Officers’ wives exploiting jawans? So claims a man clad in military fatigues

Army officers’ wives are calling the shots in Army welfare centres and jawans are asked by their officers to salute the ladies and obey their orders. The jawans are threatened to be sent packing to their homes if they refuse to follow these instructions, a man in Army fatigues is seen claiming in a video on the social media.

He says that officers’ wives not only exploit the low ranking soldiers but also their family members who come to live with them in the Army family welfare centres for some reasons such as health issues or financial problems back home, etc.

“But the families are put under stress at the family welfare centres and are exploited by the officers’ wives...The soldiers’ women are made to dance in front of the officers’ wives who laugh at them,” he says.

The man, presumably a low ranking soldier though he has not revealed his identity or location in the video, is seen protesting against the British era military rules that assigned common soldiers to each officer to do all the menial jobs for them such as polishing their boots.

The jawan says that such “slavery era” rules need to be changed as apart from being insulting to the soldiers, they are also detrimental to the success in military operations.

“Misusing their authority, they (officers’ wives) ask us to do their household chores like bringing groceries, washing clothes etc. Around 25-30 persons are forced to work as servants on every officers house,” he says in the video that was posted in May this year.

Here are some major points from the video:

“Instead of army officials its their wives whose orders are being implemented. Where their wives say to send a particular officer, he is given duty according to that.”

“Why are the well-trained Indian Army men being killed in encounters with militants who come after barely a month’s training? It is because the soldiers are being wasted in doing menial jobs instead of focusing on combat role,” he says.

He also complains of not getting free uniform and other perks as sanctioned by the government due to corruption.