'Seniors sell our food, we go hungry': Jawan alleges massive Army corruption

A Jawan's series of videos on Facebook allege massive corruption by 'seniors' in the Army. The BSF Jawan's videos have gone viral, with Rajnath Singh and the BSF acknowledging the video. An investigation has begun into the soldier and his allegations.

A BSF jawan, deployed along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir, alleged that troops are served bad quality food and even have to manage with an "empty stomach" sometimes, prompting the border guarding force to initiate an inquiry.

Asianet Newsable has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the video or the allegations made in it. However, at 10 pm on Monday night, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh acknowledged the video and stated that he has asked for a report, via his official Twitter handle.

In the video (embedded below), Jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, of the 29 BSF Battalion, says the following -

"To all of the citizens of my country, I wish you Namaskar, good morning and Jai Hind. Today, I want to make a request to you. I am a Jawan of the 29 BSF battalion. Amid this snow, from morning 6 am to evening 5 pm we perform our duty, that too while standing. No matter how much it snows, rains or how the wind blows, we do our duty in these circumstances.

Perhaps you are watching the view behind me. The view might look good in a photograph, but our real situation is neither shown by any media nor heard by any minister. No matter who forms the government, our situation is the same - terrible.

I shall share three videos with you after this. I ask you to show these videos to the media and politicians of the entire nation, so that they may see the injustice and cruelty meted out to us by our seniors.

It is not my wish to blame any particular government. Because the government provides us with everything and all equipment. However, higher-ups sell and swallow everything, leaving us with nothing, in these circumstances.

In such situations, many times Jawans even end up sleeping with empty stomachs. I shall show you what we get for breakfast in the morning. We get one Parata and nothing else with it - neither pickle nor any side dish. Only tea is served. I shall also show you our noon lunch, with consists of dal, with only turmeric powder and salt - and nothing else. I shall also show you the state of the rotis.

I say once again, the Indian government provides us with everything, everything comes from the Indian government's side. The stores are full. But everything ends up on the open market.

There should be an investigation into where the items go and who sells them.

I request our honourable Prime Minister to please conduct an investigation into this.

Friends, after I post this video, it is possible I may not remain alive. Because seniors have a long reach. They can do anything with me. Anything can happen to me.

So please share this video as much as possible so that all media focuses on it and finds out in what circumstances the Jawan is currently in.

Jai Hind"

As promised, there are two more videos, which show the parathas and the dal, in what appears to be a soldier's barracks and possibly a field kitchen.

A senior BSF official said Yadav is currently deployed along the Line of Control in J&K and the BSF jawans here work under the operational command of the army which also provides for “food and other logistics of the jawans”.

It has also been found, the official said, that Yadav has been given four major punishments in the past and has been issued reprimands for alleged violation of discipline.

"However, the force has already ordered a full investigation into the allegations made by Yadav who joined the force in 1996," the official said, adding the jawan has also applied for voluntary retirement.