Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 18: The Army has finally come out with a new policy on use of social media by its officers and jawans, which is quite liberal than what it was in 2015, when it was last devised. The new policy has superseded the rules framed for the Army personnel for using the social media last year.
Named as ‘Policy on Usage of Social Media’, it said that while using social media like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter etc, the Army officials wouldn’t breach security or indulge in misconduct, which will be subjected to administrative, criminal and disciplinary action depending upon nature of the breach.
Official sources told the Excelsior as per the new Social Media Policy, the Army personnel will now be encouraged to exploit social media but with responsibility and accountability taking into account Army’s moral values, ethics and honour.
“As a general parameter, conduct which will be unacceptable in physical domain in the Army will also be unacceptable in the Cyber/ Social Media domain,” they said, adding that the Army officers/jawans have been asked, through the medium of new policy, to maintain the same conduct online as they maintain the offline i.e. discipline and responsible citizens of the country.
According to the Policy, the serving personnel shouldn’t have impression that they can get away with online indiscipline and made it clear that they would have to face action as mentioned under the new rules of the Policy if they indulged in any kind of indiscipline online.
“The Rules suggested that serving officers and jawans of the Army can have media account on their name provided that the account holder doesn’t mention anything about his services including rank, place of posting, Unit and Corps etc. They will not upload photographs or videos or make comments while inter-acting on social media, which mentions specific information, unit or establishment,” the new Policy said while making it clear that in no case there should be breach of information or material linked to operational plans of the Army, already executed or proposed to be executed.
The Policy said “Indian Army recognizes the positive potential of social media platforms as exponentially faster means of conveying messages, information and opinions, important role the social media can play for the Army personnel in their personal life for keeping them in touch with their families and friends and in building a cohesive Indian Army Community while upholding its image as a disciplined and professional citizens.
“The social media can also serve as instrument for promoting national security and its values in mass internal communications for building, raising and sustaining morale of all ranks within the Army,” it added.
For operating official accounts, the new policy is in consonance with “Framework & Guidelines for Use of Social Media by Government Organizations” issued by Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India.
Perhaps keeping in mind the potential pitfalls of misuse of the medium both by inimical elements and disgruntled personnel within, the policy spells out very clearly what is acceptable and what is not while using social media platforms.
The latest guidelines now supersede the rules issued in 2015. Going by the content of the new policy, an interesting period lies ahead for both the Army as an institution and serving Army personnel as individuals.
Sources said the Indian Army has sent out the new Policy to all its formations and it will take at least a month to reach everybody down the line but when fully understood, the guidelines are expected to bring in more transparency in the Indian Army’s internal as well as external communications.
Follow our WhatsApp channel