Indian soldier faces transfer over exposing army's corruption, ill-treatment

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...some-issues/article17023110.ece?homepage=true

The family of the BSF jawan, who has claimed that poor quality food was being served to soldiers on the Line of Control (LoC) through social media posts, on Wednesday came out in his defence, saying he was just bringing out the truth by his act, even as the government said “some issues” were found after an interim report was received by the Home Ministry.

“What he did is not wrong... he showed the truth… he has just made a demand for good food and ‘roti.’ To say that he has a mental problem is wrong. If this was true, why was he sent to the border and was put on duty? “Why was he not sent for treatment?” wife of constable Tej Bahadur Yadav said.

His son added, “it was not wrong” to demand good food for himself and the troops posted on the border. “How would we otherwise know what is happening there [in the forward areas] and what is happening with them [troops]? We just want a fair probe and justice,” he said.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said his Ministry had received an “interim report” from the BSF on the issue and “there are some issues.”

“I don’t want to comment on that [report] as of now, but I want to make a personal appeal to the people of the country and the media that do not create an issue... a big issue until the probe in this case is done. All this will work to hit the morale of jawans,” Mr. Rijiju told reporters.

A full report is being prepared by a DIG-rank officer of the BSF based in Jammu and Kashmir after the Home Ministry ordered for the same and it is expected to be submitted on Wednesday.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had taken note of the video and ordered an “appropriate action” into the incident.

“I have seen a video regarding a BSF jawan’s plight. I have asked the HS [Home Secretary] to immediately seek a report from the BSF & take appropriate action,” Mr. Singh had tweeted.

The BSF had said Mr. Yadav, who posted these videos, was court-martialled in 2010 for indiscipline and aiming a gun at a senior officer even as it assured of a thorough probe into his allegations.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://zeenews.india.com/india/stun...or-maintaining-high-quality-food_1966476.html
New Delhi: Left red-faced, BSF today came out with fresh guidelines for maintaining high quality of food for its personnel along the border as the Union Home Ministry directed it to file a complete report on allegations of substandard food made by a soldier posted along the LoC.


BSF Director General K K Sharma today met Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and submitted a second interim report on the allegations made by Tej Bahadur Yadav on a video that was uploaded on social networking sites.

The BSF chief avoided queries from waiting media after his meeting but the paramilitary force came out with a statement in the evening announcing six measures for providing quality food for its jawans posted along the border.

"Issues related to diet of jawans, issues of ration purchase procedures and pilferages thereof are the issues of prime concern for any organisation.

"BSF has taken a holistic view of the situation and follow -up process has been swung into action (sic)," the statement said and listed audit of prevalent system by team of senior commanding officers as one of the measures.

Among other steps taken by the BSF are chalking out shortcomings of the present process, suggesting procedural and systematic improvements, vigilance for double checks, enhancing formal and informal interactions with jawans and introduction of systemic innovations to ensure cashless transactions in all messes.

In its second interim report, BSF stated that the 'daal' shown in the jawan's video was uncanned from tinned food ration and the 'parantha' was cooked in the unit mess as per procedures followed at high-altitude locations.

Sharma conveyed to Mehrishi that the western front commander (Additional DG) of the force along with a dietitian has been rushed to the border post in the state where the jawan was posted for a detailed inquiry.

After the issue went viral on social media, Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said the government has sent "experts and dietitians to each and every post of the border to ensure that the food quality of the jawans must be as per the norms".

Officials said the report has mentioned that the 'daal' (lentils) shown in the video by Yadav was uncanned straight from the tinned food ration supply sent to the border post in Rajouri and hence was bland and devoid of spices and 'jeera', as alleged by Yadav.

The report also mentioned that apart from the regular lunch/dinner comprising 'daal' and 'roti', the unit mess also prepared fish curry on some occasions, something that is also visible in the videos posted by Yadav.

A final report in this regard is expected to be submitted by the BSF tomorrow after the team of senior officers sent to the spot also finds out the actual "cooking norms, style and distribution" of food to the troops in these areas.


First Published: Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - 23:49

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[Hindustani78]

Border Security Force soldiers salute during flag hosting ceremony of India’s 71st Independence Day at the India-Pakistan joint check post Attari near Amritsar on August 15, 2017.(Sameer Sehgal /Hindustan Times)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...e-forces-dg/story-N2oSEqfk33Jsf76oApRviL.html


Food prepared in BSF kitchens has always been good and one can check the quality by visiting any of its posts unannounced, says the paramilitary force’s chief KK Sharma who blames the ISI for using a jawan’s allegation of poor meals being served to troops to demoralise them.

“I joined the BSF in 2012 (as an additional DG). No one (jawans or officers) ever complained about food... There may be issues about transfer or posting. So, I was rudely shocked when this person (Tej Bahadur Yadav) uploaded a video (alleging bad food).

“We already have very healthy systems in the force. We do constant checking of the food that is prepared in our kitchens. Food is not a problem at all,” the DG said in an interview to PTI.

He then threw up an open challenge: “Anyone can go any day and anytime to any border outpost of the BSF and ask for food.”

“I guarantee that you will find good food. We have food that is homely. Food is plentiful in the BSF,” the chief of the 2.65-lakh personnel strong force said.

He said he had made the same suggestion to parliamentarians when they grilled him on the issue early this year.

Yadav, in uniform and carrying his service rifle, had in January posted a video on Facebook, picked by other social media platforms, claiming poor quality food like watery ‘dal’ and burnt ‘chapatis’ were being served to the troops in inhospitable terrains along the border.

The DG said videos of Yadav, who has been sacked from service recently after an inquiry found his allegations to be wrong, and were “used” by the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) of Pakistan.

“You may or may not be knowing that his (Yadav’s) video was picked by our neighbour from 22 places and made to go viral (over the social media),” he said.

The idea was, he said, to demoralise the personnel of the BSF and other Indian security forces.

The BSF is tasked with guarding the India-Pakistan border.

Sharma, a 1982-batch Rajasthan cadre IPS officer, added that the force also learnt its lessons saying he was “thankful” that this incident (Yadav’s video) happened as it helped it to formulate a proper and better plan to tackle the challenges emerging from social media and to understand how the misuse of this online platform can harm an organisation.

“Now, we know and we are better prepared when something appears in the social media and we have systems that can immediately present the correct picture with facts,” he said.

When asked if the BSF, after this incident, has banned or curtailed the usage of mobile phones and social media by jawans during duty hours, the DG replied in the negative.

“In fact, this is a good thing. We told our jawans that they should not simply believe in anything that comes to them via social media channels. This (Internet powered smartphones) helps to keep in touch with friends and family. These are things which I don’t want to stop because this is technology and this should be used.

“So, we have not at all curbed it. But, we have told them (jawans) that be very careful because someone may try to use you them for their ends. We have told them that if something is wrong then don’t just forward it but handle it responsibly and inform your superiors,” he said.