WHEN those who are entrusted with guarding our frontiers take to the streets, not demanding favours but their just dues, then something is seriously wrong with governance. Thousands of ex-servicemen, from sepoys to lieutenant generals, squatted on the road at Jantar Mantar on December 1, demanding that their pension anomalies be corrected and their pay structure be brought on a par with equivalent ranks in the civilian administration. A memorandum of their demands, signed with the blood of those present, was handed over to the Presidents staff. Over 2,000 medals, including Vir Chakras, Shaurya Chakras, gallantry awards and sena medals were deposited with the Indian Ex Servicemen Movement (IESM) to be returned to the President as a mark of protest. Ex-servicemen from all over the country have so far returned over 32,000 medals. Of these, over 10,000 are lying in the IESM office.
We will hand over these medals to the President only, not to his staff. Since the President has not accepted these medals that are lying with us, we will parade these medals to the people across the country from December 16 onwards, said Maj. Gen. (Retd) Satbir Singh, vice-chairman of the IESM. December 16, incidentally, is the day when India registered victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war.
The IESM is demanding one rank, one pension, assured career progression for sepoys, benefits like Non-Functional Upgrades for officers as is given to their civilian counterparts, and payment of rank pay arrears as awarded by a recent Supreme Court order.
The government has remained unresponsive to the ex-servicemens long-pending demands. On September 4, the Supreme Court passed an order for payment of rank pay arrears to all officers, with effect from January 1, 1986, as per the Fourth Pay Commission recommendation. It said the payment should be made within 12 weeks from the date of judgment.
Lack of action from the government forced the Retired Defence Officers Asscociation to file a contempt notice against the government. We are left with no option but to file a contempt notice because except for issuing a letter that the Supreme Court order will be complied with the government has done nothing, Col. (Retd) Satwant Singh, general secretary of the association, told Frontline. He said the governments attitude towards service personnel, both serving and retired, was one of total apathy. Otherwise how do we explain the 4,000-odd cases pending in the Armed Forces Tribunal? The government goes in appeal against the tribunals orders. Most of these orders are over pension-related matters of service personnel, an overwhelming majority of whom are disabled. Isnt it unfortunate that those who have become disabled in the battlefield are now being forced to fight for their rights? he asked.
Purnima S. TripathiCOMMents
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