Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat has rightly warned of action against personnel using social media to air their grievances instead of going through the regular channels. Using social media is definitely bad for army. One agrees that the Army has to be a disciplined organization and anyone voicing their grievances through social media must be dealt with swiftly but at the same time, the Army chief has the responsibility to ensure that Jawans are not ill-treated, and those transgressors; however high and mighty will be severely punished.
Truth is like a fire and it cannot be submerged. The crackdown should be on the errant officers and not on the complaining jawans. It is time to consider an autonomous grievance redressal cell for our defence personnel. Don’t we think issuing warning without addressing the problems of jawans properly will badly affect their morale? Rather than trying to victimize those airing their grievances the management should take steps to address the concerns. It would be more intelligent if the general establishes an objective and fair “grievance channel” first making sure that it is workable and will serve the purpose. Indian Military system should try to rectify the odds and try to solve the issues amicably. India needs to move away from colonial relics in order to progress.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
