Cabinet Committee to Fix Pay and Pension of Military Personnel

Govt constitutes Committee to look into pay and pension related issues of defence services personnel and ex-servicemen
by ADMIN on JULY 13, 2012
The Government has decided to constitute a Committee, under the chairpersonship of Cabinet Secretary, to look into pay and pension related issues of relevance to defence services personnel and ex-servicemen. The other members of the Committee will be:
(i) Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister
(ii) Defence Secretary
(iii) Secretary, D/o Expenditure
(iv) Secretary, D/o Ex-Servicemen’s Welfare
(v) Secretary, D/o Personnel and Training
The Committee’s ‘terms of reference’ will be to look into the following issues relating to:
(i) Defence services personnel:
• Common pay-scale for in-service JCOs/ORs
• Initial pay-fixation of Lt. Col/Colonel and Brigadier/equivalent • Review and enhancement of grade pay
• Placing of all Lts General in HAG+ scale
• Grant of non-functional upgradation (NFU) to armed forces personnel
(ii) Ex-servicemen:
• One-rank one-pension
• Enhancement of family pension
• Dual family pension
• Family pension to mentally/physically challenged children of armed forces personnel on marriage
The Department of Expenditure will service the Committee. The Committee may co-opt any other member. The Committee will finalize its recommendations and submit its report to the Prime Minister by 8th August, 2012. PIB
Govt constitutes Committee to look into pay and pension related issues of defence services personnel and ex-servicemen
Related post in 2009
2009 Cabinet Secretary's Committee mutilates OROP out of shape- Screw Up click here
Comment: The Arithmetic and Cooperation of Committee Members
When you're adding up committees there's a useful rule of thumb: that talents make a difference, and follies make a sum. More committees the more merry making to milk the Military. The Cabinet Committee and the Anomaly Committee are same in scope- a smoke screen!

Manmohan Singh is a Fragile or a Tragic Figure

India can’t take thy barbs, oh mighty Gora Sahib
Thursday, September 06, 2012, 17:33 by Ajith Vijay Kumar
The Washington Post feels that India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a tragic failure, someone who after riding back to power in 2009 now leads a deeply corrupt government.
"Image of the scrupulously honourable, humble and intellectual technocrat has slowly given way to a completely different one: a dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government".
WASHINGTON POST BEING DEROGATORY ABOUT OUT OUR PM, OMG!! We can’t allow them to get away with this, was the common refrain that seeped out of the corridors of power in the aftermath of the terrible ‘tragedy’.
Phones were worked on right and left of Raisina Hill and in ministries on both sides of the Rajpath. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni hurriedly asked for an apology from the paper for lowering the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister, others in government condemned it.
"How can a US daily take the matter so lightly and publish something about the Prime Minister of another country? I will speak to the Ministry of External Affairs and the government will seek an apology from the daily," she said.
By day fall, the Firefighting Express had chugged across the town, TV studios, the web, high tea get-togethers and the cocktail circuit.
A Gora Sahib had done it again and that’s news… like it was when Time magazine dubbed the PM as an underachiever.
Post’s India bureau chief Simon Denyer rubbed the government the wrong way at its most sensitive spot - India and the PM’s image in the West. Manmohan Singh is an economist of repute and commands high regard in the global circuit, any wrong press coverage is a strict no no, and if coming from the Washington Post it patently alludes to bad news.
The merits of Denyer’s frontal attack on the Prime Minister may be debatable but what has predictably come out of the entire episode is the jittery reaction of the establishment to any bad news coverage from the West, especially from Uncle Sam.
While the PMO claims Denyer had apologized, The Washington Post correspondent has refuted all such claims and continues to stand by his report, further angering the mandarins in the South Block.
The latest episode has once again exposed the morbid fear of the Gora Sahib that runs deep within the Indian consciousness.
The Prime Minister’s Office will not take notice – in this magnitude – to the criticism from the Indian press, like it does with the foreign press.
Why is that we can’t take their criticism face on or even better just ignore it? How much value does a Washington Post report on Manmohan Singh’s weak spots hold for the aam janta of this country and more importantly do we need a certificate from the US of A for everything we do?
Instead of crying hoarse over what the Washington Post feels about the PM, the government would do itself good by focusing on clearing the haze that seems to have engulfed its functioning.
Indeed the government has developed the image of being a den of corruption. But, certainly, the PMO doesn’t need the Washington Post to show them the mirror.
Rather than hyperventilating on a foreigner putting a value to the PM’s worth, it is time the government starts looking inwards.
And, it is also time to stop worrying about the Gora Sahibs, the people who will vote you back to power are all brown.
India can’t take thy barbs, oh mighty Gora Sahib

Adarsh Housing Society Scam- Know the facts

What is Adarsh Housing Society Scam?
The Adarsh Housing Society is a cooperative society in the city of Mumbai in India. Adarsh Housing Society in Colaba (Mumbai), was originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and widows, got converted into a 31-storey and allotted to bureaucrats, top defence officers, a former environment minister and legislators.
The scandal over the allotment of flats in the Adarsh housing society in Mumbai, originally meant for families of Kargil war heroes, exposes the rank corruption that exists at the heart of our political system Questions were raised on the manner in which apartments in the building were allocated to bureaucrats, politicians and army personnel who had nothing to do with Kargil War.
How Much money involved in Adarsh Housing Society Scam?
The total value of the scam is not known yet. According to the market rate in the Colaba area in year 2010, an average two-to three-bedroom-hall-kitchen (BHK) flat in Adarsh society could cost between Rs 6 crore and Rs 8.5 crore. However, members of the society paid Rs 60-85 lakh for each flat.
When did Adarsh Housing Society Scam happen?
In 2010, the Indian media brought to public the alleged violations of rules at various phases of construction in the Adarsh Society.
Who are involved in Adarsh Housing Society Scam?
Players in this scam were bureaucrats, politicians. For a change it included men from the armed forces too.
Politicians Involved:

Ashok Chavan, Chief minister of Maharashtra: His relative Seema Vinod Sharma; mother in law Bhagwati Manoharlal Sharma; relative Madanlal Milkiram Sharma owns flats in Adarsh

Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, Congress Member of Legislature, Maharasthra: He along with his sons Kailash K Gidwani and Amit K Gidwani owns flats in Adarsh. Also a relative Kavita S Godbole owns a flat.

Jitendra S Awhad, Nationalist Congress Party Member of Laegislature, Maharashtra: Owns flat
Bureaucrats

Pradeep Vyas, Mumbai district collector: His wife Seema Vyas owns a flat

PV Deshmukh, Secretary in Urban Development department: Owns a flat
Armed Forces

Lieutenant General NC Vij, former Chief of Indian army staff

General Deepak Kapoor, Chief of Indian army staff
Whistleblowers/ Law enforcers

Medha Patkar

Media

RTI activists
Adarsh Scam: Know the facts
Comment: How did all these scamsters get interest free loans? This is height of India's benami, black money and money laundering route. Why are these scamsters still not booked? It looks these looters are seeking reprieve from Sonia Gandhi in the name of sullying the name of UPA- which is already in dumps (The Society is directly writing letters to UPA Chairperxon). Will Mr Shinde succumb to pressure tactics of Adarsh society members- who are really scumbags and have very powerful leverage in Raisna HILL? We need to watch out for the outcome... very demoralising episode for the Military Community!