There are hundreds of men and women through history who are called the “Father” or “Mother” of something or the other.

The reason why I have given the examples as above is to provide a context to the Honorific title “Father of the Pensioners in India” given to Subedar Amir Ali Khan.

It was Mr. D.R. Chadha and Major Pratap Singh, the secretary general and president of head quarter region respectively of the All India Organization of Pensioners (ATOP) who first called Subedar Amir All Khan, the Founder President of the AIOP as the “Father of the Pensioners in India”. The title has since stuck to Subedar Amir Ali Khan as a gem fits the ring. This title was justified as it was Subedar Amir Ali Khan who was the first person to organize the 80 Lakh pensioners/retirees from all departments’ of all states into the AIOP Circa 1962, (Formerly “Central Association of Pensioners Andhra Pradesh, established in 1950 and registered in 1958) with its administrative office at his own house, the “Subedar House” (Formerly Sardar Bagh) in MalakpetChanchalguda, Hyderabad.

Through the years 1950 until 1962 Subedar Amir Ali Khan focused on problems faced by the pensioners of Andhra Pradesh and established branches or associate offices of the “Central Association of Pensioners Andhra Pradesh, in Warangal, Kareem Nagar, Srikakulam and almost all district headquarters of Andhra Pradesh and continued his fighting for the state pensioners, bringing out the injustice meted out to the pensioners especially from Telangana. It was in the 1960’s when he thought of spreading his struggle to the rest of India. The All India Organization of Pensioners was thus established under his presidency. However it was not until 1970 when it was thought of getting the organization registered with the registrar of societies. Through this period Subedar Amir Ali Khan and his team kept on establishing the branches or associate offices of the ATOP, bringing out the issues concerning the pensioners at an all India level. The pensioners, a “Lost Tribe” and the problems and hardships they were facing were brought into the lime light by AIOP through various forums including the media and by a membership drive that in a few years saw the membership of the ATOP swelling to 3 Lakh active pensioner members from all cadres of the Govt. service i.e. Civil, Military, central or state, railway or local bodies.

Setting up an organization like the AIOP was not an easy task with branches in all the capital cities of India and its headquarters in New Delhi especially in those days when means of communication were so few and difficult, when the only media was the print media or the All India Radio and Doordarshan, which up until 1975, covered only seven Indian cities and had a television service. In 1982 Doordarshan as a National Broadcaster came into existence. Doordarshan remained the sole provider of television in India. Both All India Radio and Doordarshan were under the Govt. control then and continue to be so even today.

It takes a man of vision, courage and organizational skills par excellence to be able to set up and manage a voluntary organization (without any source of funds) that too of retired Govt. employees of different backgrounds, regions, religions, language and customs and to bring out a bi-monthly magazine “National Pensioner” from Meerut under the editorship of Mr. K.B.L. Mathur as the mouth piece of All India Organization of Pensioners based in Hyderabad. One can only imagine the pioneering efforts and zeal with which Subedar Amir All Khan focused his attention on the problems of the Indian pensioners and succeeded in his life’s mission of getting as many benefits for the pensioners as was possible under a recalcitrant ‘Babudom’; indifferent ministers and insincere politicians who often paid mere lip service to the cause of those who had spent a lifetime in service to the nation in war or peace, in the freezing subzero temperatures of the Himalayas, in the burning deserts of the Thar, the difficult terrains of the hilly regions, the staid Gangetic plains, the desolate Deccan, the dangerous Ghats or the sweltering coastal areas.

The National Pensioner, vol.5, 6 Dec. Jan.1971, has reproduced a news item published originally in National Herald newspaper on Dec. 26th. 1970, under the heading; Pensioners’ tale of woe, datelined New Delhi, Dec.25 and it is worth quoting it verbatim now to feel the pain and anguish that was the plight of the pensioners in India then and which kept men like Subedar Amir Ali Khan on his toes to struggle for their cause. Quote: “They can be seen every first week of the month outside the treasury offices, waiting patiently to take home their ‘reward for past services’ and hoping that some passerby would recognize them and say hello. But, usually nobody would. Pensioners might have mattered yesterday but today they are just a group of forgotten men. These men of yesterday men met once again today, the first day of the annual convention of the All India Organization of Pensioners here. The mood was reminiscent as well as apprehensive. The speakers, all of them in the evening of their lives, talked of the good old days and also of the hard time staring at them and their children. Their faces glowed when they tried to reconstruct the past. But within moments the glow turned pale as their voices became apprehensive. After all they had come here to discuss their future. ”

While the prices are rising unabated, there has been no material increase in the pensions since independence,” Major Pratap Singh, president of the organization headquarters complained. The present method of calculation of pensions was evolved a century ago by the Pension Act of 1871, which was based on the Pension Act then in vogue in Britain. Since then, pensions have been increased in Britain many times. But in India the rates are the same. “Since pension has been defined as deferred pay, it is unfair to overlook the rising spiral of prices,” argued Nawab Mohammad Amir All Khan, founder president of the organization. The intent of pension rules, when they were framed, was that after an employee’s period of service was over, 50 per cent of his expenses would be met by the exchequer, he pointed out. But most of the pensioners belonged to distant past, when the salaries were lower, keeping the amount of the pension static defeats the very purpose the rules under the present circumstances.” He said. Apart from rising prices the value of currency has also gone down appreciably while the pensioners’ previous salaries were fixed in accordance with the old value of currency, many speakers contended. This puts the pensioners in an even more disadvantageous position, they said” Unquote.

The rest of the news item continues in a similar vein and many speakers echoed the same views and demanded many benefits from the Govt. Today the Govt. Pensioners enjoy many benefits, (http://www.pensionersportal.gov.in) for current benefits and pension rules of the Govt. of India who are perhaps unaware of the untiring efforts and struggle their predecessors, especially through the pioneering work of the likes of Subedar Amir All Khan, the national founding president of the All India Organization of Pensioners (AIOP),Major (Retd.) Pratap Singh, president of AIOP Head Quarters region, Mr. D.R. Chadha, the secretary general, ATOP, Mr. M.S. Sawhney, vice president ATOP, U.P; Sardar Saheb S. Natha Singh, vice president ATOP, Punjab, Sardar Sohan Singh, authorized representative of ATOP, Bharatpur and a host of others have undertaken and have taken up the sufferings of the pensioners’ community in spite of many handicaps like old age, meager income, lack of funds for the organization and personal debility.

Subedar Amir Ali Khan stands out as an exceptionally strong willed leader who continued his pioneering efforts from 1950 onwards in the service of the pensioners until his demise in 1982 despite having one of his legs being amputated in 1976 due to Gangrene as a result of his long neglect of Diabetes. And he rightly deserves the soubriquet the ‘Father of Pensioners in India.”