Cdr Shrikumar Sangiah (retd)

The military provides leadership responsibilities early. Men and women, not yet 25, routinely lead troops into battle, fly the most modern fighter jets, stand watch on ships and submarines, and operate equipment worth several hundred crores of rupees.

Matters military are emotive subjects. Inevitably, talk of nationalism, sacrifice, duty, patriotism etc. infiltrates every discussion on the military. Military training, often by design, uses these emotions and a little myth-making to instil in its officers and men a sense of pride in the uniform and the vocation of arms.

Popular culture, too, via cinema and songs, helps magnify these emotions and propagate these myths. So much so the general citizenry feels obligated to venerate its military and be appreciative of everything the military does. Many in the military, too, buy into these myths (more than they ought to) and begin viewing themselves as being above scrutiny.

All the myth-making and veneration leads, unwittingly, to self-deception within the military. This self-deception is consistent with Nietzsche’s observation that in humans, the will to untruth is stronger than the will to truth. The self-deception breeds a sense of exceptionalism, clouding judgment and making any honest and objective self-assessment within the military impossible.

During discussions on the military, for those outside the military, objectivity and honesty can very often be liabilities. Whenever issues about the military are written about or discussed on television, anyone critical of the military or its leaders faces a strong pushback and even abuse.

Agneepath Scheme

In June 2022, the Indian armed forces launched the Agneepath, or Tour of Duty, scheme for the recruitment of soldiers, airmen and sailors into the army, air force and the navy. The scheme envisages the annual recruitment of 46,000 men and women to be called Agniveers into the armed forces.

The Agniveers will initially be required to serve for a period of four years. At the end of the four years, 25 per cent will be allowed to continue serving till they superannuate. The remaining 75 per cent will be required to exit the service.

The professed goals of the Agneepath scheme are lowering the average age profile of personnel in the armed forces and trimming their number in active service to save on wages and pensions. The bloated wages and pensions bill accounts for a disproportionately (and unsustainably) large portion of the defence budget. This, the military avers, has necessitated the diversion of funds meant for the modernisation of the forces to pay wages and pensions.

The announcement of the scheme was met with fierce criticism initially. After a week of very vocal and violent protests, things settled down. The armed forces since then have initiated recruitment under the scheme and judging by reports in the media, the response has been highly encouraging. But the week-long Agneepath ferment yielded invaluable insights on the quality of military leadership. These insights on leadership merit greater scrutiny.

The Hullabaloo

The heat that followed the announcement of the scheme sparked many passionate discussions on its strengths