Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 24
Several suggestions have been made by the Committee of Experts convened by the Defence Minister to recommend ways and means to reduce litigation in the Ministry of Defence and strengthen the mechanisms for redressal of grievances of defence personnel.
The five-member committee submitted its report to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today. The 509-page report contains 75 recommendations that touch upon various aspects of pension and service matters, discipline, vigilance and promotion issues, military justice reform, issues concerning civil employees and areas of potential disputes. Scores of senior functionaries in the services and MoD were examined and relevant documents and orders scrutinsed.
The committee has recommended greater personal interaction and opportunity of hearing in the system of formal complaints and petitions so as to give a better role to human interaction rather than the one-way noting sheet method and to assist in providing outlet and catharsis to individuals related to their grievances.
Greater constructive usage of social media, including initiation of blogs by senior commanders, to promote an interactive process with the rank and file, has been propagated. A face-to-face “collegiate” system of decision-making in various aspects rather than the file circulation method has been suggested along with more transparency in matters related to promotions and confidential reports.
Recommendations on military justice reform include steps that can be taken without any legislative change such as introduction of permanent infrastructure for Court Martial at specified stations to reduce ad hocism and reduction of command influence. A high level study group to ensure that reforms in these very important areas are not ignored and are configured with the times and the best national and global practices, has been recommended.
The committee has also recognised other areas of potential disputes, including those of disabled cadets, women officers and Short Service Commissioned Officers and several recommendations for more amiable service conditions have been put forth. Service and pension-related policies, including those affecting disabled soldiers and widows, form an important part of the report.

Recommendations are:

Greater personal interaction
Constructive use of social media
Face-to-face ‘collegiate’ system of decision-making
More transparency in matters related to promotions, confidential reports
Permanent infrastructure for Court Martial at specified stations

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune News Service
Jammu, November 18

The Army has lost two decorated officers — Colonel MN Rai and Colonel Santosh Mahadik — this year in its fight against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir.
“The two officers always led their men from the front in multiple counter-insurgency operations. Both of them combined bravery with compassion,” said a senior Army officer.
Moreover, both officers had developed a healthy rapport with the people in Kashmir, especially the youth, weaning them away from militancy, he added.
Colonel Rai laid his life in the line of duty, combating militants in the Tral area of Pulwama district, on January 28. Colonel Mahadik was killed in Kupwara district on Tuesday. The heroes left behind a saga of bravery that, in turn, would strengthen the resolve to fight elements inimical to peace, said the officer. Both officers were quite young. While Colonel Rai was 39 years old, Colonel Mahadik was 38.
“These men of mettle knew no fear and were always at the forefront to combat militants. Though there is no denying the fact that we have lost two Colonels this year in counter-militancy operations, their sacrifice will inspire other Army men to take this fight against terrorism head on,” he said.
Colonel Rai was killed after the father and brother of one of the terrorists, who were hiding in a house, approached him, claiming that the militant wanted to surrender.
Colonel Rai, like a true soldier, gave them the opportunity to do so. Militants came out of the house firing indiscriminately, leading to the gunbattle. The officer’s swift actions prevented many civilian casualties, but he laid down his life in the line of duty. Colonel Rai was conferred the Yudh Seva Medal on the eve of Republic Day for outstanding contribution in planning and conducting operations.
Both Colonels were commanding officers of their units. “Colonel is a senior post, but still they chose to fight from the front, that showed their commitment,” said a defence official. Colonel Rai was the Commanding Officer of 42 RRwhile Colonel Mahadik was Commanding Officer of the 41 RR.
A classmate of Colonel Mahadik at Sainik School in Satara, Colonel Prashant Patil, said: “He was born for this. He would always speak about making the supreme sacrifice. Though calm by nature and gentle in demeanour, he carried a storm in his heart.”

THE GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE CAME ON A PIL BY ADVOCATES TO GRANT EQUAL STATUS TO PARAMILITARY AND POLICE FORCES
NEW DELHI: The status of ‘martyr’ is not accorded to armed forces personnel who sacrifice their lives on the line of duty and hence cannot be given to the paramilitary forces, government has told the Delhi High Court, terming a plea on the matter as “misconceived”.
“The prayer… to grant ‘martyr’ or ‘shaheed’ to Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) at par with army, navy and air force is misconceived as the very same status is not actually being granted to the personnel of army, navy and air force,” a bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Deepa Sharma was informed.n an affidavit, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and other ministries said the word ‘martyr’ was not used in the three services and “no such order/ notification has been issued by the MoD to call martyr, (those) who are killed during duty.
Similarly, no such notification has been issued by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for the CAPF and Assam Rifle (AR) personnel.”
The government’s response came on a PIL by advocates Abhishek Choudhary and Harsh Ahuja to grant equal status to paramilitary and police forces like the armed forces in granting ‘martyr’ status to the deceased personnel.
The response was sought after the government informed the court that it had no such scheme, as sought in the PIL.
The government said “in army/navy/air force, the nomenclature for the word ‘martyr’ is battle casuality and physical casuality. The word ‘martyr’ is not used in the three services.”

Tribune News Service
Dehradun, November 13

Brig KG Behl (retd)———— Maj Gen Lalji D Singh (retd)
Indian armed forces retired personnel in Uttarakhand have decided to intensify their agitation with an aim to build pressure on the Centre Government to amend clauses added to the recently sanctioned one rank one pension (OROP) scheme for them.
The ex-servicemen will hold a meeting of the core committee under the banner of the United Forum of Ex-servicemen, Uttarakhand Chapter, tomorrow to decide whether to return medals to government or not to show resentment against the Government.
Maj Gen Lalji D Singh (retd) said a delegation of the United Front of Ex-Servicemen had already apprised Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar about the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) clause added by the Centre in the OROP notification. He said ex-servicemen would no longer tolerate pension disparity.
Maj Gen C Nandwani (retd), president of the United Front of Ex-servicemen, Uttarakhand Chapter, told The Tribune that nearly 60,000 personnel retired from the Indian defence forces every year and hence OROP would not financially burden the Union Government.
He said the Union Government should form a committee comprising senior and experienced retired defence personnel to resolve the OROP issue instead of forming a one-man committee headed by a retired judge.
Brig KG Behl (retd), a former president of the Dehradun Ex-Services League, said arrears should be given to retired octogenarian defence personnel in one installment instead of four installments.
He added that pension is earned wages for the services rendered by an individual during his service period.
Brig Behl said it was reasonable and logical that two individuals, who had rendered an equal length of service and had handled the same level of responsibility (rank), should be given equal pension, irrespective of their date of retirement.
Brig RS Rawat (retd), president of the Uttarakhand Ex-services League, said OROP sanctioned by the Union Government had not fulfilled their demands yet.
He opposed the clauses added by the government in OROP.
He said ex-servicemen were agitating for OROP as it was a fight for equity and justice for them as well a question of dignity of ex-servicemen.

WASHINGTON: China is a growing military power but countries like India and Japan are also following through in the region by increasing their defence rollout, the US has said as it voiced concern over Beijing’s activities in the disputed South China Sea.

“China is a growing military power in this region. That’s natural. It’s a big country. It’s a country that’s trying to develop itself economically,” US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said in response to a question from an American soldier in Hawaii on his way back from his Asia trip.

“It’s not the only one. Japan is increasing its defence rollout here, so is India. Many, many countries are asking us to work with them, because they want to be part of this regional architecture that keeps the peace, and we welcome all of them to include China,” Carter said.

As the US and China engaged in a standoff last week over an American guided missile destroyer in Chinese-claimed waters in the South China Sea, Carter said there is no question that the US has some points of contention with China and objections to things they’re doing.

“We, as many countries out here, are concerned about their activities in the South China Sea. We’ve called on China and others who are doing things in the South China Sea, reclaiming land, militarising features, to hold that permanently, all of them. We think everybody ought to just stop that, and that these are things to be resolved diplomatically,” he said.

“I have certainly said, and will continue to demonstrate, that for our part, the US will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law permits — South China Sea to the Arctic — that’s not going to change,” Carter said.

The US move to send USS Lassen to the SCS brought angry denunciations from China, which said its sovereignty had been violated and warned America not to take “dangerous actions”.

In his remarks, the Defence Secretary reiterated that the presence of the US in the region ensured peace for decades and this played a key role in the rise of China.

“Look what’s happened out here. Japan rose and prospered from the ashes of World War II. Then Taiwan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, now China and India.

“They’re able to do that, to follow their own destiny, dream their own dreams, live their own lives, because of the environment of peace and stability, and that has been a very important measure underwritten by the role the United States. We intend to keep going back,” he said.

“That in a sentence is the rebalancing. You, right here, are the heart of that. So you’re playing a role in history that you’ll look back on later in your lives and recognise and be able to tell your children the value of,” he said.

A batch of five AN−32RE transport aircraft upgraded under a major Indian-Ukraine program have been handed over to the Indian Ministry of Defence. This is the eight batch of AN-32s to be upgraded to the AN−32RE model under the project, with a total of 40 aircraft now having undergone overhaul, modernization and a service life extension of 15 years.

The prime contractor for the work was SpetsTechnoExport, the special exporter of state concern Ukroboronprom. The AN-32 original manufacturer, Antonov, was involved in the work as a sub-contractor.

A further 65 AN−32s will now be overhauled and re-equipped into the AN−32RE model at BRD−1 plant of Indian Air Force in Kanpur with participation of Ukrainian enterprises.

Arthur Heruvimov, the deputy director general for development of Ukroboronprom, said: ‘Today we transfer another 5 modernised aircrafts and successfully complete one of the most important export contract which total value is $400 million.

‘After Ukroboronpromom gained control over Ukrainian strategic aviation enterprises, we have received an assignment to increase the number of manufactured aircrafts and expand cooperation in this area. Now we are moving steadily in that direction, and today’s event proves it.’

Your Lordship,
Knowing full well that you have submitted the 7CPC Report and therefore you can make no changes to it, I still feel constrained to write to you since I am disappointed with the treatment of Armed Forces by the report. At the outset I would like to clarify that it is not about money that I write. I am surprised how the Armed Forces of the country have been treated as third rate citizens with even the police and Forest Services being placed above them. The reason I am told is that these services including the IAS work much more and much harder than the armed forces. Surprising that :-
· The IAS cannot complete bridges for the Commonwealth Games, so the Army has to be called in.

· The DC with his police forces cannot handle law and order, so army has to be called in.

· A child falls in a borewell and the armed forces are needed to take him out.

· On International Yoga Day due to bad weather the Armed forces have to be called in even to layout mats, because the
IAS was unable to get it done.

· Any natural calamity and the armed forces are the first to be called in.

· Rescuing pilgrims from various yatras and the armed forces have to be called in.

· Officers and men have been sharing their rations with the needy at every stage – the same free ration that you
have recommended to be stopped/curtailed.armed forces.

· Difficult area allowance for IAS officers is almost double of that for the armed forces officers. So an armed
forces officer in Saichen gets half of what an IAS officer gets in Ladakh or may be even Guwahati.

The British were no fools and that’s why at one stage they could rule the world. And we want to reduce privileges set by them as colonial. These privileges were not given free . These were given because by virtue of the Armed Forces Act, the armed forces had to forgo three fundamental rights, which incidentally is applicableeven today. After the 1857 war of Independence the British realized the folly of over relying on the Civil Services and therefore replaced a large number of important posts with the more disciplined armed forces. Are we heading towards a similar folly again today by our over reliance on the IAS?
Like I have mentioned above I am not looking for any remedial measures from you. I have no doubts that the disciplined armed forces will accept whatever is given as the best that could be done for them. I for one will also have no problem with it, in my twilight years. My purpose of writing is to only share my views with an important fellow citizen of the country. I am sure you and your team would have your reasons for what you did. My effort is only to highlight what I feel could have been avoided.
With Regards.
Major General (retd)M P Singh, AVSM
sandhu_01@hotmail.com

NEW DELHI: The armed forces are livid at the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) for questioning the jump in disability pension cases, especially in senior ranks, after the last pay panel substantially hiked the payout for them.

Several serving and retired officers on Saturday contended the pay panel had relied upon “one-sided data” provided by the controller general of defence accounts (CGDA) to arrive at “an erroneous conclusion”. While admitting there may be “a few aberrations”, the entire disabled soldier community cannot be tarnished with the same brush, they said.

This comes a day after TOI reported the 7th CPC has sought abolition of the “percentage based” disability pension regime since there was “an upward trend in personnel superannuating with disability element at senior levels”, while the converse was true for jawans and JCOs. Instead, the more equitable “slab based” system should be restored, it held.

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“The 7th CPC insinuates disability pension provisions are being misused. But how can disabilities, medical records and boards be faked? Many officers and jawans do get injured in operations or suffer disabilities serving in high-altitude areas like Siachen or Kargil,” said a senior officer.

Major Navdeep Singh (retd), a practising high court lawyer, in turn, said, “Rather than imputing misuse of provisions, the system should be concerned with the rising disabilities and stress levels in the military.” Holding that it was well-documented that life expectancy of military personnel is lower than their civilian counterparts, he said it was this aspect that required attention rather than “twisting” the entire issue.

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“The 7th CPC data seems faulty and one-sided without verification from the defence services. Many of such cases would be those who were illegally denied disability benefits earlier, but are getting them now on court orders or due to change in government policy. The system of slabs/flat rates of disability pension cannot be introduced in the defence services alone unless the same is also done on the civil side. This is a regressive recommendation,” added Major Singh.

Another reason that disability pension claims went up after the implementation of 6th CPC was due to the substantial hike in the compensation. For 100% disability, for instance, it went up from Rs 1,550 to Rs 3,138 for jawans and from Rs 2,600 to Rs 27,000 for officers.

“Many eligible personnel did not opt for disability pension earlier since there were lot of hurdles and red-tape involved. But after the compensation increased, personnel with disability began to claim their legal right,” said a brigadier.

Saba Naqvi
Pounding of the terror group’s headquarters in Syria, after the Paris attack, makes me wonder: How do you go about the process of killing something that thrives in death and feasts off what remains of civilisation and humanity anyway

IN Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird, the quiet Atticus Finch is the moral centre of the book: he fights against entrenched prejudice without losing faith in the human capacity for goodness. All the White people in the novel uncomfortable with the ‘niggers’ are not uniformly bad, and Atticus wants to teach his children the ability to see the world from many points of view. The mockingbird, a species that can mimic the songs and calls of other birds, comes to represent an innocence that could be destroyed in the novel as children confront adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s’ America. The title of this column, therefore, should not be confused with any intent to mock.
The book that inspires the title, meanwhile, has been kept alive for me by my daughter, now 17, having placed it on her shelf as among her favourites. I have witnessed over the years that each Harry Potter book too has kept her spellbound and there are phrases in those wonderfully written works that can be used to describe hellish and pernicious terrorism: JK Rowling has given us the dark lord with evil in his heart, there are death worlds and death eaters, there is in fact an entire parallel universe that must be fought by the forces of good.
Good versus Evil is the oldest bestselling format of story-telling in the world, from the ancient epics to modern fiction. The problem is that when we confront some of our contemporary realities, we need more of the Atticus Finch approach than the spectacle of wizards zapping the villains. Yet, we conduct our national debates on polarising issues, such as terrorism, without the shades of grey and exploring the root cause theories. This happens mostly because it’s simpler to hold the audiences without complexity that would break the breathtaking pace of the narrative. It’s also easier to tell a story that conforms to stereotypes instead of challenging them.
Since the West is the target of the latest terror creation, the Daesh, it is inevitable that some commentators there should believe they are indeed engaged in a clash of civilisation between two worlds. But, in the West, such debates are framed from a variety of positions that range from expressions of revulsion to Islam and Muslims, to great gestures of humanism and also significantly at times, a critique of their own global policies. For instance, France is already rethinking its approach to the Assad regime in Syria. Besides, in the western media, there are many articles in circulation about the US beginning a senseless war on terror that’s only produced more terrorists.
Like most sane people, I too would like Daesh to be exterminated and I use that word quite deliberately. For, when I think of them, I also think of cockroaches that happen to be one of the oldest species in the world, that seem to survive all attempts to kill them. Has the world created conditions for these non-human species called Daesh? The pounding of the terror group’s headquarters in Raqqa, Syria, that followed the Paris attack, makes me wonder about how you go about the process of killing something that thrives in death and feasts off what remains of civilisation and humanity anyway.
I still understand the terror debate in the West although I have no sympathy for their global policies. What frustrates me is how quickly we in India try to fit into the western narrative and often forget our own contemporary history. We have a very specific historical problem with Pakistan and Kashmir and we have battled all forms of terrorism. That includes Sikh militancy in Punjab that claimed the life of Indira Gandhi, while her son Rajiv was killed by the LTTE whose members’ religious identity was not central to what they did. And one of the least covered problems that simmer in our neighbourhood, in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, is that of Buddhist monks advocating extremism.
In his very useful book published in 2005 titled Dying to Win, American political scientist Robert A Pape gives a comprehensive overview of suicide killings, from the Japanese Kamikaze pilots, 3,000 of whom crashed into US naval vessels during World War II, to North Koreans who acted against the South, to the LTTE, and Islamist militants. Written in the post-9/11 reality confronting the US, the work argued persuasively that terrorism is not about religion but the fight for political power.
At the time when he published the book, Pape also included a database of every suicide bombing and attack around the globe from 1980 to 2003. He would then write that the leading instigators of such suicide attacks were the LTTE. But that has obviously changed. In 2003, the US invaded Iraq and the country would soon be demolished. In 2011, the West sought a regime change in Syria and a civil war began. Now the earth in that part of the world is scorched, civilisation flattened, and human beings on the run. It is only the roaches of terrorism that can survive.