SCPC: Pre 2006 Majors and Equivalents pension disparity

MAJORS & EQUIVALENTS
Dear Sirs,
There will be no Majors retiring in future but only Lt Cols and above. If OROP is agreed to by GOI in the very near future, all other senior officer ranks will be benefited by being brought up to par with those retiring now for the same job performed. The Majors will be left behind if we agree that Major’s pension should be fixed less than that of Lt Cols. Since the entity called “retired Majors” is going to be an obsolete term in future, the surving few who will be a dwindling lot should be brought at par with Lt Cols as far as pension is concerned. To make it easy for the babus, we could recommend that Honorary rank of Lt Col, with pre-2006 retrospective effect, could be granted to all retired Majors, to not only enhance their pension but also to set right the “Izzat” factor. This will ensure fair treatment by future pay commissions. It will send the right message to the youth wanting to join the services that their services will not be forgotten.
The organisation we are competing with is the Pakistani army. They have not upgraded their commmmanding officers' ranks to Colonels from Lt Cols, or upgraded Company commanders with more than 13 years of service to the rank of Lt Cols. It will be interesting to find out if the Pakis have upgraded their Centre Commandants to Brigadier rank and in the process diluted the the "izzat" of Brigade Commanders. Do their Brigades have staff officers known as Brigade Majors or are they known as Brigade Lt Cols? Has any other army in the world distorted their internal parity of officer ranks for the sake of competing with the civil services?
To strengthen the case of Major’s, the following could be added to the list of points:
a) It is in the first twenty years of service that an officer leads the most hazardous life in difficult stations. Statistics of officer casualties during war and counter insurgency operations will show that 90% of the casualties are suffered by Lieutenants, Captains and Majors. Of all the casualties, percentage of officer casualties has always been more than that of other ranks.
b) The services officers are not in competition with any Public sector organization, but with the armies of China and Pakistan in the world’s most inhospitable terrain. They have evil designs on the security of our country. How they rehabilitate their officers who commanded Companies, Squadrons or Batteries, and completed 20 years of service, and retired, should be looked into when deliberating upon an equitable pension of their equivalents in India.
(Maj CN Anand)