Holy Cow
"Holy Cow". Indian Army is a holy cow. We cannot question anything about Indian army. The latest controversy being the headcount of muslims in Indian Army. A committee has raised question over the headcount of Muslims in Indian Army.
The Indian Army does not see this very positively. They want themselves to be independent of religion and caste politics. Moreover, they want to keep the civilians out of any business of Army.
The people who favour disclosing the percentage of Muslims in Army, argue that Article 16 of constitution assures guarantee of Minority Upliftment in "Public Employment". The army argues that it is not a public sector enter enterprise, therefore this clause cannot be enforced upon them.
Looking at heads and tails of this "Holy Cow"(Holy cow is something nobody should touch, and let it do anything it wants) issue, I present my ideas below.
First of all, why there is any need for the government to enter into troubled waters? Minority vote bank? May be. When there is no reservation in Army on the basis of caste (Reservation in education system and public employment is based on caste), why at all the government wants to have reservations on basis of religion (Religion is NOT a criterion for reservation. Backward muslims and other religions enjoy reservation) at all? Therefore, for me, there is a lot of suspect about the central government's attitude about this issue. It is known fact that there are less than 5% muslims in Indian army. Instead of probing on how they can increase the awareness about army among muslims in India, government is running away from its responsibilities. If the government announces any kind of reservation, it is upto the institution/organisation to obey that law. If found violating, is procecuted. By doing this, the government (and in turn politicians) achieve 2 objectives.
1. They dont have to make people aware and enlightened. So achieving the objective of social upliftment is not their responsibility. They dont have to work at grass root levels. They can "run away from their responsibilities".
2. The implementation of this law is upto the organisation. Government does not have to think about the practical issues related. If the organisation found the law violating, they punish them.
3. They create an impression among the backward class (or minority in this case) that they are working on their social upliftment. This translates into vote bank.
The army does not want Indian government to interfere in its own affairs. They dont want to be accountable socially to the Indian government. They do not want themselves to be associated with social upliftment, etc. Moreover, they dont want Indian government to dictate the recruitment terms of the army.
Both have shades of gray. But the army seems at least consistent in its approach. They ask the army personnel to abstain from using religious symbols. The secular status of Indian Army has been maintained since independence, which proves their credibility. The regiments which the army has, also have a very organic structure. The Jat regiment may not have only Jats, but can have people from any state. This has led to a harmony between all regiments.
The politicians on the other hand have been incosistent in their approach. They have never thought above "Vote Bank Politics". Everybody knows that the reservation scheme is not really working. Reservation not necessarily leads to social upliftment. More than 50 years of reservation have not yielded anything significant. Still, the self centered politicians do not think of any other method of social upliftment. The reservation method is theoretically effective, while in practice it is highly ineffective.
1. The backward people give votes on the basis of reservation to politicians.
2. The reservation system is ineffective, which means that these people never really get out of backwardness.
3. The same people give them vote on the same agenda in the next election.
4. Animosity creeps between the upper caste and lower castes / majority relgion and minority religions.
This has been going along for 50 years.
Therefore, the Army seems more in white and less in black, while government seems more in black and less in white. Let us at least spare the Indian Army from these politicians.
Let the Indian Army remain "Holy Cow".
The Indian Army does not see this very positively. They want themselves to be independent of religion and caste politics. Moreover, they want to keep the civilians out of any business of Army.
The people who favour disclosing the percentage of Muslims in Army, argue that Article 16 of constitution assures guarantee of Minority Upliftment in "Public Employment". The army argues that it is not a public sector enter enterprise, therefore this clause cannot be enforced upon them.
Looking at heads and tails of this "Holy Cow"(Holy cow is something nobody should touch, and let it do anything it wants) issue, I present my ideas below.
First of all, why there is any need for the government to enter into troubled waters? Minority vote bank? May be. When there is no reservation in Army on the basis of caste (Reservation in education system and public employment is based on caste), why at all the government wants to have reservations on basis of religion (Religion is NOT a criterion for reservation. Backward muslims and other religions enjoy reservation) at all? Therefore, for me, there is a lot of suspect about the central government's attitude about this issue. It is known fact that there are less than 5% muslims in Indian army. Instead of probing on how they can increase the awareness about army among muslims in India, government is running away from its responsibilities. If the government announces any kind of reservation, it is upto the institution/organisation to obey that law. If found violating, is procecuted. By doing this, the government (and in turn politicians) achieve 2 objectives.
1. They dont have to make people aware and enlightened. So achieving the objective of social upliftment is not their responsibility. They dont have to work at grass root levels. They can "run away from their responsibilities".
2. The implementation of this law is upto the organisation. Government does not have to think about the practical issues related. If the organisation found the law violating, they punish them.
3. They create an impression among the backward class (or minority in this case) that they are working on their social upliftment. This translates into vote bank.
The army does not want Indian government to interfere in its own affairs. They dont want to be accountable socially to the Indian government. They do not want themselves to be associated with social upliftment, etc. Moreover, they dont want Indian government to dictate the recruitment terms of the army.
Both have shades of gray. But the army seems at least consistent in its approach. They ask the army personnel to abstain from using religious symbols. The secular status of Indian Army has been maintained since independence, which proves their credibility. The regiments which the army has, also have a very organic structure. The Jat regiment may not have only Jats, but can have people from any state. This has led to a harmony between all regiments.
The politicians on the other hand have been incosistent in their approach. They have never thought above "Vote Bank Politics". Everybody knows that the reservation scheme is not really working. Reservation not necessarily leads to social upliftment. More than 50 years of reservation have not yielded anything significant. Still, the self centered politicians do not think of any other method of social upliftment. The reservation method is theoretically effective, while in practice it is highly ineffective.
1. The backward people give votes on the basis of reservation to politicians.
2. The reservation system is ineffective, which means that these people never really get out of backwardness.
3. The same people give them vote on the same agenda in the next election.
4. Animosity creeps between the upper caste and lower castes / majority relgion and minority religions.
This has been going along for 50 years.
Therefore, the Army seems more in white and less in black, while government seems more in black and less in white. Let us at least spare the Indian Army from these politicians.
Let the Indian Army remain "Holy Cow".
posted by Tushar Kulkarni | 3:49 AM
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1 comments
