Who cares for our disabled
warriors !
Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi
Iam writing this article from
the hospital bed on
withdrawal of Income Tax
Exemption by the Central
Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)
from all disabled personnel,
apparently on a move initiated or
acquiesced by Army Headquarters.
Before my admission to the ICU
of the hospital, initial reports
relating to the withdrawal of Income
Tax (IT) Exemption to disabled
personnel had commenced
appearing in the public domain.
Practically, everybody was being
blamed for the fiasco. At the same
time, war-injured jawans from the
NGO I run- War Wounded
Foundation, started calling, wanting
details and whether they were also
affected.
War-disabled soldiers participating in Mumbai Marathon
The last piece I read before
getting admitted to the ICU was a
very informative and balanced one
by the highly clued up lawyer-warrior, Major Navdeep Singh,
primarily not on the merits of the
subject but its historical and global
backdrop.
After shifting from the ICU to the
Ward, I note that the acrimony has
reached its peak and the ire of most
social media warriors is now
squarely directed at the hierarchy of
the army, which seems to be in
agreement with the move.
If most of what is available in the
public domain is correct, then it is
obviously a regressive step. What is
most galling is the surreptitious
manner in which the news was
made public and the hesitancy of
Army Headquarters to openly state
that they were the initiators of the
move. Subsequently, it was
formalized by a tweet on the official
handle of Army Headquarters,
which was in bad taste, to put it
mildly!
In matters relating to pay,
allowances and pensionary benefits,
it is customary to take views from
the environment. This is done by
seeking recommendations not only
of stakeholders and affected parties,
but, in case of the Army, also of
subordinate formations, and
analyzing them in great detail. In
addition, a lead-time is laid down for
implementation so that the
environment can adjust their
budgets/stances/plans. In the case
under discussion, perhaps sufficient
thought was not given and orders
were issued in a hurry.
Let me now give a little
background that may clarify some of
the issues. In June 2017, our NGOWar Wounded Foundation had
organized a War Disabled Rally at Pune for the war disabled personnel
of the Western Region. The Chief of
the Army Staff (COAS) had kindly
accepted to be the Chief Guest. The
Rally went off very well, with the
Chief mixing with a cross-section of
war-disabled personnel and joining
them in the Bara Khana. He had also
accepted my request to declare
2018 as the ‘Year of the War
Disabled’, which was later changed
to ‘Year of the Disabled in the Line of
Duty’, obviously to include both war
disabled and other disabled
personnel. In his speech, the Chief
had raised the issue of a few
personnel taking undue advantage
of disability benefits, without stating
numbers or any details. The media
did report it but the issue died down
in a few days.
Soldiers go to battle on
their own two feet, but
come back wounded or
disabled or wrapped in
the Tricolour. When
battle is joined, the
soldiers know that they
might get wounded,
disabled or killed but
they still answer the call
of duty. They do so with
the conviction that
their families will be
looked after well in case
they are killed and they
would be adequately
compensated if they
are disabled. This
unwritten covenant is
now under grave
threat.
Later, in December 2018, in a
commemoration event for the Year
of the Disabled, I was invited to an
event at Pune, where the disabled
personnel were honoured. Once
again, in his speech, the Army Chief
castigated those disabled persons
who were misusing the disability
pension. Since the event was one of
felicitations for the disabled, talking
of misuse of disability allowance
was jarring to say the least! As
expected, it was grist for the mill
and the media played it up fully.
In both events no mention was
made of withdrawing the IT
Exemption!
Let me highlight the needs of the
disabled personnel in a few
paragraphs below. Soldiers go to
battle on their own two feet, but
come back wounded or disabled or
wrapped in the Tricolour. When
battle is joined, the soldiers know
that they might get wounded,
disabled or killed but they still
answer the call of duty. They do so
with the conviction that their
families will be looked after well in
case they are killed and they would
be adequately compensated if they
are disabled. This unwritten
covenant is now under grave threat.
As far as other disabled are
concerned, no person voluntarily becomes a low medical category,
knowing well that his prospects for
career advancement would be
affected. The very small numbers
who try to buck the system for
pecuniary benefits are found out
quickly on account of the checks and
balances of the army, both through
the medical channels and the
command hierarchy.
The reasons for the increase of
disability cases are squarely due to
the stresses and strains of army life
in our country. Our tasks have
grown manifold but there are not
enough personnel to do them.
Manpower shortages are wellknown. Among officers, the
maximum brunt is on young and
middle-level officers. Add to this the
harsh and diverse terrain in which
the bulk of the army is serving;
highly stressful CI operations in
Kashmir and elsewhere; the adverse
psychological effect due to long
separations from families; running
two or more establishments; the
prevailing zero-error syndrome and
not the least cantankerous senior
officers who bark more than render
advice and support! The physical
and mental toll on personnel is
severe, in fact, not just in field areas
but also in peace areas.
There are good reasons why the
disabled persons need better
emoluments than others. Therefore
any deliberations aimed at
monetary reductions/cuts must
consider their legitimate concerns.
Compensation for disability/warinjury includes the exemption of
income tax on their pensions,
because a disabled person has to
spend more than non-disabled
persons to ensure that their
disability does not deteriorate;
locomotion and peripheral needs
are met; and many wheelchairbound need disabled-friendly
toilets. In case of other disabilities
including medical conditions that
are not visible, there is loss of
‘ability’ and quality of life.
Many disabled persons require
modifications to vehicles; these come at enhanced costs and extra
wear and tear to the vehicle. In
addition, many disabled persons
cannot drive because of their
disabilities and therefore need to be
driven. Coping with the trauma and
adverse psychological impact of
losing limbs/organs and living with
different illnesses result in impairing
of physical capacity to earn.
This withdrawal of IT
Exemption trivializes
me personally, as
having lost my leg in
the 1965 India-Pakistan
War, when I was a
captain, I not only
soldiered on and
competed with my
peers, but beat them
everywhere by dint of
hard work and
professional
competence till I
reached the pinnacle,
serving the nation and
the army for decades,
my disability
notwithstanding.
All these were taken into account
while granting income tax
exemption to the pensions of the
disabled. Now, ignoring the realities
of the problems of the disabled,
Army Headquarters has endorsed
this fiat, not for the so-called
personnel who have misused or
obtained their disability percentage
by unfair means, on its own a vague
allegation without statistical backup,
but for all disabled/war-injured
personnel! Clearly a case of
“Throwing the Baby Out with the
Bathwater”!
The compensatory package for
the disabled must take into account
the years and decades ahead of
them as disabled persons; and the
need to ensure that they lead an
honourable and comfortable life. It
is equally important that the
message that goes to the
environment is that the Army and
the Government will ensure that
adequate monetary compensation
is paid to them.
Most of our military doctors are
excellent. They have no ulterior
motives as one gets to hear in the
private sector. They are overworked
because of manpower and other
shortages, but are a dedicated lot.
Great care is taken by Medical
Boards while awarding percentage
of disability during final medical
boards prior to retirement. For this
a very detailed compendium is
available for reference, which
matches diseases and percentages
in great details. Yet, I was horrified
to learn that adverse motives were
being assigned to them!
Probity in the conduct of disabled
officers and jawans is welcome and
defaulters, if any, must be brought to book. However, the action taken
by Army Headquarters in supporting
the IT Exemption of all war-disabled
and other-disabled smacks of
collective punishment, which we
were taught since our military
academy days, should be avoided at
all costs and certainly not at the
whims and fancies of commanders
and staff. Do punish the guilty if that
really is the case, but the blanket
withdrawal of IT Exemption from all
indicates not enough application of
mind!
The country prides itself on the
uprightness and self discipline of
military personnel but now the
perception will gain ground that we
military personnel are as bad as the
rest. Is this the legacy that the
present hierarchy of the army wants
to leave behind? If Service
Headquarters cannot give any
monetary benefit to their personnel,
let them not take away an essential
privilege that has been given to
them for nearly 100 years, since
1922.
This withdrawal of IT Exemption
trivializes me personally, as having
lost my leg in the 1965 IndiaPakistan War, when I was a captain,
I not only soldiered on and
competed with my peers, but beat
them everywhere by dint of hard
work and professional competence
till I reached the pinnacle, serving
the nation and the army for
decades, my disability
notwithstanding.
The bottom line is that this order
shows failure of command and
control in many ways; loss of
confidence by the army hierarchy on
its own people; commanders losing
the art of appreciating the
downstream effects of their
irrational decisions on soldiers'
morale and their trust & faith in the
command structure; and the
Chetwodian dictum of "men under
your command" has lost all it stood
for. A great pity indeed!
(The writer is a former Vice
Chief of Army Staff)
