After Lt Cols, govt approves higher pay for Lt Gens

Three days after implementing higher pay for Lt Cols, the government on Friday night approved of higher wages for lieutenant generals under the Sixth Pay Commission putting them at par with director generals of police, a key demand of the armed forces.

The defence ministry conveyed the government's decision to the Armed Forces headquarters in a letter which comes nearly seven months after the union cabinet approved the Sixth Pay Commission implementation in August last year, sources in the services' headquarters told PTI here.

Nearly 50 three-star officers, who are Lt Gens in the Army, Air Marshals in the IAF and Vice Admirals in the Navy, would benefit from the government move to place them in the Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) Plus scales.

About 33 per cent of the total number of Lt Gen-rank officers would be receiving the new pay scales at par with the DGPs of state police and central paramilitary forces.

There are approximately about 150 Lt Gen-rank officers in the three services. Among them, the Army, Navy and Air Force Commanders, who are chiefs of the Service's Commands, and vice chiefs of the respective forces are already in a special category of pay scales equivalent to secretaries in the civilian services. The HAG Plus scales would be for Lt Gens who are not Commanders or Vice Chiefs.

"The armed forces are extremely happy with the government's decision to accord the HAG Plus pay scales to Lt Gens. With this, the government has restored the three-star rank officers' their status. This will surely help in resolving the seniority issue in areas where officers from the armed forces and the civilian services work jointly," a senior armed forces officer said.

By accepting this demand, the government has resolved three of the four "core issues" raised by the armed forces with Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon after the government approved the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations last year.

Other issues already solved to the satisfaction of the Services included according Pay Band-4 scales to 15,000-odd Lieutenant Colonel-rank officers, who form the backbone of the armed forces' fighting units and restoring 70 per cent weightage in pensionary benefits for the over a million-strong jawans.

While the government has already notified the amended pay order in the case of Lt Cols, the notifications for the Lt Gens and the jawans are yet to come, sources said.
After Lt Cols, govt approves higher pay for Lt Gens
Related Reading
Armed forces want cabinet to consider pay revision

SCPC: Twenty seven Lt Gens in Higher Administrative Group

Dear Navdeep and Friends,
The orders have, indeed been issued, but there is a rider. Only 33% Lt Gens will be on HAG+. Upgradation will be based on seniority. This will create more problems than any which it might resolve. We have created a system which is akin to landing up in a quagmire!
Regards,
Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)

On 4/25/09, Navdeep Singh wrote:
Friday, April 24, 2009
Congrats to Lieutenant Generals, orders for upgradation to HAG+ expected today. Rejoice if you have three stars on your car or collar or flag. Lieutenant Generals are now officially in Higher Administrative Plus (HAG+) Grade. The exact modalities on the percentage of officers upgraded to HAG+ would be released soon. The countdown for improvement of pensionary benefits for PBOR is also on.
Thanks.
Posted by Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh at 5:59 PM

Thursday, April 23, 2009
High Court issues Notice-of-Motion to ECI for not carrying out house to house survey for service voter registration. While you would soon hear more news on PB-4 and rest of the pending issues, I thought I would update readers on a very important development. As some of the readers may recall this earlier blog post, Election officials have not been carrying out house to house survey and enumeration in military and cantonment areas for registration of voters as is provided under the statute. In fact, the easiest way out to ensure participation of service voters is house to house enumeration and not filling up of Form-6 as is the practice- which basically is a residual provision if the name is not included through house to house survey or for any other reason.

The Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court today issued a Notice of Motion to the Election Commission and the Central Govt as to why house to house enumeration was not being carried out by election officials in Cantonments. While the case may not result in action as far as the current elections are concerned, it should definitely settle the law for all times to come. The Petitioner in the Writ Petition is Brig H S Ghuman, Shaurya Chakra, a veteran of the Punjab Regiment.
Posted by Navdeep/

Army an unattractive career option: Kapoor

Press Trust of India
Monday, February 09, 2009, (New Delhi)
Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor feels the armed forces are an "unattractive" career option for the country's youth and is looking at steps to counter that image.

"It does worry the Army chief....very much," he said when asked about the Army's plans to fill up the 11,000-odd vacancies in the officer cadre and the dwindling number of youth wanting to join the armed forces.

"The armed forces have, after a study, come to the conclusion that the army is not too attractive as a career for a young man, who is looking for employment...for good productive life," Kapoor said in an interview.

To reach out to the youth, the Army has in the recent times proposed to make the Short Service Commission (SSC) an attractive option for the youth by encouraging them to go for additional qualification such as a Doctorate or an MBA to enhance opportunities in the private sector when they leave the force.

It had also moved another proposal to send the SSC officers for higher command courses to enable them to continue as permanent officers. These courses were hitherto offered only to regular officers.

Another plan was to provide the SSC officers 'gratuity' for the 14-year service in the Army that would make some funds available to them as a buffer when they left the service.

Patriotism as a motivation for the youth is not so strong today as it was soon after the country's independence, Kapoor said, pointing out that priorities of the youth were very different now.
More: Army an unattractive career option: Kapoor

Editorial Responses: Tribune of Shame

Dear Sir,
Your editorial was unexpected and way off the mark. It is based on misinformation and shows poor understanding of the military functioning. You have castigated Admiral Mehta wrongly for the letter and failed to write who is responsible for the 6th CPC mess (despite warnings) and why the Naval Chief wrote this letter to his command.

The letter has nothing to do with mild mannered Defence Minister A K Antony. And where is the defiance? Do you believe the Government would have appointed the Ministers' Committee if the Service Chiefs had not raised this issue so strongly in the interest of the welfare and morale of their subordinates? Your views will contribute further to the resentment amongst serving and retired armed forces personnel.

Yours sincerely,
V P Malik
General (Retd)
Former Chief of Army Staff

Dear Sir,
Reference your editorial on Admiral Sureesh Mehta's letter on 30 September 2008.
It is so easy for anyone in this country to chide service chiefs – politicians, bureaucrats, judiciary and the scribes. They all form the four pillars of Indian democracy. But they forget that India's armed forces are the bedrock on which stand those four pillars.

Had the so called 'institutional mechanisms', referred to in your editorial Uncalled for Defiance, been in place and functional the service chiefs would not have been pushed into acting in so uncharacteristic a manner. They and two million ex servicemen have been crying hoarse about injustice perpetuated on soldiers, for some decades now. Had 'institutional mechanisms' been in place:

separate pay commission would have been in place after third pay commission or atleast a military representative member would have been included on the pay commission panel;

a military representative been on Secretary's Committee on anomalies;

justified demands and anomalies resolved before cabinet approval for implementation of sixth CPC recommendations;

observations of Supreme Court's historic judgment on 10 August 2008 on one rank one pension; ruling of the Supreme Court, in the same judgment, on removing a recognized anomaly wherein major generals were getting lesser pension than their subordinate ranking brigadiers.

Instead of 'institutional mechanisms' (an all IAS Secretary's Committee) working towards removing anomalies, it compounded the issue further by creating new anomalies, of the most dishonourable variety. This very act of the 'secretaries', though fully anticipated by all soldiers - serving and retired - pushed them to act in the larger interest of their service; it is their duty to ensure safety and welfare of the men they command. The only other alternative left to them was to resign before implementation and execution of a seemingly wrong government diktat. It is time that politicians did their job, i.e. provide leadership.

Institutionalised mechanisms are not meant replace leadership. The widest perception in the country is that Indian bureaucracy has only one agenda– perpetuating bureaucratic power; after all politicians come and go. Indian bureaucrat is seen as out of Indian politician's control. Political leadership is seen as having subordinated itself to bureaucratic manipulation and mechanisms. This is the stark ground reality and needs urgent correction, for the sake of the nation and not just the armed forces.

There is a definite need for our politicians, bureaucrats, judiciary and scribes to study and understand military ethics and what goes into serving in the military. Then and then only they might realize the difference between acting in the larger interest of the service and willful defiance of orders. After all Hitler's order to exterminate Jews too had the government stamp but generals and soldiers who executed that order, forgetting military ethics, were tried as criminals against humanity. Admiral Sureesh Mehta has committed no offence. The Admiral has acted as per ethic- dictates of the military. If the government, in its wisdom, imposes punishment on this eminent soldier sailor, then so be it. After all there is always a price to pay for upholding truth and duty. That is what soldiering is all about.

Maj Gen (Retd) K Khorana
Uncalled for defiance: Admiral Mehta’s conduct inexcusable

Turmoil in the Defence Services

Two issues were raised by a delegation of War decorated officers with the PM at the Punjab Raj Bhawan. One pertained to ‘one rank- one pension’ where some relief had been given to Other Ranks, while JCOs and officers had been left out. Since then this relief was extended to JCOs but apparently the PMO sent the point concerning officers to the 6th CPC, where it has been given a final burial.

The second pertained to brigadiers being given higher pension than major generals consequent to the 5th CPC recommendations. It was pointed out that we had spent three long years doing the rounds of Punjab High Court and succeeded in obtaining a favourable verdict and instead of accepting this order in good grace the MoD had gone in appeal to the Supreme Court. We had requested that the MoD be instructed to withdraw the case from the Apex Court. This did not happen.

When none of those on the CPCs have any knowledge of the travails and tribulations of military life in India, which has seen no peace since 1947, and none of their sons, daughters, sons-in-law etc join this profession, then how can they know the issues which plague those in the services. When amongst hundreds of officers, and office staff assembled to assist the 5th and 6th CPCs, in working out the nitty-gritty of pay, perks and allowances etc no one from the armed forces was acceptable, then prejudice, bias and discrimination becomes palpably apparent.

In the last two decades 540 officers have fallen ( 169 during the last five years ) and 1258 wounded in various counter-insurgency operations ( CI Ops ). The number of JCOs and ORs killed/ wounded are 571/ 7923 and 769/ 11102 respectively. These figures do not include the 5000 odd servicemen, including officers, who annually suffer ailments including psychological disorders, due to postings to uncongenial and high altitude areas, and normal stress and strain of CI Ops. They are either medically boarded out or down graded.

The ratio of officer to ORs killed is 1 to 14.6. These casualties and ratios relate to counter-insurgency and related tasks. That is perhaps the highest anywhere in the world and does reflect on the dedication and quality of leadership. The CPOs and the state police is operating alongside the military in CI Ops and by itself in those 160 Maoist controlled districts where large number of policemen have been killed.

How many IPS officers have died and what is their ratio to policemen killed in the last five years. The civilian officers (IAS) too operate in areas plagued by insurgency and in all of those 160 districts where Maoists are in control. How is it that the IAS officers in these areas suffer no casualties; do not even run into an ambush, their vehicle go over a land mine or into an IED. Do these officers have some supernatural survival skills! The fact is that they live under heavy security, have offices at home and work from there and don’t even stir out. That is all those grandiose poverty alleviation and a host of other such lofty schemes, do not work but get soaked halfway down the line. Yet they eat the cake and keep it too.

The emerging security scene is rather disturbing and FM’s allocation of 1.8 percent of GDP for defence confirms his views that economic development and national security are mutually exclusive. Lack of strategic capabilities coupled with the de-motivation of defence forces would be a recipe for disaster.

The 6th CPC, in line with earlier Commissions, has delivered a body blow to the defence services. The anomalies and disadvantages are far too many to list, but suffice to mention just one, which is representative of the attitude of the 6th CPC, and its lack of sensitivity and understanding.

The Commission has introduced Assured Career Progression (ACP) for employees at 12 and 24 years service. 90 percent of army personnel retire on completion of 17/ 19 years service. So for them the second ACP does not work. It should be 8 and 12 years or 8 and 16 years, as suggested. The pay commission made an exception for defence services and accepted ACPs at 10 and 20 years of service, once again leaving the second ACP out of reach of the same 90 percent of servicemen. One wonders if this was out of cussedness or simply to taunt the defence forces.

There are a whole range of dispensations which places the services at great disadvantage, lowers their status and there is not even a semblance of equity in life time earning between a military man and a civilian employee in each category. Equally serious is the ‘divide and rule policy’ devised by the government between juniors and seniors in the defence services.

The ground situation is that few want to join the defence service and those already in want to quit. Only the brightest Cols are given the chance to attend the Higher Command Course and is essential stepping stone to rise in service. However one has to sign an undertaking not to quit service for 5 years after the course. 15 officers detailed on this course have declined to attend it.

Military is a service apart and there is no parallel to it in the civil there is no common yard stick. Armed forces are still an effective instrument of the state, whereas some others are busy merely picking up the spoils. So why destroy them when they are still functional.

Lt Gen Harwant Singh (Retd)