tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8726844009873922462.post8313690855168864680..comments2024-03-29T05:44:18.835-07:00Comments on Broadsword by Ajai Shukla - Strategy. Economics. Defence.: Air force women will fly fighter aircraftBroadswordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13076780076240598482noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8726844009873922462.post-57912865327176751562015-10-24T15:32:02.419-07:002015-10-24T15:32:02.419-07:00Stupid decision. Putting political correctness be...Stupid decision. Putting political correctness before military preparedness.kulari94noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8726844009873922462.post-12798020420718590932015-10-10T03:54:08.773-07:002015-10-10T03:54:08.773-07:00"Even so, they perform equally dangerous jobs..."Even so, they perform equally dangerous jobs as officers in the engineers and signals and logistical services that operate at the frontlines." - seriously ??<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8726844009873922462.post-16802963552713499412015-10-09T21:52:02.992-07:002015-10-09T21:52:02.992-07:00Flying a combat aircraft is different from being o...Flying a combat aircraft is different from being on a ship or being in an army field unit. A fighter mission is a couple of hours at the most. Then it is back to base where life is almost like that of a civilian's.The debate on women being in ships is decades old and some suggestions made to accommodate this new fangled idea would have resulted in the life of HOD's onboard less comfortable than the junior most women onboard!!This would have been disastrous for morale and operational efficiency. If women are to be on ships it should be with no quarters asked and none given. The Indian military's history is centuries old and the systems and traditions have been evolved by visionary commanders who absolutely knew what the were talking. Changing this in all cases for TRPs and popularity is a stupid joke. What is more disconcerting is the undue civilian interference in matters military and the wobbling stance of senior officers who do not want to look like chauvinists. If women are to be in combat roles on ships and army units also, that should be on absolutely equal terms with their male counterparts. If we are not ready for that then we are not ready for women being on board ships. Don,t try to fix a system that aint broke.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8726844009873922462.post-33619157642714782222015-10-09T16:15:43.504-07:002015-10-09T16:15:43.504-07:00# rudyard kipling, the colonial era raj chronicler...# rudyard kipling, the colonial era raj chronicler reminisced .... the twain shall never meet. he was referring to the sahibs and the natives. in the 1947 transfer of power the babu-bazaar biradri moved easily into the bungalows, clubs, exclusive preserves vacated by the departing colonials. keeping for themselves the colonial model of patronage and privilege for the ruling caste. whereas we should have fostered a new culture of merit, and built up a meritocracy.<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_military_by_country<br /><br />in the listing of countries with women in the military, the name of india is missing. included in the wikipedia compiled list are pakistan, bangladesh, sri lanka.<br /><br />evidently the fact that india has women in the officer ranks but no women in the enlisted ranks, including as non commissioned officers, has not been lost on the compilers. pakistan has had women in the armed forces since 1949, and by women this means enlisted women, what we call jawans, sepoys, beginning with the women's national guard, women's naval reserve.<br /><br />there are two indias. the india of the ordinary people, bharat, hindustan; and the india of the babu-bazaar biradri, the angrezi-indians. the latter live in a world of angrezi, speaking in hindi or marathi, telugu, tamil when to talk to the daily help, the car driver, the menials, like the soldier-servant euphemistically addressed as bhaiyya by the officers offspring. these children similarly chatter on in english, reverting to a stilted hindi, gujarati etc when they need to talk to their grandparents or the servants.<br /><br />women from the former train as nurses, and work in government hospitals. their pay scales commence at the Group C pay grades, and after decades of toil in the ward those lucky enough to reach the level of nursing superintendent are the only ones who reach the Group A pay scale. these women are mostly from low status, even junior caste families. nursing is not a prestige occupation among the dominant castes. in the case of military nurses, historically there have been significant number of military nurses who enter into a romantic relationship with military officers, many marry, and since the third pay commission many officers daughters too have opted for military nursing. as a consequence with persistent lobbying military nurses pay scales commence from the Group A, and the senior go all the way to the highest administrative grade scales, as well as military ranks. <br /><br />clearly there is a discrimination in public service employment opportunities loaded against those not from the angrezis. <br /><br />military officer selection is not a consequence of merit but an extension of patronage and privilege. <br />george ninanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01856262118970125304noreply@blogger.com