My confrontation with DRDO started when I was young captain posted in HQ Southern Command ,PUNE. I have passed my B.E (Mech) from Madras University in 1969 in First Class. My acdemic performance in the Army was also quite impressive. The Year was 1976. I was selected and called for a final interview for attending a Course of Study on "Military Vehicle Technology " , a Post graduate Course for a duration of more than year at Royal Military College of Science Shrevenham UK.There were two candidates , one who was not selected for the UK Course was to do a PG Couese at VJTI Bombay on Automobile Engineering. It was also planned that the one who did the Course in UK would start and conduct a Course for Officers in IAT ( Institute of Armament Technology now renamed as AIT , Army Institute of Technology). AIT was , like now was under the control of DRDO though many senior officers were instructors on military equipment along with Civilian Professors teaching general engineering subjects.
I was interviewed by a panel of top academicians from IITs headed by(Late) Prof. MGK Menon , the then Scientific Adviser to the then Defence Minister. I was declared selected to undergo the course in UK. The other officer by default was detailed for doing PG at VJTI Bombay, now Mumbai!
AIT had a very good technical library . Being a non member of the library, I obtained a special permission to use / borrow books from it for preparing myself for the interview which I expected to be quite intense and grueling. Before I departed for the interview, I returned the books to the libraray and got my deposit back. When the librarian asked me why why I was terminating my membership, I told him the reason for consulting the books and if I got selected may be I would become a staff member here to start a new course by the end of next year! That disclosure was the greatest blunder I had ever made in my life was not known to me then . This was somehow conveyed to the then Chief of AIT!
The AIT and DRDO had other plans . There were no civilian professors on their rolls at that time to teach this subject. They did not want a uniformed officer to head that new department if it was started next year. They got around to MoD and the sanction for my departure was got deliberately delayed and the Course already commenced in UK. The other officer already joined VJTI Mumbai!
I put up my representation through proper channel that I should be detailed during next year since I lost the chance to do the PG Course in VJTI. I got a grim reply that I could not claim for derailment for a course of study as a matter of right! To add insult to injury I was detailed to do course on Pilotless Target Air Craft for a duration of four month in October of the same year. I told my Head of EME in HQ Southern Command , Brig. SN Bhaskar that I wanted to decline this course as I would stand to lose my PG Course next year . He gave his sage advice that a bird in hand was worth two in the bush and I might not be considered for selection for this course next year or the course might not even be included. ! The next year , a Civilian staff from AIT ( DRDO )was detailed to attend the same course in UK without a selection process or interview!
How as a young officer of the rank of a captain, I came o know of this ? You may ask! Before I got posted to HQ Southern Command m, I was serving in an EME battalion and took part in the Bangladesh operation in Eastern Command. One of the OC workshops then Major. BM Sablok was posted as an instructor in AIT in Pune around the same time I was posted in HQ Southern Command. It was he who told me later as to how the AIT with the help of DRDO managed to ensure that their officer was sent for the course next year in my place!
That is the power of Civilian beurocrats over uniformed officers in MoD!
Over the three decades plus of my Army service, I had come across many instances the stranglehold of beurocrats in MoD and MoD Production on Service Headquarters!
I was interviewed by a panel of top academicians from IITs headed by(Late) Prof. MGK Menon , the then Scientific Adviser to the then Defence Minister. I was declared selected to undergo the course in UK. The other officer by default was detailed for doing PG at VJTI Bombay, now Mumbai!
AIT had a very good technical library . Being a non member of the library, I obtained a special permission to use / borrow books from it for preparing myself for the interview which I expected to be quite intense and grueling. Before I departed for the interview, I returned the books to the libraray and got my deposit back. When the librarian asked me why why I was terminating my membership, I told him the reason for consulting the books and if I got selected may be I would become a staff member here to start a new course by the end of next year! That disclosure was the greatest blunder I had ever made in my life was not known to me then . This was somehow conveyed to the then Chief of AIT!
The AIT and DRDO had other plans . There were no civilian professors on their rolls at that time to teach this subject. They did not want a uniformed officer to head that new department if it was started next year. They got around to MoD and the sanction for my departure was got deliberately delayed and the Course already commenced in UK. The other officer already joined VJTI Mumbai!
I put up my representation through proper channel that I should be detailed during next year since I lost the chance to do the PG Course in VJTI. I got a grim reply that I could not claim for derailment for a course of study as a matter of right! To add insult to injury I was detailed to do course on Pilotless Target Air Craft for a duration of four month in October of the same year. I told my Head of EME in HQ Southern Command , Brig. SN Bhaskar that I wanted to decline this course as I would stand to lose my PG Course next year . He gave his sage advice that a bird in hand was worth two in the bush and I might not be considered for selection for this course next year or the course might not even be included. ! The next year , a Civilian staff from AIT ( DRDO )was detailed to attend the same course in UK without a selection process or interview!
How as a young officer of the rank of a captain, I came o know of this ? You may ask! Before I got posted to HQ Southern Command m, I was serving in an EME battalion and took part in the Bangladesh operation in Eastern Command. One of the OC workshops then Major. BM Sablok was posted as an instructor in AIT in Pune around the same time I was posted in HQ Southern Command. It was he who told me later as to how the AIT with the help of DRDO managed to ensure that their officer was sent for the course next year in my place!
That is the power of Civilian beurocrats over uniformed officers in MoD!
Over the three decades plus of my Army service, I had come across many instances the stranglehold of beurocrats in MoD and MoD Production on Service Headquarters!
Yes, even the civilian clerks in AHQ had great powers to recommend/ finalize postings on deputation
ReplyDeleteI was told so shamelessly by a clerk later that those who really wanted to go to the Customs Marine Organization didn't just sent their willingness, but gave it personally with two bottles of scotch!