Armed forces are seeking revision of Sixth Pay Commission

Armed forces are seeking revision of Sixth Pay Commission

By Khabrein.Info Correspondent,

New Delhi, Sept. 5, 2008: Armed forces are reportedly seeking the revision of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. They say that the revision has been necessitated to end the anomalies in the pay structure of the armed forces and civilian officers.

Ever since the sixth pay commission recommendations details came out in the open the armed forces chiefs have complained that the revision gives rise to anomalies in the pay structure of civilian and armed forces officials and that it was detrimental for the armed forces.

The armed forces’ heads’ anxiety is not misplaced. Already the army and other services face acute shortage of officials and armed forces chiefs fear that if these anomalies are allowed to exist the armed forces may no longer attract good brains to the army or other services.

Indian armed forces don’t face any problem in recruiting at lower rank, but when it comes to recruiting officers, it has become a daunting task with very few qualified youth turning for the coveted jobs in the armed forces.

India’ National Defence Academy, the largest army training ground, which enlists high school graduates and turns them into officers for the navy, air force and also the army, is struggling. Earlier this year just 190 students signed up against the academy’s sanctioned strength of 300 for this academic session, defence ministry records show.

It is said that stress, low pay, slow promotions and the military’s tough lifestyle discourage young people to join the armed forces.

Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta wrote a letter to Defence minister A.K. Antony Sep 1 saying these core issues, if left unaddressed, will result in “despondency” among the armed forces.

In the letter Mehta said, “The command and control functions will be seriously hampered between army, BSF (Border Security Force) and CPMF (Central Paramilitary Forces), where infighting will jeopardize operations”..

The armed forces officials say that the Sixth Pay Commission has upgraded the civilian and paramilitary counterparts of the officers of the ranks of lieutenant colonel and equivalent to the higher pay band. Because of this, the civilian officers who were in the lower pay bracket and were hitherto drawing lesser pay than lieutenant colonels and officers of equivalent ranks would now draw a higher basic salary.

Mehta in his letter went on to say, “The PBOR are put at a disadvantage as due to truncation of career they retire early and draw lesser pay relatively and hence ending up getting lesser pension”.


Source: http://www.khabrein.info/