Editor's Note :

Ref .on link below the Indian Express special news story dt 11 Aug 2025 by Amrita Nayak Dutta .

Over 500 disabled and medically boarded  military cadets have been  fighting the Indian Govt system ( basically the military &  MoD)  for Justice .

https://indianexpress.com/article/express-exclusive/mounting-medical-bills-nowhere-to-go-braveheart-cadets-disabled-in-military-training-struggle-in-shadows-10181771/

This special IE  news story was circulated by MVI to various military veterans groups.A large number of responses have been received from veterans of the three services from across the country  who unanimously feel that speedy justice should be given to these unfortunate medically boarded out cadets . A few select responses are published below . Collectively all   these responses indicate and reflect the rigid and cold hearted attitude and approach  against these helpless  cadets and their affected parents and guardians who have been suffering in silence due to daring to send their children/ wards into the armed forces for a bright and glorious career . These cadets were selected by the Armed Forces and Govt because  these cadets.

 " Had it in them  !  " to become officers but now that they have been medically thrown out by  the Govt / military who  do not treat them as their own and have  left them in the wilderness to fend for themselves ! The individual stories of  some of these affected  boys is indeed 'heart rending' ,'painful ' and  bring tears to the eyes of most readers and  brings shame to our entire organisation, especially when all that is required to resolve this issue is  only a compassionate  and practical approach and  the cost involved is peanuts  when compared to the defence budget  ! Readers are requested to read  the full  news story and what veterans say to form their own views / opinions and do what they feel best to bring speedy justice to the  affected cadets.

To enable readers to get a broader picture of this story  the link of  an MVI article published on this subject is also given at the end of this note. Further ,in the Veterans debate that produced these responses the focus of the debate was shifted to the needs of these cadets and how their minimum requirements could be met and sanctioned by the Govt by giving them ex servicemen ( ESM) status  disability pension ,ECHS card ,canteen facilities ,etc ., to which similarly affected military /Army soldiers are entitled to!

The solutions offered by veterans are practical and simple.  It's now  only left to those in power to have a heart !

A Relevant Reference  - MVI Article

 https://www.missionvictoryindia.in/post/giving-justice-for-military-disabled-cadets-mvi-special-report

Col Vinay Dalvi 

Editor ,MVI

Responses of Veterans;

 GP CAPT TP SRIVASTAVA ,Delhi :

It is not the Indian government that the cadets are fighting.

It is the callous approach of military leadership that is the cause.

 Kindly examine the terms and conditions of officer trainees, jawans inducted in BSF, SPG, CRPF,  and other Para Military Forces, including Police.

 It would be a rude awakening !

Terms and conditions must include medical support in case of injury sustained during training.

COL VIJAY BHATE ,Nasik : 

It's so sad that the said file is hanging  for so long !

It says everything about

'The Lip Service ' this government pays for the welfare of service men.

LT GEN ASIT MISTRY ,Former Comdt NDA :

While the total number of such cadts may be around 500, those who really need support are the ones rendered paraplegic or quadriplegic. Their number is not very large. Generally speaking, such grave injury is one in 4-5 years.

 Rest are all ACL Tear and similar injuries wherein they are unfit for long military career, yet quite capable of pursuing a fulfilling career outside the Services and actually do.

It is those 10 percent of the first category who genuinely need support, particularly with ref to medical treatment.

Despite the best efforts of everyone, this case continues to remain unresolved. It periodically gets us bad press. We need to resolve this quickly, at least grant them ECHS, if nothing else !

COL RAJINDER KUSHWAHA:

I agree ! At the drop of a hat, we start blaming Govt ?

What about the training academies  where these cadets had become LMC ? What is their role ?  Is it over when a young boy gets boarded out and left to fend for himself ?

Training institutes/ Academies   should take on the responsibility for not only their  well-being but also for a sheltered career . These institutes can not wash off their hands !

A few years back ( around 2005 -06),a young man died in his cabin in IMA-  it was declared  a Suicide case and file closed by IMA . The only son of his aged parents were  informed of his suicide and this was the end !

His parents still keep asking me whenever I meet them if they could  get an exact picture of the circumstances of his  death ?!

An Affected  Serving Officer :

It’s really very agonising and painful for the Cadet and Parents.

It’s a miserable failure on the part of authorities to leave such bright children in the lurch for dreaming to serve their motherland.

I had tears in my eyes while reading the article.

 BRIG NEIL JOHN :

Once enrolled to train, they should be treated as our own.

It’s like you marry a young girl, bring her home, realise she can’t deliver a baby. So you throw her out to fend for herself. Broken in confidence, unsure and often physically unable.

We need to take ownership.

What use is all this talk OP SINDOOR and welfare of soldiers, indigenisation and Viksit Bharat. When we don’t have the outreach with the government to even get a simple thing like this sanctioned.

Which won’t even cost 0.007 cents to the government treasury !

What use is a Chief and the CDS and all these Army Commanders?

Fails me … we can’t even get one thing outside of the tactical domain ever right.

COL RAJINDER KUSHWAHA :

It is the armed forces who are responsible for this callous neglect .

Did they go back to Govt for compensation for these poor cadets? 

Besides,  officer cadets , what about recruits who suffer such injuries during training ?

GP CAPT JOHNSON CHACKO:

In the case of  the civil services, including police, there are no cadets. They are probationary officers, a part of the service. Unless a cadet is commissioned, he is not a government servant. He can also be a probationary officer, if govt changes the nomenclature. His probation can cease when commissioned. CDS needs to take it up as Secy DMA.

CDR RAVINDRA PATHAK:

Why can't they be treated as officers without pension and included under ECHS just like PMR officers ?

MAJ MILIND TUNGHAR, Secy Dist Sainik Board Pune:

Sir, MD ECHS had no answer for this discrimination.

We are trying our best to amend this discriminatory policy against medically boarded cadets.

For sepoy ,training is the part of military service whereas officer’s training part is not included in the military service. It's very funny but true.

Even training taken by naval cadets is counted as military service. Captain ( IN) Retd at the age of 56/58 whereas Colonel Retd at the age of 54/56. Misquoting service conditions in army and navy.

COL IVS GAHLOT , EX SECY ECHS & EX CO MH KHADAKWASLA :

Cadets are neither ESM nor get any disability pension, thereby they can’t get ECHS cards.

Medically invalidated out recruits fulfil both requirements of ESM & and get disability pension to qualify for ECHS card. Hence, all medically boarded out recruits are not qualified to get ECHS card.

GP CAPT TP SRIVASTAVA:

Ref Maj Milind Tunghar response.

There, we go quoting rules instead of shaking their legs and churning their brains to provide relief !

Ref . Col IVS Gahlot response.

Yet another legal expert. None has the courage and wisdom to suggest what needs to be done to alleviate the sufferings of boarded out cadets. Because such individuals believe that cadets are Rif Raf.

Editor's Note:

Firstly

In view of above Comments of Gp Capt TP Srivastava, can we have suggestions/ recommendations to provide " instant relief " to these unfortunate cadets who are worse off than even recruits despite being in the same boat !

What should be done to alleviate the sufferings of boarded out cadets  ?

Secondly

How true is the u/m  statement by Gp Capt Srivastava :

"It is not the Indian government that the cadets are fighting.

It is the callous approach of military leadership that is the cause."

"Kindly examine the terms and conditions of officer trainees, jawans inducted in BSF, SPG, CRPF,  and other Para Military Forces, including Police.

 It would be a rude awakening !"

"Terms and conditions must include medical support in case of injury sustained during training."

Kindly respond 

Editor, MVI

CDR RAVINDRA PATHAK:

Ref Col Gahlot response .

PMR officers get nothing, and they are entitled?

How and by what Logic?

COL NN BHATIA :

Ex post facto sanction be accorded to authorise all medically boarded out cadets from our military academies to be entitled to ECHS medical facilities & issued ECHS cards. In fact, they also be provided with  CSD(I) facilities too. Military should be allotted additional budget & manpower for these facilities.

CDR RAVINDRA PATHAK:

It is true that we ( Faujis) are responsible for neglecting the cadets who are boarded out.

A recruit who is boarded out gets his pension, ECHS( not only for himself but parents and  wife and children after marriage). He also gets CSD facilities and is considered ESM

The reason for cadets being denied benefits is that unlike recruits, the cadets have not taken their 'oath'.

What is go great about this condition being made applicable to cadets also in that they take a similar oath as a recruit. But no, we must make it difficult for our own !

Okay, if you don’t want to give them oath. Treat them like PMR officers. After all I think nowadays they get some government finance too.

NIXON FERNANDO, ex NDA Counsellor & Lecturer ,Chennai

If a cadet is not under the Armed forces Act, why should he obey orders from his seniors?

His seniors and instructors have the moral responsibility of bringing him under the same umbrella as another junior who would obey military orders.

 Of what use is officialdom if you cannot take care of your juniors.?

The case is deserving .

Let the legal experts come up with suggestions of policy and law so that these youngsters are dealt with in fairness.

CDR RAVINDRA PATHAK:

Col Gahlot left ECHS much before the entitlement of membership to PMR/SSCO/ECO was promulgated, and they get reimbursement based on years of service.

If he wishes, I can share the orders with him.

MAJ GEN CD SAWANT:

I have a friend who is from M batch  AFMC. Now a days he fights medical cases for clients even in the Supreme Court. His quote, “ The petition has been handled badly and the government doesn’t wish to do this.

Recruit gets ESM status”. He has successfully helped a couple of AFMC cadets to get their rights.

COL VIKRAM HEBLE:

Why can't the rules of inducting officers be changed. Like OR are enrolled and deemed to be on the payroll of the Army, such a parallel method could be adopted for the offr candidates /cadets, irrespective of the stream of entry.

 GP CAPT TP SRIVASTAVA:

I reiterate. We are going round and round the banana tree, which does not have a stem.

All that is required to be done is a comprehensive proposal by  HQ IDS  for NDA cadets to be covered for medical support in the event of being withdrawn from training due to injury sustained during training schedule. Likewise, each service should take up for service specific training institutions. The numbers that require or will require medical care is insignificant. The problem is firstly to accept that medical care provision is essential and secondly to draft the proposal, get approval from each service and take it up with the government.

- From An Affected Military Officer :- A Trigger For More !

When young men and women, filled with passion and patriotism, set aside lucrative careers and personal comforts to don the uniform and dedicate their lives to the service of the nation, they do so with an unshakable sense of purpose and pride.  For these cadets to then find themselves invalided out, not due to a lack of will or effort, but often due to injuries or medical conditions sustained  while undergoing training, only to be met with indifference and bureaucratic apathy, is nothing short of a betrayal of their trust.

The names: Chaturvedis, Kulkarni, Vickrant, Gupta—may just be a few, but they stand as symbols of many who’ve suffered in silence. Their dreams weren’t personal ambitions, they were national pledges. And to have those dreams punished with isolation, rejection, or neglect is an injustice not only to them, but to the very spirit of service that the academies claim to uphold.

If our system cannot recognize or honour the sacrifice of those who’ve fallen short not by failure, but by fate, then we must ask—what message are we sending to the next generation who dare to dream of serving?

This isn’t just a sad end to a dream. It’s a call to conscience. And it must be heard.

MAJ GEN RAJ MEHTA:

" Dumping Officer Cadets like Trash ! "

We crow about our academies, wax eloquent about josh runs,front rolls front and back in slime gutters,tarmac,gravel and  granite floors, about 7th heaven, midnight ragda and squadron runs,about bashing passing out course seniors with brutal locks in wet towels or gravel in kitbags stuff,seperating men from boys-hahaha,and some get crippled,disabled,

traumatised,mauled, maimed,stress fractured,boarded out remorselessly !

They aren't soldiers. They haven't been enrolled - so ?

No ECHS.

No CSD.

No hospital treatment in MH.

No help from the academies where they were taught the Honour Code,you see the academies do not have one - not at all ! all bull and brass signifying bull and spit.

MOD sits comatose .

CDS like wise.

Almost all Chiefs are ex NDA. They have wrung their hands,no more !

Almost all Commandants are ex NDA, again experts in sharing distress in social media nothingness,no more !

Let's ask what COSC has done ? Tell me if you know ?

So what do you get as a 100 percent disability officer cadet?

A sliver of your academy allowance - about 9000 bucks in addition for an attendant meant to be 24x7- macabre joke this ! The attendants cost a lakh a  month, food included, linen ,accomodation.

No ECHS.

No CSD

No ESM card.

Nothing but blank looks, cold shoulders, hot air.

I tried but jokes by brassed seniors who could've taken up help.

The figures are available in the Parliament,mentioned each year,figures of shame and calumny !

Most military decision makers are ex NDA and they are the noisiest about NDA spirit and that kind of misplaced bull stuff in which the unfortunate 500 plus do not matter .

Is OTA,IMA,NA,AFA different? Perhaps worse.

I am ex OTA. The only time I hear from the champs is to seek ex cadets funding for course trophies for jubilees.

May be the UP politician was right when he said that soldiers are paid to die,sarkar pays them.

Sadly, sarkar does not pay boarded out cadets except peanuts!

I hang my head in shame !  I am SSRC,taught at NDA, and failed to make a dent at both places in stopping calumny !

LT GEN RAKESH SHARMA, former Adjutant General:

Ref.

_loksabhaquestions_annex_176_AS224.pdf https://share.google/Zw3X1bGs6d3j5NJ6n

The committee in question was headed by Lt Gen Mukesh Sabharwal.It had Lt Gen Richard Khare,Advocate Navdeep Singh , Maj DP singh as members.

I had personally presented the services position as Chairman PPOc. Our written submission to the Committee and to 7th CPC and argued in favour of those boarded out in training. It is exactly like our position on NFU.

2015 onwards Govt has been 'deciding’ !

That does not pain us, so much - it’s the veterans with little knowledge that pain us!

A Veteran, a Former NDA Cadet- Who Did Not Get Boarded Out In NDA But Flew & Excelled as a Fighter Pilot & Much More!

I had broken my arm in my first term. The plaster that was set had created a pressure point that pushed the joint between the Ulna and the hand/palm at the wrist. Six weeks loosened the ligament or whatever to a state that could not be tightened medically. A confidential letter was given to me by Ortho at CH to be handed over to OC MH K'wasla. The curiosity in me opened it without any evidence of tampering. I was about to be invalided out of service, if the condition does not improve. I bore the pain especially while doing Front rolls and Horse where load had to be taken on a palm at right angles to the forearm at the wrist. I was good at drawing, by implication, forgery was not a big issue. I had a full case sheet, forged signed and stamped, to be shown at vengeance fall ins, ACA fall ins and bike lifting to Kondhwa gate. Since I was relegated once, I asked the senior most in both courses to remove me from the Total Strength from troublesome parade states! So I skipped all informal punishments. I was a 4th term corporal, so I masqueraded as a 5th term appointment avoiding BCAs and ACA in fall ins. Never did a restriction, passed out with exemplary discipline and served in IAF. I knew that the IAF does not provide an opportunity to carry any load with the open palm, except may be as a pall bearer.

Being invalid would have shattered my dreams to fly. So, I bore the pain when it was unavoidable. Proof that such physical activity is not essential in the Air Force. Mental strength is more important. Critical Thinking matters!

MAJ GEN CD SAWANT ,Bangalore

We need some MP to raise a question in the parliament as to why these unfortunate young men are left without any govt assistance. The MP needs to be briefed in totality of the history of the cases, including the legal course taken up and the result of the petitions. Since the cases have already been heard, there is a requirement to re-raise the issue.