Brig Sukhdev Singh, who won a military cross in 1946 in Indonesia, and later a Vir Chakra for his role in the Zozila Pass operation in 1947 in Kashmir, laments that people are no longer interested in the Independence Day celebrations.

`` It has become a mere ritual. I wish they had a special message for the youth and talked about pressing problems facing the country like population, education and health care,'' Brig Sukhdev Singh said while talking to ENS here today, adding that none could feel proud of the country where after affluence at one place you confront an abject poverty next door.

The World War-II veterans and gallantry award winners had been invited invited here to a special function where they were honoured by Maj Gen P P S Bhandari, GOC-I, Armoured Division.

Eighty-year-old Hari Singh who fought in the North West Frontier province and East Asia during the World War-II and later in the Indian National Army, said ``This is not the freedom we fought for. The disparity among the rich and the poor has increased over the years. And it is still increasing with each passing day.''

Delighted at being invited and honoured by the armoured division on the occasion of the Independence Day, Hari Singh however lamented that the country had ignored the INA veterans and they were given the status of freedom fighters only in 1972. ``I am getting only Rs 3,000 monthly pension as a freedom fighter. I am not getting any military pension as I had put in nine years and six months of service when I was discharged from service in 1946''.

He pleaded that the government must do something to help such marginal cases where the length of service was slightly less than the stipulated 10 years to be eligible for military pension.

`` The society seems to have forgotten the ideals espoused by the freedom fighters'', lamented Jaspal Singh, another veteran soldier and a resident of Arjun Nagar locality of Patiala.

He said that there should be more such interaction and get together functions. He however expressed his satisfaction at the fact that at least he had been given an opportunity to highlight his problems at this forum by Maj Gen Bhandari.

The Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) organised a separate function where war widows were honoured by Bubli Bhandari, wife of Maj Gen Bhandari.

Bubli Bhandari said that one of the common problems facing the war widows was getting a suitable job for their children. She said that the interaction had helped her have a better understanding and appreciation of the problems of the war widows.

Twenty-yr-old Poonam Bhardwaj lost her husband Lance Naik Sandeep Kumar, who died in action in Srinagar in 1996. She had barely completed one year of their marriage when the tragedy struck her. She now has a three-year-old daughter.

She has a tale of woes to narrate. She said that she had been turned out by her in-laws, who live in Morinda. She is now residing with her parents in Bassi Pathana in Fatehgarh Sahib district. ``I do not want to be a burden on my parents and I have already applied for a job to the Ropar District Sainik Board. But I am yet to hear from them'', She said.She said she was making do with Rs 2,000 monthly pension, she was getting at the moment. She has also done a stenographer's course.

Baljit Kaur, widow of sepoy Jaspal Singh, is also an aggrieved person. Her husband died fighting in 1971 in Ferozepur area. She said, ``What is the compensation that I got ? I am getting a paltry pension of Rs 1,611 per month, which is hardly a sum to make both ends meet.''

She said she did not want her two sons to join the Army, while one of the her sons is a farmer, another is a government school teacher. She pointed out that there was not even a memorial installed for her husband in her native Bhamour village, near Chuni Kalan in Fatehgarh Sahib district.