Vallabhbhai Patel wisely decided to increase the strength of paramilitary forces so that the Army does not have to be employed in maintaining order while fighting the enemy on the border. The police has not shed its image of a colonial force to become a people-friendly force in a democracy as it has in Britain. Yet it is the most neglected and marginalised in decision-making and in emoluments.

It has more generals than soldiers. The Army’s primary role is defence of the border and secondary to assist the civil authority in restoring law and order when called upon to do so, plus provide succour during natural disasters. Innocent people were killed, 17 railway stations were burnt. True the strength of the force is today much more than before and policing is becoming increasingly complex, but does that justify such a massive increase of police generals in the state The IAS has, of course, done better many times over, and so has the Army to keep up with the Joneses, but the latter to a lesser extent. He saw increasing violence in the country during the coming years. Five battalions of the Army restored order in two days. The police station is shunned by the common man who sees it as a centre of corruption and torture. Field Marshal Auchinleck decided that the Indian Army should continue with wartime olive green. The latter have been increasingly adopting the same uniform as the Army. At this rate, in the event of war, they may be fighting their own wars as a parallel force. Property worth Rs 28,000 crore was destroyed. Yet the government remained paralysed.Reverting to the Jat stir in Haryana, there was total chaos for four days from February 19 to 23.A newspaper reported that the Army had been called out in Haryana and placed under the additional director-general of police. All this should be a matter of national concern. After the war there was a popular desire to revert to khaki from olive green, which was used by the Indian Army in Burma for camouflage. I was also officiating as the Brigade Commander at that time. The strong reaction of Army veterans against this went viral on the Internet. It is the only apolitical Army of the developing world. Several buses and cars were also burnt on the highway and their passengers dragged and beaten. In the process, the police lost its culture and ethos. Green uniform, different from the police, will have a deterrent effect.The Indian Army has been the ultimate weapon of the nation and it has never failed to rise to the occasion in service of the nation. Besides the civil police there were five state armed police battalions and 10 Central Reserve Police Force battalions available to the state government. A new level of command between state police headquarters and deputy inspector-general of police range, the inspector-general zone, has been introduced. The Army is never placed under the police or even the state government. An IAS officer of the Haryana cadre wrote in the Tribune, "Bloated civil police and paramilitary forces that continue to grow, but remain incapable of maintaining law and order. Its protocol status has been persistently lowered.Unscrupulous political leaders using the police as their handmaiden and partners in crime and corruption are primarily responsible for this most unfortunate state of affairs. The quality of olive green cloth was not very good and the colour would soon fade.For first few years of my Army career, I served in a Jat Regiment battalion in Burma during the Second World War and after. The police station, the frontline of police administration and the police beat system, remains ignored. There is a huge difference between the two.The Army, the paramilitary and the police have well defined roles. From two battalions of Crown representative police we now have 200 battalions of CRPF, the largest such force in the world, but there is no let-up in employing the Army for internal security. It only adds flab and delays police functioning.I was surprised to see pictures of Army columns on the roads in Haryana carrying Army placards so that they are not mistaken for the police or the paramilitary.

This reminded me of 1946 when I was posted in Military Operations Directorate at Army Headquarters. The Jat stir in Haryana caused me much anguish. However, within the police there are several faultlines which need to be fixed. This will deter our "Make in India" programme. Investors will hesitate to invest in the fast-growing economy of Haryana. The Haryana government requested Army aid and five Army battalions were deployed." We need to examine the reasons for this pathetic state of affairs. The national capital was held hostage for water. There were even reports of women being raped in the fields. The emphasis is on militarisation of police and use of military trappings which did not woven edge satin ribbon exist earlier. The Army’s presence was a deterrent. Recommendations of the National Police Commission and injunctions of the Supreme Court have been ignored. We used to colour our uniforms to maintain its shade. Army veterans, mostly Jats, cooperated with the Army.The writer, a retired lieutenant-general, was Vice-Chief of Army Staff and has served as governor of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir. The police now has a very top-heavy rank structure. I was flooded with emails. In 1947, and for a decade later, Uttar Pradesh had one IG rank officer commanding the entire police force in the state. Yet the paramilitary on the border are increasingly acting as a border defence force — the BSF on the international border with Pakistan, and Indo-Tibetan Border Police on the border with China, report to the ministry of home affairs. I saw the wisdom of this decision in 1965 during large-scale disturbances in Kolkata when Jyoti Basu was arrested. This was bizarre. Normalcy was soon restored.

The state government requested Army assistance to restore order. There is no doubt these are the main causes for the desperate state of affairs. Today it has 106 officers of the rank of IG and above. I was then commanding the Fort William garrison comprising my battalion and additional troops. There were millions of bales of olive green cloth in our depots, which would have been wasted if we discarded olive green uniforms. Thankfully, this report was found to be incorrect. I have fond memories of my service with Jat troops. A senior rank in the force has to have supporting personnel adding more tail than teeth to a force. We restored order in three days using minimum force. Khaki was our pre-war uniform and looked smarter. The bulk of the Indian Army overseas was serving there. Jats are good soldiers and also good sportsmen. The paramilitary units on the border are required for border policing and not border defence.