Young boys who choose to serve in the armed forces after clearing UPSC exams and SSB interviews, but get injured during their training and are deemed unfit to continue, are unceremoniously boarded out of academies
Shubham Gupta, 25, joined the National Defence Academy in 2010 to train to become a Grade 1 officer when he was just nineteen. Two years later, during the advanced stage of his training, he was wounded, which rendered him completely disabled. He was then boarded out of service, as he was unable to conduct himself without an attendant.
"My son sustained injuries because he was doing what he was ordered to do," says Anupama Gupta, his mother. "He is left crippled with no graduation, no option to continue his education, zero medical cover and none of the camaraderie that he so fiercely believed in."
Young boys who choose to serve in the armed forces after clearing UPSC exams and SSB interviews, but get injured during their training and are deemed unfit to continue, are unceremoniously boarded out of academies.
Like Shubham, there are over 300 cadets, who since 1985, have been boarded out of different military academies on medical grounds.
"Whether a cadet is boarded out on his first day or just a day before his commissioning, sees the same fate," says Ankur Chaturvedi, son of an Army officer, who was boarded out of Academy in 1996, in his 6th term, on grounds of 20 per cent disability. Ankur has started a petition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking justice for Shubham. Ankur is determined to fight for the cadets boarded out on medical grounds, with an option to complete their degree, get ex-serviceman status and ECHS coverage.
Shubham is authorised to get his treatment from the Military Hospital in Bhatinda, where he lives with his parents. But the Bhatinda Military Hospital does not have neurology or urology departments, required for his treatment. He cannot be referred to other hospitals.
"It is interesting to note that a civil service trainee, if injured on duty, is not left out. He will be posted in a capacity where his skill can be utilised," says Samanth S, who was from 73 NAC, Naval Academy, INS Mandovi and was boarded out in 2007, due to common peroneal nerve injury, attributable to military service. "Officer cadets boarded out of academies, get only a small Ex-gratia amount, not ECHS (medical protection plan for defence pensioner or family), and are not absorbed by any government organisation, State or Central, like NCC, MoD, in officer grades, despite these organisations having enough resettlement options to absorb them."
"Around two years back, our defence minister had announced the formation of a committee to look into the matter. The committee never got implemented," says Chaturvedi, who is determined to make a difference to the lives of affected cadets.
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 "Shubham Gupta")
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