MANAN Bhatt_1
10 years 8 months ago
My dear PM,
I am an ex-serviceman and have a few things to tell you. On these days Hunger strike is going on in Jantar Mantar by 2 groups of retired Defence Men.?
One group is the so called unified front of Ex servicemen front led by a few retired officers and the 2nd group, a recently formed one, consisting purely of retired other ranks (Sepoy, Naik, Havildar, JCOs).?
1. Most of the Ex-servicemen associations have been formed by including the unassuming men soon after they retire from the Defence forces with a view to strengthen the former with respect to numbers so that they shall have a stronger voice at the political level. But the blatant truth is that the voices of the low ranking men are subdued and suppressed by the hidden agenda of the Officers who aim for more benefits for themselves than the welfare of the members in general. It is needless to say that the low ranking men have been groomed only to obey the commands of the officers and this is reflected at Jantar Mantar too. They are ignorant of the fact that they are being exploited by the latter that have vested interests in organising such Dharnas. It is a widely known fact none of these organizations function democratically as only senior retired officers head these organizations. The situation is further worsened by the stringent enforcement of colonial Army, Navy, Air force Acts and its misuse while in service by the officers of low integrity values. Though these organisations should ideally have taken care of the ORs? interests and welfare (while in service and outside also), they are in fact using them for their personal and official advantage.?
2. To make it still worse, the number of pay commissions over the years from 1970s, their status has been relegated in levels and their pay reduced, because men are not represented in pay commissions and they cannot approach it due to the stringency of Defence acts. You are well aware that the pensions have been reduced to 50% of the pay based on no of years of service put in by them with an additional weightage of 5 years. This effectively has reduced their pensions from 70% of BP to 50%*(15+5)/33 =30.3% of BP for a person retiring after 15 years of service from 3rd pay commission onwards. This has landed the lower ranking men with a very meagre pay & pensions and has led to most Family pensioners drawing a pitiable amount of 3500/- PM.
3. If maintaining a young profile of the Defence Forces is the need of the nation, it is its responsibility to ensure that the low ranking men, who retire young in order to help maintain the youthfulness of the defence forces, earn enough for a decent sustenance. When India is racing forward to be a super power in the world, is it not her duty that the men who guard her borders day and night are well taken care of after they retire?
Lack of representation
4. The 2nd group is recently formed and consists purely of retired other ranks (Sepoy, Naik, Havildar, JCOs) and is on a hunger strike from another platform at Jantar Mantar. They are fighting for the cause of 98% ExSM (lower ranking Jawans) among other things, against the high levels of disparities between men and officers while in service as well as after retirement and also against the neglect shown towards their pay and pensions. They have not participated in negotiations with the Govt. In spite of Memorandums given to PM, RM and President they have not been called to elicit the views of the actual majority.
A true picture of What this 98% of Ex-servicemen (Jawans) is as follows:
Personnel are recruited in to Armed forces in to various categories with specified minimum qualifications as per their work/trades. Most of them come from rural background. Reservations having taken a toll on the merit, Defence forces are considered a solace for those from humble backgrounds. A true survey will prove the above point. People from urban background are rarely found among other (lower) ranks.?
Mostly 10+2 and Diploma are levels recruited. In addition to personnel in the wings of Artillery, infantry etc, people are recruited with specific aptitude, based on aptitude tests, to be further trained as Highly skilled technicians in aircraft overhaul/maintenance and carryout the airworthiness certification Jobs which have much more extensive scope than AME licentiates in Air India and other civil airlines. After their advanced training they are qualified to be Diplomates in Mech/Elect/Electronics etc. But it is a pity that a Sergeant with such background, after 15 years of service, has been relegated to senior Class IV employees with GP of 2800, where as the initial appointment GP of a Diplomate in Central services/organizations is Rs 4200/- etc.?
Similar is the case for Technical trades in Navy/Army. This is the protection from the officers given to their muted subordinates through pay commissions. Even while in service, there is limited advancement scope. In 15 years of service they are given just 2 promotions at the most. Finally in the recently accepted normalization of pre 2006 pensioners from Air force, the classification of LAC and first promotion Corporal and 2nd Promotion Sergeant are clubbed to a single rank (up to 20 years service for pension) depriving them of the benefit of their rank and years of service. When it is a matter of seniority conscious officers, they cannot imagine and wait for 5 years (in the OROP proposal) to equalise their pensions.?
Now on OROP:
The original intension of OROP was to give a reasonable pension for the early retiring (34-40years) ORs and their lowly paid Family pensioners. The rationale behind this is:
1. Mostly rural background people spend prime of their youth in the service of the nation. They, unlike officers, are not provided with family accommodations/ HRA which is limited to 25%, 50% of their establishments based on ranks and their family life suffers during service. They are retired early to maintain a young age profile of the Armed forces. But they have to meet the obligations of Children Education (for their children are young at their retirement time), Spouse and Elderly parents/siblings to look after, Most of them are unemployed or if employed, then for meagre salaries in security agencies in urban areas with a high living cost, doing unviable agricultural jobs, Having retired early with low paid rank (with limited salary increments) with low pension (30.3% at the time of retirement but with limited review during subsequent pay commissions) with much longer life expectancy to cater to. Being on active field service (Virtually in the firing lines-with many of them doing Round the clock duties), their life risk was much more than that of Officers, whose life risk is comparatively limited and live in a cosy environment.?
2. Officers retire at 54 to 60 years with promotions and increments. They have Family accommodations right from joining Forces except for a very limited forward posts. They have comparatively lower life expectancy as compared to ORs retiring at 35. By the time they retire their family obligations would have been fulfilled. At 70/80 years, rather than OROP they need medical care which is provided by service. If OROP is given to Defence Officers, there is no rational to deny the same to Paramilitary forces as they risk life more than this lot. Also state and other central police forces are also subjected to day-today like threats from Thieve/dacoits/terrorist/Antisocial to demand OROP. If they can be given how railways and other central services can be denied. This will end in a vicious cycle which would be difficult to implement.?
A small word on Inflation:
From 5th CPC onwards Dearness neutralisations has been raised to 100% from 50 % for senior Gp A and 75% for Junior Gp A services and maintained 100% for all others. This along with the 6th CPC has raised the salaries of Govt. employees, probably putting pressure on inflation. I fail to understand how food items can cost more for senior grade Govt employees whose Basic pay is higher. What is the logic to fully link DA (Which is based on CPI) to Basic pay. Who is compensating for the increase in the cost of living for Farmers and unorganized sectors who are the ones producing food and other items for the country and us. Please consider this.?
In the light of the above, My dear PM, I would request that OROP should be implemented only for early retiree ORs and ensure rationalization of their pay in 7th pay commission.
Regards
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