An l.N.A. rally at Bombay in 1949 urged the Government of India to accept their sacred obligation to the families and dependents of the l.N.A. men who had laid down their lives in the war of liberation, and to the wounded and the disabled; the rally also urged the government to provide an opportunity to all ranks of the l.N.A. to serve free India by reabsorbing them in their proper ranks in the armed forces of India and to pay them their just dues. Two years later, in April 1951, at a joint meeting of the All-India I.N.A. Inquiry and Relief Committee and the I.N.A. Advisory Committee at the Government of India secretariat in New Delhi, under the chairmanship of the prime minister, a memorandum on behalf of the I.N.A. was presented to the prime minister by the I.N.A. representatives. The memorandum referred to the fifteen thousand officers and men of the I.N.A. who had reached India from east Asia by the first quarter of 1946. Their arrears of pay and allowances since the fall of Singapore in February 1942 had been forfeited by the then British government of India. Since then about seven thousand of these officers and men had managed to find some employment or other. The remaining eight thousand officers and men were destitute and in a pitiable plight.
In April 1948, the government of independent India declared that no stigma should be attached to the members of the I.N.A.; certain monetary payments including lump-sum grants ranging from Rs 400 to 800 were made. In 1950, de novo commissions were provided for the re-employment of I.N.A. officers. Other ranks were permitted to join at the lowest rank. In 1961, the government declared the I.N.A. movement a national movement and its participants at par with other political sufferers.
In 1963, a financial relief of about Rs 30 lakhs was granted. But the most important demand contained in the appeal related to the arrears of pay and allowances forfeited by the British regime to penalise the LN.A. and deprive the freedom fighters of their hard-earned life-time's savings. The forfeited amount totaled to two crore rupees in 1946, and by 1967, with compound interest, it must have swelled to five crore rupees even by modest reckoning. As against the five crores, the government had disbursed only 68 lakh rupees. At long last, the agitation bore fruit after sixteen years of unrelenting efforts of a handful of I.N.A. officers in Delhi, the moving spirit behind them being Captain L.C. Talwar, the indefatigable general secretary. In a circular dated November 28, 1970, addressed to all LN.A. personnel, the Azad Hind Fauj Association conveyed the happy news that the Government of India had finally decided to settle the question of arrears of pay and allowances to the satisfaction of the I.N.A."
It took them a long and protracted battle to get their dues. Because of an extremely obnoxious stipulation from the Government of India, any INA officer who wished to join the Indian Army had to start from the lowest wrung. Col. Gulzara Singh when inducted into the Indian Army became just an ordinary soldier. Netaji's photos were withdrawn from the Army canteens by an order.
Nehru cabinet defence minister Sardar Baldev Singh was on records opposing induction of the Indian National Army men in Indian Army as according to him it would impact the morale of the armed forces. Treatment of Captain Ram Singh Thakur, who composed the Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja and Subh Sukh Chain, is a testimony to the Government apathy towards Indian National Army Men. Ram Singh Thakur was denied freedom fighter status and his pension was withheld by the Government of Uttar Pradesh.
In 2016 The Modi Government declared that the pension of other freedom fighters, including those who were members of Indian National Army (INA), had been raised from Rs 21,395 to Rs 26,000 per month. Addressing the nation on the 70th Independence Day from the Red Fort, the Prime Minister had announced a 20 per cent hike in the pension for freedom fighters.