Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare (Poorva Senani Kalyan Vibhag) is a department in the Ministry of Defence, India. It was set up in 2004.[1] The head of Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare since its inception has been a bureaucrat from the IAS.[2] Veteran have for long demanded that DEWS be headed by a serving officers or a retired officer, like in other countries, including the United States, in which the Department of Veterans, is invariably headed by veteran with active duty military experience, with a cabinet rank. For instance the current head of the department is graduate of West Point, and has served in the army.[3]
But many experts view having a former/serving officer from the uniformed services hazardous to the functioning of DESW as it will further attenuate the efficiency of DEWS. This view is largely shared by veterans(non-officers including ORs and JCOs) who accuse the retired coterie of defense officers only working in the favour of officers. Maj Navdeep Singh, who is renowned lawyer and legal expert in matters relating to defence services and veterans, strongly suggest against having a head of DESW from the uniformed services due to the regimented hierarchy and inter-service or inter-regiment rivalries. Studies have shown that pension benefits for injury/medical issues associated with the service are more often gulped by the senior officers of the armed forces and many genuine beneficiaries, who are mostly retired JCOs or ORs, are left to fend for themselves in bureaucratic silos and courts.