NEW DELHI: The armed forces on Sunday expressed hope that the newly-constituted high-level ministerial committee will address their "genuine grievances" over the notification of their new pay scales. "We have made our recommendations and the government has decided to set up a panel. So, let us see how the deliberations go... we are hopeful that it will look into our genuine and bonafide requests," Army chief General Deepak Kapoor said after laying a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti in India Gate to mark the 181st Gunners Day.
"I just want to clarify that this talk of differences between the armed forces and the government... I think that is not right. The fact is that the defence ministry is positive, and with us," added Gen Kapoor.
This comes a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during his ongoing trip to US and France, directed the setting up of a ministerial committee headed by foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, and including defence minister A K Antony and finance minister P Chidambaram, to look into the "core issues" raised by the armed forces.
As reported by TOI earlier, the Army, Navy and IAF had refused to accept their new pay scales from October 1 since they wanted political intervention in restoring their parity with their civilian and paramilitary counterparts.
As a compromise formula, a rattled government on Saturday set up a three-member ministerial committee, even as it directed the three Services to submit their draft pay vouchers to it by Monday to ensure the process to give all military personnel their new salaries and 40% arrears at the earliest could begin.
Moreover, keeping in view that the re-fixation of pay, allowances and arrears "may take some time", the government on Saturday also announced ad hoc payment of arrears to all ranks in October as an interim measure.
These amounts range from Rs 25,000 for jawans to Rs 50,000 for subedar-majors and their equivalents in the Navy and IAF. For officers, it ranges from Rs 55,000 for Lieutenants and Rs 80,000 for Lt-Colonels to Rs 1.60 lakh to Brigadiers and Rs 2.25 lakh for Lt-Gens.
Antony, on his part, has already indicated his support for the main demand of the 13-lakh strong armed forces on the issue of downgrading of Lt-Cols, who constitute the bulk of the officer cadre.
The forces are angry the "extant parity" of Lt-Cols (and their equivalent Wing Commanders in IAF and Commanders in Navy) has been lowered by retaining them in Pay Band-3 (Rs 15,600-39,100), while raising similarly placed civilians and paramilitary officers to PB-4 (Rs 37,400-67,000).
The government has also indicated its willingness to restore the earlier 70% "pensionary weightage" given to PBOR (personnel below officer rank), overruling the 50% recommended by the 6th Pay Commission.
No differences with govt over pay, says Army chief
Comments:
The SCPC has demoralised the Military by degrading Rank, Status and Honour. The WoP has favourably upgraded the Bureaucrat and successfully downgraded the Military Ranks. The consequences are irreversible. Let us take stock:
Pankaj Jha, a medium-level officer in the Indian army, shot himself with a service revolver. He was 38. why Lt Col Jha pulled the trigger on himself - he had been serving in the military for the past 14 years. According to his mother, Lalita Jha, "there was no tension, no problems. I just can't understand why he did it". He is far from the only soldier to take his own life - Capt Sunit Kohli, Maj Sobha Rani, Lt Sushmita Chatterjee... the list goes on. In fact, the Indian army is losing more soldiers in these incidents than in action against the enemy. The army is losing many soldiers to enemy attacks, also equal number soldiers have already taken their own lives. In addition, another half of them have been killed by their own colleagues. The reasons are not difficult to fathom or perceive: It is the Poor Pay Package and Low Morale caused by degraded Rank, Honour and Status. The question of what many say is low pay - starting salaries in many jobs in middle- class India are double that of a new soldier, and for many of them the army, air force and navy, no longer holds out the promise of a good life. The SCPC has drowned the joys of the Serving Jawans and the ESM. Maybe the Diwali Sparklers will light up their homes!
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