THE INDIAN army plans to abolish the colonial system of batmen or personal orderlies it inherited from the British military at independence 65 years ago.
Once implemented – sometime later this year – it would release some 30,000 combatants, or more than a regular army corps, allowing them to dump menial household chores and to rejoin their units as regular soldiers.
In exchange, the army proposes to replace batmen – renamed as sahayaks (assistants or helpers) some years ago in a feeble effort at distancing itself from its colonial heritage – by civilian personnel.
According to recommendations army headquarters submitted recently to the defence ministry, this change-over would entail hiring more than 25,000 civilians dubbed service assistants and non-combatant assistants at an annual outlay of Rs 1.78 billion (€312 million).
“The system of batmen in the army is demeaning for soldiers and should have been done away with years ago,” said former major general Sheru Thapliyal.
In recent times many of them were treated little better than domestic servants by officers and their families, a role that robbed them of their self-esteem and made them the object of scorn in their units, he said.
Many were even forced to undertake household chores such as cooking and cleaning
The term batman evolved in the British army during the inter-war years, before which they were known as soldier servants.
Moreover, in the British and Indian armies prior to independence in 1947 and shortly thereafter, when officers typically came from the privileged classes, it was not unknown for a batman to follow them into later civilian life as domestic servants.
For officers batmen were meant to be “runners”, to convey their orders to subordinates, maintain their uniform and personal equipment and drive vehicles.
They often acted as the officer’s bodyguard and in deceptively vague military jargon were required to perform other “miscellaneous tasks” demanded by the officer.
This latter nebulous responsibility in the British Indian army, particularly in modern day Pakistan’s North West Frontier, at times ended up as a euphemism for sexual liaisons between some officers and their batmen.
Many 19th and 20th century regimental histories hint broadly at steamy relationships between officers and Pathan batmen which, when they became known, resulted either in dishonourable discharges or the honourable alternative of suicide to sidestep regimental and familial disgrace.
