Unfair to Army widows

ARMY widows consist of various categories depending on the circumstances under which their husbands died. Accordingly they get different kinds of pensions, monetary help and other privileges. The widows of those soldiers who died in a battle are the most privileged ones. All kinds of monetary grants, full pay pension, job reservation, etc, are provided to them. No qualms about that. But then we should not forget that a widow is a widow. Whatever her category, she faces the same problems —financial and social insecurity, homelessness, how to educate her children, re-marriage (if any), medical treatment and canteen facilities, etc.

All defence personnel are legally on duty always, whether in the unit or on annual leave. Almost all deaths occur while on active duty. Then why this discrimination?

What is a widow’s fault if her husband dies in a rail/air crash on the way to the battle front, or in a battle accident or due to a bullet fired by the enemy or an insurgent. The damage done is the same.

Some widows live in utter penury, rejected by society and neglected by the government. Some others live in luxury, owning a gas/petrol pump agency, or having secured job. They are admittedly in minority. They came up due to influence and favouritism. If there is a concession available, it should be for everyone or for none at all.

Educated and city-based widows are better placed to claim all the authorised concessions than those in the rural areas. These are, however, Army widows. They are ignorant of their rights.

Even within war-widows, there is extreme discrimination between old widows of 1948 vintage and new widows. Some of the old widows are in real misery due to miserly pensions and added responsibilities. This problem was faced in the UK also after the Falkland war. But, then, they are different people.

The matter was raised in Parliament in 1989. The government was supported by all parties to bring the old widows (some more than 80 years old) on a par with the new ones. All widows were exempted from income tax liability. The pre-1973 war widows were given a special £ 40 per week allowance (tax free). Here it will not be out of place to quote the last paragraph of the speech made by Mr Tom King, Secretary for Defence in the British House of Commons on December 11, 1989.

“The government recognises the very special place that these widows hold in affection of this country and the particular debt that we all owe to them; and the strong feelings of many members of both Houses and the public throughout the country that they should be treated as a quite exceptional and distinctive one. I believe that the proposals that I have announced today are a proper and fair response to that public interest and concern, and a genuine recognition to those whose husbands gave their lives for our country”.

Due to India’s border commitment and the ongoing insurgency in J&K and the North-East Army widows occupy a special place as far as their future is concerned. The government needs to take a pragmatic view to bring all widows on a uniform package of financial and other privileges so that they lead a dignified life.

Brig K.S. KANG (retd)
Chandigarh

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India’s ‘National Day’

The world has progressed leaps and bounds and men has already stepped on the surface of the moon and sent exploratory missions to Mars and other planets, and mother earth is ready to move into the next millennium. A more sensible vision calls for updating the existing data and discarding the unnecessarily stored memory.

Year after year, by celebrating Independence Day on August 15 the lecturing leaders had been resonating with having been ruled by the British and the atrocities suffered under their yoke. For the last 53 years, the leaders have been repeating the same thing whereas the British have been so much helpful and cooperative. India has come to be known as a progressive country and is proving to be a better democracy than the UK. It is high time we did away with Independence Day and Republic Day and decided to celebrate National Day on August 15.

Wing Commander T.L. BHARDWAJ
Pathankot

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For bank depositors

Several bank depositors have been complaining of a periodic increase in bank charges. Whenever such complaints are taken up with the respective banks, the standard reply is that they were following the recommendations of the Indian Banks’ Association. Therefore, the All-India Bank Depositors’ Association (Mumbai) had taken up the matter with Indian Banks’ Association which has replied as follows: “...the IBA had fixed benchmark rates for major banking services in the year 1993-94. In view of financial sector reforms, the pricing of bank services is left to individual banks to decide.”

Bank depositors are, therefore, advised that now onwards whenever they find that service charges are unreasonable, they should insist on banks justifying the service charges.

M.R. PAI and S. Divakara
Mumbai