SCPC: Bureaucrats upset the Pension Patterns

Dear Brig Kamboj,
The more I see of this Pay Commission, the more I am led to believe that it has been crafted to create a compensation package that will result in destroying a structure evolved by several generations of able and sagacious administrators. It is not going to be easy to retrieve the situation.
I penned a piece entitled, "Andher Nagri Chaupat Raja" which is as given below.
Regards,
Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)

ANDHER NAGRI CHAUPAT RAJA
November 1962. After four years at the two service academies and a year long Young Officers’ Course, I was posted to a Training Battalion in EME Center. Within a week, it became clear to me that all that I had learnt during those five years was inadequate, and that I would have to ‘unlearn’ some of that exotic stuff to handle the three hundred recruits placed under my command. Instinctively, I turned to two men: Lt Col SN Bhaskar (He was called ‘tiger’ and rose to the rank of Maj Gen. He was awarded Padma Shri for the turnaround of BEML, of which he was the CMD, after retirement) and Sub Major Suryanarayana, a JCO who was literally the icon for the men. I discovered that if I could somehow get the Bn Sub Maj to accept a plan of action, it would sail through. And the reasons were not far to see. The troops identified themselves with him; he represented the culmination of their soldiering dreams. Later, when an honorary rank was conferred on him, a ‘Bara Khana’ was organized during which the CO said, “In the army, it is easier to become a general than to be granted the rank of an Honorary Captain”

As I now see it, there is ample truth in the words of ‘Tiger’ Bhaskar. The Army recruits over sixty thousand men each year. No more than 600 of them attain the pinnacle of wearing three stars on their shoulder. This proportion is lower that the percentage of regular entrants who rise to become generals. Consequently, the honorary officers were granted fixed rates of pay, since they held that position for a very short period.

The honorable members of the Sixth Pay Commission thought differently. This time, they have been placed in the scale applicable to regular officers. Therefore, the thirty increments long PB-3 has been made applicable to them. Simultaneously, as a rationalization measure, all trades beginning from the lowly safaiwala, mess waiter and washerman to the aero-engine technician and computer mechanic have been granted a common pay scale. And very rightly, every entrant into the government has been given a uniform three percent increment which is exponential and three assured promotions. While all this welcome, the brilliant personages who devised these scales ran out of ideas when they reached the upper end of the spectrum. The room on top is so cramped that the picture is grotesque. The resultant pension pattern makes interesting reading. The soldiers retiring in July 2009 are going home with the following pensions:
Sepoy (19 years service) Rs 7510 In 1996, it was Rs 1586
Havildar (24 years service) Rs 8075 In 1996, it was Rs 2216
Sub Major (32 years service) Rs 10990 In 1996, it was Rs 4775
Hon Capt (32 years service) Rs 13,850 In 1996, it was Rs 5425

In due course of time, the pension of the Sepoy will rise to just a little under 10,000, but the pension of the Honorary Captain will not change, except in the case of a few trades which take in direct entrant JCOs. For the sake of comparison, the pensions at these ranks just a few years ago are shown in red print, alongside. It will be seen that the traditional ratio gap of over three times between the pensions of Sepoy and the Hony Captain has now gone down to 1.81 and it will reduce to a token 1.32, by 2017. Will the soldiers still look upon the “Captain Sahib” with the same reverence as they did during our time? Will they be motivated to strive for excellence with the same zeal and fervor as they did twenty years ago? I am not sure that any one has bothered to address these questions.

I am reminded of a fable which I heard during my visit to the Sangam in Allahabad. Adjacent to the confluence of the holy Ganges and the Yamuna, there is a mound which is called “Andher Nagri” Legend has it that it was ruled by a King whose values were as warped and wonky as those of the luminaries who have devised these ‘rational’ scales. It seems that the King of “Andher Nagri” insisted that all commodities be sold at the same rate in the market. He also wanted every one to be treated alike, regardless of his performance. Consequently, when the sports meet was held he ensured that all the participants were given the same prize, regardless of how well he ran. The proletariat got fed up of his ways, and they approached wise men in other kingdom for a solution. We were told that two holy men, agreed to help the suffering masses of “Andher Nagri” They dressed themselves as Sadhus and reached the outskirts of the Palace long before dawn. They then planted a mirror a few feet below the rim of the well near the Palace and when the day broke, they started chanting mantras. And soon after that, they starte fighting with each other. Soon a crowd gathered and even the King noticed the consternation and came out of his chamber. On being asked, the holy men said that the Lord of the Heavens is in the well, and He has said that who ever gets into the well first, will be granted the Celestial Kingdom. They were apparently quarreling over who should get the honor of jumping first. The King saw the shining object and was led to believe that what they were saying was right. He decreed, “Neither of you will go first. I am the King, therefore I must lead”
And before any one could stop him, he jumped into that deep well, never to be seen again. In his memory, they have coined the couplet,
“Andher nagri chaupat raja
Takey ser bhaji, takey ser khaja”
(In this dark country, there is an imbalanced ruler
Bhaji sells for half an anna per seer and cashew nut goes for the same price)
I ask, to whom should we turn for wise counsel?