How ungrateful can we be as a nation? Sample these: A Lt. General in the Indian army with 36 years of experience and who would have shed blood in the 1972 Indo Pak war, would be of a lower stature and paid far less than a DGP of the Civilian Police. Lt Colonel ranked armed forces officers would continue to draw the existing Band 3 salary, but their equivalent Civilian counterparts will now be eligible for band 4 salary!! The Pension of the poor humble Jawan has been reduced to 50% from the existing 75%!! Unbelievable though these affronts may sound, these are the recommendations of the 6th pay commission and it has been accepted by the Finance Ministry.
The Indian Army in action in the dense jungles of the North East
Protests by the top brass of the armed forces led by Admiral Suresh Mehta, Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, have fallen on deaf ears. All that the armed forces requested was to be treated on par with their civilian counterparts, and this very reasonable (and rational) request has been rejected by the Finance Ministry on the grounds that they do not want to open a Pandora's box by reopening the Pay Commission report!! While our armed forces have been bravely fighting terrorists from the valleys of Kashmir to the Jungles of the North East, our finance ministry babus are wary of opening a Pandora's box!! As a mark of protest the armed forces have refused to accept the revised salaries. If you ask the common man, I am sure most of us would want our Jawans to be treated above par vis-a-vis their civilian counterparts.
Apart from the fact that the disparity that will seriously affect inter-operability between the armed forces and their civilian counterparts, the amount of money that our Officers and Jawans
could potentially lose is considerable. For example, the band 3 range that the Lt. Colonels are eligible for is Rs. 15,600 to 39,100. Their civilian equivalents would draw band 4 salaries that range from Rs. 37,400 to Rs. 67,000!! This is all the more galling considering the fact that the Lt. Colonels constitute the heart of the fighting forces. Almost 19,000 of the 55,000 officers in the 13 lakh strong armed forces are of this rank.
Accepting the Defence Forces fair and just demands would only entail an additional burden of Rs. 450 Crores on the exchequer. This is a pittance when compared to the hike that our Politicians regularly award themselves. It is hoped that our PM Manmohan Singh would set right this injustice done to the armed forces on his return from the US. Else, apart from Pakistan, China, the LeT, the Hizbul etc, our Jawans would also have to battle the IAS. As a proud and Patriotic Indian I hang my head in shame at this affront to our bravehearts.
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