Recent announcements : A dissection by Navdeep

Friday, July 24, 2009

Recent announcements : A dissection

Well, the public at large has been talking of the recent sops announced for defence pensioners. The starting point was the Union Budget speech. The following are the major ‘steps’ that have been taken to address the issues :

1. Bridging the gap between pre-Oct 1997 and post-Oct 1997 pensioners

2. Removal of 33 years’ qualifying service condition for earning full pension

3. Grant of a separate scale for Lt Generals

But the truth is somewhat like this:

Point No 1 is a resultant of an order of the Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court which has been upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court so there was no escaping this by the Govt.

Point No 2 is a resultant of the recommendations of the 6th CPC and the same has also been accepted for civilians, so what extra has been initiated for faujis in this ?

Point No 3 is also a resultant of a Finance Ministry missive by way of which the Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) on the civil side has been upgraded to Rs 67000-79000, something that has been applied to our Lt Generals too in a parallel fashion, so again what's special for faujis ?

I would again reiterate, that this play of words is the work of some lower level spin doctors who do not let our Ministers, Parliamentarians, top bureaucrats and top brass understand the minute modalities of such matters. They have led the top echelons to believe that much special has been done for defence pensioners but the truth is quite removed from reality. It is not an obligation that Hon’ble SC orders have been implemented and again not quite an ehsaan that the changes such as removal of 33 years’ service requirement for full pension or grant of HAG, changes which as it is have been initiated in the universal pension and pay regime, have been duly extended to the defence services. I say it again, it’s time for the higher civilian and military establishment to wake up before the army of promoted lower bureaucracy takes the system and the nation for a ride. Information which should ideally reach top political, civil and military echelons is filtered by the heavy tentacles and thick mesh of lower bureaucracy, a malaise which is eating into whatever progress we are making.

There is only one answer to this : proper application of mind on file notings and minute sheets initiated from below. Let us stop affixing ghuggis and start imposing our grey matter on the notings of the supervised staff.
Posted by Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh at 7:42 AM 21 comments
Labels: law, Misc, Pay Commission, Pension