Give the ex-servicemen their due

Army chief General VK Singh’s assertion that the government is in agreement with the principle of the demand by ex-servicemen for ‘one rank, one pension’ is a sign that better things are in store for the country’s bravehearts.

It is shameful that our defence personnel have had to fight long and hard for something that should have been a matter of course.

This situation would not have arisen if our bureaucrats had been sensitive and sensible. Here was an issue on which both sides — the army and the political leadership — were in agreement, and yet it has simmered for decades.

While civilian employees of the government were granted the benefits of one rank, one pension long ago, the petty bureaucrats have been refusing to treat all ex-servicemen, whether they retired in 1970 or in 2010, after fighting a war or serving in peacetime, uniformly. As things stand, someone who probably fought in a couple of wars — 1962, 1965 and 1971 — gets a fraction of the pension of someone who may have spent his entire career at peace stations.

That the issue has dragged on for decades indicates the need for an urgent overhaul of the defence ministry even as the rule is implemented without further ado. For too long have babus sitting in the cosy comfort of their South Block offices been allowed to play with the honour and livelihood of the brave men and women who selflessly risk their lives in hostile conditions so that the rest of us can sleep in peace.