FAUJI INDIA – a Monthly Magazine for Veterans and Serving Soldiers of India (proposed)

Allegro Infomedia Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, intends to publish Fauji India, an English monthly magazine for the ex-servicemen/veteran of India. To receive a free copy of inaugural issue please send your address to faujimagazine@gmail.com and for more information continue reading …  
 

A Mumbai based publishing house, Allegro Infomedia Pvt Ltd presently into community newspapers for the last twelve years intends to launch an English monthly magazine for the veterans and serving soldiers of India by the name of FAUJI INDIA.
 

The launch is proposed by June/July 2014. The monthly magazine will be of a popular appeal addressing the Indian Armed Forces, departing from the existing ones in this space positioned for a unique segmentation. It would cover the entire gamut of the ethos, aspiration, problems of veterans; experience of Faujis when in service; opinions; suggestions & views; military history, strategic issues, weaponry and humour etc. The ex-servicemen will be central to the magazine.
 

The magazines shall be available on direct subscription only, initially. Most of the veterans shall be approached by email and addresses in our data base. Advertisements shall be put in national dailies to make faujis aware, word of mouth publicity and recommendation by subscribers will help drive circulation.
 

Above all it will essentially be a platform for officers, JCOs and NCOs of the three wings of the Indian Armed Forces to project and fight for the problems of ex-servicemen and the families of martyrs. It would amplify the pitch of issues long unresolved by the govt and be the constant voice of veterans and serving soldiers.
 

Many of the Faujis when in service do not realise the problems and their position in society till they hang their uniform and enter civil life. It is such a jolt to sit back and ponder of the vast discrimination to the lot who gave their best period of life to the country. It is such an irony that the same countrymen and the govt treat them so indifferently.
 

Though, there is no dearth of blogs and groups in social media space on the internet which espouse the same cause and are managed by high ranking retired officers be it Navy, Army or the Air Force. They are all doing a good job and maybe keeping the lot connected in sharing views and information.

It is often found mentioned in these blogs and messages by officers that mainstream media does not truly give coverage to the cause of Faujis. Many a times the media takes a different opinion of issues. Yes, it does give token coverage to parades and glorious events. But what it does not take is the cause of ex-servicemen who feel neglected and suffocated living in the civilian world.
 

Till when we are going to take it lying down by the powers-to-be. It has been 66 years of Independence that any Fauji has come forward to become the voice of all his fellow brethren by pursuing this cause in print media. It is time to understand the power of print media and put our act together.
 

Yes, now the Faujis of this country will now have a voice. An ex-servicemen himself, Prasoon Kumar ex-Capt of Indian Army runs this media publishing house who has taken the onus to unite and bring together all fauji journos and writers to use the power of pen in making the veterans ever proud and empower them with knowledge and being heard by the authorities.
 

We intend to form an Advisory Panel of senior and articulate retired defence officers to guide us forming the content of the magazine from time to time and also help us draw a line for matters of national defence. Their experience in the Forces will bring a richness and veracity in content. They can suggest measures and methods to the policy forming bureaucrats in better shaping the future of forces. It will be a loadstone and guiding star to improve the lives of not only the ex-servicemen but also the serving faujis of India.
 

At the outset we would like to send your mailing ADDRESS to us by email to receive complimentary for a limited period. We request to forward this email to your brother FAUJIS who could receive inaugural copies. You could also suggest names of experienced and senior defence officers for the Advisory Panel.
 

Please write to us at – faujimagazine@gmail.com
 

Jai Hind!

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About the Publisher - Prasoon Kumar is a resident of Mumbai; he has founded and runs the local community newspaper called PLANET POWAI for the last 12 years. Thereafter he launched ‘Planet Thane’ and ‘Planet Juhu’. He has successfully carved a niche and built these brands. He has rather pioneered publishing of community newspapers in India since 2002.
 

He has done his schooling from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Delhi and graduation from Delhi University. He is a post-graduate from Delhi School of Economics. He then joined the Indian Army as a short-service commissioned officer. He served as a captain in Artillery. He belonged to the SSC36 course and voluntarily left the army after 5 years in 1988.
 

He then got into printing and worked as marketing head for many well-known print houses in Delhi, Chennai and Pune. Looking for a change and seeking a challenging work atmosphere he landed in Mumbai in 1999 and took to newspaper publishing (print media).
 

Living at the threshold of challenges he is poised to launch a series of pan-India magazines in the next four years. He is an avid entrepreneur with a track record of success in print media. He has keen interest in biographies of leaders, extra-terrestrial life and fiction. He is presently penning a biography of a well-known business leader of India.
 

You can speak to him on mobile +91 9820001918

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About the Editor Designate - Maroof Raza is a consultant and strategic affairs expert on Times Now. He is the Mentor of Security Watch India. He has appeared on almost all of India’s leading television channels as an expert on military and security matters, and on BBC’s World Service radio programmes. Maroof is a former Indian army officer, with experience in counter-insurgency operations.
 

He graduated from St Stephen's College, Delhi, has an M.A. in War Studies from King's College, London, and an M.Phil in International Relations from Cambridge University. In 1994, he was awarded the Times of India Fellowship, and has held Visiting Fellowships at the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi, at the Henry L. Stimson Centre, Washington and at the War Studies Department of King’s College, London. He was a Visiting Professor at Middlesex University and its Regional Director (for South Asia). He continues to lecture extensively in India and abroad on India’s Security Concerns. His articles are published regularly in leading newspaper of India.
 

He has authored two books: Low-Intensity Conflicts: The new dimension to India’s military commitments and Wars and no Peace over Kashmir. He has edited a book titled Generals and Governments in India and Pakistan. As the General Editor of Military Affairs series of Har Anand Publications, since 2001, he has edited twelve volumes. Most recently, he has edited a book on Indian terrorism challenges titled Confronting Terrorism (Penguin Books, India).

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Armed Forces Tribunal gets teeth to implement its orders

CHANDIGARH: The Army authorities would not be able to deny the execution of orders passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), as the central government has empowered the AFT with the powers of execution prescribed in the civil procedure code (CPC).

The powers of execution of orders under CPC includes the civil arrest, civil contempt and attachment of property of defaulters till the orders are not executed.

A statement regarding the empowerment of AFTs with execution powers under CPC was made on Monday by the central government before the Punjab and Haryana high court in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking powers to ensure compliance of orders passed by AFT.

When the matter came up for hearing on Monday, the central government submitted that the AFT could follow the procedure prescribed under Order XXI of the CPC.

Hearing this, the division bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul disposed of the PIL on the satisfaction expressed by the petitioner's counsel on the issue.

The PIL filed by the founder president of AFT Chandigarh bar association, Major Navdeep Singh, had submitted that the ministry of defence (MoD) has refused to implement the orders passed by AFT even when upheld by Supreme Court.

Pointing out some provisions of the Armed Force Tribunal Act ordain execution of its orders, the petitioner informed that the procedure is not laid down and neither does the AFT have powers of civil contempt.

The PIL had sought directions to the law ministry to either notify or amplify the procedure of execution of AFT orders or that the AFT be directed to initiate criminal contempt proceedings in each case of non-compliance. There are more than 3000 cases of the AFT that have not been complied with by the Government on the pretext that the decisions are against 'Government policy'.

The PIL had also stated that the Chandigarh bench of AFT though is imposing costs on MoD for non-compliance of its orders but the said costs were being directed to be paid to the registrar of the AFT rather than the litigants which was not only against the concept of "costs" but also directly against law laid down by constitutional courts. The petition says that costs are hence being paid from one pocket of the government to another which itself is alien to law.

 

Courtsesy: Times of India

Opinion: No country for old soldiers

By: Major Navdeep Singh

Hurtful is the cold reality that while the society at large renders lip service aplenty for our soldiers, the practical ground reality is somewhat removed from this theoretical compliment.

The rights and benefits of our men and women in uniform, especially disabled soldiers, are under siege, and if there is any institution to be thanked for protecting them, it is our Constitutional Courts, more particularly the Delhi and the Punjab & Haryana High Courts, which have time and again raised a protective shield for military personnel, veterans and their families from terror unleashed by that very officialdom which was designed to care for them.

Take for example Naik Suraj Bhan of the Punjab Regiment who suffered psychiatric scars after extensively serving in counter-insurgency and then suffering a fall while on duty. He was medically boarded out without any pension with the system branding his disability “neither attributable to, nor aggravated by military service” thereby denying him disability benefits. After running from pillar to post, he finally got relief from the Punjab & Haryana High Court but the Army appealed to a Division Bench of the High Court and then to the Supreme Court. Thankfully the appeal was thrown out by the Supreme Court, but how many of these poor infirm and disabled soldiers afford assistance in Courts?

Suraj Bhan is today a non-entity, in a dreadful shape, walks around naked, sometimes chained to his bed by insensitive villagers, but who cares? The Government can afford to run riot with an army of lawyers let loose on our disabled soldiers till the Supreme Court, but at what cost? While the political executive opts to look the other way, there are thousands of other disabled soldiers who are receiving notices from the Supreme Court on multiple appeals filed by the Ministry of Defense against disability pension granted to them by our High Courts and Benches of Armed Forces Tribunal. Lower level bureaucrats in the Ministry of Defense and also the Army HQ are deriving sadistic pleasure out of this game with nobody from the upper echelons really ready to tame them. In any case, the top brass is prone to be misled by devious and disingenuous noting sheets initiated from below on which no application of mind is put into motion by the seniors.

The system is inherently unfair to our disabled soldiers. The rules are outdated, the procedure of adjudging disabilities as “attributable to, or aggravated by military service” by medical boards, which is the declaration required for grant of disability benefits, is primitive and medieval and reflects a mathematical and not a medical approach. Illegal instructions are issued by officers sitting in Delhi to medical boards which are in contravention of rules.

For instance, the rules provide that service in peace or field areas shall have no bearing on ‘attributability’ of disabilities, but locally issued letters to medical boards direct them that attributability (and thereby disability pension) should not be granted if diseases are incurred in ‘peace’ areas. So, if a soldier in a particular high-pressure stressful appointment in Delhi who may be on call 24 hours a day, suffers a heart ailment due to stress and strain of service, he shall not be entitled to disability benefits, but another soldier who may be performing simple laid back clerical duties for a few hours a day in an Air Conditioned Office in Jammu would be entitled to the said benefits for the same disability because Jammu is ‘field’ while Delhi is ‘peace’.

Primitive practices are still followed, such as forming opinion on heart problems on the basis of a ‘14 days charter of duties’. The service-connection of complicated heart problems in the Indian military is determined by activities a person had indulged in the last 14 days prior to the onset of the disease. It is common knowledge that heart diseases manifest over a long period of time, isn’t it time to shun these outdated practices and deal with such situations with a more scientific temperament? Hence rather than looking into disabilities on a case to case basis, broad mathematical rules are applied which challenge the very basis of medical science, logic and even common sense.

Rules promulgated by the Government state that if the cause of the disability cannot be identified, then disability pension is to be granted to the individual by taking the disability as attributable to service, but in practice, in such cases disability pension admissibility is rejected by stating that pension cannot be awarded since the ‘cause is unknown’ or that the disease is a ‘constitutional disease’. Psychiatric disabilities, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and even worrying trends of suicides and fratricide are being ignored and mostly being wrongly linked to ‘domestic reasons’ thereby obliterating a connection with military service so as to keep negative propaganda at bay, rather than looking within. But this approach is not only a disservice to our soldiers but also cowardly whereby eyes are closed to an issue which should engage us and which has a direct link with military life.

A soldier spends most of his service life in his unit and away from his family, blaming such occurrences on ‘domestic reasons’ may be the easy way out to escape responsibility but hardly moral, ethical or legal. And then there are certain provisions that our commanders, doctors and even those deciding entitlements sitting in tall towers in Delhi are unaware of. A succinct example would be, that as per rules, even suicides are to be declared as ‘attributable to military service’ if the occurrence is in a high altitude or isolated area, and this has been the rule position since 1937 when the British codified this aspect. But why would anybody want to go deep and study such issues, scratching the surface is much easier, even if it leads to deleterious consequences to the entitlements of our soldiers and their widows.

To deny benefits, at times it is remarked that such disabilities may also have arisen had the particular person not been in the Army. Very well. Here is a person who is 24 hours and 365 days on call under a stern disciplinary code, mostly away from family, in a strictly regimented routine, retires in his 30s, and can he be simplistically compared with say a civilian employee who goes to office at 9 in the morning to return at 5, five days a week, lives with his family in his hometown, enjoys holidays, retires at 60?. It shouldn’t take an expert to reply in the negative.

While a solider is away on military duty, wouldn’t common ailments such as hypertension or heart diseases or seizures or psychiatric disabilities or psychosomatic disorders get aggravated by even seemingly insignificant incidents at the home-front like admissions or non-performance of children in educational institutions, minor property disputes, lack of care of aged parents and family back home, insensitivity of civil administration and the like?

While the public at large feels that military personnel, due to a seemingly ‘stress-free’ life and the emphasis on physical exercise, enjoy a better health profile than civilians, this actually is merely an urban legend. Studies during the 5th Central Pay Commission came to a conclusion that while the average life expectancy of civilian employees was 77.5 years, it was shockingly only 60-64 years for our jawans. Of course no official attempt was made to go deeper into the statistics. To call such a life ‘stress-free’ where in daily routine permission is meant to be sought even to go to the toilet or visit a marketplace- innocuous things which other citizens take as granted, would be faulty to say the least.

The icing on this ruinous cake is that the provisions of Section 47 of ‘Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995’ are not applicable to the armed forces– meaning that if a civilian employee gets disabled whether on duty or off duty, whether due to service or otherwise, whether due to own negligence or not, in whichever circumstance, his or her service is protected under the ibid Act and if the said employee is not able to work, still he or she is to be paid all pay and allowances till the age of 60 and full pension thereafter.

While on the other hand, if similarly placed service-members get disabled, then what to talk of full pay and allowances or even pension, they can be discharged even without a disability pension.

Surprising it is not that most democracies, irrespective of the kind of disability, offer some pension or monthly assistance to disabled soldiers. The United States treats all disabilities sustained on duty or on authorised leave as having incurred in the ‘line of duty’ as per Section 105 of United States Code 38. Even Bhutan, under its Armed Forces Pension & Provident Fund Scheme, 2002, caters for monthly payment to such disabled soldiers, even if the disability has no link with the course of employment, till the age of superannuation and then proper pension thereafter. India stands out like a sole sore thumb.

Just proper adherence and broad interpretation of rules would bring succour to disabled soldiers, but that is not how it is. Rules are interpreted literally through a tint and not liberally as they are meant to be. When the judiciary comes to their rescue, multiple layers of appeals ensue, with the Ministry of Defense blaming the Army HQ and the Army HQ blaming the Ministry, while the disabled bear the brunt of this ridiculous insensitivity. The majority of petitions and appeals filed by the Ministry of Defense and pending in the Supreme Court are appeals against our own disabled soldiers.

It is not that the issue has not been raised at the highest level. In August, 2013, MPs cutting across party lines, led by Ms Smriti Irani, had brought this morbidity to light in the Parliament wherein she came down heavily upon the tendency of the Government to deal with and interpret entitlements of disabled personnel restrictively and hyper-technically rather than liberally as provided by rules, she also decried the Government’s tendency of filing appeals till the Supreme Court against disabled soldiers forcing them to litigate till they were either dead or broke. But of course, as expected, not a tear was shed by the Ministry of Defense.

The Supreme Court in 2010 remarked that the Government was treating disabled soldiers like beggars. On the persistent requests of a battery of lawyers, the remarks were toned down and it was observed that the Government was treating soldiers in a ‘shabby manner’ which was ‘extremely unfortunate’. The High Courts have recorded many such remarks with the Delhi High Court stating that the circumstances under which our soldiers operate are ‘unimaginable to those not acquainted with such situations’, even reminding the world at large of the adage “When you go home Tell them, for their Today, we gave our Tomorrow”. These are words which should have resonated within the precincts of the officialdom, but these did not, and even after much hammering, no change is seen on the horizon. They say change comes from within, but from a hollow national core, what can be expected? Zilch?

Which brings us back to where I started. There is much more to patriotism than chest-thumping or war-mongering. The inner demons, these insidious issues need to be addressed first. These may not be glamorous enough but are much more vital than the pomp and show of the parades that you see on TV, clapping your hands, swelling your chest. Such pride is worthless when the nation does not stand steadfastly behind the rights of the men and women in uniform who give the prime of their youth for all of us, for you, for me, for an ungrateful officialdom, for an ungrateful nation.

Courtesy: StratPost

Curative Petition filed by the Central Government against its pensioners DISMISSED by the Supreme Court, now is this closure to their agony?

As explained in detail in this post published on Major Navdeep Singh's blog on 22 April 2014, the Curative Petition filed by the Great Union of India against its own pensioners came up for hearing before a 5 Judge Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme which was pleased to dismiss the same.

This was the 5^th Round of litigation for pensioners starting from the CAT ending with this Curative Petition. But would this be closure to their agony?

Courtesy: Major Navdeep Singh

Government bent upon prolonging the agony of military & civil pensioners: Files curative petition in the Supreme Court challenging grant of pensionary benefits from 01-01-2006

The officialdom has reached nadir.

Such is the state of affairs that judicial verdicts are overridden by administrative egotism. So sad is the situation that executive pride overtakes what is logical, prudent or just. And the political executive remains a rudderless rubberstamp.

As many would know, there were anomalies in the fixation of pension of pre-2006 central govt retirees with effect from 01 Jan 2006 and the question was whether pension was to be calculated based on the minimum of each grade/rank within the newly introduced pay-bands or on the minimum of the pay-band itself. The said anomaly was resolved by way of judgements of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) as well as Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) which inter alia ruled that pension would be calculated on the basis of minima of each rank/grade within the pay-band. The judgement of the CAT was challenged by the Govt before the Delhi High Court. In the meantime however, the Govt itself removed the anomaly but granted the benefits from 24 Sept 2012 rather than 01 Jan 2006 which was the date of the inception of the anomaly. The verdict of the AFT was challenged by the Govt before the Supreme Court.

Hence the exact controversy now stood narrowed down to whether the benefits of the correct pension were to flow from 01 Jan 2006 which was the date from which the 6th Central Pay Commission recommendations were implemented or from 24 Sept 2012 which was when the Govt had decided to remove the anomalies in the pension structure after the said Pay Commission.

The controversy was resolved by the Delhi High Court which directed that after removal of the anomaly, the pension arrears were to flow from 01 Jan 2006 and not from the future artificial date of 24 Sep 2012. Never to respect well-rounded judicial verdicts, the Govt challenged the decision of the High Court before the Supreme Court, however the Supreme Court was pleased to dismiss the SLP filed by the Govt in July 2013.

Ego-fuelled highhandedness is what the system is known for though. They were not to rest. How could the Courts hold the hands of old pensioners? The Govt is always right. Govt policies are sacrosanct and sacred, or so the system believes. And hence they went in for a Review Petition before the Supreme Court urging the Apex Court to review its order dismissing the Union of India’s SLP. Meanwhile, without properly disclosing the dismissal of the SLP, the Govt filed many more similar petitions before the Supreme Court and got them tagged with the military pensioners’ matters which dealt with the same subject.

Things were not again smooth for the mighty Union of India and the Supreme Court was pleased to dismiss the Review Petition filed by the Govt against the pensioners.

In any democracy, this would have meant closure to the agony of litigating pensioners. But no, that is not how things work in our country, now the great Union of India, our very own Central Govt, has filed a Curative Petition against the same verdict. Hence, three rounds of litigation before the Supreme Court itself.

The Curative Petition has already been docketed in the Supreme Court and is numbered as Curative Petition (Civil) No 126 of 2014. It has not yet been listed for hearing.

The Curative Petition is not an ordinary remedy and is usually meant to cure ‘gross miscarriage of justice’, but then for the capable and worthy officers of our Central Govt, the grant of correct and legal pension to its military and civil pensioners is ‘miscarriage of justice’.

Courtesy: Major Navdeep