Grant of OROP- Continued delibrations by the Petition Committee

Dear Colleagues,
The latest interaction with Shri Bhagat Singh Kothari, Chairman Rajya Sabha Petitions Committee on OROP reveals that that they are still working on the petition and expect to submit it to the government in November 2011. He assured me that he wants to make it a thorough job and is putting in it whatever ideas he himself has on the issue. Among other things he mentioned that the expenditure on OROP is not around Rs 3,000 Crore as earlier estimated. According to him it should be only 1200 to 1300 Crore. This is good news for us.
Having assured me that they would submit a convincing report he added the perpetually worrying clincher; ‘it is up to the government whether to accept it or not’.
You would recollect I had written a letter to the COAS on 19 August suggesting telecasting of Heroes-like programmes in Hindi too. (‘Heroes’ was an English language programme telecast by Times Now on 15 August for our gallantry awards winners). Some days ago I received a positive reply from the Army PIO- confirming similar broadcast in Hindi.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM

Government Should Implement One Rank One Pension Soon

Dear Friends,
Jai Hind.
We all need to congratulate IESM for their success in convincing the Standing Parliamentary Committee on Defence about the case of OROP. click here to read the news cutting. There seems to be an error in para 7, which should read: The committee recommended a plan under which the pensions would be as close to OROP, but this was not being accepted by the ex-servicemen. However, the government decided to implement it. ("not" is missing in the published article.)
Extremely well done General Satbir Singh– extremely well done IESM. However, friends– this is not the end of our struggle. It just gives us another strong foot on ground.
Please join IESM and give it financial support in its struggle for Justice for Defence Services. Large number of ESM organisations are already supporting IESM. IESM is not just another ESM organisation– it is a group of all those ESM organisations who are sincerely interested in the welfare of Defence Personnel. It is a group of ESM organisations which does not toe the line of the Government but devotes its body and soul for good of ESM and their families.
IESM’s three Divisions- Pension Division, ECHS Division and CSD Division – each is doing commendable job in their respective fields.
In service of Indian Military Veterans
Veteran Chander Kamboj

SCPC: Pay for Lt Col being mulled

Pay panel: category for Lt Colonel being mulled
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI

THE three- member ministerial committee to look into grievances of the Armed Forces met for a round of discussions on Wednesday afternoon, but the matter remained inconclusive even as the deadline for a final report on the issue is approaching fast. Sources said several permutations and combinations are being worked out, but more meetings would be required before a final decision can be taken on the matter. The committee, headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, met on Wednesday even as hectic rounds of consultations are on with the Armed Forces and other services.

The committee, set up by the Prime Minister, was given a deadline to prepare a final report for the Cabinet by the end of this month. The last round of consultations with the armed forces took place on Monday when the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, Admiral Sureesh Mehta met the ministers.

While the committee is leant to have agreed to the demand for restoring the pension given to Personnel Below Officers Rank (PBOR), discussions were on to resolve the other three issues put forward by the Armed Forces.

On the demand of moving Lt Gen and equivalent officers to the HAG plus pay band, solutions being worked out included a further categorisation of the officers to accommodate a proportion of them in the highest pay band.

The most contentious issue remains the demand to move Lieutenant Colonel level officers to Pay Band 4 in order to give them parity with their civilian counterparts. While the Armed Forces have dug in tight with the demand of moving Lieutenant Colonels and their equivalents be placed in Pay Band 4 (Rs 37,400- 67,000) instead of the present Pay Band 3 (Rs 15,600- 39,100), paramilitary forces and the MEA are insisting that changes will result in administrative problems. A solution under discussion is the creation of a new category in the Pay Band 4 to accommodate Lt Cols and give them parity with civilian counterparts without altering the monetary edge of non-defence services officers.
Three member review committee meets under Pranab Mukherjee

Flogging a Horse

"When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount and get a different horse."

However, in government, education and corporate India, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

Buying a stronger whip.

Changing riders.

Appointing a committee to study the horse.

Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.

Lowering the standards so that the dead horse can be included.

Reclassifying the dead horse as 'living impaired'.

Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

Providing additional funding and/ or training to increase dead horse's performance.

Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.

Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overheads and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horse.

Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position!
If you understand the above, then you are obviously residing in India.

We thank Lt Gen Raj Kadyan (Retd) for this anecdote.
Forwarded by Brig PT Gangadharan (Retd)

Comments: Flogging will certainly invite attention of animal activists.