AWES: Issues of Equity, Propriety, Ethicality and Legality

Real Army Veteran Welfare and AWES: Issues of Equity, Propriety, Ethicality and Legality

I, as an activist in the promotion of true equal opportunity and true welfare of the "veterans of India" have some troubling questions which I am putting under the microscope. Will any one in this group be willing and motivated to apply their intellectual energy to analyse the issues identified by me as a single individual with out the benefit of multiple minds? Examining an issue does not mean pre-judging the issue. While we start with an open mind, if the study finds grosss anomalies, it might initiate some lobbying to redefine the "welfare" bandwagon and bring focus to the veteran welfare theme.

The issues in a nutshell are:

1. Is the laudable AWES educational "welfare" activities and welfare benefits really promoting the larger interest of the average veteran, whom it is supposed to be ideally targeted?
   
2. Has the AWES welfare measure been hijacked by decision makers with strong motivation to corner the benefits for their own children who are independant majors (more than 21 years of age) and use the welfare educational facilities to qualify for other than service career and thus escape the practical compulsions/ need to volunteer for a military career?
   
3. AWES provides some employment opening for a number of veterans and that is a good thing. But has it done enough to upskill the ordinary veteran to make him more employable in the competitive job market?
4. Is it appropriate, prudent and ethical that AWES be allowed to consume ordinary tax payer funded resources and thus subsidise the costs to the actual recipient of the benefit while the services offerred by the society is open to private group of progeny of veterans and actually hogged by a miniscule percentage of this target group i.e 99% resources are appropriated by the 0.1% of progeny of the larger target group i.e. average veterans of India? By tax payer subsidising the cost of education of majors who have no intention to serve in the Armed Forces, is it in any way advancing the cause of welfare of the "average veteran"?
   
5. Is AWES educational institutions truly "veteran friendly" (as is known in the veteran friendly countries like USA ) in the sense that they accept veterans with open arms even by exercising affirmative action or they go out of their way to deny the opportunities to veterans ?
   
6. Is AWES policy of keeping strict age limits of 19, 20 and 21 for admission to the professional educational institutions a denial of equal opportunity to the "real veteran", whose funds have been appropriated for the purpose?
   
7. Is age discrimination denial of "equal opportunity" for the real veteran who could benefit from the educational opportunity offerred by the AWES and on whose behalf the AWES assumes legitimacy far above that of a "strictly private registered educational society" in the newly lucrative educational industry ?
   
8. Is discrimination on the basis of "parent's professional affiliation" by a public educational institution granting university degrees in the country and affiliated to Universities in India under Universities Act a violation of "equal opportunity" enshrined in the fundamental rights of the constitution of India? ( e.g. Can a private educational society like that of Tata or Birla discriminate against the public by reserving 100% admissions to professional colleges under it to children of their own family?)
   
9. What all could AWES with its educational infrastructure built with veteran welfare funds spread across the length and breadth of the country do to increase the employment opportunity for the average veteran but has failed to do so because of diffused thinking about what we mean by Army Welfare ?