The precipitate decline in moral and ethical values, as well as the steep fall in standards of private and public conduct, in recent years, has been accompanied by a concurrent erosion of values amongst India’s military personnel. Consequently, the armed forces, which were once considered exemplars of ethical conduct, discipline and decency, are rapidly slipping in the estimation of their countrymen.

In the minds of the average person on the street, one suspects that the phrase “higher defence organization” evokes an intimidating vision of row upon row of be-medalled and be-whiskered Generals, with the dark shadowy figure of a “soldier on horseback” (that mythical usurper of power) looming in the background.