Minutes of the Virtual/ Physical Meeting of the TSEWA National Executive Committee held at Secunderabad HQ on 25 Jun 2022 at 5 pm.

Attendance

The meeting was attended by the following:-

1. Cmde Sudheer Parakala             President, in Chair
2. Brig CS Vidyasagar                       Chief Mentor
3. Lt Col G Parvathesam                  General Secretary
4. Col Vijay Salins                              Treasurer
5. Col N Sitaramaiah                         Vice President
6. HFO AV Reddy                               Vice President
7. Cdr Chandrashekhar                    Joint Secretary
8. Hony Capt MN Reddy                   Joint Secretary
9. Brig SKS Rana, VSM                      President Legal Division
10. Maj Gen SN Mukherjee                President TSEWA, Eastern Zone
11. Cmde KS Sandhu                           President TSEWA, West Zone (Virtual)
12. Cmde Ashok Kota                          President TSEWA, South Zone
13. Col Srikantha Seshadri                 President TSEWA, Karnataka
14. Col CM Unnithan                           President TSEWA, Chennai Metro (Virtual)
15. Hony Capt GJ Manohar                 President TSEWA, AP (Rayala Seema)
16. Hav Harish Asthana                       President TSEWA, UP
17. Brig DSC Varma, VSM                    Member
18. Lt Col VRRS Ramana Reddy          Member
19. Lt Col (Dr) BHaskar Reddy            Member
20. Hony Capt B Joseph                       Member

The President welcomed all present especially those who came from out station to attend the physical /virtual meeting. He gave an over view of his concerns on various issues like SPARSH, Improvement of Membership Drive and Creating Communication Channels amongst the Members. He appreciated the spontaneity of Members rising to the occasion and making generous donations towards the building fund and treatment of Ms. Mahima Sagar, Grand Daughter of Brig CS Vidyasagar. He thereafter requested the General Secretary to follow the Agenda Points set for the Meeting.

Item No. 1. Review of Activities in Zones: The Zonal Presidents covered various activities undertaken by them in their respective Zones and plans to improve the awareness of the good work being done by TSEWA for the welfare and wellbeing of its Members in particular and civilian / public in general. The President emphasized the need for creation of WhatsApp Groups at Zones/State/District levels for better communications.
Action:  All Zonal and State Presidents requested to establish sound channels of communication through e-Mails and WhatsApp in a time-bound fashion.

Item No. 2. Membership Drive: The President informed that the MOD has shifted the goalpost for recognition of ESM organisations from the earlier 10,000 Members to One Lakh. Since TSEWA has just about reached 16,000 figure, it was essential that each of the existing Members are encouraged to get 10 new members each to reach the magic figure for recognition. The President appreciated the methodology adopted by Brig Vidyasagar, Col Srikantha Seshadri and Hony Capt Joseph of addressing the retiring JCOs/ORs in the Depot Bn of EME, MEG & ASC on transition from service to civil life post retirement. Since the Depot Bns are averse to collection of any Membership fee during such lectures, the matter was debated at length and it was decided to circulate a blank Data sheet to capture the particulars to be filled by retiring JCOs/ORs and distribute blank TSEWA Membership Forms. The Data sheet should be used to contact the retired personnel and complete the Membership Formalities. It was also decided that all Zonal and State Presidents should use the condensed version of the PPT prepared by Brig Vidyasagar and approach the Depot Bns in their area for addressing the target JCOs/ORs proceeding on release/retirement. Brig Vidyasagar also suggested that the ZSWOs may also be befriended to get the data of the veterans,  for motivating them to join TSEWA.
Action:  All Zonal / State Presidents to approach the Commandants of Depot Bns to speak to the retiring JCOs/ORs on transition to the civil life and use the occasion to collect the data and use it for increasing the Membership. Efforts may also be made to collect the veteran data from ZSWOs / Col (Veterans) in the sub areas.

Item No. 3. Conduct of awareness Camps: The President informed that the Awareness Camps conducted all over India served the twin purpose of Awareness and Membership drive. However, he lamented that the tempo could not be continued due to COVID Conditions in the country. The matter was discussed at length and it was decided to renew the Awareness Camps since the COVID has subsided. Maj Gen Mukherjee, President, TSEWA West Zone proposed one Awareness Camp in Kolkata around Nov 2022. Brig SKS Rana, VSM volunteered to arrange a camp in Rajput Regimental Center. It was decided that all Zonal / State Presidents to propose awareness camps wherever there is a large concentration of Veterans, without any overlap of dates.
Action: Zonal/ State Presidents requested to arrange for Awareness Camps and intimate the proposed dates to TSEWA HQs.

 Item No. 4. Recognition of TSEWA by MOD: Col Sitaramaiah, Vice President suggested that TSEWA HQ should take up a fresh case with Secy (DESW) for recognition of TSEWA notwithstanding the requirement of one lakh Membership. The matter was discussed and it was decided that the letter to DESW should highlight the Charity work done by TSEWA and being the only ESM Organisation to be ISO Certified etc. and invoke the special provision mentioned in the MOD letter for recognition though the one lakh Membership criteria is not met.
Action:  General Secretary.

Item No. 5. Progress of AFT Cases: The President expressed his concern on the inordinate delay in finalizing the cases filed by us in AFT (PB) Delhi and that the credibility of TSEWA is being affected due to poor progress on the cases. All other NEC Members have also concurred the adversity on the subject. Brig SKS Rana, VSM, President of Legal Division explained that most of the cases were pending mainly due to non-posting of Judicial Members or Admin Member and mainly due to COVID situation in the country in the last two years. He said that the judges are unwilling to join the AFTs since AFTs are brought under Secretary, MOD, which curbs the independence of Judiciary. He however stated that he would speak to our Advocate in Delhi to request early hearing of the cases. The President, Legal Division has also recommended that no new cases are filed in AFT (PB), Delhi till we win or receive judgements in some cases at least. It was also decided that small cases be filed locally in the regional / Circuit Benches so that we have a precedent to expedite cases in Delhi, based on the judgements given by the Regional Benches.
Action:  General Secretary may kindly note and take action accordingly.

Item No. 6. Proposal for Holding 8^th AGM Outstation: The General Secretary informed that when the 5^th AGM was held in Dehradun and Members travelled at their own cost, the attendance was not encouraging. He solicited views of the NEC Members. The matter was discussed and it was decided that holding the AGM in the same place would only attract the local Members who are already aware of the activities of TSEWA and hence the AGMs should be held in other states by turn so that the awareness is spread. The Members suggested that Cmde Sandhu should host the 8^th AGM at either Mumbai or Pune. Cmde Sandhu has kindly consented to host the 8^th AGM and he would make all efforts to hold it either in Mumbai or in Pune.
Action:  General Secretary and Cmde KS Sandhu, Zonal President (West) may kindly do the needful.

 Item No. 7 Enlargement of Scope of Charity:  The President informed that TSEWA is now well recognised by its Charity Activities and that as on date more than 42 lakhs was disbursed to various beneficiaries. He thanked Col Nagesh Chandra Gupta for coming forward to the rescue of very poor children in the Final Year degree courses who could not pay the tuition fee due to COVID. He was also generous to give a small subsistence of Rs. 1,000/-pm to very poor citizens who lost livelihood due to COVID. The President also thanked Sri P Munikrishna, Chairman Parashakti Cements for his timely help to some poor students in the Govt Railway College. Col Sitaramaiah, President, Charity Division informed that Col Nagesh Gupta is willing to extend financial assistance of Rs.1.00 lakh per month to the students in the final year degree courses who can’t afford to pay the Tuition fee. The President said that unfortunately the number of applicants is almost nil from other states and requested all the Zonal / State Presidents to approach Govt Colleges in their area and send recommendations in respect of eligible students following the TSEWA norms / procedure.
Action: All Zonal / State Presidents to kindly do the needful.

Item No. 8 Implementation of SPARSH:  The President briefed the Members about the submission made to the Hon’ble PM, RM and FM through TSEWA Letter 20 May 2022 where the anomalies in the software and probable solutions were recommended. He informed that though there was no official reply to the letter, it was reliably learnt that further migration is stalled till all the glitches in the software are removed and the system fully stabilized.
Action: For Info of All.

Item No. 9. OROP Equalisation and Payment of Arrears:  The delay in implementation of OROP Equalisation due from 01 Jul 2019 based on the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court judgement dated 16 Mar 2022 for payment of the arrears within three months from the date of the order was discussed at length. Though the Govt was to pay the arrears before 15 Jun 2022, it was informed that the Government sought another three months extension from the Supreme Court for implementation of the Order.
Action: For Info of All.

Item No. 10. Difficulties in Issue of Veteran’s ID Cards by the ZSBs:  Maj Gen SN Mukherjee brought out that the Veterans are facing a lot of difficulties in obtaining NOC whenever they shift from one jurisdiction to the other. He recommended that a letter be written to the Kendriya Sainik Board that necessary software be introduced for automatic issue of NOC as soon as the Veteran surrenders the ID card at the old ZSB and transfer of file to the next ZSB. It was also suggested that issue of NOC should be linked to Aadhar for easy verification to avoid any misappropriation. Maj Gen Mukherjee was requested to write a letter to the State Sainik Board accordingly. It was also suggested that a letter be addressed to Kendriya Sainik Board, Delhi on similar lines by TSEWA HQ.
Action: The General Secretary and Maj Gen Mukherjee may please take up the cases.

Item No. 11. ECHS Issues:  Col Srikantha Seshadri informed the NEC that ECHS will be signing an MOU for introduction of AYUSH treatment in ECHS and that individuals can choose the Ayurveda, Unani, Sidha, Homeo etc treatment methods in a similar way as is done for the allopathic treatment. He also informed that the Government has de-centralised the budget to ECHS HQs and hence there would be no issues on the subject.
Action: For Info of All

Item No. 12. Financial approvals for Expenditure beyond HQ TSEWA:  The General Secretary informed the NEC that TSEWA Permanent Office purchase, Furniture and Video Conferencing System expenditure fell beyond the Financial Powers of the TSEWA HQ. Though the approval of NEC was obtained virtually before incurring the expenditure, it was essential that written approval was given by all the Members. Accordingly, the Statement of cases were circulated for signatures of NEC Members to meet the statutory Audit Requirements. The President informed the NEC that Brig CS Vidyasagar intimated that there was no immediate requirement of paying the entire 67 lakhs donated by the Members for treatment of his Granddaughter Ms. Mahima Sagar, to the Pharma Company. Brig Vidyasagar thanked all the donors and stated that the initial payment would be done from Rs. 2.05 crores raised by Impact Guru and therefore the amount donated to TSEWA by the Members may be invested in FD in 5 lakh denomination to be released to the pharma company as and when the demand is raised. The NEC approved investment of the total amount in FD so that the interest accrued on it would help augmenting the shortfall of funds required for treatment.
Action: General Secretary and Treasurer may please do the needful.

There being no further points, the meeting was closed at 7.15 PM.

(Sudheer Parakala)
Commodore, IN (Retd)
President, TSEWA

28 Jun 2022