New Delhi, April 23
The government has turned down the Army’s proposal to give a special medal to the Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, for his contribution during the Kargil war which India fought with Pakistan in 1999.
The former Chief of Army Staff, Gen S. Padmanabhan, had made the recommendation to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for a special medal for Mr Jaswant Singh just days before his retirement in December 2002.
The proposal had also apparently been accepted by the Minister of Defence, Mr George Fernandes, and was to be notified in the gazette but has failed to “find favour of the competent authority”. The Minister of State for Defence, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, in reply to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha said today that the Army Headquarters had recommended for the award of a medal to the present Finance Minister. The recommendation of the Army Headquarters did not find favour of the competent authority.
Sources in the MoD although could not authoritatively say who would be the “competent authority” here but said it could either be the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, or the Union Cabinet.
The sources said the proposal of the former Chief of Army Staff envisaged the military honour for the Finance Minister “in recognition of Mr Jaswant Singh’s meritorious service both in the diplomatic and military fields during Operation Vijay.”
The award would have made Mr Jaswant Singh the only civilian minister to be honoured with a military medal. A military honour incidentally involves a long procedure of endorsements, battalion upwards.
Orders are then given to the mint to mint a medal in the name of the individual. A citation, explaining why the medal is being given is read out when it is awarded.
Mr Jaswant Singh’s contribution to the Kargil conflict and after has never been a question of debate but the recommendation from the Army Headquarters apparently did not go down well with the government.
