Manmohan Singh is a Fragile or a Tragic Figure

India can’t take thy barbs, oh mighty Gora Sahib
Thursday, September 06, 2012, 17:33 by Ajith Vijay Kumar
The Washington Post feels that India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a tragic failure, someone who after riding back to power in 2009 now leads a deeply corrupt government.
"Image of the scrupulously honourable, humble and intellectual technocrat has slowly given way to a completely different one: a dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government".
WASHINGTON POST BEING DEROGATORY ABOUT OUT OUR PM, OMG!! We can’t allow them to get away with this, was the common refrain that seeped out of the corridors of power in the aftermath of the terrible ‘tragedy’.
Phones were worked on right and left of Raisina Hill and in ministries on both sides of the Rajpath. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni hurriedly asked for an apology from the paper for lowering the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister, others in government condemned it.
"How can a US daily take the matter so lightly and publish something about the Prime Minister of another country? I will speak to the Ministry of External Affairs and the government will seek an apology from the daily," she said.
By day fall, the Firefighting Express had chugged across the town, TV studios, the web, high tea get-togethers and the cocktail circuit.
A Gora Sahib had done it again and that’s news… like it was when Time magazine dubbed the PM as an underachiever.
Post’s India bureau chief Simon Denyer rubbed the government the wrong way at its most sensitive spot - India and the PM’s image in the West. Manmohan Singh is an economist of repute and commands high regard in the global circuit, any wrong press coverage is a strict no no, and if coming from the Washington Post it patently alludes to bad news.
The merits of Denyer’s frontal attack on the Prime Minister may be debatable but what has predictably come out of the entire episode is the jittery reaction of the establishment to any bad news coverage from the West, especially from Uncle Sam.
While the PMO claims Denyer had apologized, The Washington Post correspondent has refuted all such claims and continues to stand by his report, further angering the mandarins in the South Block.
The latest episode has once again exposed the morbid fear of the Gora Sahib that runs deep within the Indian consciousness.
The Prime Minister’s Office will not take notice – in this magnitude – to the criticism from the Indian press, like it does with the foreign press.
Why is that we can’t take their criticism face on or even better just ignore it? How much value does a Washington Post report on Manmohan Singh’s weak spots hold for the aam janta of this country and more importantly do we need a certificate from the US of A for everything we do?
Instead of crying hoarse over what the Washington Post feels about the PM, the government would do itself good by focusing on clearing the haze that seems to have engulfed its functioning.
Indeed the government has developed the image of being a den of corruption. But, certainly, the PMO doesn’t need the Washington Post to show them the mirror.
Rather than hyperventilating on a foreigner putting a value to the PM’s worth, it is time the government starts looking inwards.
And, it is also time to stop worrying about the Gora Sahibs, the people who will vote you back to power are all brown.
India can’t take thy barbs, oh mighty Gora Sahib

Rank Pay: Will the MOD in conjunction with UOI throw more spanners?

LATEST UPDATE
IV Pay Commission Rank Pay Anomaly Case
In the case of Maj AK Dhanapalan Vs Union of India in OP 2448/96, The Hon’ble High Court of Kerela allowed the plea of the officer and held that the deduction of the rank pay was not correct and directed to re fix the basic pay of the officer from 1.1.1986. Appeal filed by the Union of India before the larger bench of the High Court & SLP in the Hon’ble Supreme Court against the judgment was dismissed. Although Govt sanction to pay arrears to Maj AK Dhanapalan were issued, the benefit was not extended to similarly placed officers of the three Services.
Similar cases were filed by a large number of officers in various courts throughout the country. The Supreme Court of India directed that such of the cases be transferred to the apex court. Retired Defence Officers Association (RDOA) has been able to transfer one of the ‘lead cases’ from Kerela to the Supreme Court.
AS ON 04 SEPT 2012
The IV CPC Rank Pay Case was finally heard today ie 04 Sept 2012, in Court no 7, in the court of Hon’ble Justices RM Lodha, TS Thakur and Anil S Dave. The appeal file by UOI for recall of order of the Hon’ble Court dated 08 March 2010 was dismissed by the Court. The court upheld its order of 08 Mar 2010. The Solicitor General spent marathon four hrs to convince the court about the legitimate deduction of the rank pay but was not able to justify the deduction of rank pay and as to fitment of pay of AF officer vis a vis a civilian offr drawing same basic pay as on 1/1/1986.
The said order will be applicable to all affected offrs of the AF wef 01/01/1986 to 01/01/2006 across board. It would also be applicable to all pending cases in various courts and AFT’s across the country on the subject case.
The interest will be applicable @ 6% wef 01/01/2006 and not 1986. This is the only change made by the court. The court has also directed that all arrears should be paid within outer limit of 3 months from today ie 04 Sept 2012.
So, the pay and pension of all affected officers of the AF are set to revise from 01/01/1986.
RDOA Blogspot
SPANNERS PROPOSED BY UOI through Solicitor General as on 11 Jan 2012
The UOI has suggested a big 'spanner' to cause delay in the IV CPC rank pay case. In its affidivit filed the UOI says that the Central Govt is open and willing to constitute an independent commission headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court to examine the correctness of the implementation of the recommendations by IV CPC related to rank pay as given in para 28.113 of its report and to make recommendations for further improvements to the proceedure for disbursement of pension to retired Armed forces personnel based on Govt orders subsequent to VI CPC recommendations THIS IS PURE HOGWASH AND ONLY TO DELAY MATTERS. RDOA IS NOT GOING TO BUY THIS LINE OF ACTION. Further it says: Apart from the enormous financial implications, actual implementation of the Hon'ble Court's order would involve the following stages;

Revision of pay of offrs on 1/1/1986, 1/1/1996, and 1/1/2006 with simultaneous revision of all pay linked allowances/benefits.

Calculation of DA on slab basis from 1/1/1986 to 31/12/1995 is time consuming

Revision of retirement benefits (gratuity, leave encashment)of offrs retiring after 1/1/1986

Revision of pension on 1/1/1986, 1/1/1996, 1/1/2006.

Revision of family pension based on revision of pension of offr

Payments to be made to legal heirs of deceased offrs

Interest @ 6 % per annum for upto 24 yrs in each case will have to be calculated and paid. This would be a protracted exercise taking a lot of time and involving huge manpower as each case will have to be examined/ calculated individually.
RDOA comment. UOI is responsible for this faux pas and should do the needful and pay the offrs their legitimate dues. The Court should raise the penalty to 18% for causing unnecessary delays in implementing court orders.

Disconnect between GOI and Armed forces grows

Disconnect between GOI and Armed forces grows – Rank Pay Shows
By IDU Analysis on September 5, 2012
No body listens to the Armed Forces in any matter is a truth. The Armed Forces have been blamed for the messed up wars and operations in 1962, 1965 and Op Pawan but no blame as in the Henderson Brooks or K Subrahmanyam or any other report goes to any bureaucrats’ or politicians’ scalp. And we want to be a Super Power but have become the No 1 Defence Importer in the world because we are a ‘Rich Nation With Fine Poor People’ and the Armed Forces are the fine poor in more sense than one.
The Armed Forces have finally won a victory of sorts on 4th Sept by going to court and there are lessons to be learnt. The Supreme Court three Judge Bench courageously decided not to interfere in its earlier decision granting the cumulative benefits and arrears of Rank Pay with effect from 01-01-1986 to all affected officers. However, the 6% interest component has been admissible on arrears from 01-01-2006 rather than 01-01-1986, because the Government cried ‘foul’ it has no money, which is true for the Armed Forces. Lets hope Chidambaram does not do some retrospective change.
Sadly the case remained pending for years and was finally argued in marathon four hour arguments by the Solicitor General Nariman Jr who had said he had a solid case appearing for the GOI on technical grounds. The SC , decided that there was no infirmity in the order passed on 08 March 2010 which the previous SC had lost but MOD appealed. The welfare of the Armed Forces is a less looked after subject with an IAS secretary warming the chair looking for loop holes only he can plug.
And today news comes Shekhar Agrawal, an IIT product Secretary, Defence Production, Ministry of Defense, Government of India will be looking after additional charge of the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare for three months. He has been screwing up private sector attempts to let Private sector defence companies enter production and has been naturally protecting PSUs. Lets see what is in store as he has his hands full in Defence Production. Welfare can wait.
All this shows there is disconnect between the MOD which should have agreed and fought for Rank Pay when the SC verdict came but it is learnt that that the Services HQ were in favour of getting the verdict implemented, The three services on the basis of a decision taken officially and categorically informed the Solicitor General in writing that the Armed Forces were not in favour of the matter being contested against the affected officers and in fact were in favour of getting the verdict of the SC dated 08 March 2010 implemented. But who listens.
Thereafter, the MOD wrote to the Services HQ asking them to withdraw the communication to the Solicitor General, however to the credit of the Services, the said communication was ultimately not withdrawn. Besides showing utter disregard for the opinion of the services in this matter, this incident also shows as to how the MoD tries to browbeat the services into accepting its views and huge nerve centre connects with UPA Chairperson the PMO drives many of these issues. Unfortunately elements of the JAG Branch also toe the line of the MoD rather than the Services for greener pastures.
This shows the dangers of the workings of the Indian government and political parties and shows the insides of national security too that straddles the philosophical divide between India’s Armed Forces and the leadership and extends to India’s foreign and military policy and hijacks the ability of the military ability to deliver. And as the picture shows China leaps ahead with economy , women power, military and nuclear muscle and intelligence which was what the out going Chinese Defence Minister came to gather with 23 others.
Another debility in India is that which ever Indian government has come to power, it has shown a quest to dominate the military by any means fair or foul and has evaded the appointment of a CDS despite Arun Singh, K Subrahmanyam and now Naresh Chandra committee having recommended. They were no fools.
It is only after examining the factors of corruption in purchases like Bofors, HDW submarines, Tehelka and now the cancelled contracts and the war Room leak case connected with absconding Lt Cdr Shakaran and Abhishek Verma that one realizes how Armed Forces are the losers while bureaucrats politicians get away. The names are known but cash leads abroad are not easy to trace.There have also been failures in wars of 1962, 1965 and Op Pawan , that one can point to ill conceived motives and failures of India’s foreign and military policy. The Armed Forces are kept at arm’s length from decision making or foreign policy and offered sops like posts of Governor or Ambassador to Naval Chiefs as one hears the post will now go to the retired Naval Chief for good work done.
Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat tried to challenge the system and took on the Deference (Sic) Minister Fernandes and Defence Secretary and DRDO Dr Kalam and asked for an audit of the ATV INS Arihant project where he was a spectator member. He got sacked under Art 311 with out rank or pay as powers rest with the Defence Minister to dismiss any inconvenient officer under Art 311 though Justice Shah when introducing the article in the Constitution asked for ‘application of mind’. More recently Gen VK Singh tried to take on the Government but failed and its said he is safe as he holds many interesting conversations his special unit tapped in to, and his daughter is an Army wife and an in house lawyer. Bhagwat was simple sailor and lives down Colaba.
With this SC Rank Case ruling and many scams the question before Indians today and the Armed Forces and educated citizens is how can we have faith that their government will steer well and honestly and keep them safe. India wants to rise but has a charted a strategy for India where bureaucrats in MOD apply yard sticks to keep the Armed Forces subservient. How clueless can Government be about scams under the Minister’s and PM’s nose which has the most intelligent officers in PMO looking after India’s Intelligence agencies which have mushroomed so no one finger can point at any one agency. This is a moot point for national intelligence too.
And brings in a relevant question is “Do our intelligence agencies deliver or in the cloak of secrecy get away unquestioned”? When one accidentally took over as Director of Naval Intelligence and consulted a British counterpart who dealt with MI-5 and MI-6 (One had to deal with IB and RAW and DOE only then), he said, “Intelligence is like a cow. You have to ‘milk it’ and learn how to milk a cow (Intelligence) first. She does not give milk by itself”. Nor does any intelligence agency as the act of withholding information, is rampant in India.
Today the Indian government presents a view of reactive Indian foreign and military and nuclear policy, as reported by the Atomic Scientists and Mail Today as the Indian military is not in the loop who are to ‘man the bombs’, even if never to be used. And clever people say its ambiguity as is CWG, 2G and now Coalaveri gate.
This luckily for India is in stark contrast to that depicted by corporate India where to most minds the private industry (not the coalgate and 2G and CWG gainers) is leading India’s rise on the world stage. For years the Indian military was supplied, stocked and supported by the erstwhile Soviet Union but with its fall, now Israel and the US have emerged as India’s suppliers, and till we become some what self sufficient where private industry has to join India will as its now said, “Muddle along well and react only when the chips are down, and the loyal Armed Forces will react after a few days and get their act together”.
But today it’s a day to celebrate our Supreme Court not our MOD or Defence Minister or our PM who promised us pay of our Rank from the ramparts of the .RED FORT on Independence Day when PM announced the Pay Commission of rank not band.. He also ordered a group of secretaries to give a report on OROP on 8th Aug …..but what is an order from one bureaucrat to another unless there is something in it for him or her. The report is still to come. Command and Control of India is in slumbers and Khamooshi (Silence) as PM put very eloquently before he went to Iran for NAM meet, to defend himself in Coalgate is the order of the day.
Disconnect between GOI and Armed forces grows – Rank Pay Shows

Rank Pay: Supreme Court Orders Payment

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2012
Rank Pay forms a part of basic pay, release arrears to affected officers : Supreme Court, today, 04 September 2012
Perhaps historically the most important litigation involving the military has culminated today.
A three judge Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court today decided not to interfere with its earlier decision granting the cumulative benefits and arrears of Rank Pay with effect from 01-01-1986 to all affected officers. However, the interest component has been modified and interest @ 6% per annum would now be admissible on the arrears from 01-01-2006 rather than 01-01-1986.
All payments have been directed to be made within a period of 12 weeks from today and the benefits shall be released to all officers irrespective of whether they had approached a judicial forum or not.
As many would be aware, after the 4th Central Pay Commission (CPC), an integrated pay scale of Rs 2300-5100 was implemented for officers from the rank of 2/Lt to Brig. In addition, rank pay was authorised to officers from the rank of Capt to Brig ranging from Rs 200 to 1200 which was to be added into the basic pay for all intents and purposes.
However, while fixing the pay in the new scales, an amount equal to the rank pay was deducted from the emoluments resulting in financial loss to all affected officers. Hence all officers holding the rank of Capt to Brig as on 01-01-1986 suffered cumulative losses.
The Hon’ble Kerala High Court in a case filed by Maj AK Dhanapalan had termed illegal this deduction of rank pay. The SLP filed by the Union of India was also dismissed, albeit not on merits but on technical grounds of limitation.
Soon thereafter, many similar petitions were filed in various Hon’ble High Courts all over the country which were clubbed together and transferred to the Hon’ble Supreme Court to be heard alongwith an SLP of similar nature which had arisen out of a case that was allowed on the basis of the judgement in Dhanapalan’s case. The Hon’ble Supreme Court on 08 March 2010 upheld the said verdict and granted relief to all similarly placed officers alongwith an interest of 6%.
Things were however not to end there since the Govt constituted a committee to look into the amount involved and went back to the Hon’ble Supreme Court by filing an application for recall of the order dated 08 March 2010 on the grounds of burdening of the exchequer and also stating therein that many more issues on the subject were not taken into consideration by the Court and hence the order needed to be recalled.
The case thereafter remained pending before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and was finally argued today when the Hon’ble Court, after hearing marathon arguments of the Solicitor General appearing for the govt, decided that there was no infirmity in the order passed on 08 March 2010. As informed above, only the modification in the grant of the interest component was effectuated.
The case was not without surprising developments which can now be shared since the issue no longer remains sub judice.
First was the total incorrect and skewed presentation of the status and pay of military officers vis-à-vis officers of the civil services projected in the affidavit appended with the recall application filed by the Union of India. The speciousness thereof has already been discussed by me on the blog in November 2011 and all those falsities were exposed in the affidavit filed on behalf of the affected officers before the Hon’ble Court.
Secondly, which can be disclosed now, is that when it was being projected by the Govt that the Services HQ were also in favour of getting the verdict recalled / reversed, the three services on the basis of a decision taken at the apex level, clearly, officially and categorically informed the Solicitor General in writing that the Armed Forces were not in favour of the matter being contested against the affected officers and in fact were in favour of getting the verdict of the SC dated 08 March 2010 implemented. Thereafter, the Ministry of Defence wrote to the Services HQ asking them to withdraw the communication to the Solicitor General, however to the credit of the Services, the said communication was ultimately not withdrawn. Besides showing utter disregard for the opinion of the services in this matter, this incident also shows as to how the MoD tries to browbeat the services into accepting its views. Needless to state, in litigation, one party to a particular litigation can never direct another to take a particular stand. However this has been continuing unabated in the MoD wherein they force the Services to reflect the stand of the MoD before Courts and not project their (services’) independent views as is permissible under law. And unfortunately, it’s also seen that elements of the JAG Branch usually toe the line of the MoD rather than the Services.
The biggest ‘Thank You’ for this win goes to Retired Defence Officers’ Association (RDOA) who had been unflinchingly following up the matter with great zeal in a very objective and balanced manner.
Jai Hind.
Posted by Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh at 5:17 PM
Rank Pay forms part of basic Pay: Supreme Court
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GOI prays before the Supreme Court
Supreme Court Restores Rank Pay denied to Military since 1986
Comment: MOD which tried to cheat the Military of Rank Pay since 1986 has been finally ordered by Supreme Court to pay arrears and interest from 2006. Will the MOD skirt the issue with another appeal? Money has gone down the drain in Coalgate and such like scams. Is the Government being robbed of the National wealth and now declared a pauper that it cannot pay its Soldiers?