Myths Busted

Dear Editor of Times of India,

1. This in reference to the article carried in your newspaper, New Delhi Edition, 30 Mar 2008 titled Cost to Govt 4 Times the salary on paper. Times of India: 4 times the salary on paper

2. I think the article is totally misleading and will spread misinformation amongst the masses! How has Ashish Sinha and XLRI Jamshedpur arrived at the conclusion that Cost to Government (CTG) of Armed Forces officers is 4.5 times of the salary is baffling. The conclusion is scandalous, blasphemous and in poor taste! Ironically, these are the same arguments which have been presented in the VI Pay Commission report while fixing the salaries of defence Forces officers. Let me decimate these so called 'intangibles' given by Ashish Sinha and possibly XLRI Jamshedpur in support of this conclusion one by one.

3. Housing : Where are these 'sprawling bungalows' in which the defence officers are supposedly living. Being an Army Wife of an officer who has had an unblemished 31 years career in the Army so far and who has not done so badly, I have never ever lived in any of these sprawling bungalows. We have been always been allotted dilapidated flats, crumbling at the seams and the houses and the colonies represent Bombay Chawls. Mostly even this sub- standard accommodation is not available and one has to make do with temporary arrangements ranging from a single room in a crumbling British era building, to a lower class of accommodation till one finally gets the authorised accommodation (Mind you it is 1500 square feet and not 3500 square feet as stated by the VI pay commission in its report). If one gets authorised scale of accommodation at all before one gets posted out. All this in the same station involving two to three shifting's in a two years tenure. The houses are poorly constructed to begin with and are maintained by an organisation called MES (Has XLRI interacted with MES?). The icing on the cake is provided by MES by simultaneously charging rent for all the accommodations (once occupied by you in this shifting process). It is often very late that one realises that one is supposedly occupying so many accommodations simultaneously on paper and being charged for them! The sorting out process which involves another such organisation as the MES, gives one a real taste of the bureaucratic process! So much for the sprawling bungalows!

4. CSD: What is available in the CSD and how much of these items does one buy monthly? The total items purchased per month do not cost more than Rs 600/- to 700/- and the saving accrued is not more than Rs 200/- per month i.e. if one discounts the effort involved to get to the CSD (i.e. when it is open) provided the required item is available and finally the quality is good and competitive brands and contemporary brands are available. With the retail revolution now taking place in the country, most of the times better stuff is available in the market at lesser or same rates and then these can be bought at 11.00 p.m at night! In my entire life as an army wife (25 years), I do not think we have saved more than Rs 70,000/- by buying things from CSD. This includes purchase of a car! So much for CSD contributing to 4.5 times CTG!

5. House Building Advance: Please tell XLRI Jamshedpur and Ashish Sinha to publish factual details of total housing loans taken by Army Officers from private banks (HDFC, ICICI) vis-à-vis the government loan. The details will be eye opener! Haat kangan ko arsi kya, parhe likhe ko pharsi kya! Had these Govt loans been so easily available and so lucrative, 90% loans would not be taken by officers from private banks!

6. 90 Days Leave: You need leave when you serve away from families. Let Ashish Sinha do a stint in a field area and probably then he'll start campaigning for even more leave for soldiers. Secondly, which soldier gets full quota of leave? Lastly, do not private companies give all expenses paid holidays to their employees? Any such parallel in a govt job?

7. Travel Passes: Need for travel arises only because one serves away from home. Even then, the annual saving on account of subsidised travel by any average army family (including travel not necessitated by service conditions and for personal purposes alone) cannot exceed Rs 4- 5 K annually. Mind you, this figure too is on the higher side!

8. I guess it has become rather fashionable to talk about the abnormal privileges being enjoyed by defence services. Some other so called perks have not been touched upon in your article hence I need not elaborate on those and make efforts to decimate them too. But I assure you that they too are all a fallacy and are easily torn to shreds.

9. Finally, I have one suggestion to make to the powers that be and to those who are responsible for perpetrating this fallacy that an army officer's CTG is 4.5 times his salary – please withdraw all such intangibles CSD, govt houses (ram shackles), free rations, form D and warrants, 50% air travel concession, (who travels and when?) orderlies and so on; and pay us 4.5 times of what has been proposed by the Sixth Pay Commission! Acceptable? I am sure I am voicing the opinion of bulk of the middle rung officers of the Army!

10. Please do publish our sheer disappointment with your esteemed newspaper for carrying such blasphemous articles! JAI HIND!

Nina Sachar
(Wife of Army Officer)

Forwarded by Brig PT Gangadharan (Retd)

Comments: The MOD needs to get the myths busted so that the general population actually get to know the quality and quantity/ quantum of perks that middle rung officers and Jawans of Defence Forces truly get on ground to what is entitled on paper. Is it possible for a corrupt bureaucratic system to deliver whatever perks are truly envisaged on paper? The defence forces personnel are fighting twin battles firstly the bureaucratic empire (including Red Tapism and corruption within and external) and secondly defending the Nation!