As I begin,at the very outset, nearly the whole country knows about Pulwama attack on CRPF convoy and it's effects,leading to martydom of over 40 CRPF personnels.The time possibly was so crucial that everybody had there share of fortune from the incident especially politics.There is no one who is unknown to the Dantewada attack by Maoists on CRPF team which led to the loss of 76 lives of brave officers and men.In addition to these several other incidents related to the supreme sacrifice of life by officers and men of these central armed police forces can be cited.We all witnessed the brutal killing of BSF jawans and officers by Pakistani combat forces at the international borders.Day in and out these forces I.e. CRPF,BSF,CISF,ITBP and SSB jointly called the central armed forces while doing there assigned duties meticulously have sacrificed beyond our imagination.Onething which needs to be discussed is that,why all these forces come into limelight for these losses and number of casualties only,more often than not.Besides argumentation,all these forces are nearly non-existent for the whole year and so on if something bad does not happen.These forces face myriad troubles on daily basis while maintaining law and order in nearly all parts of the country due to our failed policing system,either be it the kumbh mela or democratic fare of elections which happens every now and then in this country, nevertheless,they seldom make news for there die hard commitment to there job.Pathetic living conditions,ill treatment by authorities and nearly sub-human living conditions are reported sometimes merely in the heat of the moment.Nobody questions or cares,why and how these forces have reached to such levels where the moral of officer and men is at its lowest ebb due to step motherly treatment from all sides.
Similar is the case of assigning the benefits of Non Functional Financial Upgradation to the cadre officers of these forces according to the sixth pay commission.After more than 7 years of legal fight in Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India respectively and decision in there favour,almost 8 months have passed without any benefits extended to these forces.In between, government gave approval for recognition of these forces as Organized Group A Services and consequential benefits of Non Functional Financial Upgradation as per the Supreme Court judgement.Can you imagine that the bureaucracy,especially the civil servants occupying the higher echelons of power along with a group of elite police services officers have successfully buried the decision in its essence! Can any one of us believe that for the past 8 months after court verdict have just passed without even caring for the court orders! Clear cut court orders,crystal clear definitions and clarifications regarding definition of each and every term by Department of Personnel & Training,GoI, but still a lot of divine souls-the deputationist IPS officers and there sacred association wants clarification on the Supreme Court judgement.What a shame for the system that with the same verdict another organisation Railway Protection Force working under the aegis of Ministry of Railways not only successfully implemented the court orders but amended the Service Rules too according to DoPT guidelines for Organized Group A Services.In this context,it will be more than necessary to discuss the problem of 'stolen valour' without owning responsibility of failures.We have very often seen that some phantom kind of a person suddenly hits headline on the name of unfurling tricolour in Maoist hotbed but no one apprises you that more than a decade these places have been dominated by officers and men of these forces.Similarly,no media houses have spare time to highlight the injustice meted out to the officers and men of these forces even in the cases where law has taken it's course alongwith executive orders further corroborating it.CAPFs are engaged in hard and challenging duties more than any other organisation in the country without doubt,be it Jammu & Kashmir,Left Wing Extremism areas namely Chattisgarh,Jharkhand,Odisha or the North-Eastern States effected from extremism and ethnic violence.Apart from this nearly all states demand CAPFs to check there failed law and order situation and poor policing.
With a simple question in my mind,I always keep pondering that who is much capable to lead a force as it's commander,a person who has served continuously for 25-30 years in field along with his men,taken 9 bullets of 7.62mm AK-47 on his body losing one of his eye,even awarded Kirti Chakra for his sui juris fighting spirit and leadership but even after all these feathers in his cap he falls short to achieve the place.Instead he is sidelined by another guy having no experience or for that matter interest in the culture and ethos of these forces,never served shoulder to shoulder in ground with his comrades and trained especially for policing and purely administrative jobs but having only achievement being his qualifying exam for his recruitment most of the times.There is no dearth of stories regarding bravery and heroes having steel nerve to lead these forces and certainly we don't need outsourcing of leadership in these organisations.But the real problem is that all those people who enjoy great time while there deputation here,why would they lose this opportunity.For the kind information of readers most of the posts of DIG rank kept reserve for the IPS officers in these forces have been vacant for past several years.On the other hand cadre officers have been facing the worst stagnation in promotions and are bound to serve even a decade in a single rank in BSF and CRPF. This single fact is a testimony to the deep colonisation of these forces by the so called Indian Police Service officers.Moreover,poor knowledge of job and lack of operational competence of the deputationists in these forces has made the organisations laboratory where they keep inventing new strategies and planning from there air conditioned offices and then the cadre officers are made to execute them on ground with results better known to all of us. Have you ever played a game in which your captain is your opponent? In the case of these forces all there Heads in a single voice opposed the grant of any benefits discussed above to the officers of these forces,off course in closed connivance of there lobby.Do they really hold any moral or ethical ground to remain in there position,this I leave to there wisdom.It seems to be a case of introspection for the government also,while the bureaucracy is playing foul clearly on so many fronts,it is hard to believe that the heads of ministeries have been briefed properly about the matter.Otherwise it appears quite naive on the part of ruling party which claimed about the providing of organized group A status to these forces by its official Twitter handle.The ground reality also mocks the fact that the Ministry of Home Affairs has already claimed the credit for recognising these forces as Organized Group A Services on its official website without even a single step taken towards its implementation.With all these manipulations and confrontations between the sufferers and the oppressors it is the duty of the government to ensure the rule of law may not suffer in the hands of its functionaries just for there selfish motives.Moreover,the judgement of the highest court shall not be mocked on any cost which in turn can lead to a wrong precedence.
By Shanker.