Armed Forces Veterans symbol of unity

Dear Brig Kamboj,
I am sending you another article under the caption "A FORMIDABLE UNIFICATION OF DEFENCE VETERANS" published in Free Press, Indore Edition on Sunday, December, 5, 2010, for disseminating to our readers. Please specifically see the Paras in blue regarding Manish Tiwari and the second last Para about resolve of IESM.
Thanking you.
Col LK Anand Retd

Free Press, Indore, Sunday, December, 5, 2010 By Col LK Anand RetdA FORMIDABLE UNIFICATION OF DEFENCE VETERANS
The Sixth Pay Commission although gave a telling blow to the hopes and aspirations of the Defence Forces, by miserably lowering and compromising their status, financial benefits and morale, worse than a setback on a battlefield, for which the Government can never be excused, yet it has to a great extent helped in unification of the entire lot of Ex Servicemen or veterans in India and to a large extent the serving Soldiers as well. It is an equally sad moment for the loyal courageous and brave members of the three services viz Army, Navy and Air Force and lakhs of veterans including war wounded, disabled and widows who felt ignored, humiliated, degraded and denigrated by the Pay Commission Report, to realize that their overall unhappiness and disappointment has not moved any sections of the Indian society, including the Government and the bureaucracy, who seem to be least concerned about the deep pain in their hearts over such inept and indifferent handling of their cause.

The media who starts flashing/breaking News on the slightest of insignificant happenings in the country, do not seem to have budged at all, at the number of articles written, demonstrations made and concerns shown by various Ex Servicemen organizations and representatives of the forces to them, about the unfairness with which the Sixth Pay Commission has formulated their recommendations. These recommendations pleased very few, but have displeased the vast majority and the main fighting elements of the Defence forces especially the Defence Veterans. The media had plenty of time and space for covering insignificant events, but had no time or inclination for covering even the investiture of brave Indian sons of the soil many of whom laid down their lives for the Nation, by the Supreme Commander of Indian Armed Forces (the President). The media invariably takes great interest in publicizing senseless serials of the like of “Big Boss” and “Rakhi Ka Insaaf” but is not interested in covering the bravery of Indian Soldiers. What a pity and a shame on the Indian Media?

Incidentally, the situation has now changed drastically from what it used to be earlier, when the ill feelings of servicemen were always moderated and motivated by their military leaders, to happily and without a frown to accept the decisions of the Government. These decisions were based invariably on the ill advice of the bureaucracy who never permitted the three services to flourish the way it was desired by their leaders. Now a time has come when the serving soldiers and veterans will not accept the disgrace and humiliation, being meted out to them by all and sundry lying down, and accept anything less than their justified needs and demands.

The veterans who earlier were dispersed in all parts of the country and hardly had any worthwhile identity as a group, have now decided to unify themselves throughout the Nation, and their leaders have started a movement to approach every nook and corner of the country to make their voice heard and feelings known to as many colleagues and subordinates as possible. The IT revolution has given a big boost to their awareness, not only of the unification movement but also of highlighting the genuine and legitimate demands of one and all. There is every possibility, that now such a unified movement of the veterans, with support of the serving soldiers, who would eventually be also veterans in the near future, would become an even more sizable force to reckon with and effectively and surely affect the election process of this country. There is no dearth of able leadership to guide their destiny in the desired direction. Such vast majority of a class of citizens, definitely deserve some reserved seats in the Lok Sabha as well as in the Rajya Sabha.

In the past two years on the basis of a call from the veterans’ leadership there was a tremendous response not only from the veterans of various states in over 60 cities of the country, but also from their circle of influence and impact amongst their families, friends and various associations linked with them. It may be a point to ponder that the veterans in the country numbering over 25 to 30 lacs and the serving soldiers numbering over 10 lacs possess sufficient power of numbers, to influence over 2.5 to 3 crores of the population of the country, which by all means can guide the course of any general election in the country. This inherent but latent strength and power of the total population of the Defence forces serving and retired personnel had never been harnessed in the past.

However, with the bureaucracy’s continued indifference towards the cause of the Defence Forces, their negative advice to the Government and the politicians against the will of the Defence Forces, has resulted in the Government succumbing and totally ignoring them. This has lead to continued degradation humiliation and denigration of their status and reputation (Izzat – upon which a soldier survives and functions under grave situations) ever since India attained freedom, causing detrimental effect, not only on their financial benefits but also on general lowering of their morale. This is bound to undoubtedly affect their battle worthiness in the long run. The country can ill afford such a situation as this could cause irreparable damage to its external as well as internal security and safety, knowing full well that the posture adopted by India’s neighbours is much more aggressive than ever before. The internal situation caused by Maoists, Naxalites and other militants is also highly unsatisfactory and may cause more serious problems than assessed by the Home Ministry.

It is indeed a shocking display of adamancy, on the part of the Government, duly misguided by the bureaucracy, to not only give a favourable consideration to the justified demands of the veterans, but also for totally ignoring and closing their eyes to the reality, as also the recommendations of some State Governments The Supreme Court and various high powered committees constituted by the Government itself. It is difficult to fathom any justified reasons, for the Government to have become hindrance in the path of granting rightful and just demand of One Rank One Pension (OROP), and to deny it even after acceptance by almost all the ruling Governments in the past 26 years. The Government seems to have totally closed its eyes, towards the disparities faced by its gallant soldiers, subjected to truncated service as compared to its other employees. There is evidence enough of its promise by the Congress party before the last Lok Sabha elections as well, as shown below.

“The Congress spokesman Shri Manish Tiwari had advocated in Ludhiana on 14 March 2009, for one rank one pension scheme for the ex servicemen across the country. An extract of the clipping of the news item in Punjab Newsline, Saturday, 14 March 2009, Tewari Advocates One Rank One Pension For Ex Servicemen.

LUDHIANA: The national spokesperson of the All India Congress Committee, Manish Tewari has advocated the one rank one pension scheme for the ex servicemen across the country. In a statement issued here on Saturday, Tewari said, he and his party were working out a comprehensive package for the ex servicemen with one rank one pension as the main focus. He said, although the one rank one pension scheme had been implemented till 1986, it is being extended to include all the ex-servicemen. Referring to some reports claiming that he was not in favour of one rank one pension, Tewari clarified that these were absolutely false and baseless. He asserted, the issue of my opposition to the one rank one pension does not arise as me and my party have always held the view that all the ex-servicemen should be governed by this policy. Tewari promised that once the Congress government is formed at the centre after the general elections, implementation of one rank one pension scheme would be his top priority as he believed that this was quite a justified demand.”

The Congress could have certainly shown magnanimity and granted the wish, at least after winning the elections.

A point worthy of note is that the Sixth Pay Commission had been rather liberal with the higher rung of officers of the three Services, which has created a general impression amongst the lower staff of the Defence Forces, that even their own big bosses though in a negligible strength, are not much concerned about the welfare and improvement in the lot of the lower and middle rung of officers, JCOs and the Other Ranks, and have become sycophants of the Government, as well as of the bureaucracy, for feathering their own nests by obtaining post retirement benefits in the form of lucrative and high posts for themselves. So they prefer to keep their mouths shut instead of taking firm stands when required, with the Government for getting the desired benefits for the lower staff. The Adarsh scam has unexpectedly and substantially tarnished the image of the top brass of Army as well as Navy. Involvement of big wigs amongst political and bureaucratic hierarchy, in such scams can always be expected in keeping with their culture and influence. They would go scot free anyhow.

The general feeling and expectation amongst the staff, this time was, that their top level superior officers, would not follow their predecessors, but would take a firm stand and some drastic and unexpected steps, so that the Government and the bureaucracy is compelled to accept, what is best for the Defence Forces and their subordinates get what had been sought for them and nothing less. It was also expected that all the top rung serving officers and the veterans in high posts of the Government, such as even Governors or Lt Governors, would put their foot down and pressurize the Government to fully and finally honour the recommendations or submit their resignations. But alas, nothing like that happened, and most of those officers maintained a neutral and indifferent stand, to let the bureaucracy and the Government play merry hell into the aspirations of the rest of the defence forces including the Veterans.

It is a pity that all the calls for getting justice from the government, so far have fallen on deaf ears and no solutions to the demands appear to be in sight. One of the largest organization of Defence Veterans ie IESM after due deliberations as an unified organization of veterans, has resolved that they would continue their peaceful struggle/agitation until the minimum genuine overdue demand of One Rank one Pension, without any exceptions is accepted by the Government, besides fully restoring the Status & respect of the Defence Forces Personnel, downgraded ever since the post independence era.

My personal view is that, since, the newly unified organization of the Defence veterans, would be a formidable and reckonable force, the Government should also consider reserving a few seats for them in the Lok Sabha as well as in the Rajya Sabha.
Col LK Anand (Retd)