Injured cadets battle for support decades after leaving military academies
Hubballi’s Kishan among them
New Delhi: Around 500 officer cadets have been discharged from India’s premier military academies since 1985 after sustaining serious training injuries, yet many continue to be denied the recognition and support granted to soldiers hurt in similar circumstances.
In the past five years alone, about 20 cadets from the National Defence Academy were forced to leave after accidents that cut short their training, as reported by The Indian Express.
Former cadet, Vickrant Raj from Chandigarh, now speaks slowly and struggles with coordination after a brain injury. He was injured in 2016 during physical training at the NDA. He is now partial paralysed and his monthly medical bills amounts to ₹95,000.
Discharged in 2021, Shubham Gupta from Bhatinda, Punjab was left paralysed after a diving accident and now requires constant care. "In April 2012, when I was in my fourth term, I suffered a spinal cord injury while taking a deep dive in the pool. I barely survived but the impact fractured my neck. It left me paralysed from neck down. I had to undergo eight surgeries and was kept on ventilator for two months,” IE quoted Gupta as saying.
Kishan, who is from Hubballi, Karnataka was injured in 2020. He lives with 90 percent nerve damage following a cardiac arrest during training. He is now bedridden for the last five years. Kishan’s mother stated, “Doctors have said the nerves in his brain have degenerated due to lack of oxygen, and they may not regenerate again."
Kartik Sharma, injured at the Indian Military Academy, spent 16 months in rehabilitation after a spinal injury. He turned to academics while undergoing rehabilitation. Harish Sinhmar, from Rohtak, Haryana spent decades coping with the effects of a head injury and faced memory loss with depression. He was discharged in 2004 after a leg injury. He spent two decades seeking adequate financial and medical support.
Families say the lack of ESM status not only denies them access to affordable military hospitals but also excludes them from welfare schemes and job reservations available to other veterans. “They trained to serve the country. Now they are left to fight their battles alone,” said the father of one injured cadet.
Many of the parents who had once hoped to see their children serve as officers now manage their care. Some describe the daily challenges of lifting, feeding, and transporting their sons for treatment, while also navigating administrative hurdles to secure delayed payments.
Under current policy, these cadets are not classified as ex-servicemen because they were injured before commissioning. They cannot access military medical facilities or the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme without that status. They instead, receive a one-time compensation or an ex gratia of up to ₹40,000 a month, an amount that families say is far below what is needed for long-term care. Many face medical costs between ₹40,000 and ₹1,00,000 every month, forcing relatives to either leave thier jobs to care for them or seek treatment in private hospitals.
Despite a proposal to increase the ex gratia and expand benefits receiving ministerial approval, the matter has remained pending for more than a year.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
41 lakh illicit liquor seized, 1.84 lakh arrested in major drive: K'taka Minister tells Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The Karnataka Excise Department has conducted a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor trade over the last two years, resulting in arrests and seizures of alcohol, Karnataka Excise Minister R B Timmapur said on Tuesday.
As many as 1,09,017 people were arrested, and seizures included 13.66 lakh litres of liquor and 27.19 lakh litres of beer, he said in a written reply to a starred question by Harihar BJP MLA B P Harish in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister said the enforcement drive covered the financial year 2023–24, 2024–25 up to June, and 2025–26 from July to October, targeting unauthorised liquor manufacture, storage, sale and transportation across the State.
"During this period, statewide enforcement drives resulted in a total of 1,84,570 raids against illegal liquor sales,” Timmapur said.
ALSO READ: BJP accuses Karnataka govt of 'failing' to prevent noise pollution caused by 'azaan'
He noted that 9,179 non-bailable cases and 91,968 bailable and compoundable cases under Section 15(A) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, were registered during the same period.
According to him, there have been no reports indicating that students have become addicted to alcohol due to illegal liquor sales.
The sale of alcohol to minors is strictly prohibited under the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, and the department has issued periodic instructions to initiate legal action against violators, with strict enforcement and investigation measures in place, the Minister said.
Excise officials are carrying out regular road and night patrols, collecting intelligence, monitoring habitual offenders and conducting raids to identify illicit distillation units, unauthorised liquor outlets and spurious liquor manufacturing centres, he said, adding the department is also enforcing the law to prevent the production, storage, sale and transport of spurious, non-duty-paid and unauthorised liquor.
Regular patrols are being conducted on national and state highways, with suspicious vehicles being subjected to checks.
At the district level, standing committee meetings are held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, and joint operations are carried out with the police and forest departments to curb excise-related offences.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through Gram Sabhas and in schools and colleges to educate the public and students about the physical, mental and social health hazards associated with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, Timmapur added.
