New Delhi, March 17
With the rise in day-to-day expenses, retired junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and other ranks (ORs) of the Indian Army and their equivalent in the Navy and Air Force here today demanded the ‘one rank one pension’ scheme.

Several retired non-officer personnel of the three services—Army, Air Force and Navy—held a dharna at Jantar Mantar under the banner of the Armed Forces Personnel Below Officers Rank (PBOR) Nyay Yudh-2013.

R S Chauhan, a retired Petty Officer of the Indian Navy, was organizing the event. He said, “The Sixth Pay Commission came into force in 2006. Thereafter, JCOs and ORs and their equivalent in the Navy and Air force, who retired before 2006, were receiving less pension as compared to those retiring after that year.”

Chauhan said in 2006, the government increased the pension of the personnel who retired before that year. “The government called it ‘bridging the gap’ between the personnel retiring before 2006 and those retiring after that year. But our pensions were not made equal. The daily expenses have been increasing every year and that is why we are demanding the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme,” he said.

The OROP means a uniform pension will be paid to the Defence Forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. Any future enhancement in the rates of pension will be automatically passed on to the past pensioners.

On September 24 last year, the government had sanctioned Rs 2,300 crore for the improvement in the pensions of armed forces personnel.

“But only officers and honorary ranking officers received this money. We were ignored,” said Chauhan.

Ranbir Singh, who retired as a Subedar (JCO) from the Army Ordinance Corps in 2005, said he was initially receiving his pension according to the Fifth Pay Commission. His pension was increased twice until 2009.

“After the September decision, there was no increase in the pension of Subedars. When we inquired, we were told that we already had a raise in our pension in 2009,” he said.

Jawans are the biggest sufferers as there has been an increase of about Rs 500 only in their pensions since 2006, according to Ranbir.

New Delhi, March 17
At a time when the dialogue over women safety and rights dominates the public and private sectors and overrides the general public discourse, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has worked out its own redressal mechanism to women issues and set an example for other institutes in the country. 

It was following the guidelines on the prevention and deterrence of sexual harassment at workplace laid down by the Supreme Court in its 13 August 1997 judgement on the Writ Petition (Criminal) Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan, that the varsity vice-chancellor appointed a Working Group on Sexual Harassment the same year.

Fifteen years later, the 30-member Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) still works towards solving on-campus cases of sexual harassment in all seriousness.   

“Contrary to government claims that propagate one thought and practise something entirely different in reality, we follow a system that we propagate both outside and on campus. Not just students, but even faculty members and karamcharis can approach GSCASH for any gender-sensitive problem. Not just that, the committee practises a ‘third party clause’ which allows for registering a case other than the victim,” said Meenakshi, member, JNU Student Union (JNUSU) and GSCASH.

“The students of JNU protested vehemently during the protests that gripped the nation following the December 16 rape case. But when it comes to issues on campus, we do not shy away from addressing them. Also, GSCASH works towards gender sensitization programmes. We receive a wide student base nationally and internationally and all the students have to undergo an orientation programme with GSCSAH upon admission. This year we distributed pamphlets along with the admission forms so as to spread awareness about GSCASH,” added Sucheta De, former president of JNUSU.

The JNU model has become a standard for the other educational institutes of the country and was also recommended in the Justice Verma report which said that the UGC should examine if the same model could be replicated in other universities.

“Combating sexual harassment has to start from home, from our educational institutes and workplaces. Mechanisms have to be in place to protect women rights and gender equality. Our students and faculty practise what we propagate. The GSCASH has three major functions— gender sensitization and orientation, crisis management and mediation and formal inquiry and redress. Complaints of sexual harassment can be reported to GSCASH by students, faculty members and even administrative staff. All the complaints are investigated within the laid-down mandate in conformity to confidentiality,” added a faculty member, GSCASH.

However, the much-respected model has had its own share of problems. Several instances of leaking of sexually explicit MMS clips, physical assaults, attempt to rape, and gender discrimination came to light recently. The administration took immediate measures to strengthen security on campus and made the rules for outsiders’ entry into campus, more stringent.

When GSCASH was constituted, students had enormous faith in it as their complaints used to be addressed and resolved in the specified time limit of three months. After sometime, the committee was being looked upon with scepticism as the cases continued to pile up.

It was just last year that GSCASH held its elections after the stay on JNUSU was lifted. It was then that the decline of trust in GSCASH actually became noticeable. Several instances of false allegations were reported to the committee. What’s more, over 10 cases are pending at present. In fact, in the GSCASH election due on March 22, one of the candidates’ promises is to ensure the proper use of the body.

“There may be doubts about the time taken to investigate the charges. However, there is a lengthy procedure to be followed in order to establish the allegation. The important point is that we try our best to ensure justice,” added Ruchira Sen, last year’s elected member to GSCASH.

New Delhi, March 17
To provide better access to information about Metro travel, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will soon launch a mobile application which will give the details on fares and stations, including the ones coming up under the Phase III.

The corporation has reportedly floated tender inviting parties for developing the application and March 28 is the last date for submitting proposals.

The commuters using smartphone can download the latest version of application and use it while being offline without the Internet/GPRS and so it would incur no cost to them.

With it, users can enjoy ready access to information about the nearest station, fare between stations, timing of the last and the first train at various stations, travel time, route information, Metro map and parking availability on the station premises.