Is Bipin Rawat Putting Last Nail on Indian Army Coffin?

We at times wonder that whether this man Bipin Rawat is on the payroll of the Indian Army or any other agency as the way he is dishing out orders which are not in his charter of duty related to pension is going to demoralize the present and prospective good quality candidates to join the Indian Army and in the long run the nation will suffer.

Just remember that appeasement of political bosses is good to an extent but if you have failed in the Chetwode motto means that you have failed in all walks of life. The pension is earned by a soldier and is not a Khairaat being given by the govt.

Does he know how much effort has been undertaken by his predecessors to keep Army at par with the IAS lobby and now this gentleman is playing in the hands of the same Babus to make sure that the demise of the Army is certain for which we do not require any external enemy?

We present below a letter written by a veteran to Bipin Rawat which is floating on social media and do go through this Twitter feed that how prospective candidates are going to be affected.

My dear Rawat, 

Greetings. 

1. I have always supported your ventures and statements during your tenure as COAS because I believed them to be correct and done in good faith. I have also been a very vociferous supporter in many of your actions as CDS, because I believe the statements & actions were true and correct. But today I cannot stand with you on the curtailing of my pension as I took premature release (PR) and the specialist qualifications that I got in the IAF would be lost. I must argue my case with ref to my career, my specialist qualifications, my courses of instruction, and how I have given back to the IAF more than I received. This formula will be applicable to most, if not all specialists as referred to in the note from office of CDS. I was commissioned on 16 Oct 65, and got PR on 30 Nov 1993 after 28 years and one month of service. 

2. I place the courses I attended and qualifications / specialisations that I acquired and how I gave back the investment made in me by Govt and IAF. >>> I became a pilot in Oct 1965 and more than redeemed that qualification by flying 5000 hours in 28 years with the IAF. By getting PR in 1993 I did not deny the IAF my expertise, it had been utilised to the full. There was no loss to IAF with my PR. 

I became a Flying Instructor in June 1973. I instructed on HT-2, AN-12, IL-76, Kiran, and the IAF utilised my instructor qualification to the limit from 1973 to 1993, for 20 years. I made many unqualified boys into military pilots and many pilots into instructors on some of these aircraft. Thus with PR, my expertise as an instructor has not been denied to the IAF. It has been redeemed fully, there was no denial to IAF nor any void created, with me taking PR. 

I attended Staff College in 1977. I signed a bond to serve for at least five years after becoming a psc. I served for 16 years after getting the psc symbol. I also became a DS at DSSC for three years and trained many more officers from all three Services on Staff Duties. I had given back and redeemed in 16 years more than what was invested in me in one year of 1977.

I was sent on deputation to Iraq Air Force for two years, Apr 1980 to Apr 1982. I paid my Pension Contribution for the two years. On return to India , I served for 11 years, 1982 to 1993, thus redeeming in full measure what IAF and GOI had invested in me by the deputation to Iraq.

 I was an Air Force Examiner from April 1982 to June 1984 by virtue of being a Category A flying instructor. During this two year tenure I supported in raising the standards of flying proficiency and aviation related knowledge among the transport pilots, navigators, flight engineers, flight signallers, flight gunners, of the Indian Air Force. My expertise of being a pilot acquired in 1965 and instructor in 1973 was redeemed in even greater measure during my tenure as Air Force Examiner. >>> In June 1984 I was sent to USSR to be trained on IL-76 for six months. On return in Jan 1985 I carried out flying training of more than 20 pilots on the IL-76, and served in the IAF for eight years after my return from USSR. As the CO of the IL-76 sqn, I was instrumental, with others, in making the unit operational by day and night, in all the possible roles of the IL-76. My expertise as pilot and instructor on IL-76, was fully redeemed and my PR in no manner was a loss to the IAF. I have paid back in greater measure that what was invested in me by giving me training in USSR.

From the foregoing it is abundantly clear and evident that all the qualifications and expertise that I had acquired in the IAF had been fully and profitably utilised by IAF during my 28 years of service. My PR in no manner created impediments and voids in either flying or administrative functioning of the IAF. In other words, my PR was not crippling any aspect of the IAF, which I was associated with. The IAF and GOI had taken back more than they had invested in me. And I add, this is case with all offrs who can be called super-specialists or even specialists. There is absolutely no void created within the IAF by my PR in 1993, it is incorrect to state that giving PR to super-specialists, specialists or even ordinary pilots causes any void, because the offr would have given back much more than what was given to him. 

3. Now the reason for PR. I did not take PR to offer my flying expertise and qualifications anywhere else in the commercial market. Though doing that, after redeeming all my debts with the IAF / GOI, would not be a breach of faith. My promotion board to Air Cmde that was due in Feb / Mar 1993 was delayed by a year to 1994. That meant that I would become an Air Cmde not before end of 1994, just short of reaching the age of 50 years and that too if I was promoted in my first chance. I was born January 1945. At the end of four years as Air Cmde at the age of 54 yrs, there was every chance of superannuating before promotion to AVM, because vacancies were few. Being a transport pilot, I was ineligible to hold many higher posts as per IAF policy. It would thus be sensible and prudent to leave before I turned 50 yrs and seek a second innings outside the IAF. Therefore I took PR in Nov 1993, just before I became 49 yrs old. Leaving the IAF after having given back more than what was invested in me is not a betrayal, nor did it create a void and thus cannot attract pension penalty. On what basis? 

4. It is very obvious that every expertise and qualification I acquired at Govt expense has been redeemed in full measure and more. I also served the mandatory periods as laid down by GOI and IAF for an offr who acquires qualification / expertise at IAF expense. Those mandatory periods have been determined after calculating whether the Return On Investment would have been realised for each Course of Instruction / Expertise acquired by the offr. Thus in no manner did I violate any rule / regulation / law by taking PR after 28 years service. Then why the penalty on my pension? This false flag waving about void in expertise is misplaced and will not stand scrutiny. Why is it being done? What is to be achieved? And at whose cost? 

5. This being so , how can the CDS office propose that my pension should be reduced to 60% because by taking PR, I have denied the full utilisation of my expertise / qualification by the IAF and GOI. This statement is false, because the IAF has utilised every qualification I got and the IAF also exploited for good purpose every expertise I had acquired. I had given back much more than what had been invested in me. Truncating my pension is unacceptable because it is against the principles of natural justice. I was not due to give back anything to the IAF / GOI when I took PR in Nov 1993. I did not use my expertise acquired in the IAF to get higher remunerations. Even if I had done that, I was within my rights, after having redeemed my obligations/debts to the IAF. The CDS office note is misleading in as much as it accuses me and every offr taking PR of offering his IAF qualifications to other employers, as if the offr taking PR has not fulfilled his obligations towards the IAF, and is cheating the IAF. This is a false accusation and in today’s parlance amounts to ‘fake news’. 

6. The IAF offr is a central govt employee, who receives pension that comes out of the Consolidated Fund of India ( CFI). Every other central govt employee, also gets his pension from the same CFI. All civil servants are also given pension out of the CFI. However, civilian offrs who take PR are not been denied their full authorised pension because their expertise has not been utilised fully and will create a void. Nor is there a proposal from any civilian organisation that, similar to the note from CDS office, all civil servants who take PR will also get truncated pension because their qualifications and expertise is being denied to the GOI. How then can there be two dissimilar pension rules one for military offr and another for civilian offr with both taking PR, when they all are employees of central govt and receiving pension from the very same CFI. Why should I, a military veteran be penalised unjustly when under similar circumstances, a contemporary IAS offr will not be so penalised? The office of the CDS is hammering its own brethren for a wrong they have not committed. A simple act of seeking PR, a very normal activity in every walk of life, is being made into a larger than life criminal act only by military personnel. All this to justify a reduction in the Armed Forces Pension Bill? What about the Civilian veterans of MOD who seek and get PR? Can the CDS, who deals with Military Affairs, which must include civilians in MOD, force this proposal onto them? Not possible, then why penalise your own kinsmen for a wrong they have not done? If I have misunderstood the essence of the CDS note, kindly educate me. I will revise my position on the subject. 

7. I urge the CDS to reconsider the note in question and withdraw the proposal. The suggestion is unjust, unfair, inequitable and shows complete insensitivity to what the Armed Forces culture stands for. Whether it be peace or war, The Moral to the Physical is Three Is to One. 

With warm regards and best wishes. God bless. 

Group Capt XXXXX

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