The gold medal won by Subedar Neeraj Chopra of the Rajputana Rifles has made the Indian Army justifiably proud. Now, how will the Fauj reward him? What would be a befitting motivation for him and others? The civil government may give him a Padma award. But what will the Army give him?
There is hardly any equal precedent. Dhyan Chand was a Lance Naik in the (British) Indian Army when he won laurels; the Army raised him in status by granting him the Viceroy's Commission (equivalent to today's JCO), and pipping him to jamedar rank, which is equal to today's naib subedar. Finally, he was given an emergency commission as a second lieutenant in the 14th Punjab Regiment, with the war-substantive rank of lieutenant. A couple of decades later, Craftsman(Sepoy) Milkha Singh of the EME Corps, who did India proud at the Asian Games, too was elevated to the JCO rank.
Neeraj Chopra's achievement is different from theirs. Dhyan Chand had not participated in an individual event; Milkha did not earn an Olympic gold. So there is no actual parallel for the babus in the ministry of defence to cite.
According to the Army Act, the President may grant commission as an officer to any citizen whom he thinks fit. There is no doubt that Neeraj Chopra's is a fit case to be granted a commission and promoted to a field rank, say that of a major. And not just an honorary captain rank, please! Mind you, hundreds of JCOs are routinely promoted and granted honorary ranks of lieutenant and captain every year. Neeraj deserves more than the routine and the ordinary.
It would be inappropriate to even consider giving him a higher rank in the Territorial Army. Yes, MS Dhoni is a colonel in the Territorial Army, and Sachin Tendulkar is a group captain. But in those cases, they had nothing to do with the military, and it was the military that sought mileage from them.
Here, Chopra has brought laurels to the military. His feat has come as an achivement of pride for the nation. More than winning an Olympics gold in an individual event, he has shown Indians what an average youth can do, if he has the resolve. An achievement like the one at Tokyo can be attempted by countless others too.
A separate point: Naveen Patnaik has set up an example for other chief ministers to copy. Let each state adopt and promote a sport.
The author is a former judge advocate-general of the Indian Army
