Clerical error reflecting a casual approach : Of the 64th Territorial Army Day
- Sangai Express Editorial :: October 11 , 2013 -

A gaffe. A clerical error, it may have been, but things cannot get more farcical than this.

But look closer and scrutinise the farce and the casual approach of Army Headquarters or the Defence Ministry towards the office of the Public Relations Officer in Imphal becomes succinctly clear.

The 10th October edition of The Sangai Express as well as some other Imphal based newspaper establishments carried a news report on the occasion of the 64th Territorial Army Day, with all the details such as the genesis of the Territorial Army, as well the speech delivered by Chief Minister O Ibobi.

A report which says that the 64th Territorial Army Day was observed on October 9.

Nothing wrong with this, but the fact of the matter is, the day was actually observed on 10th October, with the Chief Minister in attendance and saying the same thing which had been published as having been delivered during the function held at the banquet hall of 1st Bn Manipur Rifles on 9th October.

The 9th October report, which came out in the 10th October edition of this paper as well as other Imphal based newspapers, was based on a press release issued by the PIB (Defence Wing), Imphal.

Clerical error, it must have been, in issuing a press release one day ahead, and forgetting to mention that it should be embargoed for a day or two.

But underneath this clerical error lies exposed the casual approach of Army Headquarters or the Defence Ministry to an office as crucial as the Public Relations Officer in Imphal or Manipur.

This is what is hard to digest.

After Colonel Ajay Chowdhry was implicated in the Pallel drug seizure case on February 24 this year and following his removal from the PR unit of the Army, the PRO office in Imphal has for all practical purpose been lying in a state of comatose.

An officiating PRO, sitting at Kohima and entrusted with the task of looking after the affairs of Manipur, is stretching things a little too far.

This is not to question the efficacy and merit of the officiating PRO, but the attitude of the Defence Ministry or Army Headquarters is nothing to write home about.

This is not the first time that The Sangai Express has written on the absence of a regular PRO here and it will not be the last time either, until and unless the Centre does something concrete.

One of the most disturbed States in the country is the tag that has been given to Manipur and to think that the Army authority has failed to appoint a regular PRO, after the Pallel drug seizure says something significant.

Maybe a line or two to educate the Army authority is what the doctors would prescribe. The PRO is the public face of the Army.

The PRO’s office is here not just to issue press releases, but to also take note of the prevailing situation, take note of what the media is saying which in effect is reflecting the thoughts of all sections of society and passing it on to the higher authorities to work upon.

That the office of the PRO has been lying vacant for over seven months is a clear reflection that a point as simple but nonetheless very important has flown over the heads of the people who matter.

A chap sitting at Delhi cannot be expected to know what is happening here at the grass root level.

Obviously there must be other agencies which give feedbacks to the Centre such as the Military Intelligence, the IB and the SIB and other Central agencies, but the question is can the Army realistically hope to function effectively without its public face ?

Time for Delhi to wake up and pronto.

Today it is about a clerical error, vis-a-vis the 64th Territorial Army Day, tomorrow it could be something more sensitive than a clerical error.