The Indian Army’s recent videos have created a chaos for the country’s top leadership. Many soldiers in the recent weeks have come up with videos sharing their frustration with the way they are treated by their senior officers.
The Lok Sabha, while responding to the videos of the Indian Army soldiers said that they only represented a minor problem and it did not exist on a bigger scale.
The armed forces uploading the videos included the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Central Police, complaining about the poor working conditions. They were apparently unhappy about the quality of food served to them and were not happy with the ill-treatment and daily ordeal of abuses they had to go through.
In a written reply, Junior Defense Minister of India Mr. Subhash Bhamre said,
“Videos of two soldiers of army with reference to their grievances were circulated on social media. These appear to be individual views of the soldiers concerned and do not reflect the collective feedback received through multiple channels.”
Current Process of Complaint Resolution in Indian Army
The minister was of the view that there was a well-established way through which complaints were resolved in the Indian Army. There existed, as per the minister, multiple avenues, from daily roll calls to company commanders, where soldiers shared their concerns and got their grievances redressed.
He explained the current procedure of addressing complaints.
“The CO of the unit collectively addresses through a Sainik Sammelan at least once a month and resolves the problems faced by jawans. Also, each soldier is personally interviewed by the CO every time the individual proceeds on leave, temporary duty and returns to the unit. Soldiers can, at their will, seek audience of the Commanding Officer/Commanders in chain for redressal of their grievances.”
While replying to a question, the minister said that there also existed ways of informal complaint registration like open forum on Air Force Internet, Suggestion Boxes, and Personal Interviews. The Army has also setup a WhatsApp number where soldiers can post their problems directly to Army COAS General Bipin Rawat.
