IESM: March for Justice- 25 Oct 2009

Dear Veterans,
The IESM appeals to all ESM to unite in our efforts to get justice by joining us to deposit maximum medals on 25 Oct 2009 at Jantar Mantar from 10 AM to 2 PM. The delegation will then move to Rashtrapati Bhawan to deposit the medals with the President. Our fight is against the injustice of the Government. Let us, therefore unite and execute a strong and peaceful Movement in a dignified manner to obtain Justice for the Defence Forces.

When we deposit our medals with the President on 25 Oct 09, we also wish to solicit the support of the people of India for our cause to get our legitimate Pension Parity. All methods till date have failed and hence the continuation with the protest by depositing our gallantry and Service medals. We have already met/ had meetings/ written letters to/ given presentations as follows:

Our former Chiefs have written to and met PM Dr Manmohan Singh.

Delegations have met Mrs Sonia Gandhi Chairperson UPA

Met Sh Rahul Gandhi.

A number of meetings with Defence Minister Mr. AK. Antony have taken place.

A number of representations made to Government functionaries.

A large number of articles have been written

A large number of discussions have taken place on the electronic media on various TV channels.

MPs, both from the UPA Government and the opposition, have been met and they have been given presentations.

MPs have raised questions in the Parliament.

In short, every possible method has been tried, but Government continues to ignore our demand of OROP. Even the enhancement of pension of JCOs and ORs announced by the Government has not yet been implemented. No orders have yet been issued. So dear veterans, we appeal to you all to volunteer and deposit of medals in large numbers to convey our anguish and hurt feelings for not giving due consideration to our demand of OROP. We will request the media to give in strong coverage to bring facts of our case to the notice of the people of India. Just look at the injustice, a old pensioner Sepoy with 17 years of service gets Rs 3500 per month whereas Sepoy with same years of service who retired after 01 Jan 2006 gets Rs 7045 as pension. Is this not “Injustice of the gravest proportions”?
UNITED WE WIN DIVIDED WE FALL.
With Kind Regards,
Jai Hind
Yours Sincerely,
Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh, SM
Vice Chairman Indian ESM Movement
HINDI version
Defence Service Pensioners seem to be the forgotten lot of people in application of pension parity. Apparently the government has no time to redress this profound inequity and the skewed pensions created by each Pay Commission culminating in total degradation of the Armed Forces. Monstrous pension sub- sects like pre 1996, pre 2006 and post 2006 have been created. The issue compounding the pension disparity is that each year the government cooks the cost of living index figures. Hence, the pensions remain abysmally muted. The MP's pay is always upped by frivolous and skewed allowances and freebies. Is this democracy for the elite few?
Read about the degradation cycle
SCPC: Armed Forces Status, Pay and Pension degradation is a continuous process
Pension Parity Promises Placated on Paper?
One rank one pension for defence Personnel