"The Indian bureaucracy is fighting a silent war against the Indian Armed Forces," said General Nath only recently. With the principal segment of the Government arraigned against the Armed Forces why should any one want to join the Armed Forces. In any case what does a career in the Armed Forces have to offer to the Indian youth, looking for the pot of gold at the end of rainbow? The book, 'Third Rate Citizens' brings out very lucidly the shenanigans of the bureaucracy and the subterfuges to hoodwink the officers and the men of the Armed Forces. It brings out the sleight of hand used by the government agencies to fool them. The Indian Government is the only government that has waged a war against her own armed forces almost, as if they were an alien force. In Sri Lanka even while the Indian jawans were dying in the Government instigated fight against the LTTE. The LTTE cadres were being armed, provided safe havens, for rest and recuperation by the Indian Government. To the extent that they were even being treated in the same hospitals where the Indian jawans had been admitted. The only difference was that the LTTE cadres were getting VIP and preferential treatment in the Indian Military hospitals. The 'Third Rate Citizens' goes into the conditions why there is already a shortfall in the strength of the Armed Forces. The author has analysed the P Factor (Pay, Perks and Prestige) that has lead to the short fall. And yet in an employers' market with a huge army of unemployed in the country, the officers and the jawans are still wanting to leave the Armed Forces. Why? Read 'The Third Rate Citizens and get the answer. Yet the Indian Government and the people cannot do without the Armed Forces. Be it a war, or a riot or a law and Order problem, or even a flood or an earthquake. There is just one cry. Call Out The Army! To the extent that the modern Indian youth cannot even dream of getting married without an Army Band in attendance. While the First half of the book tackles the various conditions to which an officer or a jawan is faced with to the detriment of the Services, the Second half deals with the progression of the Pay and Perks of the Armed Forces from the First Pay Commission onwards. It shows how by a juggling with words the Armed Forces got a short shrift which culminated in the virtual mutiny in the Indian Air Force. A number of readers have stated that this book is a must read for the members of the Armed Forces, as well as public at large, so that they know how the bureaucracy, for their own ulterior motives, has been out to destroy the last instrument of the state.

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