Anti-military bias of the 7th Pay Commission increases the trust deficit between the Indian Govt. and its military

Three military chiefs’ joint memorandum to defence minister on pay commission report sends disquieting signals.

The public debate over the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission report has focused on its financial implications and likely impact on the government’s fiscal deficit target. Little attention has been paid to the issues raised by various Central government services affected by these recommendations. As per procedure, their concerns are considered by a committee of secretaries under the cabinet secretary, which sends the recommendations to the Union cabinet for approval. This method has worked well so far, as it doesn’t deal with the substantive questions or allege an inherent bias in the deliberations of the pay commission. Now, by writing a joint memorandum to the defence minister over the pay commission recommendations, however, the three military chiefs have taken the controversy to a different — and disquieting — level.

Not only is it extremely rare for the three chiefs to jointly sign a memorandum — the seniormost service chief usually signs tri-service letters as the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee — but also the issues raised by them point to a complete lack of trust in the commission’s recommendations. The defence services believe that their joint presentations to the pay commission, unlike those made by civilian employees, have been dismissed without even being included in the report. A downgrade of the status of military officers vis-a-vis their civilian counterparts, fixation of hardship allowances at lower rates, and denial of a real non-functional upgrade have been identified by the service headquarters as issues that emanate from the allegedly anti-military bias of the pay commission.

The three chiefs have asked the defence minister to institute an expert committee, with members from the armed forces, to look into these grievances. These issues have also been flagged by the three chiefs informally to the defence minister, Manohar Parrikar, who has asked for a formal presentation this week. It will take more than a presentation, however, to bridge the widening trust gap between the uniformed personnel and the government. The unresolved issue of one rank one pension has already created tensions that are adversely affecting the military. The political leadership needs to actively reach out to the military, redress their genuine concerns and restore their trust in government. Simultaneously, the top military leadership needs to quell the tide of heightened emotions in the defence forces to reinforce the well-established balance of civil-military relations. India is situated in a tough neighbourhood and beset with several internal security problems. It cannot afford to have a disaffected military, least of all over the issue of pay and allowances.

Committee on Ministry of Defence Reforms Calls Army Restrictions on Social Media "Intrusive"

A committee of experts set up by the Ministry of Defence has said that constructive usage of social media must never be discouraged in the defence services and has frowned upon the application forms introduced by the Army recently for permission to use social media calling them “intrusive” and “not in tune with reality”

The Indian Express had earlier reported that the Army had issued detailed instructions severely restricting the use of social media and had in fact brought out a detailed form which asked for all details regarding the use of social media sites to be provided by the personnel.

The committee on reduction of litigation in the Ministry of Defence and improvement of the mechanisms of redressal of grievances that submitted its report to the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, last week, has made some important recommendations related to use of social media and methods of interaction between seniors and juniors in the military.

The committee, comprising High Court advocate Maj Navdeep Singh, Lt General Mukesh Sabharwal (retd), Lt Gen Richard Khare (retd), Maj Gen T Parshad (retd) and war disabled officer, Maj DP Singh, has recommended that constructive usage of social media should be encouraged while “immature usage” should be discouraged.

Sources say that the committee has stated that the thumb rule should only remain that operational and strategic issues must not be discussed on social media. The committee has disagreed with the ‘application forms’ introduced by the Army for ‘permission’ to use social networks by underlining that such formats are “intrusive and not in tune with reality” and are not prescribed for any other service or employees.

The Committee has rather stressed upon issuing advisories in the form of ‘Do’s and Dont’s and capsule courses in military academies to sensitise about responsible usage of social media. The members of the committee have stated that usage of social media must never be discouraged and has endorsed proactive use of social media by official bodies to counter rumour-mongering or disinformation.

In another suggestion, out of the total 75 recommendations, the panel has observed that senior commanders must maintain participative and interactive blogs with proper security checks to provide a grievances outlet to the rank and file since physical interaction at times becomes difficult in the military due to long distances and a stratified structure. The Committee has asked all services to emulate the blog of the GOC-in-C, Western Command in this regard.

It has also recommended that an online forum, on the lines of one introduced by the Indian Air Force, be adopted by all three services on which personnel can seek answers to queries related to official policies. The committee has recommended such forums to be introduced on the IAF intranet initially and not on open internet. It has been observed that such interaction would provide better catharsis to the rank and file.

According to sources, the panel has also observed that disinformation campaigns must be countered effectively rather than imposing restrictions which may wrongly project the defence services as having outdated ideas. Creation of interactive mechanisms such as twitter handles has also been recommended for all offices dealing with public grievances such as Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions) and even Record Offices and Veteran Cells. Appointments of “Grievances Officers” or “Public Grievances Officers” have also been recommended in Record Offices.

Source: The Indian Express

First The OROP, Now The 7th Pay Commission, When Will The Armed Forces Get Their Due?

By Kudrat Dutta Chaudhary: 

I wasn’t a keen follower of the OROP initially to be very honest, and stood at a moral ground of the rational apathetic until September. This is ironic because all the men in my family have served in the army and today I stand as a proud beneficiary of the same institution.

Illustration by Maitri Dore

Why OROP Makes Sense

I remember as I enjoyed my rickshaw ride to the Ministry of External Affairs one day, the rickshaw puller got lost and took me to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the way to which crossed the Jantar Mantar. Being from Chandigarh, I had heard and read quite a lot about its significance and historical importance and how the monument till date stands for progressive thinking and an outlook towards a better future. Right in front and around the monument, I saw retired officers and soldiers, both old and young sweating yet standing tall, fighting for the rights of every man who pledges to serve our nation. There were so many of them with placards, many of their wives and children were present too, it was scorching hot and I wished that they’d be more comfortable, but then their resilience to their cause was a big enough reason for them to endure the roasting weather.

But my empathy, was interrupted with the thought that, those weren’t just ‘any men’ who’d crib at the slightest instance of being uncomfortable but rather those were the men some of who had served at the most severe temperatures, ranging from that at the Siachen Glacier to the dreary sands of the Thar desert to defend our country from forces, committed to ruffle the peace of it.

That was my moment of awakening and I developed a penchant towards the cause.

The demands were simple, One Rank One Pension, irrespective of one’s tenure, for a country that’s GDP has gone up in the recent past and a country where crores are embezzled over building states structures, it wasn’t an unfair cause, which the Indian soldiers were fighting for. In fact, the quest for implementing the OROP started with the promises that were made by the Government at power, before being elected. So the soldiers were just asking their due, in fact, their right that originated from the assurances given by the elected party at the centre.
But we have seen, how their commitment has been at a dilly-dally stance, where they have agreed to implement it but wouldn’t extend the provisions of the same to the officers who take premature retirement after 2013. Thus leaving the positive benefits of the wholesome implementation of the scheme in a limbo.

The Reality Of The 7th Pay Commission

Now let’s move on to the 7th Pay Commission, which to a layman would serve as an evidence of the fact that the government is doing way too much for the Indian Armed Forces. But I wish that was true. The Seventh Pay commission is a counter-incentive in the garb of a perfectly drafted report, providing the Indian Armed Forces with everything that they could ever imagine.

But this is far from true, to start with the Seventh Pay Commission has cancelled free ration in peace areas.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, the actual deal is this, the hardship allowance of an army officer has been fixed lower than that of a civil servant, which has always been the case. So if an army officer is posted in Siachen glacier, the highest battlefield of the world his hardship allowance would be 31,500 vis a vis an IAS officer’s hardship allowance which shall be around 70,000 for being in Jammu, which is a full-fledged area.

This has irked many in the forces, who expected a bridge of parity to be brought between civil servants and the forces. But because this inequality is perpetually maintained, it goes on to show how the ‘lal batti‘ is favoured more than the olive green uniform. In fact the 7th CPC’s bombshell recommendation, tucked away on Page 151, is that this relative advantage enjoyed by the IAS/IFS should be extended to the IPS and the Indian Forest Services, leaving the military out in the cold. Effectively, IAS, IPS and IFoS officers will get six additional increments by the time they complete 13 years of service. The military gets nothing, apparently in the continuing belief that its functions are not as complex, difficult and critical as the other four All India Services.

Maximum Risk, Minimum Gain

To many, the demands of the army officers have been irrational, some have called them greedy, but I ask you, would you ever do anything, anything at all if it required maximum risk and minimal gain? The businessmen might point the flaw in that question and state, “maximum risk goes with maximum gain.”

Now, what is this risk these army men withstand? Because to many, all they do is create destruction and go on raping women and misusing AFSPA.

I won’t spin yarns of praises of this institution because I have always felt that the working of the Indian Armed Forces was flawed at certain areas. But if there is anything at all for which the State is unprepared, be it the ghastly 26/11 attacks, or Prince slipping in a manhole or the floods that hit any State of our nation, or even relief operations, it is the army that is contacted. This is the same army, whose one-day salary is compulsorily cut if there are floods in Kashmir or an earthquake in Nepal.

They too wish that aman and shanti (peace and harmony) could exist and they too yearn that everyone got their own due and that everyone gets whatever they want.

For all that they do, I think they should be the highest paid, men should get incentives to join the armed forces. The number should go up and not come down. It is these men, whose due needs to be given and it is these men who are ensuring that you’re safely reading this.

Courtesy: Youth Ki Awaaz