AWARENESS SERIES : ARMED FORCES WIDOWS – PART 2 –WIDOWS – GO DIE A THIRD DEATH

Under

#SAVITA Sustainable And Valuable Initiative for Timely Assistance

A ‘Forces Widow’ dies THREE TIMES. 1st when her soldier husband dies, 2nd when God calls her. The 3^rd death is subjected by State, the Establishment when her care comes under the State. Her fault? Being a FORCES WIDOW.

I will cover the following in this issue:

Interplay of Casualty and Pension

Who is Responsible for Forces Widows?

Kendriya Sainik Board-Armed Forces Representatives

Working Out Pension of a Widow

About the soldier-husband-father who died- Naik Ram Manohar (Imaginary soldier)

About the family he left behind

Tough Questions

Pension Working out for Ms Snehlata (Imaginary widow)

In the AWARENESS SERIES – ARMED FORCES WIDOWS – PART 1, WIDOW NOT BY CHOICE, I covered the following terms:

Battle Casualty

Physical Casualty

Attributable to Military Service

Not Attributable to Military Service

Ordinary Family Pension

Enhanced Family Pension

Special Family Pension

Liberalised Family Pension

Interplay

I did not explain the interplay of these terms. See the following:

1. Battle Casualty gets you Liberalised Family Pension.

• Physical Casualty gets you either Ordinary or Special Family Pension:

1. Ordinary Family Pension if death is “Not Attributable to Military Service”

Recipients of Ordinary Family Pension get “Enhanced Family Pension’ for first 10 years from date of death if the soldier was ‘serving’ and for 7 years if the soldier is ‘retired’. Ordinary Family Pension commences thereafter.

• Special Family Pension if death is “Attributable to Military Service”.

Did any of the above make any sense? No it doesn’t.

Who is Responsible?

Who is Responsible for Armed Forces Widows Issues?

Complicated isn’t it? Yes, it is supposed to be. Are widows going around asking other widows? Do they have access to any widow? Are they educated enough to even understand that there is so much discrimination?

Who is supposed to be looking after their welfare? Officers.

And what do officers do besides getting after next promotion? APATHY of organisation starts from Armed Forces Officers who sit on the Governing Body of Kendriya Sainik Board but cannot understand simple facts on WHY the Forces Widow must die again. Do you know WHO (uniformed lot) sits on the Governing Body of Kendriya Sainik Board?

Kendriya Sainik Board

The 45 member board is chaired by the Hon‟ble Raksha Mantri as its President and 45 members include serving and retired officers as follows:

– Lt Gen (Dr.) DP Vats (Retd), MP (Rajya Sabha)

-Chief of the Army Staff

-Chief of the Naval Staff

-Chief of the Air Staff

-Lt Gen Rameshwar Roy UYSM, AVSM, YSM (Retd)

V.Adm. BS Randhawa UYSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd)

Gp Capt Ashok Sethi (Retd)

Ex-Sub Maj & Hony Capt Chander Singh Rathore [10 PARA (SF)]

 ** Source – KSB Guide Book Welfare Scheme 2020 Part – 1

Working Out Pension of a Widow

Be your Own Judge. Today I will convert the following terms into a very simple understandable model. Instead of getting lost in official terms, I will simply take a widow and apply the above terms to her to explain how much she would have got in pension. The interplay of the following terms will be clear:

Battle Casualty and Liberalised Family Pension.

Physical Casualty and Ordinary or Special Family Pension

Attributability and non-attributability to Military Service

Enhanced and Special Family Pension

ABOUT THE SOLDIER-HUSBAND-FATHER WHO DIED

Name: Ram Manohar (imaginary)

Rank: Naik

Date of Birth: 01 Jan 1981

Recruited on: 02 Jan 2001

Married on: 03 Jan 2010

Wife Name: Snehlata (imaginary)

Wife Age at Marriage: 22 years

Children: Daughters (Two) born on 04 Jan 2013 and 05 Jan 2015

Date of Death: 06 Jan 2020

Service of Naik Ram Manohar at the time of Death: 19 Years

Reckonable Emoluments at the Time of Death: Rs 50,000/- per month.

CAUSE OF DEATH: Each of the following:

Battle Casualty

Physical Casualty

Attributable to Military Service

Not Attributable to Military Service

FAMILY PENSION TO WIDOW: As per cause of death.

FAMILY

Widowed at 32 years of age.

Elder Daughter on the day of father’s death: 7 years, In class 3

Younger Daughter on the day of father’s death: 5 years. In class 1

Year of Class 12:  Elder Daughter in 2029, younger daughter in 2031, mothers age 41 and 43 respectively.

Year of Graduation:  Elder Daughter in 2029-2032, younger daughter in 2031-34, mothers age 44 and 46 respectively at the end of graduation.

Year of likely marriage :  Elder Daughter around 2035, younger daughter in 2037, mothers age 47 and 49 respectively.

Tough Questions

1. How does PENSION depend on the place where the widows husband or children’s father die?
2. How does any of above effect PENSION depending on the cause of death of widows husband or children’s father ?
3. How does any of above affect PENSION based on the ‘environment’ in which widows husband or children’s father die?
4. Did the widow have a choice of how, where and under what circumstances the soldier died?
5. Is it not apathy that simple logic of life is not understood by the Armed Forces?

WORKED OUT PENSION

Physical Casualty

Ordinary Family Pension – Death NOT attributable to military service. Ms Snehlata will draw Rs 25,000.00 per month Ordinary Family Pension (Enhanced) for 10 years or till 06 Jan 2030, and thereafter Ordinary Family Pension of Rs 15,000.00 for life because Naik Ram Manohar was declared a Physical Casualty (not attributable to military service).

Special Family Pension – Death Attributable to military service. Ms Snehlata will draw Rs 30,000.00 per month Special Family Pension for life because Naik Ram Manohar was declared a Physical Casualty (attributable to military service).

Battle Casualty

Liberalised Family Pension. Ms Snehlata will draw Rs 50,000.00 per month Liberalised Family Pension for life because Naik Ram Manohar was declared a Battle Casualty. She gets Liberalised Family Pension from 06 Jan 2020 FOR LIFE.

WIDOW DIES THIRD DEATH

The widow must suffer despite having no control so Ms Snehlata gets one of the following from 06 Jan 2020 onwards:

1^st Case Rs 25000.00 pm from 06 Jan 2020 to 05 Jan 2030 and Rs 15000.00 for life thereafter.

OR

2^nd Case Rs 30000.00 for life.

OR

3^rd Case Rs 50000.00 for life.

Put the above on the timeline.

-1^st Case

– As soon as the elder daughter enters Class 12  in 2029, the pension REDUCES from 25000.00 to 15000.00.

-Graduation of both daughters at Rs 15000.00 pm.

-Marriage- same as above.

2^nd Case – Stable

3^rd Case – Made no difference whether Naik Ram Mohan lived or died.

Conclusion

Think on the above. Analyse. There is something drastically wrong.