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Pay hike: Black Diwali for military?
Thursday, September 25, 2008, (New Delhi)
All Central government organisations will start paying out the new salaries in October but the armed forces have decided not to accept the hikes.
The military is peeved with discrepancies in parity and status in comparison to their counterparts in civil services and Central police organisations. (Watch)
Now, Defence Minister A K Antony wants Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take a final call in the matter. "Your personal urgent intervention is needed to resolve the issue," said Antony to Singh.
Antony wrote to the Prime Minister on Tuesday after the Finance Ministry rejected the military's demands, although, on record he sounds hopeful.
"The matter is with the Finance Ministry and they are looking into this," said Antony.
All the three services are united on the issue. The Army chief met the Cabinet Secretary on Thursday morning. The Air chief had also met him on Wednesday on the same issue. Earlier the Navy chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, who heads the Chiefs of Staff Committee, had raised the core issues with Antony in a detailed note.
The core issues are:
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Lt Colonels are now paid Rs 10,000 less than civilian counterparts. Over 19,000 officers are in the rank of it. Colonels and equivalent will get at least Rs 10,000 less than their counterparts in civil services and other Central
organisations.
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Lt Generals are now paid lower than DGPs, which makes the status reduced. Lt Generals, admirals and air marshals have been kept at a lower status and pay scales than DGPs, a glaring disparity that will affect operational coordination.
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Pension has been reduced for jawans. The pay commission has cut back on the pension amount of jawans by assuming that they will be inducted into paramilitary forces after they finish their military service, a decision that is nowhere near implementation.
Cost of meeting Military's pay demand: Less than Rs 450 crores
What has annoyed the military leadership is that the cost of implementing their demands is less than Rs 450 crore annually.
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