Dear Veterans,
The lull that has set in is disturbing; no matter if it is the lull before the storm of forceful activity or that of complacence.
Let us review the status of Armed Forces Veteran's Pension Demand (AVPD)(click here for meaning of AVPD). True to the President’s command, the Cabinet Secretary with the able assistance of six more Secretaries from the various Departments and Ministries came up with indisputable facts (so called) from the existing records and convincingly concluded that the demand of OROP is not justified. How many promises, reviews and conclusions to deny OROP and how many more are likely to be, I wonder. The pity is that the so called facts are based on irrelevant statements from basically the Legal and Financial departments. But irrelevant or not, the conclusion is so convincing that the RM feels bound by the recommendations, that in his DOL dated 16th Aug addressed to me, he has conveyed that the recommendations are under implementation.
What did we do, when the CS was asked to make his recommendation? Did we make any effective step to ask for a discussion with either the CS or the Ministers? I sent a paper, which a few of you found to bring out our demand fairly emphatically, to the RM requesting him to forward to the CS. He appears to have done so and the CS has brushed it aside with one single comment under Para 5.1 heading Option 1, incorrectly interpreting. The voice of a single insignificant veteran is worse than silence. The fact that none, none indeed of the ESM community, felt the need to follow my paper in any manner or to initiate suitable action to profess our demand, immediately on hearing of the assignment to the CS, speaks volumes of our intentions and efforts to achieve our ambition to restore justice denied to us over decades. Let us introspect. Where do we stand?
Nothing is lost as yet. I sense that the MoD is reluctant to act on the CS’s Report. They want effective counter arguments from ESM community, based on logic, to overrule the recommendations. Well, I have done what best I could. I have sent my analysis to the RM, on 3rd Sep. IESL has done what they could. They presented a brief to the RRM on 16th Sep. Are these efforts good enough and representative of the whole of ESM community, esp., when the Ministry is aware of the existence of far too many associations and their not seeing eye to eye even in preparation of two page representation to the PM, leave alone on a proposal on AVPD?
This is an appeal to everyone of the net savvy veterans to introspect and rally together to take a most effective step to impress upon the Government, to hear us out in a systematic manner before initiating action on the CS’s Report. By any chance the words are found a bid hard hitting, forgive me. It is not with intention to hurt but only to emphasize.
Regards,
Maj Gen RN Radhakrishnan (Retd)
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