Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Jawans’ plight

I felt immensely sad on reading the letter that attributed the killing of an officer by a jawan to lack of discipline in the armed forces (July 26). As one whose immediate family members are all serving in the armed forces, I would like to say that the Indian armed forces, particularly the jawans, are among the most disciplined in the world.

The jawans toil day and night and draw very low salaries. They leave their families alone and unprotected at home. They do not get the leave due to them as the army is almost always understaffed. On top of all this, they come under an authoritative and non-transparent administrative system with no proper grievance redress mechanism in place. They are tried by the army court and not given the freedom of an independent and transparent justice system.

The Indian jawans certainly do not get any misplaced sympathy. In fact, it is official apathy that they face every day.

S.C. Nikita,
Thiruvananthapuram

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