REHABILITATION OF RETIRED ARMED FORCES OFFICERS

Retirement Blues
A service officer leads an active life and is generally in good physical health
even at retirement. Time hangs on him when he does not take up employment/re-
employment after retirement. That apart, mundane matters take their toll, such as
– drop in income, he goes out of circulation, a dent to his already diluted
service status and dignity etc. Needless to say every officer cannot find
employment. He, therefore, needs to self-employ himself. Govt must recognize the
need to utilize this trained and disciplined reservoir of human resource and
rehabilitate them.

Among many possibilities, I have listed a few with a brief on them. In some of
these cases it will be complementing the existing resources. Existing laws may
have to be amended in some cases or new laws made in others. All these will add to
public confidence as well as public convenience without imposing any capital cost
to the Govt. In addition, some of these will add to the status and dignity of a
retired officer.

Notary Power
Attestation and notarization of documents are essential requirements for admission
in educational institutions, applying for jobs, for legal necessities etc. When a
civilian person wants to get a document notarized, he has to go to a Notary Public
or an appropriate lawyer. This involves travel to a court, procurement a stamp
paper, getting the required matter printed and paying a fee to the Notary Public
or a lawyer to get the document notarized. Travel could be over considerable
distance if he is located in rural area. All this involves time, effort and cost
apart from the inconvenience he has to face.

A service officer on retirement should be empowered as Notary Public and he should

function from his residence. He will receive the same fees that his client would
have paid to a Notary Public/lawyer. The Govt is not required to meet any
capital/infrastructure cost neither is there any recurring expenditure for such
empowerment. By such empowerment, a villager may find a Notary Public as his
neighbour. He will be spared the travel and cost to get his affidavit notarized.
College students or job seekers do not have to go hunting for Notary Public/
gazetted officer and stand in queues to get their certificates attested. This is
not an uncharted work for a ‘veteran’, for he has done similar work while in
service. An enterprising person can convert this opportunity into a gold mine. His
office could become an Internet café having printing and other secretarial support
facilities, CD/Cassette lending library etc.

Election Observers
Elections are integral part of democracy and election observers are necessary,
whether it be for Parliament, Assembly, Corporation/Municipal, Panchayat or any
other form of elections. If the election is held under the aegis of Central Govt
Election Commissioner then a few central govt officials but mostly state govt
officials are employed for supervision. Where the State Election Commissioner
holds elections, only state govt officials are employed. There is disruption of
normal work in the offices when such officials are employed on election duties.
That apart, elections need to be free and fair. Selection of observers should be
done in such a manner that the political affiliations of observers remain beyond a
shadow of doubt.

Under these circumstances, retired Armed Forces officers will be best suited to
perform this job. This will restore public confidence since their impartiality
will be beyond doubt. Both Central and State Election Commissions should make
panels of such officers and deploy them for election duties. Office routine will
not be disrupted for the state and central govt offices in that case. These
officers will get the same remunerations and privileges as are extended to
Election Observers.

Evaluation and Monitoring Social And Developmental Projects

There are numerous projects sponsored by the Central and State Govts and its
departments and various autonomous bodies. All these projects need evaluation and
regular monitoring. The present system of evaluation and monitoring is not free
from personal, group or political influence. Employing retired service officers
for evaluation and monitoring duties will ensure better project management and
will bring greater benefit to the affected people and public confidence will be
enhanced.

To carry out these tasks some travel may be required and it will be befitting for
any retired officers to undertake the same. Training required for evaluating these
projects is not difficult and he has the background to easily adept to it. No
capital/infrastructure cost is required and approved rates of remunerations and
TA/DA should be paid to them.

Arbitration and Conciliation Activities

It is common knowledge that far too many cases are pending in our civil courts for
disposal. It takes months to arrange a hearing and years to get justice even at
the lowest court. A system of arbitration and conciliation is in vogue and it is
possible to arrange proceedings in specific cases if both parties agree to it. It
is suggested that minor civil cases like marriage, divorce, inheritance, property
disputes etc should be brought under Arbitration and Conciliation Act and retired
service officers should be allowed to hold arbitration proceedings. This could be
the first level of redress for the parties and first step for dispensation of law.
The parties can exercise their right to appeal where they want. Today Panchayats
have legal power to dispense justice and the proposed system will certainly be
better than Panchayat dispensing justice or else wait and die before getting
justice in the normal course.

The officer can hold the proceeding at his residence or at a mutually agreed
place. Needless to say that these proceedings will be held in the close vicinity
of the affected parties and it will be held as per the existing act. This way,
numerous cases can be disposed off and the over-burdened judiciary will get some
relief. All service offices have rudimentary training in law and it will not be
difficult to supplement their knowledge where needed. His impartiality will be
overboard and such proceedings will add to public convenience and confidence.
There will be no capital/infrastructure cost to the Govt. His remunerations will
be as laid down and agreed to by the parties.

Incentives to Corporate Sector to Recruit Retired Personnel

Corporate sector is a large employer of human resource and pre-retirement courses
now introduced by the Armed Forces will help officers to join the corporate
sector. However, the Govt can help to a large extent by providing tax incentives
to the Industry; Eg – pay of the retired defence personnel employed by a company
may be exempted while working out the corporate tax or banks providing loan
incentives for employing retired personnel etc. These are only examples and
possible incentives could be numerous. Such measures will encourage Industry to
employ retired persons in greater number.

Environment Protection
Though all states have Environment Protection
activities to providing environment/pollution
Environment should draw up a panel consisting
act as a watchdog in their assigned areas and
Board but they have confined their
clearance certificate. Ministry of
of retired Armed Forces officers to
report where environment degradation
has taken place and how they can be restored. Two of the biggest problems we face
today are degradation of land and water management.

Mega Projects
Retired Armed Forces personnel should be involved in all mega projects the country
undertakes. We have missed out on the first mega road-building projects. We should
ensure that we do not miss out on any mega projects now. ‘Bharat Nirman’
activities have already started. It would not be long when the River Connectivity
Project is taken up. For every large project there will be large scale land
acquisitions causing displacement of people. Services of ‘veterans’ should be
taken to re-settlement, training and rehabilitate such evicted persons. That
apart, every mega project will create subsidiary employment such as toll
collection, ticket system for passenger travel, monitoring activities etc. Ex-
service personnel should franchise in these systems.

Health Care
There are many medico-social aspects where retired officers can help, such as
promotion of family planning, AIDS control, immunization programme, drug de-
addiction, hygiene and sanitation in under-developed areas. They have to be placed
in the correct panel to supervise these. They should also be members of various
committees involving admission in medical institutes, recruitment, medicine
procurement etc in state and central govt health care system. Govt has to be
coaxed to include the defence personnel in these committees. Their inclusion will
improve public confidence in the working of the organization.

Educational Activities
Presence of the defence personnel in the educational institute will be good for
the maintenance of discipline. They also have good management skills to run such
institutions. However, in order to restore public confidence they should be
included in various committees involving admissions, appointments, award etc.
Their assistance should also be taken to promote sports in general and adventure
sports in particular.

Recommendations
Retired defence personnel constitute a very large number. Without the Govt
assistance their problems cannot be solved. Various avenues of deployment I have
suggested involves interacting with many Ministries, Departments and other
agencies and there are more possibilities not discussed or explored as yet. To
coordinate these activities, a centralized body will be necessary. Also some laws
will need amendments and in many cases new laws will be required. The Govt has to
be convinced about the problems of retired service personnel and their right of
redress. The best way to prove the genuine concern of the nation and good
intention of the Govt is to form a separate ministry to deal with rehabilitation
needs of retired defence personnel. It was not too long back when a separate
ministry was formed to deal with the problems of NRI/PIO. If and when such a
ministry is formed let it be staffed mainly by the retired defence personnel.

Indiscipline is rampant in our present day society and no nation can progress
without discipline. Visible presence of serving and retired Armed Forces personnel
in civil life will check indiscipline. It should be the endeavour central and
state govt ministries to draft retired Armed Forces officers as members in various
commissions, committees, panels etc and increase their public presence and that
will restore public confidence.

Col B Bhattacharya (Retd)