Military & Aerospace

Armed Forces Flag Day 2018 - served with WEXIT
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Issue Net Edition | Date : 08 Dec , 2018

Theresa May became Britain’s Prime Minister on the strength of BREXIT, much as Angela Merkel capitalised on the middle east refugee crisis to extend her tenure as Chancellor since 2005.  Both will be tested in times to come and will eventually fade away. But WEXIT, synonym in a manner of BREXIT, has been served to the Armed Forces past several decades; WEXIT being ‘Welfare Exit’ by successive governments. By a strange coincidence, whether by design or default, it appears to have become customary to administer a special dose coinciding with Armed Forces Flag Day. This despite Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s stated aim to ensure full support to the welfare of ex-servicemen and their families, a priority she enunciated immediately after taking charge of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

As always, last year the weeklong ‘digital campaign’ organized by MoD ended  on December 7 – on Armed Forces Flag Day. The aim of MoD’s campaign was to generate awareness about the ‘Armed Forces Flag Day Fund’ and encourage people to contribute generously, as also encourage public at large to show their sense of pride by wearing the flag representing three services from1st to 7th December 2017; flags were made available at government offices or by downloading printable version of the flag from <ksb.gov.in>. But then, the Naval Chief in his capacity as Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee was constrained to write to the Defence Minister to reverse a government decision to cap the educational reimbursement for children of the martyred and disabled soldiers, his letter also saying that “this small gesture would assure the families of our brave women and men that the nation cares for them and their sacrifices are truly appreciated by the government.”

The mere fact that the Armed Forces had to appeal on behalf of martyrs and disabled soldiers indicated that governmental pronouncements concerning welfare of ex-servicemen and their families go little beyond superficial rhetoric. Concurrent to the letter by the Naval Chief & Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar had also appealed to the Defence Minister on the same issue.  Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh too wrote to the Defence Minister seeking reversal of MoD’s decision, which he called  “immoral” and “unprincipled”. It was ‘conveniently’ missed out in the media that MoD capped educational reimbursement for children of the martyred and disabled soldiers ‘after’ their educational term had commenced – a double stab in the back. Only when Amrinder Singh announced that if Centre could not provide the small amount of Rs 4 crore involved, he would provide the same, that Sithraman was forced to reverse the decision for fear of losing political face.

This year, the University Grants Commission, on apparent behest of MoD, has asked universities across India to observe December 7 as the Armed Forces Flag Day, saying, “As you are aware the Armed Forces Flag Day is observed every year on 7th December to commemorate the supreme sacrifices made by our valiant Armed Forces personnel for protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country and securing our lives against the threats of insurgency and terrorism as well as providing rescue and relief during natural calamities. Accordingly, the universities are requested to arrange functions / talks for the students in their colleges / institutes to generate awareness among the youth about the sacrifices made by our Armed Forces and the significance of the day in our lives.”

Above action of the UGC is laudable even as youth of India are fully conversant of what Armed Forces are about and what they are engaged in, as confirmed by successive opinion polls. But what is the real face of the government?  Recently, government has rejected the long-standing demand of Armed Forces for higher Military Service (MSP) affecting over 1.2 lakh military personnel, including 87,646 Junior Commissioned Officer and 25,434 personnel of equivalent rank from the Navy and the Air Force. In 2016, the three Service Chiefs had taken up the issue since the 6th CPC introduced MSP for compensating intangible aspects of military service (hardships and disadvantages) that cannot be evaluated while assessing pay comparability, which the 7th CPC missed out. Current rejection of the issue is reportedly by the Finance Minister, who has no compunction to a monthly ‘hardship’ allowance of Rs 70,000 to an IAS officer posted in a bustling city like Guwahati.

But MSP is not the only WEXIT 2018 package on Armed Forces Flag Day. Government has reversed the decision to provide post-retirement medical facilities to Short Service Commission (SSC) officers; despite announcement in Parliament in 2009 (during UPA I) that government will provide medical facilities to all SSC officers after discharge under the Employees Contributory Health Services (ECHS) – talk of different political parties reversing each other’s decision! Significantly, this reversal comes soon after all military hospitals have been opened to 50 crore citizens under ‘Modicare’ with no increment in bed capacity, doctors and medicines. Generally, Tribunals are under the control of Min of Law and Justice. But the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT, established under Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) Act 2007, is under MoD, who is the biggest litigant. Now administrative member can be any civilian due to recent amendment to the AFT Act 2007. Systematic downgradation of AFTs by not appointing the members of AFT has been carried out, thereby making them non-functional. Furthermore, the required budget has also not been allocated.

Legal cases to deny pension/disability pension to widows and disabled are continuing. MoD employs battery of lawyers paying Rs 2 lakh to each for fighting such cases despite not having won a single case to-date and despite the Supreme Court rapping government and imposing fines of Rs 10 lakh each in two cases. Solicitor General of India himself is fighting appeal for disability pension by an Air Forces pilot who suffered spinal injuries ejecting from a fighter aircraft.  What can be more shameful for a nation? And, Sitharaman herself has told Parliament that legal cases by MoD against pension of widows and disabled will not be withdrawn. The Department of Ex-servicemen (DESW) in MoD perhaps takes decadent pleasure through such actions. DESW is posted with no military veteran and no government is ready to reorganize it, not that any government has had the guts to post military professionals in MoD either on deputation or permanently absorbed.  

The government has clipped the wings of the Defence Minister by putting all defence related sanctions above Rs 200 crore with the Finance Minister. Was this deliberate to ensure Defence Ministers follow the government line even more, even as some may be forced to vent their frustration down the line? Actions like opening up military cantonments and military hospitals, blatant transfer of defence land to civil, replacing Special Army/Navy/Air Force Instructions with Gazette Notifications, delaying release of funds to ECHS, not granting NFU to Armed Forces despite Delhi High Court order and appealing to Supreme Court (another case of government fighting its own Armed Forces), sitting on Reddy Commission Report on OROP, not resolving anomalies of 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th CPC taken up by Armed Forces, all point towards this. The game of hiding behind bureaucrats has gone on too long. It is the Defence Ministers who are responsible.

The list comprises much more. But the question remains what special WEXIT package is MoD planning to serve in run up to Armed Forces Flag Day 2019? That may be a more guarded secret than the media report about ‘A “Surgical Strike” Unit To Fight Behind Enemy Lines’, quoting government sources.

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The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Indian Defence Review.

About the Author

Lt Gen Prakash Katoch

is Former Director General of Information Systems and A Special Forces Veteran, Indian Army.

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