On Indian Army day, General Bipin Rawat warned soldiers against putting their grievances on social media.
Highlights
- Using social media to draw attention affects morale of jawans: Army Chief
- Ones doing so can be held guilty, punished, says General Bipin Rawat
- Army is countering many recent video complaints posted by soldiers
Army Chief Bipin Rawat on Sunday said action will be taken against soldiers who using the social media to air their grievances
instead of going through the regular channels. Addressing the
Army Day function, General Rawat said: "A few colleagues are using social media to draw the media's attention to their problems. It affects the morale of the jawans and thereby the army... You can be held guilty of a crime... and get punished," he warned.
He said the jawans could even contact him if they were distressed.
Following
the storm created by Tej Bahadur Yadav's viral video on Facebook on bad food served at the Line of Control by the Border Security Forces, several soldiers have put up videos on YouTube complaining about the problems they are facing in the army.
One of the soldiers had alleged that he was forced to
"wash clothes, polish boots and walk dogs" for his seniors.
In response,
officers had put up counter videos, saying the discipline of the army will be under severe threat if jawans continue to post grievances on social media. "The Army doesn't operate through WhatsApp, Facebook or TV," an officer had said.
Following the string of complaints, Mr Rawat had said the
Army has its own grievance redressal system and defended the "Sahayak" or the buddy system, in which every officer has a buddy who does "odd jobs" for him.
The buddy, General Rawat said, "takes care of the officer and vice versa". "In peace stations, this buddy helps him with everything," he had said at the Army Day press conference.