MEETING WITH RM ON 1 MARCH 2017

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Anil Kaul posted in Indian Ex Servicemen Movement.       Anil Kaul March 2 at 9:17pm   From: "jaspal bhinder" <bhinderjs@gmail.com> Date: 2 Mar 2017 12:58 Subject: Re: MEETING WITH RM ON 1 MARCH 2017 On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 10:12 AM, DIWAVE Disabled war Veterans <diwave1@gmail.com> wrote: At the outset, may I remind the otherwise Impatient Veterans that they need to have patience when dealing with the ministry. A lesson I have learnt and which is paying dividends. Many of you may not agree with me. The attitude under the present RM and his staff, in my opinion, is to try and facilitate and implement our suggestions/requests if found reasonable and within the framework of rules. It is our task to prove that. Yesterday we, Capt N K Mahajan and I, met the RM at his office at 2.50 PM to release the first magazine issued by "Disabled War Veterans (India) for distribution to all War Disabled. The effort in collating the information in regards entitlements etc and work already completed was entirely that of Capt N K Mahajan. The magazine is in English and Hindi. DIWAVE thank him for his efforts. The meeting was attended by IESL and AFA league besides the Minister of State for Defence, Financial Advisor MoD, CGDA and all officials including serving senior officers.  Now the issues on which the RM are given below:  ​1. Counting of full service of rank as qualifying service (without any reduction for shortfall in actual ​service) for war injury pension.  The RM took the details of the special dispensation accorded in 1972 and the FADS agreed to our contention. He instructed the Secy ESW and CGDA to take note. We informed him of the reduction based on circular 555 for which he declared that no reduction in pension could be made. CGDA took note.  2. OROP orders  However as regards the OROP issue, since it was a political one, he indicated that he would issue orders based on Judicial Commission only after 15 March 2017.  3. Disability Pensions and Broad Banding  The RM indicated that disability pensions will be on percentage basis together with broad banding and these orders will be issued together with balance of 7CPC orders.  4. DGL of pension revision to include disability pension in the same circular for pension revision.  The issue of consultation prior to issue of orders by relevant authority to avoid any anomaly in future has been agreed to.  5. Issue of corrigendum PPO's and e-PPO's  The issue had been brought up by AFA league earlier and this was discussed in detail with AG informing the RM that it required complete change in the software. It would be a long haul and might take upto over six months. It was suggested that the effort may be subcontracted to an IT firm. This proposal was seriously considered and RM indicated that it was something that needed to be initiated. Secy ESW took note.  6. Empanelment of Ottobock and Endolite prosthesis centre under ECHS  The orders for the same have been finalised with rates approved for each fitting. The financial approval has been cleared and the orders by MD ECHS should be issued very shortly.  7. Payment of Fixed Medical Allowance (FMA)  The RM is in acceptance of the idea proposed and awaited the final proposal by MD ECHS  8. Similar Entitlement of ward in CGHS and ECHS beneficiaries in empanelled hospital  The RM accorded approval for this proposal.  9. Enhancement of pension of widows of war disabled invalided out war veterans  The RM accepted the proposal and the AG was informed. Final decision will be taken shortly.  10. IESL took up following issues of which some decisions were accorded:  a) The adding of weightage towards pensions of JCO's and OR's as previously accorded in 6th Pay Commision.  RM agreed to the proposal and informed Secy ESW and CGDA to take note.  b) The pension of Hony JCO's  IESL intimated that some Hony JCO's who received the honour after retirement were not receiving pensions of the rank whereas their contemporaries did. The RM after hearing them intimated that the date of honorary rank will not be the date of announcement but date approved. Also honorary ranks should be conferred at least two years prior to retirement to avoid this anomaly reoccurring.  c) MSP increase for JCO's and Other Ranks  IESL raised the issue of the MSP of the lower ranks and RM requested AG for his proposal within a week.  d) NFU  IESL raised the issue of NFU and RM took note of the same for action.  The RM also indicated to those present that final orders of 7CPC had not been received and the pensions presently ordered may be revised upwards. Other entitlements done away by 7CPC are also under review and we should await the result.  Not wishing to tread on the efforts of IESL and AFA League, I have mostly dealt on the issues of War Disabled and some issues spoken about in my capacity of attending the meeting.  ​Col H N Handa​  ​President​  Disabled War Veteran's (India)  C6-18/1 Safdarjung Development Area,  Behind Haus Khas Telephone Exchange,  New Delhi 110016  Tele: 011-41315492  Fax: 011-41315492/0124-4051572  Mob: +919811920190/+919811199367  Mail: diwave1@gmail.com  website: www.diwave.org Diwave

ARMED FORCES :India: Crises In Command? – Analysis(R)

SOURCE:
http://www.eurasiareview.com/13012017-india-crises-in-command-analysis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+eurasiareview%2FVsnE+%28Eurasia+Review%29

ARMED FORCES :India: Crises In Command? – Analysis

                                  By 

                  Murli Menon*

India signed a contract in February 2010 for 12 AgustaWestland AW101 VVIP helicopters. Photo by Brehmemohan, Wikipedia Commons.

BY IPCS 

JANUARY 13, 2017

The controversial nature of the new Indian army chief’s appointment and the corruption scandal involving a former air chief has brought the Indian military leadership in the media spotlight once again.

In India, traditionally, military leadership has got a short shrift. The lack of a strategic culture in India, evident from the lack of understanding of military matters by the civilian hierarchy, is a possible reason for this. The gradual “corporatisation” of the Indian armed forces is another possible contributory factor, where corporate mismanagement [ Read Babugiri] has undermined time-proven military leadership skills. India and its defence establishment need to revisit their own military leadership culture and identify weaknesses. A more copious media debate and agitation by the cognoscenti is required before policy changes could possibly be brought about in this regard.

Military leadership offers different sets of challenges than its civilian variant. Over the years, some civilian leaders have to tried to imbibe certain aspects of military leadership but with very little success. 

Attempts by the military to “civilianise” or “corporatise” its leadership ethos may have more dangerous implications as it could have a direct impact on national security.

A military leader needs to lead men into battle. In the absence of war, the armed forces tend to lose their leadership perspective, and consequently, their fighting edge. This seems to be the case with the Indian armed forces, as these days, they are employed essentially only for counter-insurgency or Low Intensity Conflict Operations. The challenges are even more profound when a military establishment must keep itself battle ready even in times of comparative “peace” or “no peace, no war” situations. This is when basic tenets of military leadership cannot be allowed to be glossed over.

The biggest problem for a peace-time military is what has been described as the “ticket-punching” phenomenon. Every military service lays down norms to enable its officer cadre to have a smooth transition from its tactical to operational and strategic levels of leadership. Nevertheless, some officers choose to “ticket-punch” their way through the established hierarchical shaft, either avoiding the more challenging assignments altogether by opting for “low threat” assignments or by opting for other ornamental staff jobs. These “easier” assignments also tend to offer inflated report statuses numerically, allowing the concerned ticket-punchers to steal a march over their other colleagues who may have exposed themselves to operationally much more challenging and riskier assignments. The promotion criteria in all services, therefore, ought to be based on a military leader’s successful transition across the mandatory field and staff assignments across all levels – tactical, operational and strategic – of war, and not any other extraneous considerations.

Another factor that assists “ticket-punchers” in gaining an unfair advantage is the ill-thought out changes in personnel policies, at times provoked by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The Staff/Operations criteria attempt proposed by the Army – and undone by the MoD – and the wanton reduction some years ago of “discretionary weightage” drastically from 25 per cent to 5 per cent (precluding the scope for objectively compensating a deserving candidate during promotion for higher ranks in the Air Force) are two such cases in point.

If the Establishment sends across the message of appointing only an “operationally sound” officer as the chief of any of the services, most travails regarding inept senior level military leadership would be overcome. Even with such merit-imbued promotional criteria in place, it is possible that a senior military functionary, including a chief, could get compromised in some scam. 

Air Chief Marshall (Retd) Shashi Tyagi’s alleged involvement in the AgustaWestland chopper scam is one such example.

 These types of situations need to be addressed through reforms such as Intelligence Bureau vetting, subordinate reportage in confidential reports, and increased transparency in the equipment procurement processes. What is currently playing out with Air Chief Marshall (Retd) Shashi Tyagi is a different matter altogether. He appears to be the fall guy for big political entities. With a proactive judiciary, it is only a matter of time before the truth prevails.

The requirement, therefore, is to ensure that military leadership does not get compromised in terms of dilution of mandatory qualitative criteria for any promotion, particularly the ones to starred ranks. This would remove any possible controversy if a person with better operational credentials supersedes lesser endowed peers. Military leadership has to be nurtured over time. 

Performance in wars may not always be a practical criterion, given that the entire military leadership is now from a “post-war” era as they were commissioned post-1971, the system should look for other norms. It is still possible that these criteria could be ignored leading to the wrong person being elevated to the top job. India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar is quite right when he says that seniority alone cannot be a criterion for promotion. This is where the Indian military needs doctrinal precepts to support its personnel policies, preventing tinkering of norms without objective analyses. India also needs to put in place institutional quadrennial defence reviews like they have in the US – to undertake reformations in the Indian military’s operational, administrative and support infrastructure and procedures.

TOPICS:CorruptionIndiaMilitaryPoliticsSecuritySouth Asia

OROP :General Bipin Rawat Appeals Army Veterans to call off OROP Protest

SOURCE:
http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/general-bipin-rawat-appeals-army-veterans-to-call-off-protest-over-orop-117010301282_1.html

General Bipin Rawat Appeals Army Veterans

             to call off 

           OROP Protest

He adds that demands related to OROP 

have been fulfilled up to certain extent  

    [ General  in  'INDIAN POLITICAL' 

context "certain extent" is a vauge term. ]

ANI  |  New Delhi 
January 4, 2017 

Newly appointed Chief of Army Staff General Bipin 

Rawat on Tuesday appealed the army veterans to call off their protest over One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme while stating that government is trying its best to provide full assistance to them.

"I would like to appeal our veterans who are sitting on a protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar to go back to their home. The government is mulling over the OROP issue and trying to give our veterans full assistance," General Rawat told ANI.

"As far as the OROP is concerned, our army chief veterans and ex-servicemen would have felt that the kind of assistance that they were expecting was not given. But I would like to say that our demand has been fulfilled to a certain extent," he added.

Highlighting the initiatives taken by the Defence Ministry, Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar earlier in the day said that around 99 per cent of the eligible cases under the OROP will be settled by January 2017, adding that around 13,000 cases are sent to pension disbursement authorities.

Speaking at the Ministry of Defence's 'Swachhta Pakhwada' event, Parrikar further said that during last two and a half years, the ministry through ex-servicemen cell has been able to settle many of the issues.

"OROP is one of the important issues. So far we have already paid the pension on the first or second week of January. These cases should be in total finality, 13000 cases are sent to pension disbursement authorities. Almost 99 percent of the eligible cases will be settled probably by January, one percent is settled yet as we are trying to trace them," Parrikar said.

The OROP scheme, announced in September 2015, is meant to ensure equal pension to servicemen who retired on the same rank and after the same duration of service, regardless of the year of retirement.

However, retired soldiers have been alleging [?!!?} that the government has not addressed their concerns fully about the disparity in pension payments.

• READ MORE ON

• OROP

  BIPIN RAWAT

  MANOHAR PARRIKAR

One Rank One Pension: Important Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) with model calculation by PCDA (Pension)

 Enhanced Rate of Ordinary Family Pension i.r.o. Pre 2006 Armed Forces family pensioners - Table of Enhanced Pension

 Daul Family Pension - Continuance to Disabled Children after their marriage and withholding of 10% Gratuity: PCDA Circular No. 106

"Kakahkrisnaha pikahkrisnaha kobedokakapikayoho,Vasntha kalesamprapthe kakahkakaha pikahpikaha".

SOURCE:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/For-men-in-uniform-panoply-of-duplicates/article16979219.ece





                 Samskrit Sloka

   "Kakahkrisnaha pikahkrisnaha kobedokakapikayoho,Vasntha kalesamprapthe kakahkakaha pikahpikaha".

                          Meaning

the crow is black the cuckoo is also black, one can discern the difference only when the proper time comes

(difference between the original and the duplicate)

For The Past Nine Years, The Defence

      Ministry has not been Issuing 

                 Original Medals

For men and women in the military, each medal on their uniform tells stories of their valour and sacrifice, and for a discerning observer, each medal tells a unique story. For the past nine years, all the medals that Indian soldiers added to their uniform were duplicates from local markets.

The Department of Medals under the Defence Ministry, which is responsible for issuing original medals, has failed to do so since 2008.

Huge backlog

“Not a single medal has been issued by the department since 2008. There is a backlog of about 14.5 lakh medals of various types,” defence sources told The Hindu.

In the absence of this, personnel have been buying duplicate medals in the local market.

The original medal contains the names and 

service numbers of the personnel.

“Several letters have been written to the department but there has been no movement,” the official added on the efforts to address the issue.

There are several kinds of awards and medals conferred on personnel for gallantry, distinguished service awards, commendation, various decorations and long service medals.

Of these, gallantry awards are directly presented during the investiture ceremony by the Supreme Commander of the armed forces, the President of India.

Not aware of it

While several Army officers said they had bought duplicate medals, some younger officers are not even aware that medals are issued by the Ministry.

“We are not even aware that there is a 

separate department and these medals are 

issued. We have always purchased them in 

the market,” one young officer said.

“When there is a full-fledged department to issue them, why should a soldier go to Gopinath Bazaar [in Delhi Cantonment] and buy a duplicate medal,” a senior officer asked.

Another source said the delay was because of the defence finance wing’s objections to tendering for the medals.[ 

[ Does it take a decade for tendering in 

MINISTRY of DEFENCE!!!!!!!! ]

“In the next financial year, they are hopeful that they will be able to get the go-ahead for tendering and they can then clear the backlog,” a senior official told The Hindu.

However, many seemed unconvinced by the reason and questioned how such objections could have held up the issue for eight years since 2008.