OROP ‘SUICIDE’ PM lying about implementation: Rahul; Jaitley blames banking lapse

What PM says is one rank one pension is actually pension enhancement and not OROP. RAHUL GANDHI, Congress vice-president It is… important that nobody tries to convert a personal tragedy into a political gain… ARUN JAITLEY, Union finance minister

NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “lying” to the nation over the implementation of a pension scheme for the armed forces, ratcheting up his battle with the BJP government over the contentious issue.

SANJEEV VERMA / HTCongress vice-president Rahul Gandhi addresses the media after a meeting with representatives of ex-servicemen in New Delhi.

Gandhi also sought an apology from the government for police manhandling of the family of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide on Wednesday over the one rankone pension (OROP) issue.

The Congress leader’s remarks drew a strong reaction from the government with finance minister Arun Jaitley saying that “a political party with sinking fortunes should not try to encash on the personal tragedy of one person”.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi interacted with a group of 60-70 ex-servicemen at the Congress headquarters in Delhi at 24, Akbar Road.

“He wanted to understand the issue. We apprised him of the subject and our demands,” said retired Maj Gen Satbir Singh of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement, which is leading the fight for total implementation of OROP.

“Hope he raises our issue. It is the duty of every parliamentarian to raise the issue and help ex-servicemen get their rights.”

At the forefront of the agitation on the issue following Grewal’s suicide, Gandhi had been detained thrice in two days by the Delhi police during protests.

“What (the) PM says is one rank-one pension is actually pension enhancement. The PM should stop lying on the issue,” a combative Gandhi told reporters after his meeting with the retired military personnel. “OROP is the right of armed forces personnel and government will have to give it.” OROP enables the retired soldiers of the same rank and the same length of service get the same pension, irrespective of when they retired.

The Congress has decided to take the issue to the streets and also raise it in Parliament during the winter session, beginning November 16. On Friday, scores of Youth Congress workers tried to take out a march to the Prime

Minister’s Office but were stopped by police. The incident has put the BJP on a mat after it appeared to have seized political advantage from the September 29 surgical strikes against terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC). OROP is likely to dominate the campaign in pollbound states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand where the armed forces enjoy mass appeal. However, Jaitley countered, saying the Congress-led UPA government didn’t take any meaningful steps towards resolving OROP. “UPA’s concern for OROP is for political gains,” he said. For the first time, the finance minister said, the NDA government accepted the OROP demand with the provision for reviewing the pension every five years. But Gandhi was unsparing on the PM. “Narendra Modiji, you should stop lying and work to implement the OROP,” he said.

“OROP is the right of armed forces personnel and government will have to give it.” OROP enables the retired soldiers of the same rank and the same length of service get the same pension, irrespective of when they retired.

The Congress has decided to take the issue to the streets and also raise it in Parliament during the winter session, beginning November 16. On Friday, scores of Youth Congress workers tried to take out a march to the Prime

Minister’s Office but were stopped by police. The incident has put the BJP on a mat after it appeared to have seized political advantage from the September 29 surgical strikes against terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC). OROP is likely to dominate the campaign in pollbound states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand where the armed forces enjoy mass appeal. However, Jaitley countered, saying the Congress-led UPA government didn’t take any meaningful steps towards resolving OROP. “UPA’s concern for OROP is for political gains,” he said. For the first time, the finance minister said, the NDA government accepted the OROP demand with the provision for reviewing the pension every five years. But Gandhi was unsparing on the PM. “Narendra Modiji, you should stop lying and work to implement the OROP,” he said.

The Centre will select an Indian firm to partner with a foreign player and produce military equipment in India

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 4

In what could be termed as a path-breaking move, the Ministry of Defence has finalised a new policy that will allow the government to select an Indian private company to collaborate with a foreign partner and produce military equipment in India.Termed as “strategic partnership”, the policy would appear as a chapter in the existing defence procurement procedure (DPP), top sources told The Tribune. The DPP is the guiding framework on procedures of military equipment makers on investing in the country.The move is expected to boost the ‘make in India’ initiative and build a military-industrial base in the country. At present, India is the world’s largest importer of weapons, equipment and platforms with 70 per cent of its inventory being imported.Till now, the MoD was bound to select a public sector undertaking to partner with a foreign company. Or in case the foreign company chose its Indian partner, the MoD had no say in it. “The strategic partnership does not mean that the public sector companies will not be nominated. They will keep on getting work,” a senior functionary said.Under the new policy, the Indian private company will be selected on parameters that include cost of equipment, its indigenisation content, technology transfer being offered by the foreign partner, technology absorption capacity of the Indian partner, the financial status of the Indian company and its experience in military equipment making.The MoD would select the Indian partner, said the source, adding that this was needed as the foreign companies—some of whom are in the fortune 500 list — did not know whom to partner with in India. The foreign companies will have firm policy to follow while the choice of Indian partner will be with the government. The move will remove the hurdles in making the next lot of submarines, copters and fighter jets. “It will create an ecosystem of hi-tech items to be made in India,” the functionary explained.

Indo-Bangla defence drill from today

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, November 4

An Indian Army Contingent, led by Col PS Sandhi, arrived at Dhaka today to participate in the India-Bangladesh joint military exercise named SAMPRITI-2016. Sixth in the series of joint exercises, this edition will be conducted at Bangabandhu Senanibas (BBS), Tangail, for two weeks from tomorrow. The exercise will focus on counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in semi-mountainous and jungle terrain.The Indian contingent comprises one company of the Mahar Regiment consisting about 120 troops. The exercise will commence with the familiarisation phase in various tactical drills and procedures required for carrying out coordinated operations. Subsequently, soldiers from the two armies will undertake execution of joint tactical operations like cordon and search, road-opening, raid and house clearance, etc.

From: Colonelrajan Srinivas <colonelrajan44@gmail.com>
Date: 31 October 2016 at 20:59
Subject: Gen Satbir Singh, it is time to introspect
To: M V <militaryveterans@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: Maj Gen Satbir Singh SM <satbirsm@yahoo.com>, Maj Gen Satbir Singh <satbirsm@gmail.com>, \

MAJ GEN SATBIR SINGH:

PLEASE INTROSPECT AND STOP FOOLING YOURSELF

Respected Veteran Gen Satbir Singh,

Chairman IESM

Jai Hind.

1. Vide your email dt. 17 Aug 2016, reproduced below; you had categorically assured that IESM is not rpt not going political.  
2. It is however surprising that vide your email dt. 21 Oct 2016, reproduced below, you have sought Donation for Fauji Janta Party (FJP), as its Chief Patron. It is normally the President/Vice President/General Secretary of a Political Party who seeks Donation; but in this case, it is you as Chief Patron of FJP who is seeking Donation. By so doing; you have made it amply clear that you are very much part & parcel of FJP. Since you are Chairman IESM and Chief Patron Fauji Janta Paty (FJP), at the same time, ipso facto, IESM as an Org stands very much politicized.
3. I have no problem whether you form a Political Party or join a Political Party or align yourself with a Political Party or vote for any Political Party of your chice; for that is your fundamental right under the Constitution. But what makes me feel sad is, ‘how come you, the leading light of IESM, have made a laughing stock of yourself’. Just by assuming the mantle of Chief Patron of FJP, you thought State Chiefs of other parties, viz. the Congress, the BJP, the Akalis and the AAP would fall at your feet and beg you to ally FJP with them. What wishful thinking. I wish you had realized that even a person like Navjot Singh Sidhu, an all India personality, today finds himself hanging in thin air, with nobody willing to touch him. ‘Jab Sidhu ki dhaal nahi gali; aur, usko koyi Ghaas daalneko thaiyar nahi; tho aapko kaun poochega?
4. Rather sad. I suggest, even now it is not too late for you to beat a hasty retreat; and save yourself from further embarrassment.

Regards,

Col Rajan

Bangalore, 9449043770

SANJHA MORCHA WISHES ALL ITS READERS A VERY HAPPY DEWALI

Diwali is certainly one of the biggest, brightest and most important festivals of India. While Diwali is popularly known as the “festival of lights”. The celebration of Diwali as the “victory of good over evil” refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance. While the story behind Diwali and the manner of celebration of the festival differ greatly depending on the region, the essence of the festival remains the same – the

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SANJHA MORCHA

ALSO APPEALS TO ALL VETERANS TO LIGHT CANDLES IN THE MEMORY OF THE MARTYR’S SOLDIERS WHO HAVE LAID DOWN AND SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES FOR THE NATION. A SUPREME SACRIFICE.

WITHOUT A THOUGHT

BUT THE DEAF  AND BLIND GOVT CANNOT SEE ALL THIS EXCEPT THE  WHAT IS SHOWN TO THEM BY THE BABUS. THEY CAN ONLY SEND SANDESH TO SOLDIERS GUARDING THE BORDERS .

REMEMBER WHAT LATA SUNG YEARS AGO LISTEN BELOW

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Sainik School buddies of Col Mahadik send 400 packets to unit jawans in Valley

Col Santosh Mahadik

Mumbai, October 29

Classmates of an Army officer from Maharashtra, who laid down his life battling militants near the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district last year, have sent 400 packets of sweets to soldiers in his unit.Col Santosh Mahadik, the Commanding Officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, was critically injured during the operation in the Haji Naka forest area of Kupwara near the LoC in November and succumbed to his injuries at a hospital later.“The boxes, weighing just over 300 kg, landed at Srinagar airport and are being sent to 41 Rashtriya Rifles for distribution among the soldiers the martyr once commanded,” a classmate of Mahadik, involved in this initiative, said.Col Mahadik was a student of Sainik School, Satara.“This Diwali, we thought of his comrades-in-arms, who suffer harsh climes and the enemy from across the border, as well as some within. We thought this would be a nice gesture for soldiers, who spend Diwali away from their families,” he said.An officer from the elite 21 Para-Special Forces unit, Col Mahadik was awarded a Sena Medal for gallantry during Operation Rhino in the North-East in 2003.Mahadik’s wife Swati last month joined the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai as part of the SSCW (non-technical) course for 11 months’ training before she joins the Army as a Lieutenant. An ace football goalkeeper, a skilled horse-rider and a passionate boxer, Mahadik was an all-rounder, his friends recall.Despite the inhospitable terrain that made the Kupwara operation immensely challenging, the Colonel particularly chose to lead his battalion.Mahadik’s classmates, including Manish Manidergi, Giridhar Kole, Deepak Patil and Shashikant Waghmode, have launched the initiative which they are calling ‘Operation Diwali’.Waghmode said, “I, along with my wife, was in his Regiment just before Diwali last year and she carried Diwali sweets for him. We miss him this Diwali.” — PTI

The defence ministry fast tracks ammunition buys to replenish war stocks as the threat of conflict with Pakistan lingers.

Days after the September 18 Uri attack in which 19 Indian army soldiers were killed, the higher echelons of government went into a huddle. Military retaliation was among the options discussed by the cabinet committee on security. This was when the forces revealed to the government the critical voids in its ammunition reserves.

The army was deficient in four to five critical items of ammunition. These included armour piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS) ammunition fired by its T-72 and T-90 main battle tanks for which it held just one day of war wastage reserves (WWR). Ammunition needed to meet war requirements during an operation is termed WWR. The IAF’s Su-30 fighter jets and Mi-35 gunships also did not have ammunition. The revelations galvanised the political leadership into action. Bureaucratic channels were bypassed and emergency powers delegated to the vice-chiefs of the army and air force to push purchases. The MoD under defence minister Manohar Parrikar decided to fast-track imports.

So, in late September, the MoD sent out empowered committees comprising a senior bureaucrat, an armed forces representative and a member of the defence finance wing with wishlists. The committees went to ammunition suppliers in Russia and Israel with indents for buying several million dollars worth of ammunition. The wishlists include rockets and gun ammunition for Mi-35 helicopter gunships and Su-30 fighter jets, 155 mm ammunition for the Bofors howitzers, and 125 mm APFSDS ammunition for the tank fleet.

The urgency was evident in the indents-the MoD was willing to buy up existing stocks as well as off production lines. Factories were asked to identify time-frames of possible delivery, from ‘immediate’, within ‘one month’, ‘two months’ and ‘three months’. Army officials confirmed that several contracts had been finalised and deliveries of ammunition had begun. The value of the contracts is estimated to be close to Rs 5,000 crore, just for ammunition. “The purchases are easily the largest fast-track procurements since Operation Parakram in 2001,” says one official.

Fast-track purchases bypass the regular defence procurement procedure (DPP), a tedious process which takes 5-8 years. Fast-track procedures (FTP) telescope the regular acquisition process, which takes up to a decade, into just nine months.

FTP was first introduced in the 2002 DPP manual which guides India’s military buying. The 2016 manual extended FTP to apply to items “where undue/unforeseen delay… seem to be adversely impacting the capacity and preparedness of the regular and special forces”.

The special forces which conducted surgical strikes across the LoC on September 29, have especially come in for attention. Requirements for limited quantities of assault rifles, thermal imagers, light machine guns and rocket launchers (see box: The Quick Draw) have been put in for them. Procurements like those for imported anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) for the weaponised variants of the Dhruv advanced light helicopter are also being fast-tracked. Through FTPs, senior army officials say, they plan to push up war stocks to cater to 10 days of intense war fighting, eventually building up to 14 days worth of stock. No one is talking war just yet. Not even in the currently tense security situation following the surgical strikes. Restocking, the military says, gives it the flexibility, endurance and confidence in logistics for its operational plans should a contingency arise. “It increases the number of options available to us,” one general says. The army hopes to make good its shortfalls within the next three months. “War endurance for the stipulated period is necessary to deal with all possible operational contingencies and especially for creating military conditions, through strategic offensive manoeuvres that ultimately contribute to the realisation of political ends,” says former army chief General Bikram Singh.

WHY THE SHORTAGES?

The MoD’s notoriously inefficient procurement process is to blame for acquisition delays. It takes the ministry at least seven years to buy new weapon systems. The army, which has found itself unable to acquire even basic items like assault rifles, ballistic helmets and bulletproof jackets for its troops, also shares some of the blame. Ammunition purchases are on the slow track. In May last year, a CAG report tabled in Parliament put the army’s WWR stocks at less than half the mandate calling for 40 days intense fighting. The WWR concept, first approved by the government in April 1979, stipulated a national stockpile of ammunition required to fight a battle for a 30-day intense period and another 30 days at the normal rate. The WWR scales were revised in October 2010 to cater for 40 days ‘intense fighting’.

A 2015 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on ammunition management covered the years between 2008 and 2013. An ammunition roadmap drawn up by the Indian army in 2012 for building up stock to 50 per cent by March 2015 and 100 per cent by 2019 failed. Stocking even at the minimum acceptable risk level (MARL) of 20 days was not ensured. Nearly 74 per cent of ammunition (125 out of 170 types) reserves were below MARL levels as of March 2013. This had seriously impacted the operational preparedness of the army because the void had grown from 15 per cent in 2009 to 50 per cent by March 2013. High caliber ammunition-used by the 155 mm Bofors artillery guns-made up nearly 84 per cent of the shortage in the five-year period.

Senior army officials, however, say stocking 40-day WWR scales is simply unrealistic. “We have neither the storage capacity nor the land to store such vast ammunition stocks,” says a senior army officer. This possibly explains why the armed forces, with their current round of purchases, are only pushing to meet a requirement of stocks for the minimum 14 days of intense war fighting.

The CAG report attributed the reasons for the failure to build the 40 days ‘intense fighting’ WWR to budgetary constraints and also to inadequate production capacity within the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). The OFB has repeatedly failed to meet targets despite the fact that 10 of its 41 factories are exclusively devoted to producing ammunition and explosives. One reason frequently cited by the OFB for delays is that they are never given adequate time to procure raw material and streamline production. Even this excuse has been exposed now. The MoD placed a five-year order for ammunition to the OFB in January 2010 but it could meet just over 70 per cent of the army’s requirements.

Another major reason for the low ammo stocks is slow imports. The CAG report found that no ammunition procurement took place for nine items of ammunition identified for import between 2008 and 2013. The reasons ranged from a single vendor situation, complexities in transfer of technology, delay in finalisation of qualitative requirements to delays in finalising import contracts. Still more worrisome is the fact that the fast-track purchases have been anything but. Sometimes, they take as long as purchases through the regular procurement route. Fast-track purchases contracted during the Kargil war, arrived long after the conflict had ended. This continued even during Operation Parakram in 2001-’02. A 2006 CAG report noted how fast-track purchases which were to have come in 12 months arrived only after four years. If the MoD has learnt anything from the past, the current round could be different.

Follow the writer on Twitter @SandeepUnnithan

 

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 26

The one-man judicial committee on ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP) submitted its report to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today. The Central Government had appointed the committee under the Chairmanship of Patna High Court Chief Justice L Narasimha Reddy (retd) to look into the anomalies, if any, arising out of implementation of OROP. The judicial committee had held hearings at around 20 cities/towns across the country and interacted with cross sections of ex-servicemen as well as their associations. The committee also received 704 representations from individuals and various ex-servicemen associations and had held extensive interactions with all stakeholders before submitting its report.

CHANDIGARH: Special grant-in-aid of `50 lakh each to 100 left out war-widows or their legal-heirs of the soldiers who had laid down their lives in 1962 Indo-China war and the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars.

The government spokesperson said that this policy had been announced in 1975 and over 1,500 war-widows who had applied in time had been allotted up to 10-acre of rural agricultural land or cash equivalent in lieu of land at the rate notified from time to time.

However, there were nearly 100 cases in which the applicants failed to apply within the stipulated cut-off date. Above 100 such cases had applied till the extended cut-off date January 4, 2010.

This grant will be payable in three half yearly instalments of `20 lakh, `15 lakh and `15 lakh.

The MNS wants filmmakers to contribute money for soldiers. This is unacceptable

T he Devendra Fadnavis government has certainly not covered itself in glory in the incident involving the release of the Karan Johar film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Instead of firmly telling the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and its leader Raj Thackeray that its threats to attack theatres screening the film would be met with the full force of the law, the chief minister allowed things to come to such a pass that Mr Johar not only had to promise not to use Pakistani artistes in his films again but also to run tributes to jawans who were martyred in Uri at the beginning of the film.

Emboldened by this inaction, Mr Thackeray has now asked that every filmmaker using the services of Pakistani artistes must pay ₹5 crore to the Army relief fund. This is objectionable and unacceptable. He has no locus standi to impose any such condition. This is not just illegal; it also imposes an enormous financial burden on a filmmaker. But more than any of this, it amounts to dragging the Army into the petty politics surrounding the release of this film. Senior army officers have expressed their discomfort with this saying that the Army is apolitical and secular. The Indian Army should reject this proposal outright. In fact, a senior Army official has already said that money extracted through arm-twisting would not be accepted by it. Clearly, he thinks, and rightly so, that the Army’s image would be tarnished by being made part of a political game. Mr Fadnavis’ spectacular failure to act in time brings to mind another chief minister who presided over a similar controversy over the film, My Name is Khan.Former chief minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chavan refused to be cowed down by threats of violence by the Shiv Sena and gave the film’s screening protection. The government cannot allow itself to be dictated to by hyper-nationalists like Thackeray who is trying to regain lost ground on the political front using this film. No one has come out of this smelling of roses – Mr Fadnavis has failed in his duty, the film industry has not been able to stand up to a bully and of course, Mr Thackeray has shown himself and his party to be disruptive and extortionist. Filmmakers and the Producers’ Guild have given Mr Fadnavis assurances that they will not work with Pakistani artistes in future. It is condemnable that Mr Fadnavis accepted this. If this goes unchallenged, parties like the MNS will up the ante. The State must act now to stop this threat to filmmakers and also attempts to drag the Army into politics.

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