I.K. Gujral's regime will be remembered for accelerating the atrophy of Indian public life. Yet, even by the regime's astonishing standards, Mulayam Singh Yadav has proved a remarkably feckless defence minister.The present pay-disparity controversy in the Indian Air Force (IAF) - which threatens to afflict other wings of the armed forces as well - is a case in point. It began when the Defence Ministry was persuaded by the IAF's top brass to inordinately increase the fighter pilots' allowances. Transport and helicopter pilots protested. Mulayam gave in to them too. Next, the engineers and other ground staff protested - and are still doing so. To be fair, all of this is not Mulayam's doing. Even so, to him must go the undistinguished flying cross for the original sin: seeing the armed forces as a vote bank, pandering to sectional interests and injecting neo-casteism into the IAF. The IAF must remain the cohesive unit which all India is proud of. It cannot be allowed to become a collection of varyingly paid and perennially quarrelling groups, each defined by a particular job description.Air Chief Marshal S.K. Sareen too has proved unequal to his role as leader of the entire IAF. A fighter pilot, he has not done much to efface the suspicion that he is yet to outgrow his roots. As for the engineers and other officers who have become regular visitors to newspaper offices, asked engineering students not to join the IAF and pressed wives into trade unionism, their methods have taken away from any justness their cause may have had. The circus has continued much too long. The recently established committee, headed by the defence secretary, to look into pay grievances in the armed forces, owes it to India to work overtime. Likewise, future defence ministers also owe it to the country to maintain more than a passing acquaintance with their duties.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Jan 5, 1998--- ENDS ---
