Last time I was surfing the internet inside a Indian Naval establishment on the Navy's computer network. I had found that a lot of people had forgotten to log out after using public(here accessible to others) computers. I left mails addressed to them warning them about the dangers of not logging off from their accounts.
In this matter they found that a lot of officers were putting up photos of ships, submarines and many other installations. This definitely is a serious matter. But does it really make a difference? In Mumbai the infamous Adarsh society allows even civilians to take photos of army and naval installations near back bay. Leaving that aside, in Mumbai every tourist, Indian or foreigner does get a clear view of India's only aircraft carrier and a lot of other ships. A foreigner like David Headley carrying some visual aids and with his intellect and experience in planning a terror strike would be able to work a way around all the hurdles that would come to him while planning a good deep terror attack. Or in a war we can always depend on Barkha Dutt to give out our critical positions in want of some much needed fame.
In the orders to ask officers to delete their accounts also included warnings about other sites such as Twitter where they were observed to have divulged sensitive information. In todays world I would like to see the Indian armed forces take a positive step ahead instead of restricting the officers from exercising their freedom.
One reason stated was "Defence personnel have also been found to make public information about their ranks and place of posting through photographs in uniform or otherwise." Such reasons are not only naive when coming from the Indian Navy but also plain stupid. Knowing the rank of a person or where he is posted does not really make public any information which can jeopardize any kind of activity. These parasitic policy makers should just be assured of the intellect of the guys on the ground level.
As it has always been with most of our establishments, be it the parliament or the armed forces, social media has been looked upon as something better left to kids. Internet up to an extent also has been a taboo. I believe that establishments such as the Indian Navy should be the firsts to take steps towards taking away this taboo. Internet can be an enemy but it can also if properly used, be your biggest friend.
The armed forces right now are short of 15000 officers. They made commercial TV ads and gave big ads in the newspapers, but the vacancies still exist. The forces need to understand that these social networking sites are a very good place to target youngsters at a very young age and to guide them through the years towards the goal of becoming officers.
When I last searched on Facebook, the Indian navy page had 30,287 likes. This page was created by a user and is not a wiki page or a page created by the Navy. At the same time the United States Navy has 1,05,053 likes. The numbers really speak for itself, and i believe that if there was a post saying, the 'Indian navy needs you' a good number of the subscribers to the page would have definitely turned out for the selection exam.
There are also multiple pages on Facebook on the lines of 'Indian armed forces are the best'. Such pages would be the best propaganda building platforms for the armed forces to create support for a lot of operations which have come under the scanner of the global media. These pages can be used to create confidence in the people about the strength and capabilities of the armed forces.
Finally education about use of such simple applications should be a part of the curriculum for cadets at the NDA, IMA, Indian Naval Academy and others. We all look up to these men and women as hero's and there will always be a requirement for them to be able to have a public life and be an inspiration for the next generation for men and women.
