Is corruption widespread in the Indian armed forces? How can it be dealt with?

At least four generals of the Indian Army are suspected to be involved in a land scandal in Sukhna cantonment in West Bengal.

One of the accused in the Sukhna land scam, Army military secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, is also under the scanner for the alleged misuse of funds to build a war memorial at Ranikhet in Uttarakhand.

Once regarded as the most incorruptible institution in India, the standards of the armed forces seem to have gone from bad to worse, leaving it facing a severe crisis of discipline. The crime rate within the Armed Forces is comparatively high in areas where it is deployed in order to suppress insurgencies and secessionist movements like Kashmir and the North-east.

An alarming rise in the number of Indian military officers charged with corruption, senior ranks leaving due to frustrating service conditions and instances in which disgruntled soldiers have shot dead their seniors have been steadily increasing. In the past few decades, the Indian Army has also experienced high-profile scandals, ranging from the Bofors case to the Kargil coffin scam.

Are these incidents indicative of a deep-rooted malaise in the Indian Army? Is corruption widespread within the armed forces, even though the Army claims to have a "record of swiftly acting against the corrupt"?