The move by Nirmala Sitharaman-led Ministry of Finance to withdraw the tax exemption on disability pension has hit a raw nerve, more so because it has been supported by the top brass in the Army. The crux of the issue is not so much the withdrawal of the exemption, but the fact that soldiers with disabilities have been denigrated to justify this move. This negatively impacts public perception of the brave people who have lost limbs, abilities or have ended up with ‘lifestyle diseases’ as a result of intensely physically and mentally stressful service conditions.
In 1995, Parliament passed one of the most progressive acts for persons with disabilities. One of its provisions mandated protection of service whereby employees could not be discharged from service on account of disability and neither could their rank be reduced. The government later revoked these provisions specifically for the Armed Forces, which meant that unlike their civilian counterparts, the service of defence personnel was not protected under disability provisions.
If they served for less than 10 years and their disability was not related to service conditions, they would also not get any pension or medical support. The same revocation was made applicable to Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) too. However, earlier this year, the Narendra Modi government did away with the 10-year qualifying service requirement for pension for CAPFs. Whereas it is indeed a welcome move and very much appreciated, the flip side of this is that as things stand today, disabled defence personnel neither have the protection of service like their civilian counterparts, nor the protection of pension like their CAPF colleagues. It would have been beneficial to the defence services had official social media handles spoken for the forces and raised such issues to bring parity. Unfortunately, this has not been the case.
Also read: Need compassion and not disdain, says 1971 war hero on Indian Army’s disability pension tax
As if the move to tax disability pension is not enough, what has followed in the tax controversy is a travesty of process and demonisation of disability. It was fair to expect that the Army would stand behind its soldiers with disabilities.
The circular in question from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) under the Ministry of Finance, mentions that tax exemption to disability pensioners would not be applicable to disabled personnel who retired on superannuation, but only to those who prematurely boarded out.
While the circular is counter-intuitive and may go against the spirit of established conditions of service for armed forces personnel, we are in no way questioning the sovereign right of the government to levy taxes. The moot point here is not the exemption but an unsigned note circulated from official handles, demonising military disability and branding pensioners as ‘unscrupulous’ and exploiters.
There is a substantial amount of research that has documented that serving in inclement and hostile terrain, extended postings in such conditions and the resultant lack of commune living with family, inability to cater to domestic commitments, non-responsive civil administration, curtailment of freedom and an excessively strict disciplinary code, either create or impact existing medical conditions of soldiers, which are further aggravated by the stress and strains of service. The fact that military employees die earlier than their civilian counterparts is well documented. Recognising this, the rules and guidelines for the military and the CAPFs provide for disability benefits in case of medical conditions incurred while in service. If a regularly exercising soldier, who is recruited medically fit in the first instance, develops a heart disease due to stress and strain of service, how is he or she responsible for this? In any event, these disability benefits are either released by the government or on judicial directions, and to call them “unscrupulous” is both disrespectful and imminently imprudent.
Also read: Army HQ backs tax on disability pension, says unscrupulous officers have gamed the system
Stressors in the military are universally on the rise and this is a reality the military has to deal with. The US military (which follows a six-monthly tour of operational areas for individual soldiers as compared to 24 to 36 months in our case) reported an increase of disability pensioners by 117 per cent from 1990 to date, and currently pays disability benefits to 4.75 million retirees. On the other hand, the number of such beneficiaries in India, with almost an equal strength of standing Army, is less than 0.2 million.
The anxiety of the military leadership in being concerned with a large number of Low Medical Category (LMC) personnel in a fighting force is understandable, but the numbers are not alarming as compared to global standards. However, rather than demonise disabilities, it behoves a practical approach to ensure the smooth movement of permanent LMC personnel to other departments in conjunction with the government as provided under Section 20 of the new Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and also correspondingly ensure that there is no shamming or malingering and a person is medically upgraded after a stringent examination if it is felt he or she is no longer suffering from a medical condition.
If there is a concern that soldiers and officers disclose their disabilities at a later stage in their career and hide them, this is a reflection of the lack of tolerance in policy. Disclosure leads to being categorised as unfit, and ironically, this leads to less than fit soldiers in the military, which benefits nobody. It is a classic Catch-22 situation – if they disclose disabilities during the earlier part of their career, they are labelled as weak or boarded out; if they do so later when the disability gets accentuated, they are told that they are doing it to claim benefits. The problem is not with the disabilities, the problem is with the policies and the overall attitude.
Also read: Indian Army chief should know that no one feigns disability
Although the United Nations in its Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006, of which India is a signatory, called for dignity, respect and acceptance towards persons with disabilities, our attitude and systems are not attuned to sensitivity. When the inimitable Major D.P. Singh, India’s first blade runner, lost his leg during the Kargil conflict, there was nobody to counsel him and comfort him for the loss of limb. There was nobody to address the psychological scars, which accompany physical ones. The positions of counsellors in the military medical establishment have been lying vacant for a long time, but no official handle has flagged this on social media. Our systems still do not understand the difference between psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and care-givers, and nobody puts up an unsigned note on this.
In today’s milieu, the Army seems far behind in this matter, while forces such as the Indo-Tibetan Border Police have already recruited trained stress-counsellors and embedded them with battalions. The CRPF issued an instructive handbook on “Human Behaviour & Mental Health” in which the Director-General of the CRPF clearly states that personnel work in adverse and trying circumstances resulting in increase in health-related problems. The book provides practical solutions while also courageously underlining that 29 per cent to 69 per cent troopers tested positive for stress, depending on the place of deployment. It also emphasises that stigma must not be attached to medical conditions associated with stress. The handbook, like all other mature forces globally, encourages personnel to come out and seek support.
By vilifying disabled military personnel, we are neither doing them nor ourselves as a country, any favour. It is well known that perception equals reality and if all of us, civil society as well as the establishment, turn around and trounce those who need to be cared for, it is indeed a sad state of affairs. Our disabled personnel need to be supported and treated with dignity and respect.
Navdeep Singh is an Advocate at the Punjab & Haryana High Court, and writes on public policy, military and legal issues. Ratna Viswanathan is a former civil servant who has served in the defence ministry. Views are personal.
Faking of illness and cornering the resultant pensionary benefits after availing all possible promotions and posting perks and previledges, is more common in higher ranks and rampant. The poor soldier and jco are genuine cases. Army is brimming with shammers and smart alecs because of peace soldering and sand model saber rattling. Govt should weed out these black sheep’s and recover all the dues and send them in coolers.
How can anyone feign a Heart attack ? If I was declared Medically fit by a Medical Board which consisted of specialists from all disciplines at the time of my selection ( The Medical Specialist being the President of the said Medical Board ) , undergo rigrous trg at the Academy , stay fit for 25 years thereafter , having gone through Medical checkups / examined by various Medical Boards at various stations by different doctors / Specialists and clearing PT tests , gracefully in all these years with my seniors watching my performance , each year and in a changing environment and then I suffer a massive cardiac arrest — whom do you blame — me ? What for ? Because there is a family history which erupted after I joined up ( My grandmother and then my Father ) or the stress and strain I was undergoing whilst serving in Field and with my wife having undergone a Brain Tumour operation with grown up children looking after their Mother as I can’t be there all the time and they compromising on their academic pursuits ? I think we ought to grow up and look at life rationally —- if someone has played with the system , hang him — and let the genuinely disabled rest in peace as they are not very far from their grave .
The top hierarchy in the Army is the culprit. One mans understanding of the problem has given rise to a lop sided policy. The weaknesses of the COAS to control his own Generals has led him to demolish a humane policy.Disabilities do not only come from war and you cannot throw out everyone injured during peace to ensure they get disability pensions.Stress is a constant factor whether in peace or war created by a mindset of Generals who possess the vision of a frog in a well.It is in military mindset to denigrate bureaucracy but they are much more pragmatic than the credit given to them.
@Major Navdeep Singh. I have heard a lot about you sir. I was expecting and was hopeful that you would sincerely take up the issues of disabled cadets of army academy , those who are thrown out from raining academies Due to disability and are later discriminated not only against their civilian counter part officer trainees But also army recruits.
Regards
The concept of Disability Pension and Invalidation is well defined ,reasoned and articulated by Maj Navdeep in his blog of 28 Jun 19.
Secondly, it must be viewed and examined in light of Apex Court and other Constitutional Courts pronouncements without being emotional as also must be weighed in light of Medical ethical terms and medical mandate as per rules.
What is a mandate to a doctor , just because some body has raised a doubt, the doctor can’t look the other way, he has to diagnose the ailment and say so , and the Doctors are in fact doing a commendable job to serve 1.4 million Armd Forces who are perpetually fighting an undeclared War from past three decades . Kindly do not jump and advocate something which castes aspersions on our own medical organisation, which are one of the best in the country . Stray cases can happen anywhere and that need be fixed but show me one organisation which does not have flaws.
The AMC is strictly following the rules and the so called life style disease are part of the diseases which flow out from prolonged exposure to stress and strain, climate ,isolation, psychiatric domestic manifested problems and the accumulation of all this leads to the so called life threatening diseases and not life style diseases.
Secondly, what pains a Veteran and specially the War Veterans is that our worthies who are sitting in positions of power are callous despite being aware of the difficulties of the disabled, surprisingly are toeing the line which is just unbecoming of them . Really strange !! I have never seen this kind of an hostile attitude towards War Veterans ever in my last 49 years .
How demeaning and demonising it could be if you tell a War Veteran that he is feigning ?? Awfully shameful.
One can go on , instead of berating the Civil Bureaucracy please look inwardly and one would find skeletons tumbling out , because of their ignorance of judicial and medical pronouncements. If , one does not know a thing or two , understandable ,but why don’t these Military babus consult some legal minds on things Military and Disability, and one such outstanding legal mind among us is, Maj Navdeep Singh, who has written and done so much on Disability. Armd Forces should remain indebted to him for his contribution. Most knowledge,education and awareness on matters Disability in Military Fraternity is because of him .
In respect of War Veterans, state must do everything possible and hail them as Heroes ; as ever .
reopen all doubtful cases of disability under a medical board consisting of disinterested civil doctors and prove we are right, we are not feigning disability
The increase in armed forces disability pensioners by 117 % from 1990 till date is because of the continued deployment of Army personnel for long durations in the state of J & K where insurgency started in 1987. Dealing with internal insurgency is the job of state police , CAPF and the IPS and not of the Army. The Army can be called to deal with it as aid to civil authorities but not for more than 6 months at a time but here the Army has been deployed continuously since 1990 and the state police, CAPF and IPS are all sitting in soft sheltered assignments and have made no effort to upgrade themselves to do their own job. Now when the Army personnel get disabled while doing the job of CAPF / IPS, you call them unscrupulous and gamers.
Mr Gopal, let me clarify you. No army personnel is being granted disability pension for your so called common life style ailments like hypertension. The lifestyle thay you are referring to is that of continuous deployment in inhospitable uncongenial terrain with continuous threat to soldiers life which will inflict hypertension to most and because of which one cannot undertake much physical activity leading to increased body weight which you term as obesity. These ailments are not due lifestyle of luxurious soft sheltered assignments as you perceive.
As Gaurav brought out, you are taking away the initiative and risk taking ability of young officers and soldiers which may culminate into a silent Gandhian Non cooperation movement kind of attitude in rank and file and thee nation will one day suffer for this. Unfortunately!!. It will be a very sad day for India
An excellent article . Mr Gopal needs to understand , that no one can feign Disability, the system is fairly rigorous and there are enough checks and balances and can be further strengthened.
Let me ask how a soldier who is battle casualty can feign ? why is he unnecessarily dragged into this controversy ? What is his fault if he serves till superannuation ? Why is he being denied his rights ?
Secondly, the statistics suggest that the Disabilities are not abnormal for a Army which is heavily committed in Counter Insurgency and Sachin like hostile terrain for a prolonged period .
It must also be noted that when troops serve in Siachin or High Altitudes, it could be that in a prolonged tenure , a number of them may develop problems and illness.
Who will soldier for India and who will take risk if you derecognize his valour and sacrifice. There is nothing emotional about. It is hard fact.
The environment need to be sensitized and such articles are valuable.
The issue is misuse of the disability provisions. What is the point of expressing your views when you cannot even be bothered to present the opposite perspective? If you disagree with the other perspective you are still free to disagree. This article shows a lack of respect for any real discussion and a cheap appeal to emotions. Of course, nobody want to denigrate or disrespect the disabled. The question is should somebody with common ailments like high blood pressure or diabetes or obesity qualify for disability. For a real discussion, please look into the definition of disability and see what percentage is claiming disability for a real case such as an actual loss of limb or eyesight and then propose real solutions on how the chaff can be separated from the wheat.
Mr Gopal, there is no chaff in this case, I know of an offr who after having served in Siachin developed some problem and became obese, and also no one is given disability due to obesity. The disability pension is given only when it is attributable to military service. And no one can feign disability yes it can be hidden in connivance with med authorities. The so called life style disease in civil is due to sedentary lifestyle but in Army it is due to vagaries of weather or service conditions. The stress and strain which a soldier takes by virtue of being posted to from high altitude to deserts to jungles and risk of life, staying away from family takes a toll on his body and mind . It’s all due to services condition and not due to sedentary lifestyle. When the civ babus and CPO’s gets this benefit why not a soldier. Even the MLAs and MP’s are exempted why not he… be rational and don’t be jealous of what he was getting. I am sure a soldier would love to give up his disability pension if cured and made fit… so don’t pass such off the cuff comments…I agree with Navdeep
While it is incorrect to denigrate anyone with disability, villification of a mine casualty or a gunshot wound related disability is unimaginable. Battle casualty personnel also put in the same basket as the others????
You are taking away the initiative and risk taking ability of young officers and soldiers. The nation will one day suffer for this. Unfortunately!!