Harsha Kakar
Post the surgical strikes, the political battle has intensified. While the ruling party gloats in its success and seeks to draw maximum political mileage, especially in view of the forthcoming elections in UP, Punjab and Goa, the opposition cries foul and demands that military credit not be claimed for political gains. The slogans and rebuttals have only been increasing in tempo by the day. However, while this continues, the military remains ignored. For politicians, whose only concern is the vote bank, it is time they raised their voices in support of the soldier, rather than to counter or seek credit for its performance. The Prime Minister addressed the Ex-Servicemen in Bhopal and made promises on resolving its issues, how much would be resolved, is anyone’s guess.
In a surprise move, post the surgical strike, the government in one swoop, reduced the disability element of non-warpension of the military by almost thirty percent. It was possibly the government’s way of telling the military, thanks for a job well done. Medical problems can occur to any soldier, whether it be by battling militants, road accidents, training exercises or other causes attributable to vagaries of service including serving for long stints in uncongenial climate and militancy prone areas. A person who joins is physically fit, but due to service conditions develops problems which restrict his post-retirement avenues. Hence, he is entitled to disability pension to cater for these restrictions. The latest announcement implies that as compared to their other service counterparts, any military personnel developing medical issues in a non-war scenario would draw far lesser as compensation. As ranks rise, so does the difference. Justice Mathur heading the7thpay commission felt that the military deserves lesser than those sitting in plush offices and working in secure environments, whose injuries are generally due to stress of sitting for long hours or leading a sedentary lifestyle, rather than battling insurgents or being physically active. I guess, actor Om Puri took a leaf from this report, when he claimed,’why join the military’. While theserving and veteran members of the military community are raising a shindig over the announcement, the political battle continues for credit and discredit of surgical strikes, while the defence minister publicly claims that disability pension is a non-issue.
Simultaneously a worried government, fearing national backlash and political exploitation, at a time when every nationalist Indian is proud of his army, issued a clarification stating that such reports are baseless. It quoted random figures justifying an increase, however never clarified the changed pattern and its impact,nor did it give a comparison with any other service, fearing its words would be proved wrong. The government appears scared to confront the nation. As per the new system, the military would get disability allowances based on a three slab system while every other service would remain on the earlier percentage of salary method of calculation.Therefore in reality while allowances would marginally increase, due to slabs, however, there would be a marked disparity withother services for the same nature of injury. The silent military has once again faced the brunt of government apathy. Post intense pressure, the government has referred the issue to the anomalies panel, a case which should never have been accepted from the start.
To battle for equality in status with other central services continues unabated. The pay commission recommendations remain under scrutiny with the anomalies commission, with no inputs of progress. While the military hopes that the Prime Minister would be in a position to push in their favour, in reality it may never be so. In a government run by the bureaucracy, there have been very few politicians who have possessed the will and determination to break bureaucratic control. I wonder how many ministers in the present government possess that ability. If the government can issue such a degrading notification, post an incident which made every Indian cheer and which placed the ruling party above the rest in the forthcoming elections, expecting justice may be Utopian.
The Reddy commission appointed post the release of a half- baked OROP, has yet to submit its report and the same once submitted, may take ages before it sees the light of day. Anomalies in allowances with other services still exist and there is no sign of their resolution in the near future. In reality, it implies that military success is being exploited by the political leadership for electoral gains without any thought to issues which concern the soldier as an individual. The government announced with great fanfare that it has released 10% of the 7th pay commission salaries as a Diwali bonanza islaughable, as it released a part of the soldier’s own blood and sweat money. It was no government largesse.
Political parties have failed to understand that it is the sacrifice of the soldier which enabled the nation to celebrate, while simultaneously conveying a message to Pakistan, which we had hesitated to do for decades. It broke the jinx of the nuclear threat, which had compelled governments to withhold serious counter measures. While the ruling party has the right to take credit for the strikes, as it took the decision, it needs to ponder on the injustices that it has imposed during its tenure on the serving soldier. While the battle for the right to exploit military success continues, it is the simple soldier who fights the battle within the nation for his rightful dues. Just because he is silent, remains apolitical and trusts the government, does not imply that he is naïve and can be taken for granted. If the government desires to exploit his success and sacrifice, then it is duty bound togive him his rightful due, rather than follow the bureaucratic and Justice Mathurmodel of downgrading him.
(The author is a retired Major General of the Indian Army)
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