Wishing the Honourable Defence Minister/Raksha Mantri a Happy Diwali

Dear Honourable Defence Minister/Raksha Mantri,

          Vanakkam

         Our family (of about 18 lakh Family Pensioners and Pensioners of the Armed Forces and their families) together wish you and your family a very Happy Diwali.

          This is not my first letter to any Defence Minister/Raksha Mantri. I wrote to and later discussed the OROP matter with Shri Manohar Parrikar on 8th October 2015. I have also written to the honourable Prime Minister on the same subject.

           Having  read in the media reports of your teaching the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) how to say “Namaste,” I am sure you will use your sorely needed teaching skills in the Ministry of Defence.

It was nice to see the honourable PM spend his Diwali with Army personnel as he had done all Diwalis since 2014 and to see you in the A & N islands amongst Army, Navy, and Air Force officers. 

The smiles in Gurez and in A & N, on the occasion of Diwali, the festival of lights, did not dispel the widespread gloom and silence (which has nothing to with the Apex Court’s ban on fire crackers) in the houses of Veterans and Family pensioners.

The Non-Functional (Financial) Upgradation (NFU) issue will be decided by the Apex Court on 26th October 2017 and your Ministry has sought 3 months more from the Lok Sabha Committee on Government Assurances on the OROP related One Man Judicial Committee's Report. So I will steer clear of that.

Your esteemed self might wish to ask, “So what does that has that to do with my teaching skills?” You will need them, as I wrote earlier, to teach the MoD’s Department of Ex-Serviceman (DESW), the Defence/Finance (Def/Fin) and Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) something called welfare and care for the families and Veterans who have given life, limb and decades of their lives in the service of the nation, that is India, but above all you will need to teach them to be truthful.

The answer lies in subsequent paragraphs on just one of the many aspects of suffering that family pensioners and Veterans have endured, and will continue to endure, especially after being shown the light at the end of the ever lengthening tunnel by promises made in Rewari in September 2013.


You might not be aware but a Director in the MoD denied information (on file notings on the Pay Resolutions for Officers and Other Ranks of the Armed Forces dated 5th September 2016) on the grounds that it "can be used to create disturbance/unrest in the Armed Forces." The poor Director & First Appellate Authority  appeared to ignore the truth that personnel of Armed Forces, Family Pensioners and Pensioners suffer worse treatment from the MoD and yet have retained their equanimity. And, in contradiction to the Director's misgivings, even two months after the RTI disclosure was placed in the public domain, there has been neither unrest nor disturbance in the Armed Forces. But, I digress.    

On 6^th July 2017, that is more than three months prior to Diwali, the Civilian pensioners of the Govt of India were rewarded for services rendered to the nation by the Department of Pensions & Pensioners Welfare providing them with Concordance tables for revising their pensions (F No. 38/37/2016-P & PW (A) dated 6^th July 2017 refers).But the Family pensioners and pensioners are denied a similar Diwali.

To the matter at hand, in reply to RTI online request for information registration No. DEXSW/R/2017/ 50548 dated 31^st August 2017 on the progress of issue of concordance tables for Armed Forces pensioners, the Deptt of Ex-Servicemen replied vide No. 237/RTI/D (P/P)/2014 dated 13^th September 2017 that the  above mentioned concordance tables had been sent to CGDA vide PB to ID No. 17(1)/2016- D(Pen/Pol) dated 13^th July 2017 for further necessary action.  

As the O/o CGDA did not deign to provide a reply to a simultaneous RTI online request for information on concordance tables vide registration number CGDFA/R/2017/50306 dated 31^st July 2017, a First Appeal registration No. CGDFA/A/2017/60061 dated 13^th September 2017 was filed.

In the order No. CPIO/AT/2017/HQ/I/328/Appeal dated 11^th October 2017, the First Appellate Authority of the o/o CGDA communicated online on 12^th October 2017, stating that the “desired concordance tables for notional fixation pay of Armed Forces pensioners are awaited from the Ministry of Defence.” 

It may be relevant to note that the PCDA (Pension), a subordinate office of the CGDA has issued Circular No. 585 dated 21^st September 2017, quoting GoI (MoD) letter No. 17 (01)/2017/(02)/D(Pension/Policy) dated 5^th September 2017! And Para 3 of the Circular states, inter-alia, “Revised pension/family pension of all Armed Forces Personnel who retired/died prior to 01.01.2016 shall be revised by fixing their pay in the pay matrix recommended by the 7^th CPC in the level corresponding to the pay scale/pay band and grade pay at which they retired/died……”

And the same Para 3 is repeated in yet another circular (with no number) issued by PCDA (Pension) vide letter No. G-1/M/01/ICOs/7^th CPC/Vol. II/2017 dated 29^th September 2017.

The Armed Forces pensioners and Family pensioners will continue to suffer in silence for a few more months to get the correct pensions. 

On the other hand, the civilian staff of the MoD enjoy a well lit Diwali along with Defence Civil Pensioners, who have been granted the enhanced pension forthwith vide Para 5  of PCDA (Pension) Circular C-169 dated 11^th July 2017 i.e. within 6 days (holidays included).

So, honourable Defence Minister, now you understand why I request you to teach the officers in MoD and its affiliates like O/o CGDA to treat Armed Forces pensioners with the same alacrity as they have done with Defence Civilian pensioners.

Satyam Ev Jayate is the nation’s motto. Should it also not be applicable to the MoD and CGDA’s officers?

 

Happy Diwali

Jai Hind