ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

BJP inherited a messy defence situation

What are the duties of the Union government? Maintaining law and order is a responsibility that it shares with the states. The markets must cooperate to control prices. But one job is reserved exclusively for the Centre: defence.

It is universally recognised that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry inherited a messy economy. (It was joked that a minister wryly remarked, "It is surprising to learn that things are even worse than we said!") But what many didn't realise, as some still don't, is that the defence situation was just as bad. Defence is such a sensitive topic that the media generally steers as far away as possible. But brushing dirt under a carpet is an unhealthy practice.

So let us admit that Mulayam Singh Yadav, defence minister to both H D Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral, runs a close second to Krishna Menon (he of Indo-China War infamy) as the worst in that sensitive post.

He began his tenure by the dramatic declaration on the floor of the Lok Sabha that infiltration by illegal immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh was nothing to worry about as it was just a case of "brothers" returning to their roots.

This was followed up by trying to thrust a dose of Mandalism on the officer corps, playing with promotions in the process. By the end of Yadav's term in office, the navy was on the verge of starvation, the army was grumbling, and a section of the air force was in open mutiny over pay and service conditions.

Unfortunately, Yadav's departure from the defence ministry could not put an end to the mischief initiated during his reign. Today, an army officer has broken centuries of tradition to approach the courts over a matter of promotion. A senior officer in the navy has found outlets in the media willing to print what he says on the navy chief's allergy to him. (Even the navy chief of staff's wife has been dragged in; the bias against the officer is supposedly due to her Communist background.) For good measure, the navy chief himself is at loggerheads with his civilian bosses in the defence ministry (the column was written before Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat was sacked). Finally, the United Front's scandalous generosity over the Fifth Pay Commission's recommendations has left the Vajpayee ministry with more commitments than actual revenue.

Clearing up his almighty mess shall not be easy. Where, for instance, are ministers to find the money that will put the armed forces at least at par with their civilian counterparts? And without assurance of adequate remuneration, India will simply not attract the brightest men; the army alone is already short of 10,000, yes ten thousand, officers. That situation can only worsen with time.

It can be argued, of course, that money is not all that it takes for job satisfaction. I grant that: in spite of the Pay Commission's hikes, the bureaucracy is almost as unhappy as the armed forces. True to form, the civil service has been less forthright than the military men in voicing grievances. (This, by the way, is quite welcome; I for one would rather not see civil wars being conducted through the media.) Unfortunately, quiet or not, parochialism is just as rampant in the bureaucracy as in the military wings.

In addition to the usual grumbles over caste, there are fresh allegations of bias in handing out posts in Delhi. Almost 70 per cent of those empanelled for the rank of joint secretary turn out, it is said, to belong to the Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Even worse, half of the remainder are Uttar Pradesh men belonging to cadres from other states. In other words, almost 85 per cent goes to people connected in one way or the other to Uttar Pradesh which is really too much even given the sheer numbers in India's most populous state. Going strictly by the numbers, slightly less than one sixth -- about 16 per cent -- of the posts should go to the Uttar Pradesh cadre.

That isn't the only allegation of favouritism sullying the atmosphere. Delhi is buzzing with talk of a ministry where the additional secretary and the secretary are related -- a grave breach of service regulations. All this is doing nothing to ease the Vajpayee ministry's burdens.

In the months, perhaps weeks, to come the government must tackle the problem of finding the right men to head the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate (Indrajit Khanna was appointed ED chief on Thursday), and also fill up two vacancies in the Central Vigilance Commission. But its first priority must be to tackle the personnel problems that are its legacy from the United Front regime.

T V R Shenoy