Different Uniforms, Same Flag!

My reaction piece in the DNA on the recent stormy exchange between Major Gaurav Arya and Mr Abhinav Kumar, IPS :

Different Uniforms, Same Flag

Navdeep Singh

That the Police and the Army share commonalities, including the somewhat similar structure of rank badges, is something that cannot be ignored. But to expect the Police to be completely militarised or to follow the same ethos or training, or be officered by the military, as professed by some military veterans, in all humility, is an unreasonable idea.

This topic I tend to avoid but there was extensive debate on the subject recently, generated by a strong opinion piece authored by a former Army officer, matched by an equally solid retort by a serving officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS).

The reason for friction

One issue that continually disturbs officers of the military is faster promotions in the IPS and thereby the heavier and at times exaggerated brass on comparatively younger police shoulders. While true to a large extent, historical parities having been unduly disturbed and the military having slid down the pecking order, we still need to give it deeper thought, though no doubt much has been written on it, including by this author. The problem is not faster promotions in the IPS but the much slower career growth in the military due to a variety of reasons, and the solution to which shall remain vexed because of the requirement of maintaining a steep pyramid. Agreed that there is bound to be dejection when an IPS officer of the 2000 batch wears a Major General’s rank badges in 2018 while his military batch-mates are Lieutenant Colonels or at best Colonels, or when it is analysed that while the senior-most police officer in a State was equal to a Colonel or Brigadier at one time but today wears the ranks of a Lieutenant General, but then one cannot blame the IPS for having an optimum promotional and cadre management at par with other comparable government services, neither can one expect police officers to refuse promotions in order to please the military! Rather than such prestige battles, the government and the political executive must be convinced to render serious thought to the massive stagnation in the military and slower than satisfactory career advancement. Of course, certain lopsided recommendations of successive pay commissions haven’t helped. 

Different strokes for different folks

Much has been stated about the desirability of induction of former military officers and personnel in the state police to ‘improve’ it or training IPS officers in military academies or providing the command of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to army officers. While this appears attractive at the first blush, one has to realise the fluffiness of such broad statements. Firstly, the job of the army and the police is dissimilar. While the former has to destroy the enemy, the latter has to protect the community. The similarities hence end at the ceremonial drill. While soldiers need to operate in groups with competent leaders, state police personnel are expected to work even as stand-alone entities and to apply mind to investigation and crime prevention with certain powers under law being similar for all “Police Officers”- from Constable to the Director General of Police. Moreover, the police involves public-dealing while the military operates on insulated terms. While the police is required to be trained in crowd control and often fires warning shots in the air, the military is trained to fire on target. Hence a military academy is not the apt place for learning skills of lathi charge or nuances of investigation or CrPC and IPC. Ditto for the CAPFs. Though there is certain overlapping of roles in the case of border guarding forces, there is no similarity between forces such as CRPF and the army, these are best officered with their own cadre or from the IPS since they are meant to operate in close coordination with the civil administration.

Turf battles

In the dynamic security scenario of date, there might be shared areas of operation, but that does not take away the core functionality of different forces. It shall be in the interest of all services and forces, who incidentally serve the same flag, to develop mutual trust and serve shoulder to shoulder when required. To be honest, the voices against the police are shriller from the side of some military veterans, who at times, do not realise that for political interference and systemic problems plaguing the police, individual personnel cannot be blamed and those individuals come from the same neighbourhoods as the military and neither are they carrying out less onerous duties. If a newly commissioned Lieutenant has to command his men in arduous conditions, a young Assistant Superintendent of Police has to look after the law & order of a complete Sub Division with multiple police stations, a job not less exacting. To compare with foreign police services is also not in order since in many nations the induction into the police is primarily at only one level, and personnel get promoted all the way up to apex police appointments, while in India recruitment is at four grades. With diffidence I submit that our military community must realise that ‘military training’ is not the magic wand for curing all ills and other professions play an equal role in nation-building. There are many in-house aspects that require honest introspection, than expending energy looking into shortcomings of others.

National interest ordains that all services must work together, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, to protect the concept of India. The political executive must however ensure that legitimate career expectations and social standing of the men & women in the military are not ignored and decisions on human management policies are taken in a well-rounded manner after due stakeholder consultation.