Government salaries work like this. As long as everyone is in the same boat, you grin and bear it. But if someone starts trying to ensure that their service gains an edge over other services, it is an unhealthy management practice, and one which is bound to cause problems which could rock the boat. So the answer is, yes, if everyone was getting paid the same thing, the service chiefs, and indeed, all other civil services would have no plaint. But that is not the case. Government salaries defy newton. They dont come down, they only go up. So the only way to end disparity is by (notionally, because they haven't been paid yet in this new scale) raising military pay back to the same level as the civilian ones.
The feedback from members of various civil and military services is that the IAS lobby has launched its version of "Operation Grand Slam" with the 6th pay commission. The portents are all good- a weak central government, which cannot stand up to the bureaucracy, and a well stacked commission having produced the results which they wanted. Only thing is, its not gone down well at all with other services. Indeed, all this talk of the IAS's "Historical Edge" which must be maintained, doesn't wash very well with other services (and in the case of the military, it is false, as the military has had historically higher pay scales anyway).
At any rate, there is a lot of discontent about this naked attempt by one service to elevate itself above all others. Its an extremely unhealthy practice, and the government should have known better than to accept it. Result? A huge mess.
Indian Army Discussion: Bharat Rakshak
Two letters by Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi (Retd) to the Editor, Indian Express, Delhi
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