Impact of Globalisation on Social Security: A Case Study of Army PBOR

 

Dr. Surinder Singh Nehra¹ , Dr. Ummed Singh²*

¹Assistant Professor, Department of HSS, The LNM Institute of Information Technology (Deemed University), Jaipur, India

 

ABSTRACT:

This paper examines the impact of globalisation on social security of the retired army Personnel below Officer Rank (PBOR) with special reference to Southern Command, Pune. The resettlement training programmes for army PBOR is a social security indicator. The focus in the paper is on testing the impact of globalisation through the two major indicators - post-retirement employment and post-retirement income of army PBOR. Multiple regression test has been applied to find out the influence of globalisation on social security. The paper concludes that the retired army PBOR is more vulnerable to globalization. The efficacy of the resettlement training programmes is reduced due to globalisation and the social security programmes for army PBOR need re-structuring.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

With the implementation of the New Industrial Policy of 1991 (Liberalization, Privatization and Globalisation) adopted under the changed economic conditions in India, the issue of social security has assumed greater significance than ever before. Changing economic policy is making Indian economy more competitive and more open than before. It can be realized that economic adjustment could adversely affect the levels of employment, income of labour. In this changed scenario the retired defence personnel especially the army PBOR cannot escape and remain isolated from the impact of globalisation. PBOR includes personnel from other ranks (ORs) in the order of Sepoy, Lance Naik, Naik, Havaldar and Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) like NaibSubedar, Subedar and Subedar Major respectively.

 

It is a normal belief that social security measures of army PBOR is satisfactory and effective but real experiences are different. In the changed economy, it has become a challenge for the retired army PBOR to find a job and earn adequate income. Globalisation presents formidable challenges to social security of PBOR because it gives rise to increased uncertainty and risk with respect to employment and income after the retirement. Thus, the existing social security measures are proving inadequate in the new economic environment. As the concept of social security is multi-dimensional; therefore all the aspects of social security cannot be taken in the paper.

 

 

 

Among all the components of social security, the paper is focusing more on employment and income i.e., economic security.

 

Hence, this paper tries to analyze the impact of globalisation on social security especially in terms of income and employment for the retired army Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBOR)from Southern Command, Pune.

 

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

The armed forces are required to maintain a youthful profile to optimize their operational efficiency. Consequently, a large number of the Armed Forces personnel retire in the young age group of 35-47 years. Approximately, every year about 60,000 service personnel are retired or released from the army, navy and air force. Most of them are army PBOR. They are in the prime of their life at the time of their retirement and have maximum financial and domestic responsibilities. The army PBOR in comparison to army officers are less educated, low skilled, have low level of awareness about the civilian situations. On the other hand, the navy and air force personnel in the same strata possess more technical, academic skills and abilities.

 

Hence, after the retirement the army PBOR finds themselves ill-equipped in finding a suitable job andaffected most by the globalisation after the retirement. The training and skills acquired by them in the armed forces are not always of direct relevance in the rapidly changing competitive market.

 

To overcome these post-retirement employment problems, the army PBOR is given resettlement training in the areas of security services, fire protection, management, information technology and computers, travel and tourism including adventure tourism, entrepreneurship & small business management, technical (including medical) trades, non-technical trades, secretarial support services, agro based industry, vocational courses like poultry, dairy farming, bakery, printing, vehicle repairs, legal assistance etc. The resettlement training programmes is managed by the Directorate General of Resettlement (DGR) which operates under Ministry of Defence (MOD). These programmes are a part of social security benefits which helps them to find suitable employment opportunities after the retirement. It also acts as a compensatory measure to protect the army PBOR from the negative impact of globalisation especially poor employment opportunities and low income after the retirement in civil life.

 

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Most of the studies on social security of veterans are carried in the USA. Burns, Eveline M (1949) in the paper titled “The American social security system” discussed the economic security available to veterans in the USA. Whereas, in India, the studies are carried out on the need of resettlement; problems faced by defence personnel in civil life and need for the resettlement of retired defence personnel. Parmar, Leena (1999), Kishore, Satyendra (1991), Singh, M.K. (1985) carried out a study on resettlement of ESM (Ex-servicemen) and the socialization   problems faced by them within society as well as at family level. Mahajan, R.N. (2001), Kapoor, S.B.L. (2002) analysed the insecurity faced by ESM in civilian life with respect to the resettlement and welfare of ESM in India. Anbarasu, V., Bisht, B.S. (2008), Balaram, K (1999) examined the existing structure of resettlement and welfare agencies and suggested changes to provide effective welfare to ESM.

 

There are few studies based on the exact relationship between globalisation and social security. Most of the studies analysed globalisation in relation to its impact on the welfare state. Studies related to globalisation and social security confirms that globalisation is affecting the social security system.  Dutt, Amitava Krishna and J. Mohan Rao(2011), found that employment and wages are the most important potential channels through which the impact of globalisation can be felt. Therefore, it requires redesigning of social security.

 

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

The main objective of the study is to examine the impact of globalisation on social security system with special focus on retired army PBOR of Southern Command, Pune.

 

FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY:

The sample selected for the study is from Southern Command, Pune.  It is the largest command in the country. Therefore, the retired army PBOR from Southern Command, Pune is also high. Consequently, the number of PBOR applying for re-employment in ZilaSainik Welfare Office (ZSWO), Pune is also high. It will justify our sample selection of Southern Command, Pune. 

 

This study is on primary data collected through the means of a structured questionnaire from 200 respondents from Southern Command, Pune registered with ZSWO, Pune for re-employment assistance from 1991 to 2011.Convenience and purposive sampling technique was used to collect the primary data.

To assess the impact of globalisation on the social security of PBOR, the major variables selected for the study are - retirement age, pension, educational levels, resettlement training, in-service skill, social security and welfare benefits and the image of army personnel. The impact of globalisation varies on PBOR according to age, pension, educational levels, resettlement training, in-service skill, social security and welfare benefits and the image of army personnel. All this is reflected in terms of resettlement after retirement which is determined from the level post-retirement employment and income. In the paper, the impact of globalisation is hypothesized as positive (+), negative  (-) or open-ended (+/-) in the following manner:

 

H₁: The relationship of the retirement age and the pension status at the time of retirement is hypothesized as negative with post-retirement employment and open-ended with income.

 

H₂: The relationship of education and resettlement training with post-retirement employment and income is positive.

 

H₃: There is a positive relationship of social security and welfare benefits and in-service skill with employment and income.

 

H₄: The image as an army personnel have a positive relationship with employment and income.

 

In order to determine the impact of globalisation on the efficiency of social security, resettlement management and welfare policies, variations are explained in post-retirement employment (Y₁) and post-retirement income (Y₂). The seven significant explanatory variables have been selected for framing the model to prove the hypotheses on the basis of primary data are as follows:

1.        Age at the time of retirement (X₁)             

2.        Pension status at the time of retirement (X₂)

3.        Increase in education level during service (X₃)  

4.        Training acquired during service (X₄)

5.        Index of social security and welfare benefits (X₅)

6.        In-service skill developed (X₆)

7.        Image as an army personnel (X₇)

 

Y_i =

b₀ + b₁X₁ + b₂X₂ + b₃X₃ + b₄X₄ + b₅X₅ + b₆X₆ + b₇X₇ + u

 

Where, Y_i = Dependent variable (i = Y₁ - post-retirement employment and Y₂ - post retirement income)

 

X₁…X₇ = Independent variables

 

b₀ = Intercept

 

b₁…b₇ = Slope of the estimated regression equation associated with X₁…X₇ (Regression coefficients)

 

u = is the disturbance term.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Multiple regression analysis is carried to determine the relationship of dependent variable i.e. post-retirement employment and post-retirement income with seven significant independent (explanatory) variables (X₁-X₇) and develop the above model for proving the hypotheses. In order to test the hypotheses, above seven independent variables of the model are taken combined. But the testing is done separately to find the separate impact of all the seven independent variables on employment and income. The results of multiple regression are shown in table 1.

 

Table 1 Regression results

Source: computed. Note *represents 5 % level of significance and **  10% level of significance.

 

 

MODEL SUMMARY:

The estimated multiple regression coefficients for the independent variables are shown as a model summary in the table 2.

 

Table 2 Model summary

Summary	Dependent Variable = Y1	Dependent Variable = Y2
R2	.148	.164
Adjusted R2	.117	.134
F-ratio	4.77	5.38
Degree of freedom	192	192

Source: Computed

 

From the summary it can be seen that how well the model fits the data. The model summary in the table 2 displays R², adjusted R², F-ratio and degree of freedom.

 

The strength of association in multiple regression is measured by the square of the multiple correlation coefficient, R², which is also called the coefficient of multiple determination. The value of R² is found to be 0.148 and 0.164.  The value of R² is found to be very low. This indicates that the combined effect of the selected variables is not strong enough to explain a significant variation in the dependent variables.

Table 3 Results of hypotheses testing

Source: Computed

 

 

 

Adjusted R² attempts to correct R² to more closely reflect the goodness of fit of the model in the population. The value of adjusted R square is 0.117 and 0.134 respectively. The value of adjusted R²is also found to be very low. Small values indicate that the model does not fit the data well.

 

The F-ratio is used to determine whether the variances in two independent samples are equal. Here, F-ratio 4.77 and 5.38 shows that the models are significant.

 

From the above hypotheses testing results, it can be inferred that the variables like age at the time of retirement, educational level at the time of retirement, resettlement training acquired during service and in-service skill developed are negatively influenced by globalisation and it is reflected in post-retirement employment and post-retirement income. Whereas, globalisation is not able to exercise noticeable influence on the other variables such as pension status at the time of retirement, social security and welfare benefits and image of army personnel.

 

 

LIMITATIONS:

The study has some limitations. It considers only the retired army PBOR of Southern Command, Pune registered with ZilaSainik Welfare Office (ZSWO), Pune for re-employment assistance from 1991 to 2011. Further, the impact of globalisation on social security of retired army PBOR is analysed with respect to employment and income only.

 

CONCLUSION:

In this paper an attempt has been made to study the impact of globalisation on social security of retired army PBOR from Southern Command, Pune. The study shows that social security measures of army PBOR need special attention because of the changed global economic scenario. The retired army PBOR is more vulnerable to globalisation due to retirement in early age, low educational qualification and mismatch of skill sets in the civilian jobs which is reflected in poor employment opportunities and poor income after the retirement. Though, the social security benefits, resettlement training were revised after the economic reforms, but their effectiveness falls short in the globalised world. Therefore, the new risk, as a result of globalisation process since 1991 in the country necessitates the restructuring of social security programmes, resettlement management for the retired army PBOR.

 

REFERENCES:

1.        Anbarasu, V., (2007), Army Human Resource in Aid of Nation Building, USI Digest, Vol. IX, No. 18, March 2007 – August 2007

2.        Balaram, K (1999), A Department for Welfare of Ex-servicemen: A proposal, Journal of United Service Institution of India, Vol. CXXIX, No. 535, January-March, 1999

3.        Bisht, D.S. (2008), Welfare of Armed Forces personnel, Journal of the United Service Institution of India, Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 573, July-Sept. 2008

4.        Dutt, Amitava Krishna and J Mohan Rad (Ed. 2001) India: globalization and its social   discontents, Oxford University Press, New York.

5.        Kapoor, S.B.L. (2002), Human Resource Management In The Army – Planning for the future,  Knowledge World, New-Delhi

6.        Kesavan, Lal (2004), Human Resource and National Power – Armed Forces Ex-Servicemen – From Security to Nation Building, USI Digest, Vol. VI, No. 12, March 2004-August 2004

7.        Kishore, Satyendra (1991), Resettlement of Ex-servicemen in India: Problems Patterns and Prospects, Concepts Publishing Company, New Delhi

8.        Mahajan, R.N. (2001), A career in India’s Armed forces – How to make it more attractive, Ocean Books Pvt. Ltd., New-Delhi

9.        Nehra, S.S. and Athawale, Sunita(2015), Globalization, Social Security and Indian Armed Forces, G.B. Books, New-Delhi

10      Parmar, Leena (1999), Resettlement of Ex-servicemen in india: Problems of Army Socialisation and Adjustment, Vedam Books, New Delhi

10.     Singh, Jagjit (1999), Re-employment of Ex-servicemen, Journal of United Service Institution of India, Vol. CXXIX, No. 535, January-March, 1999

12.     Singh, M.K. (1985), Resettlement Problems of Retired Army Officers, Mittal Publications, New -Delhi

 

 

Received on 06.06.2017

Modified on 21.06.2017

Accepted on 30.06.2017

© A&V Publications all right reserved

Research J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 8(2): April- June, 2017, 172-176.