Get Some Discipline in your CSR
Recently, the Defence Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley urged the corporate sector to utilise the services of ex-servicemen for meeting their requirement for a highly trained and disciplined work force. The Defence Minister was addressing the Directorate General of Resettlement Conclave where industry body CII and the Army would work together to provide jobs to ex-servicemen. He said the majority of ex-servicemen retire early from the forces but they are “never tired and are always willing to go on in life”. They have grown with the very idea of service to the nation. Their commitment to work is paramount, their discipline is very high and they have worked in difficult conditions.
Coming from no less than the Defence Minister, his exhortation to the CII is timely and significant. It addresses the larger issue of rehabilitation of large number of ex servicemen who retire early in life and also would help Corporates to tap on to a source of highly skilled, loyal, dedicated, honest and readily available pool of manpower.
[creativ_alertbox icon=”group” colour=”green” custom_colour=”#839b2d”]Every year, 60,000 armed forces personnel retire and 44 per cent of them are in the age group of 40-50, 33 per cent in 35-40 year age bracket while 12 per cent people leave the service at the age group of 30-35 years.[/creativ_alertbox]
Expertise available in this pool of manpower includes infrastructure development, water supply schemes, electrification, health and animal husbandry, quality education, women and youth empowerment and so on. Before hanging their boots, almost all the servicemen would have had the experience of participating in various Sadhbhavna schemes involving the foregoing projects, which the Army executes in various parts of the country and especially in militancy torn states of J & K and the North East.
The good management practices of the armed forces personnel can be seen from the fact that cantonments across the country are better maintained than other areas and defence buildings are in a better shape than other civilian buildings. Corporate houses, in all likelihood, will never be able to spare or divert their technical manpower for wp projects. It may, therefore, be a better option to create a separate cell, wholly manned by experts drawn from the Ex servicemen community, in each Corporate House, to execute the projects. Alternatively, the Directorate General of Resettlement (DGR) may consider registering Ex servicemen NGOs especially to meet wp requirements and the Corporate houses could outsource the projects to them.
A large number of retired officers and men are already in service in the Private sector. These personnel can also act as a bridge and link to tap more man power from the DGR or through Army Placement Agency.
