Indian Military warns PM over poor wages

NEW DELHI (AFP) — The Indian military on Friday took its long-running battle for higher wages to the prime minister, warning poor perks were hurting morale in one of the world's biggest armies.

A top commander representing the army, air force and navy met Manmohan Singh to repeat demands for better pay for India's million-plus military. The military has stepped up its demands after the government unveiled a hefty wage hike for some five million federal workers last month. Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta, who met with the premier, discussed the "core issue" of low salaries, a defence ministry official told AFP after the meeting.

The admiral handed over a memorandum to Singh which called for a review of the relatively modest perks offered to the military on August 14 when civilian government employees were given the 21-percent wage rise. "The (wage hike) notification has unwillingly upset existing relativity's between the defence forces and other central government officers," Mehta said in his appeal.

"This has not only resulted in lowering of their status, especially in the middle ranks, but also has an effect on the organisational structure in various fields where they work together," the admiral warned. The Indian military, the world's fourth largest, has been campaigning for a 200-percent wage hike for non-ranking personnel.

More than 120 army, navy and air force middle-rung officers have sought early retirement this year, saying they were not being adequately rewarded. The resignations have come at a bad time for the army, which is already facing a shortage of more than 11,000 officers.
Indian military warns PM over poor wages

The young educated men who are needed to lead the armed forces in war, insurgency or natural disasters, are far more aware of their market worth, and are definitely not overawed by the scheming bureaucracy, whose palpable failures require them to swing into action and retrieve the situation. It is high time that the political leadership stepped in to prevent demoralisation and destruction of leadership in the armed forces. The consequences of poor leadership or the unwillingness of military officers to lead from the front and sacrifice their lives may result in removing the last line of defence of this nation. Other unpleasant consequences would be a further drop in volunteer response, a larger number of officers wanting to leave and, worst of all, greater corruption, lack of discipline and loss of esprit de corps. One only hopes that the political leadership acts in time so that the services too can join their civilian and paramilitary counterparts in Diwali celebrations. The time has also come for a military member to be a part of the Pay Commission.
Give military good news for Diwali by Vice Admiral Arun Kumar Singh

Comment: We need to eliminate some of the career gates of Armed Forces Officers. Career ladder of Lt Col's (and equivalent in AF and Navy) need to be broad based with adequate opportunities. The current career patterns obstruct utilisation of the talents of most experienced rank (approx 19,000 officers). This promotes breadth of experience that is not rewarded in a branch- dominated, skewed ACR cum Medical promotion system that reinforces narrowness of experience. Another is the placement of a brigadier in command on the tactical level. Need of the hour is to restore the honour and dignity of the Rank, which has been eroded successively first by Military Brass themselves and then seconded by the Central Pay Commissions. We need to restore Honour and Pride of a Soldier!