With a year and a half to go for his three year tenure to end in August 2015, the Navy Chief, Admiral D.K. Joshi, resigned on Wednesday, accepting “accountability” and “the fullest moral responsibility” for the accidents involving warships in recent months, which included the submarine INS Sindhuratna which caught fire earlier in the day. In doing so, the Chief of Naval Staff put on full display an old world sense of honour and the courage of conviction, depleting qualities in India’s politics, civilian life, and also in some instances in the military which is known to have harboured persons in the highest ranks lobbying for plum positions or engaging in corruption.
The captain chose to go down with the ship in keeping with the seafarers’ hoary code. And for long will Admiral Joshi be remembered for this. India needs more leaders like the outgoing CNS in all fields. It was also in the fitness of things, however, that his resignation be accepted right away. That is the only method a management (the defence ministry, in this case) has to convey that it can’t be business as usual.
If this principle is valid, the defence ministry has to step in with concrete modernisation plans and plans for personnel expansion, for limitations and shortcomings in these critical areas appear to be the basic cause of the spate of accidents, although not all of a structural or serious nature, that have been occurring on a fairly regular basis of late. An ageing fleet making do with refits, and an acute shortage of manpower resulting in inserting relatively inexperienced personnel for higher-level responsibilities, are likely to be shown up as significant factors behind the recent accidents for which Admiral Joshi gallantly shouldered responsibility.
An aspiring blue-water Navy cannot afford low morale caused by factors such as the ones cited above, and it needs correctives to kick in fairly quickly. A change of guard at Naval Headquarters can only be the first step, and more must follow if the issue is to be taken seriously. The country will wait to hear from defence minister A.K. Antony, himself known to be a man of honour although not one who moves with alacrity, his plans to apply correctives within the budget constraints imposed on him. It must not be lost sight of that a change of government after the Lok Sabha election will bring a new defence minister but our armed forces need nurturing as institutions on a sustained and continuous basis. To communicate that there was nothing personal about the government accepting the CNS’ resignation without delay, the government could do no better than the Prime Minister inviting the admiral to an at-home.
