Ravaged lands of ancient Punjab need no certification for the profession of soldiering and the accompanying sagas of valour and chivalry. It was always the first line of defence against foreign invaders. Fighting Huna, Greeks, Persians, Afghans and Mongols to the subsequent colonisers, Punjabis took to arm naturally. From the legend of King Porus, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Banda Bahadur to the last stand in the Battle of Saragarhi, Sikhs have acquitted themselves as soldiers nonpareil.
The 10th Guru, Gobind Singh, created the Khalsa Fauj (Army of the Pure) to instill noble values, codes of conduct and a culture of fearless soldiers. The British were quick to recognise the martial instinct in the regional stock and soon, the fierce Sikhs were recruited into the Regiment of Ferozepur, Regiment of Ludhiana, Rattray’s Sikhs, Royal Sikh Pioneers etc. Post-independence too, the Sikhs populated all services of the Indian Armed Forces and not just the three regiments that recruited predominantly from Punjab i.e., Sikh Regiment, Sikh Light Infantry and Punjab Regiment. The common war cry Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akaal (Shout aloud in ecstasy, true is the great eternal God) is known to send shivers down the spine of the enemy.
Unsurprisingly, the Sikh Regiment has the honour of being the most decorated regiment of the Indian Army. Out of the 21 awardees of the highest Gallantry Award in wartime i.e., Param Vir Chakra, four are Sikhs. Sadly, and suddenly, Punjab is in the midst of an agrarian crisis and an even more surreal crisis of intake into the Armed Forces. While whispers of quantity and quality of potential recruits were getting bandied, it took a timely acknowledgement by the Punjab Chief Minister to raise the issue. The Western Army Commander raised the issue of inadequate quantity and quality of prospects during a recruitment drive for the regiments in Punjab. This sounds regrettably counterintuitive from so many lenses. How can a government recruitment drive in the current times of extreme socio-economic distress (with record unemployment figures prevailing) not elicit high enthusiasm and participation? That too, a drive for intake into the Army, in Punjab?
Predictably, the acknowledgement and personal reflection by the Chief Minister on the probable reasons were slammed by the opposition parties for ‘maligning the image of Punjab youth’, whilst decrying the Chief Minister’s attribution to youth migration and drug addiction. But beyond the partisan reactions and grandstanding, Punjab has offered itself to be governed by almost all national and regional parties to retrieve the slide in the narrative – however, each without any exception has failed.
Limited options for youth
There is definite merit in the concern raised about the attraction (or the lack of it) in the recruitment drive with the current Agniveer scheme, vis-à-vis the earlier scheme. In places like Punjab, soldiering is a lifelong calling (with proud ‘military families’) and is not given to chances of one out of four making the cut to stay back in service, with three-fourths of the intake not guaranteed pensions or other benefits. But given the backdrop of a lack of job opportunities, a worsening agrarian crisis, and limited industry/service sector infrastructure, one would have presumed higher traction, even with a suboptimal prospect at stake.
Therefore, issues like drug addiction or falling health standards need not be afforded partisan one-upmanship, as reality stares. In the parallel world of competitive sports which can be used as a barometer for the overall fitness standards of a populace, the performance of Punjab as compared to its contiguous neighbour, Haryana, tells a lamentable story. Even recruitment into the common pool of Chandigarh Police (capital of both Haryana and Punjab) is believed to have seen an increase in intake from Haryana over Punjab.
The impact of youth migration to foreign shores in a state like Punjab can never be ignored. Migrant drives are often accompanied by substantial financial borrowing along with crippling mortgages of land and other assets. Initially, it was the more affluent tracts of Punjab’s Majha and Doaba regions that saw hordes of immigration, but today even the more distressed Malwa region has seen flights out of Punjab. The curse of the dunki immigration routes is well-established, with a proliferation of dodgy ‘visa centres’ in rural Punjab. The abject failure of “doubling farmers’ incomes” has been most telling in Punjab as it has forced the landed to make a desperate bid for foreign shores. The recent repatriation of illegal Punjabis has added to the stress. A possible job as an Agniveer just does not stack up as a credible alternative, especially given the iffyness attached to the same.
While the Chief Minister has promised to help out on the dampened recruitment to Sikh-based regiments, it is easier said than done, as he needs to focus on macro issues confronting Punjab, which have contributed to the morass. Achieving success on the drugs front alone can go a long way in getting enough able-bodied recruits. The situation is a far cry from the British War Museum Exhibit which states, “Though just 2 per cent of India’s population, the Sikhs made up 20 per cent of the Indian Army” – it may not be
so, anymore. The lack of Sikh soldiers is not just a problem for the Sikhs or Punjab, but for the integrity and dignity of India.
(The writer is a former Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry)