It was meant to be a New Year's gift to the armed forces and will be welcomed by nearly 12,000 officers of the rank of Lt Colonel and equivalent who will earn over Rs 8000 per month by being placed in a higher Pay Band 4.
But the January 1 letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office to the Ministry of Defence, a copy of which India Today was able to access, could raise more issues than it resolves.
For starters, all deputations have been immediately disincentivised. Over 2000 officers of the rank of Lt Colonel / Commander and Wing Commander go on deputation to the National Security Guards, DRDO, Assam Rifles, R&AW, IB, Ministry of Defence and Ordnance Factory Boards. They now stand to lose nearly Rs 13,000 in PB4 benefits when they move on deputation.
The PM's letter effectively places another contentious issue of parity with the civilian establishment on a back-burner by recommending the setting up of yet another high-powered committee. The pay commission has already seen two high-powered committees – the committee of secretaries headed by the cabinet secretary and the Group of Ministers headed by Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and including (then) Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Defence Minister A.K. Antony. "How many more high powered committees are we going to see?" asks an exasperated army officer.
The letter, instead speaks of an unrelated demand – a separate pay commission for the armed forces – raised even before the pay commission recommendation were submitted to the government earlier this year. The move for a separate pay commission effectively hives the military away from the civilian pay commission, but only in the year 2018 when the Seventh Central Pay Commission is convened.
Read full aspects of pay commission missive:
Armed forces feel let down by PM's pay commission missive
Full text of the confidential letter
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Armed forces feel let down by PM's pay commission missive
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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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