A VETERAN SOLDIER SPEAKS : THE WAR WITHIN - SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS ON VETERNS' ISSUES
An impromptu piece, written by Col RC Patial, SM, is reproduced below. Col was motivated to write the piece after attending the 'AAKROSH RALLY' at Jantar Mantar on Dec 13, '15.
The rally, a resounding success, with around 40,000 attendees from all over the Country, went unreported in the mainstream media, both print as well as TV.
So much for the Freedom of Speech and the Undeclared Emergency, worse than the declared one of the 70s, when every one knew that an emergency had been declared. Today, all the editorials and the glorified Anchors of the leading National Channels, sing paeans to the Govt of the Day and maintain tight lipped silence on the veterans's issues.
The soldiers' honour and dignity is being kicked around by the Govt and the Bureaucracy of the day, in the rubbish dump of dishonour and degradation.
The Nation needs to rise as one at this pitiable state of soldiers who, have, are and will continue to defend the Nation against all, from within and without.
Chanakya is having sleepness nights, centuries after warning his King -
"IT WILL BE A SAD DAY FOR THE COUNTRY
WHEN A SOLDIER HAS TO DEMAND HIS DUE"
===========================================
Col RC Patial's Article reproduced below, with minor editing and formatting :
“We do not need HMV officers.
Our shadows do that much better.
We want officers who have Tact to Differ.”
For a soldier and a veteran, honour comes first - Always and every time.
It is for this reason that the plethora of veteran bodies, today, must stand together and jointly fight for their just cause of "Restoration of his Lost Honour and Dignity".
The government in power is trying to find a scape goat in the politicisation of the veterans' struggle for OROP in the form that the acronym reads.It is even degrading the honour of the soldier by attributing selfish motives at the cost of the Nation's welfare, to the struggle for OROP.
Veterans are Soldiers, Not Politicians.
Maybe a time has come when we too require our voice and a strong front of parliamentarians in the parliament.
After consistantly blaming the previous government for not giving us the OROP, it is unreasonable for the present NDA government to seek more time to fulfil a solemn promise that their Head made while seeking votes to come to power.
Should the Government and the PM not be held accountable now?
We veterans feel victimised by the Shakuni niti and Chanakyagiri of the babus and the politicians.
At he beginning of the struggle in Jun '15, OROP united all forms of veterans' leagues, but split at a time when united pressure on the Govt, was most required. The Govt successfully practised the policy of 'Divide and Rule', made known the World over by our erstwhile masters, the British.
Each group of veterans is convinced of its righteous approach; this is bound to happen as groupism is in the basic nature of every living being on this Earth. What we are failing to realise that the ways may be different but the AIM is the same.
Let us exercise restraint on uncalled for criticism of each other and unitedly confront the Govt/ bureaucracy with all our might.
UNITED WE STAND,
DIVIDED WE FALL.
THIS IS AN IDEAL OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE ONLY ONE UMBRELLA VETERANS' BODY. Call it -
IVA (Indian Veterans' Association) Or
IVSM (Indian Veterans' Seva Mandal)
“Despite Differences In this world, unity is achievable only by learning to unite in spite of differences, rather than insisting on unity without differences, for their total eradication is an impossibility”.
Anit Mukherjee, a former army officer and now an assistant professor in Singapore wrote in the Caravan, (01 Feb 2014) :
“A Name upon a grave-India needs a proper account of the army’s war dead” Extracts :“I gave up my uniform and started a new career as an academic. One afternoon I came upon a section of the Indian Army’s official website titled “Pay Homage to Your Martyrs”.
The overall picture that emerged was disturbing on ‘Veterans’ Cell’ (endorsing his views when on phone a sometime back I quarried about the Role the answer was “same as a Call Centre!”). The total number of “martyrs” listed in the army’s publicly accessible database is nearly 30 percent greater than the number of fatalities that have been reported by the government in parliament. In November last year, I approached army headquarters in Delhi for clarity on this data. I was put in touch with the ‘Veterans’ Cell’ (without veterans).
This office was created only in 2010. The brigadier in charge of it was unaware of the “Pay Homage to Your Martyrs” section of the army’s website. When I asked him if he had a list of all war widows, he said, “No, that information is not shared with us and is handled by another division. Do us a favour, file an RTI and when you get the information, please tell us!”
I returned to the media cell and requested to be put in touch with the division dealing with wartime casualties—the office of Manpower Planning-5 (MP-5). An MP-5 officer in mufti told me that the official number of war dead is still classified.
After hitting this wall, I met with the DDG PI, Brigadier Sandeep Thapar. When I told him about the discrepancy in figures between the website and what has been presented in parliament, his reply was: “Information presented to the parliament is supreme. They cannot be questioned.” He promised to look into the matter and give me an answer.
A few days later, a junior officer from the media cell informed me by telephone that they were pulling down the “Pay Homage to Your Martyrs” section as they were “unable to get the requisite information about both how the parliamentary figures were arrived at and actual wartime casualties.”
The mystery of these discrepancies aside, it is evident that India does a poor job of honouring sacrifices made in the service of the nation. In practice, it is left to army units and formations to organise welfare activities for veer naris, the widows of their fallen soldiers. But the military lacks the capacity and resources to be an effective welfare organisation.
As a result, ad-hoc tokenism is favoured—like distributing sewing machines or food processors.
National War Memorial:
Generations of military officers have lobbied for the creation of a memorial that would honour soldiers be constructed in the capital, in an area close to India Gate (constructed by the British to honour Indian soldiers who died during the First World War). But Sheila Dixit, then CM of Delhi, opposed this, arguing that it would spoil the area’s “ambience”.
I belive, the MOD will soon invite international bids for constructing a National War Memorial at India Gate following the allocation of Rs 100 crore in the budget for 2014-15 presented to the Parliament.
Why could not the services come together and raise the National War Memorial at India Gate on its own steam through volunteer contributions and CSD profits over the last 50 years? What we lack is the will to go ahead and look up to the bureaucracy and the politicians.
This organisation must transit from “sick care” to “healthcare” in the broadest sense. ECHS foremost must deliver quality medical care and providing Veterans the very best medical services possible meaning:
· Understanding Veterans needs better and their preferences.
· ECHS providing a single-window, user-friendly so as to access the services.
· Removing cumbersome processes and procedural obstacles that frustrate the already sick old veterans.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment