Minutes of the 5^th Annual General Body Meeting of TSEWA Held on Google Virtual Platform on 08 November 2020 at 1000 Hrs

Attendance

The meeting was attended by the following: –

The President welcomed all present in the meeting and thanked them for making their efforts to attend the virtual Annual General Body meeting. Col Dr GB Sethi, General Secretary made herculean efforts to intimate all Members through emails, letters, SMS etc about the holding of AGM on 08 Nov 2020. The President informed that there are 14,419 members so far in TSEWA and requires 1 lakh members for TSEWA to get recognition from Min of Def and then only we will be able to meet the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri to project problems of ESMs and family pensioners. For this, he requested each member to try to get 5-10 new members for TSEWA to reach the target.

The President informed that TSEWA is the only ESM Organization in India, which is carrying out the Charity Works due to the generous donations from honorable members in India and abroad. In last 5 years TSEWA has disbursed an amount of Rs.32,40,960/- as charity for the needy. TSEWA has got the exemption from payment of Income Tax under IT Act 12A and donors are exempted income tax for 50% of their donations under IT Act 80G if the donation is Rs 2,000 or more. Thereafter, he requested the General Secretary to commence the proceedings.

Points of Discussion

1. Attendance: The General Secretary welcomed all the honorable members attending the AGM and informed that they have sent the invitations to about 14,400 TSEWA members. But, may be due to prevailing COVID-19 conditions and typical requirements of virtual meeting only 51 members could join the AGM. However, Power Point Presentations of the AGM will be put on TSEWA Blog along with the Minutes of the AGM for information of members who could not attend the meeting.
2. Approval of Minutes of 4^thAGM, held at Dehradun 0n 04 Jul 2019: The General Secretary informed that 15 TSEWA members attended the meeting from Hyderabad, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala and Karnataka at their own expenses for travel, boarding and lodging facilities and appreciated their self less services and generous attitude. 

The minutes of the 4^th AGM were put up for approval. Col NS Bhandari proposed and it was seconded by Brig SKS Rana, VSM. The AGM approved the minutes accordingly. 

3. Approval Accounts: The General Secretary informed that, in spite of COVID-19 conditions, they could get the accounts audited by our Chartered Accountant M/s PS Reddy & Associates before the AGM and details of accounts were put up in TSEWA Blog, so that the members could see the accounts before the AGM. 

Maj Gen SN Mukherjee has proposed and Gp. Capt Madhusudan Vittal Nori has seconded the proposal of approval. GBM has approved the accounts up to 30 March 2020. 

4. Powers of Executive Committee for Approval of Amounts Spent: Veteran NS Bhandari wanted to know whether the powers of Executive Committee to approve unlimited amounts. The President clarified that the powers of approval are as under: –

a) Treasurer: Up to Rs 10,000/-
b) Charity Committee: Up to 25,000/-
c) President, General Secretary and Treasurer (together): Up to Rs 40,000/-
d) Executive Committee: For amounts > Rs 40,000/-

The President clarified that the Treasurer puts up the proposed budget in the previous AGM and gets approval for incurring expenditure in the current year. The Expenditure even proposed for fin yr. 2020-21 is very meagre due to our resources. Once the budget is approved then Executive Committee comes into play, only when the expenditure is beyond the powers of various authorities mentioned above. Many a time the donors express their wish that their donation be given to a specific category of beneficiary. He gave an illustration where in Smt Asha Varanasi wife of a veteran donated Rs 1 lakh with express wish that it be given to a meritorious girl of an ESM. Accordingly, General Secretary identified daughter of Hony Capt Mallesh who got a merit seat of government in a medical college in Karimnagar, Telangana. Therefore, the expenditure is within the laid down powers. Also, when TSEWA get the information to help out some who are genuinely in need such as Capt Virendra Singh Gurung, Assam Regt of Dehradun, a SS Officer captured by Pakis in 1971 war languishing in penury.  Donations were sought and Rs 8 lakhs was sent to Brig RS Rawat, President, TSEWA, Uttarakhand for rehabilitation of Capt VS Gurung. Similarly, donations were sought to get out Smt Zalemkim, wife of deceased Naik from ASC of Manipur from debt trap when Lt Col LM Singh, President, TSEWA, Manipur and NE Zone approached us. TSEWA gave away Rs 5.50 lakhs to clear debts incurred by Smt Zalengkim Kim on death of her husband. In such cases, no sanction is required to be obtained from Executive Committee. But when we had to pay Rs 1 Lakh to procure archery equipment to an. Adivasi Girl from Telangana who won many tournaments at the state level, permission of Executive Committee was obtained. Generally, that amounts approved by the Executive Committee are less than a lakh.

5. Appointment of Auditors:Cdr GVK Unnithan informed that in Mumbai Chartered Accountant (CA) can only be retained for three years. The General Secretary informed that we pay least amount of annual fees to M/S PS Reddy & Associates, and it is unlikely to get another CA for these meager legal fees. However, he assured efforts will be made to find another suitable CA. The AGM discussed at length about the subject and approved the continuation of appointment of M/S PS Reddy & Associates for the year 2020-21. 

6. Awareness Camps: The General Secretary explained about 23 Awareness Camps conducted across India. The details are included in the PPTs attached. 

7. Selfless Services by TSEWA Members: The General Secretary informed that TSEWA is able to fulfill its aim of serving the ESM fraternity only because of the untiring and selfless services of few members. TSEWA likes to appreciate and put on record the good works done by the following members: – 

8. TSEWA Website Work: The General Secretary informed that TSEWA Website work is under progress. It is being Coordinated by Mrs. Rekha Sekhri and Major Dr. B Bhikshapathy and hoped that it will be available for the viewers within few months.

9. Newly Appointed Members of Executive Committee: The General Secretary informed the inclusion of the following members in the TSEWA Executive Committee and requested for the approval by the General Body: –

a)Maj Gen SN Mukherjee
b)Cmde KS Sandhu
c)Mrs. Rekha Sekhri, Administrator, TSEWA Blog and wife of Lt Col RR Sekhri.

Accordingly, the General Body approved their appointments. 

10. Experts Committee: TSEWA is grateful for the services of the following experts: – 

11. TSEWA Trust: TheGeneral Secretary informed that TSEWA Trust approved by 4^th AGM has been registered with Registrar of Societies, Bowenpally, Secunderabad.
12. ISO. Renewal of ISO Certification is likely to be completed by November 2020.

13. Identification of Volunteers for TSEWA: The General Secretary expressed his concern about the absence volunteers to carry out important TSEWA activity in large number of states/ zones. He requested the State/ Zonal Presidents to identify suitable volunteers for TSEWA, so that TSEWA activities can be improved in all states/zones. 

14. Charity Works by TSEWA: Col LM Manongba, explained the members about pitiable conditions of few widows in Manipur and the support provided for them by TSEWA. 

15. Donations for TSEWA: The  Secy informed the members that TSEWA is the only ESM organization doing charity activities. He requested all the members to donate at least Rs 100/- per year, which can generate about Rs 14 lacs per year, which can be used for charity activities.

16. National Confederation of ESM Organizations (NCESMO): Cmde Sudheer Parakala, Vice- President explained the concept of NCESMO and the leading role played by TSEWA in formation of NCESMO and its two meetings with honorable Raksha Mantri. He explained the procedure of formation of State NCESMO and District NCESMO. He complimented state of Tamilnadu wherein 79 ESM Associations came under the banner of Tamilnadu State Confederation of ESM Associations. He further requested the State/ Zonal Presidents to initiate the process of formation of NCESMO in their states respectively. 

17. Budget for the year 2020-21: The Treasurer of TSEWA, Lt Col G Parvathesam explained the details of the budget allotted and spent in the year 2019-20. He presented the budget required for the year 2020-21 and the AGM approved it accordingly. 

18. Pensions and Anomalies: The General Secretary informed that some members wanted to include their points for discussion in the AGM. Accordingly, the General Secretary put up those points for discussion. One member wanted to know the anomalies in pension. General Secretary asked the President to explain the issue regarding pensions. The President explained the pension problems being faced by ESM and other Family Pensioners and the mentality of the CGDA to avoid granting genuine authorized pensions of ESM, just to please the Government of India. He cited the case of Pre – 2006 Hony Nb Subs to get pension of Nb Sub w.e.f. 01 Jan 2006. PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj issued Circular 631. But they cleverly put up three tables by which Pre – 2006 Nb Subs gets arrears from Jan 2006 to Jun 2014. On some pretext, these Pre – 2006 Hony Nb Subs could get pension of Nb Sub till commencement of OROP i.e. Jun 2014. Thereafter the Pre- 2006 Hony Nb Subs get pension of Hony Nb Sub. Whereas Post 2006 Hony Nb Subs are getting pension of Nb Sub after Jun 2014. Therefore, the CGDA created two classes of Hony Nb Subs. He further informed that TSEWA has projected 40 anomalies to Justice L Narasimha Reddy, Chairman One Man Judicial Commission (OMJC) when he visited Secunderabad in pension granted to ESM in OROP. Further he explained the attitude of the Ministry of Defense to adopt delaying tactics. In this scenario, going to Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) is the only answer available for the ESM. TSEWA has filed 47 cases so far in various AFTs and hoped that it will get the justice to the ESM and other Family Pensioners. 

19. ECHS Matters: Col Srikantha Seshadri, President TSEWA, Karnataka has explained the importance of applying for 64 KB Smart Card and precautions to be taken while applying for the card. He explained the procedure of reimbursement of cost of medicines purchased during the COVID-19 lock down period of March 2020 onwards. Detailed procedure of the online application for 64 KB Card and scanning of photographs etc. are attached. 

20. The AGM went over four and half hours. 

21. Vote of Thanks: On behalf of TSEWA Executive Committee, Maj Dr. B. Bhikshapathy conveyed the Vote of Thanks to all the members who have contributed for successful functioning of TSEWA and conduct of the 5^th Annual General Body Meeting. 

There being no further points, the meeting was closed at 2:30 PM.

Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd)

President, TSEWA

5th AGBM of TSEWA

PROCEDURE OF ONLINE APPLICATION FOR ECHS CARD (BY YOUR SELF)

Scanning of Photos Etc for Uploading