem called- inequitable distribution of national wealth… the ratio of defence expenditure to the total GDP is not too much. for the second largest army, india is not even in the top 15 defense spenders. that said
when u compare the numbers of the brit army to indian army, did you take into account the overall size of the country, the total population of the country, the hostile borders the country has or the threat that Britain faces?
if u take the ratio of land area and army's size. the british army is about 0.96 in india, this ratio is .033
take the ratio of personnel and the nation's population british army's is about 0.0924… for the indian army this ratio is 0.0095 so for indian army to reach a similar ratio as the british army, we would infact have to add more personnel. i'm not even comparing the long stretch of hostile borders india has…. are you aware that the indian borders already face shortage of personnel with the average soldier patrolling 3 times more area than the optimal level?, have you heard about the levels of stress that indian soldiers on the frontline face because shortage of man power?.. this is the precise reason army has decided to raise 2 extra divisions. having merely 500,000 thousand troops will completely DOOM india my friend, when u decide to use para military for war situations, considering the fact that the para military forces are structured differently, can u tell me, how will they function alongside army formations like brigades, divisions, under strike corps??.. or how will they fill up for the shortage of armoured coloumns, ASC, Airdefence, Artillary, AMC,EME, Sappers, etc?
i never said anything about seeking special favors, all i said was, that the soldiers and officers are doing a great service to the nation, and they deserve every little bit of respect.
coming to your point about rural people expecting higher quality of life… rotting away at -60 degrees Celsius in a small bunker for months on end in the siachen glacier.. is that higher quality of life?…. melting away in the thar desert with temperatures soaring above 50degrees Celsius, is that better quality of life?… or sitting in rotting hell holes in the jungles or north east??.. is that better quality of life??….. i suggest you visit the difficult border posts these men are guarding, you'l understand what i'm trying to say here.
coming to adarsh, i never said anything about army exposing the scam. the Army had already ordered an enquiry into this before the lid was blown. moreover, in the sukhna, adarsh, etc… who were the officials who got punished?… all army officers found guilty were dismissed from service and court marhsalled… no beurocrat or politician found guilty was brought to justice…. army is the only organization which doesn't hesitate in punishing senior officers. once again i say, army officers don't drop from the sky… they are a part of the indian population and if there's corruption in india, its bound to reach the armed forces as well.
coming to the pot bellied officers: its just as simple as- if your BMI is above 26, or below 18, you will not get promoted to the next rank. PERIOD!….. now, none of us have medically examined general bikram singh's health, nor are we aware of his body mass index, or height to weight ratio… neither is anyone of us an armed forces medical examiner. so i feel its immature to comment about someone's health with no data whatsoever!!
PS: if u read my previous post, you'l notice i said- corrupt officials should be "severely punished". i'm NOT trying to justify corruption…. all i'm saying is that it's wrong to generalize all officers of the indian army as being corrupt and discredit the hard work they do to keep people like you and me safe.
I don't think any one of you have fought a war or a battle, yes you have seen movies, one requires courage to fight ,imagine an athlete under adverse conditions would be fit to run but who is unfit has no alternative but to sit and fight and in any case one does not require to run few kilometres but a few hundred yards
hehe nice one. pity poor bikram though. he deserves to be chief.
HAHAHAHAHAHA very mean shiv. very mean 😀
Shiv .. will i ever see the report about j-20 on your blog?
Gen Bikram Singh, please improve the image of the army after you take over as the new chief. More than quality equipments, IA needs a complete image makeover, which has been tarnished by string of scams involving top brass in the recent past.
Age is just a number, just like weight apparently!
Why don't the Army's top brass shed a few pounds and lead from the front by revitalizing the Indian Army. What ever happened to fitness being central to a soldiers life ?
Where did you see unfitness in the Armed forces and what is this cut throttle or what it means
Poeple have funny logic like?
Poor Vikram Singh .. you had age but !!
now forget age, General still should look like a Captain or a cadet would be better..
Image makeover !! Have we come up to the lavels of imperial Army ? Or US Army fighting wars thousands of miles away? Or does it mean image of the Army is a calculated Targets for many in the country !
We Army still not understood the gameplan but the media has !! They know what is TINA factor.
Anon 9.09 PM,
Are you trying pull a "Nira Radia" sort of stunt in livefist?
Are you completely ignorant about all those scams the top brass of Army and other arms of the military have been implicated in? Don't you think such incidents have tarnished the image of our military?
Now don't come back and tell me that when everyone has been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, what's the harm if our top brass also try to "wet their beak".
Forget Captain or Cadet, most of these "staff" Officers are one step closer to Sumo Wrestlers than military soldiers. Have you seen the beer belly on the Air Chief ? Does this guy Bikram look like he is have ever done any push-ups in the last year ?? How do I know this guy isn't going to get a cardiac arrest and kick the bucket should god forbid he has to take the stairs in an emergency?
A bunch of fat, indolent little paper pushers who have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar . Now we're supposed to be all patriotic and blind to the malaise that has crept from their mind to their body ? What is this? North Korea ? Dear Leaders can't do wrong ??
The idea that these guys are somehow doing all of us a HUGE favor is ridiculous. They are government servants who get paid to do their jobs. If not them we have 1 billion more people to choose from.
anon @ 6:58pm
while i agree with most of what you've said, you seem to be unaware of the criteria of promotion in the armed forces. apart from the performance reports and other stuff, All officers need to undergo an medical examination each year, and if they are found to be medically unfit, they are categorized as 'lower medical category' and can't be promoted any further…. so, if an officer's weight is found to be within the normal BMI range despite having a pot belly… he is considered fit. (keep in mind that these are all 55-60 year old officers)
coming to corruption in the armed forces, these officers haven't dropped from the heavens. they come from the indian society, and if there is corruption everywhere in india, its bound to reach the armed forces as well. however, what's important is if the organisation takes action against the corrupt officials if proven guilty, and as far as i know, armed forces are the only organization where even brigadiers and generals are court marshaled. you will never hear about senior politicians or IAS officers being taken to task for corruption.
people seem to forget that incidents like adarsh, weren't exposed by the media…. they were detected by the army itself, and when inquiries were being ordered to look into all of this, the media's spotlight hit. and suddenly the army was being called a corrupt organisation.
anon@6:58
if we have 1 billion people to chose from. why is the army facing a shortage of over 12,000 officers.
i don't mean to defend the corrupt or the guilty, they should be sternly dealt with and shown no tolerance. but i personally feel the soldiers are indeed doing us a big favor.
the life of an army officer is not easy. considering the risks and difficulties involved
my grandfather was an officer who was wounded in the 1971 war in a pakistani air-raid (3 splinters were found inside his body)
my father was injured in the siachen glacier. he is 40% dissabled because of that (he also holds a commendation card for selfless service and being INCORRUPTIBLE). my parents have spent 15 years of their 25 year old marriage away from each other and i've spent half of my life away from my dad because of field postings.
my uncle still carries a bullet lodged next to his spine years back in a terrorist enounter.
so, honestly… HOW MANY OF THESE "1 BILION PEOPLE" YOU TALK OF ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH BECOMING AN OFFICER?…
Its actually not as easy as you may think.
-regards
-a Patriotic citizen just like you.
@anonymous 6:58- i don't intend to defend the corrupt officials. they should severely punished if found guilty,
but if we have 1 billion people to chose from. why is the army facing a shortage of over 12000 officers?
the soldiers and officers of the army are indeed doing us a big favor. life in the army is not easy!
my grandfather was an officer in the army, who was injured in the 1971 war during a pakistani air raid (2 big splinters were found inside his body)
my father is an officer who was injured in the siachen glacier and is 40% disabled because of that.(he btw, has been awarded with a commendation card for being INCORRUPTIBLE)
my parents have spend 10 years out of 25 years of their married life away from each other and i've spend almost half of my life away from my father because of field postings.
my uncle carries a bullet lodged next to his spine which he recieved during a terrorist encounter.
so, exactly how many of those "1 bilion" people are willing to accept the risks and difficulties involved in serving with the armed forces?
its not as easy as u may think
-regards
a patriotic citizen just like you.
All those who are accusing Army of facing shortage of manpower, have failed to mention the number of people who appear for the CDS exams. Today, particularly for people living in the hinterland and rural parts of India, Army or military is their only salvation considering their educational and social background.
Today, the British army is reducing their strength to less than 100,000. When a country like Britain can't afford more than 100,000 troops, how can one of the world's poorest country, afford more than 1,000,000 troops? There is no accountability or responsibility as far as spending the meager resources of our country is concerned. Our defense budget is several times higher than our education or health budget. Is it any wonder why we are such a poor country?
Expenditure on defense does not generates any revenues or wealth for the country. It's a crime to have such huge defense budget when more than half the 1 billion population cannot afford two square meals a day.
Instead of recruiting more, we need to drastically reduce the number of troops. 500,000 troops should be the ideal number as we have several paramilitary outfits which can take up military duties if the need arise.
This move will help generate funds for raising compensation of our armed forces to that of MNCs and top corporates. Better compensation will attract talent the Army is looking for.
Anon 12.04 PM,
Have you seen the stampede Army recruitment drive generates?
Majority of the people join the army for a higher quality of life than what they are used to. And, not to take a bullet for you or me. They know very well what the job entails, hence it is low on part of someone from a defense family to seek special favors. I agree with Anon 6.58, that they are Govt servants doing a job for which they are getting paid.
Btw, I am also from a defense family and serving the armed forces does not automatically means one in also a patriot.
Anon 10.48 AM,
1st of all Adarsh Housing scam was highlighted bcoz a babu blew the whistle on this matter and he had to bear the burnt for his intransigence. The Army did nothing as far as exposing this scam is concerned. This calls into question how billions are being spend in the name of "defense"? Is there no accountability or responsibility for this huge expenditure on defense?
Why don't we see pot bellied US or Israeli Army generals? It's only recently that we are witnessing people in poor physical condition rising up to top positions (and consequently falling moral std and rising corruption) in our armed forces.
People in the armed forces are supposed to defend the country. If they start behaving like thieves than what protection will they provide to the nation? Can we excuse the Police for being corrupt becoz the society itself is corrupt? In that case we should disband the police and form armed vigilantes as this will save us some tax money.
@anon 7:14
british economy is in total chaos, with a growth rate of 1.75% and dropping, i wasn't surprised. India is a WAYY larger economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). and is expected to grow at approx 7.5%. i take your point about 420 million people living in extreme poverty in our country, but thats because of a problem called- inequitable distribution of national wealth… the ratio of defence expenditure to the total GDP is not too much. for the second largest army, india is not even in the top 15 defense spenders. that said
when u compare the numbers of the brit army to indian army, did you take into account the overall size of the country, the total population of the country, the hostile borders the country has or the threat that Britain faces?
if u take the ratio of land area and army's size. the british army is about 0.96
in india, this ratio is .033
take the ratio of personnel and the nation's population british army's is about 0.0924… for the indian army this ratio is 0.0095
so for indian army to reach a similar ratio as the british army, we would infact have to add more personnel.
i'm not even comparing the long stretch of hostile borders india has…. are you aware that the indian borders already face shortage of personnel with the average soldier patrolling 3 times more area than the optimal level?, have you heard about the levels of stress that indian soldiers on the frontline face because shortage of man power?.. this is the precise reason army has decided to raise 2 extra divisions. having merely 500,000 thousand troops will completely DOOM india my friend, when u decide to use para military for war situations, considering the fact that the para military forces are structured differently, can u tell me, how will they function alongside army formations like brigades, divisions, under strike corps??.. or how will they fill up for the shortage of armoured coloumns, ASC, Airdefence, Artillary, AMC,EME, Sappers, etc?
anon 7:23
i never said anything about seeking special favors, all i said was, that the soldiers and officers are doing a great service to the nation, and they deserve every little bit of respect.
coming to your point about rural people expecting higher quality of life… rotting away at -60 degrees Celsius in a small bunker for months on end in the siachen glacier.. is that higher quality of life?…. melting away in the thar desert with temperatures soaring above 50degrees Celsius, is that better quality of life?… or sitting in rotting hell holes in the jungles or north east??.. is that better quality of life??….. i suggest you visit the difficult border posts these men are guarding, you'l understand what i'm trying to say here.
coming to adarsh, i never said anything about army exposing the scam. the Army had already ordered an enquiry into this before the lid was blown. moreover, in the sukhna, adarsh, etc… who were the officials who got punished?… all army officers found guilty were dismissed from service and court marhsalled… no beurocrat or politician found guilty was brought to justice…. army is the only organization which doesn't hesitate in punishing senior officers. once again i say, army officers don't drop from the sky… they are a part of the indian population and if there's corruption in india, its bound to reach the armed forces as well.
coming to the pot bellied officers:
its just as simple as- if your BMI is above 26, or below 18, you will not get promoted to the next rank. PERIOD!….. now, none of us have medically examined general bikram singh's health, nor are we aware of his body mass index, or height to weight ratio… neither is anyone of us an armed forces medical examiner. so i feel its immature to comment about someone's health with no data whatsoever!!
PS: if u read my previous post, you'l notice i said- corrupt officials should be "severely punished". i'm NOT trying to justify corruption…. all i'm saying is that it's wrong to generalize all officers of the indian army as being corrupt and discredit the hard work they do to keep people like you and me safe.
Sujeeth: It's catire, in case you didn't notice.
The Nation desrves the Armed Forces and the defence of the country the way they keep them and treat them
The ruling elites without participation in soldiering is not an elte… they become Babuns..
We simply forget lessons of thousand years slavery..
Generals are by mind and not bodies.
I don't think any one of you have fought a war or a battle, yes you have seen movies, one requires courage to fight ,imagine an athlete under adverse conditions would be fit to run but who is unfit has no alternative but to sit and fight and in any case one does not require to run few kilometres but a few hundred yards