Compensation for disabled veterans: The one thing Kejriwal got right

I severely disagree with the style and substance of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s politics. AAP’s power & water subsidies are regressive; their street-corner vigilantism, made-for-TV dharnas, choice of deliberately offensive words – everything has a shock-and-awe evanescence about it. [caption id=“attachment_1369125” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Arvind Kejriwal. PTI image[/caption] But there is one “Kejriwal decision” that I deeply admire - the award of Rs 1 cr in compensation for the death of Constable Vinod Kumar while on duty. At a ceremony on the eve of Republic Day, Kejriwal gave the cheque to Kumar’s wife Sabita Devi along with a citation at Delhi’s Chatrasal stadium. Kumar was set upon by liquor smugglers while on an excise raid near the capital’s border with Haryana. Ironically – or perhaps because there is nothing raucous about it – AAP has claimed the least credit for this politically noble decision. This is perhaps the highest amount awarded by any government, state or centre, for the death of an employee in harness. And arguably, the quickest payment ever made. The cheque was given within a month of Kumar’s death. Often politicians forget their promises the moment the publicity subsides. Sadly, this too may be a one-off case. Sadly again, this is not how the Ministry of Defense treats its soldiers. It has a vexatious policy of contesting almost every award of disability benefit granted by the Armed Forces Tribunal. Maj Navdeep Singh, who litigates on behalf of veterans and has a blog says the disability pension varies between Rs 700 to Rs 4,000 a month for jawans. Officers are paid more but there are not too many of them. Opposing appeals are made as a matter of routine by - and this is the irony - the Department of Ex-servicemen’s Welfare! Can it get more perverse than this? Contrast this with how Cory Remsburg was given a standing ovation by both Republican and Democrat lawmakers during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on 29 January. Sergeant Remsburg was left in a coma in 2009 after a roadside bomb hit his convoy outside Kandahar in Afghanistan. Obama held him up as an example of American fortitude. ‘Cory is here tonight, and like the Army he loves, like the America he serves, Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg never gives up.’ But India often gives up on its veterans. At least it excruciatingly tires them out. On CNN-IBN’s Citizen Journalist show, Vijay Oberoi narrated just how mean the defense bureaucracy, and how indifferent the political leadership, can get. Oberoi, a captain in the Maratha Light Infantry, was shot in the thigh inthe 1965 India-Pakistan conflict. His life  was saved but his leg had to be amputated. In 2001, he retired as the Vice Chief of the Army. He had soldiered on for three decades with an artificial leg. The Military Board said he was entitled to 70 percent of the war disability benefit. The 5th Pay Commission raised this to 75 percent. The Ministry of Defense refused to pay the extra 5 percent! In 2010, the Armed Forces Tribunal ordered the enhanced amount to be paid. But the Ministry went in appeal. ‘If this happens to an officer, imagine what happens at the lower ranks,’ Oberoi says. According to him 90 percent of disability awards are contested. ‘It erodes the trust and confidence of the soldier.’ Col Anil Kaul was in combat in Sri Lanka as part of the Sikh Light Infantry. He says he saved 250 lives, for which he was awarded the Vir Chakra, but lost his right eye and most of his left hand. He re-learnt how to drive a vehicle, fire a weapon and play golf. He also took part in Operation Parakram following the terrorist attack on Parliament. When Kaul retired, he was not given full disability allowance. The Blue Book says if a finger is lost, one is entitled to 10 percent of the compensation; if two fingers are lost, the entitlement is 20 percent; if one eye is lost one gets half the amount - as if limbs are ‘FMCG products to be served at a discount.’ Col Kaul moved the Delhi High Court and won after ten years. The denial of disability allowances and one pension for one rank are sore points with veterans. There are three million of them. If we want the armed forces to be apolitical, we will have to treat soldiers - serving, retired and disabled - with the respect they deserve. We will also have to reign in the bureaucracy, which does not shy away from lavishing benefits on themselves. Last September, the government announced that it would bear the cost of medically treating members of the All India Civil Services and their dependents abroad! That’s almost anarchic. Scared, mainstream political parties are being forced by everybody’s favourite new ‘anarchists’, the Aam Aadmi Party, to unlearn several bad habits. I hope the shabby treatment of those protecting us, internally and on the borders, is one of them.