Defence panel raises retirement age of soldiers by TWO years to 'cut new recruitment cost

Defence panel raises retirement age of soldiers by TWO years to 'cut new recruitment cost

Recommendations of the Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee were submitted to defence minister Manohar Parrikar

The report also touches upon the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff

In order to enhance their combat capabilities, a key defence ministry panel has made several recommendations including increasing the retirement age of jawans by two years, doing away with manpower in non-combat arms and shutting down military farms.

The recommendations of the Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee were submitted to defence minister Manohar Parrikar almost three weeks ago.

The report also touches upon the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff - who would be the single point contact for the military with the government.

The main aim of the committee was to suggest means to cut down on useless expenditure and use the savings to acquire and enhance fighting capabilities of the army.

One of the most important recommendations of the committee was to increase the retirement age of jawans by two years, which will help the army save a significant amount on pensions and training of personnel.

Army jawans retire after serving a minimum of 17 years and depending upon their promotion while in service.

'If the recommendations are accepted, jawans and junior commissioned officers till the rank of subedar major will get two more years of service,' ministry sources told Mail Today.

'This will reduce the cost of training new jawans along with the problem of providing them reemployment. Of the one million jawans in the army, almost 60,000 retire every year.

'For two years, the forces can also save on recruiting new manpower,' they said.

The Shekatkar committee has also suggested ‘optimising’ non-combat support arms in the army such as supply corps, ordnance and electrical and mechanical engineers who service cars and heavy vehicles.

'Even in remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, one can get private agencies close to the border to service and repair army vehicles,' the sources said.

Same applies for certain functions of the supply and ordnance corps like supplying rations and clothes to the forces.

Their roles can be limited to during war and other critical assignments.

The committee has also recommended abolishing military and dairy farms, where several thousand army personnel and a considerable number of officers are involved in mundane tasks like cattle rearing and growing vegetables.

The committee has also called for downsizing the remount veterinary corps, which looks after horses and mules for ceremonial as well as operations in the higher Himalayan regions of J&K and Arunachal Pradesh.

'With helicopters and road networks allowing vehicles to reach the last points of border areas and mountains, there is no need to maintain such a large force of mules,' the sources said.

The NCC is also on the radar of the Shekatkar committee as a large number of officers from the Army are sent there.

'The committee feels that retiring personnel can be trained and sent there as re-employment. This will save the army the regular personnel for operational duties,' the sources said.

Source : dailymail.co.uk

Pay Parity between Military and Civilian Personnel

Press Information Bureau
Government of India

25-11-2016

Pay Parity between Military and Civilian Personnel

The 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC), an expert body constituted by the Government, gave its  recommendations on emolument structure of government employees, including personnel belonging
to Defence Forces, after due consultation with various stakeholders and thorough examination of various aspects involved. The Commission recommended separate Pay Matrix for Defence Forces
after considering: (i)principles and philosophy adopted in devising the Pay Matrix for civilian employees; and (ii)some of the aspects in the rank structure unique to Defence Forces. The Government accepted the Commission’s recommendations on Minimum Pay, Fitment Factor, Index of Rationalization, Pay Matrices and general recommendations on pay with certain exceptions in Defence Pay Matrix, namely, (i)revision of Index of Rationalization of Level 13A (Brigadier) from 2.57 to 2.67; and (ii)addition of three stages in Level 12A (Lt Colonel), three stages in Level 13 (Colonel), and two stages in Level 13A (Brigadier).

As and when issues regarding anomalies in the pay of defence personnel are brought to notice, the same are examined by the Government, on case to case basis.

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to Shri Sultan Ahmed and others in Lok Sabha today.

7th Pay Commission: Parrikar orders military chiefs immediate implementation

7th Pay Commission: Parrikar orders military chiefs immediate implementation

New Delhi: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday ordered the military chiefs to immediately enforce the recommendations of the 7th pay commission.

Last week, the three services , Army, Navy and the Air Force, had issued an open signal to servicemen informing them the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission is being kept in abeyance till anomalies are addressed.

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and Admiral Sunil Lanba, the Navy chief met Parrikar on Monday to reiterate the need to address the anomalies before the 7th Pay Commission could be rolled out for forces.

Sources said that Parrikar ordered the chiefs to immediately enforce the recommendations of the 7th pay commission and anomalies will be addressed shortly by the government.

Resentment has been brewing in the defence services over not allowing non-functional upgrade (NFU) in the services. NFU allows bureaucrats who have been passed over to get a higher pay as soon as their batch mates make it to the next rank.

The government has formed a national anomalies committee to look to into these type of issues.

Parrikar’s order to the forces comes at a time when a large section of the government feels that pay and allowances of military is better than most other government services.

The military gets pension from government exchequer when no other service gets pension from government exchequer because the civil employees covered under National Pension System (NPS), besides it, the military has been given One Rank One Pension (OROP), which is not available any civil service, sources said.

With inputs from agencies

7th Pay Commission and the military

7th Pay Commission and the military

Since 29 June, the day when the Central government announced the acceptance of the 7th Pay Commission report, there have been quite a few voices of concern, anguish and plain anger have been emanating from military veterans over the issue of continuing degradation of the military’s status in the overall government hierarchy. Most of the anger is justified but some of the contentions are not, simply because they are not based on facts as they obtain at the moment.

Take the case of allowances and the case of non-functional financial upgrade have NOT been accepted by the government and remain on table for discussions and their eventual resolution. Unfortunately, in absence of the actual notification, the old issue about disparity in allowances to be given to a civil service officer posted in the north-east vis-a-vis a soldier posted in Siachen continues to be cited as fact when in reality, the government has refused to accept this anomalous recommendation. However, many write-ups, discussions, WhatsApp and Facebook messages continue to harp on this single point, creating confusion in the minds of majority of serving and retired personnel.

The need right now is to have patience and not hasty conclusions, past experience notwithstanding. The 7th Pay Commission had made some completely absurd recommendations which, the government, after proper analysis aided by the three service headquarters, has NOT accepted. Contrary to several emails and WhatApp messages going around, rations to the military personnel have NOT been discontinued. Neither has the disability pension been reduced. But many of seem to ignore this. Yes, several anomalies carried over from the 6th Pay Commission continue to remain unresolved; yes the Central Armed ​Police ​Forces (CAP​Fs) are becoming increasingly vocal demanding parity or even higher status from that of the military; yes, the bureaucrats will try their best to degrade the military. But, like their predecessors, the current military leadership is doing its best to fight the onslaught. Some battles will be won; some others will result in stalemate and a few will be lost. The trick is to lend full support to those who are leading the battle and not ridicule them.

But I am sorry to say many seniors are—wittingly or unwittingly—running down the current leadership across the three services without full knowledge of what they are trying. The best course forthe moment, in my view, is to hold the horses and wait for the notification to be available in writing before rushing to pronounce judgement.

I write this even as I get an earful every week from my 84-year old father—who retired as Subedar Major in 1982, for those who don’t know—for not being able to find out why his bank account does not show any enhanced pension more than six months after the announcement of the One Rank One Pension award! Despite my so-called reach and contacts, I am still waiting for a satisfactory answer from the department of Ex-servicemen (non) Welfare. That personal frustration notwithstanding, I feel the need is to wait a little more before deciding on the next course of action and not forward half-baked posts and ill-informed opinions without application of mind.

If considered judgement is not applied, the military community will once again look foolish as it did in forwarding—on a large scale– a fictitious interview with former IAS officer Vivek Rae (who was member of the 7th CPC), which ostensibly displayed his total contempt for the uniform. That is just one instance. As someone who has had the privilege of reporting on the government and especially on the MoD for over three decades, all that I can say is: don’t play into the hands of those inimical to the services. By making rash comments, sweeping generalisations and fictional charges, the military community is only aiding those who wish to see a servile, subservient and demoralised military.

This post is sure to anger many seniors and the perpetually ‘on the boil’ veterans but please view this issue in a broader perspective and introspect whether hasty conclusions are in the best interest of the organisation all of you had the privilege of serving.

Source: abplive.in