Protesting Veterans finally get audience with Prez

A delegation of military veterans, led by former Deputy Chief Lt Gen Raj Kadyan, was finally given audience by President Pratibha Patil today. The Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), which Gen Kadyan heads, is the same one that has been on an indefinite protest for months at Jantar Mantar over the government's refusal to implement One-Rank One-Pension.

According to a statement released by the IESM following its meeting, the President was now informed of the veterans' demand on any previous occasion, and the letters addressed to her by the veterans about their intention to return their gallantry medals were also not made available to her. The IESM statement noted: "Obviously, the bureaucrats at Rashtrapati Bhavan had not apprised the President regarding our requests. This is how the bureaucracy has treated the sentiments of soldiers who wanted to handover their most valued possession to the Supreme Commander." The President apparently heard out the veterans. Though there's little hope she's going to do anything about it.

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