Economic & Political Weekly
Current Issue : VOL 44 No. 17 April 25 - May 01, 2009
The Fauji Devalued
Live issues within the military, such as physically and psychologically trying service conditions, especially during internal security duties, insufficient living accommodation, all jawans having to retire at the age of 38, 60% officers by the age of 54, and promotions (to which pay is linked) being very limited especially in the officer cadre, have been borne without much murmur. But now the dissatisfaction in the military is at high pitch, although this may not be seen by those outside “the system” – not even those who have access to intelligence reports, because most intelligence agencies keep uncomfortable facts away from the boss. The hard fact is that, justifiable or not, most faujis and veterans harbour a grudge against the bureaucracy, which they see as the hand behind the consistent denial of their just and fair demands. Admittedly, every person feels that his demand is just and fair. But we must note the great dissimilarity between what the fauji does, how he lives and works with risk to life and limb on the one hand, and on the other, bureaucrats who live relatively comfortable lives, receive assured promotions, draw higher salaries and earn more during their much longer service life.
It is appropriate to quote examples. Only 7% of military officers get promoted to Brigadier rank after 28 years of service, much of it in hard areas, while 100% of the Indian Police Service officers are elevated to the “equivalent” post of Director/ Inspector General after 14 years of service. Similarly, only 2% of military officers get promoted to major general after 32 years of service, while 100% of IAS officers are promoted to the “equivalent” senior administrative grade after 14 years of service. (This coincidentally shows how the Indian Administrative Service is one-up on the IPS!). But this is not about officers alone, because the status inequity goes down the hierarchy to the sepoy who, though living a much riskier life and retiring much earlier, becomes inferior to his civilian counterpart.
The load on the exchequer for providing military personnel status-service-salary parity with the IAS or police at all levels is not unaffordable considering, for example, the huge tax holidays and concessions being freely given to commercial and industrial corporations. While he freely accepts being under control of the union cabinet through the defence minister, the fauji resents the real-time control that is exercised by the bureaucracy to his personal detriment and the izzat of his service. He feels devalued, neglected and insulted. This state of affairs is undoubtedly harmful for the country’s internal and external security.
Read more
one-rank-one-pension demand
The Burden of Military pensions- by Gautam Navlakha
Showing posts with label Izzat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Izzat. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
India’s million-strong military prepares to vote
Ritu Sharma
NEW DELHI - India’s apolitical military is proactively preparing to vote in parliamentary elections only a week away. Thanks to steps the military establishment has taken, more than one million forms have been submitted to the Election Commission so that soldiers can vote whereever they may be posted.
This follows the military brass’ decision to ensure that soldiers get to vote — a democratic privilege many are forced to skip because of flaws in the electoral exercise involving soldiers. The Indian Army has 1.1 million men and women, the air force has 140,000 and the navy has about 55,000 personnel.
‘About 10 lakh (1 million) forms have been forwarded by the army personnel for registration. The Election Commission has acknowledged nearly 45 percent,’ an army official told IANS, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. In January, the armed forces, for the first time, asked all its personnel to get themselves registered with the poll panel in their area of posting to exercise their right to vote.
Most Indian soldiers, including airmen and sailors, have never or rarely voted while in service for want of an effective polling mechanism. Military personnel can vote in their area of posting only during general elections and provided they are registered with the Election Commission in that area. This, however, rarely happens.
Most soldiers also find the postal ballot system faulty, and appear to be unaware of the proxy voting system that allows a family member to vote on their behalf. Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Fali H. Major told IANS recently: ‘Although there are proxy voting and postal ballots, things have not materialised as desired.’
The IAF chief has himself not been able to vote regularly because, like most of his colleagues, he has been away from where he has been registered as a voter during election time. ‘The last I voted was 10 years ago when I was home on vacation. I have voted only four times (in 41 years of service),’ he said.
The Indian Air Force has put all the procedures on its intranet. The notification of the Election Commission has been sent to various command headquarters, which in turn has informed the field units. ‘People are being encouraged to vote,’ a senior IAF official said. The Election Commission reiterated Monday that defence personnel can use proxy voting. But there are complaints against postal ballots. The system suffers from long delays, so much so that at times the postal ballots reach the units after a new government has already taken office.
Why the sudden desire to vote?
While no one is ready to speak on record, some retired and serving officers said this was linked to the discontent among the armed forces due to what they see as a raw deal in revision of pay scales. ‘The armed forces are being shortchanged in the Pay Commission and their lack of say in decision making is hurting them,’ said another high-ranking army official.
India’s million-strong military prepares to vote
NEW DELHI - India’s apolitical military is proactively preparing to vote in parliamentary elections only a week away. Thanks to steps the military establishment has taken, more than one million forms have been submitted to the Election Commission so that soldiers can vote whereever they may be posted.
This follows the military brass’ decision to ensure that soldiers get to vote — a democratic privilege many are forced to skip because of flaws in the electoral exercise involving soldiers. The Indian Army has 1.1 million men and women, the air force has 140,000 and the navy has about 55,000 personnel.
‘About 10 lakh (1 million) forms have been forwarded by the army personnel for registration. The Election Commission has acknowledged nearly 45 percent,’ an army official told IANS, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. In January, the armed forces, for the first time, asked all its personnel to get themselves registered with the poll panel in their area of posting to exercise their right to vote.
Most Indian soldiers, including airmen and sailors, have never or rarely voted while in service for want of an effective polling mechanism. Military personnel can vote in their area of posting only during general elections and provided they are registered with the Election Commission in that area. This, however, rarely happens.
Most soldiers also find the postal ballot system faulty, and appear to be unaware of the proxy voting system that allows a family member to vote on their behalf. Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Fali H. Major told IANS recently: ‘Although there are proxy voting and postal ballots, things have not materialised as desired.’
The IAF chief has himself not been able to vote regularly because, like most of his colleagues, he has been away from where he has been registered as a voter during election time. ‘The last I voted was 10 years ago when I was home on vacation. I have voted only four times (in 41 years of service),’ he said.
The Indian Air Force has put all the procedures on its intranet. The notification of the Election Commission has been sent to various command headquarters, which in turn has informed the field units. ‘People are being encouraged to vote,’ a senior IAF official said. The Election Commission reiterated Monday that defence personnel can use proxy voting. But there are complaints against postal ballots. The system suffers from long delays, so much so that at times the postal ballots reach the units after a new government has already taken office.
Why the sudden desire to vote?
While no one is ready to speak on record, some retired and serving officers said this was linked to the discontent among the armed forces due to what they see as a raw deal in revision of pay scales. ‘The armed forces are being shortchanged in the Pay Commission and their lack of say in decision making is hurting them,’ said another high-ranking army official.
India’s million-strong military prepares to vote
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Status of soldiers has hit the rock bottom, but the digging continues!
Dear Brig Kamboj,
A few weeks ago, our course mate, Brig Dharam Prakash suggested that I examine the cause of the present unrest amongst the veterans in a holistic manner. At his behest, I wrote the attached piece, which has been published in a monthly magazine, "Freedom First" founded by the late Mr Minoo Masani.
It may be of some interest to your readers.
Regards,
Surjit
Status of soldiers has hit the rock bottom, but the digging continues!
A few weeks ago, our course mate, Brig Dharam Prakash suggested that I examine the cause of the present unrest amongst the veterans in a holistic manner. At his behest, I wrote the attached piece, which has been published in a monthly magazine, "Freedom First" founded by the late Mr Minoo Masani.
It may be of some interest to your readers.
Regards,
Surjit
Status of soldiers has hit the rock bottom, but the digging continues!
Friday, February 20, 2009
IESM: Reply by Shree Jaswant Singh to Maj Gen SCN Jatar
From: Jaswant Singh
To: Sudhir Jatar
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: Diluting valour
Dear General,
Thank you for your email of February 15 which included an article on the devaluation of gallantry awards by the former VCOAS, Gen Vijay Oberoi.
You are right: there is a need for a much greater transparency and credible yardstick through which nominations to various awards are vetted and recommendations endorsed. That some of the awards in the recent past and those of the Republic Day this year reveal a dilution on account of political expediency can be gauged by the outcry raised by the veterans, some verbally and some in well crafted prose, as has been done by General Vijay Oberoi. I share his disappointment on the multiple criteria adopted in recognition of valour.
With good wishes,
Jaswant Singh
EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH BY SHREE JASWANT SINGH, HON’ MEMBER RAJYA SABHA TO THE JOINT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT ON 17.02.2009...MKS-HMS/3.35/2R
SHRI JASWANT SINGH (CONTD.): … edited …
Sir, I will take the next point which relates to the Armed Forces. Raksha Senao ka jo masla hai,usme main 2-3 buniyadi bate aap se urz karooga.come to the question: why does a citizen enrol and does he agree to die? Of course, it is a complex question, and I will not attempt an answer to this complex question. This is an immensely complex question: why does a citizen agree to die? ", the factors that go amongst various others are the factors of morale, of izzat, of iqbal, of standing and the prestige of our Armed Forces, therefore, of the soldiers and sailors. Sir, there are some aspects which I have underscored; seemingly trivial, but, I think, they are profoundly important, wrongly important as it is, and much more important in consequence. Sir, the first question which the hon. Pranab Babu, again, in a Group of Ministers meeting was required, he chaired it, to address is the question of pay, pensions and emoluments. I will come to it in a minute.
The second question is of distinction, distinction and distinctiveness of uniforms, the rights and the duties of the respective security organisations of the country. Please do not confuse one with the other. The hon. Minister, Pranab Babu, handled responsibility as the Defence Minister of the country, with distinction and competence. And, no doubt, you realise, Sir, how to uniform a man, whether a General or a Field Marshal or Justice Inquiry or a Warrant Officer; izzat is of the greatest importance. The izzat that the individual gets is an account of the uniform which he wears; the uniform is of this Republic of India. If you belittle the uniform, you belittle, in a very rare sense, the Republic.
Phoz ki jo dress hai, hum dekhte hai ki yeh jo bahut badi- badi companiya hai, ishe humare distinguished friend vimal babu neb hi dekha hoga ki un companiyo ke darbano ko phoz ki dress me vahan khada kar dete hai, phir vahi medals lagate hai. Ish bare me kanoon banana chahiye.
Please do not permit the copying of military uniform by any other force, but the Military. aur usme choti choti bate aa jati hai. Phoz ka chahe rishala ho ya pultan ho, yeh choti-choti bate hai aur usme kimat dekar right equare kiya gaya hota hai. Sir, iske sath hi main yaha example nahi dena chahuga kyonki usme vakt lagega. Yeha jo down grading aapne ki hai of the Armed Forces, of their Officers, in the Warrant of Precedence, this is not acceptable. This is totally unacceptable. Please address it because this is a seemingly, quite seemingly, clearly an illogical and a destructive step that over the decades successive Governments of India have been continuing, and, perhaps, almost as if they have been deliberately doing it.
The next point, in addition to the point of Armed Forces, is about the ex-servicemen.
(Contd. by TMV/2S) -MKS-TMV-DS/2S/3.40
SHRI JASWANT SINGH (CONTD.): The ex-servicemen today number almost three million, if I am not mistaken. So, they are stung by the various anomalies that have been thrown up by the Sixth Pay Commission and their confusion has been compounded by a variety of interpretations that have been put out in the successive letters of the Controller of Defence Accounts. I have been, for several years, the victim of the vagaries of the Controller of Defence Accounts' rules. I won't go into those details. I can't simply understand how the pensions of a Lt. General, a Major General and a Brigadier are going to be exactly the same as that of a rank which is about half that service of a Lt. Colonel, except, perhaps, for a difference of a hundred rupees. On what ground? You chaired the Group of Ministers, but the discontentment remains. Precedence is very important. Pension is very important. On both you dent the standing of the Armed Forces and you expect them to deliver the best that they can. Sir, the question of one rank one pension has bedevilled the Armed Forces for a very long time. I was greatly troubled. I am greatly troubled and uniformed or officers and men who were once in uniform are compelled to take action of the kind that they have been compelled to take, either by returning their medals or by sitting in protest. Please take your own example. I didn't hear my friends. I may be wrong. But I don't think why a Member of Parliament, should get a pension, personally, because it is a very unpopular thought. I know it. I am also not at all of the view as to why we should get Rs 1 crore or Rs 2 crores for whatever we do. But there again I am a minority. So, I withdraw mine. But I don't understand, when we, as Members of Parliament, have given to ourselves what tantamounts to one rank one pension, how can you deny it to the ex-servicemen? Sir, suppose a senior colleague of mine retired from Parliament, say, in 1957 and didn't come back to the Parliament. The kind of pension that a Member of Parliament receives today, say, in 2009, is what you will give to a Member who left the Parliament in 1957. Between 1957 and 2009, there is a difference of almost half-a-century. So, you adjust the pension that you are giving to him, but you refuse to adjust it to the ex-servicemen who are out of service at the age of 38. There is a full life ahead of him with no employment or limited employment opportunities available. I have addressed this question in detail. Please don't throw it in my face—you are entitled to throw—that you also held this job and why you didn't do it. I was also a Member of a Commission appointed during late Mrs. Gandhi's days. I appeal to the Government to re-address itself to the complex question of one rank one pension and to immediately find as equitable an answer as you find for the Members of Parliament and not let the servicemen and the ex-servicemen suffer on account of differentials of precedence of pay, emoluments and pensions and of one rank and one pension. (Contd. by 2T/VK) VK/2T/3.45
SHRI JASWANT SINGH
To: Sudhir Jatar
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: Diluting valour
Dear General,
Thank you for your email of February 15 which included an article on the devaluation of gallantry awards by the former VCOAS, Gen Vijay Oberoi.
You are right: there is a need for a much greater transparency and credible yardstick through which nominations to various awards are vetted and recommendations endorsed. That some of the awards in the recent past and those of the Republic Day this year reveal a dilution on account of political expediency can be gauged by the outcry raised by the veterans, some verbally and some in well crafted prose, as has been done by General Vijay Oberoi. I share his disappointment on the multiple criteria adopted in recognition of valour.
With good wishes,
Jaswant Singh
EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH BY SHREE JASWANT SINGH, HON’ MEMBER RAJYA SABHA TO THE JOINT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT ON 17.02.2009...MKS-HMS/3.35/2R
SHRI JASWANT SINGH (CONTD.): … edited …
Sir, I will take the next point which relates to the Armed Forces. Raksha Senao ka jo masla hai,usme main 2-3 buniyadi bate aap se urz karooga.come to the question: why does a citizen enrol and does he agree to die? Of course, it is a complex question, and I will not attempt an answer to this complex question. This is an immensely complex question: why does a citizen agree to die? ", the factors that go amongst various others are the factors of morale, of izzat, of iqbal, of standing and the prestige of our Armed Forces, therefore, of the soldiers and sailors. Sir, there are some aspects which I have underscored; seemingly trivial, but, I think, they are profoundly important, wrongly important as it is, and much more important in consequence. Sir, the first question which the hon. Pranab Babu, again, in a Group of Ministers meeting was required, he chaired it, to address is the question of pay, pensions and emoluments. I will come to it in a minute.
The second question is of distinction, distinction and distinctiveness of uniforms, the rights and the duties of the respective security organisations of the country. Please do not confuse one with the other. The hon. Minister, Pranab Babu, handled responsibility as the Defence Minister of the country, with distinction and competence. And, no doubt, you realise, Sir, how to uniform a man, whether a General or a Field Marshal or Justice Inquiry or a Warrant Officer; izzat is of the greatest importance. The izzat that the individual gets is an account of the uniform which he wears; the uniform is of this Republic of India. If you belittle the uniform, you belittle, in a very rare sense, the Republic.
Phoz ki jo dress hai, hum dekhte hai ki yeh jo bahut badi- badi companiya hai, ishe humare distinguished friend vimal babu neb hi dekha hoga ki un companiyo ke darbano ko phoz ki dress me vahan khada kar dete hai, phir vahi medals lagate hai. Ish bare me kanoon banana chahiye.
Please do not permit the copying of military uniform by any other force, but the Military. aur usme choti choti bate aa jati hai. Phoz ka chahe rishala ho ya pultan ho, yeh choti-choti bate hai aur usme kimat dekar right equare kiya gaya hota hai. Sir, iske sath hi main yaha example nahi dena chahuga kyonki usme vakt lagega. Yeha jo down grading aapne ki hai of the Armed Forces, of their Officers, in the Warrant of Precedence, this is not acceptable. This is totally unacceptable. Please address it because this is a seemingly, quite seemingly, clearly an illogical and a destructive step that over the decades successive Governments of India have been continuing, and, perhaps, almost as if they have been deliberately doing it.
The next point, in addition to the point of Armed Forces, is about the ex-servicemen.
(Contd. by TMV/2S) -MKS-TMV-DS/2S/3.40
SHRI JASWANT SINGH (CONTD.): The ex-servicemen today number almost three million, if I am not mistaken. So, they are stung by the various anomalies that have been thrown up by the Sixth Pay Commission and their confusion has been compounded by a variety of interpretations that have been put out in the successive letters of the Controller of Defence Accounts. I have been, for several years, the victim of the vagaries of the Controller of Defence Accounts' rules. I won't go into those details. I can't simply understand how the pensions of a Lt. General, a Major General and a Brigadier are going to be exactly the same as that of a rank which is about half that service of a Lt. Colonel, except, perhaps, for a difference of a hundred rupees. On what ground? You chaired the Group of Ministers, but the discontentment remains. Precedence is very important. Pension is very important. On both you dent the standing of the Armed Forces and you expect them to deliver the best that they can. Sir, the question of one rank one pension has bedevilled the Armed Forces for a very long time. I was greatly troubled. I am greatly troubled and uniformed or officers and men who were once in uniform are compelled to take action of the kind that they have been compelled to take, either by returning their medals or by sitting in protest. Please take your own example. I didn't hear my friends. I may be wrong. But I don't think why a Member of Parliament, should get a pension, personally, because it is a very unpopular thought. I know it. I am also not at all of the view as to why we should get Rs 1 crore or Rs 2 crores for whatever we do. But there again I am a minority. So, I withdraw mine. But I don't understand, when we, as Members of Parliament, have given to ourselves what tantamounts to one rank one pension, how can you deny it to the ex-servicemen? Sir, suppose a senior colleague of mine retired from Parliament, say, in 1957 and didn't come back to the Parliament. The kind of pension that a Member of Parliament receives today, say, in 2009, is what you will give to a Member who left the Parliament in 1957. Between 1957 and 2009, there is a difference of almost half-a-century. So, you adjust the pension that you are giving to him, but you refuse to adjust it to the ex-servicemen who are out of service at the age of 38. There is a full life ahead of him with no employment or limited employment opportunities available. I have addressed this question in detail. Please don't throw it in my face—you are entitled to throw—that you also held this job and why you didn't do it. I was also a Member of a Commission appointed during late Mrs. Gandhi's days. I appeal to the Government to re-address itself to the complex question of one rank one pension and to immediately find as equitable an answer as you find for the Members of Parliament and not let the servicemen and the ex-servicemen suffer on account of differentials of precedence of pay, emoluments and pensions and of one rank and one pension. (Contd. by 2T/VK) VK/2T/3.45
SHRI JASWANT SINGH
SCPC: Armed forces form panel to resolve pay matters
Ajay Banerjee, Tribune News Service, New Delhi, February 18
Realising that the forthcoming general elections would put their pending demands on hold, the top brass of the armed forces have formed a high-powered committee to seek early resolution of the two remaining pay and status-related issues that have had the troops worried over the past six-eight months.
The committee was formed following directions from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in December last to sort out the four-core issues raised by the armed forces after the Sixth Pay Commission was implemented. While two issues had been resolved, the rest remained.
As the model code of conduct was impending, the armed forces fear that their two demands needed immediate attention, a senior officer said. One is that grade pay for all ranks of officers to be at par with the their counterparts in the civil services. Presently, the committee of secretaries that was looking into the anomalies of the Sixth Pay Commission had created difference by raising the grade pay of civil service officers. This means the salary of person on civil side, including the police, would be higher and was affecting the entire lot of officers.
The other pending issue is putting all lieutenant generals at par with director generals of police. In the previous Fifth Pay Commission, the DGPs were at par with lieutenant generals. Now, the Sixth Pay Commission has bifurcated the lieutenant generals and the equivalent ranks in the Navy and IAF into two. The GOC-in-C, their Naval and IAF equivalents and few other officers at the headquarters are in a grade that is higher than that of the DGPs while other lieutenant generals are in a grade lower than the DGPs. This anomaly is affecting about 150 officers.
Armed forces form panel to resolve pay matters
Realising that the forthcoming general elections would put their pending demands on hold, the top brass of the armed forces have formed a high-powered committee to seek early resolution of the two remaining pay and status-related issues that have had the troops worried over the past six-eight months.
The committee was formed following directions from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in December last to sort out the four-core issues raised by the armed forces after the Sixth Pay Commission was implemented. While two issues had been resolved, the rest remained.
As the model code of conduct was impending, the armed forces fear that their two demands needed immediate attention, a senior officer said. One is that grade pay for all ranks of officers to be at par with the their counterparts in the civil services. Presently, the committee of secretaries that was looking into the anomalies of the Sixth Pay Commission had created difference by raising the grade pay of civil service officers. This means the salary of person on civil side, including the police, would be higher and was affecting the entire lot of officers.
The other pending issue is putting all lieutenant generals at par with director generals of police. In the previous Fifth Pay Commission, the DGPs were at par with lieutenant generals. Now, the Sixth Pay Commission has bifurcated the lieutenant generals and the equivalent ranks in the Navy and IAF into two. The GOC-in-C, their Naval and IAF equivalents and few other officers at the headquarters are in a grade that is higher than that of the DGPs while other lieutenant generals are in a grade lower than the DGPs. This anomaly is affecting about 150 officers.
Armed forces form panel to resolve pay matters
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Impassioned Plea by a Patriot
During the last few months, we have noted with concern the extraordinary pent- up anger finding expression in many muted ways from the war veterans and retired officers and jawans of the armed forces. The issue goes beyond the temporal concerns of pay rise recommended or not recommended by the 6th Pay Commission.
The issue is about the utter lack of sensitivity and response from the Empress of 10 Janpath and the surrogate PM, Hon'ble Manmohan Singh and his cabinet. The situation has clearly gone beyond all tolerable levels in any civil society which respect to the jawans. Have the slogans Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan become mere slogans driving the jawan to fury and the kisan to suicide?
Who is in charge here? Is there a working constitution -- samvidhaan -- or not?
Isn't there someone out there who can talk to the war veterans, retired officers and jawans- with compassion and with pride for the contribution they have made to the highest call of office in any reckoning- be prepared to lay down their lives for the security of the rashtram?
I am reminded of what Justice PN Agarwal said in the Supreme Court in a case related to the DMK government's bandh- call in defiance of the SC order. The learned judge said: "Don't play with fire." These are sage words which should reverberate in the corridors of South and North Blocks and in every office. Don't play with the lives of Kisans and Jawans. Don't play with fire.
I accuse the worthies of UPA Government with an utter lack of sensitivity. Absence of any visible signs of response from the worthies of UPA Government to the life cry of the jawans is beyond despair. It calls for a demand from every citizen of Bharat for the dismissal of the UPA Government forthwith.
UPA, if you can't govern, quit office. gaddi chhodo. In the name of dharma, GO. Quit office. Read Dayal's impassioned cry and weep before you GO.
Vande Maataram.
Namaskaram.
Dr S Kalyanaraman
Comment:
Dr S Kalyanaraman, Phd, is a former Executive Director, Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines. He 'loves' the 'Forces' for its 'discipline' and 'patriotism'.
Received from Cdr KRISHAN PUNCHHI (Retd)
Raghu Dayal: India in the Red
The issue is about the utter lack of sensitivity and response from the Empress of 10 Janpath and the surrogate PM, Hon'ble Manmohan Singh and his cabinet. The situation has clearly gone beyond all tolerable levels in any civil society which respect to the jawans. Have the slogans Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan become mere slogans driving the jawan to fury and the kisan to suicide?
Who is in charge here? Is there a working constitution -- samvidhaan -- or not?
Isn't there someone out there who can talk to the war veterans, retired officers and jawans- with compassion and with pride for the contribution they have made to the highest call of office in any reckoning- be prepared to lay down their lives for the security of the rashtram?
I am reminded of what Justice PN Agarwal said in the Supreme Court in a case related to the DMK government's bandh- call in defiance of the SC order. The learned judge said: "Don't play with fire." These are sage words which should reverberate in the corridors of South and North Blocks and in every office. Don't play with the lives of Kisans and Jawans. Don't play with fire.
I accuse the worthies of UPA Government with an utter lack of sensitivity. Absence of any visible signs of response from the worthies of UPA Government to the life cry of the jawans is beyond despair. It calls for a demand from every citizen of Bharat for the dismissal of the UPA Government forthwith.
UPA, if you can't govern, quit office. gaddi chhodo. In the name of dharma, GO. Quit office. Read Dayal's impassioned cry and weep before you GO.
Vande Maataram.
Namaskaram.
Dr S Kalyanaraman
Comment:
Dr S Kalyanaraman, Phd, is a former Executive Director, Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines. He 'loves' the 'Forces' for its 'discipline' and 'patriotism'.
Received from Cdr KRISHAN PUNCHHI (Retd)
Raghu Dayal: India in the Red
Sunday, June 15, 2008
SCPC: Victory They Had Said
The government’s attitude towards the sixth pay commission brings into question its concern for the army’s welfare.
A nation that compels its army veterans to express public anguish at the treatment meted out to them needs to introspect deeply. We have progressively robbed our servicemen and women of their izzat and iqbal. We have failed to see the writing on the wall even as the admission into the armed services has declined. We have failed to understand the sentiment behind requests for a separate pay commission or at least to have a service member in it. The result was inevitable and we have only ourselves to blame.
To all those who have spent their entire working lives defending the territorial integrity of our country, April 27 was a sad day. It was a day when the slogan jai jawan resounded loudly in the psyche of the nation, all the more because it is fast becoming memory. Much like the grand loan waiver scheme to take care of the distressed kisan, the government may choose to please the disillusioned jawan with a few generous rupees. But if it does not give serious thought to those who guard its borders, ‘Jai Hind’ may just become the next casualty.
Writes Brijesh D Jayal in the Telegraph, Calcutta dated 14 June 2008
Click: Victory, They Had Said
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