Gurkha Pension to Increase but Discrimination to Continue

First of all, I am very happy and excited with this news. No, I am not a Gurkha. I am just a Bangladeshi blogger. I am happy because this is something the ex-Gurkha soldiers really deserved for a long time. These soldiers worked as hard as any soldier in British armed force but when it was the matter of pension then they were deprived. Well, there is nothing to be that much excited about because the 14.1% increase has happened merely to keep up with high inflation rate of Nepal. They still wont be treated equally and fairly despite the fact that they risked their lives for the safety of England.

Still, many ex-Gurkha soldiers will be surely happy with the increase in pension. The former soldiers aged 80 or more will be benefited most as they would see an increase of almost one third of the amount of pension they receive now. It should be mentioned here that in 2008, many Gurkha soldiers protested in England against discrimination in pension.

I am also happy to see that there is a growing call in England to put an end to this discrimination. Let us hope that it will happen sooner rather than later.

(This entry was first published in March 2009 and based on the context of that time.)