Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has completed one year in office but defence preparedness and military modernisation continue to require his urgent attention, says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) in an annual report card.
The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has been forced to summon Defense Secretary R.K. Mathur over his ministry’s non-compliance with AFT and Supreme Court rulings to implement DACP pay rises for military doctors.
Senior officers of the armed forces now need to check their public behavior to avoid being featured as the latest subject of gossip on social media among their own officers.
A former JAG officer writes to Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, asking him to ensure ‘Indian Military Veterans like me command respect and dignity in my own country too, just as we do, ironically, in other democracies’.
The Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement has asked PM Narendra Modi to implement One Rank One Pension, withdraw pension and benefit cases against veterans and set up a Military Veteran’s Commission.
The petition, filed by a group of lawyers, asks the Supreme Court to issue directions to the Union government to phase out obsolete equipment being used by the armed forces.
Although the Supreme Court has allowed armed forces personnel to vote as general voters, there are significant caveats and its interim order is likely to benefit only a small percentage of service voters in the General Election.
A lawyer looks at the defense ministry reference of the Rank Pay issue to the Attorney General and explains why he lacks confidence that this will lead to an equitable resolution.
A lecturer at Yale Law School gives perspective on the administration of military justice in India and the role and impact of the Armed Forces Tribunal, suggesting interesting new measures to improve the justice delivery system.
Blacklisting is the politician’s response to cop out of responsibility for ensuring a corruption free defense acquisition process, that serves no purpose for either the Indian armed forces or the taxpayer, and is effectively the application of rules that govern the PWD (Public Works Department).
The UPA government is reportedly delaying any action by the ministerial committee looking into the grievances of the armed forces till the Election Commission’s announcement of the general elections. Under the model code of conduct that comes into operation once elections are announced the government will just wash it’s hands off the entire affair saying it can’t announce any ‘largesse’.
