IESM: Chairman's Desk

Date: Thursday, 14 May, 2009, 10:35 PM
Dear Colleagues,
The whole country is in the grip of political speculation. We the ESM remain firm in our resolve to keep OROP in cross-hairs. We will not rest till we get what is our right.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM

extract from Maj Navdeeps weblog
Are we reading correctly ???
Times of India reports here that faced with a query from the Election Commission, cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar has now denied that the government has constituted any special committee for the purpose of examining ‘parity in pensions’ of defence personnel. TOI further adds that the government obviously has backtracked in face of the danger of being pulled up for violating the model code of conduct by announcing the decision bang in the middle of elections.

But here is a Congress Advertisement issued by the party on Page 12 of Punjab Kesari today and as we can all see here, it clearly talks of setting up of the ibid committee. Kindly also note that the said advertisement also directly talks not of any vague concept of ‘parity in pensions’ but unambiguously of ‘One Rank – One Pension’ in no uncertain terms.

TOI and Congress, please reconcile. Is there a catch somewhere, or is there something we are missing here ??? :-)
Brig Kiran Krishan, Convener IESM

UPA GOVT MISLEADS DEFENCE PERSONNEL FOR ELECTORAL GAINS: CONSTITUTION OF COMMITTEE TO GRANT OROP
Dear Members of the Media,
1. The UPA Govt announced the constitution of high powered committee to review grant of One Rank One Pension (OROP) and address anomalies of 6th Pay Commission. This was announced on 4th May 2009, three days prior to the Elections in Northern states of Haryana, Part Punjab, UP and Bihar where there is a large concentration of Defence Personnel both serving and retired. This was a deliberate attempt by the Government to mislead the Defence Personnel to gain their sympathy for electoral gain to counter an Advisory issued by Indian Ex Servicemen Movement (IESM) to Vote for the Political party who had promised in writing in their manifesto to implement OROP (BJP).

2. We at the core group of IESM are not that naïve not to see through the mischievous game of the UPA Govt knowing fully well that this action of the Government would be struck down by the Election Commission being violative of the Election Code. Therefore, it clearly emerges that the Govt was intentionally trying to cause wrongful electoral gains to themselves. The Election Commission very rightly asked the Govt to confirm the constitution of the committee. It is surprising the Govt has now on 12 May 2009 denied having constituted the committee.

3. The UPA Government has been playing a cat and mouse game with the Defence Forces and this action reveals blatant violation of all democratic norms. The grave injustice to the Defence Forces has reached an unacceptable limit and would lead to further demoralization of Defence Personnel. In all fairness the elections held on 7th May 2009 in Northern States be countermanded.
With regards,
Jai Hind
Yours Sincerely,
Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh, SM
Vice Chairman Indian ESM Movement