New Delhi: Amid speculation that the Narendra Modi-government wants members of India’s security forces to refrain from using social media, army chief General Bipin Rawat on Tuesday clarified that soldiers cannot be barred from using smartphones and social fora.
“We have received advice that we should advise our soldiers to stay away from social media. Can you deny a soldier the possession of a smartphone? If you can’t prevent usage of smartphone, it is best to allow access to social media,” General Rawat said in his keynote address on “Social Media and the Armed Forces” to a gathering of senior officials of the armed services.
However, he said that it was important to have means of imposing discipline among the soldiers.
“If you want to bring some discipline, then you should have the means of imposing that discipline. In case there is no means to impose that discipline, then it is of no use passing order and instructions which cannot be implemented,” he said.
The army chief said social media can be used for psychological warfare and to combat terrorism and proxy war.
“Social media is here to stay, soldiers will use social media. Our adversary will use social media for psychological warfare and deception, we must leverage it to our advantage. If we have to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) to our advantage, we must engage through social media as a lot of what we wish to gain as part of AI will come via social media,” General Rawat said.
He said the Indian Army was developing a mobile application, ‘Arpaan’, for the welfare of soldiers.
“The app will help officers and their families in reaching out to various fora and coming out with their problems and seeking answers to it,” he said.
“If we are creating our own apps then how can we deny the usage of smartphones to our soldiers,” he added. “Smartphones are here to stay. We must learn to utilise them to our advantage.”
General Rawat said that if the armed forces did not keep pace with time then they will have to later “firefight” for their existence.
“Social media can be leveraged for psychological warfare and deception not just in conventional warfare, but also in combating insurgency. We can amalgamate some of our existing resources and ensure that social media becomes a part and parcel of our life in the Army,” he said.
Recently, some videos of soldiers criticising their seniors had gone viral on social media.
In a video released last year, a Border Security Force (BSF) soldier, Tej Bahadur Yadav, was seen complaining about the quality of food being served to soldiers.
Earlier this year, an army officer posted in Madhya Pradesh (MP) was investigated for a case of honeytrap through Facebook.
