Rank Pay: The conspirators of deceit and cheating need to be identified

Repost
Dear Friends,
We had the pleasure of meeting the Hon'ble Raksha Mantri on 29 Sep with regard to the latest announcement on OROP.
Brig Bhagwan Singh, Air Cmde Sushil Soni, Col Raj Singla, Lt Nar Singh Dass and Capt Mangal Singh were part of my Delegation.
The exchange of pleasantries were followed by the submissions we had gone to make. Before we however got down to talk about the problems, we presented the RM with a Memento commemorating the 30th Anniversary of our Association.
To begin with we presented him with a paper about the recent award prepared by our team led by Lt Nar Singh Dass, our Gen Secy on Pensionary Matters. This dealt with what we got as a result of this announcement in real terms. (Paper follows). This was prepared with whatever little information we had. We welcome comments from all of you on what we have stated so that the entire paper can be corrected to give as true a picture as possible.
We apprised him that what has been given is no where near OROP and it all tantamounted to bureaucracy cheating us the Veterans and misleading the leadership. He agreed that what has been given is not OROP but assured that they have given this much for now. More will follow.
We then submitted that the recent Koshyari Committee had worked out the expenditure of Rs 1300.00 crores for grant of full OROP. The Cabinet Secy's Committee has not even given 25 % of what OROP signifies and has announced the sanction of Rs 2300.00 crores, almost twice the amount required for meeting this one single most important demand of OROP for the last 31 years.
With this one stroke, not only they achieved their aim of denying us our rightful dues but also conveying to the leadership how generous they are, as against our demand of Rs 1300.00, they have sanctioned 2300.00 crores. Indirectly also conveying to the leadership how ungrateful and greedy we the veterans are that an amount of Rs 2300.00 crores also does not make us feel grateful to the Gov't and satisfied. We also submitted what we feel may have been done to bloat this figure.
Bureaucracy has been misleading the leadership for over 15 years on Rank Pay which the Fourth CPC had granted and very proudly denied to the Veterans by the bureaucracy. Recently the Govt lost that case. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has directed the Govt to pay the dues amounting to Rs 1600.00 crores within three months with interest. This being the Supreme Courts final order has to be carried out. We submitted that obviously, the bureaucracy has clubbed this amount of Rs 1600.00 crores with another Rs 700,00 crores of the total amount of Rs 1300.00 crores required for OROP and made it Rs 2300.00 crores.
We then appealed to him to please have the matter investigated. Any body found guilty of misleading the leadership should be punished. We further appealed that the Gov't should also take appropriate action to find out the persons who were responsible for the sufferings of the veterans in Rank Pay case. Once they are identified they should not only be proceeded against but also made to pay the interest amount to the affected veterans. I am glad to say that The Raksha Mantri gave us a very patient hearing and we expect that the more to follow comes up fast.
Lt Col Inderjit Singh
Chairman
Related Reading
The Conspiracy against Indian Army!
Advise from Maj AK Dhanapalan- Role of the Service HQs?
Comment: It is evident that General K Sundarji (CAOS 1986 to 1988) was totally misled by his stooges in AHQ- The AG's branch shares in this conspiracy to cheat the Military- we need to identify them too.

OROP: TV Panel Discussion- 29 Sep 2012

Defence Line - One Rank One Pension - 29 Sept 2012 - Part 1 & 2




Detailed TV Panel discussion after the announcement of pensionary benefits on implementation of recommendations of the PM appointed committee.
Earlier, a TV panel discussion was posted on the blog in the aftermath of the announcement of the Prime Minister constituted Committee of Secretaries looking into pay & pension anomalies of defence personnel.
The following is a panel discussion, recorded and telecast yesterday night, dissecting the benefits finally granted on the implementation of the recommendations of the PM constituted committee, and other issues.
The Panelists were Maj Gen Surjit Singh, former Chairperson of the 4th Pay Commission Cell, Prof JK Sharma, former member of National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), and Major Navdeep Singh.
Posted by Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh

Rank Pay:: Too little, too late!

Too little, too late!
P M Ravindran | 05-Sep-2012
After outrageously denying justice to Gen V K Singh in a simple matter of his date of birth the apex court now mocks at soldiers with a pretense of justice. Let us get this straight- no citizen goes to courts seeking charity. He goes to courts demanding justice, which is a fundamental right; all those addressing the judges as Lordship and cloaking their demand in terms like Prayers, not withstanding. And in this case justice has been done apparently but falls much short of it.
Firstly Maj Dhanapalan's case was decided more than a decade back. The court did not cover all affected officers in its order then.
Secondly, now it has taken 10 years to decide this case when the precedence had been set and the facts, laws and precedences of the issue had already been established through a long drawn judicial process itself.
Thirdly, the rate of interest is just the barest minimum and not even enough to compensate for the losses incurred by the soldiers, forget about being penal.
And lastly, the date of its applicability is only from 1 Jan 2006- a date that has no relevance in this case. Usually the courts consider the date of filing the petition for the applicability of its orders, though even that is questionable because natural justice demands that it has to be the date of occurrence and especially so in cases like this where all other options have to be exhausted before approaching the courts!
Just to highlight the contrast look at the case of compensating a judge to the tune of Rs 100 Crores in a defamation case and the apex court refusing to entertain an appeal unless Rs 20 Crores is deposited by the media channel which had in any case tendered an unconditional apology for the genuine mistake that had occurred in displaying the photo of the judge which was similar in name to another judge who had been implicated in a crime!
And it also needs to be highlighted that the rank pay was not introduced to give any advantage to the armed forces officers over their civilian counterparts because the fact is that there has never been any such advantage then nor is it there now. It was actually another ploy to keep these officers at a lower station because the rank pay was to be considered part of basic pay only for calculating the allowances and not status!
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One Rank One Pension: Babu's Spin the Government

Himachal ex-servicemen to honour Army Chief V K Singh
Press Trust of India / Dharamsala May 15, 2012, 00:05
The Himachal Pradesh ex-servicemen's league will honour Army Chief General V K Singh on May 25 here for his stand on the alleged corruption in the armed forces.
"The working and the retired band of soldiers in the state are impressed with the General, the way he has exposed the ugly underbelly of the corruption in the forces," Chairman of the state ex-servicemen's league, Major Vijay Singh Mankotia said.
Stating that Himachal Pradesh was the only state in the country to get four Param Vir Chakras, he said the families of soldiers who have given the supreme sacrifice will be honoured by the Army chief on the day.
The demand for 'One-Rank, One-Pension,' and other issues will also be raised at the rally on May 25, he said.
Himachal ex-servicemen to honour Army Chief V K Singh
Read more
Gen VK Singh to address ex-servicemen on May 25 Tribune News Service

Centre in agreement with principle of ‘One Rank One Pension’
The Ministry of Defence is in agreement with the principle of ‘One Rank One Pension’ demand of the ex-servicemen, said Chief of Army staff General V K Singh.
Addressing a rally of the ex-servicemen here, he said the implementation of the One Rank One Pension involved an expenditure of Rs 1300 crore.
He added that the implementation could not be made time bound as such decisions had to pass through several levels of the government before becoming a reality.
The government had, however, agreed to the demand, he added.
Gen Singh also said that he had introduced several plans to bridge the gap between the veterans and the serving army officials.
To sort out their demands he had set up a ‘Veteran Cell’ in the Army two years ago. He conceded that it was the duty of the Army to ensure that the rights of the ex-servicemen were taken care of.
Assuring the ex-servicemen “You will certainly get your rights and will not have to ask for it”, the Chief of Army staff said, 20 more centres would soon be set up in Punjab under the ex-servicemen contributory health scheme.
The army chief further said that he had written to the government to restore the old system of Canteen Store Departments (CSD) to the Army as the current system was not working to the satisfaction of the defence personnel.
Later talking to media persons, Gen Singh when asked about his letters to the Government on the issues of corruption and the inadequate stores in the armaments, Gen Singh said that the ball was now in the court of the government.
“I have done my duty, now it is for the government to act”, he added.
Centre in agreement with principle of ‘One Rank One Pension’

Babudom holds back pay scale upgrade for armed forces

Babudom holds back pay scale upgrade for armed forces
Ajay Banerjee/TNS
New Delhi, March 28
Away from the media spotlight, the three armed forces — the Army, the Navy and the IAF — are fighting a tough “battle” to get their personnel’s status and pay structure restored that were wrongly lowered in 2008.
The paramilitary forces and civilian officers were pegged at a higher perch than armed forces’ men. This, in government parlance, translates into lower status for the armed forces, lower allowances and a direct impact on the hierarchy with other services.
The “battle” to correct the status for the entire officer cadre, around 70,000 in the three forces, is being “fought” in files amidst mountains of paperwork that moves back and forth between the Finance Ministry, the Defence Ministry, the Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). There have been no tangible results over the past three years.
The Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), who is the senior-most among the three Chiefs, has been sporadically reminding the government how the Prime Minister had, in December 2008, approved that the matter needed to be addressed by setting up a high-powered committee. No committee has been set up so far. The three Chiefs, who jointly command more than 15 lakh troops and officers, have been reduced to sending “reminders” to the government. The latest reminder was sent by Admiral Nirmal Verma on February 21 “requesting intervention” of Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth.
Documents accessed by The Tribune show how it all started when the Sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC) recommendations were out in October 2008. The sequence panned out this way: The IAS in the post of Joint Secretary (JS) to the Government of India was made eligible for a grade pay of Rs 10,000 a month on completing 22 years of service. The same was extended to IPS and the Indian Foreign Services.
There was a protest from other group “A” services - paramilitary and other civilian services. The government said it could not have so many posts of Joint Secretary but allowed “non-functional scale upgradation” and placed the protesters on same scale as a Joint Secretary, but after 24 years of service. The grade pay is crucial when matters of status are to be decided. Apart from the money, it sets the status of an officer in the government.
Strangely, the Armed forces are neither classified as group “A” services nor are they termed as “central services” like the IAS or the IPS. In case of the armed forces, Colonels languish at Rs 8,700 grade pay and Brigadiers at Rs 8,900. Only Major-Generals or their equivalent in the IAF and the Navy get the grade pay of Rs 10,000. Only 3 per cent of officers reach that rank and that too after 33-34 years of service.
Status and pay structure were ‘wrongly’ lowered in 2008

In Dec 2008, the PM wanted a high-powered committee to consider the case, but nothing has happened so far.

Forces say it was affecting the morale of their personnel

Files keep on shuttling between one ministry to the other

Services chiefs reduced to sending reminders, seeking justice for their officers
Babudom holds back pay scale upgrade for armed forces

Majors made Minors- Military Pension Skewed Up

Dear Brig Harwant Singh,
Request to use your influence to give wide pubilicity to all retired veterans through Report My Signal blog. Letter to PM is as linked below.
Regards
YS NIJJAR
Veteran
Letter to PMO- Major made Minor- Military Pensions skewed up by 6th CPC

MoD drops use of term PBOR in Armed Forces

The Ministry of Defence has accepted a long-pending demand of ex-servicemen to drop the use of the term ‘Personnel Below Officers Rank’ (PBOR) in official communication.
A letter to this effect has been issued to all command headquarters of the Army, Air Force and Navy.
Henceforth, in official communication, soldiers will be referred as Other Ranks (Sepoy, Naik and Havildar), Junior Commissioned Officers (Hony Naib Subedar, Naib Subedar, Subedar, Subedar Major) and Officers (Lieutenants and above).
Officers are commissioned in forces, so are Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs). The JCOs also put on stars on shoulders like officers.
The JCOs are Class II gazetted officers and their gazette notification is also signed by the President of India. Some JCOs do take on officer’s duties, responsibilities and also draw officiating allowances for that.
Lt Gen Raj Kadyan (retd), former Vice-Chief of the Army and chairman of the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement, said: “I am happy the system has recognised it. It was unfair to call Junior Commissioned Officers as PBORs.”
The term PBORs is considered derogatory because it draws a line between officers and the other ranks. “It creates a deep sense of difference in the hearts and mind of ex-servicemen and also in forces,” said Lt Col SS Sohi (retd), president of the Ex-servicemen Grievance Cell. He had also petitioned the MoD to drop the term.
Bhim Sen Sehgal, chairman of the All-India Ex-servicemen Welfare Association, however, said everybody should be called ex-servicemen after retirement. "After retirement, all are equal and categorising soldiers who have served at the lowest ranks as Other Ranks should also be avoided," he said.
MoD drops use of term PBOR in Armed Forces

One-rank one-pension under consideration

TNN, Feb 6, 2011, 07.24am IST
BHIWANI/CHANDIGARH: The Chief of the Army Staff ( COAS), General VK Singh, has informed that the demand of one rank for one pension (OROP) for officers is under serious consideration. He added that the OROP for other ranks has been almost accepted. General Singh was in his hometown Bhiwani in Haryana on Saturday to attend the 'Army Mela' organized by the South-Western command. He also informed that the army authorities have chalked out a proposal for the restructuring of the force and to bring more transparency in it. On the Adarsh scam, the General assured that enough steps have been taken by the army to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in future.

The two-day mela was organized at Bhim Stadium, Bhiwani under the theme, "Indian Army - Nation First Always and Every Time."

Speaking on the occasion, Gen Singh said that the Army has declared the year 2011 as the 'Year of the Disabled Soldier'.

A large number of initiatives have been launched for the well being of those army men who have suffered disablities including allotment of Rs 1 crore for upgradation of infrastructure, rehabilitation and training of quadriplegic and paraplegic patients, financial assistance of Rs 25,000 for widows of army men for higher education, one time financial assistance of Rs 20,000 to those who have suffered amputations for modification of their bathroom, education grant of Rs 400 per month per child for a maximum of two children for those who suffered fatal injuries and demise grant for the next of kin of retired JCOs & OR has been enhanced from Rs 3,000 per individual to Rs 5,000 per individual with effect from January 15 this year.

General Singh, who hails from Bhiwani informed that a large number of directions have been issued towards improvement of facilities for soldiers of Bhiwani including relocation of unit run canteen and a new building for ECHS (Ex-servicemen contributory health scheme).

Bhiwani district alone has about 35,000 Gaurav Senanis, a sizeable strength of 'Veer Naries' and 25,000 serving officers, JCOs and other ranks in the Indian Army.

The Rajya Sainik board and the pension liaison cell, Allahabad too had set up their awareness stalls to redress the grievances of retired soldiers. Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda was also present on the occasion and thanked the army for organizing such big event in the state.
Read more: 'One-rank one-pension under consideration' - The Times of India One-rank one-pension under consideration

PBOR an acronym that spells `KALYUGA’

Respected Sirs,
PBOR: Yes! An abbreviation with an unknown, yet, not so unknown origin. Here from Acronym Attic it means:

Personnel Below Officer Rank (US DoD)

Patients Bill of Rights

Programmable Brown Out Reset (hardware)

PBOR stands for personal below officer’s ranks. A acronym that represents `KALYUGA’ in Indian Military fraternity. A word that is a matter of pride to some intelligent destructive brains. And while most soldiers are too naive to understand these petty schemes of the schemers, some of us do.

A divide is being created, and on purpose, between officers and the JCOs, NCOs and ORs. If we look at our military history, even before independence and after it both serving and retired soldiers have been referred to as officers, JCOs, NCOs and ORs. Suddenly a new term is coined. A monster is born. Not a person, just a tiny little abbreviation -- PBOR.

I clearly remember bringing this point to the foreground regarding the devaluation of JCOs, NCOs and equivalent ranks of all arms at the All India Veterans Meet organized by IESM held on Sept 30, 2009. We are all aware of the fact that JCOs are commissioned by President of India and that it is a Class II Gazetted rank. It has now been replaced by this monster of a term -- PBOR. I have asked this question in the past and I'm asking again, where did this term come from? How is it that the service chiefs have so easily accepted it? The same point has also been raised earlier by Sgt. Prabhjot Singh PIS (Retd.), President, Indian Ex-Services League, Punjab and Chandigarh and other ESM also. However there has been no action taken on ground by anyone.

Today the entrants to the forces at soldier level are more literate and aware than before. This is a result of increased awareness and availability of information to everyone. Fortunately, “BOSS IS ALWAYS RIGHT” slogan is now outdated. Today right is right and wrong is wrong, and surprisingly for many, this can be well identified by our soldiers. By way of highlighting this again, I humbly request our COAS, the other service chiefs and the rest of the top brass to wake these elements up and quit using such petty tactics to devalue JCOs, NCOs and ORs. These elements need to be stopped in order to maintain respect and discipline in the forces. Educated brains should not be compelled, forced to become rebellious.

JCOs have always been called the back bone of the forces. Although the recent developments suggest that they are a burden, an unimportant, redundant part of the the military. If that is the case, it'd be best to simply abolish these ranks instead humiliating them and thus weakening the forces. In the recent past, few other indirect humiliating actions have been observed. One such example is the placement of Honorary Ranks from pay band 3 to JCO’s Band. It is known that honorary rank is not merely a routine promotion based on seniority but is an extra ordinary promotion based on one's exemplary performance during the entire military career. It is granted by the President of India only on two prestigious national days i.e. 15th Aug and 26th Jan every year and is called “President Commission”. Thanks to IESM Chairman and some other ESM organization that raised this point seriously with COAS and QMG Br and this order was revoked. We all are thankful to CAOS who has taken serious view of this situation and revoked the order issued by QMG Br.

This monster 'PBOR' is frequently visible on signboards at places like CSD canteen, MH, ECHS and other similar places. This further reflects discriminatory attitude towards our soldiers. My heart sank when I saw a 'PBOR' board in a Unit run CSD Canteen in Delhi Canteen. The same must be the story of so many other canteens that I have not visited. It is shocking to see such rampant humiliation and that it has penetrated so deep into the system. What is even more disturbing is that no one chooses to react! Well that, sirs, has to stop and stop it must. One way or another. Boil the water long enough and the pressure cooker blasts. We all know that and its not a very pleasant thing to happen.

It is painful that instead of utilizing their brains to safeguard the nation's boundaries and safeguard the interests of their subordinates, some officers at senior posts utilize their time and energy creating a rift between the brave soldiers of this nation.

I will like to quote here the lines of a remarkable naval officer, "As I pen down my experiences of the Sixth Pay Commission, I will try to mask my contempt for those in the highest echelons for conniving with the powers in Delhi quite obviously for personal benefit." And this clearly shows how power is misused by some.

Therefore in the interest of the nation, on behalf of the JCOs, NCOs and ORs of all arms, I once again request all ESM organizations to take up the above mentioned objections with the concerned authorities and urge them to completely and comprehensively abolish the term “PBOR” from the dictionary of the forces. I thank you all in advance for this service to the nation.
JAI HIND JAI BHARAT
Warm regards,
Kameshwar Pandey
Sub/Maj Hony Lt (Veteran)
Governing Body Member
Indian ESM Movement

Do we honour our Soldiers? Government apathy is apalling and painful

Dear Friends,
Jai Hind.
An email and article received from Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, Former VCOAS, is linked here. When will we honour our soldiers?
It is a matter of great shame for the Indian Nation that The President – The Supreme Commander of Armed Forces of India and the Prime Minister of India, have no time to pay homage to those who laid their lives in the past for the honour, safety and security of India and they have no time to remember and honour the greatest victory of Indian Armed Forces of 16 Dec 1971 (and the Kargil Diwas).
And why blame only the President and Prime Minister of India?
Why don’t our three Chiefs ensure that The President and the Prime Minister are made to visit the India Gate on 16 Dec, and respectfully advised to lay the wreaths there on Vijay Diwas and Kargil Diwas???
Why are they shy of giving this proposal to the Supreme Commander and through her to the Government of India and the PM???
The three Chiefs should know that as per the Constitution of India Armed Forces do not fall in the list of Government servants. They are directly under the President of India and operate through the Government for better management and simplicity of coordination of all Government resources for the safety and security of India.
Further, the so called the control of Armed Forces on behalf of the President is to be done by the political leaders and not by the ‘Babus’. And our senior Armed Forces officers keep lumping all nonsense the Babus tell them.
What a shame that every response, veterans receive from the RM for their representations, are drafted by the Babus and RM quotes the Committee of Secretaries for all problems??? The Babus are deliberately misleading the Government and there is no one who can detect what damage these Babus are doing to our nation.
For the PM and RM the Committee of Secretaries is more important than the Standing Committee for Defence, which consists of representatives of all political parties. Any numbers of Defence Committees have recommended OROP but the few Babus have successfully bluffed the Government and made the Government take decision to the contrary. There is also a clear cut case of Rank Pay, where the Babus have deliberately cheated the Armed Forces officers. These are the ways of our Government of India!!!
Will our Chiefs forever continue to bear this insult to the Armed Forces and the Military Veterans of India??? Don’t the three Chiefs have the responsibility that the Armed Forces of India get their due respect and their serving subordinates and the Military Veterans of India get justice from Government of India in terms of their financial dues and order of Protocol???

The Three Chiefs and other senior military officers should realise that tomorrow they will also be in the list of “retired” and then - it will be too late for them to do anything. Is it the carrot of becoming a Governor, Ambassador, High Commissioner, MP or being given other high chairs of Government of India, which is keeping them away from looking after their Military Veterans, who helped them to reach those high ranks in the Armed Forces??? How they expect us and serving soldiers to respect them if they do not respect our sentiments and know our expectations??? The Government and the Three Chiefs should appreciate that a fairly large number of serving personnel are the sons, grandsons, daughters and granddaughters of the retired military veterans. What the veterans are undergoing is now well known to these serving soldiers and through them the entire serving soldiers know it now.

How can these serving soldiers remain faithful to the Government of India if their grandfathers and fathers are being insulted and humiliated daily??? During various rallies and TV programmes, the media persons ask the IESM members and other veterans – “If the demands of the Indian Military veterans are just than why don’t the three Chiefs openly support your demands?” – and on hearing this simple question - the veterans become speechless. If the veterans tell the truth the serving senior officers of the three Services will be humiliated, therefore, they keep mum!!!

Can some of you kindly make sure that the contents of this email reach the three serving Chiefs and the Senior Armed Forces Officers occupying chairs of Governors, Ambassadors, High Commissioners, members of parliament and members of state legislative assemblies and other senior posts of Government of India. All these retired senior Armed Forces officers need to realise that they are occupying those high chairs because their subordinates helped them to rise to those heights!!! And all these gentlemen are now sitting as silent spectators – with earplugs and blindfolded – as if they reached those high posts by their own efforts only.

The Chiefs should be informed that the Indian Military Veterans are now at the verge of losing their patience. In the recent past, thousands of cases have been decided by AFT and other courts in favour of the Veterans but no action is being taken by Government of India to implement these court orders. Don’t the three Chiefs know about it?
Is the information system of our Service HQs’ is so useless that they do not get any information about the welfare and injustice to Indian military veterans??? If you can - PLEASE do try and convey the contents of this email to the Three Chiefs and retired Senior Armed Forces officers, occupying high chairs of Government of India.
The Indian Military Veterans are a highly disciplined force, but even the most disciplined soldier has a limit to his patience. The Government of India and The Three Service HQs should act before it is too late.
The IESM is trying its best to ensure that all rallies organised by it remain peaceful but, the opposition to its peaceful ways is gradually rising among the veterans. IESM Governing Body and its conveners at state, district and lower levels are hopeful that at least the IESM rallies will continue to follow the ethos of Indian Military – but for how long???
The Veterans are fed up of the shameless silence of the Government of India on the thousands of Court cases, which have been decided in favour of the Veterans – there are no indications of the implementation of these court orders.
Those of you who have contacts with the media – do forward this complete email to them also.
In service of Indian Military Veterans
Chander Kamboj.
PS – Kindly do try your utmost and give widest possible publicity to the contents of this entire email. THANK YOU

Rank Honour and Status of Armed Forces Reduced

Ref: click here

Some of the veterans may disagree with what I have to say on the episode of rank inapporopriateness by the serving Air Force officers but I am compelled to state my views.

Sachin Tendulkar being conferred with the rank of Group Captain, though honorary, by the IAF is an example of how serving (high ranking) officers try to focus limelight on themselves through cheap publicity stunts. Any serviceman, whether a commissioned officer or NCO will bear out the fact that entry into the service is earned through a tough selection process and after that ranks and promotions are obtained through merit, hardwork and dedication to the service. What criteria did the IAF consider while Tendulkar was made a Group Captain? I have all respect and admiration for Sachin for his excellence, achievement and dedication in the field of cricket , but I say that he has not done anything for the cause of any of the defence services or nation to deserve this honour from one of the defence forces. He could be conferred with any of the civil awards like Arjuna award for sports but not a military honour.

To cap it all, the Air Force has gone head over heels to please the aam (cricket mad) janata by promising to give him the "Wing" simply after one sortie in a Sukhoi aircraft as a passenger! As an engineer, I have flown as a passenger in a fighter aircraft but that did not make me eligible to get a wing. Some of the engineers do get their "official" wings but only after being selected for the "pilots course" and earning it after undergoing the regular necessary pilots training course like other aspirants for the "F" branch. Many of my "F" branch friends will aver that a wing has to be earned -many aspirants are denied this if they fail to meet the crucial flying proficiency tests- and cannot just be bought cheaply in a camp tailor shop and pinned on to the chest.

And another thing. Those who have seen the photograph of the Air Force chief with Sachin Tendulkar in the Times of India (Mumbai edition, 04 Sep, 2010 in the section "Times Nation") saluting him after getting his tapes, will notice that the chief is returning the salute without (R) without his cap ON !!! A good example of service etiquette to be publicly displayed before the service personnel under himl! I had never seen that so far.

Sorrowfully, this is one of the many instances of why and how the prestige of the Armed Forces is lowered. Why blame only the Babus if we ourselves do not want to hold it high?
Shashank Bendre
Wg Cdr (Retd)

SCPC: Status of Armed Forces Officers degraded and eroded at the behest of bureaucrats?

'I feel cheated' published 18 months ago... revisited

Lt Col A K Rai (Retd) 2008-12-19 12:49:47
My father Daroga Prasad Rai, who was Chief Minister of Bihar in 1970, motivated and encouraged me to join Sainik School Tilaiya with a view to make me join Armed Forces as an officer.

He always spoke of the Indian Armed Forces with the highest regard. At that time I was only about nine years old. At that impressionable age I became highly motivated. I do not deny that I was thrilled by the prospect of joining the most noble profession, where one gets a chance to make the supreme sacrifice for his country.

Accordingly I competed and joined Sainik School Tilaiya. But I did not want to leave any stone unturned in my ambition to become an Army Officer. When I came to know about Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun (RIMC), which was considered to be the best, I competed and joined the RIMC in January 1973. Even though my initial enthusiasm had not waned, by the time I reached 11th standard, with whatever understanding I had, I started enquiring about a career in the Armed Forces.
Also Read: Unsung heroes: Part I Unsung heroes: Part II Unsung heroes: Part III

My seniors who were at the Indian Military Academy by then, fed me some comparisons. First, they showed me that all the Class-I Services officers (including IAS and IPS) started their career at a basic salary of Rs 700/- per month, whereas in the case of Armed Forces officers it was Rs 750/- per month. (I later came to know that this extra Rs 50/- was special disturbance allowance, which was merged with basic pay by the Third Pay Commission).

Second, they also showed me the orders where a Major was equated with an IAS Officer with not less than 12 years of service. The obvious conclusion, which will be drawn by any 16 or 17-year-old boy, would be that the Army as a career was almost equal to the IAS, and certainly better than the IPS or other Class-I central services.

Having convinced myself, I put in my best in the NDA exam, and ranked eighth in the final merit list. After successfully completing my training at NDA Khadakwasla and IMA, Dehradun, I was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in June 1981 in the 7th Battalion the Sikh Regiment, on my own choice i.e., after exactly 11 years of hard training and spartan living. But due to an injury, attributable to Military Service, I was placed in a permanent low medical category. Consequently, I was transferred to the Army Ordnance Corps in 1988 i.e., after seven years of regimental service in Infantry. On transfer I was posted to the Ordnance Depot, Shakurbasti, Delhi.
Also Read: The IAS cannot dictate pay scales

It was here I learnt that whatever I had been thinking about the career in the Indian Army was wrong. In the Ordnance Depot, I discovered that the JCOs who are Gazetted Officers (I have seen the Gazette Notification of JCOs) are equated with non-gazetted civilian employees and that too of Class-III i.e., Group-C. The point has only been made to emphasise the arbitrariness and irrationality of orders regarding the relativity of ranks. And as the de facto equation stands today, there cannot be any service with worse career prospects than the Army except some Group-B services. But is this the result of a “steep pyramidal hierarchy” as is often claimed? No.
Also read: Are our forces lower caste?

It is the result of a conscious effort by the bureaucracy to degrade the services ever since independence. To undo this, i.e., if the Government is sincere, the solution is to revert to the pre- A V Singh Committee implementation stage and reintroduce the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, and to offer one-rank one- pay scale in the standard pay scales as was applicable to all the Organised Central Group-A Civil Services (erstwhile allied services).

Till recently, the Warrant of Precedence stated that a Major is equal to an IAS Officer with not less than 12 years of service and a Superintendent of Police with not less than 15 years of service. The status of Army officers was further degraded as per the underlying thrust of the Sixth Pay Commission, at the behest of bureaucracy. Why are these facts not disseminated to the young aspirants to the Armed Forces? If bureaucrats and policemen are higher in rank and status, then why are Army officers debarred from taking the IAS and IPS exams? I do not think that anyone today, if he is aware of of these facts, would join the Army, except to earn hsi bread. As for myself, had I known this, forget the Sainik School or RIMC, I would have never joined the Army.

The relativity in rank and status is irrational and arbitrary, against the letter and spirit of the Constitution and violates my fundamental rights.

Lt Col A K Rai is alumnus of Sainik School Tilaiya, Rashtriya Indian Military College, Deharadun, NDA, Khadakwasla, the author was commissioned into the Sikh Regiment in Jun 1981. he was transferred to the AOC in 1988. He took premature retirement after serving the mandatory period, he now works as the Chief Administrative Officer of a 150-bed hospital in Patna.
I feel cheated: sify.com

What is the resultant outcome?
The Armed Forces career is not attractive precisely for the degraded honour (not for pay and salaries as projected by the media) inflicted on the Personnel subject to Army Act which literally silences them! End result acute shortage of Officers now averaging and hovering around 25% deficiency.

Please don’t sting the armed forces as Bureaucrats mess with them

By Yogendra Bali
As one who has watched the growth of Indian Armed Forces as splendid institutions of defence of a resurgent democracy for almost sixty years, the recent tendency to sting and smear the forces, is obviously disturbing and distasteful. Of course it is the right of everyone to express his opinion freely in a democracy. It is equally the right of others to differ with them. But opinions, to be credible, have to be honest, well intentioned and well informed not just subsidiary parts of sting operations so much in operation these days.

Those, who might like to sit in judgment over the Armed Forces on the basis of an odd aberration here and there would give themselves away the moment they seek to compare the uniformed with the non-uniformed in terms of rank, pay, status and experience. Such comparisons are odious and offensive. For example, if one is over influenced by reports of some IAS officers being caught red handed in traps laid for catching the corrupt, by civil agencies, that would not mean that the entire Indian Administration is corrupt. Similarly, if some officers of the foreign service or the revenue service are held on charges of corruption that should not earn the entire revenue services or the entire foreign service the charge of being corrupt. If a police inspector is held for taking bribe or torturing the innocents, that should not be an indictment of the entire police service. There has to be a balanced approach towards the issue of crime and punishment while assessing services which are based on the principle of laying their lives for the defence of the country. If outsiders chose to smear the Indian Armed Forces for their own frustrations and defeats on the battlefront it is understandable. But if insider resort to sting and smear it has to be carefully examined on their motivation and objectives.

There are some, who overlook the tough disciplinary system and military law system in which violation of discipline and code of conduct are summarily tried and dealt with unlike in civil administration, where those accused of corruption and often cognizable criminal conduct get away after long and tortuous inquiries and litigation. Military courts of inquiry, though confidential, are fair and fast track and Court Martials spare none in dealing out punishment to those found guilty. The Armed Forces are very sensitive about maintaining their honour and very senior officers too have to prove themselves innocent before a Court Martial. It should go to the credit of the Armed Forces and not made out to be a slur on their name. In fact there are some who feel that such an “Administrative Law” should also be enacted for Civil Services to hold summary inquiries and fast track court martial punishment for the civil bureaucracy in cases of corruption and criminal misconduct.

There were also those disgruntled souls today who even grudged the soldiers their ration and some compensation for serving in high altitude snowbound and burning hot desert areas of the country. They forgot these were people who had committed their lives to the nation and often laid down their lives to defend the democracy. Who else but a soldier would prove his accountability by giving his life. On the countrary there were cases where a former Defence Minister had to threaten the civil top brass with a high altitude posting to get the taste of the life at the Siachen Glacier. That yielded approval of a long pending proposal to provide snow-scooters to jawans posted at Siachen and other snow bound areas.

Few armies of the world have had to come out to the aid of the civil authorities in order to help in a variety of emergencies including disaster management as the Indian Army. But oddly enough the same civil administrators and their apologists who are quick to seek help from the Armed Forces are among the first to start bickering campaigns on issues for which they have neither understanding and training, nor experience. Calling a general names would not make one a great civil servant, serving or retired.

A soldier’s real test is on the battlefield. The “Indian” as a soldier, coming from the same families which produced teachers, engineers, doctors, scientists, writers and various categories of government officials had his role to play in building new India, both in the cantonements and the civil streets. The Armed Forces had produced some of the best governors for the large and problematic states of India. Their governing assets were the discipline, dedication and selfless approach to challenges of the day. No wonder they were objectives of envy and grumbling by their civil compatriots.

In conclusion I would point out how the Armed Forces are emerging as the carriers of the global power imprint of the Indian democracy. The numbers of joint army, air force and naval military exercises, including counter terrorism exercises being held every year shows esteem in which they are held by the highest military powers of the world like US and China. The last comment of my argument. Please do not equate the clerk with the soldier. They are both doing different jobs. Let them do what they are doing.
Extracted: Click link below to read the full article
Please don’t sting the armed forces

Indian Bureaucracy and how it works for itself

Spend Your Budget. This is the most important rule of bureaucracy and starkly differentiates bureaucracy from the purposes of private business. In a bureaucracy, however, profit is not an issue. If you don't spend your budget, you may be congratulated on your economy, but then the reasoning will be that now you don't need that extra money in your next budget. So your budget will shrink, without any other benefit accruing to you. A shrinking budget then means shrinking power in the bureaucratic system. This is the last thing that a bureaucrat wants. Therefore, you must always spend your budget, and economizing is a sin devoutly to be avoided. Spending your budget, you can proceed to the next step, which is:

Fail. Whatever it is that your bureaucrat is supposed to be doing, if you don't do it very well but can produce a reasonable argument that your failure is from lack of money (or enough power), then you can (if you've spent your budget) always ask for more money, i.e. to be "fully funded. The success of such deception, of course, is the fruit of the next rule:

Cover Your Ass. If you are a bureaucrat, you want to be sure that nothing is ever your fault. If it were, and if you were not simply starved for the money and power that you are seeking, then the reckoning might actually cost you money, power, or even the existence of your job.

Replace Useful Work with Useless Work. A good way to avoid accountability is if a new bureaucratic goal is created that is unrelated to the actual supposed mission of the bureaucracy. It is then easy to meet the fictitious goal and proclaim success, when nothing has been done about the original mandate.

Multiply Procedures and Paperwork. Something like "Outcomes Assessement" is an example of another excellent bureaucratic strategy. If there is a problem or complaint, then obviously we need to do something about it; and to do something about it we obviously need studies, more bureaucrats, and "solutions" that involve new rules, new procedures, less autonomy for those on site, esoteric jargon, and a great deal more paperwork. If the studies take long enough, and the procedures and paperwork are voluminous enough, then the original problem or complaint may simply be forgotten long before the system actually gets around to doing anything substantive. Even better, if the rules and procedures are of the "useless" variety, then there is no threat that anything would ever get done about the matter anyway. Useless procedures and paperwork provide much of the steam for the operation of Parkinson’s Law (Cyril Northcote Parkinson, 1955), that "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion." After all, if extra time actually helped in accomplishing the original mandate, then the original mandate might actually be accomplished. But if the original mandate doesn't get accomplished, then obviously more time is need and, as we have seen, more money and power are probably also going to be needed. This will all benefit the bureaucracy marvelously. GOM or EGOM are typical examples.

Pass the Buck. An excellent way to cover your ass is to deny you have responsibility, not just for things that go wrong, but for the whole issue. The Bhopal Gas tragedy and 25 years of fooling the victims is a fine example.

Don't Rock the Boat. An excellent way to avoid responsibility in bureaucracy is not to be noticed. That is one meaning of not rocking the boat, or not making waves. And, of course, an excellent way of not being noticed is to pass the buck.

Jerk People Around. Once bureaucrats have their unions and their power, what do they do with them? Well, they "serve the public." If they don't actually serve the public very well, there is not much that can be done about it, since they will have the protection both of the civil service system and of the unions, and it may be all but impossible to fire them. So why not have some fun in the meantime? Just say no. The public needs to be reminded that they are at your mercy, so you might as well make things as difficult for them as possible. It helps that an inefficient "spend your budget" bureaucracy is going to have tons of rules and regulations, where they are most likely to be incoherent and even self-contradictory. So you will have no difficulty quoting one rule to one person and another to another, requiring them to do different things, both of which can then be retroactively invalidated by a switch in the rules which can be described as:
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?

The reasonable response of the bureaucrat (who isn't even of the choosing of the voters in the first place) to this would be, "Sounds like a good idea to me!" You do not want law or regulation to be a "rule of action," because then people would know beforehand what is required, prohibited, or allowed. Your power, to decide all those things arbitrarily, would be diminished. Indeed, looking at almost any part of National or state regulations, no one can honestly deny that they "be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood." This is not an accident. It serves a purpose. And we see something else. Regulations are not created by elected legislators. Politicians have covered their own asses by passing the power of making regulations to bureaucrats, creating the unconstitutional system of "administrative law." The irresponsible bureaucrat thus comes to rule the modern state. The only drawback of this is its twilight existence. The bureaucrat needs to be faceless, both so as not to rock the boat with superiors but especially so that he can play his essential political role. The politicians who give bureaucrats power will always take credit for whatever works but then will always blame the bureaucrats for whatever goes wrong. As long as those bureaucrats are kept faceless, and it is the "system" that is the problem, then we actually have blame without accountability and without consequences. Nothing need be done, unless, of course, it is to give the bureaucrats more money and more power, because, after all, what else could really be wrong?

The above Rules have been cleverly applied by the successive Central Pay Commissions to degrade/ downgrade the Rank and Pay of the Indian Armed Forces.
Extracted and Modified from the original:
The Practical Rules of Bureaucracy
Justice Hegde resigns: The Good and the Bad- Fighting the corrupt Bureaucratic system is impossible

Is the VIP culture demonizing Indian Military?

Let’s stop cribbing and concentrate on ‘homework’: A wake up call
Charity begins at home they say. While we continue cribbing about the treatment meted out to us by others, what have we done to set our own house in order?. Cynicism is something I detest and the aim of this is not to be critical, I’m looking for insight on how things have come to such a pass and I’m sure many of us are on the same trip. Seniors and juniors alike, it’s our collective responsibility to restore the past glory of the forces. Especially in public, we should stop cursing the system, our seniors, our bureaucrats- all and sundry, there is so much lack of positivity around us these days. We must realise that we are in this so called 'system'. We could definitely do with a little more optimism and project our services in a better light.

How we behave with our own people becomes a benchmark for others to emulate in life outside the cantonment. While we tend to compare our status, stature and salaries with other services, isn’t there an underlying negativity in behavioural patterns being displayed with impunity by us? Are we setting the right example for others to follow or sending the right signals? Are we projecting our service as a hallmark of pride of the nation?. The answer is definitely in the negative. Our internal organisational behaviour ultimately extends to how we are treated by the outside world and we definitely need to improve on how we interact with our own. There is no dearth of examples as to how we dig our own graves. How often do we see more than one Commissioned Officers being bunched into below-status single rooms in Messes on the ground of non-availability. I, for myself have seen situations where ample accommodation is available but still officers being asked to stay in small living spaces on the pretext that the (abundant) vacant accommodation is a contingency back-up for (imaginary) ‘VIPs’. Do we see the same on the civil side ? Do we see SDMs who are equivalent to Lieutenants of the Army being asked to live and stay in rooms like we do ? Never. Often we see junior officers being asked to travel in heavy trucks despite the availability of respectable light transport, why do we do this? Do we expect people outside to be impressed by a strapping young Captain in Combats sitting in a Three Tonner ? Do we, by this action, attract youngsters to join the services ? No amount of ‘Do you have it in you ?’ campaign would work unless we bring the pride, the glamour and the respectability back into our uniform and the so called ‘baboos’ are not responsible for this, the problem lies closer to us than we think – each of us is to blame. Honour has no rank. A Subaltern is much more capable than merely looking for an apt place to put the shamiyana in the Mess lawn. That Subaltern’s civilian counterpart - an SDM or an Addl DC/DM with the same education and from the same recruitment pool, looks after the revenue, executive, administrative, law & order and quasi-judicial functions of an entire sub-division and sometimes even a district and we are not even able to trust our own guy with a Light Motor Vehicle !

How we behave and conduct ourselves outside ultimately has an indirect effect on how people in uniform are perceived and it percolates down to the last rank in the file. PB-4 or no PB-4, the Indian military officer is not badly paid but still we see senior officers in uniform driving around scooters and mobikes to save a few bucks. I’m not such an elitist to be against officers driving two-wheelers out of passion, but we should not project such a miserly picture to the outer world. Officers can absolutely afford respectable means of personal travel. And still we see Commissioned Officers using such means of public transport definitely below their status and class, why ? Irrespective of remuneration, it does not happen in the civil services so why in the defence services ?. We sitting in Headquarters try to impose restrictions on our own people, for example in travel and accommodation guidelines even when the govt does not. As you read this, someone sitting somewhere would be working on how to impose an in-house restriction on the new TA-DA regime introduced after the 6th CPC !, on how to ensure that officers are not able to draw thousands per day for hotel accommodation and to ensure that they continue staying in small rooms in messes with three other roommates clamouring for time in the single attached bath.

Excessive ‘Sirring’ outside the organisation should also cease. While ‘Sir’ may just be a substitute for ‘Shreeman’ for us, it does not have the same connotation outside. It is a symbol of servility in the civil world. Broadly speaking, in my humble opinion, constitutional appointments and senior civil officers elder in age and with an established longer length of Group-A service should only be addressed as ‘Sir’ while ‘Mr’ should be the correct form of address for others. We are so naive that we ourselves first pamper others with our servility and then curse when a Pay Commission degrades our status. When a Major calls up his counterpart in a civil department, he talks less and Sirs more and when that civil counterpart calls up a Colonel, he addresses him as ‘Colonel Sahib’. And once you sir them, they would expect all officers of similar rank to behave likewise. The problem is that to get a piece of work done, we stoop to any level, don’t we ? And in the bargain end up damaging our service for personal short-term gains. There are, on the other hand, also examples of military officers not sirring their own seniors in length of service (who are junior in rank) within the services but displaying servility towards junior civilians. I’ve also seen selection grade officers not sirring senior time-scale ones, where are we going ? Have we forgotten the age old adage that in the defence services, irrespective of rank, ‘once senior is always senior’ ?. Sirs and Ma’ams, I do not mean to talk sharp but to earn respect from outsiders we need to first respect our own juniors and seniors.

So friends the time has come to get out of the cocoon, be aware of what’s happening around us and finally WAKE UP in the interest of our dignity and the pride of our respective services. There should be prudence all around but not such silliness that we reduce all our privileges, facilities and benefits provided to us by law to a poor joke. We need to stop cribbing about ‘baboos’, they are not that bad. On the contrary, we need to take pride in our uniform and what we do, we need to put more responsibility on the shoulders of our youngsters and redeem our self-esteem, ego should be shunned but self-respect has to be granted its utmost due. Let us do our homework.
Posted by Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh

A sadistic genii at work to deny Armed Forces of its lawful rights

COPY OF LETTER SENT TO Smt SONIA GANDHI By Maj Gen NC Khanna

The grief and hurt at losing a pure and a great soul still persists, in you at a very personal level, and in the nation substantially even if remotely. At the time of the loss we could not fathom then the reason and purpose but the Divine hand has surreptitiously and in a hidden way slowly started revealing His grand design.

Unbelievable as it may seem I inexplicably vision you as another Mother Theresa sent here from a far away land to tackle and reduce the kaleidoscopic miseries of India. I am very much older than you and elder to all your cabinet. I therefore take the liberty to send you my blessings in your endeavours.

In recent months the happiness and cheerfulness I see on your face after decades of sorrow and grief truly reveal my faith in the Divine. I therefore write this to you.

The nation today is pursuing the path of self destruction. The lackadaisical slow and tardy judicial system has created a law of the jungle pattern of governance. This is fully being exploited by the corrupt politician, the non accountable bureaucracy and the criminal.

Surprisingly and regrettably and in full awareness of the numerous cracks in our fragile national structure, we have in recent years even started demoralizing our prime saviour, the nation’s military power.

In recent months the Supreme Court has passed a number of adverse judgments castigating the Government. It even went to the extent of mentioning ‘Don’t treat Army men like beggars’. One needs to identify the sadistic genii whose constant design it has been to deny the Armed Forces their lawful rights. They have time and again appealed against every favourable judgment received by the Armed Forces from the high courts, and taken it up to the Supreme Court and thereafter suffer embarrassment. They by so doing have shamed the government on numerous occasions during the last 6 months at being castigated by the highest court of the land. This attitude has been causing unending avoidable agony to the servicemen and merits serious investigation, correction and punishment of the mala fide decision makers in such serious matters. The veterans have endlessly been so humiliated.

The nation’s leaders appear to have completely forgotten that their armed forces are their prime and exclusive instrument that upholds a nation’s sovereignty and should therefore constantly receive their sympathy and succor. Our leaders unquestionably appear to have become a prey to the cunningly mischievous ploy being employed that keeping the armed forces down in their pays, promotions and their correct precedence’s, was the best ways to prevent an army take over. You probably are not aware of what Katauliya advised King Chandragupta on soldiers and soldiering two centuries ago. Please read it. It speaks wisdom and in volumes.

It baffles one to observe that an apolitical Supreme Commander declined to repeatedly meet delegations of eminent and decorated veterans who so very respectfully and peacefully came personally to bring their grievances to the notice of their apolitical Supreme Commander.

In total disbelief and after being unjustly humiliated, they handed over in grief, their family heirlooms, 30,000 medals of courage and valour, to a junior official of H.E. the Supreme Commander for safe custody. On the last occasion they decided not to be humiliated any further and declined to hand over the additional thousands of medals they had brought, preferring to take them back.

This was the height of indignity inflicted upon the most valourous national elite of the past six decades who decade after decade had done the nation proud by their selflessness and devotion to their motherland, brought laurels to it in the 1949 J&K war, in the 1965 and of course the 1971 wars with Pakistan; suppressed a number of police mutinies, and came unhesitatingly in aid of civil power to camouflage the grievous and multiple inadequacies of bureaucratic and political governance. They not only upheld India’s security but also ensured that political leaders continued their pursuits from air conditioned sanctuaries and in safety.

As an anguished citizen it is my business to bring to your notice the fact that the umbilical chord between the veteran and the serving soldier is as strong if not stronger as that of mother and child. The trespass upon one is liable to have a deep impact upon the other and has the latent potential of undesirable consequences.

It is my hope that the your capable officials who undertake the sieving of citizen’s views before putting up the ‘true facts’ to our decision making top most leaders do not suppress the core of my message and just highlight its peripheral husk.

I am enclosing self explanatory thoughts of a humble but a proud citizen which shall startle you, so please go through these even at risk of being enlightened about the likelihood of the shroud of shame that the nation may soon be coerced to wear as a stigma of its incompetence.

I am sending copies of this letter to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, the Home Minister, the Defence Minister, the Foreign Minister and the Chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.

With kindest regards and God bless.
Yours Sincerely
N.C.Khanna
Maj Gen(Retd)

Shrimati Sonia Gandhi, Congress President. 10 Janpath, New Delhi 110001
Copy to
The Honorable Prime Minister of India, New Delhi 110001
The Honorable Finance Minister of India, New Delhi 110011.
The Honorable Home Minister, New Delhi 110011.
The Honorable Defence Minister, New Delhi 110011.
The Honorable Foreign Minister, New Delhi 110011.
The Honorable Chief of the Army Staff, New Delhi 110011.
The Honorable Chief of the Naval Staff, New Delhi 110011.
The Honorable Chief of the Air Staff, New Delhi 110011.

IESM: Surrender of Medals on 25 Oct 2009 at Jantar Mantar

PBOR: Acronym coined by MoD

New PBOR accn at CMM
It would be interesting to Know as to who coined the Abbreviation PBOR. I retired in 1985 till the then it was Officers, JCOs and Jawans . Even a NCO is an officer in military parlance. The term, though bringing brevity in speech and writing, is hurting the feelings of JCOs and equivalent ranks of Air force and Navy and it is high time that we reverted back to the old system of classifying the service personnel..
Brig Lakshman Singh

Comments
The acronym PBOR has been coined by MoD and AHQ who have classified JCOs and NCOs as Personnel Below Officer Rank probably after the 5th Central Pay Commission recommendations were implemented. This is extension of degradation of the Armed Forces by bureaucrats and the AHQ staff have fallen prey to actively participate in reducing the "Rank and Honour" of the Armed Forces. Other possible definitions of PBOR:
Partial Bladder Outlet Reconstruction
Patients Bill of Rights
Programmable Brown Out Reset
Personnel Below Officers Rank
Pagan Bill of Rights
PhpBB Backup Offline Reader
Pittsburg Board of Realtors

Indian Military: Degradation of Rank Structure

NEW EQUATIONS in rank structure
The implementation of sixth pay commission has drastically changed the warrant of precedence (WoP) for the Indian Armed Forces. The chairperson of UPSC has been upgraded to article 9A over services chiefs (at article 12). He/she used to be earlier at article 17 below services chiefs and also below officiating chiefs of the rank of Lt Gen who were on article 16. Chairperson of SCs and STs were added on article 17. Both these chairpersons are now higher than Army Commanders/Vice Chiefs who are on article 23. Members of SCs & STs placed at same level of Army Commanders/ Vice Chiefs at article 23. What more to say, even Field Marshall Manekshaw was placed at article 12 below two former civil servants (Brijesh Mishra and Vijay Kapoor).. Now, does anyone know what these gentlemen have done for INDIA?
As was well known, Army Commanders/ Vice Chiefs were equated with secretaries to Government of India on article 23. However, Note 10(c) of the WoP make an interesting distinction: In official functions held at Delhi, Army Commanders /Vice Chiefs of the Army Staff or equivalent in other services will always rank after the secrataries to the Government of India.
Following are the deductions:

DIG is now officially equivalent to a Brigadier (Earlier this rank was even junior to a Colonel)

Ministry of Home Affairs has declared that all IPS officers shall attain the rank of DIG in 14 year's service.

Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) is now officially equivalent to the rank of Major General.

Dept of Pers & Trg has declared that all IAS officers shall attain the rank of SAG in 14 year's service.

What would be achievable by 100% IPS officers in 14 years would now be achievable by 7% defence officers in 28 years.

What would be achievable by 100% IAS officers in 14 years would now be achievable by 2% defence in 33 years.

It is pertinent to mention that the senior most civilian rank in a state was equivalent to a Colonel during independence; whereas, over a period of time, the nation has only seen the downfall of our BABUS performance wise. Their machinary collapse even with a simple storm, whereas, their protocol has kept on rising. I don't need to mention the professionalism of our Armed Forces; the nation knows well.

In principle, our politicians needs to give an explanation for this remarkable erosion of a soldier's status over the past sixty years, the Generals, too, are equally responsible. They have virtually failed in restoring the pride of their own men whom they command. No doubt, even, they dont send their children to the military services who rather prefer beauty contests or becoming a Bollywood star. I don't blame them also, they have seen it all.
It is high time that we speak up or else GOD only save this country.
WOP tinkered again: Posted by Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh
Received from Col Brig Thapa (Retd)

IESM: Fast for Justice Rally- hundredth day

Date: Thursday, 26 March, 2009, 11:00 PM
Dear Colleagues,
The Jantar Mantar venue remains active.
Press Conference
Gen Pravesh Renjen, Col Joshipura and self attended a well attended press conference at the Press club of India today. It had journalists from the print as well as visual media.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM

Hindi- Google Translate
प्रिय साथियों,
इस Jantar Mantar स्थल सक्रिय रहता है.
प्रेस सम्मेलन
जनरल प्रवेश Renjen, कर्नल Joshipura और आत्म आज भारत के प्रेस क्लब में एक अच्छी तरह से भाग लिया प्रेस सम्मेलन में भाग लिया. यह दृश्य मीडिया प्रिंट रूप से पत्रकारों था.
सादर,
लेफ्टिनेंट जनरल (Emeritus) राज Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
अध्यक्ष IESM