More than 100 retired Indian Public Servants have written to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi condemning amendments to their pension rules which they say curbs their right to free speech.
The amendments state that any retired Government officer who worked for intelligence or security-related organisations must seek permission from the head of their previous organisation if they plan to speak or write about their work.
In the letter to Mr Modi, the retired State and Central Public Servants said that with this rule, India would become possibly the only major democratic country in the world that effectively barred its employees from expressing their views after retirement.
“This is not merely a restraint on free speech, which it is, but an effort to entomb all relevant information and knowledge in the coffin of untrammelled State power,” the retirees’ said.
They said the Official Secrets Act 1923 was sufficient to bar retired officials from revealing sensitive information.
“Our pension is a right guaranteed to every Government servant for his/her service and cannot be taken away, except in the case of a serious crime or severe misconduct,” the retirees’ said.
The letter also underlines the importance of the wisdom that retired bureaucrats bring “which is not only appreciated but also used as guiding stones for the current practitioners”.
“It is true of India, as of any other country, that the Government version of events, either current or past, is seen as the point of view of the party in power and is not, necessarily, reflective of the whole truth,” they said.
“It is because of this that the views and memoirs of past practitioners, unencumbered by the constraints of office, have value,” the retirees’ said.
New Delhi, 23 July 2021
