Saturday, August 8, 2009

Thoughts on Future Course for Veterans

Thoughts on Future Course for Veterans
My view is that unless the veterans prepare the ground (shaping the battlefield in military parlance), no attempt be made to re-start a confrontational approach. Once the ground work has been laid, a concerted plan must be put into effect. What does preparing the ground entail? In my view it includes the following:
  • Unity amongst the various veteran groups. In this, the first step may well be unity of purpose, as even this seems to be lacking at present.
  • The overall focus should be on the long term and not trying to get issues resolved in a hurry. The veterans have woken up after decades; to hope that they will be able to resolve their problems overnight is not possible.
  • Convincing the people of the justness of the veteran’s case.
  • A more broad-based objective, covering various facets of problems of the veterans and not focusing exclusively on OROP.
  • The present perception that the veterans are only seeking more money needs to be changed. The way to do it is to project lowering of status and not lowering of pay/pension. The latter would automatically follow.
  • Close interaction with the serving community, as it is the only way to get maximum synergy. We need to disabuse the notion that the actions of the veterans will embarrass the serving community. Such notions have little basis, in my view. It is the veterans who have to make such overtures and not the other way around. The serving have the option to go along covertly or overtly or even back out, but this must not deter the veterans.
  • Building up the various veteran organizations by major membership drives.
  • Personal reaching out to the rural-based veterans and weaning them away from their present exclusive focus on the different types of elections.
  • Periodic interaction with the Department of Ex Servicemen Welfare and the personnel directorates of the services headquarters, as also with the Ministers.
    Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi (Retd)
    Read more for valuable inputs:
    Thoughts on Future Course for Veterans
  • No comments:

    Disclaimer

    The contents posted on these Blogs are personal reflections of the Bloggers and do not reflect the views of the "Report My Signal- Blog" Team.
    Neither the "Report my Signal -Blogs" nor the individual authors of any material on these Blogs accept responsibility for any loss or damage caused (including through negligence), which anyone may directly or indirectly suffer arising out of use of or reliance on information contained in or accessed through these Blogs.
    This is not an official Blog site. This forum is run by team of ex- Corps of Signals, Indian Army, Veterans for social networking of Indian Defence Veterans. It is not affiliated to or officially recognized by the MoD or the AHQ, Director General of Signals or Government/ State.
    The Report My Signal Forum will endeavor to edit/ delete any material which is considered offensive, undesirable and or impinging on national security. The Blog Team is very conscious of potentially questionable content. However, where a content is posted and between posting and removal from the blog in such cases, the act does not reflect either the condoning or endorsing of said material by the Team.
    Blog Moderator: Lt Col James Kanagaraj (Retd)

    Resources