Defence/ Disability Pension
42 July 22, 2019
many as 4.75 lakh enjoying disability
benefits. The pension bill after OROP
has gone up to a staggering `1,12,080
lakh crore this fiscal. In 2015, Defence
Minister Manohar Parrikar had consti-
tuted an experts’ committee to stem the
misuse of concessions given to the gen-
uinely disabled during war and opera-
tional service.
Serving in Siachen, for example, even
for three months at heights above
20,000 feet can cause se rious medical
problems, including impotency, which
soldiers are shy to admit but are hugely
concerned about and resort to home-
grown remedies.
The outrage of veterans and strong
media support for restoration of status
quo antecombined to take the vexed iss -
ue to Parliament. New to his job, Def -
ence Minister Rajnath Singh on June 28
told Parliament that he “will look into it”
and “no soldier with disability will be in -
convenienced”. The Ministry of Defence
(MoD) has sought a clarification from
CBDT and will re-examine the case. An
inveterate supporter of the military, Ra -
jeev Chandrashekhar, MP, while speak-
ing during Question Hour in the Rajya
Sabha, called the withdrawal of disabili-
ty benefits “insensitive”. Singh respond-
ed by saying that legitimate and justified
pension holders will not be deprived of
disability benefits. On July 8 in a written
reply to Chandrashekhar, Singh said
that MoD withdrew 60 civil appeals in
the apex court last year. Of these, 17
related to disability pension. The MoD
has been filing civil appeals in the Sup -
reme Court against the orders of the
Armed Forces Tribunals challenging the
grant of disability benefits by them. Liti -
gation on pension and disability benefits
has become the norm and incurs big
costs on both sides.
Singh’s assurance in Parliament that
legitimate benefits to armed forces per-
sonnel with disabilities would not be
reduced was heartening for veterans. It
is intriguing why the finance ministry is
attempting to throw out the baby with
the bathwater. It is obvious from what
Singh said in Parlia ment that the dis-
ability pension process and system have
to be recalibrated, minimising the scope
and scale for misuse.O
ne of the key players in rectify-
ing the system is the medical
fraternity and the adjutant gen -
eral’s branch. Persons abusing the bene-
fits have to be named, shamed and pun-
ished. Distinction will have to be made
between disability attributed or aggra-
vated by military service from lifestyle
diseases that are manageable.The trend in officers and soldiers
claiming disability pension at the end of
their service has to be curbed. The offi-
cers maimed and disabled in wars—
1962, 1965, 1971, IPKF and Kargil—are
treated as combat casualties, while those
injured in line of duty in internal securi-
ty/counter-insurgency operations are
operational casualties in conditions
short of war. Their disability benefits are
meticulously worked out proportionate
to the degree of disability suffered. This
class of casualties is stand-alone and
must not be confused with disabilities
caused during normal military service.
As a veteran engaged in the 1965 and
1971 wars and IPKF out of area opera-
tions (only a few of my ilk are left), and
counter-insurgency operations in J&K
and the Northeast, I have survived these
epochal events without any visible dis-
ability. Fortunately, the officers and rank
and file of an earlier generation were
not as creative as the lieutenant general
of a decade ago.
Rather than withdraw the tax exem -
ption on disability benefit, the Army
must plug the loopholes in the system
that allow its misuse so that the war
wounded/disabled and genuine service-
induced disability beneficiaries are not
penalised. The whole idea must be to
incentivise physical fitness and not
institutionalise misuse of disability
concessions.
Given the shallow and negative
defence budget of 2019-20, with only
notional tax exemption on defence
imports compared to the `6,000 crore
hike in the Home Ministry budget that
Singh has to justify to his service chiefs,
he will need to have the CBDT circular
set aside and another expert committee
set up to tweak the system to prevent its
misuse. This will require patience.—The writer has fought in all the wars
after 1947 and was Commander of the
IPKF (South) in Sri LankaTwitter: @indialegalmedia
Website: http://www.indialegallive.com
Contact: [email protected]FM Nirmala Sitharaman put
the onus for the withdrawal
of the benefit on the Army.
in a Twitter message, her
office called it, “Res ponse
of armed forces”.In 2015, Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar had for -
med an experts’ committee
to stem the misuse of con-
cessions for disabled in
war and other operations.Defence Minister Rajnath
Singh on June 28 told
Parliament that he “will
look into it” and “no soldier
with disability will be
in convenienced”.