[Assam] Art of Soldiering - Sentinel Editorial

[Ram Sarangapani]

  Dear Barua,

Here is something that you might appreciate (of the Indian Army.)
Now, you can be rest assured, they won't go haywire and killing at random
after this "Art of Living" course :):)
--Ram

Sentinel Editorial
*Art of Soldiering
*It augurs well for paramilitary forces that as many as 475 companies of the
Border Security Force (BSF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Central Industrial Security Force
(CISF), the Assam Rifles and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) are going to
enrol for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's ''Art of Living'' programmes in the next
few months. The Union Home Ministry has reportedly told the paramilitary
forces of the country that they can spend about Rs 50,000 on each company of
troops for the ''Art of Living'' courses that offer a mix of yoga,
meditation and controlled breathing techniques to contain stress. The
assumption is that paramilitary forces have to spend a considerable time in
hostile terrain and unfavourable working conditions, and this eats into
their nerves resulting in errant behaviour and sometimes even forcing the
personnel to fire at colleagues and senior officers or to commit suicide.
The assumption is true to a large extent, especially when it comes to troops
deployed in conflict-ridden zones like Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeast.
But it remains to be seen whether the art of living as prescribed by new-age
guru Ravi Shankar would make our soldiers also master the art of soldiering
that, apart from stress management, is also about attitudinal shift. When
soldiers are embattled with insurgents or terrorists who can easily mingle
with the masses and make counter-insurgency operations extremely precarious
and susceptible to human rights violations — as the Northeast experience
typifies — the need of the hour is accurate intelligence network for the
stressed soldiers to isolate targets and dismantle the enemy's
configuration. Here comes the attitudinal prerogative: that the enemy
comprises fellow Indians who have been misled into the jungle or who have
chosen to be misled. One only hopes that the ''Art of Living'' for
paramilitary forces would also be about their attitude on the ground.
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