Feedback on Previous Cover Story

Wrong Image

Sir, Kindly refer to the article published in the FORCE magazine Volume 7 No. 9 of May 2010 titled ‘Camp with a View’ on page 18 and 19. The correct position is as under:

a) All the four photographs shown in the article on page 18 and 19 do not pertain to the CRPF.
b) The personnel shown in the four photographs are not CRPF personnel.
c) The camp and personnel shown in these photographs are of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary unit.

Factually incorrect projection of photographs and personnel, who do not belong to the CRPF conveys a wrong picture to the readers and in turn creates a wrong image of the Force.
I shall be grateful if you could kindly publish a rejoinder at a prominent place in your magazine to enable the readers to know the factual position in respect of the camp and personnel shown in your photographs.
Yours Sincerely,
Vikram Srivastava
Director General, Central Reserve Police Force

Quote Unquote
Sir, When you interacted with me in the last week of April 2010 regarding the role of CRPF in Srinagar, I had explained you that the force had been doing yeoman’s job in fighting militancy/terrorism.
I did not discuss the constraints of the Director General or the bureaucrats in the home ministry in procurement of any armoury. The only time I talked about the MHA is when you spoke of inadequacy of training in the CRPF and I had mentioned that ever since the present Union home minister had taken over there has been a great impetus on training with full emphasis on rotational training and it is being continued.

When I spoke about the welfare of men and efforts to ensure clean food and accommodation, I did not use the phrase roti, kapda aur makaan. Your phrasing portrays the force in a negative mode as if the basic amenities are not available. Being an ex-army officer, I am sure you will appreciate the greatest sacrifices being made by our men and officers in the CRPF.
I will appreciate if you can kindly issue a corrigendum regarding my non-discussion of bureaucrats in MHA or using the phrase roti, kapda aur makaan as published in your magazine.
Yours Sincerely,
PVK Reddy, IPS
Inspector General, CRPF
Srinagar (J&K)

Soldier Speak
Sir, I am a CRPF officer, fighting Naxals in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. Being a force member, I cannot disclose my name. First of all, a heart-felt thank you to you and the FORCE team for the extensive, humane and sensible coverage of the Dantewada incident and the CRPF as a whole.

CPMFs, especially the CRPF, are not getting what is their due, despite being the main forces for internal security in India. CRPF men lead a very tough life. They operate in disturbed areas without a break and that too in inhospitable conditions, without even basic amenities.

After the Dantewada incident, CRPF has been in the news. So I thought that this is the right time to put across our grievances at the right platform. I have realised that the media is the right medium as we don’t have any other platform. I have also written a letter to the home minister with copies to other leaders in important offices elaborating upon the various aspects of the CRPF.
Through this letter I want to bring this to the notice of your readers. The home minister has already admitted that CRPF is a multi-dimensional and highly committed force. However, there should not be any comparison with the army, as our working conditions are much tougher and we work without any infrastructure or support system. What we get in return are torn tents for staying, unhygienic living conditions and no family life in the entire career. Despite this, our pay, perks and facilities are similar to those of civilian employees. Red-tapism at the ministry and the force HQ level sometimes results in our being denied even what is entitled to us. Add to that, the IPS bosses who don’t care. I hope this special issue of your magazine will do something for us.
Yours Sincerely,
A CRPF soldier fighting Naxals
in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh

FORCE Replies

I have to start by saying thank you to all the young and middle-level officers of the CRPF for their overwhelming response to the May issue of FORCE. While FORCE’ subscription in the CRPF has been growing steadily in the last couple of years, after the publication of this special issue, we have been inundated by telephone calls from the CRPF officers from places as far flung as Nagaland who want ‘life subscription’ of the magazine, failing which the maximum that is possible. On the last count, 36 Commanding Officers of CRPF battalions have personally called me to thank for our coverage. One such letter is being produced here.

For a magazine, no reward is greater than the readers’ response and FORCE frequently gets that. But with the issue ‘Eye of the Storm’, we managed one better. Our lead article, ‘Camp with a View’ has actually made the difference on the ground and led the ministry of home affairs to cover up what it does not want to change.

A few weeks after our May issue came out, I got a call from the director general, CRPF complaining about the factual errors in our articles on the CRPF. The DG told me that he would send me an official rejoinder, which he did and we reproduce here. The only ‘error’ we made, it seems, was in the photographs. I was dismayed that we had made such a mistake. I realised that it was possible to make such a mistake because both the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC) and the CRPF are living cheek by jowl on the open drain. Even our article mentions this:

‘He turned out to be one of the men from Rajasthan Armed Police, whose three battalions have been living in this patch for nearly two decades… This revelation led to the following tents inhabited by four companies of the CRPF, who incidentally are in the capital to provide security to the Union home minister, P. Chidambaram.’
However, I wanted to see for myself how our photographer got it wrong despite clear instructions so I personally went to the Chanakyapuri police station one evening in the last week of May. What I saw was unbelievable. Tin sheds now cover the area, so that the tents are not exposed to the drain, thereby effectively plugging the possibility of even cross-breeze now. Talk of a thoughtful government. As I returned to my car, a bus full of troopers stopped behind my car and started honking incessantly urging me to remove my car. As I went to placate the bus driver, uniformed and armed men started trooping out of the bus and walking towards the tin-covered tents. On their epaulets was engraved: CRPF. Ignoring the bus driver, I stopped one soldier, “Where are you coming from?”
“From my duty,” he replied.
And where was that?
“Rashtrapati Bhawan”.

But why are you going inside the police station? “Not to the police station, but to our camp. We live here,” he said impatiently pointing towards the half-visible tent roof over the tin cover in the fading lights of the evening.

If indeed the photographs that FORCE published were incorrect, why has the CRPF bothered to cover the camp? Now it seems that the only mistake we made was not writing enough. We wrote that these men guard the home minister. The truth is actually worse. They guard the President of the country as well! And senior bureaucrats are labouring over the caption of a few photographs???
As for the other letter, FORCE always records interviews to ensure accuracy. If Mr Reddy feels that he has been misquoted or quoted out of context, FORCE would not like to join issues with him on this small matter because that completely takes the focus away from what we have been trying to do. FORCE does not believe in running down individuals or institutions through petty exposé. We address the policy and the operational matters because that is what determines success or failure on the ground. We consider ourselves force multipliers for the nation’s military and the Paramilitary and would in no way ever run them down.

FORCE has been covering the CRPF sporadically since 2004. Our focus on the force increased and became more incisive with its induction in the Jammu and Kashmir theatre. We have chronicled, mostly critically, CRPF’s early days in Kashmir when it was struggling to find its feet and have watched its gradual transformation. In the last three years, FORCE has met several CRPF officers of various ranks (including the IPS and the cadre officers who have risen to the ranks of IGs), in New Delhi, J&K and Chhattisgarh. With this extensive exposure, we can claim that FORCE understands the strengths and the limitations of the CRPF. Our knowledge is not second-hand and neither is it coloured by the compulsions of the office.

Middle level CRPF officers in the know have been telling FORCE how the ministry of home affairs which is supposed to nurture the force is putting pressure on senior officers to indulge in a witch-hunt to find out who has spoken to us. They don’t realise that a story like the one we did cannot be done in one week by interviewing one or two disgruntled officers. It is the culmination of a sustained interaction over the years, of winning the confidence of men and officers and of remaining committed to the core values of FORCE.

As a newsmagazine on national security, FORCE’s endeavour has always been to project a subject in a positive spirit, even if we write critically, because our intention is to make a contribution to India’s national security policy-making. The idea of the cover story on the CRPF was to highlight the potential of the force and to show how badly-utilised it is because of ill-conceived policies and perhaps poor leadership at the highest level. It is really unfortunate, both for the country and the CRPF that the mandarins at the MHA have chosen to gloss over this and are indulging in nit-picking. For the record, FORCE tried very hard to interview the DG CRPF for the May issue, as we wanted to incorporate all viewpoints. To facilitate the interview, even a questionnaire was sent to his office, but he remained busy till the end of April. And we had to go ahead without his point of view. We remain hopeful that some day he will find time for FORCE.

EDITOR