Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Thursday said that the force cannot allow disability to become a reason to avoid operational deployment and duty at the cost of those who sacrifice themselves for the nation. Speaking at an event, the Army chief criticised lack of enthusiasm among certain soldiers and warned those who feign disability by citing ailments like diabetes and hyper tension to avoid operational duties and to earn extra money.
"What I see is that some officers and jawans cannot face pressure, stress and start saying that due to high blood pressure or diabetes they have become disabled, hence, they cannot be deployed in difficult and interior locations because they have high blood pressure, diabetes and they are suffering from hyper tension. These are those officers who are physically and mentally weak who cannot withstand the stress and pressures in service. I want to warn them that if you call yourself disabled that way then you should be ashamed of yourself after seeing people who performed here today," the Chief said while addressing the differently-abled soldiers at Army celebrations event in Pune.
He warned of strict action against such soldiers who feign diability. "I want tell that the person who is actually disabled will be focused more and we will help them completely either in financial form or any other help required. But those fake who call themselves disabled and use the mode of disability to earn few notes (money) I am warning them today you better take care now otherwise in a few days we will pass such instructions from Army Headquarter by which you will not be happy anymore. We cannot allow disability to become a reason for avoiding operational deployment and operational duty at the cost of those officers and men who continue to perform their duty till the last breath and continue to bear the load of the others without remorse. I today warn those fake people who try to get the benefits from Indian Army in the name of differently-abled situation," Gen Rawat said.
On the other hand, the chief said that all help will be provided to those who are genuine and self reliant. "We've soldiers who have lost their legs but they do participate in the marathon, they don't rely on the disability pension and we should learn from them. Such soldiers should be provided with every help, including financial aid," he added.
He congratulated the differently-abled soldiers for performing better than the physically fit jawans in the Army celebrations programme and putting immense efforts in maintaining peace and security across the country.
Stressing on the programme meant for the disabled soldiers, General Rawat said that 2018 was marked as "Year of Disabled Soldiers in Line of Duty" with an intention to gather data of disabled soldiers and to know about their situation. "After getting that data we can decide what kind of help should be provided to them. I would say that any soldier who was in Indian Army no matter for how long he was with Army, if he is disabled during duty then it is our responsibility to help him and will do it always," he said.
"I have seen that even disabled soldiers are facing financial crunch and I'm thankful to the corporate sectors for constantly providing a helping end in dealing with that issue," he added.
Highlighting the strains faced by the Army personnel and the desire of the youth to join Indian Army, Rawat said, "Indian army is not a platform to give anyone employment but it appreciates those youngsters who are eager to face a difficult situation and find solutions to deal with the deadly crisis faced by the Army. And for that one needs to be mentally and physically fit.