ESM Welfare gets a boost: Will it take off?

Minister of State for Defence Mallipudi Mangapati Pallam Raju tells Saubhadro Chatterji.
Interview
The first United Progressive Alliance government created a separate department for the welfare of ex-servicemen.

What are your plans on this front?
Rehabilitation and resettlement of ex-servicemen are priority areas for this government. We have already created a post of director general (resettlement). Every year, 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers retire. Most of these belong to the 'people below officer rank' (PBOR) segment. We believe that these ex-servicemen, who have received army training for so many years, are an asset to the nation. They pick up a number of skills during their stint with the armed forces. Age is also on their side when they leave the forces. They are in their late 30s or early 40s. The government can't do everything on its own. So, we have tied up with the private sector for their training, resettlement and placements.

What sort of a tie-up you are aiming at?
We have already entered into agreements with business bodies like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Indian Industry and Assocham for training and placements. We look forward to more such agreements in the coming days.

Which are the sectors where ex-servicemen are finding maximum employment?
Well, as you know, there is a huge demand for these trained personnel in private security services. Our ex-servicemen are doing a good job there. But we now find that there is demand from various industries for their mechanical skills. In the construction sector, the demand for skilled ex-servicemen is steadily rising. As the retail trade starts to boom, it is becoming a major employer of ex-servicemen. Reliance Retail, for example, has employed a large number of ex-servicemen. We declared 2007 the year of the ex-servicemen to boost our resettlement plans for them. We find the private sector showing increasing interest in employing ex-servicemen. Apart from Reliance Retail, Infosys is another big company that is employing a large number of ex-servicemen.

Jairam Ramesh, the minister in charge of environment, recently told us that he wanted to take the help of ex-servicemen for a large afforestation programme.
Yes, ex-servicemen can also contribute to the environment protection programme. Earlier, there was an eco-battalion in the Territorial Army. We can raise a similar group of ex-servicemen for environment. I think my senior colleague, Defence Minister A K Antony, held a meeting with Jairam Ramesh in this regard. Task forces will be raised for afforestation in places where we are building roads.
Read the full interview:
Rehabilitation and resettlement of ex-servicemen are priority areas for this government

Bhopal gas tragedy was trendy playing field for the Politicians

A quarter century of ball game by Indian Politicians and the Judiciary resulting in victims being slighted and neglected. The speciality Hospital and Rehabilitation Funds grossly misused and under utilised at the expense of the Gas Victims!

June 14, 2010, 11:51 IST
Zeenews Bureau
Anderson, one of the main accused in the horrific tragedy that left thousands dead on the night of December 2-3 1984, had arrived in India on December 7, just four days after the tragedy.

He was booked by the police under the stringent Section 304(B) of the IPC but under mysterious circumstances was granted bail and flown out of Bhopal the same day by the then Madhya Pradesh government.

A Bhopal court, last week, had delivered its judgment in the gas leak case sparking outrage among the victims and across the country as the seven accused former Union Carbide officials were sentenced to only two years imprisonment, besides a fine of Rs 1 lakh each for negligence. All the convicts are now out on bail.
Read the full article
Extradite Anderson: Bhopal victims to Obama
Vox Populi
Death and deformity of 20,000 citizens is avenged by a ridiculous 2 year sentence to the convicts besides Rs one lakh fine- and all let out on bail. 25 years of grappling with politicians and meandering through intricate judicial cobwebs spun by eloquent lawyers (whetting their appetite to be Ministers) has reduced this verdict to a National Shame. The culprits are all linked to Politicians who influence in setting up the Multi- National companies where money laundering is a norm. Indian Justice is really a bogey meant to oblige the rich and powerful. The poor are the expendables. The bureaucracy ensures that Political masters are all that matters irrespective of their misdeeds and criminal complicity!

Defence Forces Contribution to India's National Asset twenty lakh Ex- Servicemen

Debt of Honour. Do we have a National War Memorial?
Indian Army by its grit and dedication to the Indian Republic thwarted Pakistan in four wars. The only time it went under was against China in 1962, not because it lacked valor or leadership but because of the political leadership of Nehru who was found wanting both in terms of misreading China’s intentions and not allotting adequate resources for war preparedness to the Indian Army in the preceding period.

In the last nineteen years the Indian Army has faced the onslaught of Pakistan’s proxy war and terrorism and losing hundreds of lives and others maimed. In combating this threat the Indian Army has had to fight with one hand tied due to the political considerations of successive Governments, either due to electoral considerations or external pressures.

Whenever the civilian machinery fails whether it be law and order, natural calamities or disasters it is the Indian Army that steps in for relief and assistance. The relief assistance provided by the Indian Army during the Kashmir and Maharashtra earthquake won not only the gratitude of the average citizens but also of the international community. The Indian Army has also done India proud in the many UN peacekeeping operations all over the world for which it has been highly praised by the United Nations.

A glorious record of such services and sacrifices of the Indian Army surely deserves the nations gratitude not by rhetoric on every Republic Day but by more meaningful manifestations which surely every Government is aware of but does not concede. The average Indian citizen can contribute by being more aware of India’s defence preparedness and monitoring the Government of the day in terms of allotment of adequate financial resources for war preparedness and that extraneous political considerations do not delay defence acquisitions. More importantly, they should ensure that the political leadership of the day provides realistic political component of national threat assessments of actual, potential or adversaries in the making so that like 1962 the Indian Army is never again has to face a military humiliation for no fault of its own.

India will once again celebrate its Republic Day on January 26, 2009; it’s fifty-ninth. Indians will once again look forward to witness the grand spectacle of the display of India’s military might by the Indian Army and the other two Services on Rajpath in New Delhi and beamed across by TV to millions others. It is preceded by the Prime Minister laying a floral wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate (memorial to the Unknown Soldier) paying a national tribute to the thousands of Indian Army officers and soldiers who since 1947 have laid down their lives to defend the Indian Republic against external and internal threats.

Can the Nation utilize the twenty lakh ESM Asset so created, with dignity and honour, towards enrichment of its citizens?

India's National Debt of honour to The Indian Armed Forces

Opportunities for Ex Servicemen

Home Stays
Ex-servicemen offer home stays, launch venture to promote tourism. In Kochi a new era has started in the field of tourist home stays in the State with ex-servicemen venturing into the field. The Kerala Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association has given shape to Ex-Servicemen Tourism Development Organisation (EXTO) to provide safe, hygienic and quality accommodation and other amenities to tourists.

Eco-Task Forces
Four Eco-Task Forces (ETFs) of ex-servicemen are being funded by the NAEB. These ETFs comprise of ex-servicemen and are commanded by serving JCOs and Commissioned Officers. Forest Departments of the State Governments, in which the ETFs are located, provide technical support to the ETFs. The activities undertaken include afforestation, pasture development, soil and water conservation and other restorative works. The 9th plan allocation for the scheme is Rs. 24.00 crores. The ETFs are presently located at Kiarkuli, Bikaner, Samba, Pithoragarh.

Manning Toll Booths
This scheme is being formulated and implemented by the National Highway Authority of India. Ex Servicemen will be inducted in a phased manner.

Computer Training Centre
To rehabilitate ex-servicemen, Department of Sainik Welfare has opened a computer centre to train ex-servicemen at Thrissur district in Kerala. It was felt that making ex-servicemen, especially those under the age of 45, computer-literate, as an important step towards rehabilitation. Of the 1.46 lakh ex-servicemen in the state, 11,842 are from Thrissur. They include world war veterans, retired short-service commissioned officers and personnel who opted for retirement after fifteen years of service. The Department of Sainik Welfare plans to associate with national agencies in this regard. Qualified teachers from these agencies would handle the classes. Basic courses such as MS Office are on offer to start with initially. The total fee for each course is Rs 100. The basic qualification of the candidates SSLC/ Army Equivalent.

Self Employment
Large scope exists in avenues like in manufacturing activities, small scale service establishments, agriculture, tiny, cottage and village industries. The DGR has launched a few self-employment schemes for the resettlement of ex-servicemen and widows. Among the self-employment schemes, SEMFEX-II, SEMFEX-III and National Equity Fund are the prominent ones.

Reliance Fresh
Reliance Industries plans to hire several thousands of ex-servicemen as it spreads wings in the retail sector. Having set up outlets in a number of cities, the Reliance Retail has offered jobs in plenty to the large pool of talented and qualified workforce emerging out of the forces. As its footprints expands across the country, the company has the capacity to employ all of around 60,000 uniformed men retiring every year, Colonel (Retired) S.P. Nanda, Vice-President, Reliance Industries, told a day-long seminar in New Delhi. A large number of jobs are also being constantly created by the group in specialized professions like drivers for cranes, bulldozers and earth movers and heavy machinery operators.

The Indian Veterans Network
A body of retired defence personnel from India and abroad, was launched by the chief guest, former Information and Broadcasting Minister Brigadier (Retd) K. P. Singh Deo. An initiative of the Chandigarh- based Institute of Tourism and Future Management (ITFT Group), the Network, to be registered as a society and consisting of retired officers of the three services, would provide a platform for reoccupation and welfare of their families. Addressing the delegates, Lt. General (Retd.) Ranjit Singh Dyal, ITFT Chairman and former Lt Governor of Pondicherry and Andaman and Nicobar islands, said a global network conference of Indian Veterans would be held on the sidelines of the 3-day Bharatiya Pravasi Diwas celebrations in January next year. General Dyal said the conference would offer an opportunity to interact with about 8,000 ex-servicemen settled abroad, part of the 26 million Indian diaspora, and explore overseas job opportunities for retiring servicemen.
Web Portal http://indianveteransnetwork.com/