Sir,

The martyrdom of CRPF Jawans is a sacrifice that nothing in kind or cash can equal. The death of the child of Karnataka, H. Guru from Mandya, in the barbaric massacre has stunned the society.

The proclamation of compensation to the grieving family appears like a joke. The Government must adopt the families of martyrs and see that they live gracefully. The children and the war widows face unimaginable challenges without their bread-winner.

While we chant the slogan, Jai Jawan Jai Kisan, why don’t we  think of waiving off the loans (if any) of the martyred soldier’s family on the lines of farmers’ cases.   A great amount of trouble the retired soldiers face to get back their homes or lands from the clutches of goons who would have usurped  their property when the Jawans were away fighting at the borders. It is a shame that our ruling system simply does not care to help the martyrs’ family in getting the   land.  The case of war widows is much worse.

The following case published in The Times of India  (Nov. 22, 2018) will reveal how callous and irresponsible the authorities can be towards the precious sacrifices of our Jawans:

Suresh Gajanan Samant was a Vir Chakra Awardee in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. His wife (I can’t address her as a widow because soldiers never really die) was receiving a paltry amount as pension due to a miss calculation ! In reality, she was entitled for a much larger amount along with “Gallantry Allowance.”  All because of the casual and irresponsible officers in the Government.  It took 46 years, for a chance discovery, by a sincere official (there are some even today), who was working at the Sainik Welfare Office, to apprise Chitra Samant Gajanan that she should appeal for the rectification of the colossal blunder on the part of the Government.

The noble lady said, “I never paid any attention to my pension as I was under the impression that whatever pension was disbursed by the Government was correct…I had full faith in the Government.”

She was honoured by the then President of India V.V. Giri (see picture). The substance of the story is may be there are many more war widows who have not got justice.  But will they be lucky to get one more conscientious officer to bring justice !!

– Prof. K.V. Satyan, V.V. Mohalla, 20.2.2019

Note: As for goons grabbing lands of serving soldiers, I must mention what late Lt. Gen. Nanda had written to me. He said because he was engaged in getting his property back in Kodagu, he was not able to accept post-retirement job offered by the Government of India. —KBG

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