Confederation of ESM Associations- An Approach Paper
Dear Members of TSEWA,
Mail received from Col TN Raman on Formation of Confederation of ESM Associations is being forwarded.
Kindly give out your individual views or opinions on the formation of Confederation of ESM Associations initiated by Col TN Raman, who has been in forefront of ESM welfare since his retirement in Chennai.
Based on your views, the Executive Committee of TSEWA will take a suitable decision.
Your views or recommendations or opinions may be sent by 31 Jul 2018 on the TSEWA Yahoo group mail or directly to csvidyasagar@gmail.com.
Warm regards,
Brig CS Vidyasagar (Rtd)
TSEWA- 140
Mail from Col T N Raman
On Fri, Jul 6, 2018 at 5:14 PM, Col TN Raman colram40@yahoo.com [WeGunners]
<WeGunners@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Confederation of ESM Associations- An Approach Paper.
Dear Veterans,
This subject has been included as one of the Agenda Points in the ESM Meet at Chennai, on 08 July 2018.
I request all concerned Veterans to study this paper and offer comments. I thank the Committee members of TSEWA and Brig CS Vidyasagar for talking to me on phone and seeking clarifications. I am grateful to them.
Let us be clear that the formation of such a Confederation is not intended to create a leader or another ESM Organisation to replace the existing ones. All the existing ESM Associations will continue to function with their own identities and Memorandums, without any interference to their internal functioning. The intention is only to bring all of them under one umbrella, which will be formed by the existing ESM Associations themselves, voluntarily with the approval of the members of their own Associations.
Even the Memorandum of Understanding and the Common Minimum Programme will be prepared and passed by the Member Associations themselves. It is aimed at collective leadership and not individual or coterie centric.
Amplification:-
It is not possible to form a new ESM Organisation and expect all the ESM Associations from all the States and Center to join, for the sake of showcasing our unity. Few of the ESM Associations, are headed by Officers and others by JCOs and NCOs. No one would like to give away his eminence and importance of being called Chairman, President or General Secretary of such Associations, by merging with a larger outfit and lose his own importance and identity, on matters concerning the ESM.
Therefore, the next best option would be the Confederation of ESM Associations, where all the ESM Associations can become members with equal rights, irrespective of their own individual size of membership base or financial backing or political affiliations. This Confederation will be issue based and not organisation centric, since it will not have any ESM as its members, but only the ESM Associations as members.The appointment of President, Secretary and other Office Bearers of this Confederation will be elected by the Member Associations themselves, for a period of two years. The President and Secretary of all member Associations will be the members of the Managing Committee. The fundamental requirement, of course, will be that the ESM Associations must be registered entities with current registration status, with their own bye-laws.
The policy decisions will be taken by two thirds of the Members of the Managing Committee, which shall be binding on all the member Associations. It will also have a delegation of ESM Representatives to deal with the Govt or other functionaries duly nominated by the Managing Committee. The members of such delegations will be selected on subject and need basis. This will avoid too many ESM Associations writing to the concerned authorities on the same issue, in different voices, without proper internal discussion or debate.
Above all, the demands and opinion of such a Confederation of ESM Associations, exhibiting unity, will be taken seriously by the Govt.
The role of the Confederation of the ESM Associations is not limited to OROP, which has become an issue under focus at present. The role and activity of this Confederation may enlarge in the years to come and may become a focal point of all matters pertaining to ESM community.
The Governing Body (GB) of this Confederation, will act as the sole mouth piece of all the ESM Organisations for dealing with the Govt, on all issues affecting the ESM as a whole, across the Nation.
To ensure the continuity and positive action, the GB may have permanent members in IESL, IESM, Navy Foundation, Air force Association, War Wounded Association, RDOA, AIEWA, War Widows Association, NEXCC, TSEWA, AFVOA and a few more who are willing. In addition, all ESM Associations will form part of the GB, since the aim is to provide equal opportunity and the decisions arrived at would be based on majority opinion.
To start with, one of the ESM Organisations based in Delhi, may be requested to provide the Infrastructure of Office, for a period of two years. The yearly subscription to defray the cost of running the Office of the Confederation will be borne by all the members associations, which shall be discussed during the Coordination Meeting, the date of which will be confirmed once we get positive response.
The Confederation of ESM Organisations, will remain independent under its own banner. The President, Vice President, Secretary and the Treasurer cum Joint Secretary, will be elected by the members of the Confederation, for a period of two years.
My earlier initiative was stalled due to various reasons, including the rift in signing the Joint Petition, by the team of ESM Representatives from IESM, IESL, Navy Foundation & others.
There is still scope for the revival of this initiative, which in the long run will change the mind set of the ESM Organisations and spur them on to seek Unity, instead of the present state of disarray arising out of diversity.
Since all the ESM Organisations are working for a common cause, there shall be no egocentric issues. The decisions of the Confederation will be taken by consensus or the majority view of all member associations, including the appointment of the Office bearers. Hence the difference of opinion is likely to be minimal. Since the membership is restricted to ESM Associations only, each member Association, irrespective of its membership base and rank of its leader, will have equal say in arriving at a decision, including contesting for appointments in the Confederation.