| There has been a great churning in India. The times have
changed -- and we with them. An assertive new middle class has risen. Its members use
education and new employment opportunities to live a life their fathers only dreamt of.
You see the new middle class on the streets, in television serials and particularly in
Parliament. So it should come as no great surprise that one of India's bedrocks, the army,
is itself being reshaped by the winds of change. The Indian Army, like its counterparts
worldwide, was once a vehicle for upward social mobility. But it's no longer a bastion of
the elite, as this week's cover story explains. Some of the officers are the sons of
taxi-drivers, peons and jawans. They imbibe the middle-class credo that hard work brings
its rewards. This is welcome in a democracy. However, in a society that increasingly
covets money over glory, an army officer's job has lost its lustre. The transformation isn't easy to handle. While researching the story, Senior
Editor Manoj Joshi, who himself comes from a traditional Kumaoni army family, found it was
older officers from the upper classes who were pessimistic about the effectiveness of a
middle-class army. Serving officers, many from modest backgrounds, didn't agree. Change
also throws up unforeseen, sometimes amusing, situations. The new army has an increasing
number of women officers. When Joshi visited a contingent of lady officers, mostly junior
lieutenants, he found them being repeatedly summoned on trivial grounds by strutting young
male captains and majors. "They were clearly trying to impress the women," says
Joshi. Some things never change.
(Aroon Purie) |
