About Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare
Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare (Poorva Senani Kalyan Vibhag) is a department in the Ministry of Defence, India. It was set up in 2004. The head of Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare since its inception has been a bureaucrat from the IAS. 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.
Functions and Organization
The functions of DESW are: "Matters relating to Armed Forces Veterans (Ex- Servicemen) including pensioners;Armed Forces Veterans (ExServicemen); Contributory Health Scheme; Matters relating to Directorate General of Resettlement and Kendriya Sainik Board; Administration of (a) the Pension Regulations for the Army, 1961 (Parts I and II); (b)the Pension Regulations for the Air Force, 1961 (Parts I and II);(c)the Navy (Pension) Regulations, 1964; and(d) The Entitlement Rules to Casualty Pensionary Awards to the Armed Forces Personnel, 1982".
The department has two Divisions, the Resettlement Division and the Pension Division and 3 attached offices namely (a) Secretariat of Kendriya Sainik Board (KSB), (b) Directorate General (Resettlement) (DGR) and (c) Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) Organisation.