Do we need a Jaswant Singh Rawat? Igniting patriotism after India-China standoff

To begin with, some of us must have heard about his name, Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat was recruited into 4 Garhwal Rifles. During the Indo China war of 1962 in which the Chinese army had reached till Tezpur (Assam) via Arunachal Pradesh, this chivalric young lad showed exemplary courage in the battle of Nuranang. He used his brain to the optimum by using ‘Guerilla’ tactic and he had made such a set up with local help Nura and Sela(after whom the Sela Pass in Arunachal is named) and for three days they stopped the Chinese Army from entering the Indian territory, basically they were successful at tricking them, and made them believe that the Indian army was considerable in number although it was only him. Posthumously he was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra.

As of now both India and China are again at loggerheads and approximately 20 of our soldiers have been martyred in Galwan Valley in Ladakh. Although the Ministry of External Affairs of both the country is apparently trying to strike a peace deal and talks are on but the tense situation has not clamped down in the Line of actual control. So do we need another braveheart such as Jaswant Singh Rawat at this situation? The answer is all of us could be.

Expanding on those lines

The Indian Army has put up a proposal to allow common citizens(youth) to voluntarily join the force for three years as a model namely Tour of Duty(TOD). Some of the stakeholders in the army had made an assessment and came up with a  conclusion that most of the youth wanted to experience army life but not as a career option but temporarily. It will be more in the form of an internship or ad hoc trainees, a lot of benefits are attached with the said scheme as per analysis made the training costs for such officers would be less as for an average army personnel an average cost goes up to 5.12 crore and 6.83 crore which includes the cost of pre-commission training, pay, allowance etc for shot service commission and for Permanent Commission the cost can go notch higher and TOD would cost somewhere around approximately 80-85 lakhs. So basically the whole proposal is not the only budget-friendly but will also usher in patriotism for the youth which is much needed.  

How its done globally

Countries globally have made “conscript” (enlist someone in military service) countries such as a South Korea have a strict system of national military service, Brazil has compulsory military service for a period of 10 to 12 months. Israel has made compulsory for all men and women to serve in the Israeli Defence Force(IDF) for three and two years respectively with exceptions such as on the ground of medical reasons, new immigrants etc and we can keep such exceptions as well. The example undeniably could be United States of America where notable columnist such as David Barno and Nora Nensahel had gone on to say that for “for strengthening and reinforcing the principle that U.S citizenship requires serving and defending the nation when called”. Conscription was seen in the American civil war, World war 1 and II, which was viewed as a sense of duty towards the nation. A very popular example can be derived from the character enacted by Steve Rogers in the movie Captain America where despite health issues and comparatively less physical strength, the character wanted to be a part of the conscription program and serve the country.

Also read: Experiments with regional cinema during lockdown. Here’s the list

France had made an announcement in 2019 that it would train its youth with the requisite skills which would help them to serve the national defence, countries such as Morocco and Colombia are also on the same lines. To look into the intricacies of the matter a Norwegian Embassy comprising of representatives of countries such as Norway, Nigeria, Estonia and Columbia had met up and conducted a detailed discussion regarding the matter.

Going forward

The crux of the whole argument is that if not sending the trained interns under the Tour of Duty(TOD) program for direct confrontations, or proxy battles at least they can carry out tasks which are comparatively less risky. The biggest irony is that somewhere down the line you all are threatened by neighbours and one’s security is in one’s hand we don’t have fond memories of asking help from global bodies such as UN peacekeeping force, post Independence because of which we had to lose out on a large part of Kashmir. The line UN peacekeeping force had drawn(POK).

Hence in order to solidify the security and maintain and upkeep the integrity of the nation, we should welcome the aforementioned move and for some time leave aside the ideological bend. As we have to look for a future perspective and the way China is carrying on with its actions, the phase-wise threat that it is posing with each day is alarming. And even in the current situation, we should try to support the backbone of the country(military).

About the author- Prakreetish Sarma. He is currently practising as an Advocate in Gauhati High Court, completed graduation in law from National Law University and Judicial Academy Assam. Interests are playing football, badminton, interested in cooking, discovering new places and going for trekking and into social work.

Readers like you make Inside Northeast’s work possible.

To support our brand of fearless and investigative journalism, support us HERE.

Download:

The Inside Northeast app HERE for News, Views, and Reviews from Northeast India.

Do keep following us for news on-the-go. We deliver the Northeast.