Union Home Ministry had been under strain over a delicate humanitarian issue. In case of death in action of a Para-military jawan, the ex-gratia relief would be given to the spouse of the deceased. It was presumed that with the loss of an earning hand, the family would bridge over the hard times with the ex-gratia relief till it would get stabilized. But the Ministry came across many cases in which the spouse of the deceased Para-military jawan and his parents could not pull on together. In many cases, they even got entangled in litigation with the result that payment of ex-gratia amount had to be with-held unnecessarily. This caused much embarrassment to the disbursing authority.
Para-military forces come under the control of the Home Ministry. They are called upon to render variety of services connected with maintaining law and order in the country. Many of these forces are deployed to tackle insurgents like Naxals, Maoists, Khalistanis, Jihadis and violent demonstrators etc. Of late, intransigent politicians in the country have also contributed to disrupting peace and normalcy by inciting political activists and sympathiser to indulge in violent demonstrations and damage public property. The Para-military forces are called in to restore peace. Even in peace times, these forces are deployed to help conduct public duty as in election times. When deployed in areas of turmoil and insurgency, they are exposed to fatal attacks by the adversary. Thus they perform very sensitive role at the cost of their precious lives. Included among these Para-military forces are the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF, SSB and NSG. Some of these like CRPF and BSF are deployed in disturbed and militancy-ridden areas and have suffered many casualties. That is why the Government has to take care of their dependents, be it the spouse or the parents particularly when they are old.
The practice is that a corpus of ex-gratia fund is raised in these organizations through monthly contribution of the rank and file under a prescribed mechanism. At present officials contribute rupees three hundred each per month towards the fund from which ex-gratia amount is paid to the dependents of the deceased jawan. The practice was that a sum of 15 lakh rupees was paid to the spouse of the Para-military force personnel in case he/she got killed in action. After coming across complaints lodged by aged parents of the deceased jawan that they should not be totally ignored the Home Ministry took note of this and resolved it through a new formula which we think is a wise and just decision. According to it the spouse will get 11 lakh rupees and the parents will receive 4 lakh rupees. However, in case of death by accident or illness, the amount of ex-gratia is less than in case of death in action and is to be distributed between the two according to the same proportion. The new mechanism should put an end to chances of dispute and at the same time will ensure maintenance of the spouse as well as the aged parents. Para-military forces have welcomed this formula and seem to be happy with it. It does not impose any additional financial burden on the Home Ministry, though justice demands that the Ministry, too, should bear part of financial obligation.
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