DARK DAYS AHEAD

DARK DAYS AHEAD
Dr K Prabhakar Rao


Shame on our political leaders on their conduct who leave no stone unturned to save themselves and let down the nation in the matters of security and safety of the nation. This govt has been in power for the last two years now and what they have done to upgrade our arms and equipment? the letter of the Army Chief Gen VK Singh has exposed the hollowness of Defense Ministry who are ultimate in ensuring safety and preparedness of our armed forces. But what we see now is just trash.Ministry of defense no doubt has failed to get the army prepared to fight back enemies of this country when needed. Who is to be blamed for the present state? Army is at receiving end.What happens in annual meeting between service chiefs and the PM. These meetings are rituals praising each other and all feeling happy. It will be like ..... You scratch my back and I shall scratch yours. Best youth do not join army as officers. SSB interviews are the proofs. The army selection teams visit various engg colleges for selecting youth. It is a sad story. First, many will not opt. Second is that very few get through the process to face SSB. Then at SSB ,none gets through. What a sorry state! It is not that we must reduce standards. The fact is that Army commission is treated as a last priority in career options. Girls do not opt for army officers to marry.Children of Army officers do not join army. They hate to join. there may be some odd persons here and there who are crazy of olive greens. Even such guys become fish out of water if they are in.Enough is enough. D M Mr Antony should quit and entire MOD should be cleansed before some thing drastic happens in this country that can not be reversed . Defense forces commission should stand at the top and rest must be behind.As on today, Highest service rank is General and its equivalent in other services. In other Police and paramilitary services, highest rank is one step down to the equivalent of rank of Lt Gen. We should not be surprised if these services also have full General rank officers in future.Defense forces status and prestige has systematically been undermined systematically right after gaining freedom from whites. The civilian Babus can be up to any thing in democracy to ensure their safety and position and status.Mother is always remembered in pain and soldier is remembered in war. Rest of the time they are kicked around. I still remember collection of money and gold for national Defense fund during and after Chinese war of 1962. How shameful that our leaders and even film stars went begging around for contributions from people to purchase arms.That was a sad state of affairs.Most probably true.Our leaders have swindled away huge sums to Swiss accounts and looted public money. Skeletons are rolling out daily.Army Chief became a villain because he wrote letter to PM on poor state of arms and equipment. God save our forces and this country.