National

The Force Is Not With Us

The disabled from the paramilitary corps have more battles to fight to get their due

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The Force Is Not With Us
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Bunkered Down

Parity demands by the All India Central Paramilitary Forces

  • Ex-servicemenstatus
  • CSD canteen facilities
  • Ardh Sainik Kalyan Board
  • Upgraded medical facilities
  • Upgraded education facilities
  • Subsidised housing facilities
  • Pay parity with army jawans, gap now at Rs 5,000
  • Difference in higher ranks is Rs 22,000
  • Allowances, pension, post retirement benefits similar to armed forces personnel

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In times of terrorism, popular unrest in the Valley and Maoist insurgency, everyone makes much of the human rights of our embattled men in uniform. But the way India treats its central paramilitary forces tells another story. The worst off are jawans and officers maimed in the line of duty. First they get ‘boarded’  out. And rehabilitation amounts to almost nothing. Most spend half their pension (about Rs 10,000 per month for a jawan) on treatment, leaving families in dire straits. Consider these cases:

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  • CRPF constable and driver Darshan Lal was severely injured in his right leg and arm in a militant attack in 1989. After the incident, he still served in Kashmir, Assam, Delhi and Punjab. But in 2008, he was told that he could not be retained in service and was pressurised to either go on voluntary retirement or face invalidation by the medical board. He proceeded on voluntary retirement but was not given relief for the injuries he sustained. He had to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court. It directed the CRPF to grant him a lump sum compensation.
  • On July 26, 1995, constable Jaipal Singh of the CRPF, posted in Srinagar, sustained multiple fractures on his right leg after he was hit by a volley of bullets when militants attacked his patrol party. Though his life was saved by immediate evacuation to the 92 Base Army Hospital, the grievous nature of the injury led to the amputation of the lower portion of his leg from the knee down. Though he was set to be ‘retired’, the CRPF had to retain him after the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. A court battle is still on to claim his financial benefits. Jaipal is currently posted at the Pinjore camp in Haryana.
  • Bansi Lal joined the CRPF in 1991 with dreams of living a good life with a stable job. All was well till 2000. On September 27 that year, while he was on duty with the Special Task Force in Badgaon, Srinagar, he suffered multiple injuries in a militant encounter. He got a splinter in his head and jaw. After many operations, he now lives with an artificial jaw and another splinter injury on his left hand has left him permanently disabled. Bansi Lal is still in the force but is clearly dissatisfied with the monetary help offered to him. “We get no promotion and there is always this feeling that we may have to leave the CRPF anytime on medical grounds,” he says.

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Kuldeep Singh Ex-CRPF jawan. Badly injured fighting ulfa militants back in 1983. Took splinters all over his body. Never recovered full mobility and is also speech-impaired. Struggling to pay his medical bills on a pension of Rs 7,300. (Photograph by Prabhjot Singh Gill)

Kulbhushan Kumar, who at age 35 has to get by with an artificial device implanted to support his kidneys, says: “Once a soldier gets wounded, the immediate reaction by the force is to board him out as soon as possible. I have lost a vital body part. My monthly pension is Rs 10,000. I need medication of Rs 4,000 every month. Most of the time the medicines I need are not available at the BSF hospital. I had been in treatment for four years when they finally retrenched me from the BSF. The day I retired, my hospital discharge order was ready. I asked the medical superintendent to at least give me time to book my train tickets. He said that was my problem. That’s the kind of respect we get...and after sacrificing so much for the nation”.

About 2,000 cases pertaining to basic rights violations of soldiers of the CRPF, BSF and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are pending before the Delhi High Court alone. And there are cases in other courts too. Senior Chandigarh- based lawyer Rajeev Anand says, “I have handled several such cases. One client, an ex-ITBP soldier, is now working as a daily-wager since few other options are open. The department retired him after he lost a leg. There are many who are still getting monthly pensions as low as Rs 2,000. It’s a crisis situation.”

Reacting to the sorry state of affairs, Union home secretary G.K. Pillai commented: “We try to provide every possible comfort to the person being boarded out because of physical disability. Generally, there is a disability pension for them besides other benefits. The home ministry will certainly look into the grievances of such soldiers and officers. Let me assure you that the problems will be addressed. We will see that the situation improves.”

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Jaswant Singh Ex-CRPF jawan. Hit by grenade sp linters while on anti-insurgency operations in Khanabal, Anantnag, Kashmir, in 1994. Suffered head injuries and, after many operations, still gets fits. Has to support his family on a pension of Rs 8,600; there’s no money for treatment. (Photograph by Prabhjot Singh Gill)

What the Union home secretary failed to mention is the serious gaps in the rulebook that governs the rehabilitation of paramilitary personnel injured in the line of duty—in comparison to army soldiers in a similar situation. The former are not even eligible for employment under the ex-servicemen category. This has even led to scores of officers leaving the paramilitary forces in frustration. M.R. Binuchandran, a former BSF deputy commandant who now works with a private firm in Gurgaon near Delhi, says, “I have an mba so I earn a decent living. But that’s not the case with many others. The central paramilitary forces have no facilities for men who get hurt in operations. We have no housing schemes, medical facilities are restricted, no facilities offered for subsidised ration. Everything comes for a price here. And if the family breadwinner ever gets disabled, it’s difficult for him to survive on the pension and provide for the family. The situation needs immediate attention.”

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Indeed, this stepbrotherly treatment is evident at every stage for disabled paramilitary service personnel. Injured soldiers are not provided support by even the state defence service welfare boards. The services are restricted to ex-servicemen of the army, navy and air force. The condition is such that ex-paramilitary personnel are entangled in litigation even for the release of their benefits under the Seema Prahari Bima Yojana.

Satpal Singh, who was injured in a militant strike in Kashmir in 1997, asks, “I have been getting a monthly pension of Rs 2,744 since 2006. My medical expenses alone come to Rs 1,500 in a month. I have three children going to school. My wife has just got a job with the anganwadi but that pays only about Rs 400. How on earth can we live a decent life? There is no support even for my medical bills. My only hope is the courts now... and this is to get basic facilities.”

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Darshan Lal Ex-CRPF jawan. Received injuries on his right leg and arm in a militant attack in Kashmir in 1989. Served in Kashmir, Assam etc till 2008. Asked to leave thereafter. Currently looking for a job in his hometown Pinjore. His pension: Rs 5,040. (Photograph by Ekta Sharma)

When contacted, former BSF DG Ajay Raj Sharma told Outlook of the limitations the organisation work with: “I agree the situation is bad. Ideally, the disabled jawans should be accommodated within the organisation on some desk jobs. If that isn’t possible, they should at least be well looked after. But there are limitations to accommodating everyone because the quota for those suffering from handicaps is just two per cent. So other schemes need to be strengthened.”

Retired BSF IG V.S. Sirohi has altogether another take on this. “We have to get to the root cause. The problem is they are not even well-trained, so the chances of getting hurt during operations is that much more. It’s high time the government paid attention to not only a proper rehabilitation package but also an overall revamp of the paramilitary forces,” he says. Sirohi’s seems to be a valid point. If the paramilitary forces have to attract fresh talent, they must ensure their jawans/officers get a less ad-hoc system—a more complete battle-readiness, and a security net for things going wrong.

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