Dear Colleagues,
There has been no further communication after 23 November from the Ministry of Defence on enhancement of the widows’ pension. We will rebuild pressure if nothing happens till December end.
16 December is Vijay Diwas. We will all remember and pay homage to our departed colleagues who laid down their lives in upholding security and integrity of the country, in the best traditions of the Services. At the national level, it had unfortunately remained an insignificant affair. However, thanks to the collective effort of the ESM community, the event has acquired some weight over the last three years.
On 3 December, Kameshwar Pandey and I had attended a function in memory of Captain Poonia, who had died in the Indo-Pak War during an attack on Night 3/4 December 1971. This 76 inches tall officer had been an outstanding sportsperson and his village (Bangothri, on the outlets of Pilani in Rajasthan), conducts a sports-meet in his memory; we were part of the inaugural. We interacted with many ESM on the occasion. Happily, quite a few pensioners are Sarpanches of their villages and are constructively active in society building. An outstanding example is of Havildar Mahabir Singh Tanghal, ARTY, who started an educational institution in Pilani in the Nineteen-Eighties after quitting prematurely. He now runs four such institutions from Nursery to PG and is doing excellent work in spreading literacy in the society. During our visit we noticed the focus on admitting the underprivileged children. He does the ESM community proud.
Some of us will be attending an ESM rally in Jhunjhunu on 16 December. All available indicators promise an enthusiastic response.
I have had my Yahoo mail hacked some time ago. (Undoubtedly, my own fault as I had not changed my password for long.) I have lost all contacts and all inbox contents after 18 November. I have switched over to a Gmail address as would be seen from this message.
Best regards,
Lt Gen Raj Kadyan
Chairman IESM
