Press Release dated 15 Feb 09 regarding Return of Medals to the President by Ex Servicemen is circulated herewith.
With Kind Regards,
Jai Hind
Yours Sincerely,
Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh, SM
Vice Chairman Indian ESM Movement
Dated: 15 Feb 2009
Return of Medals to the President by Ex Servicemen
Dear Members of the Media,
1. The Indian Ex Servicemen Movement (IESM) thanks all members of Media for giving extensive coverage to our mammoth Rally at Jantar Mantar on 08 Feb 2009. The rally was to express disenchantment of the Ex Servicemen community with the non implementation of the One Rank One Pension (OROP). This emotive issue has been on the manifesto of all political parties and its implementation was promised by Mrs Sonia Gandhi at Chandigarh in 2002. Dismayed and deeply disappointed by the UPA Government reneging on its promise to implement it, many ex servicemen returned their Medals to the President consequent to the rally.
2. Utterly disappointed with the absence of any visible positive response from the Government even consequent to the trauma of returning their medals, many more ex servicemen across India have also decided to return their medals in large numbers to the President on 21 Feb 09. The State units of the IESM have been directed to collect medals centrally and bring these to Jantar Mantar, New Delhi from where these will be returned to the President- The Supreme Commander of Defence Forces of India. A letter to this effect has been written to the President by Chairman IESM (copy attached).
3. We once again appeal to the Govt to immediately implement One Rank One Pension before the elections are announced. Failing this, our movement will be intensified across the country to bring the Congress' betrayal of our trust of Ex Servicemen to not only ALL our brothers but also the citizenry at large.
With Kind Regards,
Jai Hind
Yours Sincerely,
Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh, SM
Vice Chairman Indian ESM Movement
A letter to this effect has been written to the President by Chairman IESM (copy attached).
Lt Gen Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd)
Chairman, IESM
IESM/OROP/Medals/2009
15 February 2009
Dear Sir,
Further to my letter of even number dated 26 January 2009.
In the absence of any response from the government to their pending demand of 'one rank one pension', more Ex Servicemen have now decided to surrender their medals to the President. In some Districts, these have already been handed over to the local Deputy Commissioners for onward despatch to Delhi. In other cases, these are being sent to us for handing over centrally by the Indian Ex Servicemen Movement. You are requested to have these received at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on 21 February at 1530 hours.
The delegation carrying the medals would also like to meet the Hon'ble President and apprise her of their demand of 'one rank one pension', which had been pledged in the Congress election manifesto in the last Parliamentary elections, and the pledge is being reneged now. Do kindly intimate if it would be convenient to the Hon'ble President so that the delegation can be suitably composed. I had already sought an audience vide my letter dated 24 November 2008 (copy attached), which is pending.
With best regards,
Yours sincerely,
Lt Gen Raj Kadyan
Dr Christy Fernandez
Secretary to the President
Rashtrapati Bhawan
New Delhi
Copy to:
Shri AK Antony
Hon'ble Defence Minister
South Block
New Delhi – 110 011
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