IESM donates towards Leh flood relief

Dear Colleagues,
The veterans under the aegis of the IESM, had voluntarily donated funds for the victims of the recent Leh floods. We wanted to hand over this amount to the Army authorities so that it could be utilised for genuine purpose. Accordingly, a team comprising Krit Joshipura, Satbir Singh, Vinod Gandhi and self handed over a cheque of Rs 2,75,000.00 to the Adjutant General Lt Gen Mukesh Sabharwal today at the Army HQ. His senior Staff colleagues were also present. The gesture was much appreciated and the event was covered by the Army PRO.

There seems some apprehension in the minds of some colleagues that the govt does not understand what OROP actually is and the onus of educating the officialdom lies on the ESM. While the concern on the subject is understandable, the assumption of govt ignorance may not be justified. Let us consider following facts:

The government has consistently rejected the demand for OROP. It may not be prudent to assume that they have been rejecting a demand without even understanding its basis.

The Madan Lal Khurana Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence in 2003 had computed the cost of OROP as Rs 613.78 Crore, which recommendation was finally rejected by the GOI. This exact figure could not have been possible if the understanding of OROP by the concerned were nebulous.

Recently the government has rejected OROP on administrative, legal and financial grounds. We should not be assuming that the government has rejected it without even knowing what the financial cost is, which implies their understanding of OROP.

OROP being our primary demand such concern is understandable. However, we should avoid imagining difficulties where probably these do not exist.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM