All defence personnel to get at least three promotions.
The Union Cabinet today accepted some of the representations by the armed forces regarding the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations including a higher military service pay (MSP) for persons below officer rank (PBOR) and enhancement of pay bands for middle-level officers, including colonels and brigadiers. The Cabinet, however, stopped short of accepting the demands in totality.
Following the outrage in the armed forces over the commission’s recommendations, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta had, as Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC), submitted a note to the government outlining the demands of the armed forces.
The commission had suggested a military service pay of Rs 6,000 every month for officers up to the rank of brigadier, but only Rs 1,000 to those below the officer rank.
The armed forces had demanded that this be increased to Rs 3,000. The government has increased this to Rs 2,000 per month, doubling the Pay Commission award, but not accepting what the services had asked for. Mehta had sought payment of arrears from January 2006. This has not been accepted.
The Cabinet also accepted the contention that the services must get more chances for upward mobility. It has accepted the proposal that all defence personnel, including civilians, should get at least three promotions.
While civilians will now get at least three promotions, after 10, 20 and 30 years of service, respectively, jawans will get these chances after eight, 16 and 24 years of service. Earlier, jawans who did not get promoted after seven years retired. They will now get three stabs at promotion, the first one of which will be after eight years of service.
However, the biggest gainers of the Cabinet’s review of the Pay Commission award are the middle-level officers like colonels and brigadiers. Whereas according to the Pay Commission award, a brigadier’s salary stopped at Rs 39,000, these two categories of officers have now been placed in the highest pay band of 4. This means their salary will now end at Rs 60,000. This is designed to stop attrition in what is described as the backbone of the services.
The Cabinet has also corrected the pay-rank anomaly for lieutenant generals who may have been overlooked for promotion as army commanders. These officers will now get the pay grade of an army commander.
In a move that will represent only a marginal financial outgo, the lower limit of disability pension for defence personnel will be doubled to Rs 3,100. The war disability pension will now be 60 per cent of the pay last drawn. Also, commandos in the army and the air force will now get the same allowance as the navy’s marine commandos.
However, the modifications by the Cabinet are unlikely to satisfy the armed forces, which had demanded that jawans and all personnel below officer rank be given a salary hike of up to 40 per cent over and above the 8 per cent recommended by the commission.
The mid-level officers were expecting a raise of 30 per cent, while brigadiers and above and equivalent posts in the navy and the air force had asked for a 20 per cent hike.
