Rajnath for home delivery of medicines for veterans, more women in zila boards

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, June 13

After formally taking over as Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh today ordered a review of the schemes meant for retired soldiers and suggested doorstep delivery of medicines to veterans and having more women in the Zila Sainik Boards.

The Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare under the Ministry of Defence has been asked to conduct more programmes to ensure post-retirement jobs for retired soldiers. There are around 30 lakh retired soldiers.

The minister was briefed by the Secretary, Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, on the need for medicine delivery at veterans’ homes. Several retired soldiers live in villages and the nearest dispensary tasked to dispense medicines could be far away, even a couple of hours away by bus. Some of the retirees live all by themselves and getting medicines can be an effort.

The minister was informed about the Zila Sainik Boards under the Kendriya Sainik Board. He was keen that more retired women officers should be brought into these boards that are tasked to coordinate the welfare schemes with the state governments.

The other issue was jobs for retiring soldiers. Jawans in the Army retire in the age of 35-42 years and thousands retire annually. Finding post-retirement jobs becomes tough for many. The minister said more outreach programmes were needed to secure jobs for this trained manpower in private industry, infrastructure projects, etc.

Meanwhile, the MoD said Rajnath Singh assumed charge for his second term and chaired a review meeting on the first 100 days’ action plan of the ministry. The meeting was on the welfare of veterans. Rajnath will conduct regular review meetings to fast-track the progress of these schemes.

An MoD statement said he outlined the vision for the next five years with a focus on attaining self-reliance in defence, further modernising the armed forces, innovation in cutting-edge technology, strengthening border infrastructure and ensuring ex-servicemen’s welfare, among others.

“Our aim will be to further strengthen the security apparatus of the country, with focus on achieving self-reliance in defence manufacturing, modernisation of the armed forces and the welfare of the soldiers, both serving and retired,” the MoD statement quoted him.

On defence exports, he said the target was to export over Rs 50,000 crore worth of defence equipment by 2028-2029.