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BY HARPREET KAUR
Over the past 58 years of Independence, India has fought
five major
battles and survived numerous skirmishes to keep its borders
intact
and free of insurgents. The experiences of 1948, 1962, 1965,
1971,
1999 all have shown that the armed forces of India are our
first and
last line of defence against any enemy.
They have consistently proven their mettle since the First
World War, when they fought with the British forces, as well
as in recent wars and whenever the UN requested for assistance
from the Indian
government. The long list of medals, gallantry awards, VCs,
PVSM,
AVSM, VSM etc. underline this courage and leadership.
But the gallantry awards and victories did not come without
a price.
The armed forces of India have had to face human losses in
battle, soldiers missing in action and wounded soldiers –
those who could never go back to the forces again. These
wounded were part of the
fighting team, till injury separated them from the forces,
leaving many of them to face their future alone.
Recently, veteran cricketer Kapil Dev agreed to be the
goodwill ambassador of War Wounded Foundation. On August 15,
2004, he
relaunched the book Paramveer - Our Heroes In Battle by Major
General Ian Cardozo.
There are over 30,000 disabled soldiers in our country
without proper rehabilitation. War Wounded Foundation is
the only NGO working towards this cause. Founded by Lt. Gen (Retd)
Vijay Oberoi and Maj. Gen Ian Cardozo, both of whom are
war-disabled, the foundation has been able to make significant
advances despite
paucity of funds.
 They have come up with a small website about these unsung
war heroes. Donations to the
War Wounded Foundation are exempt from tax under Sec. 80 G of income tax
act. Corporates which are already contributors to the War Wounded
Foundation include Apollo Tyres, IOC, MICO, Kinetic, Pepsi,
Piaggio, Ambuja Cement and Hindustan Lever. The link is :
Address:
War Wounded Foundation, 2 Balbir Saxena Marg, Hauz Khas, New Delhi
Email:- warwounded@indiatimes.com,
warwounded@hotmail.com
Tel: 098110015900, 011-55799988, 09891577028.
Website:
http://www.warwounded.org/
The people behind this organisation:-
Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi (Retd), PVSM, AVSM, VSM, President of
this organisation
He lost his leg in a 1965 skirmish with the Pakistani
infiltrators. An officer of Maratha Light Infantry, he
continued to serve in the army for 40 years, retiring from the
post of Vice Chief of the Indian Army. He was selected as the
International Fellow from India at the US Army War College. He
continues to be active in intellectual/Social work.
Maj Gen Ian Cardozo (Retd), AVSM, SM; Vice President of
this organisation
An officer of the 5th Gorkha Rifles, he lost his leg as a
Major in the war of 1971. He became the first war-disabled
officer to Command
a Battalion and a Brigade and retired as Chief of Staff of a
Corps in the eastern sector. He is now a social activist, an
author and a military historian.
Mr. Mukesh Anand, Executive Director of this organisation
Son of an Army officer, he devoted himself to serving the
cause of retired/disabled soldiers after the Kargil war.
He has been instrumental in rehabilitating a large number of
retired/disabled soldiers
Indian Army and the various institutions being run for
rehabilitation of the disabled soldiers:- (courtesy:-www.indianarmy.nic.in)
Queen Mary Technical Institute Pune. The institute conducts
ITI recognised vocational training for disabled
servicemen and their dependents. The institute is funded
out of grants from various Govt and Non-Govt agencies,
AG's Branch and from Corpus Fund of the
institute. Various courses that are conducted as under :-
Fitter, electrician and radio/TV mechanic courses of
two-year duration.
Diesel mechanic course of one year duration.
Stenography (English) course of one year duration.
Cutting and tailoring course of one year duration.
Paraplegic Homes. Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centres (PRC)
at Kirkee and Mohali with a capacity of 80 and 30 beds
respectively are being run for rehabilitation of paraplegic
and tetraplegic ex-servicemen. These are being run as
charitable trusts, registered with the respective state
government. In addition, a vocational training centre
has been established near Paraplegic Home Mohali for
rehabilitation training of paraplegics.
Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre:
Park Road, Kirkee, Pune-411 020, (Maharashtra)
and
Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre,
SAS Nagar(Mohali)Phase VI, Dist Roopnagar (Punjab) -160 055
St Dunstan's After Care Organisation, Dehradun. The
institution provides rehabilitation training financial support
and psychological support to blinded serving personnel and
ex-servicemen. St Dunstan's After care Organisation 116 Rajpur
Road Dehradun.
Issue of identity cards to disabled ex-servicemen.
The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has requested
the States/ Union Territories Administration to prescribe the
procedure for issuing identity cards to disabled
ex-servicemen. The appropriate authority for issuing the cards
would be designated keeping in the view the convenience of the
disabled ex-servicemen. The cards can also be distributed
through Rajya Sainik Boards/Zila SainikBoards and Army
Formation Headquarters on the basis of disability
certificate given by competent medical authority in the
Defence Forces. For further information, the Rajya Sainik
Boards/Zila Sainik Boards may be contacted. For more
information on the Indian army helping the disabled over the
years, you can log on to the Indian Army website here and
check out the section on welfare activities.
BY HARPREET KAUR |
