Soldiers to get salute at toll plazas

Pune: Now, soldiers will be given a salute or standing ovation at the toll plazas while on the move. All personnel of the armed forces are exempted from paying toll tax while on official duty.

After getting complaints of rude behaviour meted out to soldiers by toll plazas staffs, last week, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) issued a policy circular stating, “The armed forces personnel deserve the highest regard and should be given due respect at the toll plaza including salute or standing ovations as deemed fit.”

The circular dated December 6 is issued by NHAI General Manager (IT & HO) Shailesh Yadav. “A lot of complaints are received from armed forces personnel that toll plazas agencies are not honouring the directions of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and are not allowing exemption from toll fee while discharging their official duty. In-spite of personnel/ officers showing their identity card and explaining that they are on official duty, toll plaza employees often use harsh languages and ask for further proof,” the circular noted.

Taking note of the complaints, the NHAI also ordered that only a competent authority or officer of the toll operating agency, and not the lower staff, can check the identity cards in case of any doubt.

“Considering the unparalleled service of armed forces towards the safety and security of the country, such type of rude behaviour is not acceptable. The toll plaza agencies are directed to train the toll operating staff accordingly to pay due respect to armed forces/ salute their selfless dedication to country. The verification of I-card of armed forces personnel should be done by some senior/competent authority and not left to the untrained lowest staff,” the diktat ordered.

The Indian Tolls (Army & Air Force) Act, 1901, provides for exemption from toll charges to all members of the armed forces. However, the controversy occurred after a letter issued by the MoRTH said only those ‘on duty’ would be entitled to the exemption. This resulted in toll operators insisting defence personnel pay toll charges and this often led to misbehaviour by toll attendants. As the tussle between defence forces and the transport ministry escalated, the matter was dragged to court and later the Supreme Court (SC) also ruled in favour of the armed forces, upholding the exemption.

Now, the NHAI, while extending relief to the armed forces, has asked the toll operators that in case of any doubt, the benefit must be given to the defence persons.

“It is needless to emphasise that considering the extreme sacrifice of armed forces to the nation, in case of doubt with respect to nature of their official duty, a benefit of the doubt
should be given appropriately to armed force personnel,” it said.

Mubarak Ansari  : Esakal 13 Dec 2017

http://www.sakaltimes.com/nation/soldiers-get-salute-toll-plazas-10176

Soldiers vs Babus - Brig Narender Kumar

Soldiers vs Babus in actual performance in hour of peril & on call of duty by nation.. Eye witness

Dear All,
  I had an opportunity to glance through IDSA study which has been extensively quoted by the Pay Commission to deny or scale down the dues to Armed Forces personals.

 

But I am surprised that the IDSA study did not mention that in US and UK soldiers get their pensions at the rate of 75% of their salary.

 

Also when the US & European nations deploy their soldiers in war like situation or disaster relief operations  they do not pay income tax.

 

I wish the study had made the mention that even in kargil war officers and JCos paid the income tax, same is the case for J&K and NE insurgency. I was told that the income tax is also charged from the last salary of a martyr. which is nothing short of national shame.

I wish these facts should have been included. Since the IDSA study compared the purchasing power of other country soldiers vis a vis India.

But  the pay commission did not use this analogy while calculating and doling out three increments to IAS , IPS & IFS.

 

A soldier gets 31500/-- for serving in Siachen but a central cadre officer gets 50000 to 70000 for serving in so called difficult area such as Shillong, Imphal and Guwahati @ 30% of their salary (In Spite of the acknowledgement made by pay commission cell that most difficult area to serve with no parallel is Siachen).

 

I was BGS during Uttrakhand Disaster relief operations, three DCs were literally not available during the critical days of disaster. Same was the case with SDMs and tehsildars. 

 

The SDM who was deputed to go to Kedarnath emerged only after five days of relief operation in vogue.

 

DC prefered to park himself inside the Joshimath camp so that public can't reach him.  When DC was forced to at least go and see the condition on ground, the gentleman did not get down from the helicopter fearing that he might not be allowed by public to board the helicopter.

DC uttarkashi did not feel safe to visit and see the conditions of pilgrims at Gangotri and harsil.

The pilgrims kept asking "where is the administration, if the army has to do everything why is government spending national wealth on them". That is the condition of our so called elite.

 

It is sad that the  public of India does not even know  why a soldier defy the logic and conventions?

Why does he risk his life? In-spite of the fact that there is no written rule where a soldier is suppose to die while performing his duty, yet he does so. It is ethos, tradition and character of soldiers that prompt them to do so.

 

Second factor is  because he knows he is not a government servant, he is an elite and serve the nation.

He also knows that he is the last bastion and pillar which nation is dependent upon. Every other department has failed and and can fail, but nation can still recover.

 

But if the soldiers fail, the nation will fail. No other government agency can redeem it. it is elitism that separates soldiers from the rest.

Unfortunately over a period of time the elitism has been killed and soldier is repeatedly told he is a government servant that too semi skilled.

 

Whereas soldering is most complex, technical and skilful job which is unparalleled.  

 

It is an old saying that the day a soldier start behaving like a government servant it is beginning of erosion of foundation of a nation. 

 

 I must quote the examples of US/ Uk and other countries. When the body of a martyr is brought back to US.

 

The captain of the aircraft makes the announcement prior to taking off "we are privileged to fly back martyr  ---xyz--- on his last journey back home" On arrival of the body of the martyr on US soil and his native place. water canon salute is given. Crew  line up on tar to pay last respect.

 

The CEO or the highest authority of the air port receives the body along with the Guard. All passenger stand in line till body is moved out.

 

But when the body of Maj varadarajan was being flown from Srinagar to Chennai, the Captain was requested by the officer accompanying the body to announce that maj Vardrajan is on board on his last journey back home, the captain of the aircraft refused to announce that he is privileged to fly the martyr on his last journey back home, saying it will send a kind of bad feeling and omen to people flying and thus he will not do so. Incidentally there was another pilot who wrote  small message of regretting such an incident.

 

The body of soldiers are taken from the cargo gate which is indeed an insult. And we continue to accept it without highlighting it. It is only Mr Chandrashekher MP Rajya Sabha who is fighting a lone battle. 

 

We need to introspect and make the nation aware.

 

Profession of soldiering is not routine government job.

It is different an elitism is must or else, we  will have soldier also behaving like other government staff such as the famous DCs of Uttrakhand.

 

Can nation afford soldiers behaving like government servants? I don't think so.

I heard in the news today that Drs did not turn up in Chennai, the government staff did not turn up for discharging their duties...

 

... But soldiers did their best whole day. Is it that there lives are not precious? 

I think those of us who have the opportunity to share and proliferate our views must do it.

 

Brig Narender Kumar

Stand up for the Indian soldier - Dr Harsh V Pant

It is with a sense of disbelief that one hears the Indian minister of state for defence, sitting in his cozy air-conditioned seminar room, pontificating that 'it is unbecoming' of former soldiers to protest against the treatment meted out to them by the government. So here's a non-soldier making a public protest. One hopes that it is not below the dignity of the minister to read this.

 

The minister would not have dared to make such a comment had the protestors been a part of his or his party's vote bank. The fact that the Indian armed services do not go public with their grievances does not mean that they do not have any concerns and the fact that they have been forced to come to the streets should make the minister and his government acknowledge how desperate the situation might be.

 

The Indian government is fooling itself if it thinks that by dragging its feet on the issue of the armed forces dissatisfaction with the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, it can make the issue go away.

 

A country that refuses to respect its armed forces will eventually end up getting forces that will not respect the nations' aspirations. A country makes a sacred contract with its soldiers that while he/she will lay down his/her life when called upon to do so, the nation will take good care of his/her and his/her family's needs to the extent its resources would permit.

 

This contract underpins the very survival of a nation as when its territorial integrity and political independence are under threat, the nation looks upon the only instrument that can protect it -- its armed forces.

 

While all governments have to look for a considered bargain between their commitments and power and between power and resources, a responsible government will always be aware of the serious implications of not spending adequate resources on defence.

 

The debate as it has been made out to be in some quarters between defence and development is a spurious one. Unless adequate provisions are made for defence, no state will be able to pursue its developmental agenda. This is much more important for a country like India [ Images ] that faces a unique security environment with two of its 'adversaries' straddling it on two sides of its borders and problems on all sides of its periphery.

 

A government can keep spouting pious rhetoric about global peace and non-violence but it realises fully that force is the ultimate ratio in international relations. Politics among nations is conducted in the brooding shadow of violence. Either a state remains able and willing to use force to preserve and enhance its interests or it is forced to live at the mercy of its militarily powerful counterpart.

 

Even Nehru, after neglecting defence for all the years after independence had to eventually concede in 1962 that India's military weakness 'has been a temptation, and a little military strength may be a deterrent.'

 

The Indian public and press remain apathetic on defence issues. We make Kargil [ Images ] into a television spectacle, an opportunity for our journalists to try to show their temporary bravery by going to the frontlines for a few hours and getting the excitement of covering a war from the inside. And then when it is all over, our soldiers have been interred into their graves, we move on to new and more exciting spectacles -- to our song and dance reality shows and saas-bahu sagas, forgetting that soldiers are still on guard.

 

This is a nation that will cry with Lata Mangeshkar [ Images ] when she sings Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon but will not make any effort to understand the real problems and concerns of its soldiers. It is a sign of the highly skewed priorities of the Indian media that the rising turmoil and dissatisfaction within the ranks of nations' armed forces is being given only perfunctory coverage.

 

It is an issue of nation's very survival yet the media seems busy with its devotion of superficialities. Every rave and rant of Bollywood actors is religiously covered, detailed dissection of seemingly never-ending cricket matches are conducted, exorbitant pay rises in the corporate sector make it to the headlines but the one issue that can make or break the future of this country is consigned to the margins.

 

We continue to pray at the altar of our false heroes while our real heroes continue to face neglect and scorn.

 

The armed forces feel they have never got their due from various pay commissions over the years but the government in its wisdom decided to keep the armed forces away from any representation in the latest Pay Commission. The dominance of bureaucrats meant that while the interests of the bureaucrats were well-recognised, the armed services once again ended up getting a raw deal.

 

The discontent is so serious that some of the best and brightest in our services have refused to go for the Higher Command Courses and more and more are seeking an early retirement. Indian armed forces are desperately trying to fill vacancies as other professions are luring the young of the country.

 

Against the sanctioned strength of 300 per batch, the National Defence Academy finds that it can only attract 192 cadres this year. The same story repeats itself in the Indian Military Academy . A country that purports to be a rising power is facing a shortage of more than 11,000 officers.

 

The reason is pretty obvious: One can't think of any major power in the world that treats its soldiers the way India does. It is indeed a sorry sight when India 's bravest have to literally cry out for help from a callous politico-bureaucratic elite.

 

Our politicians remain more than willing to waste tax payers money by routinely boycotting Parliament and have never shied away from increasing their own pay and allowances, claiming that they remain underpaid. Yet those who defend the sanctity of Parliament are given a short shrift.

 

The abysmal knowledge of defence issues that pervades the Indian political class probably gives them an illusion that the country is being protected by divine blessings.

 

Political apathy and bureaucratic design are rapidly eroding the self-esteem of our forces. A functioning liberal democracy needs a loyal soldier that can take care of the state's security, allowing the state to look after its citizenry. In India , the State is gradually withering away, all that's left is the loyal soldier. How long will this soldier, under siege from all sides, remain steadfast to its commitments, is a question all Indians should seriously ponder on.

 

 

Dr Harsh V Pant

Professor of Defence Studies & International Relations

Kings College London

About Author

Harsh V Pant is Professor of International Relations in Defence Studies Department and the India Institute at King’s College London.  He is also an Associate at the Centre for Science and Security Studies and a Non-Resident Fellow with the Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore; a Visiting Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania; a Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Peace and Security Studies, McGill University; an Emerging Leaders Fellow at the Australia-India Institute, University of Melbourne; and a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.  His current research is focused on Asian security issues.

 
DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own. 

[ Rediff ]

The Soldier