India to Learn How US Integrates It’s Military Leadership into the ‘System’ to Promote US National Aims & Objectives

We need to assimilate nuances of CMR in the shortest possible time, lot has been missed since independence. US CMR could be one example to develop Indian Model of the CMR. Study of UK Model may not be very apt.

Just Note how well articulated recent visit of The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, was in the scheme of the US:

India to Learn How US Integrates It’s Military Leadership into the ‘System’ to Promote US National Aims & Objectives

CMR as a 'System' in the Indian Context has a lot to offer. We need to shed protecting our 'turfs' for the national good. All our intellectuals should see the Relations holistically much beyond our tainted sights; this is applicable to both civil and military leadership.

SvipjaCMRChair
Svipja Technologies

Need to Understand Military

“It is an irony that expressing an independent view by the Indian Armed Forces is sometimes being viewed as defiance of the system. …..In the 21st century, it is important to factor in the changing geopolitical realities to appreciate the compulsions of civilian and military setups working under democratic structures.” says Ajey in his Article.

“No security problem could have only a military solution. Modern day problems demand solutions at the political and social levels too” Ajey avers.

Read the Article: Need to Understand Military

We feel that Civil-Military though independent entities need ‘Systems Approach’ to deliver excellence in India, and for that matter anywhere. ‘Tight tasking’ is well understood at tactical levels, but not at strategic levels. We are all Indians and the Armed Forces are of free India. We should shed colonial past. We should have a System to harness the available talent without diluting primary task; after all Military Leaders are exposed widely to strategy.

Svipja CMR Chair
Courtesy: IDSA, India, www.idsa.in

Some 'Special' Issues of Civil-Military Relations

The Study and Research on CMR is one area of neglect in India. The classic work on the theory of CMR by Samuel Huntington (The Soldier and the State, 1959) is an example, though ‘old’ in a way. This work is one way of thinking about CMR. It had two assumptions. First, it assumed that CMR in any society should be studied as a system composed of interdependent elements. The second was that ‘objective civilian control’ maximizes military security. The assumptions are fully valid even today, but the Study needs to be developed further in the Indian Conditions.

Srinath Raghavan of the Centre of Policy Research, New Delhi, in the July 2010, in it’s special issue of the Monthly Journal Seminar commented that matters of operational issues, and the leading role being played by the Services impact CMR. Civil Society and 24x7 Media causes civil interference to the detriment of CMR.

Gautam observes that the topic is just not about the military’s relations with the civil leadership and bureaucracy only, but ‘Massive Import Syndrome’ and related issues in Civil and Military alike, could dilute the CMR for various reasons.

Read the Article: Some Issues of Civil-Military Relations

We feel that we need to take Note of it. The debate on the CMR has not matured well in India.

Svipja CMR Chair aims to harness the intellect in the CMR sphere.

Svipja CMR Chair
Courtesy: IDSA, India.

Words Hurt CMR

SvipjaCMR Chair has no comments on this incident except that we can not achieve 'heights' with 20th Century (pre-independence) mind sets in the 21st Century where we need to 'aggregate and integrate' national and international talent to achieve excellence.

Civil-Military Relations should integrate at the strategic level and flow downwards upto district level. We as a nation are on the 'learning curve' of democracy. Let the System emerge naturally in the Indian Environments. No one needs to be 'emotional'. If there have been failures in our conduct we should accept them gracefully. Only then will we improve.

We can however apply corrections 'intelligently with grace intact' as we proceed.

Devise foolproof mechanism for professional assessments.

SvipjaCMRChair

Civil-Military Relations Under Scan

We need an Indian Model for Civil-Military Relations. This is necessitated for reasons of our being a comparatively ‘young nation’, emerging quality of political leadership and its ethos, self-serving attitudes all around, rampant corruption, under-development of about 40% of our population, and tensed security scenario in the sub-continent amongst others.

In order that the Indian Democracy develops and flourishes, all stakeholders in the country need to ensure effective and efficient Governance. Political Leadership should vow and act to provide it. Indian Masses cannot wait indefinitely, or else the vacuum in leadership will be filled by certain other type of leadership, Communists, Maoists, or worse by Indian Military to its peril.

Our debate on Civil-Military Relations should focus on ‘concept’ rather than ‘actors’ – needs to be orchestrated at higher intellectual level. It is the transition of leadership from Civil to Military in nations that should be of concern to its citizens who believe in democratic values.

Svipja CMR Chair, http://www.svipjacmrchair.blogspot.com/ , addresses the issue of the Civil-Military Relations in the Indian Context dispassionately. We feel that we need to understand the nuances of the CMR as a nation, and apply them appropriately in our day-to-day interactions in Civil & Military spheres to retain the right balance. The Indian Constitution is then held high.

Shri NS Sisodia (ex-IAS) , Director General, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses(IDSA), could not be more right in articulating ,“This will involve providing greater space to the Armed Forces in relevant decision-making structures, seeking their partnership in national security and defence policy-making and addressing issues of modernisation and ‘jointness’ on priority.” And he aptly remarks: “A democratic polity is not just about civilian control but also about a military strong enough to protect it.”

Civil-Military-Civil Maryada should be the guiding light for the CMR.

After all, the Military pays the price of follies of the other ‘actors’ by its ‘blood’; stature and elan are dear to them.

Read the Article by Ali Ahmed , IDSA, Civil-Military Relations Under Scan

Brigadier(Retired) Sukhwindar Singh
Chairperson, SvipjaCMRChair

Why Deliberately Hurt CMR ?

CMR take years to build. Mutual respect between Civil-Military in CMR is an essential ingredient. No one should feel 'uppish'. Indian Constitution sets the 'Civil-Military Marayada' in perspective, silently though. And 'routine practices' strengthen it. Anyone crossing the 'limit' is damaging the Indian Democracy, which has found roots in our country and the CMR as such. Indian Military remains a valuable stakeholder in the Indian Democracy. The Military has 'internalised' democratic values over the years. It stands by it which is amply visible. No one should nourish any doubts.

Indian Judiciary has sensed areas of conflict in 'turf war' between civil-military, and harm it inflicts to the System. It is 'active' to say the least, and makes a 'positive contribution' to the CMR.

It is time that we 'educate' our System widely on nuances of the CMR - responsibility as a citizen of the Democratic India. Civil can always remain in control' without 'downgrading or admonishing publically' it's Military. In all this, India suffers.

Some of the slippages are well documented in a recent Article by General Vijay Oberoi(Retired), Former VCOAS. Pse Click to read Why Deliberately Hurt CMR?


Svipja CMR Chair

Why Autonomy Demand for Indian Military?

Our Military may feel bruised for it's inapt handling by politicians-bureaucratic combine in certain situations. Lately, our retired fraternity speaks up often on Civil-Military Relations sometimes with vengeance, ‘venom’ it may have gathered while in service.

The Article by Ashok Mehta advocates autonomy for the Indian Military. It is surprising! The General needs to suggest building strong CMR for India within the Indian Constitution, and the democratic form of Govt that the Indian Military supports. This is how nations prosper, and democracy and it's stakeholders mature.

May be a second attempt by him on the issue be more pragmatic!

Read the full Article: Autonomy Demand for Indian Military

Suggests the ‘low’ we have reached in the CMR, and some 'voicing' their opinions to the detriment of the System.

Svipja CMR Chair

Special Powers for Armed Forces - We Need Clarity, Not Emotions

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, better known as AFSPA, has been brought out of wraps at various opportune times – opportune for those who have either something to gain, i.e. the insurgents in Jammu and Kashmir, political parties always ready to fish in troubled waters, with an eye on electoral gains or those who are regular establishment-baiters, who have made it a habit to take the plunge headlong in any controversy with the belief that if it is against an organ of the government, it needed to be opposed!

The insurgents we are fighting today are heavily armed, they act speedily, commit heinous crimes and disappear. Unless the army counters such actions with speed and not wait for orders from higher civil or military authorities, nothing would be achieved.

Also, the soldiers and officers of the army need to be protected from prosecution for consequential action taken against insurgents in good faith as part of their operations. Here too, the Act does contain the important caveat that the army personnel can be prosecuted with the Centre’s sanction, if their actions warrant it. There is, therefore, no blanket immunity from the laws of the land.

The army is designed and structured for fighting external enemies of the nation. Consequently, they are not given any police powers. However, when the nation wants the army to conduct counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations, then they must be given the legal authority to conduct their operations without the impediment of getting clearances from the higher authorities.

It is only then that the operations will be conducted in the usual efficient manner of the army and would be result-oriented. They also must be legally protected. It is because these two aspects have been catered for that the army has been neutralising the insurgents and terrorists, so that normalcy is restored and the political leaders and officials can restart governing.

Pse Click to Read the Complete Article: Special Powers for Armed Forces - We Need Clarity, Not Emotions


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(The Writer is Former Vice Chief of the Indian Army)