Thursday 27 October 2016

Civil-Military Rank Parity: 
Can a Defence Board 
Address Wage Woes?
Navdeep Singh
(Preface edited by Samuel Dhar)
Preface
A Circular issued by the MoD on 18 Oct, 2016 and another one on Oct 27, reiterating on rank-equivalence, has irked Defence personnel no end, as the govt has further lowered the status of the Defence officers vis-a-vis civil service officers.
The stand of the Govt that the redefined equation is only within the four walls of the offices and has no bearing on the status of the officers outside the offices, defies logic, as all else, over the last nearly 30 months has.
A civilian principal director at par with a brigadier has been equated to a major general; hierarchically major general’s rank is higher than a brigadier.
Anomalies in pay structure across ranks due to the exclusion of rank pay from the basic pay, an issue not addressed even by the sixth pay panel.
Govt panel tried to address the issue of parity as Lt-Col officers were under the Pay Band-3 while civil officers were elevated to Pay Band-4.
With Supreme Court saying, rank pay shouldn’t be deducted from basic pay, govt should set up a defence board that can address wage-related issues.
(Infographic: Rahul Gupta/ The Quint)
First Hints of Trouble
 Ex-armymen protest over One Rank One Pension at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. (File Photo: PTI)
Veterans protest over One Rank One Pension at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. 
  • Rank Pay Ignored
An Indian army soldier guarding a post inside his bunker in Kashmir. (Photo: Reuters)
An Indian army soldier guarding a post inside his bunker in Kashmir.
  • Panel to Look into the Anomalies
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.   (Photo: Reuters)
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
  • Supreme Court on Rank Pay


(Infographic: Rahul Gupta/ The Quint)
(Infographic: Rahul Gupta)
  • MoD’s Latest Circular
While the Sixth Pay Commission had equated a Lt Col with a Deputy Secretary to Government of India/Joint Director and a Colonel with a Director – which was later altered by the GoM stating that the rank of Lt Col would be senior to a Deputy Secretary to Government of India/Joint Director but slightly junior to a Director/Colonel, the CAO of MoD has equated a Joint Director with a full Colonel and a Director with a Brigadier.
ITBP personnel sit on the embankment of an artificial fountain during a rehearsal for the Republic Day parade   in New Delhi,  20 January, 2012. (Photo: Reuters)
ITBP personnel sit on the embankment of an artificial fountain during a rehearsal for the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, 20 January, 2012. 
  • Bane of Bureaucracy


(Infographic: Rahul Gupta/ The Quint)
(Infographic: Rahul Gupta )
Concept of Defence Board
At times I am questioned for giving the political executive too much of a benefit of doubt on the end result of the machinations which start at the lower levels of the official chain, ultimately leading to embarrassment at the very top. And it almost seems that certain elements are out to bring discomfiture to all stakeholders and generate friction between the Defence Services and the government. 
Close on the heels of the hullaballoo over presentation of incorrect data and statistics by the Defence Accounts Department to the Pay Commission on disabled soldiers, a controversy on civil-military rank equation has again erupted with the Chief Administrative Officer of the Ministry of Defence unilaterally issuing an order stating that a Joint Director of the Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service (AFHQCS) would be equated with a Colonel, a Director with a Brigadier, and a Principal Director with a Major General.
The said communication cites certain earlier administrative orders issued in 2003, 2005 and 2008 to buttress the argument.
Till the Third Central Pay Commission, pay-scales of the military were almost at par to that of civil services with the military enjoying a slight edge. Though a point-by-point comparison of military and civil scales was not possible due to a higher number of ranks in the former than grades in the latter, right in the middle of the structure, the pay of a Lt Col (Rs 1750-1950) was roughly equal to a Selection Grade/Non-Functional Selection Grade officer (Rs 1650-1800 and 1800-2000) of the civil services (Director, Government of India in the present times).
Then the Fourth Pay Commission introduced a concept called the rank pay which was carved out of the basic pay, and which, as per cabinet approval was to be added into the basic pay for all intents and purposes. The said concept continued even in the 5th Pay Commission regime. However, while comparing the military scales with civil scales, the Ministry of Defence issued an order stating that for purposes of comparison of status or facilities, the rank pay shall not be added into the basic pay, thereby overriding the stipulation of ‘all intents and purposes’ which was approved by the Cabinet and was also part of the official government order on military scales.
The Sixth Pay Commission also did not take into account the rank pay of military officers while tabulating a comparison chart on Page 73 of the report and provided for an equation of a Lt Colonel with the Junior Administrative Grade (Deputy Secretary to Government of India/Joint Director) by granting Pay Band-3 with a Grade Pay of Rs 7600 to both. Similarly, a Colonel was equated with the Selection Grade/Non-Functional Selection Grade (Director to Government of India) both being granted Pay Band-4 with Grade Pay of Rs 8,700. A Brigadier was granted a Grade Pay of Rs 8,900.
The above equation of a Lt Col with a Deputy Secretary to Government of India/Joint Director created quite a stir since the starting pay of a Lt Col (Rs 15,100 including Rank  Pay) was much higher than even a Director (Rs 14, 300). The Defence Services demanded the equation of Lt Col with a Director. Ultimately, the matter was referred to a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by the current President of India.
The GoM examined the issue threadbare. Though the GoM did not agree to restore Lt Col to the position of Director, it agreed that a Lt Col was senior to a Deputy Secretary to Government of India/Joint Director and partially removed the anomaly of the Sixth Pay Commission by granting Pay Band-4 to Lt Col with a higher Grade Pay of Rs 8,000. While the GoM therefore stated that a Lt Col shall outrank a Deputy Secretary to Govt of India/Joint Director, it also underlined that the said rank shall remain slightly lower than a Director to Govt of India who was now equated with a Colonel. The following was recorded by the GoM:
“...this measure will ensure that Lt Cols maintain their position above Deputy Secretaries and below Directors...”.
The GoM also provided that though Lt Cols were senior to Deputy Secretary to Govt of India/Joint Director level posts, they shall remain eligible for the lower Grade Pay of Rs 7,600 in case they wished to seek deputation at these lower posts.
The recommendations were accepted by the Prime Minister’s Office and also the Cabinet and ultimately the higher pay was notified for Lt Cols. Orders to this effect were issued in January 2009.
Settling a long-pending controversy on non-inclusion of rank pay into basic pay for fixation of pay, the Apex Court on 4 September 2012 finally directed that rank pay could not be deducted from basic pay of Commissioned Officers, thereby laying this controversy to rest.
The latest letter issued by the CAO of the MoD relegates military rank to a position even lower than the one controversially projected by the Sixth Pay Commission for which the GoM was constituted.
While a Joint Director of the AFHQCS is a promotee from Group B (Class II) with only about four to five years of Group A Service, Colonels of the Army have minimum 15 years of Group A level (Class I) Commissioned service to credit. To reiterate this position, the CAO has cited irrelevant letters issued in 2003, 2005 and 2008 all of which cannot in any manner supersede or override the decision of the GoM, the PMO and the Cabinet or the directions of the Supreme Court.
The controversy again brings into sharp focus the pitfalls of the one-way file noting sheet system, a bane of the Westminster model, by which files are initiated from below but the senior level functionaries or even the political executive have no way of determining the truth or the veracity of what is put up to them. This assumes an even higher danger in the Ministry of Defence wherein the stakeholders are not a part of the file movement and have no manner of rebutting incorrect postulations in real time. This also leads to embarrassment among the highest echelons when multiple decisions are then referred for rectification to other bodies.
The simplest manner to offset this malaise is to introduce a collegiate form of decision-making rather than the one-way file movement method wherein stakeholders and decision makers could sit together with their representatives and experts and take well-rounded decisions. Another option in the military backdrop could be the introduction of the concept of a ‘Defence Board’ on the lines of the Railway Board for taking such decisions. The ruling party did admirably state in its manifesto that it shall promote the involvement of the defence services in the decision-making process.
Creation of schism between the government and the armed forces or embarrassment to the political executive, even when they themselves might be well-intentioned, is too high a price to pay and it is hoped that there would be a silver lining in all these hiccups becoming a catalyst of serious reforms in the higher defence set-up. Having interacted with the current Defence Minister and also assisted him in reformatory process in certain aspects, this author, though politically neutral, is not willing to buy the theory that Mr Parrikar is not inclined to bring a positive change in the system. However to reign in the malaise, what is required is a hammer from the top, instead of mischievous notes from below.

Monday 17 October 2016

GOVT'S RAW DEAL 
TO THE SOLDIERS AND 
ITS DOUBLE SPEAK 

Please Read TOI Article :
Dated OCT 12, '16 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Disability-pension-Government-aims-to-bring-more-equity-among-different-ranks-in-forces/articleshow/54803449.cms

Also 
ITS PERFIDY :


Press Information Bureau 
Government of India
Ministry of Defence
13-October-2016 19:49 IST

Issue of Disability Pension for Defence Forces Personnel referred to 7th CPC Anomaly Committee 


The 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) recommended a slab based system for determining the disability pension for Defence Forces Personnel, which was accepted by the Government. Percentage based system was followed in the 6th CPC regime for calculating disability pension for Defence Forces Personnel as well as Civilians.


Service Headquarters have represented that the percentage based system should be continued under the 7th CPC for calculating disability pension for Defence Services at par with their Civilian counterparts.

The Ministry has referred the representation of the Service Headquarters to the Anomaly Committee of 7th CPC for consideration.

Also Read :


Govt's Brazen Claim -

"The Disability Pension has been increased, 
  not decreased." 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Government-trashes-media-reports-says-disability-pension-not-reduced-but-significantly-increased/articleshow/54785090.cms



Updated on Oct 22, 2016

Two more articles on the subject are reproduced below :

Prakash Katoch 

Fact or fiction, abuse of disability benefits by defence personnel must be thoroughly probed


A national daily has alleged that a former lieutenant general when heading the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) as director general wrote to the Defence Secretary alleging: one, top military officers nearing retirement are abusing disability benefits for higher and tax-free pensions; two, “alarming trend” of absolutely fit generals, admirals and air marshals are exploiting the welfare measure by getting themselves placed in the lower medical category.

Representative image. Reuters

A medical downgrade entitles a soldier to better retirement benefits. And the provision was allegedly being misused by few veteran officers who claimed disability benefits for diseases such as corns in their feet, eczema (a skin disorder), and hearing loss. The daily, Hindustan Times, says it has in its possession the letter which was purportedly written by the said DG, AFMS, in December 2014, but has not apparently been made public.
The daily, however, has printed excerpts of the letter, which reads: “I would like to apprise you of an alarming trend evolving in the services, with regards to claims for disability pension being preferred by senior officers of the rank of lieutenant general and major general and their equivalent... Specialists and medical officers working in hospitals under their command find themselves constrained to oblige these officers... Top officers who retired in Shape-1 were submitting 'post discharge claims' for disabilities... they claim to have contracted while in service... The provision was being misused by few veteran officers who claimed disability benefits for diseases such as corns in their feet, eczema, a skin disorder, and hearing loss contracted while in service."
The said former DG who retired in June 2016 has reportedly told Hindustan Times that he pursued the matter for one-and-half years after writing the letter, and the details that emerged were shocking. The daily quotes “sources” stating that the claims for disability pensions have shot up significantly during the last 10 years following the implementation of the sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC) in 2006 that enhanced benefits.However, according to the report, “A detailed scrutiny of records showed that before 2006 hardly any top officers claimed disability pension. But by 2015, about 21 percent of them were claiming benefits. If someone has disability, they should declare it earlier in service and not a few months before retirement.”
The timing of this letter “accessed” by the daily is noteworthy since the government is under considerable fire for a notification issued by the Ministry of Defence on 30 September 2016 (two days after the successful surgical strikes) which grants pensionary awards based on recommendations of the seventh CPC. The said notification reduces the amount of admissible disability benefits to pensioners relegating rates to the "slab system" that was prevalent prior to the 6th CPC. It places disabled defence pensioners at a sharp disadvantage.
Minister Manohar Parrikar reportedly told the Service Chiefs to immediately implement the seventh CPC despite it denigrating the military to lowest levels, even below the police, and an unprecedented stand by military asDefence king it to wait for the anomalies to be resolved before implementing seventh CPC. And the Service Chiefs are right in wanting the anomalies to be tackled first. In fact, even the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to the Central government directing it to use a sensitive approach while hearing views of the defence personnel. It also directed the Anomaly Committee to take into account the views of the defence personnel.
Sure the Defence Minister has referred the issue of calculating disability pension for soldiers to the Anomaly Committee of the Seventh CPC last week, but why was he not aware of it before issuing the notification from MoD on 30 September? And who has leaked the above-purported letter (if there is one) to the media, and why now?
The game of denigrating the military and hitting at the morale of soldiers is not new. It is part of the asymmetric war of our enemies, and the infusion of foreign funds are very much part of itIf the huge amount of money spent on moulding perceptions in the Westland Helicopter deal is any indication, why not weaken the military? In India, under the cliché of "free speech", anything goes anyway, even if Hafiz Saeed showers accolades on someone. Remember the fellow who headlined the fake story of an army coup. He was reportedly briefed by a Union minister (presently sitting in Rajya Sabha) because his son’s arms dealings were somehow not getting adequate attention.So, this journo goes and posts his story even as he is living way beyond his means, and is loathed by majority journo colleaguesBut who can really touch him when he is smart enough to gain the tutelage of a Union minister, including in the present set up? So, no one is happier than the guys across the border.
But let us assume that the above-mentioned letter is genuine and that the government would not have "leaked" it if had not been slammed for drastically reducing the disability pension of military personnel through MoD’s 30 September notification. Many would be unaware that the Directorate General of the Armed Forces Medical Services (DG AFMS) functions directly under the MoD. The Kargil Review Committee (KRC) and the follow up Group of Ministers (headed by then deputy prime minister and home minister LK Advani) reports, under which Headquarter Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) was established, had recommended that both DG AFMS and the Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) be brought under HQ IDS. However, this did not happen. Little wonder then that when a service chief went to call on the defence minister for the first time, the latter wanted to know how his relatives could be treated at the Army’s Research & Referral Hospital.
As for DGQA, the bottleneck for "certifying" items is well known, and you can well guess how bottlenecks are greased. There was a time when no reserves of special clothing for soldiers deployed on the Saltoto Range in Siachen Glacier area were maintained. Instead, there was a system called ‘Annual Provisioning Review’ which meant that the process of import of the items commenced with the new financial year) and by the time the items were imported, cleared by the DGQA and reached the troops, winters would have set in with many frostbite cases for the lack of adequate special clothing. The DGMS and DGQA continue to be under MoD, not under HQ IDS.
As to the former DG AFMS who reportedly authored the above letter, few questions need to be answered: One, since he was elevated to DG AFMS after serving as DG MS (Army) under Army HQ, did he, as advisor to the Army Chief (s), apprise the Army Chief of such happenings and recommend action against defaulters, or, did he keep quiet currying favour least he missed out elevation to DG AFMS. 
Two, since misuse of the provision has been reported by him since 2006, was he as a medical doctor pressurised to give the wrong certification? Did he submit to such pressure? 
Three, can he come on record to say he did apprise the Army Chief of such purported wrong practices? 
Four, if he did not apprise the Army Chief about such wrongdoings, did he issue any instructions or advisory as DGMS (Army) to Commands and hospitals warning them about such practice? Did he ask that he be informed immediately of any such incident on occurrence? 
Five, did he issue a similar advisory to the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force once he became DG AFMS? Five, did he send the full names and particulars of the defaulters when he reportedly wrote to the Defence Secretary, and if so, what action did he recommend?
Six, was he, as DGMS (Army) or DG AFMS, aware that post-retirement grant of the disability pension is admissible to both military personnel and defence employees, and the reasons why it is permitted.
Seven, since he retired in June 2016, why did he wait till the government was slammed because of the 30 September notification. Who, asked him to do so and why is he currying favour now? 
And, lastly, eight, is he amenable to release names of the so-called defaulters (both person granted disability and the medico certifying the same), or request the government to do so in order to clear his name because of the above questions? If not then this so called DG AFMS should stop using the title of Lt Gen.
The bottom line is that whether fact or fiction, the issue needs to be thoroughly probed, not left out as just another issue.
The author is a veteran Lt Gen of Indian Army.

Navdeep Singh.

India has the distinction of exhibiting disdain towards the cause of disabled soldiers

India is quite a paradox. 
There is excessive chest-thumping for our men and women in uniform on the one hand and pride in laying constant siege to the benefits and legal rights of those very personnel whom we superficially cheer while on parades on the other.
And bearing the brunt of this all are our disabled soldiers. The deleterious effect the stress and strain of military service has on a soldier’s health is a universally recognised phenomenon. In fact, most nations go out of the way to make the lives of their troops more comfortable — as seen in rising payouts for their loss of health. However, India has the distinction of exhibiting utter disdain towards the cause of disabled soldiers. At a very rudimentary level, for example, one has defence services accountants asking how ailments such as heart disease, neurosis, backache, seizures — common in civilians too — can be affected or aggravated by military service.
The service-disability connection
It is not difficult to discern that a highly unsettled and regimented life, away from family most of the year, and at times under the shadow of the gun, the inability to cope with domestic commitments, and a lack of community living, sexual fulfilment and physical proximity, curtailed freedoms and rights, can all lead to an aggravation of common medical conditions. The life of military personnel or even paramilitary troopers who are on duty almost 24 hours a day and who require permission to use even a washroom or visit a market after signing multiple registers, cannot be compared with civilians who live with their families and have fixed and reasonable working hours in a week.
Disability rules in India and other democracies are balanced and work on the presumption of a military service-disability connection. But the army of accountants and financial wizards often rejects such disability claims leading to numerous instances of judicial intervention. When disability benefits are awarded by courts and tribunals, there is more shock in store. The Ministry of Defence appeals against the claims of disabled, at times over amounts as little as a few hundred rupees. Between 2012-2013, 90 per cent of all appeals filed in the Supreme Court by the Ministry of Defence were against disabled soldiers. The efforts of the Defence Minister to control the litigation malaise are being met with strong resistance from the official-legal ecosystem which thrives on the miseries of disabled soldiers.
Paring pension rates
A recent example was the recommendation made in the Seventh Central Pay Commission to slash disability pension rates. The observation was that as there was an increase in the percentage of disabled officers in the defence services vis-à-vis the lower ranks, benefits needed to be slashed from the “percentage of pay system” to a “slab system” which would be more equitable for ranks other than officers. The recommendation was that from the current formula of “30% of pay for 100% disability”, the disability element should now be granted at the fixed rate of Rs. 27,000, Rs.17,000 and Rs.12,000 for Commissioned Officers, Junior Commissioned Officers and Other Ranks respectively for 100 per cent disability, and proportionately reduced for lesser disability. Surprisingly, no such corresponding “equitable” change was recommended for civilian disability pensioners, including those from the Central Armed Police Forces, who continue to receive benefits on the basis of “percentage of pay”.
Statistically, there is a higher probability of officers incurring disability than jawans since the latter start retiring in their 30s after about 15-plus years of service. Officers retire in their 50s after a service period spanning 30 years or more. It shocks one that those who are maimed and infirm have to bear insults when instead there should be concern about the rise in stress and strain and a deteriorating health profile among defence personnel.
The recommendation was made suo motu based on data by the Defence Accounts Department to the commission and without being authenticated by the defence services. No opportunity was granted to discuss the issue. The accounting jugglery is even more jarring since the slab system would result in a better payout only to those rare cases where those in the lower ranks are medically boarded out at the start of their careers, while it results in a loss to all jawans who are released on completion of regular service terms. In the higher ranks, the difference is more glaring. A Lieutenant General who is 100 per cent disabled and drawing a disability element of Rs.52,560 as of December 31, 2015, would now get Rs.27,000 on January 1, 2016. His civilian counterpart, on a par earlier, would now get Rs.67,500. While the pay commission has handsomely increased all pensions, which includes civil disability, it has slashed those for military disability; in some instances by more than half. The fact that vested interests have twisted the issue on social media citing ‘government sources’ makes this even more unfortunate.
What is the use of all the pomp and show at military displays or basking in the glory of our military achievements if we cannot take care of our disabled soldiers? They may form a minuscule percentage, but they certainly deserve much better.
Major Navdeep Singh is an advocate at the Punjab & Haryana High Court. He was the founding President of the Armed Forces Tribunal Bar Association, Chandigarh., and is Member of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War at Brussels.

Monday 3 October 2016

WHERE ART THOU TO, 
MY BHARAT ?
Samuel Dhar

"The Surgical strike by Indian Defence Forces, 

  on the night of Sep 27/28, 2016, were not the 

  first, nor would it be the last, but hopefully, it 

  will be the last time a ruling party would, in 

  a blatantly public manner, take political 

  benefit out of the bravery and sacrifices of 

  the Defenders of Bharat".

              
           "Truth neither has soft edges,

              nor any soft landings"

Soldiers of my genre have fought many wars. Whereas, many of us fought against debilitating odds, I was probably lucky to have been part of forces in sectors, where the Indian Armed Forces were on the ascendant over the enemy forces. We were mostly on the move against an enemy which fought losing battles/skirmishes. Me and my soldier colleagues, therefore, new no fear while facing the enemy, be it probing behind the Chinese lines on a pitch dark and moonless night, when you could not even see your own hands; In the Sialkot Sector, crawling up to within 50 mtrs from an enemy MMG post to blow up a weir, which was holding up water, impeding progress of our troops; or operating around the Enemy Forces in the then East Pakistan, as part of Mukti Bahini in lungis, sporting a beard, with not a care for the fate, in case we were captured.

None of the covert/overt operations between 

wars, were ever publicized,

except the one on the night of Sep 26/27, '16.

Was it to glorify the self proclaimed Bhim of 

modern times.

As a young Capt during one of these wars, I wrote a ballad, "A soldier's thought", describing the gamut of emotions, a soldier went through on the battle field. Nothing, thereafter, happened in the subsequent wars, to change those emotions.

Today, I am in the midst a society that is strangely different from the one I grew up in, early under the British and majority of it breathing free.

As I grew up in the forties, fifties and beyond, I was a free bird, carefree, playing hard, studying hard with Hindus, (Of whom I was a part of then), Muslims, Christians and many the then sub-sects of the Hindus, like the Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and so on.  Strikingly, we could then afford to crack jokes on each other, without the least fear of offending any one.

Well, all that seems a Distant Memory, a forgotten History, something to be ashamed of. The Article of Gopalkrishn Gandhi, titled, “The War Cloud Has a New Shape”, published in today’s ‘The Hindu’, has brought to the fore what I have been pondering over, since Uri and our own much publicized Surgical Strike. In one fell swoop, History has been repainted.

My dear friend Gopal writes in The Hindu :

                “Surgical strikes can be expected to be followed by post-
                  surgical complications. Who will pay for them? Those who 
                  gloat over the ‘fitting reply’? Certainly not. Those who 
                  describe that as ‘the rise of a new India’? Most certainly not.

                  Soldiers, brave-hearts, trained to fight and be prepared to die
                  fighting, will fight the war if it comes. And we will, as we 
                  must, honour them. But while they do their duty by war, we 
                  must do ours by peace. Remembering that ‘War and Peace’ 
                  are one single entry in the Union List, we — you and I — must 
                  fight another.

                  And that is the war against war-mongering, a war against the
                  psychology that glorifies war, that makes nuclear warheads 
                  of our minds. We must step out of the queue for sectarian 
                  hatred and line up with that for secular intelligence. We 
                  must declare war against the un-entered Entry that seeks to 
                  displace ‘War and Peace’, which is ‘War and Polarisation’.
    
                  We must expunge it.”

I am continuously hearing on the National TV Channels about the ‘National Mood for Retribution’ being actively fanned by the prestitute Media. A new fashion is being modelled in the Country, by expert spin doctors through every means available, print, electronic, et all.

Much against the propoganda let loose in the media, including social one, my research shows that -

since independence, we have had 

approximately 1050 retaliatory surgical 

strikes across border/LOC, 

but had let them remain in anonymity of unpublicized encounters at battalion levels, 

except the latest one, over killed by a publicity 

hungry dispensation, no doubt for their own 

narrow short term political gains.

There is, however, another major departure 

from the past practices. In the past, the 

Defence Forces were left to plan and execute 

their own operations at a time and place of its 

own choosing.
















Having globalised it and taken full political 

mileage from the event, it is for the party in 

power to now convince the disbelievers 

around the Globe, including the Premier 

Institution of UN, in a manner the Govt deems 

fit, without further publicizing the issue and 

firing their guns on the shoulders of brave 

hearts. 

During wars, just before assaulting the enemy posts, the troops form up in a predetermined place termed as FUPs (Forming Up Place).  At the FUP, the soldiers are hyped with pep talks and softly spoken slogans, eulogizing the traditions of the Regiment/presiding slogan.

In today’s India, in an exponential manner, tolerance/intolerance, nationalism/antinationalism, safety/security are continuously being redefined and re-enacted on a day to day basis.

Every other burning issue facing the Nation and its People have been put on the back burner. 24x7, time and space in the media of all forms, shapes and sizes, in propogating so called, ‘mood of the Nation’.

The rank and file of soldiers, while they continue to be placed below the ‘chappals’ of the GoI’s Class ‘D’ office peons, thanks to the present Govt, is being eulogized through lip service at the highest levels, to go and lay down their lives for the Nation and its ungrateful politicians and their cohorts.

None of us are a God. We are a mixture of the good and the bad, both, barring a few, are highly subjective; the ‘good’ of one may be ‘bad’ for the others and vice-versa.

There was a time when ‘Satis’ were persecuted and their was no law to protect them. Was it good; there was a time, when girl-children were married off even before they could walk with no law to prohibit the abhorring practice; there was a time when in certain societies the visiting guest was so worshipped that they had the condemnable practice of one of the woman of the home giving the guest pleasure of her company in bed at night; even to this day in certain communities, incestual practice of a ‘Mama’ having the first call on his ‘Bhanji is in vogue;

The bad emanates from the animal in us, which has no sense of the civilized society. It is always lurking behind the fig leaf of restrain. For most of us it is not difficult for the animal in us to commit a rubicon act.

Our great Nation ‘Bharat’, has stood proud, tall and strong in the comity of Nations for thousands of years, despite many depredations by barbaric invaders, as a composite society, where the small minorities have thrived under the benign gaze of the overwhelmingly majority community, in total harmonious interaction.   

I call upon all my sisters, brothers and friends of Bharat to recognize the danger of utter disintegration, dismemberment and consequent annihilation as a Nation, kind courtesy the all- pervasive network of the Parivar, duly pointed out by the eminent Gopal Krishna Gandhi and stand up to boldly oppose the present machinations.

Jai Hind