On 24 April 2016, three soldiers of the Indian Army lost their lives during a high-profile military exercise in Rajasthan. The deaths were attributed to the excessive heat, injuries sustained while para dropping from helicopters and snake bites. In this context, we delve into the life expectancy of soldiers and non-combat related injuries or health issues of soldiers.

Most nations recognise the inherent stress and strain of military service and its detrimental effect on the health and daily lives of soldiers. India does too. But only in theory, not in practice.
Lip service galore, zilch on-ground support.
Contrary to popular perception, the life expectancy of soldiers is lower than their civilian counterparts. The reason is not difficult to understand. Soldiers live in a regimented lifestyle, away from their families and at times under the shadow of the gun for most of the year. Covered by a tough disciplinary law for twenty-four hours, they face unique stressful conditions which aggravate even regular diseases and ailments.
There is little doubt that soldiers face higher stress levels than ordinary citizens living with their families. This is because soldiers are away from commune living and so, cannot adequately cope up with domestic commitments and stresses.
But in a strange and ironic kind of incorrigibility, it is the defence establishment which is not ready to accept this proposition – a statement which is not rocket science but just common sense.
SnapshotClick here to collapse
Soldiers disabled by high stress levels and other ailments are released from service without regular pension or disability benefits.
Despite Supreme Court orders, Army headquarters has filed appeals against tribunals which have granted disability pension to soldiers.
According to the rules, for a soldier recruited in fit medical condition, any disability is considered to be influenced by service conditions.
Still, benefits are refused on excuses such as ‘disability was incurred in a peace area’ or ‘disability was due to domestic stressors’.
Contrary to popular perception, the life expectancy of soldiers is lower than their civilian counterparts.
Indian Army dress rehearsal for Republic Day Parade. (Photo: Reuters)
Indian Army dress rehearsal for Republic Day Parade. (Photo: Reuters)
Denying Basic Human Dignity to Soldiers
Medical specialists all over the world recognise higher stress and strain in uniformed forces. All democracies endorse this. Disability rules in India also state the same. The Prime Minister feels this to be true. And so does the Defence Minister. The apex military medical body is in agreement. Even the courts, including the Supreme Court, have issued directions along these lines.
But still, many of our disabled soldiers are released and sometimes even thrown out of service on medical grounds, without regular pension or disability pension. This denies them a life of basic dignity – on the pretext that their disabilities were declared ‘neither attributable to, nor aggravated by military service.’
This declaration by military medical boards is a blatant disregard of practical realities, to say the least.
Also Read: Shashi Tharoor on the Declining Status of the Indian Armed Forces
When such soldiers fight long legal battles for their dues, the official establishment is quick to file appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court. And why? In order to deny these soldiers and their families a few thousand, and at times a few hundred rupees. The officialdom is comfortable wasting money and resources on expensive lawyers and litigation. But not with releasing lesser amounts to those who have served us.
Nothing could be more shameful for us as a nation.

An Indian army soldier mans a gun inside his bunker in Odusaa, 79 miles west of Srinagar. (Photo: Reuters)
An Indian army soldier mans a gun inside his bunker in Odusaa, 79 miles west of Srinagar. (Photo: Reuters)
Hostage to File Notings?
The Supreme Court, in a series of decisions, has directed the Ministry of Defence to grant benefits to disabled soldiers. The Defence Minister constituted a Committee of Experts to look into rising litigation against soldiers, of which incidentally I was a Member. The Committee also recommended the withdrawal of such litigation as well as appeals by the Ministry of Defence against its own soldiers.
Despite all this, recently, elements in the Ministry of Defence had asked the Army Headquarters to file appeals in the Supreme Court against tribunals and court orders wherein disability pension had been granted to disabled soldiers.
And it seems, the Army Headquarters has readily complied.
Having worked for disabled soldiers for close to two decades now, what pains me greatly in writing this, is the fact that even though all stakeholders, including the political executive, are on board and there are all encompassing directions of the highest court of the land, the system is held hostage to contemptuous file notings of lower level officials.
These notings are purportedly based on some legal advice egging on the establishment to file appeals against verdicts rendered in favour of disabled soldiers. The Headquarters of the Defence Services are also meekly accepting this bloodbath, without taking a strong stand on file by pointing out this malaise to the powers that be.

But, What Do The Rules Say?
Our rules, paradoxically, are liberal and sensitive.
The rules provide that in case a soldier is recruited in a fit medical condition, then any disability arising during service, except when caused due to his or her own illegality such as substance abuse, is deemed as having been affected by service conditions.
This presumption is not unique to India but is followed in almost all democracies. This is because the harmful effects of insidious and invisible pressures of military life are known to manifest themselves negatively on the health of soldiers.

Still, benefits are refused on unforgivable excuses such as ‘disability was incurred in a peace area’ or ‘disability was due to domestic stressors’ without realising that the inability to attend to personal requirements has a direct link with the military – since it is due to service in the defence services that a person is not there all the time to take care of his or her domestic needs. This is a fact even recognised by successive defence ministers, who themselves have underlined the rise in stress levels faced by soldiers.
Additionally, soldiers living in barracks need permission, even to go to the washroom, are required to sign registers and take an out-pass for a visit to buy a toothbrush from the market. They are denied basic needs such as physical proximity, emotional warmth or even sexual fulfilment for months together.
In such circumstances, it hardly matters whether they are serving in a ‘peace’ area or ‘field’ area. And to top it all, the rules anyway progressively provide that service in ‘peace’ or ‘field’ makes no difference for disability benefits.
On 24 April 2016, three soldiers of the Indian Army lost their lives during a high-profile military exercise in Rajasthan. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook page of ADGPI)
On 24 April 2016, three soldiers of the Indian Army lost their lives during a high-profile military exercise in Rajasthan. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook page of ADGPI)
In the ultimate analysis, it seems that it is not the directions of the apex court or the will of the political executive that would be allowed to prevail in our homeland but the sadistic urge of a few stray voices that are holding the morale of our nation to ransom. The courts are clogged with mundane disputes and unwanted litigation thereby burdening the judiciary to unprecedented levels. And here we are, in this great nation of ours, wasting taxpayers’ money in fighting cases against our own disabled soldiers, the ones who silently sacrificed their health to protect us.
Shame on all of us.
(Major Navdeep Singh is a practising Advocate in the Punjab & Haryana High Court. He was the founding President of the Armed Forces Tribunal Bar Association. He is a Member of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War at Brussels. He is also the author of “Maimed by the System”, a collection of real life accounts of military veterans and their families who had to fight to claim their rights.)

Col Anil Kaul, media Advisor to united ESM front and IESM who has who is in trouble today due to complicated medical problems.He has sacrificed his healt for OROP struggle at Jantar Mantar. He appeals as follows

Ladies & gentlemen, friends and we’ll wishers ,
In the past year or so while fully engrossed in the OROP struggle, I have had to cope with some personal medical issues. They have now reached a state where I am making this appeal. I have two issues to take care off. One is simple and is being addressed on 11/6 . A cataract operation being done at the Shroff Eye Centre in south Delhi. The other is a more serious and complex problem and that is to do with the failure of both my kidneys necessitating dialysis three times a week. I have been advised to undergo a transplant at the earliest. While all other parameters can be handled the availability of a donor is beyond my control. I have no blood relations to turn to as they have all moved on. I am 65 years, my blood group is A+. Should anyone be kind enough to help me please do contact me on my

mail ID kaulvrcanil@gmail.com.or

my direct no 9810272291.
Thank you in anticipation.
Kaul family.

ribune News Service

Srinagar, April 28

In a remarkable achievement, 15 students of the state, attending the Army’s Kashmir Super 30 Engineering Coaching programme at Srinagar, have cracked the JEE (Mains) Exam this year.The coaching programme was conducted by the Army’s Dagger Division on behalf of the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps.”This year, 26 students had attended the Army’s Kashmir Super 30 programme at Srinagar, and out of them 15 have qualified in JEE (Mains) Exam 2016,” a defence spokesman said. “Facing stiff competition wherein close to 15 lakh candidates had appeared in the exam at the national level, the success of 15 students from J&K stands testimony to the students’ diligence, perseverance and intellect backed by the passionate and professional conduct of the Super 30 programme.”The spokesman said 11 successful candidates were eligible for the IIT (Advance) exam while all 15 could seek admissions in various engineering colleges as per their merit.”While the excellent results achieved by the Army’s Kashmir Super 30 programme are a big motivator for the youth of the state, it also furthers the Army’s resolve and commitment towards empowerment of the youth of Kashmir,” he said.

11-month free coaching

The Army’s Super 30 programme provides 11-month free coaching to a select group of 30 students from J&K for the Joint Entrance Exam for engineering courses. The Super 30 students are selected based on a state-wide exam conducted by the Army with training partner Centre for Social Responsibility and Learning (CSRL).The selected students are also provided free lodging and boarding.

First meeting of foreign secretaries since Pathankot; terror, Kashmir their concerns

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar (left) with his Pakistan counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry (centre) and Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit (R) after a meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday. Tribune Photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 26

India and Pakistan foreign secretaries met finally on Tuesday, their first interaction since the Pathankot terror attacks, and both countries put forward their concerns: India raised the issue of terrorism and Pathankot, while Pakistan harped on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir being the core issue between the two countries.

Pakistan also raised the issue of the arrest of Kulbhushan Yadav, a man it accuses of working for the RAW. India flatly refuted these allegations and, according to sources, India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar even told his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry that no spy agency would put their agent in the field with his own passport and without a visa.

India also pressed for immediate access to Yadav, something that India has been asking of Pakistan since Yadav’s arrest. What raised eyebrows was the fact that Pakistan released a statement on the talks even while the meeting was in progress.

In a meeting that lasted 90 minutes, Jaishankar told Chaudhry, “Terrorist groups based in Pakistan targeting India must not be allowed to operate with impunity.”

India also rebutted all allegations of its involvement in Baluchistan. Dismissing allegations of Yadav being a spy, India pointed that he was an abducted naval officer.

India also demanded early and visible progress on both Pathankot and 26/11 attacks.

The statement released by the Pakistan High Commission said that Chaudhry had taken up the issue of Yadav and expressed serious concern over the RAW’s alleged involvement in subversive activities in Balochistan and Karachi.

“He said such acts undermine efforts to normalise relations between the two countries. He also conveyed concern over efforts by the Indian authorities for the release of the prime suspects of the Samjhauta Express blasts,” the Pakistan statement said.

It is simple: New Delhi needs American power to compete with China.

INDIA’S agreement with the US to allow access to its defence facilities to American military on a reciprocal basis, in philosophical terms, a great leap but makes sense in today’s geopolitical environment. India has strayed from its proclaimed non-aligned policy in the past in seeking US military assistance during the India-China conflict and in signing an Indo-Soviet pact before the Bangladesh war, but the logistic agreement has a different resonance because much of the rhetoric in the developing world was directed against the US. The Modi government’s decision to go ahead with the agreement against the expected opposition of the Congress and the Left parties flows out of a stark fact. An assertive China is seeking to expand its influence on land and sea in the region and beyond it. In sea power, Beijing’s action in building islands on shoals in the South China Sea and militarising them to claim most of the two seas — the other being East China Sea — against claims by regional powers has led to a new ball game, with the former enemy Vietnam seeking close relations with Washington and the Philippines, which closed American bases in the early 1990s to invite them back in.India is not quite in the league of these smaller South-east Asian nations but has the bigger task of prevailing in the Indian Ocean and needs greater heft to do so in the face of an expanding Chinese naval power. In other words, New Delhi needs American power to compete with China. The direction of Indian policy was clear for some time even during the UPA regime as joint exercises with countries such as Japan, Australia and the US grew in size and frequency. The Modi government has now taken this trend to its logical conclusion.Yet the emotional wrenching it causes among old-time liberals and nationalists is understandable. Long after New Delhi discarded the increasingly flexible concept of non-alignment in framing its policies, the emotional pull of the glory days of the movement in the era of Nehru with India being relatively weak in military terms made Indians 10 feet tall. In time, NAM the movement became like the Janata train with everyone clambering into it, whatever their ideological predilections.Today we live in a dangerous and changing world, with the old Soviet Union gone, replaced by a diminished Russian Federation, and China being increasingly treated by the only remaining superpower as nearly its peer. The Middle East continues to be a region of great instability and the European Union is increasingly facing its middle age blues without the will to act purposefully on such issues as the influx of refugees from wars in the Middle East and elsewhere.The US’ famous “pivot” to Asia has been slower in the making, thanks to its preoccupations in the Middle East and other parts of the world, but a gradual US shift will be completed. In the meantime, Washington is implementing policies underlined by Defence Secretary Ashton Carter’s swing through India and the Philippines to shore up friends in the event of China seeking to challenge a traditional area of American influence.There are not many alternatives New Delhi has in safeguarding its interests against China while seeking a saner relationship with a hostile Pakistan. NAM has long been a broken reed and while the nature of future agreements with the US can be debated, a closer defence relationship is inevitable. It is no secret that New Delhi’s deeper relationship with Vietnam is determined by the China factor on both sides.Equally, Mr Modi’s efforts to build an equation with President Obama and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are guided by India’s need to buttress relations with two key countries. Besides, Australia’s strategic location and military capabilities have become a new factor in New Delhi’s strategic calculations. And these countries support Mr Modi because he is seen as a clearheaded leader who does not suffer from the liabilities of his predecessor who was saddled with a dual key leadership arrangement and had to cope with grasping coalition partners.To an extent, geostrategic equations in the world are evolving and the nature of future logistic and other defence relations with the US will depend upon the scale of China’s assertiveness, the compulsions of the next US President and the strength of other major countries such as India and Japan in coping with President Xi Jinping’s ambitions. It will be crucial for Mr Modi to build a new national consensus despite his BJP’s and Sangh Parivar’s pursuit of a divisive domestic agenda promoting the denigration of Muslims in particular and endorsing a Hindutva campaign that sits ill with a diverse country of many faiths and beliefs. The problem is the ideological belief of the Sangh Parivar that its path to glory is the only one India should adopt.For the critics of the Modi government, it would be well to recognise that the old world facing the Independence generation has gone and they must face the future with new realities. It was particularly distressing that Mr AK Antony, who held the defence portfolio in the UPA for long without distinction, should have made the statement he did.According to Mr Antony, the logistical agreement with the US “would open the door for India becoming part of American military bloc…There was pressure to sign such a pact when UPA was in power. But we resisted it because we felt it was against national interest”. More predictably, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo declared, “Unlike what Defence Minister says, refuelling, maintenance and repair facilities for American ships and airplanes will require stationing of US armed forces personnel on Indian soil on a regular basis”.The Communists miss the whole point of the changed world we live in. Americans are no longer untouchables and we need them to protect the country’s security.

Mumbai: Three naval sailors were injured, including one who lost a leg, when a bailout bottle exploded aboard diving support ship INS Nireekshak. The mishap occurred around 40 nautical miles from Vizhinjam near Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, while the ship was on way from Visakhapatnam in AP to Mumbai on April 16. The diving bailout bottle is a small 12-inch oxygen bottle carried by divers in their helmets for use if the primary oxygen supply fails. The blast occurred during the refilling of the bottle. IANS

New Delhi, April 18

The Supreme Court today granted interim stay on an appeal filed by the Centre against the Armed Forces Tribunal’s decision granting permanent commission and reinstatement of a retired lady wing commander. The court issued notice to Namrita Chandi for May 9.A Bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and UU Lalit passed the order after hearing Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand and Advocate Col R Balasubramaanian, who explained that none of the women officers from Short Service Commission have been given a permanent commission since 2004.They submitted that only women officers in the administrative, education and accounts were considered for permanent commission from the SSC.The Centre has challenged the Armed Forces Tribunal’s order granting permanent commission to the Wing Commander. — PTI

Srinagar, April 17

The girl, who is at the centre of the Handwara molestation storm, has recorded her statement before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in which she stood by her earlier statement that she was not molested by any Army soldier on Tuesday.

The girl along with her father was presented before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Handwara last evening and her statement was recorded, the police said in a statement.

“In her statement before the Judicial Magistrate she reveals that on 12-04-2-16, after school hours while proceeding to her home along with her friends she entered in a public lavatory near main chowk Handwara for answering the call of nature.

“As soon as she came out of the lavatory, she was confronted, assaulted and dragged by two boys and her bag was snatched among whom one boy was in school uniform,” the police said.

The cops presented the girl before the Chief Judicial Magistrate following orders by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court yesterday on a petition filed by the mother of the girl.

The petition was seeking release of the girl, her father and aunt who are in police custody since the day when the allegations of molestation resulted in violent protests in Handwara town.

The mother yesterday claimed that her daughter, who is 16 years old, was pressurised into making the statement that had exonerated the army personnel of the molestation charge.

“The production of the girl along with her father before the learned CJM also complies with the order of the Hon ble High Court,” the police statement said.

Three persons were killed in security forces firing on protestors in Handwara town on Tuesday.

Another youth was killed in Drugmulla area of Kupwara during protests against the Handwara incident a day later.

In fresh violence on Friday, 18-year-old Arif Hussain Dar was killed while three others sustained bullet injuries when the Army opened fire to disperse stone-pelting protestors outside a camp in Nathnusa area of Kupwara, 100 km from here. — PTI