This is a true story, adapted from Colonel Rajan’s public lament, a tale typical of every officer and jawan.
SS Rajan, the son of an army officer, joined the army with an engineering degree and was commissioned in the corps of engineers in June 1963, with his pay at Rs 460 per month. He served in NEFA and later fought in the Indo-Pak war of 1971. In that war, his vehicle was blown up, maiming and killing his comrades, but he was lucky to escape with major injuries. He was recommended for the Vishisht Sewa Medal on four occasions.
After over 19 years of service, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, whereas IAS and IPS officers automatically become joint secretaries and equivalent on completion of 18 years of service or less. Rajan was promoted to colonel in August 1985 and retired after over33 years of meritorious service, when he had a daughter aged 15 and a son aged 8 to take care off. He received a pension of Rs 9125 per month and got a lump sum of about Rs 10 lakh for commutation of pension, gratuity, provident fund, army group insurance and leave encashment— not enough to buy even a small two bedroom flat in Bangalore. To add insult to injury, his pay was fixed at the “starting pay” for a colonel plus one increment; whereas it should have been fixed at the maximum pay eligible for a colonel.
Rajan’s contemporary, R Swaminathan, joined the Armed Forces Head Quarters (AFHQ) Cadre as a lower division clerk. Being in the AFHQ Cadre, he was posted in Delhi throughout his career. He worked hard and steadily rose up the ladder, with promotions at regular intervals and finally retired as Deputy DG (Personnel) in June 2003. His children studied in one school throughout. Before his retirement, his son graduated as an engineer from IIT, Delhi and his daughter graduated as a doctor from AIIMS, Delhi. Not being subjected to transfers he could afford to save more. On retirement, Swaminathan was granted pension on par with a senior deputy secretary (IAS) and got Rs 45 lakh in cash, by way of gratuity, provident fund, leave encashment and commutation.
This is not an isolated instance. It happens to all military personnel. The telling effect of this true story on the morale of soldiers and their children is obvious. Rumblings have increased and should be heard by the discerning, before a catastrophe occurs.
Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi (Retd)
Posted online: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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Neither the "Report my Signal -Blogs" nor the individual authors of any material on these Blogs accept responsibility for any loss or damage caused (including through negligence), which anyone may directly or indirectly suffer arising out of use of or reliance on information contained in or accessed through these Blogs.
This is not an official Blog site. This forum is run by team of ex- Corps of Signals, Indian Army, Veterans for social networking of Indian Defence Veterans. It is not affiliated to or officially recognized by the MoD or the AHQ, Director General of Signals or Government/ State.
The Report My Signal Forum will endeavor to edit/ delete any material which is considered offensive, undesirable and or impinging on national security. The Blog Team is very conscious of potentially questionable content. However, where a content is posted and between posting and removal from the blog in such cases, the act does not reflect either the condoning or endorsing of said material by the Team.
Blog Moderator: Lt Col James Kanagaraj (Retd)
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