AFVOA Newletters of Year 2010

Page 16 of 50 are exposed to a great amount of and often unfair public pillorying of the judiciary. However, the citizens who form part of our judiciary have proved time and again that they are upright men and women who are strong in will, able and competent and at the same time incomparable in probity, patriotism and force of character. There is some concern when it comes to the executive which is the Third Pillar meant to be upholding our society. The anxiety here arises from the fact that our bureaucracy has not been exhibiting the required amount of public accountability. This lack of answerability of course lies in the colonial thinking of the bureaucracy. They believe that they are expected to cater to the whims and fancies of their masters in furtherance of their monetary gains with no thought about the people. It is a pity that we have not been smart enough to develop methods to instill a sense of responsibility in our IAS babus. But that may change with the newer generations. The above three were the original pillars of democracy. However, in later years, particularly because of the yeoman service rendered by the media in USA, the media came to be regarded the world over as the fourth pillar of society. Sadly, in our country, be it the press or the TV, media is so rickety that it can hardly be considered a pillar except as one held up by its own scaffoldings. Their preoccupation with cinema, politics, cricket and sleaze can easily be forgiven. But their crass disregard towards all that is good for the country and its people lays it wide open to the accusation that their interests do not coincide with that of the country. One particularly detestable inclination exhibited by them is their desire to ridicule the Indian Armed Forces at every turn. It is here that we see a welcome trend of Veterans taking on the media face to face and writing letters directed to the erring journalist, his editor and his publisher. For example, a Court of Inquiry was ordered by the concerned Army authority to ascertain facts regarding certain actions of some senior officers. This was given a diabolical twist by the media. The incident was highlighted as a ‘scam’, and there was loud talk of ‘tainted’ generals and 'falling standards’ in the Army. Churchill often used the term ‘gutter’ to describe such behavior on the part of reporters. In our country it is left to the Veterans to chasten the arrogantly blundering bigwigs of the media. Our rebukes have been mild; but yet the effect the activism of articulate veterans has put in a welcome caution in the minds of semi-informed hacks who masquerade as scribes and anchors, male and female. Another abominably abhorrent, chee-chee episode occurred recently. In a tragic incident a number of CRPF men lost their lives in Central India. The happenings that led to that event and the event itself are a matter for deep soul searching among all sections of our society. That being so, there was no calling for a particular English language newspaper to publish a cartoon in jest suggesting that we should not send in our Armed Forces lest the wrong elements get armed with guns, tanks and aircrafts captured from us. Two veterans roundly chided the editor and publisher of that news paper for putting out such insidious, sinister and at the same time impolite cartoon. One of them even asked the editor point blank about how much he was receiving from an enemy country for running down his mother land on a daily basis. In other ways too veterans have become more stridently vocal and fervently activistic be it in questioning the role of the IAS in 1962 or in the Taj Hotel debacle recently. We thus are the much needed Fifth Pillar of our country.