Military Sociology: Societal Changes and Impact on Armed Forces

The Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) organised a seminar on ‘Military Sociology: Societal Changes and Impact on Armed Forces’ on 28 April 2009 at the CLAWS campus. The panelists were Dr Leena Parmar from Rajasthan University, Dr M. K. Mandal from Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), Maj Gen. G. D. Bakshi and Col R. S. N. Singh, both having served in the Indian Army. Chaired by former COAS Gen Shankar Roychowdhury, the seminar was attended by a large number of military officers – serving and retired – as well as members of the strategic community. Comments of the speakers follow.

Chair:  Gen Shankar Roychowdhury (Retd)

The study of Military Sociology is essential for the armed forces, particularly for the Army, which is the most manpower intensive of all the three Services. Yet, it is rarely discussed as a subject by us. The Indian soldier has remained immune to changes in the society at large and the Indian armed forces do not truly represent Indian society. We have created a kind of virtual world characterised by punctuality and discipline, among other qualities. But, I wonder how long our armed forces will remain immune. Military Sociology helps us to understand this.

Dr Leena Parmar

Military Sociology as a discipline, developed in the United States in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. However, it’s study and pedagogy is in a state of infancy in India, the principal reason being the belief that any intellectual intrusion in the military domain is not in the interest of national security. But there is a need to understand the mind of  military personnel. Although employed in a regimented organisation such as the military, the personnel maintain close ties with their family, relatives, friends, and other members of society, their constant interaction influencing their aspirations and value structures. Given the peculiar and changing nature of civil society in the era of globalisation one is not sure how long the armed forces will be immune from societal changes.

In the present context, the principal research area in this field is on voluntary retirement. In 2007, nearly 1500 officers opted for voluntary retirement to join the corporate world. The armed forces are not only unable to retain existing officers, but also unable to attract the best ones. As per research conducted, the main reasons cited were pay differences with their civilian counterparts, far more than the hard living conditions, problem of availing leave, tough nature of the job, perception of bleak future in the armed forces, and systemic problems.

The problems of the armed forces personnel are unique. These problems should be addressed as the armed forces remain the most reliable, secular and disciplined security force in the country. Most of the personnel below officer rank (PBOR) retire at 40 when their social responsibilities are the highest. In addition, since 80 per cent of the soldiers are from villages they feel cut-off from their kin during their service. Overall, the problems of the armed forces personnel require a different understanding and different solutions. For example, research on problems confronted especially by Kargil war widows pointed out that we need to have an appropriate way of disbursing compensation to the affected families. Instead of following the British system of giving entire compensation amount to the wife, the armed forces can consider disbursing part to the parents of the deceased PBOR as well. Historical research also shows that we should continue the present regimental system.

Dr M K Mandal

There are many factors that influence youth to choose the armed forces as a career.  Chief among them are economic development, culture, institutional mechanism, parental nurture, political structure, genetic inheritance, social structure and geographical location. Certain misconceptions that prevail in our society pertaining to career in the armed forces include: career in India is not a choice, but compulsion; only officers’ children naturally become officers; youth opt for pay rather than pride; shortage of officers is a recent phenomenon; work profile in the military is more physical than intellectual; and risk to life in forces is higher.

Negative factors that influence career choice in armed forces are: skewed projection about armed forces by media, reduced peer/parental expectation, fear of living a secluded life, higher private sector benefits, inadequate promotion campaign, geographical location of military jobs like J&K and the North-east, shrinking of recruitable age group.

DIPR is doing its best to address various challenges in the recruitment process like online self-assessment tests, separate web page for frequently asked questions, career counseling, reducing time delays in the recruitment process, enhancing fairness in the recruitment procedure, advertising across wide section of population, linking youth programmes to employment opportunities through internship, creating a database of competent but passive job seekers, developing a programme for active but unsuccessful candidates, and offering differential job benefits across ages. 

Maj Gen GD Bakshi (Retd)

As patterns tend to repeat cyclically, a good historical perspective is necessary to understand the present context of Indian Military Sociology. India’s professional army is a mini society itself. The further it keeps away from civilian society, the better it’s professional ethos.

In India, a soldier is respected and rank high in people’s esteem. Officers and soldiers were the state in the past. But, this changed after independence due to denial of status and recognition. The Mauryas in ancient India patronised the merchant classes to mobilise enormous resources required for their armies. A new feudalism hand-in-hand with military urbanism rose during the Mughal era. Under Akbar, the Mughals expanded their army to two million just to absorb the recruitable male population, which was always in excess. While officer rank remained urban, other ranks remained predominantly rural. Shortage of officers is mainly due to breakdown of joint family system and increasing stress among the military fraternity bundled with higher aspiration levels than ever before. Significantly, officers now are coming more and more from lower castes and economically deprived sections of society. Due to media projection during Kargil, there was spurt in recruitment, but only to fall later. There is, therefore, a dire need for the armed forces to attract higher ability officers. There is a need to shift from sub-nationality oriented motivational model to militant nationalism model. Indian National Army (INA) and patriotism training models of armies of Israel and Vietnam are good examples to emulate.

Col R S N Singh (Retd)

We are reluctant to change our professional orientation. Cantonment culture continues to prevail and we are not able to change the British model of maintaining our armed forces. Few significant changes in the society that influenced the armed forces should be noted:
• Due to emancipation of women in the society at large one can witness entry of lady officers in the armed forces. The next stage is the entry of women PBOR.
• NCOs and JCOs have been propelled into the middle class especially after the recent pay commissions. Due to affordability of consumer durables, gap in the standard of living between officers and PBOR is being fast bridged. Home ownership has  also become affordable to jawans due to easy availability of home loans.
• English language in the forces is no more divisive and elitist. The PBOR are gradually catching up.
• Due to the communication revolution, one can find mobile phones with every member of the armed forces irrespective of the rank.
Apart from taking note of above societal influences on armed forces, Military Sociology studies of the Indian Army should deeply introspect  on the following issues:
1. Growth of youth profile of Indian population and their differing aspirations.
2. Possible consequences of reservation in the armed forces.
3. Urbanisation and its impact on the armed forces.
4. Mentality of armed forces personnel belonging to areas dominated by Left Wing Extremists.
5. The role of family structure of the armed forces personnel in their performance.

Discussion

• Shortage of officers is not a recent phenomenon, but existed as early as in the 1960s.
• Other than the traditional way of using advertisements to attract new recruits we can use other mediums say, for instance, incorporating information on career prospects in the armed forces in school/college text books.  For this, a collective action is required.
• We should not overlook human rights during military operations. Else, all our efforts will go in vain.
• Unlike in the past, religion appears to be slowly raising its head in the armed forces. Instances like involvement of some officers with civilians who have a communal agenda are symptoms that are a matter of concern even if the number is very small.
• There is no compromise in standards of testing while recruitment of officers. We are looking at absence of negative traits apart from looking at positive traits. Overall, we are trying to promote military as career and not as a lifestyle.
• It is unfortunate that officers themselves are not able to motivate their children to join the armed forces.
• The Sainik school system has played an important role in nurturing children to join the armed forces. The efficacy of this institution is gradually waning of late.
• Military sub-society is unique and more disciplined than others. Present generation of officers are no less patriotic than the older generations.
• Present day youth are more ambitious. Pay commissions, however, are not satisfying even minimum expectations of the armed forces. Only ex-servicemen can pressurise the political class to heed the genuine demands of the military personnel, the serving officers bound by their job to accept government declarations mutely.
• Like the corporate sector, the armed forces should give more responsibilities to young officers. That subordinates are less efficient is only a myth.

Concluding Remarks

The Indian Army is a magnificent institution. Lots of moulding takes place to make personnel a part of this machinery. By and large it should remain as it is. The armed forces have to maintain the virtual world for various reasons. They have to maintain a certain distance from mainstream society. If this changes then it will be a disaster. The PBOR needs to be nurtured and respected since they are the bedrock of the armed forces. Overall, it was a fascinating discussion. CLAWS will take the issues discussed forward and initiate a research project to go deeper into the entire gamut of Military Sociology. 

(Compiled by N. Manoharan, Senior Fellow, CLAWS)