Sunday 20 July 2014

VETERANS MEETING WITH FINANCE MINISTER

M 35 Palika Bhawan,
RK Puram, Sector 13,
New Delhi 110066.
Ph :011 26110710
Fax :011 241O6144


Dear friends,

I am sending you my views on the recent meeting of IESM with the Finance Minister. It has three trailing mails of the IESM hierarchy as follows:-

a) Gen SK Bahri's mail to Chiefs
b) Gp Capt VK Gandhi's Mail about the meeting
c) Maj Gen Satbir's mail to Sh Arun Jaitley

Please go through these mails before reading my views.

Warm regards

Sincerely

Lt Col Inderjit Singh
Chairman
Mob : 09811007629

=====================================================

IESM MEETING WITH HON'BLE FM- WHAT ? A DISASTER

Dear Friends,

On 16 Jul 2014 a delegation of IESM Stalwarts under the leadership of Gen Satbir met Mr Arun Jaitley. The meeting was arranged kind courtesy Gen VK Singh the Hon'ble Minister who also accompanied them.

The details of the Meeting were truly reflected in a letter by Lt Gen SK Bahri to the Chiefs written on 17 Jul. The letter is given below.

Then on 18 Jul the IESM very proudly put out a resume of the Meeting written by Gp Capt VK Gandhi their illustrious Gen Secy. This mail is given below for the information of our readers.

An important aspect which is reflected honestly by Gen Bahri and missing from the resume by Gp Capt Gandhi's mail I quote below for you to understand the way we are being be fooled by the Netas of this organizations-
"Finally, when we took leave of him as a parting shot he said that we should lower our expectations. 
So the mind of the RM is now known to us. Therefore, unless you three show a united front the ESM, 
current and future, can keep whistling till they turn blue."

I am sure you would agree with me if I said that this matter should have been made the key note of the mail put out by their Gen Secy. Obviously they wanted to hide this fact from Veterans lest they lost their already diminishing credibility. Rather than admitting their failure they try to cover it up by the following statement-
"End result is that FM did not give any commitment and time frame of approval of DGL put up by Armed Forces HQs. He also did not give assurance of involving IESM and ex-servicemen in the discussion of DGL."

The end result is not just NO COMMITMENT on matters put up by them, it is a direction to tone down our demand. Which means only a bureaucratic version of OROP and not the true version of OROP.

Then Gp Capt Gandhi goes on to extoll the Veterans to tighten up their belts to fight a long battle for their izzat and status. Whose status they talk about we all know and stated clearly by Gen Satbir in his follow up letter to the RM. An extract is given below.
It is the principle of seniority in Armed Forces which we cherish. As per this principle, a senior rank person should not draw pension/ pay less than rank lower than him. It is a simple principle we need to maintain hence we cannot afford any violation with OROP principle.

By what stretch of imagination would you call OROP the increasing of the pension of a maj gen to go beyond what similar rank is getting now. Please ask the General.

The OROP means he gets the same pension as the current Maj Gen. If that is more than a brigadier, he gets more but if the current maj gen is still getting less he continues to get less. That is OROP. The case of increasing pensions of any rank is a different matter altogether and has to be pursued separately. This is what he has been pursuing as his main agenda and is even doing so at the cost of all else in his present mail.

Friends what Gen Satbir calls OROP is neither OROP nor the Izzat, what he wants is his pension should be more than brigadier. Who would accept this rubbish? I am sure the Govt knows him well and giving us the treatment we deserve for our tomfoolery.

Finally they in their desperation to hog the limelight did not mention anything about the role of Gen VK Singh our erstwhile Chief and an Hon'ble Minister in the present Govt. Was he the messenger boy or an escort of these VIPs? Please ask the General himself for they may not like to answer.

This was the finest chance to get OROP, with both former and present Govts fully committed. With what they are up to, the sooner they shut their shop the sooner the OROP would be granted. Their tomfoolery has already lost us five years of OROP.

Gen Bahri has very rightly stated that Chiefs should put up a united front or every thing is going to be lost. I agree with him as it is required amongst us veterans even more. I therefore invite you all to our Govrning Council Meeting on 12 Aug at Netaji Nagar Community Center New Delhi to work out our stand. If you want to see a little more of us at grass root level come to Vil Kheri Khumar near Jhajhar on 27 July at 1100 hrs. These programs in details will be put out on our blog VOICE OF VETERANS ( aiewa.blogspot.in ) shortly.

With warmest regards and best wishes for the resolution of OROP despite our friends.

Sincerely

Lt Col Inderjit Singh
Chairman
Mob : 0 9811007629
========================================================================

MAJ GEN SATBIR SINGH'S MAIL TO RM


Sh Arun Jaitley
Hon’ble Raksha Mantri
Ministry of Defence

South Block, New Delhi-110011
Sub: IMPLEMENTATION OF ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP)

Dear Sh Arun Jaitley,

We are grateful for granting us the meeting with you on 16 July 2014 with regard to issue of Implementation letter for OROP.

Sir, your contention that the gap between the calculations made by the Service HQs and the officials of MoD namely CGDA, PCDA, Secy DESW is very large, due to which there was delay in issuing the Govt Letter, is a serious cause of concern for the Defence Fraternity. Since, there is only ONE Definition of OROP as approved by the Parliament and therefore, there has to be only ONE calculation, irrespective of small or large gap. It is simple Mathematics. As pleaded by us, there cannot be two calculations. These gaps have been designed to find a way to deny full benefit of OROP to ex-servicemen. A point to be noted here is that had OROP been granted 25 years back there would not have been any gap now. Sir, we are not after money and not asking for backdated payment, it is the principle of seniority in Armed Forces which we cherish. As per this principle, a senior rank person should not draw pension/ pay less than rank lower than him. It is a simple principle we need to maintain hence we cannot afford any violation with OROP principle.

Sir, in case X and Y Groups are to be granted OROP as per their respective Groups, the funds required will be 4500 – 5000 Crores, as per calculations correctly carried out by the Service HQs. And in case all Defence Employees are to be granted ‘X’ Group rates of pensions, then the amount required would be 6500-7000 Crores as per the calculation made by PCDA.

The funds required for the two options are not too large for the Nation to pay justified pensions to the Retired Soldiers, who have given their life and comforts of life for national security.

The CGDA/PCDA/DESW should not be allowed to dilute the definition of OROP or coin their own definition or understanding of OROP. Their calculations, based on datum line 01.01.2006 pensions rates, are totally against the approved definition which requires the OROP to be calculated based on the rates of pensions as on 01.04.2014, the date from which OROP has been sanctioned and future enhancements are to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners. This was duly discussed in the meting chaired by you on 12th June 2014. The M1 and M2 Models by CGDA, PCDA, and DESW were out-rightly rejected.

Sir, ex-servicemen are fighting for a principle, any dilution of definition of OROP will not be acceptable to the Ex-Servicemen. It has to be full OROP as per the definition already approved by the Parliament.

In view of the foregoing, please expedite issue of Govt Letter for the implementation of OROP as per the DGL prepared by the Service HQs.


With regards,

Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh, SM
Chairman IESM
Mob: +919312404269, 0124-4110570
Email ID:
satbirsm@gmail.com
Copy to


========================================================================
GP CAPT VK GANDHI'S MAIL ABOUT THE MEETING


Dear Veterans,

IESM delegation met with FM Sh Arun Jaitley on 16 July 14. Following members were part of the delegation :-
  1. Maj Gen Satbir Singh Chairman IESM
  2. Lt Gen SK Bahri
  3. Gp Capt VK Gandhi Gen Sec IESM
  4. Wg Cdr CK Sharma Treasurer IESM
  5. Col Handa Diwave
  6. Hony Lt K Pandey Mem GB IESM
Gen Sabir Singh impressed upon FM that ex-servicemen thank the Govt for granting OROP, however despite a lapse of five months since approval of OROP on 17 Feb 14, Government order for implementation is still not issued. We request that the implementation order may please be issued soon. Moreover Rs 1,500 crore allotted for OROP is not adequate for full OROP and more funds may please be released for OROP.

FM replied that the DGL is under active consideration of Govt and it will be issued once consultations are completed. He hinted that funds required for OROP is much more than expected.

The issue was discussed for good 15 min but FM did not give any commitment about time frame for issue of implementation order. He opined that it seems he would need to order a meeting between Armed Forces HQs and Govt deptts (DESW, CGDA) to iron out the differences. It was suggested that IESM should also be consulted and permitted to give its views but FM remained noncommittal on this.

End result is that FM did not give any commitment and time frame of approval of DGL put up by Armed Forces HQs. He also did not give assurance of involving IESM and ex-servicemen in the discussion of DGL.

IESM is of the opinion that veterans will need to tighten their belts for another long battle with the Govt for OROP, your Izzat and status.

IESM will continue to discuss the issue with all authorities for release of implementation letter for full OROP. IESM will not accept any dilution in definition of OROP as approved by Parliament.

It seems DESW and CGDA have succeeded in delaying implementation of OROP for veterans but have had no objections for approving bureaucrats treatment abroad along with an escort on Govt expenses. What a pity this is how India takes care of soldiers and veterans. .


Regards

Gp Capt VK Gandhi VSM
Gen Sec IESM
L - 48, Sector - 25,
NOIDA. 201301
Tele no 01204313951
Mobile 09810541222


========================================================================

LT GEN SK BAHRI'S MAIL TO CHIEFS




From: Satish Kumar Bahri <skbahri1@yahoo.com>
To: COAS <sysspcell@gmail.com>; CNS <cns-india@nic.in>; CAS <hawkeye@bol.net.in>
Sent: Thursday, 17 July 2014 11:07 PM
Subject: OROP AND OTHER PROBLEMS OF DEFENCE SERVICES


Dear Chiefs,

I do write to you all of and on, and sometimes mark to you my mails to the political bosses, for information. But this time I am writing as an old senior officer who has his ear to the ground listening to the murmurs in the ESM community. Though my hearing may not be that good, you cannot expect any thing better from an alumni of 1st (J) NDA and a gunner to boot, it is still acute enough. This tribe holds the senior officers (Lt Gens & above) including me, responsible for all that ails the three services. Be it lack of equipment, their status or the pay and allowances. So gentlemen, it is time you show some jointmanship and take a stand against a slimy and fickle political system, abetted by a self serving bureaucracy.

I would like to inform you that yesterday, 16 Jul 14, I along with Maj Gen Satbir, IESM and Col Handa, DIWAVE and some others from IESM met the RM on the subject of OROP, due to the kind courtesy of Gen VK Singh. The gist of the meeting was that the RM emphasised that he was,

a) committed to granting OROP, as it has been repeatedly promised by the PM and stated by him in his budget speech.

b) the definition of OROP as stated by Koshiyari Committee is not sacrosanct as politicians are prone to make populist commitments.

c) wanting a definite figure of the financial effect OROP would have. He said that he wants the CGDA and DESW to work out the amount. We offered him the various figures given by different committees and that the maximum amount was in the region of Rs 9,000 crs. When he repeated that the CGDA and DESW will form a committee along with service reps to take on this task, we clearly told him that we had no trust in the desire of the two civilian reps to resolve any matter in favour of soldiers. When we told him that if the pensions are paid as per the accepted definition of OROP for three months the expenditure for the year can be extrapolated. He was not willing to do even that.

Finally, when we took leave of him as a parting shot he said that we should lower our expectations. So the mind of the RM is now known to us. Therefore, unless you three show a united front the ESM, current and future, can keep whistling till they turn blue. Pardon for being presumptuous to suggest that you have to seek an appointment with the PM together and convince him that the money spent on maintaining the morale of the soldiers will be more paying than spending Rs 45,000 crs on a sinking Air India. Otherwise, believe me it will be a repeat of the Thimayya story, of the politicians playing one Chief against the other.

I am also enclosing a note I have sent to the Pay Commission entitled "Armed Forces Of India: A Forgotten Entity" for your information.


With warm regards.


Lt Gen SK Bahri (Retd)
Chairman
Alliance Of Ex Servicemen Organisations

No comments:

Post a Comment