Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Forces Rank Degradation: High Powered Committee a Farce

Indian Military Duped?
Readers would recall that during the rank-equation chaos days after the 6th CPC, the PMO had ordered the constitution of a High Powered Committee to resolve command & control and status issues vis-à-vis civil officers including those of the CAPFs and the IPS. The PMO had not issued any orders related to the members of the committee.
The HPC has not been formulated or actually constituted till date. Many of us remain eager for its formulation in the hope that the HPC would go on to resolve and restore the lost status and sheen of the forces.
I am personally of the opinion that we should not clamour for the committee.
Why you may ask ?
Because, in consequence to the directions of the PMO, the Finance Minister had issued a note to the MoD asking them to constitute the committee, a look at the members directed by the FM would be interesting :-
The Cabinet Secretary as the Head of the Committee with the Defence Secretary, the Home Secretary, the Secretary (Personnel) and Secretary (Expenditure) as members.
Now what do you expect out of a committee which does not even have one member from the actual stake holders, that is, the Defence Services?
Zilch. Don’t wait for it.

And by the way, what is the locus standi of the FM in directing the composition of the committee? Is it even a subject matter of the Fin Min?
Posted by Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh
Click here for the original post

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Tainted Brigadier Appointed Director of Sainik Welfare

Plum post for "tainted" Brig: Shady past- Indicated by court of Inquiry, he is set to join as sainik welfare director

Army serves 'severe displeasure' to brigadier
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, October 29, 2010
click here to read the article

Friday, September 30, 2011

Baggage from the past haunts Ex Servicemen Pension Payments

Ministry of Defence30-September, 2011 17:19 IST
“Resolve Ex-Servicemen Pension Grievances Quickly”:
Antony’s Message to Defence Accounts on Annual Day

The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony today asked senior Defence Finance officials of his Ministry to consider the satisfaction level of Ex-Servicemen (ESM) pensioners as the benchmark of their performance. Addressing the 264th Annual Day Celebration of the Defence Accounts Department (DAD) here today, Shri Antony pointed out that his office still continues to receive several pension settlement related grievances.

“True, most of these cases were a baggage from the past as a consequence of Pay Commission recommendations and Cabinet decision on pay and pension hike, yet these needed to be addressed at the shortest possible time,” Shri Antony said. “Ultimately, the taste of the pudding lies in its eating,” he quipped adding that “the veterans deserved their due as they had sacrificed the prime of their life safeguarding our borders.”

The Defence Minister hoped that the two IT projects ‘Sangam’, for pension payment, and ‘Dolphin’ related to monthly pay system for the Other Ranks (OR) in Army, will facilitate quick disbursal of dues to the serving ORs and ESM. “You must strive to provide enhanced customer satisfaction through hassle-free service and prompt and accurate payment of dues to the soldiers and their dependents.” Project ‘Sangham’ has fulfilled a long-pending demand of our ESM.

Commending the DAD for launching of its two IT projects – ‘Vishwak’ and ‘Bhawan’, Shri Antony said, “You should strive to utilise this advantage to assist the Services in achieving their goals.” Underlining the need for transparency in accounting procedures, the Defence Minister observed, “In today’s era of globalisation, accountability has acquired new connotations. Accountability is no longer restricted to quantitative techniques and financial inputs and outputs. It has become an integral part of good governance, with several aspects like integrity, transparency, responsiveness and sustainability becoming a part and parcel.”

On the occasion, the Shri Antony also presented the Raksha Mantri’s Awards for Excellence for the year 2011. The Excellence Award for Software Development was bagged by CGDA (IT Wing Team) headed by Shri S Murali Krishnan, which has developed Project ‘Suvigya’ (Pension inquiry system), Project ‘Aashraya (pension disbursement system) and Project ‘Darpan’ (Defence Accounts Receipts and Payments Analyses). CDA Secunderabad, Secunderabad team headed by Shri Y Rajareddy was awarded the Excellence Award for Project ‘Dophin’, an online PBOR Monthly Pay System. PCDA (Central Command) team headed by Shri HH Mishra also bagged the Excellence Award for launching of Monthly Pay System and its implementation on all Pay Accounts Offices.

Secretary, Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Shrimati Neelam Nath, Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) Shri Nand Kishore and Additional CGDA Ms UG Antony were among the dignitaries present at the function.
Sitanshu Kar/PK/NN (Release ID :76384)
Resolve Ex-Servicemen Pension Grievances Quickly: Anthony

Disclaimer

The contents posted on these Blogs are personal reflections of the Bloggers and do not reflect the views of the "Report My Signal- Blog" Team.
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)

Resources