Category: Opinions

Three days back, the veteran Indian born British actor Saeed Jeffrey passed away. I was reminded of this scene in Satyajit Ray’s 1976 movie Shatranj Ke Khiladi (The Chess Players) based on a story by Munshi Premchand. The scene is the last scene of the movie in which two rich noblemen of Awadh kingdom, Mirza Sajjad Ali (Sanjeev Kumar) and Mir Roshan Ali (Saeed Jeffrey) continue playing chess, a game they are obsessed with, even when a small boy alarmingly brings the news to them that just next to where they are engaged in their game of chess, British forces are marching to take over Awadh, without opposition.

The story by Munshi Premchand and its outstanding portrayal by Satyajit Ray is a true reflection of the attitude of our countrymen in general and noblemen (the elite) in particular about matters concerning national security. They are the modern-day Noahs; the same Noah, who during the deluge, in a lighthearted ditty, was brought out with seemingly unconcerned repose:

“And Noah, he often said to his wife,
Whenever he sat down to dine,
“I don’t care where the water goes,
If it doesn’t get into the wine.”

And what about the government? A report in a national daily brought out that “the government is losing patience with the veterans”. How preposterous can that be? After 42 years of the government having snatched OROP from the veterans, after numerous promises by subsequent governments, after repeated recommendations of several committees including the 2011 Koshiyari Committee, after being passed by two parliaments and upheld by the Supreme Court of India, after five months of continuous agitation by the veterans, the government notifies a much truncated OROP, and – hold your breath – it is the government that is losing patience. The only analogy that comes to mind is that of a rapist complaining to a rape-victim about her crying.

The fact is that the government has already assessed that even after five months of agitation, neither the noblemen nor the countrymen appear to be bothered. Presently, the veterans are fighting a lone battle.

And in the meantime another Colonel (Colonel Mahadik) is killed in the valley bravely fighting the terrorists. But then, as one of the politicians said, “They are paid to die”. Who is really bothered? Also, in the meantime, in PM’s own state, last week, Army had to control even small scale riots that police and para-military forces couldn’t control. Armed forces are the preferred forces for disaster relief and even for law and order situations that someone else is paid to do. But, they do their job and are forgotten and no one is bothered.

We are all Shatranj Ke Khiladi; we don’t care as long as the water doesn’t get into our wine.

Another ludicrous statement attributed to the Raksha Mantri Shri Manohar Parrikar in a national daily was: Let the veterans prove that their agitation is not political. The pot calling the kettle black? As recently as 05 Sep 15, it is you and your government, Mr. Parrikar, who played politics with OROP by announcing it just before the Bihar elections; when there was no need for any such announcement since it was already passed by the parliament. The UPA government played politics with OROP all those four decades and just before the parliamentary elections. And, you, have the temerity to ask veterans to prove that their agitation is not political. Once again, you have assessed that our people are not concerned about the specifics of any issue. Hence, knowing anything about OROP would be beyond the grasp of average Indians. Why only politicians and bureaucrats? Even the Indian justice system works on the principle of delaying justice so long that it becomes fait-accompli.

The present government started off with the promise that it would be a government with a difference in its approach towards all issues concerning the nation and its citizens. So then, what appears to have gone wrong with the promise to implement the full OROP within 100 days of coming to power? Is it so helpless and, more importantly, blinded by the designs of the bureaucracy that it cannot trust its faujis against the same bureaucracy; especially when the Indian faujis have amply proved to be amongst the best in the world and the Indian babus have proved to be amongst the worst?

Or, is it that since the previous governments paid only lip-service to the OROP issue, this government, in a bid to take credit for finally having sanctioned the OROP, is losing patience with the veterans for denying it its carefully crafted moment of glory? If that is the case then hasn’t the government got itself to blame? Shouldn’t it have studied the issue independently rather than through the coloured glasses of the bureaucracy?

It is quite likely that the government must have by now realised that something that should have brought it enormous goodwill and credit seems to have backfired by its playing into the hands of the bureaucracy. In that case, rather than reinforcing an erroneous stand should it not do the honourable thing of exposing these wily babus and let the nation know that it made a mistake? I am sure the government would immediately win back the trust of the faujis. There is no glory in the government being at war with its own armed forces; and, even if the government wins, India and Indians lose though it may not be apparent to them straightway.

Armed forces personnel, even after retirement, by and large, continue being apolitical. That’s how it should be in a democracy. However, armed forces personnel should be politically savvy. They do vote, don’t they? What politicians do affects them, in many cases, even more than the civilians. For example, they say, war is politics by other means; soldiers, sailors and airmen die in war and all because of international and national politics. Similarly, their life-style, liberties, position in society, salaries and pensions are dependent upon political considerations. Hence, to expect that armed forces personnel shouldn’t or won’t be interested in outcomes of elections, national and international politics would be naive and wrong.

Why were the Bihar elections and their outcome important to faujis? It would be appropriate to remember that  Shri Narendra Modi’s government itself linked OROP to Bihar election considerations by making an announcement on OROP on 5th Sep 15, just before the Bihar elections. It was widely discussed that the very announcement of OROP without a matching notification was to pull all plugs out to favour the ruling party at the centre since Bihar accounts for one of the largest induction of faujis in the Indian armed forces. That, apart from this electoral consideration, the government was not serious about actually honouring the approval of OROP by two parliaments, can be made out from the following:

1. It pooh-poohed the UPA government for announcing OROP at the fag-end of its tenure with a token budget of only Rupees 500 Crores. It tried to bring out that the UPA government was playing politics with OROP for electoral gains. However, whilst it tried to bring out that the UPA government was never serious about OROP, by itself it questioned the very definition of OROP once it came into power; the same definition that was approved by two parliaments earlier.
2. During the electoral campaign for the Lok Sabha, it promised that it would implement (already approved OROP) within 100 days of coming to power. However, when it finally announced OROP after 16 months of coming to power, it became apparent why the government required so much of time. It twisted and turned the approved concept of OROP so that its announcement of 05 Sep 15 would have very little to do with the approved OROP and would be only an apology for the same (because of its seven serious flaws).
3. The country never questioned as to what was the need of the announcement on 05 Sep 15 when the OROP had already been passed by the parliament. All that the government was required to do was to notify the OROP. However, as is clear now, the government played into the hands of the wily bureaucracy who revel in keeping the faujis always dissatisfied. This same wily bureaucracy, belatedly, and without any discussions with the faujis, introduced clauses into the OROP announcement that made a mockery of it (eg, VRS, review after five years, to be reviewed by 7th CPC, to have calendar year 2013 as the base year and not financial year 2013-14, effective date being 01 Jul 14 rather than 01 April promised earlier, and midway band of pay to be considered for pension rather than earlier promised highest of pay band). Naturally, it made the faujis very distrustful of the government, politicians and bureaucrats (Please read: As A ‘Fauji’ I Don’t Trust You Anymore) and they concluded, with enough justification, that the government required extra time (four times the time promised) so as to tinker with the approved OROP and reduce it to nothingness.

It built up to the excuse that it couldn’t notify even the truncated OROP because of electoral code of conduct for Bihar elections when actually, since it had been earlier approved by the parliament, it had nothing to do with Bihar elections. This stance conveyed that the government was banking on the protests against its chicanery of 05 Sep 15 to die down (time is a great healer!) before making the notification as a fait-accompli.

Now that the Bihar election results are out, it appears that the gamble of the BJP to play politics with OROP before the elections, just as Congress did before the Lok Sabha elections, failed. It doesn’t look like that the political constituency in Bihar was hoodwinked into believing that the government was sincere about something like OROP. The faujis, despite dissatisfaction with the BJP government, didn’t do anything to sabotage its chances in Bihar because of the apolitical tag that they feel they are committed to. But, now, after the results, one can safely surmise that the results would have been much more disastrous for the BJP otherwise.

Yes, the faujis by themselves are very small constituency for the political parties to lose their sleep over. But, in this regard, their comparison to the mainstream English language media is apt. The English language media is very small as compared to the vernacular (in states like Gujarat, for example, until about a decade and a half back, it was unheard of). However, its influence over policy matters is disproportionately large. It is the same with the faujis. By and large, the countrymen hold the faujis in high esteem. In states like Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal, for example, every second family has someone in the armed forces. That makes it a fairly influential lobby; if that’s the language that the politicians understand.

BJP would have also realised that the politics of arrogance is not fetching it the desired results. Before and after Delhi elections, it supported by its henchmen media (exactly how the media is doing it now with OROP news), ridiculed AAP with undisguised arrogance and had a complete blackout of the massive AAP rallies. Even with all this, the BJP received only three seats but it was unruffled thinking that probably Delhi was a fluke case and Bihar would get back everything. It thus staked its reputation on the outcome of Bihar elections. When it started becoming clear that it was nowhere near winning Bihar, it still didn’t abandon the politics of arrogance. It indulged in divisive and parochial politics and even declared that those who don’t vote for BJP deserve to be sent to Pakistan.

I am sure that now, it would do well to reconsider arrogance as a governance model. Sheer numbers do not win battles, even electoral ones; the righteous, courageous and the moral do. The famous Battle of Saragarhi was fought on 12 September 1897 between just 21 committed Sikhs and 10000 Afghans. It is ranked by the United Nations as one of the bravest battles ever fought. Each one of the 21 Sikhs was given the highest honour by the British: Indian Order of Merit (equivalent to the present Param Vir Chakra or the Victoria Cross of the British). That is the power of the righteous. Numbers are merely deceptive.

Political parties, over the years (42 years to be exact since 1973 when they snatched the OROP from faujis), have played politics with what is now highly emotional issue affecting the izzat of the faujis. The picture of the 82 years old Vishambar Singh with his shirt torn, his medals snatched, after being assaulted by the police at Jantar Mantar on 14th Aug 15 would be enough to galvanise the faujis to fight another Saragarhi and defend their honour against all odds. Petty politics, the kind the BJP played recently, and UPA played all these years earlier, is not going to deter them. Soon it may occur to the government that the politics of arrogance is losing politically too.

Those engaged in the agitation for a full and undiluted OROP have given a call for Black Diwali; that is, Diwali minus the accompanying lighting of lamps without and happiness within. It may not be making enough clamour now or later when they, nation-wide, go about returning their medals in disgust. But, it is time to start listening.

Maj Gen Satbir Singh, SM, who spearheads the UFESM (United Front of Ex Service Men) campaign for OROP (One Rank One Pension), whilst speaking at the OROP Rally at Azad Maidan, Mumbai, on Saturday, 31 Oct 11, exhorted the faujis to observe Black Diwali this year by not lighting any lamps or indulging in any celebration. He said that the unfulfilled promise on OROP by the government has ruled out any joy of Diwali.

Yes, it is true that Narendra Modi’s government reneged on its election promises that it would implement OROP within 100 days of coming to power. Yes, it is true that the attitude of the government towards OROP after coming to power in May 2014 has been substantially different from the promissory attitude before that. Yes, it is true that the PM and his FM have even started questioning the very definition of OROP when Koshiyari Committee 2011 definition of the OROP has been universally accepted “by all stakeholders” including parliament, government, Ex Service Men and their organisations. Yes, it is true that the announcement by Shri Manohar Parrikar, the RM, on 5th Sep 15 has been a slap in the face of agitators since it is a much diluted OROP than what was approved by the two parliaments. Yes, it is true, that even this truncated OROP has not been notified. And yes, it is true that the veterans won’t be in any mood to celebrate Diwali.

The somber mood is also dictated by the fact that it has been 42 long years since OROP was done away by the government in 1973. Curiously, these 42 years are exactly three times the period of exile of Lord Ramchandra. We celebrate Diwali or Deepawali in remembrance of people of Ayodhaya who lit lamps rejoicing the return from exile of our Lord Ram. No such luck for the veterans; they are still exiled from OROP.

But, for the justification for Kaali or Black Diwali, I am not merely thinking of the exiled veterans. I am also thinking of the average countrymen. During the despondent times under the last UPA govt, they voted for a change, strong leadership, developmental agenda and straightforward approach towards significant issues. Now, after 17 months of the new government’s inauguration, we seem to be getting back to despondency. Think of the following:

1. Dithering by Manmohan Singh and party has been replaced by arrogance by NaMo and party especially by Arun Jaitley.

2. Developmental agenda has been replaced by non issues such as beef-ban, equating Shah Rukh Khan with a known terrorist Syed Hafeez, “those who vote against BJP in Bihar should go to Pakistan”, and Hindu chauvinism and relentless justification for ushering in the period of intolerance by going on the offensive with the facts that Hindus have been the most tolerant of people in the world.

3. Strong leadership and straightforward approach have been substituted by guile and chicanery as in the response towards parliament approved OROP.

We appear to be back to square one making the countrymen choose between the devil and the deep sea.

Black Diwali is particularly for us faujis. But, the rest of the countrymen cannot have a reason to rejoice.

All cats are grey in dark; NaMo proved that.

Lets take up some of these issues in slightly greater detail:

1. PM Manmohan Singh never had the manoeuvring space due to the fact that the entire UPA commanded only 229 seats in a the Lok Sabha with a strength of 545 and the INC had only 206 seats. It was, therefore, easy for the pressure groups to derail the developmental agenda on specious pretexts and because of vested interests. In contrast, BJP by itself in the 16th Lok Sabha constituted on 26 May 2014 has 282 of the 545 seats. Indeed, there is no leader of opposition as the Indian Parliament rules say that a party must have at least 10 percent of seats to be called opposition. Congress has only 44 seats. Instead of arrogance being the style of governance, the NDA could have, by now, put the country firmly on the path of development. Nay, even the black money in Swiss banks to be exposed and brought back to the country, as per the election promise of Modi, has been given a go by; making the people speculate that there is perhaps a quid-pro-qua as perhaps was there in denying the nation the full exposure of Bofors deal when NDA was last in power under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
2. Nearly five years back, on our 62nd Republic Day, I wrote a piece titled ‘How Proud Should We Be Of The Indian Republic At 62?’ I had brought out that UN figures show that 80 percent of our population lives below US $ 2 a day. Forty-five percent of our population lives Below Poverty Line (BPL; a term used to describe those who have less than the UN stipulated $1.25 a day). In all human growth indices we are near the bottom, certainly much below the 100 mark. And yet, dividing the people along communal lines has been a priority with almost all of our political parties rather than focusing on developmental issues so as to eradicate poverty. Take this government, which has squarely been given the mandate by the people on the developmental issue. And yet, its focus has been elsewhere: Banning beef and such other issues. Following the tenet of ‘borrowing from Peter to pay Paul’ and conscious of the fact that in the more than one-fourth of its tenure it has done nothing much to address poverty and other developmental issues, it has come up with a ludicrous argument that giving veterans their right of OROP (which has been passed by two parliaments and hence the government having no power to deny it) would rob the poor. All our political parties have learnt from the British the art of Divide and Rule; and the present NDA is no exception.
3. The Bihar elections are so important and prestigious for BJP that everything else has been made subservient to it including OROP, communal harmony and even principles of ethics and decency. BJP came up with such ridiculous arguments as “those who do not vote for BJP deserve to be ousted to Pakistan” and that Shah Rukh Khan talks like Hafiz Saeed, the terrorist and the mastermind of 26/11 who enjoys covert and overt support from Pakistan state. What arrogance, that voting against BJP is to be considered anti-national!
4. All right-minded Indians know that the UPA in general and Congress in particular, under its banner of pseudo-secularism, played the communal card rather dangerously (Also read: ‘Is Communal Disharmony A Challenge To India’s March To Greatness?’) However, the NDA under BJP appears to be doing exactly the same in another manner so as to garner votes by dividing communities. This portends ill for the nation; if the nation can very well do without the pseudo-secularism of Congress, it can also do without the other extreme of return to Hindu chauvinism. Two wrongs can never make a right. It is high time we abandon the idea of dividing communities along religious lines and use the unifying force of humanitarianism and developmental agenda.

I have brought out only some of the significant issues. There is thus no reason for the the countrymen in general and faujis in particular to celebrate Diwali. There is nothing to rejoice about. It is indeed, return to despondency, which we saw during the last UPA regime. But, at that time, at least there was a hope that a Narendra Modi, in shining armour, would emerge to take us out of the morass. Most of such hopes have been shattered.

As if to add to the mood, yesterday, the country was witness to a most horrible video of police brutally beating up a boy and girl inside a police station. Whilst the police beat up the boy mercilessly, the girl’s screams could be heard for miles and yet they continued. The country must now quickly contemplate whether the citizens should permit the authorities to control everything from food habits to religion to socializing to morality. Should the average Indian citizen live under terror not from across the border but from our own people whom we voted to improve our lot?

I don’t know about you; but, this Diwali, many of us shall sit with bowed head in darkness, to match the somber mood of the country, and pray to our Lord Ram, to ensure that our leaders return to the agendas they promised and were voted to power for.

Lets see if our prayers are answered.

Dear Netas, Babus, Mediamen, Industrialists, Film Personalities and my Countrymen,

I am a fauji. I was never rich in money terms but I was made to feel rich by the job that was given to me to defend the country and the izzat that you gave me. In the average perception of the countrymen I was made to feel that I was wanted, admired and held in high esteem for my values. A number of movies were made on my valour, commitment and dedication. In these, in folklore and in the news I was always shown as the winner and the righteous. It was enough to keep my morale high and to sacrifice my life, liberty and comfort for the country. In short, it was an honourable profession.

But, it changed totally as soon as I became aware of how consistently you have denied me my dignity, izzat and One Rank One Pension (OROP). Despite your attitude ranging from non-caring to deception, I still clung on to the hope that perhaps I mattered despite all your betrayals since the year 1973 when, shortly after the 1971 war with Pakistan when I gave you the most spectacular victory (sorting out once and for all times, the problem of East Pakistan), you suddenly denied me the OROP and reduced my pension. Gradually, over years, you lowered my status and simultaneously augmented yours and finally, I was made to feel like a used condom.

Yes, some of you, made movies on the theme of my heroism and some of you paid lip-service to publicly singing songs of praise for me. But, looking back, now that I am at the end of my patience of waiting for you to restore my OROP, dignity and izzat, I am beginning to feel that it was all, perhaps for your own vested interests. I don’t trust you anymore and I am increasingly getting more convinced that you don’t deserve me and my sacrifices.

Please consider that God made all of us equal and he has given me too – just as he has given you – only one life. I used to think that your life is precious for me to safeguard with my life, even though I am not a mercenary (Please read, if you can find time from looking after your self-interest: Armed Forces And The Indian Society). Now that I have found that whilst I was ready to sacrifice my life for you, none of you has spared a thought for me or even time, I am beginning to wonder whether the profession of arms is honourable anymore or not. When I used to stand alone and unprotected at the highest battleground in the world: Siachin glacier, or at sea with kilometers of salty water under me, or in the air battling elements, I used to entertain a hope, since then proved false, that me and my family would be looked after by you. But, now I have discovered to my shock that you’d rather look after a cricketer, film-star or the like from whom you can obtain adequate publicity and return on your investment rather than me, I regret having ever entertained the hope that you care for me. I have also found that you have even started questioning whether in this peaceful atmosphere, I am required anymore.

Sadly, I have discovered, that you are chips of the same block. Didn’t the Radiia tapes bring out the unholy nexus that exists between politicians, bureaucrats, industrialists and media persons? It is all on record and yet despite that a media person squarely having sold herself to your interests was given Padma Shri.

On the television debates, some of you, driven by jingoism rather than by any genuine feelings, make a show of touching my feet. But otherwise, I openly ask you now, how is it that after nearly five months of my agitating on the streets, none of it has made any dent with you? You, who would be up in arms against the perpetrators of bias and crime against minorities, women and the so-called underprivileged; you who would write reams of paper on anything and everything of what you call public interests; you who would readily reward a batsman one crore rupees for hitting six sixes in an over of six balls; you who get concerned on the third day of truckers strike against enhancement of toll (Please read: Long Time No War); how is that you displayed total disinterest when one of me ilk, an 82 years grenadier, was roughed up by the police on the eve of independence? How is it that you confidently feel that none of this affects you?

I don’t trust you anymore. You are good at making promises. You are good at making insignificant things into issues of national interest and conversely, you ignore the issues that are indeed significant. I don’t trust you anymore.

I hope, in this atmosphere of hopelessness for me, you have an alternate plan ready just in case you discover and re-discover that there is indeed threat to national security and to your assets and that no one is willing to take up that challenge anymore. I hope that you have a Plan B ready when you discover that the youth of the country refuse to join the armed forces knowing that these are the people who are remembered in crises but quickly forgotten, ignored and put to shame when the crises no longer exist, at least in your perception. I hope you have enough money to buy security when your erstwhile trusted source has dried out in disdainful despondency.

Even you know that it isn’t a fight for money. It is indeed one for regaining lost status and izzat. I don’t trust you anymore even with the outcome. Even if you announce it on Diwali, as you now claim in your thousandth promise, I really don’t trust you. I would be skeptical that you would lose no opportunity to show me down even after giving me my right. You would come up with senseless statements, for example, that you had to snatch it from the poor to give to me. I thought you shouted from house-tops that you had almost eradicated poverty after nearly six and half decades of independence; so then, who are these poor from whom you are snatching to give to me? Are you obliquely accepting the fact that there are indeed poor in the country despite your promises, election after election, that you would eradicate poverty? Are you also accepting that your promises are indeed mere promises? Are you now saying that you would have, but, those who gave their life for the country are standing in the way of your fulfilling your promise?

How about asking the industrialists, film personalities, cricketers like you to donate towards eradicating poverty? Is taking from one poor to give to the other, the only pragmatic solution that you can think of?

You also threaten me with the challenge of para-military forces and the like also waiting in the sidelines to clamour for OROP. Didn’t various commissions and committees including Koshiyari Committee of 2011 rule it out because of difference in retirement ages and unique service conditions? Are you yourself being party to this clamour now so as to silence the veterans?

I don’t trust you anymore You are now catching at straws to somehow deny me my due. You have almost lost me now; you are not big enough and rich enough to buy me back. You would rue the following moment for as long as you live:

I don’t trust you anymore; I never will. And you yourself are responsible for that.

Yours (you would hope) faithfully (I am not too sure)
Fauji

Brief History

By an ex-parte order of the GoI, the OROP that the veterans enjoyed since independence was withdrawn in 1973. Because of their peculiar service conditions and short lengths of service (most men retire between 35 to 37 years so as to have them as jawans (young men) in the armed forces), they were at that time given 70 % of last pay drawn as pension and civil service personnel 33 %. By the same order, it was raised to 50 % for civil services and reduced to 50 % for officers and 37 % for men.

Several representations by armed forces followed. Typically, the government appointed committees and commissions such as 3rd CPC in 1973, Estimates Committee, 1980-81, KP Singh Deo Committee of 1984, 4th CPC in 1987, Jafa Committee of 1989, Sharad Pawar Committee of 1990-91, 5th CPC, GoM Committee of 2005, and 6th CPC in 2006. Instead of restoring OROP, the government in 2008 provided OROP to civil and police services in 2008 at highest pay grades and they made sure, by an internal memo, that 100 % of them became eligible to do so because of NFU (Non-functional Financial Upgradation; which meant that if one in a batch was promoted, the others automatically became eligible to draw the increased pay).

This was betrayal of the worst kind. Agitations followed and veterans returned medals to the President at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. Govt appointed a Ten Member committee under BJP MP Bhagat Singh Koshiyari. In Dec 2011, the committee gave report strongly favouring OROP and gave a definition of OROP accepted by all parties including the parliament. Since then, two parliaments have passed the OROP but is yet to be implemented.

Shri Narendra Modi declared in election campaign at Rewari, Haryana, on 15th Sep 2013, that his government would implement OROP within 100 days of coming to power. Again, on 2014 Diwali day at Siachin, the PM announced OROP to soldiers. However, the RM’s announcement of OROP on 5th Sep 2015 (after 16 months of being in power) was an apology for OROP. It has seven distinct shortcomings and if implemented in the present form it would totally kill the very definition of OROP. The UFESM (United Front of Ex-Servicemen) decided to, therefore, continue with the renewed agitation that started on 14th June 15 at Jantar Mantar including Relay Hunger Strikes from 15th June 15. Rallies are being held across the country to make people aware of the machinations of the babus-netas who have relentlessly denied OROP to veterans after withdrawing it in 1973 within 18 months of the 1971 War victory.

Koshiyari Committee Report and the Flaws in GoI Announcement on 05 Sep 15

Post 2008 agitations, a ten member committee was appointed under the BJP MP Bhagat Singh Koshiyari. It gave its report in Dec 2011 and not just strongly recommended OROP to be implemented but gave a definition of OROP as follows:

OROP “implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces Personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement and any future enhancement in the rates of pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners.” The concept includes “bridging the gap between the rate of pension of the current pensioners and the past pensioners, and also future enhancements in the rate of pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners. In armed forces, equality in service has two components, namely, rank and length of service. The importance of rank is inherent in armed forces as it has been granted by the President of India and signifies command, control and responsibility in consonance with ethos of service. These ranks are even allowed to be retained by the individual concerned after his/her retirement. Hence, two armed personnel in the same rank and equal length of service should get same pension irrespective of date of retirement and any future enhancement in rates of pension be automatically passed on to the past pensioners.”

The Koshiyari Committee definition of OROP was accepted by the government, endorsed by the parliament and by the ex-servicemen organisations. Since then two parliaments approved OROP. But, the government’s announcement on OROP on 05 Sep 15 fell much short of the approved definition of OROP. It has the following serious flaws:

1. It brought out that those who seek VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) would be kept out of the OROP. This shocked all those engaged in the agitation. It appears that this particular clause has been added at the last minute at the behest of the bureaucracy who is hell-bent to deny the complete OROP to the veterans. Armed forces, unlike some corporates and public sector units, do not have the concept of VRS. They have Pre-Mature Retirement (PMR). Now, if a person has completed his pensionable service and then sought PMR, why should he or she be denied OROP?
2. The government has declared that a review of the pensions would be done every five years. This means that in this period of five years pensioners would have five different pensions and not one as envisaged in Koshiyari definition of OROP.
3. The base year for calculation of OROP has been selected as calendar year 2013 and not financial year 2013-14 as is normally the basis of all salary and pension related matters. Again, there is an attempt to deny the increments that would have been due in a financial year.
4. The government has been petty-minded even for the date of award. They had agreed to the date of 01 Apr 14 in all talks with ESMs. But, at the last minute changed it to 01 Sep 14.
5. Whilst earlier the government had agreed to provide pension at the highest point of pay band for a rank, the government has done a volte-face and now conceived to provide it at mean average of lowest and highest points.
6. Government plans to appoint a one man judicial council to decide the matter in six months time against the suggested constitution of five members: one each veterans from each service, one serving armed forces member and one bureaucrat. The ESM have also questioned that six months shouldn’t be required after 42 years and the report should be ready in one month’s time.
7. OROP should have been awarded in perpetuity and not linked to pay commission as the government has done.

Sense of Betrayal and the Agitation Continues

Many of our countrymen initially, after the GoI announcement on 05 Sep 15, felt that whereas the government seems to have gone out of its way to announce OROP, the ex-servicemen appear to be fussy in continuing with the agitation. Gradually, it has dawned on our people that the chasm between the neta-babu nexus before the announcement seem to have deepened with the announcement. There has been a deep-rooted sense of betrayal that several governments played into the hands of the babus to deny the full and accepted definition of OROP and that, even after 42 years, the BJP government keen to take credit for finally announcing OROP, has taken refuge in petty-mindedness rather than large-heartedness. The government should have also known that the government is not authorised to tinker with OROP after it has been approved twice by two parliaments.

It was, therefore, decided by United Front of ESM (UFESM) to continue with the agitation until full implementation of OROP. There have been promises galore in the last several decades. The latest ones have been by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goverment that it would be implemented within 100 days of NDA government coming into power (it did in May 2014 and the OROP is still to be implemented). There are latest ones going around that it would be implemented after Bihar elections, and by Diwali. These really sound hollow after so many betrayals.

Mumbai Rally at Historic Azad Maidan, Saturday, 31st Oct 15

The UFESM under Major General Satbir Singh, SM, Retd., therefore, decided to continue with the agitations and spread awareness amongst the citizens of India by holding rallies in various parts of the country such as Ambala, Dharamshala, and Chennai. The last rally was in Jalandhar, Punjab, and the next is in the historic Azad Maidan in Mumbai on 31st Oct 15. It is the same venue where the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi held a rally against the British in Dec 1931.

A video of the issues of the forthcoming rally has been prepared by Navi Mumbai TV (NMTV) under the guidance of Commander SH Kalawat, Retd., Convener of ESM in Mumbai, Colonel Harbhajnik Singh, Retd., our point-man for dealing with the press, and self:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ej2uRX92s9k%3F

There has been concerted media and social media campaign. We addressed a press-conference on 26 Oct 15:

Some glimpses of the social-media campaign besides articles and stories:

The issues are, therefore, in public domain. We request all veterans and families and citizens of this great city of Mumbai to join us in our fight for the just cause.

In the end, as Major General Satbir and other veterans have often said, it is not an issue of money; it is an issue of dignity and izzat of the veterans.

Jai Hind
Jai Hind ki Sena

When you agitate about a cause these days – unlike Mahatma Gandhi in pre-independence India whose strength was always truth and hence he called it satyagraha – you do it from a position of strength. Your position of strength invariably stems from the great harm, inconvenience, and loss that will accrue to people because of disruption of services caused by the agitation. Lets take truckers strike to demand abolition of hike in octroi. The disruption of services initially inconveniences people but eventually, the prices of essential commodities go up, there is all round hue and cry and government is keen to bring the striking truckers on the negotiating table with overt and covert concessions. The brand of democracy that we have perfected is democracy by coercion.

There is no such parallel in the OROP agitation by veterans. As I wrote in ‘Indians And Drawing Room Wars’, this is an agitation in which only the veterans are involved. The media was involved in two ways: one for the political fall-out issue of the leanings of their respective publications and electronic channels; and two, because of their TRPs since nothing sells better than jingoism and any issue of the faujis instantly provokes jingoism. Indeed, the BJP spokesmen, conscious of this jingoism, in panel discussions on the television, tried to gain brownie points by touching the feet of the veterans and making other obsequious noises. The media, however, quickly abandoned the veterans and soon latched on to Indrani Mukherjee shrewdly calculating that murder mysteries and debauchery sell even better than jingoism.

So, the OROP agitation, stays what it was originally – a satyagarha for a just cause, with a difference that no one’s life is affected by it and people at large range from disinterested lot to jingoists.

I am reminded of this scene in Shyam Benegal’s movie Nishant (Night’s End) wherein the idealist village school teacher (Girish Karnad) has his wife (Shabana Azmi) abducted and molested by the the local goons. The school-teacher goes to the town in an attempt to obtain justice from the civil authorities. He meets with no success simply because his wife being raped doesn’t affect their lives or conscience. In any case, my experience of bureaucrats in general and of teaching them in defence orientation courses in particular is that soon after their graduation from Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie, they get rid of their conscience and scruples as no longer necessary for their professional upbringing. So, in an attempt to get over his disgust, anger and frustration, the village school-teacher, on his return journey to the village, throws his weathered black umbrella down and jumps over it and kicks it. The veterans can do similar things unless they can carry the people with them and it starts pinching the indifferent government and the bureaucracy. Even in Nishant, the villagers support is mobilized in the end of the movie though this support turns violent and the oppressors are slaughtered.

The rallying point is, naturally, the incalculable harm being done to the fabric of this nation. There is a beautiful article, for example, by my friend Col Subin Balakrishnan, Retd., titled ‘The Real Cost of OROP‘ and another one by Rohit Agarwal titled ‘Penny foolish, pound foolish’ in which he has worked out that not rewarding pre-mature retirement and keeping oldies in the armed forces not doing any productive would be much costlier than giving them OROP.

But, these are not enough. We, the veterans, have to constantly bring home to them as to what is lost in the din of OROP agitation and continued indifference and machinations by the netas and the babus.

The existential struggles of us Indians, our forever indulging in politics even in matters concerning national security, and our proven preference for short-term gains in comparison to long-term national interests, have made us overlook some of the direct and indirect consequences of the prolonged OROP agitation. These indeed have serious repercussions for us as a nation. In the present mind-set of our people, they would scarcely think of these unless adequate reminders are given:

1. Lack of Strategic Culture. We look at the synergy between various arms of the government in, say, our neighbouring nation China or the most powerful nation United States. The former is widely regarded as our competitor, if not an immediate adversary. The latter is the nation that we secretly want to emulate. There is a long term perspective, a strategic culture, that is clearly understood between various arms of the government. We have always bemoaned the lack of it in India. The result is that even in our immediate neighbourhood no one takes us seriously. Our growth and influence suffer. We were like this in all these years of Congress rule. The BJP promised to be different. However, let alone bringing out and promoting any concert between the three important arms of the government, we now have the biggest chasm ever. This would eventually be detrimental to the interests of the nation in India and abroad.

2. Loss of Trust between Faujis and Politicians. Trust and confidence are built up when you do the right things even if you struggle. It took forty-two years to restore OROP to the services which was withdrawn in 1973 so as to serve the vested interests of the bureaucrats. All along, the faujis felt that they had to reckon with the indifference and animosity of the babus only. It has now come out loud and clear that the politicians, irrespective of the party that they belong to, are wont to dishonour their own promises and clear-cut supreme court rulings. This loss of trust appears to be permanently etched on the psyche of the average fauji now. This would, naturally, have serious consequences for the morale of the armed forces. Our service chiefs have often bemoaned the shortages in equipment and platforms affecting preparedness for war and other eventualities. However, the high levels of commitment, training and the crucial morale used to cover for these shortages. But, now, we have a situation wherein the morale itself is dwindling.

3. Loss of Fascination For Armed Forces amongst the Youth. Who wants to join the services that are treated so shabbily? There are other options available for young men and women. However, what about the armed forces themselves? If the youth of the country make it as one of their last choices, who would defend the country against external aggression and many other prevalent threats? Or is it that these ever increasing threats would vanish like election promises?

4. Loss of Trust Between Jawans and Officers This is such a serious issue that former chiefs brought it out to the government alarmingly. They contended that the jawans feel that not getting their due from the government is actually failure of leadership of the armed forces. When the chips are down, it is this trust in leadership that makes the crucial difference. The loss of this trust has serious consequences, they said. The government brushed it aside as something of little consequence. Indeed, it appears that anything other than vote-bank politics and asserting supremacy of religion is considered inconsequential by the government.

5. Loss of Hope for Countrymen. Narendra Modi provided or promised hope and fair-play as opposed to UPA govt mired in scams and controversy. And then started these machinations by Jaitly and Modi. This and the scams that they themselves have got into has certainly resulted into loss of hope for the countrymen. Many of them are now justifiably asking who should they turn to now that all the fronts have provided the same loss of hope. The country, which had brightened up with Modi’s promise of good governance slowly recedes to despair.

6. Ill Foreboding. This perhaps is the most serious. Modi is a very shrewd, calculating, politically savvy man. I am sure that he is aware of the larger issue involved in the OROP agitation, which is, to set right the balance upset by the systematic degradation of the status of the armed forces personnel at the hands of the babus. And yet, he has openly sided with the babus in approving piece-meal implementation of the OROP at their behest. He has chosen to disregard Supreme Court directives and the sentiments of his armed forces personnel who are traditionally the most loyal servants. Choosing to side with one of the worst bureaucracies in the world can mean only one of the two things. One, that he doesn’t consider himself strong enough to rein in the reckless and largely corrupt bureaucracy. Two, and I hope it is not correct, that he has skeletons in the cupboard and feels compelled to keep the bureaucracy on his right side.

Two of the most damaging images seen by our countrymen in recent times are: One, the police assault on veterans in Jantar Mantar on the eve of independece day; and Two, the government washing its hands off after promise of piece-meal implementation of OROP with an attitude of this far and no further; and then, brow-beating the entire media into submission by asking them not to cover the massive peaceful rallies post the piece-meal announcement. The message that it clearly sends is that the government is fed up of its own armed forces.

I started the article by saying that the veterans don’t appear to be having a position of strength viz-a-viz the government. Perhaps there is one, which is that the tenacity and leadership of the armed forces that made them deliver Bangladesh in 1971 War, in the absence of any clear-cut directives by the government, would hold them in good stead and it is the babu-neta nexus that would eventually lose.

Some of you will feel that the question is a meaningless one. For example, those of you who had to face the indignity of dealing with one or more Indian lawyers or the extreme misery and frustration of trying to find justice through Indian courts (Please also read ‘The Great Indian Judicial Circus’), will point out that no questions need to be asked; Indian lawyers are gods and devils rolled into one and have every right to behave like gods.

Then there are others who would tell you that the sobriquet “gods” is reserved for Indian cricketers, politicians and religious leaders and that lawyers, even if they are gods, are very much lower down the order.

In the recent Kangana Ranaut film ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’, there is this character called Arun “Chintu” Kumar Singh played by Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub who is a law student and about to become an advocate. Armed with the knowledge of law that can make others lives miserable, he is an illegal lodger with Tanu (Kangana Ranaut’s) parents in Kanpur. He refuses to either pay rent or leave with the street-smartness that he has acquired from his study of the Indian law.

Is that the true face of the Indian lawyer? Actually it is much worse. It is almost like the dacoit Gabbar Singh in the 1975 movie Sholay with his now famous dialogue: “Gabbar Singh se tumhen ek hi aadmi bacha sakta hai; woh hai khud Gabbar Singh” (Only one person can save you from Gabbar Singh; that is Gabbar Singh himself). Our advocate of 14 years, who made my widowed mother run from pillar to post, dropped our case altogether (by pleading “no instructions” in the court and hence warrants of arrest were issued for me!) only because I inquired from him about the progress of the cases. As per the Bar Council of India Rules, I filed a complaint against him for Professional Misconduct. I was called all the way from Mumbai to Shimla for a hearing by the H.P. Bar Council only to inform me that the case had been decided against me in my absence! The Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the Bar Council chided me for having spent Rupees 20000 for coming to Shimla whereas for half that much money I could have commissioned a lawyer to handle my complaint!

It is almost universal in India that litigants have waited for decades for their cases to be resolved. How is it that in court after court in India, no one realises that no one, other than them are interested in solving the cases. The employment of lawyers, judges and the courts staff is actually dependent upon delaying the cases. There is nil incentive for any of them to expeditiously solve the cases.

The fact is that in the Indian judicial system, the judges are not accountable for their acts of commission or omission. An act of commission or omission by them can cause you untold misery and/or delay. The only remedy available is to appeal in the next higher court. This means that now you will have to face more such judges and more such lawyers! And hence, you would realise why Gabbar Singh analogy is so apt.

Because the judges are not accountable, the lawyers assume such unaccountability themselves. They brushes his hands off everything you suffer by saying that the “system is bad; what can we do?”

To top it, in case you are a fauji (armed forces personnel) or ex fauji, everyone chides you for not being well versed with the intricacies of the civil society and the “system“. None of them take notice of the irrefutable fact that whilst we have some of the best armed forces in the world, we have one of the worst judicial and legal system in the world. They are still arrogant about their superiority (translated it means the ability to keep you at their mercy).

As citizens of the country we often fall prey to joining media orchestrated and politically motivated agitations about corruption at higher places. There is never a public outcry about everyday corruption and efficiency that affect us; eg, the ones we are subjected to by lawyers, judges, policemen, railway conductors, hospital and electricity officials and the like. Life loses its dignity altogether but we keep quiet.

A French man in IC 814, the infamous flight that got hijacked to Kandhar on 24th Dec 1999, observed that Indians in the flight appeared to have lot of patience to go through more than 60 hours of abject misery. That’s a reflection on us. We are like that only (Read ‘We Are Like That Only’). We are quite alright with the corrupt and most inefficient system. An odd person like me who voices concern is straightway dubbed as “out of reality” because he is a “bloody fauji” who hasn’t seen life since he has lived in a sequestered environment.

It is not just in Tanu Weds Manu Returns that you hear of unlawful occupation of your flat. The illegal occupant is emboldened by his lawyer friends to even renovate it with marble flooring and modular kitchen. Now, your advocate advises you to file a case. Those with adequate experience or inkling of Indian law and justice system know that it would take no less than 20 yrs to get our property back. Hence, they secure back possession through “other means“. The ball is now in the court of the other party. Let them go to the court against you as aggrieved party. Let them face the music.

More and more people are now convinced that sorting out “by other means” or with “whatever resources” is the only workable solution. There is just one major problem in that. For example, today’s newspaper talks about ‘Privatisation of Railways’. We have already finished with government-run airlines (almost), govt run schools, colleges, hospitals, roads, shipping etc. In the end, if an ordinary citizen is reduced to sorting out things of law and justice too “by other means“, we must reflect on it as to what do we require the government for?

My dad’s elder brother, HS Dilgir, was an intellectual, a respected professor of journalism in Punjab University, and had the first Academy of Performing Arts in Chandigarh called Kala Darpan. He had told me several decades back that in India, the only way to sort out the mess that we have landed up in, is not the evolutionary route but that of revolution. During his lifetime itself he saw this happen when one-third of the about 600 districts in India landed up in having bloody revolution in the form of ‘Left Wing Extremism’. We had the former Prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh admitting that LWE is not a law and order problem but that of poor governance. In most of these districts now the writ of the government doesn’t run at all. People dissatisfied with the miserable way of governance, law and justice, poverty eradication etc, have taken the law in their own hands.

And still, our people, netas, lawyers, judges, haven’t woken up to the reality of the future. We still feel that people would continue being ruled over, hoodwinked, ill-treated, made to live undignified existence and continue paying them for their ills.

I feel that it is just around the corner when the lack of law and justice, corrupt police, lawyers and judges force people in the remaining 2/3rd districts too to sort out things “by other means“. Yes, at present the lawyers and advocates get away by behaving like gods; however, people’s tolerance with their ways is already running thin.

In short, time has come when we either implement long pending Police and Judicial Reforms, or allow people to sort out things by “whatever resources“.

Every person has a desire to be seen as virtuous. I am sure if you talk to the lawyers, they too paint themselves as “victims of circumstances” and “victims of a corrupt system“. However, I remember what the then Editor-in-Chief of Indian Express Arun Shourie wrote once: “The only way for evil to last is for good-men to do nothing about it.”

We, therefore, need to fight these systems both individually and collectively. We owe it to our children and grandchildren.

I have come across lawyers (and they are more a rule than exception) who have such large egos that they would totally drop your case in case you ask them anything or comment upon lack of justice. They like being part of the corrupt and inefficient system rather than being on your side (the correct and the right side). A friend shared with me that his own lawyer had the temerity to file an FIR against him when questioned about the slow and meaningless progress of the case. My own advocate fell short of filing FIR against me.

They are a band of brothers. In case a lawyer drops your case, no other lawyer would take up your case/cause.

If you report the conduct of the lawyer to the Bar Council, you multiply your miseries many times because those who sit in judgement over your case are lawyers themselves!

In my state Himachal (where I was born and brought up), there is another despicable thing going on (it must be going on in other states too). It is that the lawyers and judges are perceived to favour what they think are indigenous Himachalis as opposed to “outsiders“. Because we are Punjabi speaking and have names that end in ‘Singh’ and ‘Kaur’, people routinely ask us as to what made us migrate to Himachal from Punjab. They are stunned when I tell them that I was born and brought up entirely in this state. They are even more stunned when I remind them that each one of our states is supposed to be multilingual, multi-religious, and multi-caste. You should see their incredulous expressions! Needless to say, your advocate exploits this to his advantage fully by putting you at defensive.

Who profits from such parochial, corrupt and inefficient system? Think. As a parallel, who do you think gains from the perpetual traffic jams in (say) Mumbai caused by perpetual religious festivities on the roads that result in exorbitant fuel costs. The petrol pumps are also owned by the politicians and their cronies; and hence your guess is as good as mine. They always win.

The correct analogy of trying to approach Indian courts for justice is that of rape victims. A politician in Goa proclaimed that women deserve to be raped if they dress so provocatively. Similarly, we deserve to be ‘raped’ by the judicial system if we are so foolish as to take matters to court. The fault eventually lies with ‘We, the People of India’.

It is like after a traffic accident, one or both parties approaching the police. The police lightens the burden of the pockets of both the parties and “settles” the case!

Indian lawyers behave like gods because we allow them to. We let go our powers to demand service and accountability. The more people demand these, the more the lawyer shall diminish in size from being a god to a pygmy.