Start at the Top

R.C. Sharma

BSF battalion command hierarchy needs to be revitalised

The Border Security Force (BSF) is the mainstay of India’s border-guarding forces along western and eastern front encompassing Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh border. The BSF also plays a major role in supporting the Indian Army as witnessed during the recently concluded Operation Sindoor.

Over a period, command hierarchy in border security, especially at battalion level, stands largely diluted due to unprofessional attitude and orders from higher headquarters. This affects the chain of command and professional ethics. When border security issue is politicised, it affects professionalism because the top hierarchy is unfamiliar with professional border-guarding and war-fighting needs. Attempts were made at rejuvenating border-guarding to infuse professionalism after the Kargil Review Committee (KRC) report brought into open glaring deficiencies in national security management.

Post KRC report submission, a group of ministers reviewed the national security paradigm, dwelt in-depth on the issue of national security, and set up task forces for analysing vital domains of national security. Thus, a task force on border management was set up for management of most vital domain of national security i.e. border security. This task force recommended strengthening of borders and creation of department of border management for infrastructural development in terms of weaponry, equipment and border security infrastructure. To enforce accountability, the principle of ‘One Border One Force’ was recommended for deployment of border-guarding forces. The task force did not go into the aspect of human resource development, leadership, command, and man management: the main ingredients of morale, motivation, discipline that affect professionalism and operational profile.

Post submission of the recommendations on border management, the BSF received adequate support from the government in terms of infrastructure development, weapons, equipment and technological surveillance. However, the most important aspect of human resource development, encompassing regulation and improvement of service conditions, training, command competence, promotions, financial upgradations which play a major role in upkeep of morale, motivation and discipline, were accorded no priority. This created bottlenecks for command functioning, especially at battalion level. No one appreciated that practical and friendly human resource policies create an enabling environment for leadership in fulfilment of professional command obligations, help command and leadership hierarchy in efficient man management, ensuring high morale and motivation and command effectiveness. There is an urgent need to strengthen command from section upwards for efficient operational and administrative management. The dilution caused by a mix of organisational lacunae have broken channels of command with overzealous and, sometimes, unprofessional higher headquarters, resorting to unwanted measures encouraging direct dialogue or interaction. This in turn has dealt a severe blow to command effectiveness, diluting the grip over command.

Border-guarding and battle are unique warfare domains. Sun Tzu’s holistic approach to warfare makes his leadership theory situational. Out of the five determinants of victory in war, which can also be interpreted as primary functional domain, three are external i.e. the socio-political environment, the weather, and the terrain, and two are internal to organisation: the quality of leadership and condition of force which are complementary to each other. The quality of leadership plays a major role in efficient man management, the way men are prepared for task accomplishment. Therefore, command and leadership hierarchy is vital for efficient man management especially considering absence of positive human resource management support. To make up for poor human resource management environment, there is a need to have professional command at each level to strengthen professionalism in operational and administrative domains.

The BSF is an armed force with both peace and wartime roles. As such,