OROP

Good Morning India....

One of the BJP fans and my friend wrote to me this morning..Quote "Sir, for last few months you are writing on OROP. I admit that I know nothing about OROP, this question was kept pending for 42 years but in these 42 years veterans never thought of demonstrating/ hunger strike then why only after May 2014. Is it similar to returning the awards. Please appreciate that present government has taken some decision may not be as per your expectation however they thought of solving this question rather that keeping it pending." Unquote.

Actually this subject is to vast to cover it in a few lines here. However I will just pen a few  brief comments on this, hopefully the feelings of my brethren will be conveyed. One must remember that todays soldier is savvy as to what is going on on civvy street thanks to the Media Explosion and Anchors like Arnab and Raajdeep. Till date the soldier was isolated and never thought of things money wise or the hardships he or his family experienced, nor did he think about where his next meal is going to come from. He had complete faith in the organization he was serving in. CO saheb hai na dekh lenge (my Commanding Officer is there I will tell him he will see into it) was his answer to all problems he faced in life. The CO was the maybaap (father and mother) for him while being away from his family.

He had total and absolute faith in the Army that he will be protected on all fronts, so was ready to die for his units izzat (honor) first, then for his God and then for the country. Those times have changed now. When he sees in the media corrupt politicians getting away with corruption, murder, extortion and what all and amassing wealth, sees the IAS babus, Police (in his daily life he does get pinched because of them) of this country skimming from the exchequer, may be from what was his due. 

Then he starts questioning about his dues and what he deserves and what he is getting and why. He questions why should he die for this corrupt system, a system of politicians and Babus who will not give his just dues while getting fat on his maintaining the integrity of his country, that he has to do the job of Civil authorities because of their incompetence which in any case was not his job in the first place? That he has to sit in agitation after retirement for his just sanctioned dues? After retirement he finds that their is no may baap CO the eternal problem solver for him, but he has to deal with slime. This is the flash point my friend.

If you really go into the depth of what the PM has done and understand the whole issue in entirety, then you will not write what you have written. Entirety meaning the ethos of the Armed Forces, the sense of Izzat, the sense of obeying orders implicitly without question, being totally apolitical, being taught  to be a notch above the common citizen  and petty politicians and not to question as to how they run the country, (this in bred emotion of superiority allows the soldier to be less corrupt and allows him to make the extreme sacrifice without hesitation), then possibly you might see a glimmer of light in the whole issue. OROP I feel is just a flash point, something like the last straw on the camels back. 

One might say the Cancer OF ANTI ARMY FEELINGS IN THE POLITY AND THE BABUS has spread so much that  an immediate surgery is required to save the patient, if not done this patient dies and if that happens the whole country will die with this patient. If this patient, (you have made the Armed Forces into a patient by neglecting its health since Independence), is kept healthy then and only then the polity of this country as well as its path to prosperity and development can survive. Unless you have a very Strong Defense Force your country can count for Fuck All in the International Arena.

This fact is missed by all the sodden rats and babus of this country. IT STARTED FROM NEHRU WHO STARTED DISBANDING THE ARMY POST INDEPENDENCE AND THEN WITH INDIRA GANDHI WHO BROUGHT DOWN THE ARMY BY 10 NOTCHES THROUGH HER BABUS IN 1973BY REDUCING ARMY PENSIONS TO 50 FROM 75 % AND CORRESPONDINGLY INCREASING CIVIL PENSIONS. SO ALSO THEY DISCONTINUED OROP.  AND THE CONGRESS HAS BEEN DOING IT SINCE THEN.  

If you couple the recommendations of the 7th CPC, about granting OROP to IAS, IPS, IoFS and other civil services and elevating them beyond the Armed Forces vis a vis pay and allowances and Heirarchical protocol. By the pay commission removing certain benefits exclusive to the Armed forces, including the removal of Funeral Allownace for Martyrs, you will definitely understand the pain of a soldier in the Indian Armed Forces.

"When you talk of the present Government has taken some decision may not be as per your expectation however they thought of solving this question rather that keeping it pending", you don't appear to understand what they have done, it is like a patient who is under the surgeons knife in the OT and the surgeon removes a part of the cancer and tells the patient, look I have removed a bit of it today, will do the other part next time.

Unfortunately by next time the patient could be dead and the country along with it. In this respect I will quote Chanakya, though he his History, the fact remains he gave this advise to Chandra Gupta Maurya during the Golden Age of India, and the present PM of this country who is genuinely trying to bring back India's Golden Age must heed what Chanakya wrote may be a 1500 years ago, otherwise he and this country is doomed.

“The Mauryan soldier does not enrich the Royal treasuries nor fills the Royal granaries. He does not carry out trade and commerce nor produce scholars, litterateurs, artistes, artisans, sculptors, architects, craftsmen, doctors and administrators. He does not build roads and ramparts nor dig wells and reservoirs. He does not do any of this directly."

“The soldier only and merely ensures that the tax, tribute and revenue collectors travel forth and return safely; that the farmer tills, harvests, stores and markets his produce unafraid of pillage; that the trader, merchant and financier function and travel across the length and breadth of the realm unmolested; that the savant, sculptor, maestro and mentor create works of art, literature, philosophy and astrology in quietude; that the architect designs and builds his Vaastus without tension; that the tutor and the priest teach and preach in peace; that the rishis meditate in wordless silence; that the doctor invents cures and medicines undisturbed; that the mason and bricklayer work unhindered; that the mother and the wife go about their chores and bring up children in harmony and tranquility; that the cattle graze freely without being lifted or stolen."

“Pataliputra reposes each night in peaceful comfort, O King, secure in the belief that the distant borders of Magadha are inviolate and the interiors are safe and secure, thanks only to the Mauryan Army standing vigil with naked swords and eyes peeled for action, day and night, in weather fair and foul, all eight praharas (round the clock), quite unmindful of personal discomfort and hardship, all through the year, year after year."

“While the citizenry of the State contributes to see that the State prospers and flourishes, the soldier guarantees it continues to EXIST as a State! To this man, O Rajadhiraja, you owe a debt: please, therefore, see to it, on your own, that the soldier continuously gets his dues in every form and respect, be they his needs or his wants, for he is not likely to ask for them himself.”

Then Kautilya, known also as Chanakya gave his king this blunt warning: “The day the soldier has to demand his dues will be a sad day for Magadha for then, on that day, you will have lost all moral sanction to be King!”. Looking at this Mr Modi may have lost all moral sanction to be Mr PM.