LETTER WRITTEN TO THREE CHIEFS BY GEN SATBIR SINGH

GOVT’S REACTION ON CHIEFS RECOMMENDATION ON 7^TH CPC

Dear Chiefs

                    The Govt Continues to adopt an apathetic attitude towards the Def Forces. We appreciate and support the step taken by the Three Chiefs to keep in abeyance the implementation of the Seventh CPC for them. It is surprising that instead of taking a positive view of the Chiefs Recommendations to address and resolve the Anomalies, the Rakhsha Mantri has asked to Implement 7^th CPC as wrongly decided by the Politico-Bureaucratic Combine. He has directed that grievances if any can be resolved later. Look at the manner the Govt (RM) has disposed of the most genuine and right step taken by the Chiefs.

              We are in the present state because of thrusting such wrong and unacceptable ORDERS down the throats of Def Forces for the past 67 years. Request by the Chiefs for the Resolution of ORDERS which are likely to affect the very fabric of the Armed Forces is very much in order. 

The Anomalies of 6^th CPC have not been resolved for the past TEN YEARS. How is it that our RM is saying that the grievances if any pointed out by the THREE CHIEFS will be resolved later. From the past experience of 67 years, these Anomalies WILL NEVER BE RESOLVED AND DEF FORCES WILL BE FURTHER DOWNGRADED AND DEGRADED.

We request our Chiefs to once again UNITEDLY AND STRONGLY REPRESENT TO THE PRIME MINISTER TO RESOLVE THE ANOMALIES BEFORE IMPLEMENTING THE 7^TH CPC FOR DEF FORCES.

 WE STRONGLY SUPPORT OUR CHIEFS.

God bless the Indian Def Forces 

  With regards,

 Yours Sincerely,

Maj Gen Satbir Singh, SM (Retd)
Advisor United Front of Ex Servicemen & Chairman IESM Mobile: 9312404269, 01244110570 Email: satbirsm@gmail.com

APPLICABILITY OF 50 % PENSION FOR VETERANS DISCHARGED AFTER 10 YEARS ON COMPLETION OF TERM OF ENGAGEMENT

Dear veterans,

This is for your information that all veterans discharged on completion of their term of engagement after 10 years are requested to file a petition in AFT for sanction of 50% pension Since all central Govt employees retired on superannuation/absorbed in PSU  on completion of 10  years are granted 50 %  of pay as pension as per OM 20/09/2008

Parrikar overlooks Services’ objections to implement pay panel recommendations ‘Grievances, if any, can be taken up later’

The Tribune

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 12

Three days after the armed forces rejected the salary and emoluments offered by the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC), Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday told the forces that what has been decided by the government has to be implemented and grievances, if any, can be taken up later. It is now for the three Services — the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Navy — to decide on the matter, top sources said while revealing the day’s developments. The MoD has now “lobbed the ball” back at the forces even as some friction seems to be building between the forces and government.
IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba today called upon Parrikar and explained that the existing pay commission’s notification done by the MoD on September 6 was inadequate and anomalies remain unresolved. The three Services, in separate letters to their formations, had conveyed that they have asked the government to hold “in abeyance” the implementation of the CPC in view of the “unresolved anomalies”.
 The Tribune had first reported on the matter on September 11. Sources in the MoD said Parrikar conveyed to the IAF and Navy chief that what all has been decided has to be implemented and “legitimate grievances” can be taken up latter. The government holds an opinion that all demands of all arms of the governments cannot be met in totality. The decision has to be implemented. The forces believe anomalies lower the status and pay parity of forces vis-à-vis their counterparts in the police and civilian administration. On September 9, the three forces issued separate letters — termed as a ‘signal’ in military parlance. This is to inform senior commanders and the troops about the decision of the top brass. 
The ‘signal’ said “a few concerns have been addressed we have been constrained to request the government to hold implementation of 7th CPC award in abeyance in view of anomalies which need to be resolved.” The Services Headquarters in the ‘signal’ sent down to the formations have asked serving personnel to display maturity and patience and not get swayed by hearsay or speculative reports. The Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) which met on September 7 had taken the decision and the same has now been conveyed to the formations located all across the country, or sailing at high seas. 
The Chiefs of the three Services, who collectively command a strength of 1.7 million (17 lakh), are members on the CoSC. In March this year, the MoD had conveyed to an empowered committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary that the status, pay and allowances of the armed forces be kept above all other “fighting” arms of the government. Parrikar had also taken up the case that issues of status, pay and allowances for the forces have to be paramount.

7th pay panel: Captain hails defence chiefs

Chandigarh: Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday supported objections raised by the three services chiefs over the anomalies in pay scales of defence personnel in the 7th Pay Commission.
"There is blatant discrimination with defence services in pay scales, which is condemnable," he said in a statement. He hailed the stand taken by the three services chiefs. "Just because our soldiers are disciplined and dedicated to serving the nation, should not mean that they be discriminated against," he said. "We owe our peaceful lives to those guarding our borders and taking bullets for us. We must have gratitude towards them".
"Nobody among the bureaucrats knows about the hostile conditions in which our soldiers are made to work and that is the reason there is such a bias against the defence forces," he said, pointing out that according to the recommendations while a soldier posted at Siachen Glacier will get Rs 38,000 extra salary, while an IAS officer posted in Assam will get Rs 58,000 over and above his salary. "I have been seriously suggesting to the defence minister that the bureaucrats, who have habitually been creating hurdles and hindrances in providing better pay to the defence personnel, should be made to serve in Siachen for at least a day," he said, while asking the minister to stand by the soldiers and get the anomalies sorted.
Capt Amarinder said this was not only an issue of salary to the defence personnel but also their status vis-a-vis other civilian services, including the police and the administrative. He said that the defence services had constitutionally be put higher than the civil and police services.
"If the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations are accepted as such, what will happen in a situation like Kashmir where the Army is assigned the job as a last resort. Will it be asked to work under the local police and administration?" he said.
Capt Amarinder said, the issue was beyond the scope of the defence minister and the PM must intervene personally since it directly concerns the se

Armed forces reject pay panel : Resolve ‘anomalies’

 Sunday, September 11, 2016

  Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 10

In an embarrassment to the Modi government, the armed forces have rejected the salary and emoluments recommended by the Seventh Central Pay Commission, pleading that its implementation be put on hold in view of the “unresolved anomalies” that lowered the status of the forces vis-à-vis their counterparts in the police and the civil administration.
The Ministry of Defence had issued the notification on September 6 after taking into account a letter by the three services chiefs on the issue of pay parity, among other things. This notification was exclusively for the forces. In the past 24 hours, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force have issued separate letters to inform senior commanders and the troops about the decision of the top brass. The Chiefs of Staff Committee had met on September 7 to discuss the issue.
 Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is expected to take a decision on the matter on Monday.  Earlier, the notification for enhanced pay for the forces had been held up as the issues raised by the three services were being studied. The main “anomaly” is that the formula adopted for determining the basic pay for the armed forces is different from the one for other Central government employees. As a result, in each rank the service officers have been awarded lower pay scales. In March, the MoD had told an empowered panel that the status, pay and allowances of the armed forces be kept above the other “fighting” arms of the government.

CALLS FOR URGENT INTERVENTION BY PM TO SOLVE THE STALEMATE

Sunday, September 11, 2016

MILITARY UPS ANTE ON PAY ANOMALIES : WANT PAY REVISION HELD UNTIL ANOMALIES SOLVED - BY RAJAT PANDIT

New Delhi

The armed forces have upped the ante in their ongoing struggle for resolution of “core anomalies“ in their salary packages by asking the Centre to keep in “abeyance“ the implementation of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) for them.

The Army , Navy and IAF headquarters have also issued signals to their 14 lakh personnel to hold their peace till they get the Centre to resolve the persisting anomalies.

Though couched in conciliatory terms, the signals are reflective of the widespread outrage in the military over how successive panels have degraded its status, parity and equivalence compared to civilian counterparts.

For instance, one of the signals issued on Friday -to personnel deployed in different operational commands, formations and units around the country -says: “In the interim, personnel are expected to display maturity and patience, and not be swayed by hearsay or speculative reports from any quarter.“

“The signals are meant to calm down restive personnel by telling them the Service HQs are raising with the government the pay anomalies that need to be resolved.

Otherwise, in these days of social media, personnel can easily fall prey to rumours,“ said an officer.

As was first reported by TOI last month, the three Service chiefs -Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, General Dalbir Singh Suhag and Admiral Sunil Lanba -had also written to PM Narendra Modi in a last-ditch effort to get their concerns addressed.

The 33 lakh central government civilian employees have already begun to get their new enhanced salaries under the 7th CPC -along with arrears from January 1 -from this month onwards after their new pay-scales were earlier notified by the government.The notification for the armed forces, in turn, was issued on Tuesday .

But it merely deleted the controversial line that held additional levels were being added to the defence pay matrix to “maintain parity“ with the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) like BSF , CRPF and the like.

“In effect, military officers, who were earlier equated with the IPS if not the IAS, have been reduced to the level of the paramilitary ,“ said another officer.

TOI last month, the three Service chiefs -Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, General Dalbir Singh Suhag and Admiral Sunil Lanba -had also written to PM Narendra Modi in a last-ditch effort to get their concerns addressed.

The 33 lakh central government civilian employees have already begun to get their new enhanced salaries under the 7th CPC -along with arrears from January 1 -from this month onwards after their new pay-scales were earlier notified by the government.

The notification for the armed forces, in turn, was issued on Tuesday . But it merely deleted the controversial line that held additional levels were being added to the defence pay matrix to “maintain parity“ with the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) like BSF , CRPF and the like.“In effect, military officers, who were earlier equated with the IPS if not the IAS, have been reduced to the level of the paramilitary ,“ said another officer.

One of the main anomalies raised earlier was the “artificial suppression of entry-level pay in each rank“ for the armed forces. Another issue is the denial of higher military service pay (MSP) for junior commissioned officers (JCOs).

SOURCE : TIMES OF INDIA, HYDERABAD

OROP: Stop the Circus, the Soldier Is Not a Fool

LT GENERAL P.C.KATOCH

Friday, September 09,2016

NEW DELHI: The former Justice LN Reddy Commission (henceforth refered as ‘RC’ – for Reddy Commission) looking into anomalies, post issue of the Central Government Notification of One Rank One Pension (OROP) on November 7, 2015, interacted with military veterans at Dehradun on September 6, 2016. It is not known whether the RC still is one man commission as announced in the beginning because Dehradun media mentioned serving military officers as part of the Commission – probably misreported?
As mentioned by the media, Reddy interacted with veterans at the Rashtriya India Military College where he informed the audience about his participation in the Char Dham yatra to four pilgrimage sites, and expressed his gratitude to Devbhoomi saying, “It is my personal feeling that the central government was to rethink on issues relating to the anomalies of OROP”.

 The pay and pension of Armed Forces personnel was governed by a separate Pay Commission and OROP was in vogue from 1947 to 1973, with the pension at 70% of the pay and automatic yearly actualization. According to the Koshiyari Committee, OROP implies uniform pension be paid to military veterans retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement; any future enhancement in the rates of pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners; and bridging the gap between the pension of the current and past pensioners as also future enhancements of pension automatically granted to past pensioners. 

Even the naïve can interpret that this implies yearly actualization of pension, not every five years which the government announced – amounting to one rank different pensions. Not only was this definition accepted by two Parliaments, it was endorsed in writing by MoD on 26 February 2014. 

The Koshiyari Committee had veritably lambasted the government and bureaucracy, pointing out there was no reason for a 3rd CPC to take an ex-parte decision against OROP, that had been working satisfactorily for 26 years. The Committee also tore through explanations given by the Ministry of Defence, terming the treatment of military veteran’s as a clear case of “Bureaucratic Apathy”. 

Further, the Committee categorically ruled out equating civilian government employees with soldiering because: soldiers retire by rank, not age; terms and working conditions of the armed forces are tougher and harsher;the risk to the life of a soldier is always higher as they work under severe strain with undefined and unlimited working hours; transfers and dislocation along with bleak career prospects are other disadvantages faced by the armed forces; family life in the military is also non-comparable with that of civilian Government employees. 

With the Reddy Commission, attention was successfully diverted from the unaddressed anomalies of the 6th CPC and all preceding CPCs. The 7th CPC adroitly brought the military below the police force and post protests and representations, ‘equated’ the military with the police force which anyway was their intention in the first place. And why should it matter if the police now wears the same ranks, along with the same uniforms and accoutrements? Perhaps tomorrow the task of ‘external defence’ and ‘internal defence’ may become interchangeable. The fallout may be that while we don’t know whom to talk to in Pakistan, Pakistan too would be kept guessing whether they would be confronted by our police or our military. The Chinese may be so dumbfounded that they might withdraw from POK, Shaksgam and Aksai Chin. The dilemma would be for our youth whether they should opt for the olive green or the khakhi, with someone having refashioned the motivating slogan – “Do you have it in you? If you stay in Fauj, no promotion for you. If you continue, no NFU for you. If you leave and go, no OROP for you. Do you still have it in you?” 

But puns and fun apart, the government should seriously stop these sic politico-bureaucratic anti-soldier exercises. The soldier understands everything and he will not start stone-pelting to make you run around in circles. If you can’t fight “bureaucratic apathy” (as pointed out by the Koshiyari Committee) because of your own infirmities, stop wasting money on a circus like RC. If you do not want to give the soldier his due – just say so and he will accept it. This bit about no money ‘only in case of soldiers dues’ doesn’t gel with the din of skeletons vying to pop out of cupboards. 

India always had enough money that was grossly mis-utilized – and this is not just about a Rs 1 crore samosa party or Rs 14 crore spent on the spouse of a politico for medical treatment abroad. OROP has been deliberately portrayed as an officer-related issue, which it is not, affected officers being just 1%. The difficulty of visualizing how military values ‘izzat’ is well understood because no ward of a politician or bureaucrat joins the military but it should suffice to understand it cannot be haggled with as traders do for money. 

Finally, the Mathur-types who are not even authorized to mention ranks post retirement, they would do well to tread carefully when playing with the ‘izzat’ of the soldier and use only their mouths when speaking on the issue in public. (Lt General P.C.Katoch (retired) is a veteran officer of the Special Forces)