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Training At NDA: Strengths And Weaknesses

Brig BL Poonia, VSM (Retd)

Updated: Dec 14, 2024

EDITOR'S NOTE


The fresh debate on training at NDA, based on the recently published articles by two different persons, has received many responses. The same would be published in a separate article. Howevever to begin with, the article by Brig BL Poonia is being published now, which will trigger many more thoughts to take the MVI debate forward.


Editor, MVI


Background

 

Recently I came across the following two articles on NDA:

 

●   "All that is wrong with NDA and other training establishments of armed forces", dated Nov 28, 2024, by Col Alok Asthana (Retd).



●   "Why NDA Cadets Leave Midway: The Untold Story", dated Dec 06, 2O24, by Ms Gauri Agarwal, published by 'SSB Crack Exams'.



Post-retirement, many of us tend to become defence experts, and NDA is one subject where quite a few of us tend to become super-specialists. Let us not assume that NDA is an orphaned and neglected institution. Its training, strengths, and weaknesses are reviewed periodically at the highest level, and the Chiefs of Staff Committee monitors the same. Its handling is in capable hands. Moreover, the Commandant NDA, a Lt Gen or equivalent General Officer, too is equally concerned. So let us not presume that none of them know their job, the way we do.

 

Introduction

 

To begin with, Col Alok Asthana has gone to the extent of saying that even the NDA motto is inappropriate. Isn't it stretching things too far? Obviously he has failed to understand and interpret it correctly. The entire nation knows that the Defence Forces are meant to defend and serve the nation. Hence 'Service Before Self' means that service to the nation must be placed before self interest, and 'सेवा परमो धर्मः' means service to the nation is a supreme duty. Ultimately, the essence of both these is same.

 

The motto of the Madras Regiment is "स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः", which means : "It is glorious to die doing one's duty." This is what Lord Krishna told Arjun on the battlefield, just prior to the commencement of the Battle of Mahabharat. 'Dharm' in this context stands for duty, not 'religion'.

 

Mottos and Credos of Service Academies

 

Though the basics of training to inculcate character qualities and develop leadership qualities are essentially the same in all military academies, yet each institution has its own method of defining its ideals. This gives it a unique identity, and entails the conduct of training in line with the stated ideals. Anything that violates the same does not deserve a place in the training schedule, official or otherwise. That is the acid test.

 

The credo of NDA is defined by NDA Prayer, the essence of which is : "O God, help us to keep ourselves physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight ..... Awaken our admiration for honest dealing and clean thinking, and guide us to choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong. ...." But the ragging or the 'ragda' part, and the doctrine of 'beg, borrow or steal' is violative of this credo. How can stealing be considered as an act of initiative and resourcefulness? If that be so, robbery should be its higher form, and dacoity the ultimate measure of developing these qualities. This is where we tend to lose thrust and direction. Ms Gauri Agarwal has a valid point, when she analyses the reasons for NDA cadets leaving midway.

 

Similarly, while the motto of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) Dehradun is "वीरता और विवेक" (Bravery and Wisdom), the ethics are defined through its credo enshrined in the Chetwode Hall : "The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time. The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next. Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time."

 

It is these ethics and ideals that make both these academies as one of the finest of their kind in the world. While I have quoted the examples of these two academies only, the same is true of OTA Chennai and all other training academies of Army, Navy and Air Force. Each of these have their own mottos and credos. While the ways of defining are different, the ultimate aim is the same.

 

Duration of Training Period

 

Col Asthana has posed a question whether NDA produces better officers than other academies. If not, why spend so much money on their three-year training? He must understand that the aim of defence forces is to get the best possible material across the spectrum. The first step in this direction is to 'catch them young', before they opt for other professions. NDA does that job. However, those who have not joined NDA for whatever reasons, should not be left out; for which the IMA, Navy and Air Force academies do the job. In addition, those who wish to serve for a shorter duration, or wish to opt for an extension later, or even for a permanent commission, in case they so desire, are provided with an opportunity through Short Service Commission.

 

Likewise, within IMA, there are multiple entries like technical entry, NCC entry and ACC entry. Through ACC entry, even the jawans who have the potential for leadership, are given an opportunity to get commissioned after four years of training. Ultimately, the aim is that no eligible person who is willing to join the Defence Forces, and has the potential for leadership, should be left out. Of course, all this is based on competitive merit.

 

And in spite of all this, there is still a staggering shortage of 11,266 officers in all three Services. This was the figure mentioned by the Prime Minister in the Parliament in Jul 2023, though a part of it was attributable to the low intake during Covid-19.

 

Importance of Academics in NDA

 

Till 1971, a matriculate could join NDA, pass out after getting an Intermediate degree from there, and get commissioned through the respective Service academy. I am one of them. Howevever, over a period of time, it was felt that an officer should ideally be a graduate, hence the academic syllabus of NDA was revised accordingly with effect from 1972, ie from 47th NDA Course onwards. This was done, also to ensure, that defence officers do not suffer from a complex while interacting with their counterparts in the Civil Services; that too was considered equally essential.

 

So the academics at NDA should not be viewed as a waste of time, money and effort, and it would be incorrect to say that an NDA cadet is not meant to be trained as a graduate, but only as a leader. Both the activities have to be carried out simultaneously, since both have their own importance.

 

Inculcating Leadership Qualities

 

Further, Col Asthana says: "The only thing they don’t teach/train at NDA is leadership. Irony indeed! They don’t believe that ‘leadership’ is a distinct, learnable skill. They also do not believe that training is efficiently imparted only when it follows the science of ‘Methods of Instructions'." However, these statements are incorrect.

 

He should realize, that while the job of SSB is to identify the leadership potential of a candidate, the job of military academies is to develop the same. The training at NDA is so designed that the development of leadership qualities is inbuilt in the training schedule. Afterall, what else is the training meant for? This applies to all other academies too. This is what Col Asthana has failed to see. While a few motivation lectures or other relevant events may further be added from time to time, leadership cannot be developed through classroom teachings alone. Nor is it correct to say that the instructors at NDA are neither competent, nor trained to teach, since they have not been trained on 'methods of instructions'. Does it mean that they be made to go through another course called - 'NDA Instructors Course'? Let's not tie ourselves in knots, nor forget that they are not picked up randomly, but selected based upon the recommendations of their Commanding Officers (COs), after assessing them for years. It is a time-tested system, which has worked wonderfully well.

 

NDA has always had a fine set of smart and competent instructors, along with a good training syllabus, which is reviewed periodically. No wonder, it has produced some of the finest leaders to include young and motivated officers, as well as competent senior commanders, and so many Service Chiefs, of whom the entire nation can feel proud of. However, in every organization, one is bound to witness a few people who are unable to achieve ideal standards. It's the law of averages. Those who clear the SSB with grace marks, are bound to have low trainability potential. However, even these cadets, as long as they are well groomed, well adjusted, and end up being balanced personalities, the aim is achieved, because every officer is not meant to assume higher command responsibilities. Only 50% officers get an opportunity to command a unit/regiment/battalion, and 10% make it to the rank of Brigadiers. Beyond that it assumes the shape of an Eiffel Tower.

 

Assessment of Training Potential

 

Since 1972, SSB has introduced a system of awarding separate marks for 'Trainability Potential', which are added to a candidate's overall marks scored for leadership qualities. This was also one of the measures to reduce the deficiency of officers in the three Services. While assessing the trainability potential at the SSBs, the following five points are kept in mind:

 

●   Age. The younger the age, the greater the potential.

 

●   Duration of Training Period. The longer the training period, the higher the potential.

 

●   Exposure. A raw candidate from a village, with little exposure so far, is likely to perform better at the academy than the one who has already been subjected to better exposure prior to joining the academy.

 

●   Motivation Level. A highly motivated candidate has a better potential.

 

●   IQ Level. The higher the IQ level, the better the potential.

 

Leadership Qualities Tested at SSBs

 

The 15 leadership qualities tested at the SSBs are categorised under the following four heads:

 

●   Planning and Organization Factor.

 

●   Social Adjustment Factor.

 

●   Social Effectiveness Factor.

 

●   Dynamic Factor.

 

The entire training schedule at the NDA or other training academies, is so designed that one gets an ample opportunity to develop these qualities during the routine course of training. However, this requires effort, both on the part of the academy as well as the cadets. Every academy ensures a high degree of physical and mental stamina as per its service requirements, since these form a part of the 'Dynamic Factor' of leadership. Similarly, 'social adjustment' and 'social effectiveness' are achieved through various group activities during the routine training. Likewise, 'planning and organizing ability' is also developed during the routine course of training. Personality development is inherent in the training schedule.

 

Moreover, development of leadership qualities does not end with the training at the academies; it is an ongoing process throughout one's service career. One has to continue developing the same, even while on the job, and it is an unending process. The greater the pride an officer takes to improve himself/herself, the better a leader he/she will make. The Defence Services working atmosphere provides ideal opportunities for developing leadership qualities, yet, while you can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink.

 

However, there is no system, anywhere in the world which can test qualities like honesty, integrity, loyalty, maturity, uprightness and truthfulness at the SSB. While the training academies do try their level best to inculcate these qualities as well, it depends more on the individual. That is why some officers prove to be better leaders than the others. Just to give you one example; Maj Gen Shabeg Singh, PVSM, AVSM rendered four decades of exemplary service to the Indian Army, till he retired. Can anyone question the selection system, or the training imparted at IMA, Dehradun? No. Yet he joined the Khalistani militant faction post-retirement and got killed during Operation Blue Star in 1984. Such qualities have to be monitored continuously throughout the service; that is the importance of continued assessment.

 

While all cadets are imparted the same training at any military academy, the end product invariably varies from cadet to cadet, since it depends more on an individual, how keen he/she is to imbibe the leadership qualities.

 

Ragging at NDA - Main Cause of Drop-outs

 

As far as NDA is concerned, while official training is perfectly in sync with its ethics and ideals, the unofficial punishments that had crept in, right since its inception, and have been continuing as a matter of tradition, is the real problem. Though it is in clear contradiction to its ethics and stated ideals, yet some of us tend to approve and advocate it, more so because we too had undergone the same. This has been going on behind the scenes, carried out by senior cadets; junior cadets being the victims. Closing our eyes to this harsh reality is not the answer, since facts do not cease to exist just because they are ignored. So let us face this reality and examine the problem.

 

If unathorised punishments/ragging makes one a better leader, the 1st JSW (NDA) Course should have produced the weakest leaders, since this was the only course deprived of this privilege. On the contrary, it produced three Service Chiefs (Lt Gen Rodrigues, Air Marshal NC Suri, and Admiral Ramdass), and officers like Lt Col (later Lt Gen) Hanut Singh, MVC, Lt Col (later Maj Gen) KS Pannu, MVC, and Lt Col Sukhjit Singh, MVC. It produced 63 officers of Flag rank, out of its strength of 191 cadets, ie nearly 33% of its strength.

 

So far, I have come across only two General Officers, openly condemning these wrong practices of ragging in NDA through various articles. They are Admiral Arun Prakash, ex Naval Chief, and ex-Commandant NDA, and Lt Gen HS Panag, ex-Army Commander Northern Command, and Central Command. Both are NDA alumni. Personally, I salute them in reverence, for their courage of conviction. They have a valid logic; if these are useful, why haven't the same been included in the official training syllabus? Unfortunately, these unauthorized punishments, that had made their way through traditions set by senior courses, had acquired a stamp of unofficial acceptance, right from the beginning.

 

These comprise physical punishments at the whims and fancies of senior cadets, including manhandling, and acceptance of minor thefts as a positive quality, mistaken for developing initiative. The emphasis on the doctrine of 'beg, borrow or steal' makes ethics take a backseat, whereas the NDA Prayer says, ".... help us to keep ourselves morally straight." Their origin lies in the thrill, the senior teenager cadets derived, by bullying their juniors. All these were not introduced based on some World War II experience. The belief that these make a man out of a boy, is the biggest misnomer.

 

If NDA has produced brave leaders like Capt Gurbachan Singh Salaria, PVC (posthumous), 2Lt Arun Khetrapal, PVC (Posthumous), and Lt Manoj Kumar Pandey, PVC (Posthumous), and hundreds of other gallantry award winners, it is not because of ragging, but in spite of ragging. That is where lies the real strength of official training at NDA. And not that all those who didn't receive any gallantry awards were any less; quite a few of them missed the same due to sheer lack of opportunities.

 

Unfortunately, some officers and veterans are of the view that ragging helps in making a cadet a better leader, inculcating in him, qualities like initiative and resourcefulness, and helps him to toughen up physically and mentally, with the ultimate aim of making a man out of the boy. However, that is not correct, though it sounds nice and impressive. Well, if that be so, should the lady cadets also be subjected to the same treatment? Why not? Then why should they be deprived of something so essential and valuable? Moreover, should these unofficial punishments be also introduced in other training academies like IMA, OTA and the officers’ training academies of Navy and Air Force? If not, why? Why should the cadets being trained at the other institutions be deprived of something so essential in the development of extra ordinary leadership qualities?

 

Why some NDA Cadets Leave Midway?

 

Among these unauthorised punishments, manhandling is the worst. A cadet being manhandled suffers silently, with a bruised ego and an eroded self-esteem, which totally numbs his soul. No human being deserves this state of affairs, since it destroys the very essence of pride as a human being aspiring to be a leader, which the NDA aims to inculcate. An element of human understanding is an all-pervading factor in military life. Call it mass punishment, 'ragda' or toughening training, ultimately it is nothing but ragging, which is condemned all over the world. How can we afford to close our eyes to such wrong practices? Manhandling, accompanied by unofficial punishments, is what makes quite a few cadets leave NDA midway during the training.

 

Ms Gauri Agarwal puts the average dropout rate at 16% to 20% per course intake, which tallies with the data compiled by the Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) in the year 2000-01, based on their study conducted on 10 different courses. However, this wastage rate has been worked on the basis of number of cadets who failed to pass out with their original Courses, either because they were relegated, or withdrawn on medical/disciplinary grounds, or they left the Academy midway, own their own. But we must appreciate that those who decided to leave midway, had not joined NDA to get ragged, hence the fault doesn't lie with them, but with Academy. Hence this needs an immediate course correction. When ragging and manhandling shattered their dreams, they had valid reasons to leave NDA. Respecting your juniors is an essential part of our military culture; NDA needs to drill home this precious and valuable lesson. Even a jawan, in fact every soldier, needs to be treated with utmost respect. A junior may be your subordinate, but is in no way inferior to you. Hence you can't treat him/her in an inhuman manner; that is a clear violation of human dignity. It is simply un-officer like.

 

Since there is no tradition of ragging or unauthorised punishments at IMA Dehradun or OTA Chennai, or the training academies of Navy and Air Force, the way it is done at the NDA, do these academies produce officers of inferior quality? No; not at all. We get a mix of all types of officers from all the academies; it follows the law of averages. Hence, ragging has no justification.

 

In fact, it has more of a psychological justification. Just because we had gone through those rough and tough times doesn't mean we recommend subjecting the future generations also to go through similar ordeals. We must appreciate that the official training at NDA is so strong that it is not because of, but rather in spite of this so-called unofficial training, that we have passed out with flying colours. This is where we must apply our experience, maturity and wisdom. In fact, it requires courage of conviction to admit the truth, and at some stage, these wrong practices have to be eradicated completely. The system needs to be cleansed of this cancer.

 

Conduct of Some Senior Officers - A Review

 

Col Asthana has quoted the example of Lt Gen Tejinder Singh (Retd) offering a bribe of Rs 14 crore to Gen VK Singh, the then COAS, in 2012, to approve a contract for Tatra trucks, on behalf of the private company he was working for. And then he summed up saying, "Being a Lt Gen and a General, both were excellent role models, at least till this controversy came up." Shockingly, how can he paint both the officers with the same brush, when Gen VK Singh refused the offer of his bribe, asked him to leave his office, and reported the matter to the Defence Minister? Wasn't his conduct an example of integrity of the highest order?

 

Then he says, "Following your seniors is not a good strategy. It simply can’t be, when a Commandant of NDA itself, a Lt Gen, had to be removed on charges of bribery." This again is not a correct statement. No academy ever teaches you to follow the conduct of senior officers blindly. Let's not forget the NDA Prayer, "Awaken our admiration for honest dealing and clean thinking....". A matured officer will invariably follow the example of good officers only; even a matured jawan will do the same.

 

Impact of Doctrine of Beg, Borrow or Steal

 

However, encouraging the doctrine of 'beg, borrow or steal' during the NDA training led to two Army Chiefs, four Lt Gens including an Army Commander, and four Maj Gens getting themselves involved in 'Adarsh Society Scam' in Mumbai military station, where greed overshadowed ethics. The scam was exposed in Nov 2010. Two years later, in 2012, an ex Army Commander, who retired as Vice Chief of Army Staff, and an ex-Commandant of NDA, both being NDA alumni, faced separate CBI inquiries after retirement, on serious charges of corruption. While all the above mentioned General Officers, including Lt Gen Tejinder Singh (Retd), managed to escape without being punished, they have ruined their reputation for ever. Now they can never face their juniors with pride and dignity. That is the only punishment they will have to undergo throughout their lives. Unfortunately, they will have to endure the ignominy of their immoral conduct, even after their death, since this blot on their character qualities will remain for ever.

 

Conclusion

 

Surprisingly, a few officers post-retirement try and create sensation as if the entire team of General Officers responsible for monitoring the premier training institutions like NDA have been sleeping, and doesn't know its job; which we the veterans can so clearly see. But is that a correct perception? Of course not.

 

Hence let us not join the lot which is hell-bent on condemning the training imparted at NDA and other military academies; let us rather have faith in the system that has evolved over 76 years of experience. While some constructive suggestions would always be appreciated by one and all, let us not forget that the General Officers responsible to ensure the high standards of military training in academies like NDA, know their job, better than we do. Hence we have no justification in doubting their caliber and competence. At the same time, while we have no means to stop the veterans condemning the official training imparted at NDA, to ignore their comments and articles would be an ethical blasphemy.

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1 comentário


Alok Asthana
Alok Asthana
12 de dez. de 2024

This article starts with ‘the Commandant NDA, a Lt Gen or equivalent General Officer, too is equally concerned. So let us not presume that none of them know their job, the way we do’, and ends with ‘Let us not forget that the General Officers responsible to ensure the high standards of military training in academies like NDA, know their job, better than we do. Hence we have no justification in doubting their caliber and competence.’

With that, I lose the power to question.

Still, I must point out that an indecent number of generals of army have been held accountable to wrong doings, including a sitting Comdt of NDA, for petty corruption.

If all MUST be well, I wonder…

Curtir
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