FAUJI INDIA Magazine - August 2019

In this issue

Historically, there has been a covenant between the soldier and his state that ensures that a soldier would put his life or his limbs at risk, to go beyond the call of duty, in the belief that his state will look after him should he die or become disabled. That trust has most recently been shattered, in the first major note of disappointment for the Faujis with the second tenure of the NDA government, with the news that the pension of our Disabled Soldiers will be taxed.
In yet another case of the insensitive broad-banding of all those in receipt of a disability pension, has upset many of our Veterans, who have struggled to cope with life and still lived with dignity despite being handicapped. Some had chosen to serve on, and pass every test they were subjected to, rising to become Generals, despite their amputated limbs. They are in particular, anguished at the insensitiveness of the move.
The Raksha Mantri has tweeted that he will look into this issue, but Nirmala Sitharaman, the former Defence Minister and now Finance Minister, had tweeted that it was Army HQ that recommended the pension of Disabled Soldiers be taxed. The media reported that the Army's reaction came hours after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's office tweeted a letter, saying unscrupulous personnel have gained from disability benefits provided by the government to disabled soldiers. An official twitter handle of the Indian Army tweeted that as “officers on grounds of lifestyle diseases have been availing this disability pension, hence tax the ones who have retired full term.”