As an Army officer’s son my spirit soars when I observe the result of adrenaline rush in civilians due to the befitting reply given by our Defence Forces to Pakistan, post Pahalgam attack, by launching ‘Operation Sindoor’. There was a spurt in the number of ‘Tiranga Yatras’ in the city, surrounding towns and states. Age limit being no bar, people young and old were seen marching across the street waving the tri-colour and shouting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. People from all walks of life found their sagging spirit soar when such tit for tat actions of our Government resulted in giving the enemy across our borders, be it Galwan, Uri, Balakot or Pahalgam, a befitting reply. But, sadly this enthusiastic outburst of patriotism was short lived.

 

There seems to be a vacuum between this act and the ideas for taking this effect to culminate into something truly productive and result oriented. One can do a lot to show our solidarity with the Forces and our love for the country. People’s elected representatives, local Party leaders suddenly sprang into action, trying to bask in this glory and accruing as much popularity as possible, a phony show of solidarity and patriotism, but these very gentry acted differently when it came to helping a soldier or his family in times of need, be it an officer or a Jawan Retired or martyred. Such deceptive acts must change for ever. It’s a betrayal to the soldier who has sacrificed his youth for the nation, be it an officer or Jawan. ‘Operation Sindoor’ and the previous skirmishes like the one that took place at ‘Doklam’ has once again highlighted this aspect. Such actions such as the ‘Tiranga Yatra’ must materialise into something truly productive. No amount of rhetorics will be able to push our people to act. Action has to be taken keeping in focus the youth participating in the melee, which is fully charged. Address them on how they can contribute to the nations growth and strength by joining the Defence Services. Options are several. Politicians are the last persons to know these. They can be briefed to speak on benefits of Military Service. The ExServicemen, NCC officers, must encash on the situation.

 

There are brilliant career options available for the seventeen years old boys and girls in the Military. All three wings are now recruiting Officers, Jawans, Airmen and Navy personnel in their combat wings, Artillery wings, Flying branch, Engineering Branch, Medical Branch and Judicial branch. It’s a pity to see that Defence Academies like the National Defence Academy ( NDA), Indian Military Academy (IMA),Naval Academy have hardly any Maharashtrian boy or girl amongst their batches.Aspecial train full of Haryanvi, Bihari and Punjabi Cadets chugs from Delhi to Pune with Cadets joining the training at NDA. Where are we? And why? We are no different. But the spirit is lacking. Motivation and determination to get the mindset of parents and their wards needs to change. In States like Punjab and Haryana, every house has one ward serving the country by joining the Defence Services. The Defence Services offer exciting career options to Engineers. They can become Engineers at the expense of the Military. A lady Engineering Officer of the Army stood her ground to see that a temporary metal bridge was laid overnight at Wayanad to rescue stranded civilians during the Wayanad floods and land slide. Same is for doctors. The Armed Forces Medical College offers state of the art facilities to their trainee cadets to qualify as doctors. Such training facilities are a dream worth experiencing and seeing.

 

They need boys and girls to join their Judicial Branch as officers. In our time, there were no coaching institutes to groom aspirants on how to appear before the Services Selection Board (SSB). It is a six day tough test that completely evaluated your personality. Nagpur has some very good SSB training Centres. Like paying for coaching classes on various science subjects, like JEE, these institutes groom the aspirant, physically, mentally and helps improve their personality traits, mindset and body language, that is most important for clearing the SSB. There is one training Centre near Saoner, that provides a long endurance, residential training to aspirants appearing for the SSB. They have been achieving impressive results, with a good percentage of candidates getting selected. The selected candidates are mostly from Punjab, Bihar and Haryana.

 

The train load of cadets joining NDA hailing from Haryana, Punjab and other parts of India are all products of such institutes that are proliferating in Bihar, Punjab and Haryana. Today Territorial Army is recruiting Officers and Jawans. Even if they are employed in civil, they can join. Age and service benefits are there to accommodate them. They must be physically fit and young. Men and women can opt for the service that offers good wages beside an adventurous life. ‘Tiranga Yatra’ is definitely good to wake up the consciousness of the people, but more needs to be done. People must make use of the Ex-Servicemen to address the children of Class 9 and 10 in schools to make them know that there are very good career options available in Defence Services. Address them and inform them of the benefits, the high class training. Parents can save their hard earned money in making them an Engineer, Doctor, Fighter Pilot or Officer, all at Government expense. Defence Services need Computer wizards, Electronic Engineers, sharp minds excelling in artificial Intelligence, as the present wars have shown what technology can do. One such effort must also be made in tribal areas to lure the well built smart minds in doing something constructive for the country. Serious effort needs to be made to wean them away from alcoholism, drugs and other unlawful activities. This is the time.

 

The fever of patriotism must be encashed upon. Tender minds will be receptive to discourses on a career in Defence services, if presented tactfully with exciting anecdotes and examples mixed judiciously in it by retired Officers who have ‘the gift of the gab’. Glum faced Retired officers can have a dramatically opposite effect on the tender minds with a dull rhetoric that only speaks of career options and ‘Me’. The young receptive audience needs to be involved in the tales of bravery of the highest order, like some of our Param Vir Chakra Winners, young medical officers defying regulations to save the life of a critically injured Jawan, and seeing him recover to join his family and ‘Paltan’. Women’s organisations must come forward to undertake projects such as ‘Har ghar me ek fauji’. Maharashtrian families must be roped in by Mahila Mandals to make them realise that there is a dire need to send their wards, to think of having at least one child, boy or girl to join the Defence service. Wages, Perks, Medical benefits and overall development is what is being offered on a platter, provided he or she desires to accept it. Kargil Vijay Diwas is one big day. Merely singing songs about patriotism and bragging about the bravery of historical characters after hoisting the National Flag, is not going to work any more.

 

A big push at grassroot level is required to make people see reason. Tell them about Hon Capt Yogendra Yadav PVC, Hon Capt Bana Singh (PVC), Maj Gen Ian Cardozo, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, (Retd) who was forced to cut off his leg by his own hand as he said “it was of no use to me”. Inspite of the battle injury, he continued to serve and achieved the coveted rank of Maj. Gen, the skirmish at Doklam where our troops thrashed the Chinese soldiers in a hand to hand fight, Sabre Jet killers Ace Pilots like the “Keeler Brothers Trevor and Denzil”. Brilliant students need not go to the US and contribute to the scientific growth of that country. Instead, DRDO, ISRO and a new energetic group of Start Ups involved in developing electronically superior class of Drones, Missiles, Satellites, space weapons, stealth related arms, powerful Armor piercing Laser beams, needs these brainy brats. Wages and good facilities, awaits them. Besides, they will feel proud of having contributed towards the Defence of the nation.Adoor to door campaign needs to be carried out by Young ladies, their Mandals, Rashtra Sevikas and men to convince the parents. Our Maharashtrian boys and girls must be seen in Uniform in large numbers.Achoice of career they will never regret. ■