Delhi, India: The suicide of Subaidar Ram Kishan who swallowed poison after Defense Minister of India refused to meet a group of ex-servicemen has created unrest among retired military men.
According to Indian media, deceased Subaidar Ram Kishan along with a group of ex-servicemen had been protesting against non-compliance of One Rank One Pension formula that is yet to be exercised.
According to Dispatch News Desk (DND) News Agency, Ram Kishan called his son on telephone and informed me that he had taken poison for committing suicide because government is (was) not listening problems being faced by ex-servicemen.
According to audio of this telephonic conversation, Ram Kishan is explaining reasons why he had taken poison while he son had been crying and asking how much poison he (Ram Kishan) had taken and he took poison. A very emotive conversation indicated that Ram Kishan did not commit suicide only for his pension rather for his officers and for ex-serviecmen of Indian Army. He said in conversation that he had played his role for the betterment of ex-servicemen and now it is up tpo Indian Army how to do for themselves.
His suicide ignited protests from Indian opposition against Modi government in Delhi and Rahul Ghandi —the son of former Prime Minister Sanjev Ghandi was arrested twice in last two days.
#RahulGandhi went alone in his car to meet #RamkishanGrewal family: Jitendra Singh, Congress | CNN-News18 https://t.co/RleHLzU1WZ
— Firstpost (@firstpost) November 3, 2016
Meanwhile, serve reaction came from ex-servicemen on electronic and social media. One former Brigadier of Indian Army Shakti Kumar in his interview with a private television channel said:
“We gave our lives, our youth and our energies to our country and Indian Army and once we are retired— we are thrown like garbage. There are many and there had been many Ram Kishans who committed suicides and gone into depression due to ruthless conduct with ex-servicemen by Indian governments and Indian Army but such news never came on surface. I feel shame to share how we are treated by our institution once we are retired. Ram Kishan was a brave man and he told everybody why he was committing suicide”.
A Window of a Colonel Harbajant Singh said in another television show that transfer of pension of his late husband on her name took too much time that she had to leave her rented house and had to live with her daughter.
“One can understand the pain of a widow of a soldier who had to live with her daughter though her husband sacrificed his youth away from her for defending his country. I felt like a beggar and decided to commit suicide but my daughter came to know about my plans and did my consoling”.
The Ministry of Defence claimed that Grewal was the recipient of pension benefits under both the Sixth Pay Commission and the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. However, his family claimed and his suicide note and his conversation with his son confirmed that the deceased ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal did in fact receive less money that he should have.
The Ministry maintained that the 70-year-old did in fact receive hikes as per the Commission recommendations and the OROP scheme, since his retirement in September 2004. However, other ex-servicemen who were with him said that statement of Defence Ministry is contrary to facts.
Meanwhile, Times of India in one of its report confirmed that the amount that he (Ram Kishan) was getting was lesser than what he should have got. However, Ministry sources said that Grewal had received less money, not due to failure of the government to implement the schemes, but because there had been an error in calculation of his pension by the State Bank of India bank branch of Bhiwani district in Haryana.
One official of ministry on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to media confirmed that Ram Kishan should have been getting around Rs 2,000-3,000 more in his monthly pension. However, he shifted blame to banking system and said that since disbursal agency is the bank in which pensioners have accounts and when pensions are re-fixed, the tables are given to the banks to calculate and disburse individual pensions. “Most of the pension-related complaints are connected to problems with banks in calculations”, the official said.
Social media is very critical because government is trying to hide its error and trying to portray that Ram Kishan was not stable person mentally.
#OROP: Ex-serviceman’s death shows our disregard for veterans | @jrpur | https://t.co/ueRcNAeB0d #RamKishanGrewal pic.twitter.com/zk7i7w1ANk
— DailyO (@DailyO_) November 3, 2016
Ram Kishan wrote about his woes in a letter addressed to the Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, before committing suicide but he was not allowed to meet Minister though he tried several times.
Ram Kishan first served in the 105 Infantry Battalion of Territorial Army and then another 24 years in the Defence Security Corps.
His friends said that he had been depressed due to what he considered was the failure of the government to implement benefit schemes and the support he hoped from officers of Indian Army head been requesting to help him.
