Tuesday 2 December 2014

WHY AGITATION BY IESM WAS POSTPONED

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

IESM had announced a relay hunger strike at Jantar Mantar New Delhi that was to commence on 3rd Dec 2014, symbolically on the date that the 1971 Indo-Pak war had commenced. It was to carry on till the 16th Dec 2014, the day the country celebrates as “Vijay Diwas”. Carrying on the symbolism it had been planned that IESM would surrender the medals of its members to the supreme commander of India’s Defence forces, the Hon’ble Rashtrapti at Rashtrapati Bhawan much the same way that the Pakistan Army surrendered to the Indian Army at Dacca on the same day 43 years ago.

The cause for this agitation was the non-implementation of the issue of One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP). Notwithstanding the fact that the same has been accepted by two successive central governments in the Parliament, that it was the election plank point of the BJP and no less a person than the PM has confirmed their intention to implement the same. As of today Rs 1500/- Crores stand earmarked for its implementation. However even after seven months of discussions and workings by various committees and entities, the government directive on the subject has not seen the light of day. Also that the RM had not granted audience to the IESM delegation.

The proposed agitation was to remind the powers that be, to expedite the same as the frustration amongst the ESM community was mounting and would lead to disastrous consequences if the issue was not addressed with dispatch. On hearing of this Mr Rajeev Chandrashekhar (I) MP Rajya Sabha, a champion on a number of matters military requested the IESM not to go ahead with the proposed agitation. Consequently the IESM met with him on 1st Dec 2014. He assured the IESM of the following: -
  • He will not accept any dilution in definition of OROP.
  • OROP implementation date will remain 1 Apr 14, irrespective of the date of release of notification.
  • He will get us a meeting with RM asap, which IESM had been demanding. Please note that IESM has had no dialogue with Govt since meeting with Sh Arun Jaitley. It is always good to meet Minister to know the mind of Govt. (A meeting with RM on 10/12 has been arranged)
  • In case IESM is not satisfied with replies of RM, Sh RC will try to get us a meeting with PM.
  • Lastly most important issue that if IESM is not happy with outcome of these meetings or if the Govt declares their stand contrary to IESM thinking he will sit with IESM in the agitation at Jantar Mantar. 
Please NOTE therefore there is a POSTPONEMENT not A CANCELLATION of the agitation. 

Col Anil Kaul, VrC
Member Governing Body & Media Advisor
IESM

1 comment:

  1. The very fact that the new govt is sitting, for this long on, OROP implementation,it means the true OROP will not be granted and only a diluted version will be implemented.The IESM should also decide the waiting period for Govt to implement OROP and act on the agitation accordingly.

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