बेबाक · Editorial
एक नवीन लष्करप्रमुख आणि एक स्वदेशी गणवेशः सार्वभौमत्व तयार केले जाते, नाव बदलले जात नाही
लष्कराचे स्वदेशी गणवेशाकडे स्थलांतर आणि कमांडचे सुरळीत हस्तांतरण हे आदरास पात्र आहे; परंतु वास्तविक सार्वभौमत्व कारखान्यांमध्ये आणि सोर्स-कोड प्रवेशामध्ये मोजले जाते, बंदी घातलेल्या शब्दांमध्ये नाही.
एक स्वच्छ हस्तांतरण
30 जून रोजी, लेफ्टनंट जनरल धीरज सेठ, सध्या लष्करप्रमुख आहेत.
Shedding The Colonial Coat
The same force is also changing how it dresses. The newly issued Army Uniforms-2026 Pamphlet, in a chapter titled 'Indigenisation and Alignment with National Ethos', retires a range of British-era customs: ceremonial pouch belts are withdrawn, the term 'Royal' is dropped, and the indigenous bandi jacket enters as civil formal wear alongside battlejackets. The manual also standardises grooming for male and female personnel — tattoos, piercings, hairstyles, cosmetics, and moustaches capped at 12 cm. None of this is trivial to a soldier; uniforms carry memory and meaning. A republic choosing to reclaim its own sartorial vocabulary, rather than inherit a coloniser's, is making a defensible point about whose army this is, and in whose idiom it should stand.
Symbol Versus Substance
Here the argument divides, and both sides deserve their strongest form. One view holds that symbols are never merely cosmetic: an army that parades a foreign crown's vocabulary carries an unfinished decolonisation, and correcting it shapes the ethos of every recruit who takes the oath. The opposing view is equally serious. Renaming is not rearming; a grooming rule and a dropped adjective cost little against the harder ledger of capability. There is a further hazard. One outlet has already cast the dress code as 'the new face of the army' under the government of the day. The moment a uniform reads as a political signature rather than a national one, the army's most precious asset — its standing above party — is quietly mortgaged.
Sovereignty Is Industrial
Real indigenisation is being tested on harder ground. The Army's Negev machine gun is being fitted with the Israeli Mepro X6 sight, with targets accurate up to 800 metres and lenses to be manufactured in India — a Make in India step with genuine industrial content. The wider defence relationship points in the same direction: the Indo-French track reportedly includes 114 Rafale jets, source-code access, and 12 further deals ranging from artificial intelligence to semiconductors. This is the substance of sovereignty — lenses made at home, code terms secured rather than left vague, supply chains de-risked. Measured against this ledger, the permitted length of a moustache is a rounding error.
The Considered Verdict
So the verdict is a question, not a salute and not a sneer. Welcome the orderly handover; welcome, too, the genuine Make in India content in optics and avionics, where indigenisation builds muscle rather than mood. But hold the symbolism to account, and apply the new grooming code to male and female personnel with proportion and consistency, not arbitrary discretion. A bandi jacket is not a defence policy, and a banned word secures no border. The danger is not the new coat; it is the temptation to let the coat perform the work that factories and research must do — and to let the army's apolitical robe be tailored to fit the government of the day. The soldier earns respect through capability and restraint; the republic owes the soldier symbols that belong to the nation, never to a party.
A Measurable Way Forward
There is a feasible path that honours both impulses. Let the Defence Ministry publish, alongside the Army Uniforms-2026 Pamphlet, a parallel indigenisation scorecard: the indigenous-content share of each new platform, the terms on which source code is accessed in arrangements such as the Rafale track, and the timeline for Mepro X6 lenses to be manufactured in India. Judge the incoming Chief's tenure, from June 30, by that ledger rather than by the disappearance of a colonial adjective. Keep military symbols emphatically national and scrupulously non-partisan, so no government can wear the army as a badge. Reclaim the coat, by all means — but let the country see the capability stitched beneath it.
नाव बदलणे म्हणजे पुन्हा शस्त्रसज्ज होणे नाही; एखाद्या प्रजासत्ताकाचे सार्वभौमत्व हे घरी बनवलेल्या लेंसद्वारे सिद्ध होते आणि सोर्स-कोड प्रवेश स्पष्टपणे सुरक्षित असतो, मिशाच्या लांबीमध्ये नाही.
At stake is whether military symbolism and indigenisation are governed by transparent, equal and rights-respecting rules that preserve citizen oversight without politicising the Army.
Defence Indigenisation Accountability Bill
Parliament should enact a Defence Indigenisation Accountability Bill requiring the Defence Ministry to table an annual public report, with a classified annex where necessary, on concrete indigenisation markers such as domestic manufacturing, source-code access and supply-chain de-risking. The same law should require uniform and ethos changes to be notified through non-partisan service rules with RTI-disclosable reasons, so symbols remain national while sovereignty is measured in capability.
तुमचे घटनात्मक अधिकार
या कथेत संविधान काय हमी देते?The State shall not deny any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws. Like must be treated alike; the law cannot be arbitrary.
Fundamental RightEvery citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression — including a free press and the right to know — subject only to the reasonable restrictions in Article 19(2).
Fundamental RightNo person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except by a fair, just and reasonable procedure established by law — read by the courts to include dignity, privacy, health, a clean environment and livelihood.
Fundamental RightThe right to move the Supreme Court directly to enforce fundamental rights — called by Dr Ambedkar "the heart and soul of the Constitution." The courts can issue writs such as habeas corpus and mandamus.
Fundamental RightWhat this editorial rests on
Drawn from our live multi-newsroom feed — read the reporting at source.
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