IESM: Fast for Justice Rally- eighty seventh day

Date: Saturday, 14 March, 2009, 9:56 PM
Dear Colleagues,
The Jantar mantar venue in under the charge of Gurgaon representatives.
Depositing of Medals
As planned the third tranche of medals was deposited today with the Rashtrapati Bhawan. In a very heartening development, 7,500 medals were collected and sent off to the Supreme Commander for safe custody till our demands are met. Press covered the event at Jantar Mantar. A Press Note issued on the occasion is attached.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM

Date: Saturday, 14 March, 2009, 8:50 PM
Dear Colleagues,
Gurgaon contingent is looking after the Jantar mantar venue.
Spread of Awareness
It is heartening to know that the cause being pursued by the IESM has aroused great awareness. Many ESM (and even others) in gatherings mention the subject and talk of the effort in appreciative terms. Credit goes to all members of the team that have been working relentlessly on the issue, as well as to all other well-wisher ESM colleagues who bless us with support, advice and guidance. History is in the making. We are only seeing the beginning of the great wave. It is destined to turn into a tsunami.
Return of Medals
All is buttoned up for the return of the third trannche of medals on Marh 14. The President is out to Varanasi and the staff would receive the medals on her behalf. Police escort to take the team to Rashtrapati Bhawan is lined up. Press is aware and is expected to cover the event like before.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM

Press Release: 14 March 2009Today the third tranche of Ex Servicemen are depositing their medals with the President and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. The medals have been sent from all over India. The soldiers must have parted with their medals with a heavy heart, with nary a dry eye. The medals are the sodier’s most visible link with his larger family ie the armed forces. These are his ornament, his jewellery that he still wears on his aging chest. These are a record of his gallantry, his meritorious service, record of his participation in various wars, a sumtotal of his military achievements.
No one willingly parts with his most prized possession. If the Ex Servicemen are doing so, it is because of extreme provocation. This is a provocation of injustice. They have been consistently demanding justice in grant of pensions. Pension being a payment for past services rendered, logic demands that two individuals rendering equal service should get equal pension. In other words we are demanding that an old pensioner should get the same pension as a new pensioner, provided they both have rendered equal length of service and have retired from the same rank. This forms the basis of the demand of ‘one rank one pension’ (OROP). It is a demand for equity and not for more pension per se.

OROP is an old demand, promised by different political parties but later ignored. In their election manifesto for the 2004 Parliamentary elections, the Congress Party had said, ‘The long pending issue of one-rank one-pension will once again be re-examined and the satisfactory solution arrived at expeditiously’. However, the government led by the same party has now rejected the demand citing administrative, financial and legal diffulties. These so-called difficulties must have been there even in 2004 when the Congress Party drafted their manifesto. The only thing that has changed is the fiscal health of the country. Our economy today is happily much healthier and the government is in a much better position to pay the military veterns their just due.

The ‘administrative difficulty’ is reportedly born out of a perceived apprehension that in case OROP were granted to the military pensioners, it could raise similar demand from other civilian employees. This amounts to comparing unequals. Military service is unique and cannot be compared to any other government service. Consider the following salient differences:

The defence personnel live under conditions of extreme hardship and operate on a 24X7 cycle in an environment of perpetual danger to their life and limb.

Most of the defence personnel stay separated from their families during their entire service and are not able to meet the usual family obligations expected of them. They do not see their children grow up.

Nearly 85% of defence personnel are compulsariy retired at 35-42 years of age when their financial needs are at their peak. They are the only ones who retire by rank, while all other government employees retire by age.

There is no provision for a second career for the early retirees.

Since the pension is related to last pay drawn, those who retire early – and at a relatively lower salary – are granted a meagre pension. Thus, not only do they lose the earnings that would have accrued if they were to serve upto the age if sixty like others, they also get a lower pension. They thus suffer a double disadvantage. Just to take one example, if a military person and a police person were to retire in the lowest rank of Sepoy/Constable, and they both survived till 75 years, the cumulative earnings of a Constable would be higher by Rs 47.35 Lac.

Even in a no-war scenario, the prolonged involvement in counter insurgency operations takes a heavy toll. In the last 20 years in J&K alone, we have been losing nearly 400 military personnel every year.

The ‘legal difficulties’ too appear more an excuse than a reason. When it wants, the government always skirts around legal hurdles through a legislative route. It is just a question of having the desire and a ‘will’ to implement a policy.
The demand for OROP is neither unique nor extraordinary. This provision is already applicable to the President, the Vice President, the Governors, the judges, the Members of Parliament/Legislative Assemblies, Secretaries and Special Secretaries to the Government of India and several others. We are only demanding to be treated equal. Inequity hurts more than inadequacy.

The Ex-Servicemen, determined to keep their efforts peaceful and within the law, have been sitting on a relay fast at Jantar Mantar since the 16th of December 2008. So far, there has been no resonse from the government. The ongoing efforts of the Ex Servicemen under the Indian Ex Servicemen Movement have united them across the country. They are all together in this just demand of OROP and are determined to continue trying till they get justice.

In the prevailing milieu, it is mainly the wards of the Ex Servicemen themselves, who are joining the armed forces. Though we sincerely hope and wish it does not happen, but when a serving soldier sees his family elder being treated with such indifference by the authorities, then being a future pensioner himself, he may get adversely affected. One shudders to think of the consequences if that feeling took root.

Lt Gen Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman

The Hindu Report
Ex-servicemen return 7,500 gallantry medals over pension spat
New Delhi (IANS): In pursuit of their demand for 'one rank one pension', retired soldiers of varying ranks here on Saturday returned 7,500 medals won in combat and for distinguished service.

Thousands of veterans gathered earlier in the day at the Jantar Mantar observatory in the heart of the national capital for the protest.

“This is for the third time that we collected the medals from across the country and returned them to the president. A 10-member team including two widows went to the President House and returned the medals,” commodore (retd) Lokesh Batra said.

On the first occasion, the ex-soldiers had returned 2,500 medals to a representative of the president. On the second occasion, over 3,000 medals were returned.

The veterans under the aegis of the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement are demanding that irrespective of the date on which the soldier retires, he or she should get the same pension, which rises every time there is a wage revision.

The demand has now arisen because of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, which did not address the 'one rank one pension' issue. The government has rejected the demand on administrative and financial grounds.
Ex-servicemen return 7,500 gallantry medals over pension spat