Author Topic: Articles By Hoshiyar Singh Bhandari - श्री होशियार सिंह भण्डारी जी के लेख  (Read 13171 times)

Lt.col.(retd)H.S. Bhandari

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 26
  • Karma: +2/-0
CHASING THE CHANGE

Some things change and some things never change. On 19 Aug ’10 when I landed at the CSI airport, Mumbai, I was impressed with its state of affairs. Since I had, barely 5 hours back, left behind Changi airport - arguable the best in the world- I was not awed by the Mumbai experience but highly impressed and elated to see that we could also learn and improve. The facilities were world class and, more interestingly, the men  at work had a different but positive outlook. They were not Paan-chewing and spitting types, at least
 
Only four months back ( 22 Apr ), when I arrived from Singapore at the same destination, I could not see the things happening because when we (Quantas) touched down the tarmac. The aircraft had parked itself away from the terminal and we were brought by a bus straight from the carrier to the Immigration. (I believe then the final touches were being given to the new building.) But on 19 Aug, when our Singapore    Airlines carrier landed, the ‘work’ had been completed. I was really happy about ‘our’ India. Another change within these intervening four months that was brought about merits mention with commendation. Last time, to catch the Indore flight, I went to the transfer lounge, showed them the e-ticket and came to the domestic terminal. And, the whole process of checking-in etc. began anew. But this time round, it was all ‘done-up’. The moment I left the Customs, I was shown the Jet Airways and Kingfisher check-in counters at the International airport itself. In fact I wanted to find out if my 6.40 pm JetLite  itinerary could be fixed for the 12.30 pm schedule. They politely said that the flight was fully booked and offered to get my luggage booked and boarding pass issued there itself. It was a big help. Now I didn’t have to escort my luggage for next 7 hours. I could venture out in to the Maya Nagari, to explore!!

I decided to go out and watch some movie. I took an auto-rickshaw and headed for Bandra which, the rickshawala said, had good multiplexes. I agreed to pay the fare by the meter. The driver was a Banaras native, been born and brought up in Mumbai. (At least this is what he said). He downed the meter and I did not bother much because India was far more economical (cheaper?) as compared to Singapore, I thought. (Just before coming, I had got Indian Rupees converted to Singapore dollars at Rs 35/- per dollar). On reaching Bandra he asked me about the meter reading. It was Rs.17.90. He took out the conversion table and this reading was equivalent to Rs.252/- . I realized some thing had gone wrong but there was no choice but to pay him. However, I noted down his vehicle number (MH 02 RA 7450) and conveyed to him that he was cheating. Rubbing salt to the wound, all the movies on show there, had been seen by me in Singapore. (For Indian repatriates there, Hindi films are a big craze.). Finding nothing of interest, I wanted to rush back because it was very humid and hot out there.  Just to confirm my fears, I took my return journey auto from the same spot (to the airport), following the same route, and the metered fare this time was Rs. 75/-
 
I went to the Airport Police Post and lodged the complaint. The inspector in-charge seemed to know him. He said he had punished him twice in the recent past for the same offence (cheating). He promised to teach him a proper lesson this time and took my mobile number to give a feedback.
 
Can we ever change these cheats? This Banarasi thug in Mumbai Nagari, is making a hay – sun or no sun. No wonder, Mumbaikars have problems with them. And for a ‘change’, I tend to agree.  And there may be many a takers.

Lt.col.(retd)H.S. Bhandari

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 26
  • Karma: +2/-0
SECURITY BY ‘ORDER’

I was posted in the MGO’s Branch, Army Headquarters, with our office in ‘D’ Wing, Sena Bhawan. I had prepared a pencil draft of my Non-Statutory Complaint which was mandated to be a ‘Confidential’ document. That was a Friday and I wanted to work on it during the week end. While leaving the office, I was told by the Defence Security Corps personnel to open the briefcase because they needed to carry out a surprise security check.  Seeing this confidential paper, he told me that I couldn’t carry the ‘document’ out. All my arguments and explanations failed to convince him. I then erased the security classification of my (personal) application in front of him and it was now okay as he had correctly done his duty by following the orders ‘on the subject’ in letter, though not in spirit.
When I was with the DOA (1996- 98), I had done many recruitment boards to select clerks, drivers, chowkidars, mess supervisors and peons. One chowkidar was very special. He believed I had done a favour to him and his dependents by picking him up. I have been around since then. Whenever he saw me, I found him smiling, saluting and showing his respect and gratitude. One day, rather recently, he was ‘posted’ at the FCE Gate. Due to the perceived high security threat at Mhow (?), all other gates were closed that day. He asked me to show my identity card. I was a bit rattled but kept my cool. I asked him if he did not recognize me ‘that day’. ‘Check karane ka order hai sahab’ was all he could offer. I agreed, and did not agree.
These two real life examples show how strictly we follow the orders on security. Of course, understanding security is altogether different. The measures like ‘prove your identity’, ‘restricted area’ or ‘out of bound’ etc. have no meaning unless the man on the spot knows what he needs to do when confronted. These can only declassify our security mechanism/measures giving away the location of a potential objective / target.
We actually need to locate ‘moles’ in our body system. (All our identity cards have ‘moles’ as identification marks on some or the other part of our body.) The real threat to our security systems comes from the moles within. No enemy agent would dare to venture inside our restricted area. He / she will just get hold of the moles in our organization, call them over to an RV and negotiate, exchange and barter. Instead of checking the ‘Identity’, we should focus on the ‘Activity’. We, therefore, need to know what our confidential staff does outside the office hours. Where and how they live and whom they mingle/interact with. Financial and sectarian profiles need deeper study and close scrutiny.
A CQMH of our Jodhpur unit had taken ‘permission to live out with CILQ’.  He was later posted to Vadodara sub-unit of the same Regiment (internal posting). At Vadodara, he invariably requested for an out-pass to visit religious congregations of his faith. No problem. One day, he wanted a night out-pass for the same purpose. I got alarmed. But again, you can’t hurt the religious sentiments of your men, the teaching says. So, I asked him to go on Casual Leave, instead. If I recall correctly, the very next day we got the message that the house where his family was residing, had an explosion. He was sent back to Jodhpur to shift his family out. And then we realised the extent of burden and bane of permitting people to live out with or without CILQ.
Another important point is of the Identity Cards. These are supposed to be updated as and when there is a change in any of the details recorded therein, including the facial appearance. The I Cards are checked every month and any damage or loss entails a severe punishment, for it is the ‘Govt. property issued to an individual for use’. Misuse of this document could have serious security repercussions of national dimension. The monthly check records are perused during the inspections by the senior officers. We had an NCO (CHM, HQ Coy) in our unit at Bhopal in 2004. He was transferred to Signals in the aftermath of 1984 desertions. When I checked his I Card, I was shocked to find he was still carrying the document issued by his old Regimental Centre. Twenty years!!!!
SOPs and registers are fine for the Inspections but what is happening real time needs to be closely monitored and taken cognizance of, on war footing. Any thing that is detrimental to our security apparatus needs to be prevented from happening and adequate counter- measures put in place. In all the four cases of DSC Guard, Chowkidar, CILQ and Identity Card checks mentioned here, the orders have been fully obeyed without actually understanding the need of doing these drills. The times have changed bringing new challenges for our security systems and with time we need to think of some serious and cogent security measures, means and mechanisms.
‘Look backward and go forward’ is passé.

Lt.col.(retd)H.S. Bhandari

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 26
  • Karma: +2/-0
REUNIONS--GENERATIONS, GAPS  AND BRIDGES


The custom of holding reunions goes back several centuries. Reunions are held by educational institutions, religious sects, social organizations etc., but nowhere is it as popular as in the military. Like other regiments, the Corps of Signals also follows this tradition and celebrated 100 years of their glorious journey on 15 Feb 2011 at Jabalpur.
 Reunions are the occasions to recall, rejoice, revise and rededicate. And, if it happens to be a centenary year ‘reunion’, the occasion becomes that much significant and, sacred to a great extent. That is why I compare these reunions of serving soldiers and the veterans to Mahakumbhs -- so sacrosanct in our mythology, held at the Sangam (Prayag) where Ganga meets Yamuna – symbolizing the confluence of the two streams of soldiers. We in the Signals, have the privilege of having Civilian Switch Board Operators (CSBOs) on our rolls right up to the field formations. They could all make the invisible Saraswati flow into the Sangam giving it the Triveni signature.

Change is inevitable. Every generation will have changes in attitudes, aspirations and perceptions. The generation gap, in literal sense, happens between a father and his son, which may have a span of say 25 years. While for the traditional fighting arms like Infantry, Armoured Corps and the Artillery, this generational gap could be comparable to this, the revolution in the telecommunication and information technologies has tremendously reduced this gap for us in Signals. Here, before a new technology is introduced in one country, the advanced ones would have already discarded that and their production lines closed. During my tenure with the MGO’s Branch in the late eighties, for every imported electronic system, we had to order spares for 60 months initially, along with the main equipment. After that it was the Life Time Buy (LTB) which meant that after 5 years, you may or may not get the spares because in these intervening five years their technology would change and get obsolescent, specially, in the defence production sector. That was some twenty years ago. Today, the gaps would occur even at shorter intervals.

If there are gaps between the successive technologies, there would be differences in their application as well and so would the approach be. Therefore, the successive generations of the users and managers of this technology need to bridge the gaps to ensure continuity, coherence and comfort. There is thus a need to bring together the different generations at a point to appreciate each other’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Our predecessors had operated under different environments and our children would have different scenario to work in. But then the baton needs to be passed on smoothly from one generation to the next. This is how the traditions, customs, values and ethos are established and reinforced.
A country is what its people are, and in a similar vein we can say that a Corps is as good as its personnel are. Science may have generation gaps happening faster with changing technologies but the art (humanities) has its own long and lasting effects. Therefore men need to manage these changes in the machinery and bridge the gaps for seamless operations and usage. In other words, an equipment system may have a shelf life but the man behind this machine has a soul, which is overwhelming. So are the value systems. Modernity must carry the traditions along and only then advance. A living city like Singapore should serve as a model of development. After it became independent, they started demolishing everything that was old to make space for the new. Half way through they realized that if they had everything modern, they would become a country and not a nation. Today, Singapore has an ideal mix of heritage and the ultra modern infrastructure. They respect their elders and till date have joint families and eat all meals together around a ten-seat dining table (which is round in shape). The public space may be very modern in outlook but the private place is strictly traditional and value based.

.
           A young, enterprising and high-heeled son may not necessarily accept the views of his father in his professional enterprise but when he comes home in the evening and asks the old man if he ate well, as to how he did or how his day passed, it is good enough a call from a son to his dad making good the latter’s day. The old man only expects a few words of care, affection and respect. Nothing more. In fact the younger generation needs to appreciate that old parents are their most valuable assets and not the liability in any which way. They are low on maintenance yet high on returns and reliability. They are also the cheap and best support systems for the household and childcare. What the grandparents can give no paid counsellor, tutor or a housekeeper can ever substitute. Elders may not have achieved what the youngsters have but then the ‘profile’ alone does not become the determinant and we do things which we ought to do – for the sake of family values, traditions and social posturing. One must therefore view and appreciate things from the other side (of the table) ...kyonki, bahu bhi kal saas banegi. 

In our context these reunions and get-togethers bring different generations on one platform enabling them to interact, exchange and inspire. We should therefore make good use of these occasions and opportunities to understand each other and benefit from the experience of the elders and pass it down to every man in the ladder and, right up to the lowest rung. These occasions also enable one to accost and accept the change. The change agents must be engaged for uninterrupted communications.
The Information Warriors should, therefore, never cease to be a Corps of Signals. The means and methods of signalling may have changed and we may even see the future warfare as network-centric, but the fact remains that the man would always be at the centre of every activity. This glorious journey of 100 years was the journey of valour of our predecessors, their values, commitment, camaraderie and the celebrated Signalmanship, whom we salute in great reverence and gratitude on this momentous occasion, The Centenary.


        - Lt Col (Retd ) H S Bhandari
                                                                                                       

 

Sitemap 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22