What lures Generals to Panchkula?:

Panchkula: 'City of Generals'
PANCHKULA: Panchkula, the satellite town of Chandigarh, seems to be fast becoming the " City of Generals" as one more war veteran has made it his post-retirement home. Army commander of Western Command Lt Gen S R Ghosh, who hung up his uniform, has decided to settle down in Panchkula, which is already home to hundreds of Army officers including Gen V K Singh, who also retired recently, and former army chief V P Malik.
Lt Gen Ghosh said he loved the area during his stint as Army commander and decided to settle here because of the atmosphere and way of life the city offers for the defence personnel. Another reason for settling down here, he added, was that his wife, a retired bureaucrat, was born and brought up here. Ghosh, nevertheless, maintained that the city lacks maintenance and that considering the number of senior officers settling here, local bodies should focus on its proper upkeep.
Panchkula already has hundreds of officers and war veterans, who remained commanders of various vital formations of Army during conventional as well as non-conventional wars, settled here. Among them are former Army chief Gen (retd) Malik, former Army vice-chief Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, former commanders -- Lt Gen H S Panag, Lt Gen P S Hoon, Lt Gen Deepinder Singh, LT Gen T K Sapru, Lt Gen G S Sihota, Lt Gen R S Dayal (died recently), Lt Gen Daljit Singh and Lt Gen Surinder Singh among others.
Sector 12, 12-A, 6, 20 and MDC have a high concentration of top Army officers. In fact, Panchkula has become a station of choice post-retirement not only for those from the region but also those belonging to other parts of the country.
According to senior Army officers, the city is one of the best urban planned cities of the country, has spacious roads, large lung spaces and planned markets. Besides, it is strategically located -- within an earshot of Shimla to the north and New Delhi to the south. With Chandimandir Cantonment in the vicinity, officers' link to service life and a large community of retired and serving officers make it particularly attractive.
Panchkula: 'City of Generals' gets 2 more after 'farewell to arms' by Ajay Sura, TNN Jun 1, 2012, 05.01AM IST

Reservation for defence personnel in educational institutes

Antony for hike in defence quota in educational institutions
Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 28, 2012
With the number of ex-servicemen and consequently their dependents increasing day by day, Defence Minister AK Antony has sought an increase in the number of seats reserved for wards of serving and the retired defence personnel in educational institutes.
In separate letters written to Minister of Health and Family Welfare Gulam Nabi Azad and Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Kapil Sibal, copies of which have been circulated to veterans’ associations for reference, Antony has pointed out that the present quota of defence seats is insufficient.
Antony has asked the health minister to consider increasing the existing quota to at least 100 seats in MBBS and 25 seats in BDS courses run in Central government medical colleges. At present, this quota is about 30 seats in MBBS and 2 or 3 seats in BDS courses. Similarly, the defence minister has requested the HRD minister to reserve at least two seats in all educational institutes and universities to effectively address the aspirations of the wards of the armed forces personnel.
Antony has stated that it has been experienced in many places that the provisions of reservation for wards of defence personnel have not been fully implemented, thereby defeating the very purpose of supporting them in their education. Further, the difficult service conditions in which wards of defence personnel grow have a bearing on their education too as they are often deprived of guidance and hence they require the government’s additional support.
Antony for hike in defence quota in educational institutions

No More Panic Button

Get Eyewatch for free on your Mobile Phone
1. In a bid to reach out to veterans to provide support to those who are staying all alone, a signal service through SMS has been thought of by DG Signals and had approached M/S “Eyewatch’ who have developed a free of cost, easy to use ‘Emergency Alert Application’ that can be easily installed on certain mobile phones which are GPRS activated.
2. This application can be very useful in any emergency situation. The application can trigger emergency alert via SMS and Email to your trusted contacts instantly informing them of your emergency situation. The application is also capable of tracking your location, recording an audio and video (or photos) of the situation automatically and displaying this information to your trusted contacts on a secure webpage. Important features of this application are:

Emergency Response Contacts
You can register your trusted contacts as your Emergency Response Contacts (ERC) to be contacted at the time of any emergency situation by Emergency Alert activation by press/click of a button.

Location & Live Tracking
The application instantly notifies your contacts of your current location, if you are in an emergency situation.

Audio and Visual
The application automatically records a 30 second pre- alert emergency audio and a 20 second post alert video or 5 photos and displays these to your trusted contacts on a secure webpage.

Auto Connect
The application instantly connects you to your contacts by calling them in a sequential manner.

Safety Confirm
The application informs your contacts of your location when you are safe, without raising any emergency alert.

3. The Eyewatch application presently works on Symbian (Nokia), Blackberry and Android Smartphone with an active GPRS connection. The application can easily be downloaded by the following means:
(a) Through SMS: SMS “Eyewatch IA” to 53030 from your mobile phone. You will receive a download link: http://bit.ly/eyewatchalertapp Click on this link and select the application build which works on your phone. This link can also be obtained from the website http://ia.eye-watch.in by entering your mobile number in the “Download Eyewatch” section.
(b) Through Internet On the internet, go to, http://ia.eye-watch.in click on the download eyewatch’ section on top right corner, select your mobile phone operating system and download the application on your computer/laptop and then use your USB cable to transfer the application to your phone. This is an exclusive link created for the Indian Army Veterans, Families and Ex-servicemen. Once downloaded, each user is requested to create an Eyewatch account either from within the application or from the website http://ia.eye-watch.in. You can choose a username and password of your choice and fill in your relevant details to create an account.
4. For more information, please visit EyeWatch
5. Veterans are encouraged to use this service.

Retd Lt Col arrested for killing Dilshan

DD News 10th July 2011
A former Lt Colonel was on Sunday arrested for the killing of 13-year-old Dilshan a week back inside the army residential complex for plucking mangoes and almonds as he was annoyed with boys trespassing in the area.
With the police zeroing on him on the basis of its probe, 58-year-old retired Lt Col Kandaswamy Ramraj, a native of Madurai, confessed to having shot Dilshan with his rifle from a balcony.
Ramraj has been booked by the Tamil Nadu Police crime branch under Section 302 (murder) of IPC. He was produced before a special court which remanded him to judicial custody for 15 days.
"We have got a major breakthrough in the Dilshan murder case. We confronted the retired army officer with physical witnesses and evidences which made him to confess," CBCID ADGP R Sekar told reporters on the killing of Dilshan who fell to the bullet when he trespassed into the army residential quarters last Sunday.
Stating that the retired army officer got annoyed by the frequent trespassing of the boys to pluck mangoes and almonds, he said, "this lead him to shoot from his rifle from a balcony at the time of incident."
"He used to yell at the boys who trespassed frequently to pluck mangoes and chase them," Sekar said.
Ramraj, a former Assistant Engineer (Arms section), admitted that he threw the rifle in the Cooum river here along with the bullets after the incident, Sekar said.
"With the help of fire tenders we were able to recover the weapon imported from United States and efforts are on to locate the bullets," he said, adding that the car used for hiding the weapon was also seized.
Sekar said that though initially police came to know there were only three children at the time of incident it later came to light that there was a fourth boy who informed them about a senior army man who tried to erase the evidence, he said.
With the help of fourth boy, police could zero in on Ramraj who initially refused to admit that he owned a licensed weapon but later confessed that he had applied for renewal of license with the suburban police, he said.(ST-10/07)
Retd Lt Col arrested for Dilshan killing
Comment: A sad commentary on Military Leadership qualities being imbibed. Certainly there is a need to have a relook on the ACR loaded officer cadre! Veterans with weapons cannot run amuck and erase evidence- truly disgusting.

War Veteran passes away

MHOW (M.P.): War veteran Prithvi Raj, who headed the 12th Infantry division under the command of which the Pokhran nuclear test was conducted in 1974, died here on Tuesday due to old age-related problems.

The 87-year-old retired Major-General, who commanded an infantry brigade in the Shankargarh sector during the 1971 India-Pakistan war, was cremated with full military honours here in the presence of Army officers and jawans.

The illustrious officer is survived by son Lt Gen Deepak Raj, commandant of Army War College. — PTI
War Veteran passes away

Indian Navy Sailing Team win Silver Medal

PIB Tuesday, November 23, 2010 17:23 IST
The Indian Sailing team of Lt Cdr (Retd) F Tarapore and team mates Cdr Atool Sinha, CPO (MA) Balraj, POR (Tel) Shekhar Singh Yadav and Trunal were accorded a warm welcome at New Delhi by the Indian Navy and the Yachting Association of India (YAI) after winning a Silver Medal in the Match Racing event at the ongoing Asian Games 2010.
Lt Cdr (Retd) F Tarapore, had won the Fireball class gold medal as crew of Zarir Karanjia in the 1982 Asian Games sailing regatta held off the Mumbai harbor and also picked up a hat-trick of bronze medals in the Asian Games held between 1986 and 1994 in different classes of boats.
The Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centre, Mumbai has been a training centre for champion sailors and has produced 13 Arjuna awardees, 02 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardees and 01 Dronacharya awardee for the sport in the past 40 years.
The YAI was formally constituted on 15 May 1960 and was registered under the Societies Registration Act XXVI of 1961 on 22 December 1964 at Calcutta, West Bengal. The YAI is affiliated to the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), which is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the governing authority for sailing worldwide.
The YAI is officially recognised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India and the Indian Olympic Association as the governing authority for sailing, windsurfing, motor boating, powerboat racing and personal watercraft, at sea and on inland waters in India. PVS/AKR
Reception for Sailing Team of Indian Navy

Ex-Servicemen will be addressed as Armed Forces Veterans

Some important Info for ESM
Dear Brig Kamboj,
Appended below is some important info for ESM as published in AFA (Air Force Association)News, which you may like to put on the "Report My Signal":

1. Provision of ECHS Card (Add On Card) for dependent parents: Air Hq has taken up a case with ECHS Central Organisation and MOD for extending this provision to dependent parents.

2. Purchase of Car by Retired PBOR: There is no requirement of producing/ attaching the copy of driving license by PBOR for purchase of Four Wheelers. Authy: QMG Branch letter No. 96410/Q/DDGCS dated 01 July, 2010.

3. Addressing Ex-Servicemen as Armed Forces Veterans: Based on the recommendations of the Chief of Staff Committee, Raksha Mantri (MOD) has approved the proposal that henceforth "Ex-Servicemen" will be addressed as "Armed Forces Veterans"

4. The vacancy circular for selection of administrative members for AFT (Armed Forces Tribunal) was posted by the MOD on its website www.mod.nic.in under the link 'new additions'. Interested members are advised to look out for future vacancies on the mentioned site.

Regards,
Wg Cdr Shashank Bendre(Retd)

CWG: Scams sans sports

The Editor
The Times of India
New Delhi

Sir,
Mr Milkha Singh, the legendary sportsman, has said that because of scams bedevilling the Commonwealth Games it would have been better had the Army handled the mega event (The Times of India, August 8). Whereas the respect and the trust reposed by Mr Singh in the Armed Forces is to be appreciated the fact remains that their prime function is to look after the security of the country and, in exceptional cases, perform any other task for which their help is specially solicited or asked for.

However, there is great scope for gainful utilisation of a large number of Military Veterans who are adept in the areas of their specialisation at various levels of the hierarchy besides being committed and disciplined. Invested with due authority and status they rise to the occasion and acquit themselves as creditably as any others.
Warm regards.
Sincerely,
Wing Commander SC Kapoor (retd)
Member Indian Ex Servicemen Movement Veterans Groups

With reference to the excellent letter to the editor, "The Times of India", written by Wing Commander SC Kapoor (retd), I would like to say:
He has rightly lodged his strong protest with the editor over the publicity given to the victims of atomic "bombs that shook the world," while ignoring any homage whatsoever to the sacrifices of our own Jawans who are killed in action.

I recall my own disgust a long time ago when our political leaders used to "wail and cry" over the partition of Palestine, hailing Yasser Arafat as a great leader and patriot but never ever mentioned the Partition of our own India that suffered huge loss of territory and created TEN TIMES more refugees than the number of Palestinian refugees.

Mr. Yasser Arafat was received and honoured in India as State guest. He used to go back laden with honours and cash awards. Indian news media covered every detail of his trips at full length. I realized then that it was India's official policy to ignore her own Partition but to make big fuss over similar tragedies thousands of miles away from our borders.

It is very bad, indeed, to see that decades on, the same policy of ignoring our own soldiers and their sacrifices by the Indian media continues.
Regards
Rajinder Singh Rajput

Corps of Signals: Chennai 20 Feb 2010

The Soldiers' 2nd Innings

Dear Brigadier Kamboj,
A book on "Life after retirement from military service" with the title, "The soldiers' 2nd Innings" was released during the EME Corps Reunion at Secunderabad on 8 Jan 2010. It has been published by Macmillan India Ltd. A synopsis of the contents and picture of the cover are attached.
This hard cover book is priced at Rs 495 and can be obtained from any of the Macmillan offices at Delhi, Bengaluru,Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh,Coimbatore, Cuttak, Guwahati, Hubli, Hyderabad,Jaipur, Lucknow, Madurai, Nagpur Patna, Pune Thiruvanantapuram and Vishakhapatanam.
Direct orders can be sent to Mr Suresh Gopal, at his e-mail ID: sgopal@macmillan.co.in
I shall, indeed, be looking forward to hear your comments and observations on this 'labor of love' And should you need any assistance for obtaining a copy of the book please feel free to revert to me.
With best wishes,
Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)

click here for Table of Contents

The Story of Report My Signal Email Forum and Blog

Today’s veterans are yesterday’s uniformed!!
Having spent many years in the Corps, some as much as 38 years, the Corps becomes more than a family for them. However, on retirement most veterans head home, some take up jobs and a few migrate to other countries. The only medium for Corps news is The Signalman. It is published every four months and the news becomes old by the time our Corps magazine reaches the veterans.

Saddest part is delayed and lack of information about those who pass away. The Friends and Comrades are unable to pay Shradhanjli to the departed souls. Also there is no platform where Corps veterans are able to express their views and thoughts about professional and Corps matters.

A periodic email based letter named REPORT MY SIGNAL was started by Lt Gen Harbhajan Singh, Signal Officer-in-Chief and Senior Colonel Commandant 1988-91, about five years back, with 15-20 email addresses of the Corps Veterans. The Aim was to do networking, remain in touch and exchange information about the veterans and other matters of mutual interest. REPORT MY SIGNAL was chosen as the Title, since it epitomises the Corps of Signals ethos. After a few months, Brig CS Kamboj, VSM took over the reigns. With his dynamism and dedication, he soon made it very popular and informative.

It has become single most important source of the Corps and other news for over 1200 veterans and some ladies from All the Three Services, including 47 ESM organisations, spread all over the world, who have joined up the email list. During 2008, 387 emails were sent out by “Report My Signal”. All the members and ESM organisations on the emailing list of “Report My Signal” have their forward emailing nets. It is estimate that within 24 hours of an email going out from “Report My Signal” around 12000 to 15000 veterans read that email. A large number of Blogs have started posting the emails of “Report My Signal” on their own blogs. However, this forum can only be periodic and every word has to be typed by Brig Kamboj himself.

The advent of Blogs set us thinking to start a Corps Blog. Based on suggestion to Brig Kamboj, he was able to identify (discover would be more appropriate) Col James Kanagaraj, living in Chennai, in Nov 2007, who was then on a visit to USA. Col James Kanagaraj has turned out to be a technical wizard and highly motivated and dedicated. Using emails between Brig Kamboj in NOIDA, Col James in USA and self in Chandigarh, we were able to work out the design and layout of Report My Signal Blog within a few weeks.

Though the original idea was to have only one blog for Shradhanjlis, we decided to split this one Blog into three blogs (Shradhanjli, Veterans Affairs and Professional). The Blog was formally launched on 01 Dec 2007, with an email from Brig CS Kamboj on his Report My Signal Forum.

There was a need to have one to two more veterans to act as moderators. Soon we had two volunteers; Brig Sukhwinder Singh and Maj Ramesh Agnani. However, Maj Agnani asked to be relieved after a few weeks due to other commitments that he had. Since then Col James Kanagaraj has been the Moderator for Veterans and Shradhanjli Blogs and Brig Sukhwinder Singh has been managing the Professional Matters Blog.

Blog is short form of ‘Weblog’ and is a journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. In a classical blog, people worldwide can themselves add comments/views. However, since our Blog deals with Service people and matters, the procedure adopted is that all those who want to post anything on the Blogs have to send the same to the two Moderators, who then post the contents on the Blogs.

The Blog “Shradhanjli” is exclusively for use by All Ranks of Signals. For other two Blogs, all Veteran Officers of the Indian Defence Services are welcome to participate. Generally speaking, all matters concerning the Veterans, professional matters dealing with the Defence Forces, National Security, Technology etc keeping in view security aspects, Shradhanjlis to comrades from Corps of Signals are accepted for posting on the these Blogs. Messages dealing with politics, religion and business are not accepted and security aspects are kept in view.

From a modest unique hits of 20- 30 in Dec 2007 the Blog has grown to hit range of 250- 285 with daily total hits ranging 650 a day in Dec 2008. There has been surge of visits to topics on "Sixth Central Pay Commission" and "Mumbai Terror Attacks".

The Report My Signal Blog is visited by interested people all over the world and has become one of the premier source for information as also expressing opinions and thoughts on National Security and Service matters. It is also heartening to know that we now come to know about the demise of our comrades in the Corps more promptly and are able to pay Sharadhanjlis to them.

REPORT MY SIGNAL BLOG IS FOR THE CORPS OF SIGNALS VETERANS AND VETERANS OF ALL THE THREE SERVICES. WE REQUEST ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF ALL READERS.
Lt Gen Harbhajan Singh,PVSM (Retd)
This article was published in SIGNALMAN, the premier Magazine of Corps of Signals

Reality Check: Veteran Organisations

It may be useful to have a reality check of the existing veteran organisations. All are involved in pursuing the issues affecting the veterans but each has adopted a different methodology. Their primary and other objectives are also different. These are conditioned by the agendas of their organisations, the environment in which they operate, the extent of official patronage, if any, that they get, which is actually pitifully little when compared to what even the run of the mill (and mostly fake) non-government organisations (NGO’s) get.

The oldest veteran organisation is the Indian Ex Services League (IESL), founded by two early and highly respected Chiefs of the army – Field Marshal Carriapa and General Thimayya. This is the only veteran organisation that is recognised (whatever that means!) by the government and gets funds from the Central government. Most, if not all state governments, have not considered it fit ever to assist or nurture any veteran organisation, on the specious plea that they assist the veterans officially through their departments of defence. Without sounding offensive, most activities of these departments are in actuality designed for furthering the cause of the politicians in power! An offshoot of the IESL is the All India Ex-Services Welfare Association (AIEWA), which had carried out considerable work in the past to get equal pension for the veterans. Then there is the Sainik Sangh, also known as All India Ex Soldier’s League. The Navy and Air Force have Foundations, which have a well laid out agenda, and they seem to work only within this.

The IESM comes next. It is a comparatively recent organisation, which has only one aim – to get One Rank One Pension (OROP) at the earliest. It is the first veteran’s organization to adopt an agitational approach to meet their objective. They have captured the imagination of a large number of veterans and it continues to increase its membership. It professes to represent all ex-servicemen of the country, a claim disputed by many. They are in the eye of the storm at present because of the manner, in which they pushed their Advisory supporting a particular political party during the elections, disregarding the sensibilities of a large number of their members. Other groups are really local, as their membership and agendas have a predominantly local colour.

The military veterans of the nation are as fractured as the verdict that was expected to be delivered by the electorate according to all pundits. While the polity has proved them wrong, the veteran organisations continue to be fractured. Despite the past failures in efforts to forge unity, it continues to remain the goal of all veteran organisations, as they do understand that without unity they will continue to be marginalised. Let us hope they succeed.
Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd)
President
War Wounded Foundation
Full article:
Elections and the Indian Military: A perspective

IESM: Veteran Visibility

Dear Colleagues,
An email received from Veteran T.R.Ramaswami by another ESM is reproduced below for information and dissemination to maximum of our citizens:

I am presently in the US on a tour. I have so far taken about 8 internal flights. On every flight the flight attendant asks whether there are any serving soldiers of the army, navy, air force or marines. He / she also asks whether there are any veterans. Then on behalf of the airline and all the other passengers she thanks all of them for the sacrifices they have done and that the entire country is proud of them. Only after this the other flying instructions follow.

In all malls and public places the photographs of the local residents who have fallen in action are placed at the entrance with all relevant details.

It is easy to recognise a veteran in the US. They all wear a cap proclaiming their status. Many public services and entry to museums, etc are free. Unlike India serving and retired soldiers travel in uniform in public transport in the US.

I suggest that Indian armed forces veterans should also wear a cap proclaiming their status. Perhaps serving soldiers must also make themselves more visible to the public.

On home-front many more suggestions have since come. We are grateful to all senders who have found time to do so.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM

State War Memorial in Bhopal and Narsingpur stadium to be named after Col Ajay Mushran

I attended a function organised by the Madhya Pradesh Foundation at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi on 10 July 2008. In the presence of Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia MoS for Communications & IT , the Chief Minister Madhya Pradesh Shri Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan (BJP) announced that Madhya Pradesh would take steps forthwith to establish a War Memorial in the state. He also requested Mr Scindia and the former CM of MP, Shri Digvijay Singh to help get the message across to the politicians at the centre regarding the crying need to set up a national war memorial at Delhi.

To my mind it was not an empty promise. It was made in the presence of Army Chief, Vice Chiefs of Army & Navy, DGOS, DGMS(Army) & Brig Tom Pande, Mahavir Chakra - all are sons of Madhya Pradesh except Army Chief whose father in law Brig Tom Pande is from MP. The occasion was the second annual lecture in memory of late Col Ajay Mushran (Roddy's cabin mate at the academy) who served with distinction 26 yrs in the Army & 24 yrs in politics. Col Mushran was the respected Finance Minister in Digvijay Singh's cabinet.

The CM also announced that the stadium at Narsingpur, MP would be named after Col Ajay Mushran. The CM deserves kudos & the gratitude of Veteran soldiers from all over India for speedy implementation of his promise. Last week I came across the Tender notice issued by MP, inviting Expressions of Interest for setting up the War Memorial in the hills around Bhopal.

Incidentally, at the Function, the quote of the day & - one which was echoed by others came from Brig Pande. He said that today's soldier should be given a better quality of life and that the gaurv & samman of earlier days should be returned to him. He elaborated that everyone should realise that soldiers will often risk/ lay down their lives for that one inch of ribbon and not just for money!

Cdr Arun Saigal

Ex- Servicemen's problems will be solved soon

Necessary steps will be taken to solve the land and site problems of the ex-servicemen in Madikeri district (Karnataka) by examining the same as per the government orders, said Deputy Commissioner K R Niranjan.

Addressing an ex-service men adalat at his office, he said the problems pending over the past several years regarding the registration of lands, account transfer, sanctioning sites would be solved at the earliest.

The DC made this assurance in the backdrop of the complaint made by the ex- servicemen that though land has been sanctioned to them, it has not been registered in their name. Land and site have not been even sanctioned to many more ex- service men. Such members should be given land.

The scholarship amount to the children of the ex-servicemen should be hiked, the participants urged. A proposal will be sent to the government in this regard, Mr Niranjan said, adding that such adalats would be conducted once in three months.

Single window system has been introduced across the State to solve the problems of the ex-servicemen at the district-level. DC is the chairman for the system, while the officer of the Backward Classes and Minority Department will be the nodal officer. Ex-servicemen Welfare and Rehabilitation Department Joint Director will be the member secretary. The tahsildars of the three taluks will be the members, he explained.

The Deputy Commissioner asked the officials and other staff to dispose the complaints of ex-servicemen in a swift manner.

HQA Chikka Thimmaiah, in-charge Superintendent of Police Shashikumar, Ex- servicemen Organisation representatives Major Genral (Retd) Kariappa, Lt Colonel (Retd) Ganapathy, Ex-servicemen Welfare and Rehabilitation Department Joint Director Dr Prakash, Backward Classes and Minority department officer H G Prabhakar, Madikeri tahsildar R Yashodha were present.
Ex-servicemen's problems will be solved soon

Comments: The lands alloted to ESM has not been transferred for several years. DC's proposal to dispose cases earliest implies another several years before the land patta's are issued to ESM! This is highlights of Bureaucracy in action.

Indian Athletes Aim for Gold on Billionaire's Buck

Young Indians are training for this summer’s Olympics with the backing of a London-based billionaire steel magnate, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lakshmi Mittal was dismayed by India’s poor showing at Athens in 2004—where the burgeoning superpower earned only a single silver, while arch rival China won 32 golds—and founded the Mittal Champions Trust to identify and support promising athletes.

Mittal, who left India as a young man, has committed $10 million so far, and 10 athletes whose training he's supported will compete in Beijing. One young archer, training in the program's camp at Bangalore, who had no means to pursue Olympic dreams, not only trains but sends money home to support his family. "I am so fired up that whatever is expected of me to win, whatever effort's expected, I will do it," he said.
Indian Athletes Aim for Gold on Billionaire's Buck
India decades of Olympic mediocrity

Cricket Crazy Country. The nation's love for cricket has sidelined all other sports and games activity to almost a diminishing zero. The Defence Forces, Veteran Organisations, Schools, Colleges and Universities need to get into the act of resurrecting the sports and games arena of the Nation.

Open Letter To The Media After Successful Fight Against Newton Legion

After my successful fight against the Newton Legion of the Royal Canadian Legion during 1993/94, I issued a well-deserved and urgently needed “Open Letter to the Media”.

I would like to thank all those who have supported me, and other Sikh Veterans in connection with the events which occurred at the Newton Legion, Surrey, B.C Canada, on last Remembrance Day. Without your support:-

we would not have received the Public Apology on B C T V from the President of Newton Legion and a Press Release from the Royal Canadian Legion.

the Dominion Command of the Royal Canadian Legion would not have amended its by-laws to treat the head-dress of the Jews and Sikhs faiths as religious, and to allow the Jews and Sikh Veterans wearing their respective religious head-dresses admission, into all areas of 1720 Legion Branches across Canada, effective November 28, 1993.

I would especially like to thank Penny Priddy MLA who stood with us throughout this ordeal. I would also like to thank other Politicians, especially the Media and hundreds of thousands of Canadians who supported us. Words cannot express my gratitude to all of those Canadians who have worked with me tirelessly to ensure that the discriminatory rules framed and practised by some of the Royal Canadian Legion Branches across Canada, were changed by the Dominion Command, the highest Legion Authority, in Canada. Through this experience, I have learnt that the vast majority of Canadians are wonderful and tolerant people.

Lt Col Pritam Singh Jauhal (Retd) World War II Veteran
Other connected articles:
Veteran victory for religious tradition
Veteran Remembrance Day

Indian Bureaucracy Makes Veteran Widow Crazy

Britain Honours WWII Veteran in India
The President Of India Intervenes In NRI Widow Pension Case.
I helped Mrs Pritam Kaur Basi, widow of late Major Paramjit Singh Basi, who put his life on the line in World War II along with me, in her fight for widow pension from the Indian Pension Authorities. I personally conducted sustained and vigorous correspondence with various Indian Pension Authorities on her behalf to enable the aged blind, sickly-looking lady get her pension. Regretfully, the case was not moving for years. Hence, I wrote personal letters to many retired and serving Officers friends, requesting to help the lady. Despite my best efforts, it took the lady 14 long years to get her pension in her bank account in India.

I, having got totally disappointed and disgusted with 14 years delay in Mrs Basi’s pension case, could not help writing about it to the President of India and Supreme Commander of Indian Armed forces, giving comprehensive details of the case and expressing great concern with the manner in which the widow of World War Veteran was neglected by Indian Pension Authorities. I also enclosed with my letter, a copy of my detailed article on the subject published in the Link Newspaper for information. I was delighted to receive an email dated June 26, 2003 from Mrs Padmaja, Under Secretary (NRI-I) to the President of India, Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. Its contents are as follows:-

“Please refer to your letter dated April 30, 2003 addressed to the President of India regarding the Pension case of Mrs Pritam Kaur Basi. To enable us to coordinate with the Controller General of Defence Accounts, will you please send us the relevant details of the Pension case including copies of the correspondence made by Mrs Basi with concerned authorities.”

Responding to the above email, I compiled a comprehensive and detailed case of Mrs Basi’s Pension consisting of 107 sheets, bound them properly in a binder. The binder was forwarded to the President of India, through the Diplomatic Bag of the Consulate General of India, Vancouver on July 16, 2003.

Mrs Basi’s World war II Veteran husband Major Paramjit Singh Basi died in Canada on March 25, 1989. She submitted her application for family pension which was sanctioned vide CDA (P) PPO No M/F/F/89, in seven months. She was directed to report to the Manager of the Bank of India Jalandhar with her Pension Book to receive her first pension.

As bad luck would have it, Mrs Basi’s health took a turn for the worst and she was declared medically Blind, amongst many other complications, and was in no way fit to travel to India. As such, she requested her Banker viz the Bank of India , Jalandhar to credit her pension including arrears to her saving Bank account on extreme compassionate grounds. The Banker refused to budge. All her further pleas were ignored.

Being demoralized and disgusted, Mrs Basi wrote letters giving details of her ill health and an unending delay in her pension to all conceivable related authorities for help in getting her pension. It was only after excessive pressure exerted by the higher-ups on her Banker that he acted. Even then, it took her no less than 14 years to get her pension deposited into her bank account.

Having personally handled the entire pension case of Mrs Basi, I brought the most inordinate delay of 14 years to the notice of the President of India. I requested him that the culprits responsible for the delay in this particular case be awarded maximum penalties, and necessary orders be issued to all authorities so that no widow suffers this type of loss and pain as Mrs Basi did.

Lt Col Pritam Singh Jauhal (Retd) World war II Veteran
Founder President Indian Ex-Servicemen Society British Columbia

Comment: The Bureaucrats responsible for the delay are accountable to no one except God. May God help the bureaucarcy to see light! Contrast this with how British honour the Veterans in India. The Photocopy of news item shown above is the proof.

Fifth Central Pay Commission Goof Ups Plague Ex- Servicemen

People like me are with every sentiment of ESM as well as those, who have yet to join this class after retirement. The struggle will go on. For many of us not much time is left.

All of us do not have energy or know how to go to the courts. Now that AFT Act 2007 has been passed, there should be a cell of IESL or whatever, to project our simple language cases to the AFT.

MINE IS: why as a retired Major General, (next higher rank to Brigadier) I have been getting lesser pension than a Brigadier, for the last 18 years? Applications are filed by the same Babus whom we blame for the pay commission and its anti- armed forces stance.

With regards,
Maj Gen Satish Chandra (Retd)

Question: Will the newly constituted Armed Forces Tribunal reverse the smart moves of Bureaucrats who have who have dumped the Defences Forces to an irretrievable morass?

Fifth Central Pay Commission Goof ups:

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence had recommended that a member of the Pay Commission be nominated from the defence forces.

There were major anomalies in its recommendations, one of them being that it gave a Brigadier more pension than a Major General. It also removed the running pay band given by the previous Pay Commission to compensate for the limited promotions in the armed forces. (The rank pay promised was screwed up but deviously merged with pay and corresponding amount deducted from pay. The bureaucrats feathered a double cap to their mathematical genius.)

For the purpose of pension, the defence personnel were equated with civilian employees but the condition of 33 years of service to earn full pension stayed, placing the armed forces at a great disadvantage. Over 90 per cent of the defence personnel retire early and therefore do not fulfil the criteria of 33 years of service to gain full pension. As a result, a former Sepoy gets less than half the pension of a retired peon.

Not only did the Fifth Pay Commission ignore the hardships of a career in the armed forces, it did not compensate them adequately for truncated careers, extremely limited promotions, long separations from families and risk to life and limb. In most democracies, these are termed as the X factor and adequately compensated.
Panel seeks defence nominee on pay commission
Silly observations, blunders and goof-ups by the 6th CPC

British Govt Honoured Indian World War II Veterans In Canada

Five Indian retired World War II Veterans Namely Lt Cols Pritam Singh Jauhal and Inderjit Singh Gill, H/Lt Harnam Singh Sihota, Sub Maj Gurdev Singh Grewal and Hav Waryam Singh Bains were among few Caucasian Veterans presented “Veterans Badges” during a specially arranged colorful ceremony held at 240 Crescent Beach Legion, Surrey, Canada on July 9,2005. The Indian Veterans being members, were recommended for the Award by their 6 Cloverdale Legion. The Badges were presented to eligible Veterans by Mrs Leslie Maudsley, President Ladies Auxiliary Legion Royal Canadian Legion, White Rock, Canada.

Promoting an understanding of the significance of the contributions and sacrifices of World War II Veterans, 2005 was declared as “the International Year of the Veteran” to thank and honour Veterans who fought for their Countries in World War II. Throughout this Commemorative Year, civilians of all Countries actively remembered, honored, celebrated and learnt about the sacrifices of their Veterans.

The British Govt attaches great importance to identifying , recognizing and thanking World War II Veterans who through their commitment and sacrifice in the War years, helped to save the World from tyranny. The freedom that people take for granted was won for the World by the brave Veterans, who put their valuable lives on the “Line of Fire” voluntarily and willingly, the least caring for the safety of their aged parents, young wives and tiny kids, leaving them at the mercy of others.

On behalf of Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II, the Govt of United Kingdom, Ministry of Defence decided to issue beautifully designed “Veterans Badges” to all World War II Veterans who fought in the War as a part of the Commonwealth Forces. In Canada, those badges were presented to eligible World War II Veterans through Royal Canadian Legion, on receipt from London, England.

The badges are required to be worn by their recipients with pride on High Streets, in the Buses, in Public Places and of course at Commemorative Events over the coming years when dressed in civilian attire. By doing so, they will remind the Citizens of their Countries to say “a heart-felt Thank You” for the victory they won and for the freedom people now take for granted. Light Refreshments were served to all recipients of the Badges and a Group Photo taken at the end of the Ceremony, which went extremely well.

Lt Col Pritam Singh Jauhal (Retd) World War II Veteran
Founding President Indian Ex-Servicemen Society British Columbia
Fleet Air Arm Archive 1939-1945