MUSINGS OF A GREAT VETERAN INVITED TO REPRESENT HIS ILK BEFORE THE RM's DARBAR -

THE LIMIT OF DISSERVICE

Lt Gen Satish Bahri has circulated the following details, (With my comments juxtaposed in red), of what transpired at the last meeting of the veterans with the so called sympathetic RM :

RM started by saying that Rs 2000 crs had been distributed as arrears and pensions under OROP till date and the balance will be completed by 20 Mar 16. 

Well,  Mar, '16 has come and gone, but I, (And I am sure many like myself), are yet to receive the arrears. So much for the continued false promises of the Govt, especially this RM, which is its hall mark.

Then he asked if there were any questions on OROP. A number of people like Col Arasu, Maj Gen NB Singh, Col Nain etc put up points. RM directed that now that the one man Judicial Committee has been setup all issues be referred to it. He pointedly said that if you send your points through DESW, to mark copies to him so that he can follow them up. He also said that if some one desires he can request for personal attendance to argue his point. Gen VK Singh further clarified it will be ensured all issues raised are dealt with sympathetically. Well, then again, it is typical of this Govt to continue its effort to hood wink, not just the simple soldier, but the entire Nation. Teh RM first asks the veterans, "Have you any questions on OROP, and then in the same breath, say, "Raise all issues on OROP with the one man judicial commission". Great!!! 

Is Gen V K Singh the one man  judicial commission? Since obviously he is not, who is he to assure the veterans, (On behalf of the Commission), "It will be ensured that all issues will be dealt with sympathetically"? Is he or the Govt directing the Commission on what to do?

Lastly, Maj Gen Satbir Singh raised the issue that four issues are outstanding regarding OROP, which have a total cost of approx Rs 800 crs only. The RM was quick to respond that money is not the problem but if you hold a gun to his head and demand then the govt is not going to accede to any request. He clarified that our continued fast at Jantar Mantar is putting up the back of the govt and it will not listen to anything under duress. He also clarified  regarding the claim by Satbir that Parliament has accepted the Koshiyari Committee report twice is incorrect. RM said that many committee reports are received by the govt and they are never accepted in 'toto', as it is the decision of the govt as to what it can and what it cannot. (I have seen it myself after being involved in the passage of Real Estate Regulation Act . The govt accepted/rejected some of the recommendations and improved on some). 

The RM says, "If you hold a gun to its head and demand, then the Govt is not going to accede to any request". 

Great! The Govt, through the RM has made a few things clear to the Nation: 

(a)    No one in this largest democracy in the World, has a right to protest or agitate, even 

         peacefully and in a highly disciplined manner. To do so would not only debar the 

         person or group of people from receiving any justice, even rightful ones, from the Govt, 

         but also make the person or group of people subject to highhanded illegality 

         harassment and debasement at the hands of the Police.

(b)   Any one wishing/hoping to have their rights given to them, must go begging to the 

         Govt on bended knees, crawl before them and say, "Yes Sir, no Sir, three bags full Sir; I 

         am your humble and loyal servant; I beg of you to please oblige me."

Towards the end I raised the issue of Wg Cdr C K Sharma that he had been arrested and bodily removed by Haryana police even though they did not produce an arrest warrant. R M said that Haryana police is a law unto itself and passed some uncomplimentary remarks about it. However, he also seemed to have noticed, as I had written to him, that policemen and CAPFs are wearing disruptive pattern clothing and consequently army flag columns had to carry placards to identify themselves. He said that he had spoken and written to the HM to stop this practice. 

Under whose govt is the Haryana Police operating? One thing must be said of this Govt, "They are quick on the uptake". They learnt their lessons at JM, where they tried to dislodge the veterans in broad day light, in full view of the whole Nation and had to quickly step back. 

This time around, the Police went at the dead of night and yanked the sleeping soldier of the Indian Army, (The bravest of all in the 'Race'), from his bed and dragged him in his pyjamas to the police lock-up, most illegally, without any warrant.

As the RM, he is supposed to look after the welfare of all soldiers, including the veterans. What action did he take to have the Haryana Police charged for their illegal act upon a soldier on his charge? Should this act too not have been taken as an act of 'SEDITION'?

I have received a number of queries as to what had happened during the meeting even though IESM had omitted my presence, senior most retired officer, in their communications on this meeting, people somehow were aware that I too was invited. Mr R Chandrashekar or Gen VK had also brought out that due to the continued fast at JM we are losing sympathy of general public. I am also called by number of officers, JCOs and OR that why are we continuing at JM after achieving so much and why don't we negotiate amicably with the govt. Hope some one listens as I have tried my best.

Well, well well, Satish Sir, as the senior most veteran, (The claim is debatable as many a chief are still alive and kicking), you did your comrades-in-arms (veteran soldiers), a great service by concurring with the Govt that the activities at JM are illegitimate and amounts to holding a gun on the Govt's head. We would have appreciated if you had to protest even politely. In fact it is the Govt which is repeatedly holding the gun of 'anti-nationalism' and the 'charge of sedition' on the head of each and every one who protests against it, even when it is for non-grant of rightful entitlements.

Where do we go from here? Is this the fate of all peacefully disciplined agitations as against the violent one recently seen in Haryana, where the Govt first abdicated all its responsibilities and then catapulted in quick time? 

Do we need to review our modus-operandi?

THE REAL OROP MOVEMENT 

"SADDA HAQ AITHEY RAKH"

IESM (JM)

A rejoinder to the slandering mischief makers, the chamchas of the present abhorent Govt.

By Mrs Dalbir Kaur Sidhu, w/o Late Wg Cdr B S Sidhu as edited by -

Samuel Dhar 

I  am a member of IESM (JM) and have been closely 

associated with its activities since the beginning. 

The Movement has been conducted commendably with descipline, dedication, commitment and scrupulous honesty. 

That the government has implemented even OR5Ps, instead of OROP, is entirely due to the collective efforts of the Defense Fraternity at JM.

I give full marks to its leader Maj. Gen. Satbir Singh and his dedicated team which has been agitating selflessly. 

The sore point which has recently arisen is the false, malicious and concorted complaint by Lt. Gen. Raj Kadyan against the honest office bearers of IESM. The court case which followed resulted in one of the team members, Wg. Cdr. C. K. Sharma's arrest which was carried out in an illegal and high handed manner by the Haryana Police. I condemn this motivated dirty action.

But for the efforts of the team of IESM, (JM), we would not have received even OR5Ps. I am wholeheartedly with the team of IESM (JM). 

We are very sure that the team of IESM (JM), will get out of this court case honourably. Let us all join hands and unitedly intensify the movement to get due justice to 6.45 lakh widows and 24 lakh veterans. 

I also appeal to all the members of the Defense Fraternity to condemn the dirty plan of Lt. Gen. Raj Kadyan. He should have behaved as a soldier that he is and not in the selfish cowardly manner that he has.

Lt Col Inderjit Singh
The doyen of OROP Movement

              

Maj Gen Satbir Singh
The Selfless Leader of OROP Movement at JM

Wg Cdr C K Sharma
The 'Fearless One' they could not suppress

LEST WE FORGET THE MANY INDIAN BRAVERY AWARDS 

IN THE KOREAN WAR : 

THE STORY OF 

60 Para Field Ambulance

23rd Mar is the anniversary of the Korean War, the first foreign war, in which an INDIAN non-combatant unit and its soldiers walked away with a foreign battle honour and the largest number of Indian bravery awards in one operation:

http://www.omsa.org/files/jomsa_arch/Splits/2001/588253_JOMSA_Vol52_1_13.pdf

REAL THREAT TO TODAYS BHARAT : FROM WITHOUT OR WITHIN?

Pran Nath Dharni (As edited by Samuel Dhar)

To My Fellow Veterans : 

First, any mail which incites people towards hatred, violence etc should not be published on the site. This is with reference to the mail by Col N.K. Balakrishnan dated 23^rd Feb,16. In this mail he has quoted 'The Guardian', on Pakistan Army's GHQ activities. 

First, it does not need reiteration that India is many times bigger & stronger, both militarily and economically, than Pakistan. It is, therefore, not really a threat to us and we should not react to each and every news from across, even authentic ones. 

Some of our political parties want to incite people against Muslims in general and Muslims in particular, quoting articles  with a view to divert attention from the main problems being faced by our people and to polarize votes. We should not fall prey to such machinations.

Secondly, while writing such pieces, we should never forget that India is a multi religious, multi caste and multi ethnic country.

In such a society, it is important that the majority should  help in making  minorities feel comfortable. In fact, this is THE sign of  an advanced society. A look around the  developed  world  would make us realize

Thirdly, my view on the happenings in the central universities, like JNU & Hyderabad,  is that to be nationalistic, a person should be a good human and a model citizen, that is, be honest, pay taxes, be un-corruptible, refrain from making false charges, be considerate towards fellow citizens, be kind to the poor and so on. 

Apart from the above basic requisites of a Nationalist, he/she should be prepared to defend the Country, if ever the need arises. 

I want to ask my fellow citizens of all hews and shades, how many of them fulfill the basic requirements of a Nationalistic citizen ? It should be any body's guess. 

About 31 %  of 54 crores who voted in the last Parliamentary general elections,  had supported the parties that form the NDA II Govt. Many of them are today disillusioned but the hardcore lay sole claim to Nationalism and denounce their remaining sisters and brothers, the vast majority, as anti-nationals. 

A moot question; how many of the mostly rich supporters of the GoI, honestly pay taxes?  Is it any wonder  then, that there is a disconnect between the average citizen and the cream of the Society.

Lastly, our focus at present should remain on justice to the soldiers through OROP and 7^th  CPC. We should not be followers of any political party, keeping in mind our bitter experience of broken promises by successive governments, who have repeatedly humiliated and degraded  us beyond limit.

Seventh Pay Commission 

Revealed : Why Armed Forces Are Unhappy 

With The Ministry of Defence 

New Delhi, March 7: 

At a time when Central government employees are waiting for the implementation of Seventh pay commission, a new revelation has come to light. According to reports, there is deep distrust between government and armed forces over the pay parity issue.

It is being said that three services had expressed dissatisfaction over some of the recommendations of the Pay commission and had requested Commission to make required changes. Later pay commission approached Defence Ministry with their demands.

Now under RTI query, it has been revealed that the Defence Ministry negated army officers pay parity with civilian counterparts in IAS, IPS and other allied services.

A n Army officer was quoted by ET as saying, "We thought it was the pay commission that was selling us short, but this RTI actually revealed it was the Defence Ministry officials".

Ministry also gave reasons why their demands were not approved. "The basis of this demand i.e. merger of rank pay in basic pay was examined in a detailed matter by the Pranab Mukherjee committee report and the same was not accepted hence the case is not supported", officer further said.

Ministry also not accepted Army men's argument that civilian bureaucrat mustn't be paid equal sum of amount in comparison to their defence counterparts. Defence Ministry said that both are different thing as their service conditions and the nature of job is quite different.

What are the grievances of armed forces?

Army Officers say that if the Pay Commission is implemented in the present form, it will position them much below their civilian counterparts in terms of salaries, facilities and status.

One of the main grudge that the armed forces have is with regard to risk-hardship matrix. The officers say that a soldier posted in Siachen Glacier, which has the highest degree of both risk and hardship, gets an allowance of Rs 31,500 per month.

In contrast, a civilian bureaucrat from the All India Services draws 30 per cent of his salary as "hardship allowance" when posted anywhere outside the comfort zone. Under the new scale, a senior IAS official posted in a city in northeast will draw much more as "hardship allowance", compared to the Rs 31,500 per month drawn by military officers in Siachen.

Comments:

Sasidharan Madhavan 11 March 21:40 Send the defence minister to Siachan glaciers for one month.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 

OROP AGITATORS WOULD NOT GO FROM JM? 

THEY TRIED ONCE AND FAILED LAST YEAR.

BUT NOW CHAPPAN CHAATI SHOWS THE WAY - 

HOW TO FORCE THE AGITATORS OUT.

DIVIDE THE VETERANS WITH SECRET PROMISES, TURN ONE AGIANST THE OTHER, MAKE ONE FACTION FILE A COURT CASE AGAINST THE OTHER AND LET CHAPPAN CHAATI'S GOONS DO THE REST IN THE NAME OF THE LAW

A Report From Veteran Chander Parkash

23:17 (2 hours ago)

RETIRED IAF OFFR ARRESTED ON CHARGES OF FINANCIAL 

BUNGLING

A retired Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force was today arrested on charges of financial bungling in the accounts of a society for jawans and their widows which was spearheading the agitation for 'One Rank One Pension', at JM at Delhi and all over the Country.

Wing Commander (retd) C K Sharma has been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC. He will be produced before a court tomorrow, police said.

An FIR was registered against Sharma on the directions of the magistrate following a complaint by Lt Gen (retd) Raj Kadiyan, the chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), who had alleged the officer siphoned off Rs 14 lakh from the accounts of the organisation.

Police had registered a case against three persons on February 8 after Kadiyan in a complaint alleged that "they had taken a lot of cash from the society funds between January and July 2013".

The three -- Sharma, Maj Gen (retd) Satbir Singh and Group Capt (retd) V K Gandhi -- had recently moved a local court for anticipatory bail, but their plea was rejected.

The trio are the office bearers of IESM, formed in 2008. The society's account is being maintained in a private bank. Sharma held the post of Treasurer.

His daughter claimed that the Haryana police physically picked up Wing Commander CK Sharma from his residence late on Thursday evening without explaining the charges against him.

An IESM press release states that there were strict instructions from the high court to the police to not take any arbitrary action until the hearing, which is scheduled to take place on Friday

Manoj Tripathi

11 hrs · 

Wg Cdr CK Sharma, Treasurer, IESM was picked up by the Haryana Police this evening without assigning any reasons and taken to EOW, Palam Vihar.

They only said they are taking him to Palam Vihar but on inquiry it was found that he was not taken there. His present where abouts are not known.

Presumably it is in connection with the case filed by Lt Gen Raj Kadyan against office bearers fo IESM. This is in spite of the matter being subjudice and the Hon'ble Judge specifically passing an order for no police action till judgement. Matter is being heard in Punjab and Haryana High Court.

How can the Haryana Police act in this high headed manner when the matter is already being heard in court? Action of the Police is condemnable and utterly irresponsible. This amounts to harassment of Veterans without any basis.

Col Pushpinder Harsh

09:54 (3 hours ago)

Dear All,

The timing of this action, in this three year old case is perfect - from the Govt's stand point.

Pardon my saying that all so called justifications for re-juvenating this dead horse is purely a self-serving action by the concerned parties. 

Notwithstanding their pious protestations to the contrary, this action only serves the ends of the Govt against the true OROP.

One just needs to note the names of the stalwarts who send their inconsequential vitriolic response to this mail. They belong to the Jaichand Group!

PRESS RELEASE

HARYANA POLICE’s HIGHHANDEDNESS 

AGAINST VETERANS

In the dead of night on 10 March, 75 years old medically unwell,  Wing Commander CK Sharma (Retd) , Treasurer of the  Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Movement (IESM),was picked up by the Haryana Police from his Gurgaon residence on flimsy charges filed by a disgruntled former functionary of IESM about some alleged financial discrepancy in the OROP related accounts . The case is three years old  , which was investigated twice over earlier by the same very Police and  had been dismissed by it  both times on the grounds that the charges were untenable .  Even though the case was in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for anticipatory bail against the denial of the same by the lower court, and it was verbally conveyed by the Hon’ble  Court on 10 March to the defendants’ lawyer  that no pre-emptive  action was to be taken till the hearing on 11 March, and the same was conveyed to the police, yet the police arrested the Ex-Serviceman in a very humiliating manner, who was not even allowed to make phone calls or change from his night suit to normal clothes. It was a case of financial nature but the police acted in such a highhanded manner which is not even used against the confirmed terrorists. Our system is great, wherein , likes of Vijay Mallya, who defrauded the banks of Rs 9000 crores, are allowed to leave the country, whereas  poor Treasurer of the IESM is arrested and  hauled over coals for a small amount !!

This  act seems to be possibly of coercing the Ex-Servicemen to close down their ongoing agitation at the Jantar Mantar  (JM) , with regards to the rectification of enormous anomalies in the OROP as notified by the Govt earlier .

It is worth noting that about a month back the very same police were found hiding when Haryana was burning as the result of violent Jat Agitation for reservation and miserably failed to stop the riots . Where was the police when property worth thousands of crores was destroyed, hundreds of vehicles burnt and women violated and even allegedly gang raped? Now, the same cowardly police shows its might and bravery against a helpless and hapless , ailing, old retired Air Warrior ! Least they could have done was to show some civility to someone who gave his youth for this country.

 We the Veterans and all other like minded persons highly condemn the uncalled for and extreme highhandedness of Haryana Police. We demand a judicial inquiry into the same and  severe  action against the guilty.

54,Phase-7 , Mohali. (Pb).         Brig Harwant Singh (Retd),

      Phone 09814432554                       Member,  Governing Body,

      11March 2016                                     I.E.S.M. (JM)

Shafi Patel

Don't pay them.....reduce their numbers and firepower.....treat them as day labourers..... Buy more coffins....march with the deceased........the new honours for Indian soldiers!

Retd IAF officer arrested on charges of financial bungling

A retired Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force was today arrested on charges of financial bungling in the accounts of a society for jawans and their widows which was spearheading the agitation for 'One Rank One…

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HOW KANHAIYA INSTILLED IN ME A SENSE OF NATIONALISM FOR THE FIRST TIME