Saturday, August 15, 2015

OROP: One Rank One Pension (OROP) – From A Veteran’s Heart

SOURCE:
http://swarajyamag.com/politics/one-rank-one-pension-orop-from-a-veterans-heart/



               One Rank One Pension (OROP)
                      – From A Veteran’s Heart
                                                            Syed Ata Hasnain




Lt. Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain is the former Corps Commander of the Srinagar based 15 Corps, and is currently associated with Vivekanand International Foundation and the Delhi Policy Group, two major strategic think tanks of Delhi


As a second generation soldier Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd) pours out his emotions on OROP and why it is so essential for the Government to grant it



I never expected that one day, like my father (also a retired service Army officer), I would be earning a pension for the services I rendered to the Army and Nation for 40 years. In all the years that he earned a pension and I earned a normal salary I never bothered about the details of pension. He was an honorable and honest man who worked hard to give his two sons a quality education sacrificing the comforts and luxuries which were due to him at his seniority and age.


He, however, did expect that his needs through his days as a retired veteran would be catered through appropriate pension; he had no major savings and no property to sell to make the ‘moolah’ which was necessary to afford luxuries. For him, dignity was the watchword and he maintained his carefully nurtured Indian Army public image.


With his friends and colleagues during bridge evenings at our house, he would often discuss One Rank One Pension (OROP), way back in the Eighties. I heard the term then but never investigated beyond that. In 1997 after the Fifth Pay Commission I heard him complain for the first time. The complaint was based on the fact that for him who had retired in the Seventies, and those who did so in the Nineties, the cost of living to maintain basic standards was the same. Yet he was receiving lesser by quite some margin. He was older and he was unhappy.


It occurred to me that his savings had been miniscule to cater for the cost of living around the turn of the Millennium while those veterans of the Nineties and beyond had much higher savings. So obviously he was suffering on two counts; lower pension than those of his rank and equivalent service and lower savings because of earlier retirement.


Obviously he deserved better if he had to maintain the same standard of living; he was more advanced in years than the recent retirees but that did not reduce his daily needs.



OROP 2



The ignominy really came in 2008 when the Sixth Pay Commission hit us all with its numerous anomalies; he now discovered that he was receiving fewer pensions than even the Colonels who were retiring after 01 Jan 2006. It meant that he was expected to further lower his standards; and his savings were now older by ten years.


That the ‘Maj Gen Vains case’ and the Supreme Court (SC) ruling did restore his pension to be marginally above Brigadiers but less than the Maj Generals who retired after 2006, was a grudging saving grace. However, the ignominy continued because the government did not implement the full SC ruling which actually amounted to OROP.


One of the first things he did in 2008 after I explained to him about the setting up of a new veteran forum was to tell me to send his contribution to the organization. I did that, to the Secretary and received a very gracious response. I kept the old man informed of most developments thereafter from Maj Navdeep Singh’s blog.  My father passed away three years ago disappointed that OROP did not materialize in his life-time.


In this story the lesson is clearly evident, if anyone who hasn’t understood OROP wishes to be more aware.

It simply means that for the same rank and same length of service the pension earned by a veteran has to be the same irrespective of the date of retirement.



The problem goes back to 1973; when the Third Pay Commission reduced the pension of JCOs and OR to 50 percent of last pay from the existing 70 percent and increased that of the civilian government employees from 30 to 50 percent. Obviously information on this was lacking among Army personnel for many years and there were few veteran organizations to fight this injustice.


They weren’t generally aware that the government had made promises to ensure that the compensation for early retirement would be in the form of OROP; the same would not be available to other government servants whose personnel all retired at the maximum government retirement age. Awareness on all this came with the proliferation of information through the internet and much credit must be taken by the various veteran organizations without fear or favor towards any particular one.



I, for one, do believe that the bureaucracy that has a historic contempt for servicemen, under the mistaken notion of civilian control over the armed forces being bureaucratic control and not political control, would go to any extent to ensure that the service personnel receive minimum privileges. This is so evident from the manner in which various legal cases pertaining to service privileges legally decided in favor of service personnel/veterans are regularly challenged in higher courts.
It really creates the ignominy of serving personnel axing their own feet for they too are future veterans and are forced to fight against their own future privileges. Protocol levels for Service officers also continued to drop every few years .



Return of medals, blood signed memorandums et al, as protests, did not get the political or bureaucratic authorities to bat an eyelid for at least five years. In fact, the veteran representatives who went to submit campaign medals did not even get the respect due to them or a meeting with the Supreme Commander. In the face of all this, maintaining the momentum of the agitation for OROP with requisite dignity has been challenging and the veterans deserve credit for the stamina and will.



OROP 3



However, the understanding of our countrymen with regard to OROP remains one of sympathy without being sufficiently informed; as if it is alms which are due to the veterans. There is a need for far greater dissemination of information to allow the public to perceive the reasons correctly and not imagine that these are favors that are being sought. The basic arguments remain –
  • OROP is not pay, it is rightful compensation for services already rendered.
  • It was promised to the Services 40 years ago and then repeatedly ignored by every government.
  • The legitimate symbolic protests were virtually treated with contempt by the previous government.
  • Service pension has to be differently viewed in comparison to pension of other government servants because of the variable ages at which service personnel retire. Retirement is as early as the age of 34 with no assured second careers. Almost 87 percent of the personnel retire between the age of 34 and 48 preventing them from earning the maximum pension that they could have, had they retired like all other government servants at maximum retiring age.
  • The scope for savings from earned pay is greatly reduced due to restricted service rendered. Their total earnings are also accordingly lower. This is an issue which has not been sufficiently emphasized upon. Retired veterans from all government services depend/live on their pension and the interest earned from investment of their savings. Both are lesser than their other government counterparts in the case of retired Service veterans.
  • There can be no comparison between veteran servicemen and retirees of Central Armed Police Forces. It is a misnomer that service conditions are similar. That apart, all CAPF personnel retire at the maximum government retirement age, currently 60, which entail that service rendered by  policemen is almost double that of servicemen affording full scope for maximum savings and earning the maximum pension of the rank achieved.
The Services are pyramidal organizations which means the chances to reach higher rank are severely restricted by vacancies unlike other government organizations where the employees have greater chances of promotion and at relatively younger age. They have in addition the privilege of Non Functional Up-gradation. The latter means that irrespective of rank achieved there is regular up-scaling of pay based upon years of service rendered. This does not exist for the three Services.
  • The Armed Forces cannot afford to have all personnel retiring at maximum age because of the peculiar need to retain a younger age profile. As the last resort of the nation for almost every crisis, the efficiency of the Armed Forces have also to be several notches higher. The sacrifice that service personnel make in all the above deserves them a better pension than that which exists and keeps getting diminished in value as they get older.
  • Regarding the political brouhaha, the last UPA government continued to make a mockery of the issue by announcing different versions of OROP while in effect it was nothing but resolution of the pay band system and the pensions based upon it, thoroughly confused by the Sixth Pay Commission and then resolved over time.
  • The Supreme Court on 17 Feb 2015 reminded the NDA government of the pending implementation of its six year old judgment and warned that if not implemented within three months, it would amount to contempt of court.


The following aspects of the current situation are relevant to take note of:-


  • The OROP issue finally came to prominence through the various symbolic acts of veteran servicemen which are within norms of dignified democratic protest. Yet it failed to move any political authority until the pre-election period in 2014. That is when the government of the day woke from slumber after Mr Rahul Gandhi saw the light in a meeting with veteran representatives. The hurried realization brought about an interim acceptance and allotment of Rs 500 crores which was miniscule compared to the requirement.
The BJP made it a part of its poll plank and boldly announced the same in an ex-servicemen dominated pre-election rally at Rewari. These were the moments in the politicization of OROP. While the previous government is taking credit for having approved and announced OROP before it demitted office and earmarked a token amount in the budget of 2014-15, the current government is yet wrestling with detail. Approval of OROP has been accorded in various forms thus far except in the form of the final government letter which will become authority. The previous government can morally take no responsibility for deliverance because no final approval was ever received.
  • The current impasse came about because of the continuously differing figures of the quantum of compensation involved if OROP is implemented; from Rs 3000 crores to 13000 crores. Obviously data is a major problem and calculations even more. The NDA government allocated Rs 1000 crores as the interim figure while sanctioning OROP pending finalization of details. The veteran organizations have done their homework well and a figure of approximately Rs 8000 crores is the ball park figure being spoken of.
  • With a 40 year wait behind them the veterans are obviously running out of patience and one of the major reasons for that is the pitiable pension many of the much older veterans and widows are receiving reducing them to virtual penury. Significant to mention here that many such veterans have expired and many more will in the course of the interminable wait.
  • The issue has had a cascading rise in importance with all major media sources reminding the government of its promise and of the Supreme Court judgment. It is not insignificant that it has the personal attention of the Prime Minister with the Raksha Mantri monitoring it by the day. The contentious issue on which it is apparently stuck is the details involved with the finances.
  • What the veteran community is peeved about are three issues. Firstly, the Prime Minister’s contention that OROP is more complicated than originally perceived because it has different definitions. This is being countered with the argument that there is a single and simple definition of OROP as originally understood by Parliament; it can be made as complicated as one wishes to by adding clauses and contingencies where none exist.
Secondly, it is being perceived that the bureaucracy is living up to its promise of complicating the issue to such an extent that it is once again shelved without decision. One may recall an oft repeated story in Services circles of a bureaucrat who stated abroad within earshot of a Defense Attache that OROP would be granted over his dead body.
Thirdly, there is considerable apprehension that the political authority in its naivety may fall for the recommendation that the best decision would be to hand over the issue for examination in detail by a body of experts who form the Seventh Pay Commission. This would actually be the last straw because to date the decisions of the Sixth Pay Commission are being contested and anomalies yet to be refined. Such a decision it is feared will send OROP into an interminable spiral.
  • The fourth and now perhaps most significant issue that is seizing the veteran organizations is the refusal of the government in earmarking a date by which the final go ahead will be given. A series of promises about potential approval and implementation made by various important functionaries, including the Army Chief, have failed to materialize creating the suspicion that the political authority is being misguided by the bureaucracy. The prime issue under suspicion is the possibility of drawing the CAPFs into the fray with similar demands which will then raise the cost of OROP.
  • All the above is yet in the realm of apprehension. This comes about when a community of disciplined citizens is treated shabbily and a history of such treatment by the bureaucracy exists.


It will help to better perceive the issue and the constant attempts at placing obstacles in the way if one remembers that even in the case of disability pensions the authorities have contested in a higher court almost every case decided in favor of individuals.


The slow rate of approvals of disability pension almost appears a deliberate ploy to exasperate the veteran community and test its stamina and will. The parallel is now perceived to being applied to OROP.  Mercifully the Raksha Mantri is now grappling with the issue of disability court cases and giving it a full review.


Given all the facts above the public can well perceive the need for early decision. An argument which goes in favor of quicker decision making is the parallel of waiver of farmer loans in 2012. Rs 60,000 crores were earmarked for this and the decision was taken as part of the processing of the annual budget.


The data on this could not have been less complicated than OROP yet if the finance bureaucracy in particular could work out details and earmark a sum seven times higher there is no reason why OROP should languish so long.


The last aspect which needs highlighting is that the veteran organizations have considerable belief in the Prime Minister and the Raksha Mantri but very little in the bureaucracy under them. It is the trust deficit between the Services and the bureaucracy which does the nation little good. The veterans believe firmly that the calculations of the outgo and the essential rules is not rocket science and that the delay is only to somehow scuttle OROP in the only acceptable form to the veterans replacing it with some complicated formulae which will take quite some time to comprehend.


Till date ten years after implementation the Sixth Pay Commission’s confusing provisions are yet to apply to many a veteran and widow in far flung rural areas where the pension disbursing authority has no idea about interpretation of complex rules. The Army for one constantly sends teams of soldiers and clerks to resolve these issues in cooperation with local veteran organizations.


The unfortunate thing is that the delay in OROP is leading to division of opinion among veterans on the methodology of pressurizing the government and keeping OROP at center stage until it is achieved in entirety; no compromises on the latter from any quarter. There is a call for direct action if a date of implementation is not announced while there are others who believe that the traditional dignity of the armed forces cannot be sacrificed. The latter calls for trust in the Prime Minister and his promise; action should only be contemplated if even he fails the veterans.


The compromise solution of keeping the pressure through regular media contact and continuously educating the public appears a more prudent one. Either way OROP has reached a stage of emotions that it will be difficult to scuttle.

The education of the public which still has much respect for the uniform is a must to bring in a national emotional footprint on this. It is unlikely that we could ever come to a stage such as that faced by the ‘Bonus Army’ in the US in the 1930s when World War I veterans were fired upon while virtually ‘gheraoing’ the Capitol Hill for the release of their dues. It was considered one of the worst decisions by a President in American history.


(The writer is a former GOC of the Srinagar based 15 Corps and Military Secretary of the Indian Army. He is currently associated with Vivekanand International Foundation and Delhi Policy Group)
See also: Raisina Hill Still Short-Changing India’s Soldiers





























 

OROP: OPS MAHASANGRAM 16 AUG 2015- INFO BULLETIN


                      

           OROP:   OPS MAHASANGRAM
                          16 AUG 2015-
                      INFO  BULLETIN


UFESM takes this opportunity of wishing all our countrymen a very happy Independance Day.....Jai Hind...BY COL ANIL KAUL VrC RETD

 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Today was a momentous day for the UFESM in more ways than one. The community of vetrerans has been dissappointed both with the high handed action of the NDMC and Delhi Police yesterday and the much awaited and expected announcement of the Prime Minister with regard to the OROP on the occasion of the 69th Independance day of our motherland.

In view of which the combined voice of UFESM firstly condemns yesterday's attempt of eviction and high handedness by the NDMC staff and Delhi police personnel and demands an unqualified apolgy fom all those in the chain of command, to all ESM for their act of commission against peaceful, disciplined and aged ESM on 14 Aug 2015 at Jantar Mantar.

Sadly Neither the Supeme Commander nor the PM made a reference to such an unfortunate incident with those who have assured the freedom of our motherland for the last 69 years in their respective speeches to the nation both yesterday and today. UFESM hopes they will take notice of the same and admonish the concerned officials in the near future in full public glare


On the 62 second day of RHS 70 volunteers including 6 ladies and a number of civilians from Tis Hazari supporting the cause of the ESM undertook rhs.


 The sympathisers and citizens from all walks of life in a show of support and solidarity, that started with about 200 increased to over 2000 as the day wore on.


There were groups from Mumbai, Rajasthan, Punjab & UP who had come all the way to show solidarity for the cause.of OROP. A giant TV screen had been erected to show the telecast of the PM from the Red Fort. The crowd heard it in pin drop silence till he mentioned his remarks on OROP. Immediately there was an uproar and the TV swiched off.



The organizers than carried out the flag hoisting of the Tri-clour and singing of the National Anthem. . ,


PROGRESS ON ""SARKARI BARGAINING  ""During the day al the three advisors of the UFESM attended meetings with certain Government officials at the request of the officials, to break the impasse surrounding the non-announcement of implementation of OROP as mentioned by the PM in his speech.

Efforts are on to find a resolution and completion in the very near future.as per the definition of OROP wihout any dilution.



Following the meetings the UFESM has taken the following decisions. : -


1. RHS will continue as hitherto fore.

2. Protest marches will be undertaken by ESM in every city and district of the country.

3. Respective Representative MP's & MLA's of constituentsm irrespective of the party they belong to, will be Gheraoed and asked to explain their contribution towards resolving the problems of their constituency members with regard to OROP.
 

3. All veteran vehicles will fly black flags.

4. All veterans will sport black Ribbon on all dresses.

5. Veterans will boycott all government organized functions both civil and military.

6. Fast unto death volunteers have been requestecd to avoid taking it on for the time being.

7. Other Escalation measures will be revealed at the opportune moment.


Col Anil Kaul, VrC
Media Advisor
15 Aug 2015.






   FEW SELECTED CLIPPINGS  FROM SOCIAL MEDIA




So touching and so true Sir..... Beautifully expressed.. I MUST share this
 
 
I do not wear my medals anymore.
They are too heavy to hold on to the
fabric of the cloth that covers my skin now.
I am no more in uniform.
...
 
 
There is nothing uniform about uniforms. 

 Freedom is not uniform either, neither is Independence.


Without the uniform I sweated and bled in, my medals mean nothing, 

 Your uniformed goons can yank them off and kick me away out of your way, to celebrate your Independence Day. 

 

 Yes, tell that fifty six incher chest joker when he drives up the rampart, 


 Sir, the route is safe and secured, cleared of all [VETERAN ]threats.


His fifty six inch chest cannot support a single medal I wear. 

 But his antics will enthral the nation. [नव  टंकी ]


 As for us, we are not stage actors,


 You won't even permit us to have our own stage. 


 Quietly we did your job, quietly we will protest, quietly we shall fade away,


 As many did before us, denied of our legitimate rights.


Did I use the word legitimate? 

 Ha!


 
How ridiculous to expect a code of conduct from those who thrive on misconduct.


Happy Independence Day India 

Enjoy your freedom. 


 Our contributions were our duty.


 We owe each other nothing.


 Just that, don't sing songs or poems to entice new generations.


Tell them the truth!  [सत्यम एव जयते ]

That you will be asked to forsake your freedom to be in uniform. 

 In return, you can wear your medals or sell them as scrap


 After we are done with you,


 You shall return to being a third class citizen of this mighty nation.








15 AUGUST 2015 :Very Sad Day in the current History of India.


                    लास्ट  राइट्स 

This is my personal opinion/ suggestion.
Any Veteran, who goes to Heavenly Abode,in NCR.
His body should be brought to Jantar Mantar for enabling other Veterans to pay their Homage / Tributes. It is difficult, but it can be arranged
                                 or
alternatively his Ashes be brought before performing the other Rituals. See the affect. The Govt will be shaken. Will they ?




Cdr Sharan Ahuja Sja's photo.
 
 
Sepoy Bhishamber 5 Grenadier 84 years was roughed up by police n crpf..with TORN SHIRT NEXT TO Sneha. REPORTER Times Now.. 84 yrs old kept his cool.... He coul...d have made MINCE MEAT OF THE BADTAMBEEJ CRPF IN SECS.. Still has the IRON FINGERS.. On RIGHT.... Cdr Anand.. CS Saran.. Fly officer Thapliyal...MWo PS AHLUWALIA At Jantar Mantar now at 7.08 relaxed..after A tough day.. But nothing to tough FAUJIS... VETERANS in other part of the nation n abroad must be AGHAST AND CLINCHING THEIR FISTS.... Time WILL COME SOON... FEW LAKH Col BHAINSLA'S WAITING... And TAKE BIRTH IN SECONDS... BABUS N POLITICIANS WILL KNOW SOON...God save the day.. Rgds sharan




Hats off to Navy: 👍 by Vikas Kapur... Xxxxxxxxxxxcxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
* three Ex CNS signed the letter to President on OROP.
* one CNS had resigned on moral grnds.
* One CNS took stand during 6th pay commission....

* one CNS was sacked fr taking a stand - rights or wrong reason?
Army...👿
* only one Ex COAS signed the letter sp OROP.
Air Force...😴

This shows how much disconnet is their among services....forget abt serving Chiefs to be on the same platform....even retd ones r not on the same page....really a sad reflection on the calibre, character and resolve of Ex and Serving Chiefs....👎
It is not the politicians & burecracy, who have let us down...but lack of true leadership (moral & ethical) within our services, which has led to this state...👿👆👆👆👆 Thank you Indian Navy We need A Naval Officer as CDS  -

                                            A FOOT SOLDIER



Even if we keep aside for a moment our angst against Modi due to OROP, please tell me if you really feel Modi's Independence Day speech was Prime-Ministerial or Statesman like. To me his address sounded more like cheap oratory of a candidate in a Municipal election. He is an "I"  [ में , मैंने ] specialist and keeps blowing his own trumpet. He is a like a student sitting in an Exam, then marking his own paper and giving himself A+. Independence Day speeches traditionally have been like th...e US President's "State of the Union" address, which give a broad overview of external and internal challenges and provide a vision for the future. What did Modi deliver? Nothing on External relations / situation (China, Pak, US etc), nothing on terrorism, Maoists, insurgencies in the East, nothing on the 'big ticket' economic reforms. Beyond a brief mention - nothing on communal and Caste divide. US Presidents and indeed leaders all over the world INVARIABLY start their address by paying tributes to the soldiers. In his case he did NOT even consider soldiers as part of his so-called TEAM INDIA. So while kids, bankmen, almost everyone got 'hardik abhinandan' soldiers obviously did not deserve it in his reckoning. Just good at coining slogans or buzzwords...'skill India'; 'digital India' etc etc and now 'Team India'.


Feedback I am getting here in *** and in India is that Modi is extremely incensed how the ill-treatment of ESM at JM got SO MUCH media media coverage. Note that he gave "abhinandan" to everyone - kids, bankmen etc etc but for him soldiers are NOT a part of his so-called Team India.
Already he is getting 1000s of tweets virtually condemning him and BJP.
Fearing trouble in Bihar polls, BJPs  TROLL BRIGADE  has been activated in India and abroad. He is highly egoistic and mulishly stubborn.
 Wait and watch there will now be MORE hardening of Govt stance on OROP. And the slimy bureaucrats are laughing all the way.
BATTLE LINES ARE NOW CLEARLY DRAWN. WE CAN'T BACK OFF NOW.


     THERE R THOUSNDS OF SUCH CLIPPINGS. 

              GOD BLESS THEM ALL








 

FATEH OROP: YEH HAI DELHI POLICE :ULTA FLAG ULTE KAM 15 AUGUST 2015 KI BADI KAMYABI : JANTAR MANTAR KE UPPAR HAMLA

SOURCE: FACE BOOK


YEH  HAI  DELHI  POLICE :ULTA FLAG  ULTE KAM 


  15 AUGUST 2015 KI BADI  KAMYABI :  JANTAR  MANTAR KE UPPAR  HAMLA


Cdr Sharan Ahuja Sja's photo.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ULTA FLAG.. Wah bhai Wah.. Delhi Police cheers

MULTI FLAG.. Wah bhai Wah.. Delhi Police cheers
 

 Ulta flag ulte action
 
 
Source
 
 
ULTE KAM 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               Cry My Beloved Country
Aged Mil Veterans Assaulted By Delhi Police
 
 
 
The assault on military veterans, at Jantar Mantar on August 14, might go down in history as the lowest point of the Modi government. 
 
 
 
These lines are being penned on the 15th August, one of the most auspicious days in our national calendar, when all Indians celebrate the day when our young country, but an old civilization, attained independence 68 years ago. However, this writer, along with countless other citizens of the Republic, is finding it impossible to stand up and cheer. After watching the sordid and shameful incidents near the capital’s Jantar Mantar a day earlier, on the 14th, my heart is filled with sorrow, that independent India’s freely-elected government could stoop so low as to unleash its agents of terror against its own military veterans. Veterans, who had gathered in a peaceful (and legally-sanctioned) protest for a cause that cannot possibly be more legitimate than anything in this god’s earth.


Every regime whether a democracy or a dictatorship / junta faces its moment of truth. The French ancien Régime had it with the “bread and cakes” gaffe of its Austrian-born Empress, the Russian Romanovs had it with their German-born Empress, the mad monk Rasputin and the massacre of protesting workers by the Cossacks, the British Empire faced it in Jallianwala Bagh, while South Africa’s apartheid state saw it in the Sharpeville massacre.

 In our shores, the UPA cabal, the immediate predecessor of the present NDA lot, had their Waterloo omens in the Ram Lila Maidan lathi-charge and the unleashing of water cannons on the Nirbhaya protestors.


The defining moment or the turning point is not necessarily measured by the number of deaths and casualties that a particular event saw ; the police forces of MMS and his cabal killed only one person in Ram Lila ground and none in the post-Nirbhaya gatherings. Jallianwala Bagh and Sharpeville saw hundreds of murders as the renaissance poet Tagore pointed out in his letter to the Viceroy renouncing his knighthood, and as Alan Paton wrote for the benefit of the architects of the criminal apartheid regime in Pretoria.



However, the 14th August 2015 incidents around Jantar Mantar that saw the khaki thugs of the Delhi Police beat up and manhandle our military veterans, even going to the extent of attempting to take off the gallantry medals of one of the warriors, will be etched in the minds and the collective psyche of the Indian people simply because of its wretchedness and perversity.


What prompted this act of lunacy on the part of our new rulers in Raisina Hill will be discussed later. What is crystal clear, however, to even a political babe-in-the woods, is that there will be a very steep price to pay for this criminal folly.


 In an era of electronic and digital photography and storage, the images of yesterday will always continue to sear the conscience of the Republic’s citizens and haunt the babus and netas who planned and executed this outrage.

                                                  Or

probably not, in the latter case, since our babus and netas are easily one of the most shameless and degenerate lot in recorded history.




Mr, Modi and his cabinet, I am convinced, will rue the day when they ordered (in the worst scenario) or overlooked and condoned (in a more charitable assessment) the illegal and brutal assault by the goons of the Delhi Police on the peaceful and legal assembly of the ex-services fraternity. If more than 95% of this group voted for the NDA in the 2014 elections, it is doubtful if more than 5% will support this bunch in 2019.


However, this is not just electoral folly on the part of the new government. I wish we could paraphrase Talleyrand and say that this was a crime and a blunder rolled in one. It also combined a number of other attributes, to use scrupulously correct terminology.


It is the culmination of a litany of broken commitments and promises. Admittedly, most of these were made by the previous incumbents of Raisina Hill. But the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi put his own (and his party’s) imprimatur on OROP by promising it on a number of times in the run-up to last year’s general elections. The BJP’s official manifesto also made an unconditional commitment. An even more interestingly, the Supreme Court, too, ordered the grant of OROP, and the Union of India is now facing contempt proceedings in the apex court for not implementing its verdict.

Therefore, what we are seeing here is a triple whammy – violation of a unanimous Report of Parliament (the Koshyari Committee of 16 December 2011, which by sheer coincidence was also Victory Day), a 7 year old decision of the Supreme Court (Union of India v. SPS Vains, (2008) 9 SCC 125) and categorical / specific electoral promises made on numerous occasions. To top up its sins, a demented version of the icing on the cake, the government orders a lathi charge on veterans who are in a legal and peaceful assembly to demand their legitimate dues.

The constant refrain from the rulers is that they are working out the details. What this basically means is that the babus (the IAS, police, other central services lobbies) are churning out progressively more outlandish estimates of the cost of OROP, so that the political masters can use these fig-leaves to delay justice and equity to our soldiers. In this ghoulish ambience, we must perforce point out the IAS have already awarded themselves an exact equivalent of OROP that is named NFU or Non-Functional Upgradation in Raisina Hill’s Kafkaesque terminology. Therefore, what is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander.

I have earlier suggested that Messrs Parrikar, Jaitley and Modi should invite specialist civilians (who are not in government) to aid and assist them in quantifying OROP. I will bet my bottom tax-paid Rupee that tens of thousand of highly-skilled citizens will volunteer their services for this noble endeavour. What is involved here is certainly not quantum physics or Bose-Einstein statistics.


In the meantime, four former services chiefs have written to the President, the constitutional Supreme Commander of the Republic’s armed forces, to point out the sheer perversity of the government’s stand and the ignominy being heaped on our veterans and even our present warriors, who will be retiring soon in the future. All the four chiefs are persons of the utmost integrity and probity – I happen to know one of them personally and the others are all vouchsafed for. A fifth former chief, who has also honoured me with his friendship, has confirmed that he would have joined the four others but could not do so, as he was out of the country. It appears that these are voices in the wilderness. Nothing has any effect on the sphinxes in power. On the 14th evening, the nation heard a former Army chief admit on TV that the day’s incidents had angered and saddened him more than anything in his 42 years of service in the Indian Army. Mind you, this General had commanded the Army during Kargil and, under his watch, numerous near-suicidal missions had been ordered that were gladly and dutifully carried out by our military.


How, then, do we summarise the disgust and the anger that we, as citizens, have when we watch the charade being enacted by our political leaders and bureaucrats ? Many of us will immediately recall the poet’s dictum of “In times of war and not before, God and the soldier we adore. But in times of peace and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.” Some have attributed these lines to the old imperialist Kipling, who did wield a powerful pen when it came to non-Empire matters, but this attribution is not unanimous.
But there is no doubt whatsoever of T.S. Eliot’s authorship of the following lines : “By far the greatest treason is to do the right thing for the wrong reason”. (“Murder in the Cathedral”, words assigned to Thomas Becket). However, what would be history’s verdict on those who do the wrong things for the wrong reasons?
 
 
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