How to make our Army Veteran Friendly ?

Sir,
You may dismiss this as a stupid question. We are veteran friendly and we do not want any one to teach us how to be "veteran friendly" is the reaction of the normal army officers right from the 2/ Lt to the General. May be you also believe it is so. All I can say is that you have not applied your mind to the question of what is veteran friendliness.

We have defined " veteran welfare" to mean how to look after the interests of our "progeny" at the expense of the "veteran". This issue requires little study and reflection.

We have done a very good job of building AWES(Army Welfare Education Society). It is very artfully conceived as a private initiative designed for the welfare of the "progeny" of veterans who have expressly rejected army as a career option and not the welfare of the " veteran". This may sound little too discordant for our top brass and may be little unsettling for many of us who as usual do not think through the issues involved.

Originally, the AWES must have been funded from welfare funds of the Army controlled by the top brass. The funds possibly must have included canteen profits which are required in principle to be used for the veteran welfare. The question I am raising is : Are we using these funds for the benefits of the veterans?

AWES has created a very impressive institutional chains and all those who contributed to the development of these institutions really deserves credit and our praise. Over a period of time we tend to do local optimisation and in the bargain tend to loose the over all strategic direction. That may not be visible easily unless you examine the institution and how the strategic purpose of "veteran welfare" is being operationalised.

1. Are AWES institutions "veteran friendly" ? One moment of reflection reveal that they are least "veteran friendly" because the number of veterans who are able to take advantage of these institutions are minuscule, no, just zero. Statistics of number of veterans who benefited from these institutions are near zero! That is not by accident, it is by design deliberately to keep veterans out and weighed in favour of progeny of Officers, JCOs and ORs in that order. The outcome of admission results obviously are designed to favour the miniscule number of officers children compared to the overall veterans.
   
1. The upper age limit for the professional colleges are kept at 21/22 years.( the message is , look, let the veteran go to hell, we are not interested in them.)
2. The progeny of those Army personnel who join the Army in the ranks or as officers can also forget about taking advantages of these institutes.
3. So essentially, this whole scheme is used for those children of services personnel who have rejected Army as a career either in the ranks or as an officer.
2. "After independence, education in a residential public school was out of reach for most officers" says the introductory sentence of the AWES : A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW.
3. Institutional control and coerce mechanisms are used to direct funds for veteran welfare for the welfare of our progeny who have rejected army as a career. Seperation of a privately funded educational Society's benefit from that of the Institution of the Army is not only not kept but deliberately confused. See the coersion of veteran welfare funds for the activities at Para 4 of the the second letter below. Not only that, (see 005/GENERAL/2006) the veteran welfare funds are utilised for life insurance of students (and on the margin of the employees of the AWES).
4. AWES, a private educational society issues directive to Army formations how to hood wink the Government. Misuse of government resources and government employee time are used to subsidise the cost of running educational institution to benefit those who mange to get admission into these institutions. Those who are excluded are the millions and millions of real veterans who rot in the villages eking out a living on their pensions. They can at the most seek employment as guards in a bank but not aspire any job after qualifying at the educational institutions created with funds for veteran welfare. In the meanwhile, we officers children who could not get admission into the premier institutions like IIT, AIIMS, NUL and IIM will get some engineering, Law, Medicine, dental , hotel management and Management education to join the work force other than Army of course!
   
   I had the proud privilege of meeting some veterans doing PhD under the GI Bill in prestigious institution like Princeton and Stanford in USA some time back and they were all non officer veterans. And, we deliberately keep our veterans out of institutions for undergraduate education created out of the welfare funds generated for their benefits!
   Do we need any more proof that we are "least veteran friendly" ? Why blame other organisations for resisting lateral entry, etc. Our enemies are within ourselves!
   We have misused the brand name "Army" for AWES which is strictly speaking unethical. Can AWES take me to court if I start an institution and call it Army Institute of Computer Technology? Can AWES have a claim on the brand of " ARMY"? Will the claim be sustained in a court of law? Any analysis?
   Instead of us fighting against discrimination on the basis of age and for laws like in all the advanced countries (USA, Canada, UK, , Europe, Australia Newzeland), we have introduced age disqualification to keep the veterans out of the benefit for education in institutions established out of veteran welfare funds! See the Australian age discrimination act 2004
   which states:
   26 Education
   (1) It is unlawful for an educational authority to discriminate against a person on the ground of the person's age:
   (a) by refusing or failing to accept the person's application for admission as a student; or
   
   (b) in the terms or conditions on which it is prepared to admit the person as a student.
   (2) It is unlawful for an educational authority to discriminate against a student on the ground of the student's age:
   (a) by denying the student access, or limiting the student's access, to any benefit provided by the educational authority; or
   (b) by expelling the student; or
   (c) by subjecting the student to any other detriment.
   
   We should be lobbying for such laws in India too, in the interest of our large number of veterans, but instead, we are cornering the benefits at the expense of the veterans! Will an ordinary veteran be educated enough to raise his voice against this?
   See how we are using a government web site to advertise a private intiative: http://www.awes.nic.in/
   regards
   nath
   
   Our ethical standards are questionable. It is tantamount to official stealing of government money.Examples of converting public money into private benefit:
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   CIRCULAR NO 003/GEN/2004

   Tele & Fax: 23018363,23018702 ASCON : 2938, 2948 E-Mail : cw9@rediffmail.com aweshq@hotmail.com		Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) Adjutant General's Branch Army Headquarters Building No 153, Kashmir House Rajaji Marg DHQ PO New Delhi-110011
   B/45795/AWES		12 Jul 2004
   List 'C' SERVING OFFICERS VISITING HEADQUARTERS ARMY WELFARE EDUCATION SOCIETY (AWES) General 1. Serving officers are often required to visit Adjutant General's Branch, HQ AWES to attend conferences, make presentations, discuss issues pertaining to Professional Colleges / Schools or various other AWES related matters. 2. Of late there has been instances when vehicle were not detailed by theADG Adm and Coord for conveyance of officers on the plea that audit authorities were objecting to duties related to AWES. It is possible that CDA (O), at a future date, may raise similar objections relating to temporary duty move sanctions related to AWES matters. In any case, all serving officers visiting AWES do have a number of issues with the Army Headquarters. Ruling 3. Those visiting HQ AWES or who are called to HQ AWES for presentation in Adjutant General's Branch concerning AWES matters will show duties to AG Branch in all correspondence having financial bearing for audit authorities. Action at Formations Level 4. Formations while requesting for temporary duty of officers to ensure that the move is requested for one of the following :- (a) Discussion with AG/DG D C&W regarding Welfare matters. (b) To attend conference at Adjutant General's Branch. (c) Discussion on A matters. 5. Move details alongwith Exact Time of Arrival (ETA) will be forwarded at least 10 days in advance. This period is considered essential to indent, arrange accommodation and transport. In case, the formations are unable to send the requisition within this time frame, officers may have to make their own arrangement for accommodation and transport. Action at HQ AWES 6. HQ AWES will ensure that formations get sufficient time to prepare for the requirements for which the officers are called. Formations must indicate at the earliest the intended programmes of officers so that adequate arrangements for their reception, accommodation and transport are made. Indent for accommodation and transport will be placed on Adm & Coord, quoting the authorized duty. The indent will be got countersigned by DDG (Welfare) or by ADG C&W when the requirement of transport is for non working days.

5. CIRCULAR NO 03/GEN/2006
   Tele : 23018702 E-Mail - aweshq@rediffmail.com		Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) Adjutant General's Branch Army Headquarters Bldg No 153, Kashmir House Rajaji Marg, New Delhi - 110 011
   B/45797/BOG/AWES		16 May 06
   List 'A'
   CONTRIBUTION BY HQ COMMANDS / FORMATIONS OUT OF WELFARE FUNDS FOR AWES SCHOOLS / COLLEGES WITHIN THEIR JURISDICTION
   1. Reference Para 6 of Appendix to this HQ letter No B /45797 / BOG / AWES dated 02 May 06 (Minutes of BOG held on 18 Apr 06). 2. There has been a paradigm shift in our definition of welfare. Education and health have emerged as key areas for our concern and attention. Bulk of the amount out of welfare funds has been/is being spent on provision of quality education at affordable cost. Due to expansion and privatization of education, salary bill of quality faculty is increasing. Funds are also required to provide good infrastructure. Keeping this in mind, a decision was taken by the Board of Governors, duly approved by COAS, during the meeting held on 28 Oct 04, for appropriate contribution of at least 15-20% of the Welfare Funds to education projects within your jurisdiction. Based on this decision, a feedback for the financial year 2005-06 was obtained. 3. COAS, during BOG meeting held on 18 Apr 06, expressed his concern over the fact that some of the formations were not spending the desired amount on AWES educational institutions, especially when viewed against the fact that Army HQ is spending more than 65% of its funds on the same. He has desired a feed back from the Commands. You are requested to coordinate the efforts at HQ Command level and issue detailed instructions to implement the directions of BOG and of the COAS. The amount can be spent to improve the following in AWES Colleges/Schools :- (a) Infrastructure. (b) Upgradation of Information Technology (IT). (c) Incentives to outstanding performers. (d) Adventure activities. (e) Principals Meet/Seminars. (f) Faculty Enrichment Programmes. (g) Any other Development activity. 5. In addition to the above, budget of AWES cells including pay and allowances of staff may be met by adopting any one or the combination of the following:- (a) By utilising part of 15-20% of the welfare funds. (b) By collecting contributions from Army Schools and Colleges on pro rata basis. (c) By utilizing part of welfare funds and part from contributions from Army Schools and Colleges. 6. Command HQ will lay down detailed instructions on the subject so that formations get a clear picture of what is to be spent on schools/colleges and what contribution is required at HQ Command level to support the budget of AWES Cells. A copy of the instructions may be endorsed to this HQ. 7. To enable HQ AWES to give progress to the BOG during Apr & Oct, it is requested that data may please be submitted to Army HQ biannually, as per format attached covering periods as under:- (a) Period 01 Apr - 30 Sep by 07 Oct. (b) Period 01 Oct - 31 Mar by 07 Apr. 8. This letter supersedes our letter No B/45797/AWES dated 03 Mar 05. Sd/-x-x-x-x--x (MG Girish) Lt Gen DG D, C&W