All stories by INSIYAH VAHANVATY
'Nobody can match my work in this country'
Rediff.com16 Oct 2020Bhanu Athaiya on the films she has designed for, how Gandhi happened, and what it means to be a woman in a man's world.
'A country that does not respect its soldiers is doomed to fail'
Rediff.com29 Oct 2015'Think about this: A widow of a jawan is drawing only Rs 3,500. If OROP is implemented, she will get additional Rs 1,500. These poor girls are young and have no source of income; they are trying their best to just make ends meet. It is the pain of these situations that has driven me to this.' 'We don't want to put pressure on the government -- that's not our intention. We have full faith in our prime minister. We are asking for a meeting with him, and when we get that, we are sure he will not only give us what we are asking for, but 10 per cent extra.' Major General Satbir Singh, who headed the OROP agitation at Jantar Mantar, speaks out.
Gandhi in a Metro
Rediff.com1 Oct 2015Had he been alive today, the Mahatma would likely travel by metro, as hundreds of women and men do each day. Insiyah Vahanvaty reports for Rediff.com on an unusual exhibition on the Mahatma at Delhi metro stations.
'All we are asking for is respect...'
Rediff.com11 Sep 2015"Before elections, the demand for One Rank One Pension was an adhikaar, now it is 'agitation' and 'protest'? Obviously, we feel let down, we feel angry," Colonel Dilbag Dabas (retired) tells Insiyah Vahanvaty.
'We have put our lives on the line for the country and feel cheated now'
Rediff.com10 Sep 2015"The pension they give us is not sufficient. I get Rs 5,500 per month. I have no family since I didn't marry, but even then I'm struggling to make ends meet," Naik Uday Singh Rawat (retired) tells Insiyah Vahanvaty.
'The years in service were the best days of my life... until now'
Rediff.com8 Sep 2015Insiyah Vahanvaty continues our special series on the ex-servicemen agitating for One Rank One Pension at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.
'Don't call OROP stir an agitation; this is our satyagraha'
Rediff.com8 Sep 2015'We waited patiently for 17 months, which is enough time for any government to implement a policy. If they can't do it in 17 months, they are either incompetent or they simply don't want to do it.'
'After retiring from the army, the offers you get are so demoralising'
Rediff.com8 Sep 2015We're not asking for anything new; we're only demanding what has already been promised to us,' Colonel Sanjay Arya (retd) -- one of the many ex-servicemen who protested at Jantar Mantar against the government's delay in implementing One Rank, One Pension -- tells Insiyah Vahanvaty.