India has one of the largest population of war-widows and disabled soldiers in the world, many say it is second only to Israel. Yet, its callousness towards the men who sacrificed their lives for the nation, and their families, is appaling.
This uncaring attitude became public yet again when the parliament’s standing committee on defence asked the ministry of defence for details on war-widows and disabled soldiers. The committee found that the government doesn’t keep track of them. “The committee are unhappy to note that the ministry has not maintained any data on the widows of soldiers who died fighting and disabled pensioners, who lost their limbs to safeguard the nation...,” a report by the panel submitted to parliament on Wednesday, said.
The committee said the government should “seriously look into this aspect and maintain a centralised data of these categories.” It also expressed its displeasure with the fact that many war widows and disabled pensioners have not been made aware of their privileges. The panel also suggested that for the purpose of “disability pension & other related benefits, any type of injury sustained in performance of duty by any military personnel may be treated at par with war injury.”
The committee also pointed out that the there was a whopping deficiency of 186,138 bullet proof jackets. “The committee are surprised to find out that a deficiency of 186,138 BPJs still exists, which is risking the life of as many soldiers,” it said. The report also points out even now the general staff qualitative requirement for the jackets is 10.5 kg to 11.5 kg, “which seems to [be] very heavy as the soldier has to carry this weight in addition to regular items.”
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