Col J P Singh, Retd.
Veterans are sitting on hunger strike at Jantar Mantar since 14 June to protest against govt’s flip flop on the implementation of OROP. When OROP was just about to be implemented, families of central police forces formed a union and demanded OROP for the police forces giving various mundane reasons. In a representation to the 7th Pay Commission (PC), through MHA, central police forces have demanded OROP. To many veterans it is conspiracy to scuttle OROP. For the Govt, it has a situation it will find difficult to wriggle out should it pitch the police forces against the armed forces. Situation at Jantar Mantar is flaming. Messages emanating are for serious confrontation with the govt. Veterans will be boycotting raksha mantri, civil-military functions, Vijay Divas celebrations and RD parade marching contingent. Net conclusion is that battle for equal pension is the ultimate fight for restoration of lost ‘izzat’ in the civil miltray equation which was earned with blood. Public worry is in what may flow out of OROP agitation country wide. Before it goes out of control, on 9 July, Apex Court has directed the Govt to implement it within 6 weeks. The buck now stops at the prime minister.
Army is an institution that upholds the nation state. In US it is customary to say ‘thank you’ to a veteran and in UK, they make way for war heroes and a Victoria Cross always and every where gets a standing ovation. In India veterans are considered liability and drain on exchequre. British gave better pay to the Indian soldiers. After 1857, a Risaldar Major was paid Rs. 150, Risaldar 80 and Jemadar 50 a month which would be equivalent of Rs. 80,100; 42,800 and 26,800 respectively as on today. In addition they were given ‘batta’ and land. But 6th PC has put these three ranks in pay band 2 starting with Rs. 9,300 to Rs. 34, 800 per month with Rs. 4,800 as garde pay and Rs. 2,000 as military service pay. As pension, American soldiers get 50 to 70 percent, Australian 76.5 percent, Japanese 70 percent, and French 75 percent of their last pay. Always privileged are the Pakstani soldiers. 6th PC granted Non-Functional Upgradation to officers of all-India group A servcies which is sort of backdoor OROP for civil servants. In India degradation is intentional. With the implementation of OROP there will be substantial increase in the pension in each rank.
India requires best armed forces, best police and best civil services. The best means that they all perform their duties with utmost dedication without lust for personal gains. As a soldier, I always saw the army being called to hold the pants of the civil services and police and never the other way round. That suggests who is really the best. Can central police forces or any other excuse scuttle OROP. The short answer is ‘No’. Let us again understand why so.
(i) The pay achieveable by 1% army officers in 35 years of service is reached by 100 percent civil services in 16 to 22 years.
(ii) Military pension is based on two variables; rank and length of service, both not applicable to any other job. 3rd PC reduced the pension of soldiers to 50 percent with the clause ‘to get 50 percent pension one has to have 33 years of srvice. For the lesser service pro-rata reduction is effected. Public must have understood that the 3rd PC actually reduced soldiers pension form 70 percent to 37.87 percent as explained earlier in Brig Anil Gupta’s article.
(iii) In case of widows, the blasphemy is unimaginable. A widow’s pension is 60 percent of deceased husband’s pension. On husband’s death widow got 60 percent of 37.87 percent ie 22.68 percent of her husband’s last basic pay which should have been 30 percent as per law. From 24 September 2012, a hike of 1.86 % was given making it 24.54 percent on which UPA Govt went to the media tom-toming that pension of ex-servicemen has been greatly enhanced. Is’nt it a blasphemy?
(iv) Armed forces consist of four uniformed services, (a) Army, (b) Navy (c) Air Force and (d) Coastal Guard. Additionally they are supported by three para-miltary forces (i) Assam Rifles (ii) Rashtriya Rifles and (iii) Special Frontier Force. All three work under the operational control of military.
(v) Central armed police forces are not ‘paramilitary forces’. They are the police forces. They are led by IPS officers.
(vi) Soldiers are recruitted at two levels, men and officers. Entry in police is at four levels, constables, sub-inspectors / inspectors, state poilce officers and direct IPS. The statistics suggest that out of 3,800 central police officers, IPS cadre is 2,200.
(vii) Soldiers are retired after 17 to 21 years service when they are between 34 to 38 years of age.
(viii) The Indian armed forces have been engaged in a number of major military and CI ops. Their highest gallantry award winners are decorated in the Republic Day Parade every year at Rajpath in full public view and the survivors lead the marching contingents. Only the armed forces have this distinction.
(ix) It is the only profession where one reaches top by joining at the bottom. One can join at any level in the civil service, except Cabinet Secretary. A diplomat can become NSA and professor of environment can be Finance Secretary. Whereas every Chief in armed forces rises from being a 2/Lt to Capt to Maj to Lt Col to Brig to Maj Gen to Lt Gen after commanding sub-units, units and formations. In fact the professionalism is so intense that infantry officers command Infantry formations and the armoured corps officer command armoured formations.
(xii) In the civil, one department downgrades a post and upgrades another to enable someone to continue at the same chair after promotion. In army an outstanding brigadier cannot be made a Maj Gen to continue as brigade commander. There has to be a clear vacancy for a maj gen. Top five ranks in the army comprise of only 10 percent of the officers’ strength. Contrast this with the civil services where entire batch becomes joint secretaries.
Now let us look at the differential in promotional aspects. In Maharashtra, 1981 IPS officers are 3 star DGPs, 1987 batch 2 star IGPs and 1994 DIGs. Corresponding years in the army are 1972, 1975 and 1979 ie differential of 9 -15 years. While the differential with IAS is more, the variance with IPS is easy to understand because their ranks are visible on shoulders.
In each service, everyone must get the same total compensation by the time he reaches the ‘mode rank’ of service. ‘Mode’ is a statistical term. It is the value where the maximum number of variables fall. In the IAS,
Everyone becomes Director and in IPS, DIG. In army the mode rank is Col. Thus a Col’s gross career earnings (not salary alone) must be at par with that of a Director / DIG. But Cols retire at 54. Every babu from peon to secretary retires at 60. It takes 17-20 years to become a selection grade Col and 26 for time scale whereas in that time an IAS officer reaches to joint secretary, equivalent to a maj gen. Due to obvious disparities, idiosyncratic military zeal is fast catching up with ever growing numbers of veterans registering their participation at Jantar Mantar. OROP is becoming a ‘hot potato’ for crucial Bihar election. Veterans are going to show their political acumen by posing a potent threat to the BJP. I think the time is running out to restore military its ‘izzat’; rightful place and reset civil-militray balance.
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