What Tej Bahadur Yadav’s video reveals about BSF
A few months ago, Tej Bahadur Yadav, a BSF constable, figured prominently in the news, as he had posted two videos on social media, complaining about the poor quality of food served to the jawans and also alleging that the food supplies meant for them were being siphoned off by officers. The other day he was dismissed from service by the BSF.
Yadav was charged with certain offences under the BSF Act. He was tried by a Summary Security Force Court and found guilty of the charges levelled against him. He was dismissed from service, thereby depriving him of pensionary benefits which would have accrued to him in case his application seeking voluntary retirement from service had been accepted.
Probably, the idea was not merely to punish but also to teach him and others of his ilk a lesson so that such acts are not repeated.
The purpose of writing this piece is not to examine whether the allegations made by Yadav were true or false; nor is it to appraise whether what was done to him was right or wrong. This case is important for reasons that go beyond what the videos show. The videos are merely symptomatic of a much deeper malaise that afflicts the paramilitary forces, like the BSF.
The BSF is a huge force, that was set up on December 1, 1965, by amalgamating 25-and-a-half state armed police battalions posted on the India-Pakistan border. Since then it has expanded very fast and on January 1, 2016, it had 179 battalions, having sanctioned strength of 2,57,025.
Expansion has not merely been rapid but also unplanned, leading to various problems of discipline and morale resulting from poor career planning and managerial policies.
In almost every central paramilitary force, there is considerable stagnation not only at lower levels, but also among departmental officers, who were taken from a wide variety of sources, including the Army, state police forces and directly from the market.
Lack of adequate career opportunities for them has often led to discontent, with departmental officers going to courts on a few occasions. This naturally does not produce an environment that is conducive to maintaining and enhancing the morale of the lower ranks.
In any case, the BSF's job is stressful. It is risky and hazardous. According to data maintained in the Martyrs’ Book of the BSF, as many as 573 BSF personnel died in action during the 15 year period from 2000 to 2014.
In addition, suicides, cardiac problems, ulcers, depression and other stress-related diseases also take a toll on lower ranks. The problem of alcoholism (of which Yadav was also accused), marital discord and domestic violence are other manifestation of the job-related stress.
The fact that men in central paramilitary forces are unhappy with their living and working conditions can hardly be denied. This is obvious from the large exodus of personnel, which has been taking place every year from these forces.
According to a media report dated October 22, 2012, more than 44,000 paramilitary personnel had quit their forces since 2009. The high attrition rate in the forces so unnerved the central government that they commissioned the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, to study the reasons for high exodus and suggest measures to halt the migration.
The study, according to the media report, found that “continuous posting in difficult areas, long working hours, sleep deprivation, denial of leave, lack of healthcare facilities and delay in promotions and pay parity were all leading to unbearable stress among personnel”.
That the situation did not improve much is obvious from another media report of August 29, 2013, according to which a whopping 35,513 personnel of the central armed police forces opted for voluntary retirement in the last two years.
Significantly, the highest number of personnel to seek VRS was from the BSF (15,990). As per the latest report dated February 7, 2017: “In the last three years, nearly 20,000 CAPF personnel have resigned from six forces: CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, CISF and Assam Rifles”.
In such a situation the manner in which the leadership handles men and their problems becomes highly important and that is where things usually go wrong. The quality of communication that takes place between the senior officers and junior ranks in these organisations is generally poor.
Indeed, over a period of time, the gap between them has become wider and the quality of communication has become poorer. Consequently, there is either less understanding of the problems faced by the lower ranks or inadequate sensitivity towards the lot of the people who are at the lowest rungs even though they constitute the bulk of the force.
What Pratap Bhanu Mehta said in a different context in a brilliant article titled “Honour Among Cops” published in The Indian Express dated September 21, 2010, is apt here too: “The lives of policemen and paramilitary forces are cheap in every respect, as if they were simply an army of surplus labour. A state that does not take the lives of those who discharge its sovereign functions seriously is unlikely to be able to send a signal to anyone else in society that it takes their lives seriously.”