OROP : I DON’T WANT TO GO TO JANTAR MANTAR

Cdr Sharan Ahuja Sja

8 hrs · 

Sareshth Kumar
September 28 at 9:55pm

                       I DON’T WANT 

                                TO 

               GO TO JANTAR MANTAR

When I was commissioned and got my wings in December 1970, I was told that the officers do not discuss two things- politics and pay. 

To discuss ither was considered bad manners.
I did not. 

By the 25th of every month, my pay used to be over and I would somehow survive till the first of the next month.
I still considered myself to be rich.

I did not pay attention, when in 1973 the pension of the armed forces was reduced from 70% to 50%. 

I did not know that the pension of the civilians was increased from 30 % to 50 %! 

I did not even know that it was the IAS which was formulating all these rules. 

The thought that it was done after the armed forces had won the 1971 war never occurred to me. 

The thought that it was done after Gen. Manekshaw, as popular as Indira Gandhi in those days, had retired never occurred to me. 

I never knew that as compensation, a bait- OROP had been dangled for the armed forces.

I was not supposed to think money-I did not. 

I enjoyed the challenge posed by my beautiful love – The Seahawk—referred to as ‘Flying Coffin’ by some ill informed guys. 

Along the way, I lost some friends in air crashes
It was part of the game. Money had nothing to do with it.

I heard about the sailors sharing houses two/three families to a house. 

I heard about the waiting list for accommodation being one year plus everywhere. 

I did not pay attention. 

There were the three service chiefs and a host of senior officers out there to ensure that all my problems would be well looked into! 

I was happy doing my job. 

Life on board the submarines was tough, but we had tough guys to take it on.

Sailing on small ships, big ships, aircraft carrier, temporary duties at short notice, no reservation in the trains-yet you manage to reach for your duty on time, no accommodation in the messes/ships-all these were part of life.

Manage what you can. Crib about the rest if wish to. But get the work done! That was the motto. 

Life went on. 

I was happy in the service.

One day I took premature retirement because I had reached the level of my inefficiency. 

The navy gracefully gave me fair amount of money.
And I was entitled to pension-for life. 

The pension was sufficient for about 40 % of my and my family’s survival needs. 

For the rest, obviously I had to work.

I was 45 and fit to work for many more years. 

For the first time the thought came to my mind-if I was in civvies always- how it would have been? 

But I was too proud to feel any regret.
The navy had looked after me well.

Those Jawans/sailors and airmen who had to leave at the age of 35 or so, certainly had it tough. 

But they were all capable of making their lives again.
We all had joined of our free will knowing the pros and cons-isn’t it?

That there was something like OROP- I only heard in passing. 

Never gave it a thought. 

After all if there was something that I should have got, the three service chiefs and the senior officers would have ensured that I get it!

I heard about veterans returning their medals to the president’s office. (The supreme Commander of the Armed Forces never had time to meet those anguished, graying men.) 

I wondered why?

Then I heard a name-Dhanapalan. 

Read his story. 

The army chief had asked him to meet separately when Maj Dhanapalan asked a question about pay anomaly during one of the presentations. 

To meet separately-obviously to put him in his place.
Dhanapalan did not go to meet him. 

Instead he went to the court after retirement. 

And court asked that he be paid some lakhs of rupees because injustice had been done to him.

Individuals went to the courts. 

ESM organisations sprouted all over India. 

They merged and divided and then merged again and went to the Supreme Court. 

One day, I heard that the Supreme Court had decided that injustice had been done to me! 

And I was to be compensated monetarily for what the GOI had been cheating me of. 

My revised pension was to be given to me. 

The mirror of my faith cracked a little. 

The senior officers could not do it? 

They had no authority or insufficient will? 

What was it that had forced the retired service personnel to go to the courts?

I kept hearing about agitations launched by the veterans. 

Never went for one.

I was different! 

I was/am the last defence that my country has got against external threat and internal problems. 

I could not go on the streets like a common agitator!!

Surely, there were other ways and other senior officers who would ensure that injustice is not done to me or those who come after me. 

I heard about a prime ministerial candidate promising OROP in 100 days of his party coming to power.
100 days came and went.

One day my daughter castigated me not going to Jantar Mantar, where a dharna had been in progress for many days. 

She asked me, if I shall refuse the benefits which I shall be getting because of the struggle of all the veterans who were sitting on hunger strike at Jantar Mantar?

Out of curiosity I went. 

Then I went again and again and again. 

And I changed! 

I learnt and am still learning.

There I saw Col Inderjit Singh who first took up the OROP issue in 1982. 

He is more than eighty years old and comes everyday for the dharna in his wheel chair. 

And Satbir Singh, who has made this as the mission of his life. 

He has been ridiculed, threatened, ignored, but possesses a ‘never say die spirit’. 

And a widow in her nineties-still waiting for OROP.

On 26 August, Dushyant Dave, president of the Supreme Court Bar Council came with all the office bearers. They pledged support to the ESM and promised to fight for OROP on their behalf, free of cost. They assured us that the Government will not go to the court. If they did, they will lose in the third hearing.

In my visits, the main thing that I learnt was that I was quite ignorant about what OROP was. 

And then the thought came to me, that there is a vast majority of ex-servicemen intent on not sullying their image by taking this route- because they are even more ignorant than I am! 

They have zero knowledge about the issues involved in OROP!

An insidious thought entered my mind, “For forty one years, I and those who were before me, did not hit the streets. 

Who got us OROP?” 

The answer was a painful-No one! 

It was apathy by all concerned. 

We did not think money and the powers that be, quietly-not only denied us money but also kept downgrading the armed forces. 

And those upon whom we had been depending- were helpless!

It was announced when the prime ministerial candidate faced a huge turnout of ESM at Rewari.” 

Everyday there are 15 or more ESM/ladies on hunger strike at Jantar Mantar. 

Hundreds of officers and men are present there every day. 

I have seen Lieutenant Generals and senior air force officers at the dharna. 

Not many naval personnel though. 

‘OROP will be announced soon, before the Bihar elections.’ They told me at Jantar Mantar. 

It was!

It was announced by the defence minister before the Bihar elections were announced and after the ESM made it clear that they would go to Bihar and intensify their agitation. 

The defence minister of the country said that those who had taken VRS, will not get the benefits of OROP!
VRS?? 

It was clarified that those who had taken pre-mature retirement will not get the benefits of OROP. 

A master stroke to divide the ESM! 

But ESM retaliated by saying, “We do not leave our dead behind in war-you expect us to leave our living brethren behind!”

And I learnt that at every stage, everyday new strategies were being drawn by the guys sitting in the South Block and the North Block to ensure that OROP is given with as little grace as is possible. 

The representatives of the Ex Servicemen have been called many times for discussions.

During the discussions, concessions have been sought from them and obtained. 

And then the powers that be go back and include one more clause detrimental to the definition of OROP.

I heard that the PM had said words to the effect that OROP was being given out of the hard earned money of the poor of this country! 

I wonder-out of whose hard earned money the MPs are paid their salaries!! 

They waste session after session- day after day complete monsoon-winter sessions are washed off without transecting any business! 

There is no mention of poor of the country paying for their callousness!

I was also given to understand that the three chiefs and a select band of the senior officers along with the top babus are already under the ambit of what is called OROP for us. 

I am an ignorant man-always ready to aplogise for my lack of knowledge.

At Faridabad, the PM reiterated the intention to implement OROP in it’s original form. And that those who had taken pre-mature retirement will not miss out. 

They was happiness that the pre-mature retirees will get it. 

Next day there was a news item in TOI-statement by a babu-‘NO they will not get it.’ 

Till to date, no denial of this news item from any government source. 

Is it possible that a babu can overturn what the PM said? 

Then I tried to recollect. At no stage had the PM clearly said that 

‘ALL’ the premature retirees will get it! 

The speech was worded in a way that left scope for doubt.

I also learnt about seven anomalies that still need attention. 

I do not understand why this is happening?

On 12 September a rally was held at Jantar Mantar.
I went for it. 

There were thousands upon thousands veterans and ladies present. 

Was the total number 20,000/30,000? 

How does it matter! 

There were a large number of media personnel/vans present to cover the event. 

It was announced from the stage that the government had muzzled the media. 

Buses had been stopped at the border. 

No reporting of the event! 

It was not reported anywhere. 

Was the media under instructions to blow up any untoward incident at the meet! 

The demonstration has been peaceful-for more than 100days!!

I am bewildered. 

Why does my own government refuse to give me what is mine (everyone in uniform)! 

Why do they refuse to give me what has been agreed to forty three years ago! 

Why do they refuse to clear-in it’s original form-what has been promised by successive governments, looked in to microscopically by a parliamentary committee, agreed upon by two-all party parliament approvals, found in order by the highest court of the land and agreed to by the present government.

I was/ am the last line of defence that my country has against external aggression and internal problems.
I am different. 

I don’t want to go to Jantar Mantar!

Cdr Ravindra Waman Pathak I.N. (Retd)
Member Governing Body and Pension Cell
Indian Ex Servicemen Movement
1 Surashri,1146 Lakaki Road
Shivajinagar
Pune 411016
raviwarsha@gmail.com
982232934

OROP : " INDIA'Ss 14 AUGUST VETERANS DAY " - Is No One Responsible For The Lathi-Charge On Our Veterans?

SOURCE  : 
 http://swarajyamag.com/politics/is-no-one-responsible-for-the-lathi-charge-on-our-veterans/




          INQUIRY COMPLETED

                 CASE  CLOSED

                          ENCROACHERS
                                    OF 
                       JANTAR MANTAR 

                      ARE THE CULPRITS


         " 14 AUGUST VETERANS DAY " 

                 Is No One Responsible 
                                For 
       The Lathi-Charge On Our Veterans?
                                By

               

             J. Bhattacharjee

An enquiry conducted by the PMO, on the basis of a 

Swarajya article by this author, seems to imply that.

In the early morning of the 17th August, an innocuous–sounding text message almost escaped this writer’s attention. It was the Monday after an important weekend. The previous Friday, the 14th, had witnessed a new low in Indian public life; Delhi Police had unleashed their lathis on the armed forces veterans who had assembled in a legal and peaceful rally at the capital’s Jantar Mantar to press for their demand for OROP. Even by the deplorable standards of the desi police, this was a shocking event.

The nation was outraged to see images of the war medals of octogenarian veterans being torn off by members of Delhi’s mutation of the Keystone cops. Along with millions of my fellow citizens, I, too, was outraged, and decided to write an essay on the 15th August on this grotesque indignity heaped on soldiers and warriors who had defended our nation so heroically and bravely in all the wars that India had been compelled to wage after Independence. My article on the incident and its background (why, in the first place, the veterans had been compelled to demonstrate) was  published on Independence Day itself.

The Prime Minister’s customary address to the nation on this sacrosanct occasion, made a cursory reference to the OROP issue and included a rather half-hearted undertaking that the matter would be resolved soon. Needless to say, India’s retired warriors (and, I dare say, the serving defenders too), along with the vast majority of my fellow citizens and yours truly, were distinctly underwhelmed by this stand of the PM. Therefore, the 17th August, was truly a copybook example of Monday morning blues.

When I got around to reading the SMS, I was initially confused. The message read : “Your Grievance has been registered vide Registration number PMOPG/E/2015/0065783. Please logon (sic) to: http;//pgportal.gov.in for any further details”.

Having written reasonably frequently to various errant government and municipal agencies in the capital and elsewhere on their numerous lapses in governance, I was wondering what this was all about. When I opened the URL, it transpired that I had been granted entry to the Valhalla where ordinary Indians are very rarely entertained, a sanctum sanctorum that most of us can only dream about – the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)  in South Block on Raisina Hill. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief – the nearest I had ventured anywhere near this place in recent times was through a number of open letters (read “articles”) I had penned in various publications, either electronic or print, addressed to the Prime Minister.

Now, as every commentator / essayist in these shores will tell you, these so-called “open letters” to the powers-that-be have as little impact as water off a duck’s back.  The Indian establishment has a skin so strong that it puts titanium to shame.  And as every chaiwallah in Delhi and the nation knows, the top guns in the establishment are the IAS lot, with a few IFS chaps occasionally thrown in, to mumble in Mandarin, French or German, in the exalted corridors of the PMO.

Going through the page that opened on my screen, I learnt that a “Public Grievance” had been registered in my name by the nation’s top honchos about the police lathi charge on the veterans on the 14th. The “grievance” was based on the Swarajya essay of mine published on the 15th. In fact, the entire essay was reproduced in the PMO’s portal. .  

Status as on 17 Aug 2015
Registration Number	:	PMOPG/E/2015/0065783
Name Of Complainant	:	Jay Bhatacharjee
Date of Receipt	:	17 Aug 2015
Received by	:	Prime Ministers Office
Officer name	:	Shri Ambuj Sharma
Officer Designation	:	Under Secretary (Public)
Contact Address	:	Public Wing
		5th Floor, Rail Bhawan
		New Delhi110011
Contact Number	:	011-23386447
e-mail	:	ambuj.sharma38@nic.in
Grievance Description	:	Lathi Charge on Veterans on Aug 14th 2015 Cry My Beloved Country –  Military Veterans Assaulted By Police

 While all this was quite flattering, the mystery remained. I had not approached the super-babus in the PMO with any complaint or grievance or whatever they choose to label it. Having spoken to a number of friends, the general consensus was that one of the readers of my essay that was then being circulated quite extensively (as happens in the age of the internet) had sent it to the PMO, who registered it suo motu, and informed me so that my readers, friends and I would be temporarily placated.    

This was also the overall consensus in my circle – the establishment was trying to buy time and attempting to put on a show so that the hoi polloi would calm down. Nevertheless, my instinct was to give the whole exercise a bit of momentum, in the faint hope that some attempt would be made by the GOI to get to the bottom of the shameful incident of the 14th. Therefore, I decided to take up the cudgel, as it were, that had been left on the battlefield by an unknown fellow-citizen.  

Even in my worst-scenario exercise, I could not anticipate how wretchedly these babus would behave. The designated officer, whose details werementioned in the portal as Under Secretary (Public), would never come on the line. Each time, a flunkey, who grandly announced himself as “staff” and refused to divulge his identity, would curtly tell me that the U.Secy. had no time to speak to complainants and / or members of the public. On numerous occasions, this wing of the GOI, ostensibly set up to attend to citizens’ grievances, took a vicarious thrill in fobbing me off with excuses that ranged from the bizarre to the obscene. The only relevant information that the portal disgorged from time to time was that the matter had been referred to the Commissioner of Police of Delhi for his feedback. Since the Police top chap was the one whose force had committed the offence, I thought it was a bit rich to ask him to look into the matter.

Now, all this is hardly news to the hapless citizens of this country, who have been used to this type of governance for the last 7 decades or so in independent India and for seven to eight centuries before that under various versions of the Sultanate and the Raj. However, there is a new factor being played out here.

In power now, is the NaMo regime, that had been voted in last year with a massive majority, and whose professed aim was that it would usher in a new paradigm of governance and public administration. With just about 19 months in the driving seat, the objectives and stated agenda of the new occupants of Raisina Hill are being  blatantly sabotaged, obstructed and derailed by the babus. Unless, of course, and banish the thought, the events of 2014 (the glorious dawn etc.) were all shadow-boxing. More on this later.

Since the Under Secy (Public) was flagrantly AWOL or absconding or whatever they do in desi babudom, I decided to contact, whatever it needed, the critical decision-maker in this maze, the fabled JS (Joint Secretary in the capital’s parlance). After 10 days of using the old-boy network et al, I finally succeeded in making the nabob come on the telephone line. Icily courteous, he explained that the poor U.Secy. was buried under a mountain of complaints and couldn’t really speak to every complainant who dared to ring the telephone number listed in the portal. The fellow’s tone clearly indicated that I was a mental retard, if I thought I could exercise my democratic and constitutional rights in ye Olde Ind to speak to public functionaries. The chap put down the phone after mumbling that I would be told the outcome of the “case” within ten days or so.

Like a besotted teenager waiting for my girlfriend to contact me, I spent my waking hours in the last fortnight for the phone call, E-Mail or SMS from the burra sahibs, or at least the junior burra sahib, the U.Secy.  There was nothing incoming –  a scenario that was very much like the PM’s undertakings on OROP, parroted faithfully by the Raksha Mantri. Not even a homily  resembling the periodic sermons from the FM admonishing the veterans for being naïve enough to claim their legitimate dues. A big blank screen on my computer and my cell phone, if you please.

Then I ventured to visit the PMO portal on the 22nd. Hallelujah, the nation’s presiding deity had acted. The words glaring at me on the screen read :

Current Status	:	CASE CLOSED
Date of Action	:	11 Sep 2015
Details	:	During enquiry, it is revealed that the anti-encroachment drive to evict unauthorized protesters, illegal tents/structures was conducted in a very peaceful manner by the NDMC officials while as a law enforcement agency Delhi Police was presented there to protect the NDMC officials during their drive. Therefore no further action is required in this complaint.

Now, this is the icing on the cake by the babus – a five-line statement in pidgin language (“Delhi Police was presented there”) that attempts to sweep under the carpet one of the most shameful incidents in the history of independent India. A statement that is a blatant lie (when it refers to “unauthorized” protesters, whereas they had all the necessary permissions) is passed off as the official response of the GOI.  

The action-taken-report (ATR in Indian babu language) does not even bother to clarify the basic details : (a) who conducted the enquiry (b) what were the terms of reference of the enquiry (c) what credible evidence was provided to the persons conducting the enquiry and (d) who were the persons called to testify in the enquiry?  The PMO manifestly feels that these fundamental queries pertaining to the so-called enquiry are never going to be asked, and if asked, they will never be required to be disclosed.

If the PM, the RM and the FM, think that this is where the matter ends they are sadly mistaken. This is something that will come back as a phoenix to haunt them in the future. The babus, of course, are having the last laugh. Not only have they and the khakiwallahs got away with battery and assault, they have also effectively derailed the entire OROP movement.What can one say? The inimitable Ogden Nash said it in much better words than I can muster.

I’m an autocratic figure in these democratic states.

A dandy demonstration of hereditary traits.

My position at the apex of society I owe,

To the qualities my parents, bequeathed me long ago.
I remember daddy’s warning that raping is a crime.

Unless you rape the voters a million at a time.

WILD LIFE ; Watch: How a Panther in Rajasthan got its Head Stuck in a Pot

SOURCE  : http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/watch-how-a-panther-in-rajasthan-got-its-head-stuck-in-a-pot/story-pAl1MwB6x17OoWJcsb2WuN.html

Watch: How a Panther in Rajasthan got                                     its

                  Head Stuck in a Pot

A young panther ended up with its head stuck in a pot after attempting to drink water from it at Dhuli Kaan village in Rajsamand, Rajasthan, on Wednesday morning. Forest officials caught the animal and tranquilised it at a local hospital before removing the utensil.

The incidence occurred in the wee hours on Tuesday morning when a thirsty Panther entered a farm of Dhuli Khaan area in search of drinking water. He saw a stainless steel pot with some water in it. The animal put his head inside the pot but unfortunately got stuck.

He started to panic and roared. Locals informed the patrolling team of the forest department about the incident and the animal was rescued.

Here are photos of the incident.

Villagers look at a panther who got his head stuck in a utensil at Rajsamand. (HT Photo)

Amused villagers observe at the panther. (HT Photo)

The panther rests in a cage after being caught . (HT Photo)

Another photograph capturing the panther in the cage. (HT Photo)