No way to treat soldiers

Col Dabby S De mello (retd)

AFTER the coronation of the Magadh Samrat, Kautilya, also known as Chanakya, gave his king this blunt warning: “The day the soldier has to demand his dues will be a sad day for Magadh for then, on that day, you will have lost all moral sanction to be king!”

It is regrettable that defence-related matters in our country have always been a low priority, with the military being kept out of the security loop. The consequences of this foolish policy are evident for all to see. The case of One Rank One Pension (OROP) too has proved no different. The all-powerful IAS lobby continues to have the last laugh and is hell bent on denying OROP to the faujis. If the BJP government loftily claims that OROP has been granted, then why are faujjis still protesting?  The OROP as approved by two Parliaments reads: “Uniform pension will be given to the defence personnel retiring with the same rank and same years of service irrespective of the date of retirement. Any future enhancement or change in the rates of pension to be automatically passed on to the past retirees”. Which means to do away with any gap between the past, present and the future defence pensioners. In the notification dated November 7, 2015, the government has equalised the pension of the past defence pensioners by giving them a one-time raise and has maliciously termed it as OROP. The notification also states that in future the pension will be re -fixed after every five years. The all-powerful bureaucracy arbitrarily altered the approved definition of OROP, thereby literally killing it's soul.  Re-fixing the pension of the past retirees after every five years makes it One Rank Five Pensions and is a mockery of past Parliamentary assurances. The envisaged concept of parity has been thrown out of the window. Ex-servicemen throughout the country are outraged at this blatant sellout by the government. The relay hunger strike by the retired faujis is still on. June 15, 2017 was the day of collective shame for the country and the countrymen for, on that day, the veterans of the Indian Army, mostly in their twilight years, completed two years of their non-stop peaceful protest sitting on the footpath near Jantar Mantar asking for the promised OROP. On that day, these veterans, unfortunately considered a spent force by almost all Indians, weathered the vagaries of all seasons of the year twice over. 

The morale factor: These days the situation in the Kashmir Valley is tense as never before and the jawan guarding the LoC under utmost constraints is also under immense pressure but is still prepared to even sacrifice his life to defend the motherland. Though he is routinely assured by the government that, even after his retirement his dignity and honour will be respected, but the assurances do not seem to convince him when he sees his father or uncle or even grandfather sitting on the footpath near Jantar Mantar like beggars asking for the promised OROP. This state of affairs is bound to adversely affect his morale. It is mainly the wards of the former jawans and present-day kisans who constitute bulk of our Army. Surely, not a single politician or a bureaucrat or any other elite has his ward in defence forces. Today many children of OROP protestors are still staring down the “enemy” in the most inhospitable environs under bone-chilling state of danger, with their backs to the country. They are perhaps wondering as to why OROP recommended by two Parliaments and promised by the Pradhan Sevak himself, is not being granted in it's accepted form. Ageing ex-servicemen, war widows and the families of this immensely patriotic set of Indians sitting at Jantar Mantar fighting for their izzat is indeed a sad reflection of the nation as a whole. 

Financial Aspect: As per the estimates of the Ministry of Defence, the implementation of OROP for military retirees will entail an additional expenditure of Rs 8,293 crore annually. Financially, the country is on the upswing, yearly GDP is on the rise, and the economy growing is at almost seven per cent, yet the government cannot afford to allocate Rs 8,300 odd crore annually for the defence pensioners. Will this additional allocation shatter the country's economy? The Modi government needs to resolve the issue the soonest, but without any bureaucratic involvement, for the good of the nation. Don't let it become a crises point. If a pragmatic survey is carried out, it will be seen that the bureaucracy has consistently failed the nation — it is the defence forces that have risen to the occasion and retrieved the situation each and every time. Garnering of political mileage from surgical strike like operations must stop. The jawan-friendly BJP finds it more profitable winning elections in the name of jawans. Shouldn't it win their hearts as well?