VEEKAY’S NEWSLETTER -2015
Dear Friends,
The year 2015 is
almost done and the time has come to talk of ‘shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings’. With the
advent of novel means of communications such as e-mails, Skype and WhatsApp,
one would have thought that the British custom of annual newsletters would
become passé. Fortunately, this did not happen. Lazy people like me find it
much easier to write one long letter at the end of the year to let friends,
acquaintances and loved ones know that they are still alive and kicking,
instead of sending them regular updates every week or month. It also does away
with the need of sending Christmas and New Year cards, thus saving paper and
trees, and keeping our planet green
Like the previous
years, 2015 has been full of ups and downs. Thankfully, the highs were more
that the lows. The case filed against me by the CBI at the behest of RAW
in 2007 in connection with my book India’s External Intelligence –
Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), is still going on, with
no end in sight. But the number of court hearings was less than in previous
years. For the record, there were seven in the High Court, 25 in the CMM’s
court (sometimes, two or three on the same date), one before the CIC and five in
the Consumer Forum. The main case in the CMM’s court has been stayed by the
High Court, until the issue of the prosecution giving me the documents that I
need for my defence is decided (the CMM allowed it, but the CBI has filed an
appeal in the High Court). The case filed by Prashant Bhushan on my behalf in
the High Court in 2008 to quash the FIR and charge sheet is also hanging fire –
the last hearing was held on 1/5/2014, more than a year and a half ago! Two of
the five cases filed by me – one concerning corruption in RAW and the other
four against authors whose material I used in my book – have been dismissed, as
previous sanction had not been obtained. As everyone knows, it is almost
impossible for a private citizen to obtain Government sanction in advance for
prosecution of a public servant. I now intend doing what Subramanium Swamy did
– he wrote to the PM for sanction to prosecute Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and when
he did not get a reply, appealed to the Supreme Court. (On 23rd
December, when I was on way back from Jaipur, a constable from the CBI came to
deliver a summons to my house in Gurgaon. When I told him on telephone that I
was out of town, he said he will come again next Monday i.e. on 28th.
Who knows, this may be the beginning of another case!)
A major event was the release of the History of the Corps of
Signals, Volume III, covering the period 1947-72, by the COAS on 15th
February during the Corps Day party. With this ended the seven odd years of
struggle – three to write it and four to get it published – with the project.
This was the second time the book was released, the first being during the
centenary celebrations of the Corps at Jabalpur in February 2011, when a ‘dummy
copy’ was released. After four years of shuttling between MI, MO and Signals Directorates,
clearance was finally accorded in 2015 and the book saw the light of day.
Unfortunately, the entire chapter on the 1962 war had to be deleted, along with
some portions of the 1971 war and the skirmish at Nathula in 1967. As I expected,
the veterans who took part in the 1962 war and the
other operations that were omitted, many of whom are still living and had
contributed to the respective chapters, were severely disappointed. Hopefully, these maybe
added once the records of the operations after 1961 are de-classified by the
MOD. Those who are interested can read these chapters on my blog: veekay-militaryhistory.blogspot.com.
Just a few days
ago, I received the welcome news that Maj Gen PK Mullick has accepted the
assignment of writing the next volume of the Corps History. As most
of you know, he is one of our most distinguished and erudite veterans, who has
been writing on professional issues for several years. I am sure he will do an
excellent job and Volume IV will be even better than the previous ones. Of
course, he will need the support and cooperation of all of us. I wish him God
Speed and all the very -best in this venture.
One
of the high points of the year was the Golden Jubilee of our passing out from
IMA, which we celebrated in Dehradun in June. Though it concerned only the Army
officers, we invited our NDA course mates from the Navy and Air Force (the dam busters) after getting concurrence
of the Commandant IMA. As usual, I was shanghaied into agreeing to produce the souvenir
for the event. I thought it would be similar to the NDA souvenir that I had
produced in 2011 for the Golden Jubilee of our joining the NDA. But as it
turned out, this was a much more demanding assignment. The souvenir was to
include the profile of each one of the 301 officers who were commissioned on 27th
June 1965, with details such as date of birth, IMA Company, appointment held, regiment,
rank achieved, date of retirement, date of marriage, names of spouse and
children, postal address, e-mail and telephone numbers etc. The officers who passed
out from IMA belonged to several streams – NDA, direct entry, OTU, TA and
technical graduates. Except the ex-NDA types, most of the others had almost
gone underground after passing out and it was a herculean task to locate
them. With the help of several others
who joined the hunt, we managed to get details of almost everyone, including
the 45 who had passed away.
It was a fantastic event that went off without
a hitch, thanks to the meticulous planning by the staff of the IMA as well as
Gurmeet Grover, the course coordinator and those among us who had been assigned
various responsibilities. Most of us were thrilled to be back in Dehradun after
50 years, in familiar surroundings where we had sweated and fretted before
getting that lone star on the shoulder. Thankfully, the gentleman cadets (GCs)
live like gentlemen in two room suites with attached toilets, unlike the
hutments that we stayed in during our time. For the wives who accompanied their
husbands, it was an unique experience. It speaks volumes for the spirit of the
ladies, especially the widows who joined us for the event, some escorted by a
son or a daughter.
Thankfully, my visits
to the hospital this year were not as frequent as in the past. My back does not
give much trouble as long as I remember to do my daily session of extension
exercises. The problem of swelling in the retina (BRVO) is still there, but
does not cause much worry. I have already had 12 injections during the last
three years – Avastin, Lucentis and Macugen – and there is very little
improvement. Dr. Darius Shroff, who is taking care of it, has stopped the
injections, but I go to him for a check-up once every two or three months. Of
course, I have to take regular eye drops to keep the eye pressure under control
and medication for blood pressure and sugar but I suppose these are universal for
everyone at our age.
The respite from
visits to courts and hospitals has been offset with another activity that I
mentioned in my last newsletter –construction of additional rooms in the
backyard of our house and extension of the lobby and drawing room. This was
followed by the construction of rooms for servants on the terrace that had been
demolished when the second floor was constructed a couple of years back. We
realised that unless they had a place to stay, no servant was ready to work for
us on a permanent basis. We do manage to get some part time help to do the cooking,
washing and cleaning, but one is never sure whether or not they will turn up to
cook the next meal. Kumud and I manage
to do most of our own work ourselves but with advancing years, a helping hand is
needed to shift heavy articles, move furniture and do sundry jobs around the
house. Hopefully, in another month or two the project will be completed and we
might be able to get a servant on a full time basis.
I am still trying to
come to terms with the loss of all the data in my PC that crashed last year. Slowly,
I have been able to build up some of it from back up disks made a few years
back, e-mails that I had sent or received, CDs and various other sources. However,
most of the files made during the period 2010-14 have been irretrievably lost.
A similar problem occurred this year with Kumud’s Galaxy 2 mobile phone.
Apparently, there was a virus that had made it slow. We took it to a mobile
repair shop. The technician said he would remove the virus and asked us to
leave the phone with him for about 30 minutes. When we collected it, the phone
was working but all the data – phone numbers, photos, songs etc. – had been
lost. He had formatted it without making a backup. We realised it only after
reaching home. Next day his shop was closed and then we had to go out of
station for a week. Kumud returned before I did and gave him a piece of her
mind. Once I came back, I did the same. After I threatened him with a court
case, he returned the money that he had charged us, but that was small
consolation for the loss of data, especially the phone numbers. We could get
the numbers of family members and close friends from others, but those of
maids, cooks, tradesmen, shopkeepers etc. were lost forever. Kumud was
inconsolable and blamed me for the fiasco. For once, I accepted my fault. I
wish I had stayed on in the shop and made sure that a backup copy is made
before formatting the phone.
This is not the only
instance of bad luck visiting us this year. There were several others, some
major and others minor. About five years ago 53 major generals including SPS
Vains had filed a case in the AFT at Chandigarh to remove the anomalies in
their pay with those who retired after 2006. This was based on a case that Maj
Gen Vains and several others had won earlier, regarding the anomalies after the
1996 CPC. The AFT ruled in their favour but the Govt., as usual, went in appeal
to the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal. About a month ago, a couple of
my friends told me that they had received a large sum of money as arrears in
their bank accounts. I had received a letter from the MOD, Department of Ex-Servicemen
Welfare (DESW) a few months ago, directing the CGDA to pay the arrears, but
there was no list attached. Since I was one of the signatories to this
petition, I went across the DESW and got a copy. Lo and behold, the list
attached to the letter did have my IC Number, Rank and address at serial 23, but
my name was missing. I then spoke to the Joint secretary, who asked me to
submit various documents, including a copy of the list of petitioners in the
original petition, proof that I am indeed the same person as given in the
petition i.e. IC 16318F Maj Gen VK Singh and that my address is the same. I
have done all this earlier this month. Hopefully, they will issue an amendment
soon and then I can pester the CGDA in Allahabad to pay me my dues. I am sure
all this happened due a lapse by careless clerk, who was probably chatting
while typing out the letter. Of course, none of the people who approved the
letter or signed it had the time to read it. But why do such things happen only
to me?
One thing that I have
not been able to fathom is why a judgment of the Supreme Court, High Court or
AFT in matters of pay and pension of Armed Forces personnel does not apply
automatically to everyone who is similarly affected. As it stands, each
affected individual has to file a petition in the concerned court for his dues,
which he gets only after a favourable ruling. It results in a colossal waste of
time and effort, and increases the workload of the courts that are already
overburdened. Exactly the same thing has happened in the case of broad banding
of disability pension. After the judgment of the Supreme Court in December
2014, the disability pension of all veterans who have less than 50% disability should
have automatically been revised to 50%. But this has not happened. Each veteran
has to file a separate petition in the AFT, which gives a half page order accepting
his plea and the CGDA then issues a corrigendum PPO. The lawyer charges around
50,000 to 75,000 from each person to file his case in the AFT. I know several officers
who have already done this and got their pensions revised. It appears to be a
senseless waste of time and money. Of course, for the lawyers it is a bonanza.
Due to various other commitments, I have still been able to file my own
petition, but I intend doing this shortly, without engaging a lawyer.
This year we again
missed our annual sojourn in the hills. But there were several other family
outings that more than made up for this. In November, the whole family
congregated at our farm near Sultanpur, where my mother lives with my brother
and his family. To celebrate her 94th birthday, her grandchildren –
there are 18 of them – had organised a two-day family get-together. It was
after several years that the whole family gathered at on place. The great
grandchildren – there were more than 30 at last count - had a whale of a time,
many of them seeing village life for the first time in their lives.
In December, we had a
similar gathering at my brother-in-law’s place in Jaipur, which included a trip
to his farm in Chomu, about 40 Km from Jaipur. As I had mentioned in one of my
previous newsletters, my brother-in-law, Col Jitendra Singh, had to get his leg
amputated after a surgical operation to remove a blockage in his leg done in Apollo Hospital by Dr Trehan went
wrong. In spite of his disability, his morale never waned. After retiring from
service, he converted his ancestral bungalow in Jaipur into a hotel, which is
now known as the Bharat Mahal Heritage Hotel. He late bought some farm land
near Chomu where he has recently made a resort, mostly for family outings and
picnics. He is always on the go and every time we visit, we find something new.
Again, the children enjoyed themselves thoroughly and were it not for missing
school, would not have come back so soon. Of course, we intend going back to
Jaipur again, to ring in the New Year at Bharat Mahal Palace.
We are still staying at
Abhimaur Vikum in Palam Vihar in
Gurgaon. My son Abhimanyu lives on the first floor with his wife Jasmine and
their two children Bhuvanyu (12) and Khushi (10), who go to the Sun City School.
My daughter Mauravi and her husband Vaibhav live in Hextex Commune near the DLF
golf course. Their two daughters Mriggya (12) and Eshaana (10) shifted last
year from the Excelsior American School to the Kunskapsskolan School,
which has recently been voted as the best school in Gurgaon. It is a Swedish
school whose name is quite a mouthful -I still find it difficult to pronounce
it correctly. Vaibhav is a captain in the Merchant Navy and is presently enjoying
a break, having finished his last assignment in November. He is busy doing all
his courses gain. Due to some strange reason, the DG Shipping has recently decided
to de-recognise all certificates, so all sailors, including masters and mates,
have to get new certificates again. These are given after short courses at
various institutes that are run by retired merchant navy officers. Like the
lawyers, they are smiling, if not laughing, all the way to the bank.
A matter of concern is
the likelihood of all diesel vehicles being banned in the near future. Due to
the problem of my back, the only vehicle that I find comfortable is the Innova,
which does not have a petrol variant. I am now in a quandary. Should I change
the vehicle, or modify it to run on CNG?
Or shift to my home state, UP, where these rules will probably never be
enforced.
This about sums it up
for the year 2015. This is my tenth newsletter (the first one was sent in
2006). Those who wish to read the previous ones can do so by logging on
to my blog veekaysnewsletter.blogspot.com.
Let me close by wishing all of you a Merry
Christmas and Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Vinay and Kumud Singh
G-31, Palam Vihar,
Gurgaon – 122017
Tele: 0124-4074077,
9873494521, 9899110913
24th December
2014
At Palam Vihar,
on 7th December 2015
