The price of a soldier’s life
By Pritam Bhullar

A SOLDIER fights for his unit, the Army and the country because he owes allegiance to them. The decision to send him to battle is made by his superior officers which he carries out. And this is what makes the Army different from all other organisations.

During the Raj days, our Army fought gallantly under the British and won many laurels. Should we hold this against the erstwhile Indian Army? If not, then why has our government cold-shouldered the World War II veterans by not extending any concessions to them?

Surprisingly, these soldiers are not even entitled to treatment in military hospitals. It is a different matter that some formation commanders extend this facility to them out of their welfare funds.

Nothing can be more bizarre than putting a different price tag on a soldier’s life for each war, conflict or counter-insurgency operation. This is the surest way of breeding discontent in the armed forces. There is no reason why the concessions granted to the soldiers who fell in Operation Vijay should not be extended to those who were killed in the earlier conflicts.

The biggest disservice that a politician can do to the country is to politicise the Army which is the only potent instrument left in the hands of the government to uphold the integrity of the country. Sadly, one sees a pernicious trend gradually gaining ground to involve the Army in political issues.

Restore jawan’s honour

Little did Gen V.P. Malik, Chief of the Army Staff, know when he declared the year 1999, as "the year of the jawan" last year that the jawan would be making the supreme sacrifice of his life to uphold the integrity of the country this year.

While making this announcement, General Malik also said: "The cutting edge of the Army is its rank and file and it is imperative that this segment is fighting fit".

Despite all the disadvantages of inferior equipment and lack of acclimatisation to the high altitude where majority of the troops were suddenly taken from the plains, the jawan has proved his mettle.

What the military hierarchy and the political pandits owe to the jawan is to ensure that his sacrifice does not go waste. And the only way to do this is to sincerely examine the Kargil intrusion and learn useful lessons from it.

The politicians should also restore the jawans honour. Against this background, the Indian politicians should read what the President of the Indian Ex-Services League, Brigadier (retd) Mohinder Singh wrote in the Indian Ex-serviceman of July 1999: "Is it not a pity that our jawan gets pension less than that of a chaprasi of the Central Government? This is a clear indication of the respect he commands in the hearts of the political rulers who consider him just gun fodder".

Revision of pension

Most of the military pensioners below officer rank (PBOR) are complaining that although their applications for the revision of pension were forwarded to the record offices concerned in November-December 1998, their pensions have not been revised so far.

Disappointed with the procrastination by the authorities, Naib-Subedar Sohan Singh from Hoshiarpur district Bham village has written to the Deputy Secretary (Pensions), Ministry of Defence (MoD) with copies to the Adjutant General’s Branch, Army Headquarters and Records Brigade of the Guards, Kamptee: "My application was forwarded by Punjab National Bank, Hoshiarpur, to the records office on December 5, 1998".

He further states that he has been informed by the records office that his case would take another seven to eight months before it is finalised. "Why should this happen when the Government of India’s letter of July 14, 1998, clearly stipulates that each office will finalise the pension cases within 30 days of their receipt", he asks.

Since a large number of PBOR feel that the Records offices are taking too long to finalise their pension cases, it is time this issue is attended to by the Adjutant General, Army Headquarters. For, the records offices come under him. This is considered essential because many cases of corruption have come to light in the working of the records offices and the pay accounts offices (other ranks) in the last few years.

Soldiers’ franchise

The armed forces have a fairly large vote bank of about 35 lakh, including their family members, but only 10 to 15 per cent of the soldiers, sailors and airmen exercise their voting rights. This makes them a non-entity for the elected representatives of the country who do not bother to support even their legitimate demands in Parliament.

Most military personnel who are registered voters do not make use of the facility of postal ballot. Even when the facility is made use of, a large number of ballot papers are not received by the returning officers or they are received after the due date.

With frequent changes in the place of posting of the defence personnel, their addresses also change. Unless the new postal addresses are communicated to the authorities concerned by the record offices or the commanding officers, the facility of postal ballot cannot be utilised.

The only effective way by which they can cast their votes is by proxy. The Election Commission had recommended before the last Lok Sabha election, that the law should be amended to allow the armed forces personnel and diplomatic representatives to vote through proxy ballot. All that was needed was to amend Sections 59 and 60 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. And this could have been easily done by a presidential ordinance. But, unfortunately, the whole issue has been lost in the political maze.