Soldier and Seventh CPC - Way Ahead

SEVENTH PAY COMMISSION FOR THE ARMED FORCES

The Government  has recently approved composition of Seventh Central Pay Commission. In keeping with past practice it will consist of a retired judge as chairman and one IAS bureaucrat as member and secretary expenditure Government of India as Member-Secretary.

In UK soldier’s pay is fixed by Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body (AFPRB), which is an independent body of distinguished men and women from public life and industry.  They visit Army headquarters and units each year to assess reaction to their reports at firsthand and seek out ‘grass roots’ opinion on the issue of the day.  They use the job evaluation scores, MOD evidence and information gathered during visits, to recommend to the Prime Minister the rates for basic and additional Service pay, some allowances and charges for food and accommodation.  The AFPRB Report is produced annually .

In US the pay of soldiers is based on the Employment Cost Index (ECI) which is a quarterly measure of changes in labor costs. It is one of the principal economic indicators used by the Federal Reserve Bank. The following are some of the main features of the data:

·         Shows changes in wages and salaries and benefit costs, as well as changes in total compensation

·         Presents data as a total for all workers and separately for private industry and for State and local government workers

·         Reports changes by industry, occupational group, union and nonunion status, census region and division, and 15 large metropolitan areas

·         Provides seasonally adjusted and unadjusted data

·         Presents historical data on changes in labor costs

·         Uses fixed weights to control for shifts among occupations and industries.

The Congress (equal to Indian Parliament) annually decides the raise in pay of soldiers, which is accepted by the President and in case of disagreement; it is the writ of Congress which prevails.

Common factor is both US and UK system is professionalism. In both cases the pay scales are being recommended by a body of experts who have domain knowledge on the subject and are free from the control of government of the day. But strangely in case of India the pay commission is composed of bureaucrats with vested interest to perpetuate hegemony of their cadre and this group is headed by a judge who has no domain knowledge on the subject of Pay and Allowances, however he has been Government advocate in Rajasthan from 1969 till 1985 and a judge thereafter till his retirement in 2008 as Supreme Court Judge and employed in Armed Forces Tribunal since 2008 to 2011. Apparently such a body cannot be expected to do justice to soldiers.

Moot question is, what are the Armed Forces to do in the given circumstances?  They have to safeguard their interests . Which is only possible if the armed forces are able to project a justified and coherent case before the Seventh CPC. Some of the suggestions are listed in succeeding Paras.

Cadre Management

One of the primary reason for army’s failure to attract and retain talent is poor cadre management policies, which result in short tenures and earl retirement for nearly 94 per cent of All Rank. Thus there is an urgent need is to streamline and restructure, both officer and JCO & OR Cadres of the Armed Forces, especially the Army.

Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) and Other Rank (OR) to get 33 years of service.  JCOs and OR make up more than 94 per cent of the Army. They retire young due to severely limited growth opportunities with a low pension. Consequently soldiering today has become last option amongst the eligible and only reason recruitment quotas are still being met is high levels of unemployment. The problem stem from poor career management. There is an immediate need to ensure 33 years of service for every person who enrols in the Army. This will put a soldier at par with his civilian counterpart and can be easily achieved through simple internal restructuring of JCO and OR Cadres, through two concurrent in-house measure.

·                     Only one category of Sepoys.  All entries will be at Sepoy level in X Category and specialisation would be offered to Sepoys/ Naiks at appropriate stage of service.

·                     Intake through Combat Arms/ Combat Support Arms.  Direct recruitment into Corps of Signals, Logistics Services and Minor Corps to be stopped and their requirement ought to be met with ‘mid-career transferees’ from Combat Arms and Combat Support Arms.

Officer Cadre. The following needs to be done:-

·                        Induct all as Short Service Commissioned Officers (SSCO) for initial seven years followed by review and retention of 30%. This will provide level playing field.

·         Make severance after seven years attractive by providing:-

Ø     Pay and allowances of SSCO be exempt from income tax.

Ø     Allow leave encashment up to 300 days at annual maximum of 40 days for first six years and 60 days in seventh year of service.

Ø     Lump sum grant equal to seven of years pay calculated on last pay drawn net of taxes.

Ø     Provide cost of hostel and tuition fee for a PG course in a Government or Government aided Institute/college net of taxes.

Ø     Provide Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) membership at same terms and conditions as others.

Ø     Provide life-time CSD facilities.

Ø   Life-time Regimental membership in officer institutions and membership of AWHO.

·         The officers retained after seven years to be granted Permanent commission and to serve till age of retirement at 59 years except the Chief who will retire at 62 years.

NFU and MACP. Non-functional up-gradation be applicable to officers of the Armed Forces and MACP for JCOs and OR.

Recommended Pay Scales

Rank	Pay Bend	Basic Pay	Grade Pay	Entry Pay	Military Service Pay @ 25%  of BP + GP	Minimum Entry Pay
Sepoy	PB 1	15600 - 60600	6000	25380	6400	317800
Naik	PB 1	15600 - 60600	7200	29730	7500	37230
Havildar	PB 1	15600 - 60600	8400	34080	8500	42580
Naib Subedar	PB 2	29900 - 104400	12600	40500	10100	50625
Subedar	PB 2	29900 - 104400	13800	51420	13000	64420
Subedar Major	PB 2	29900 - 104400	14400	54450	14000	68450
Lieutenant	PB 3	46800 - 117300	16200	63000	16000	79000
Captain	PB 3	46800 - 117300	19800	76590	19200	95790
Major	PB 3	46800 - 117300	22800	88500	22200	110700
Lieutenant Colonel	PB 4	112000 - 220000	26100	111000	27500	138750
Colonel	PB 4	112000 - 220000	26700	138300	34575	172875
Brigadier	PB 4	112000 - 220000	27300	147300	36825	184125
Major General	PB 4	112000 - 220000	30000	210000	37000	247000
Lieutenant General (Staff stream) (HAG)				225000	37000	262000
DG AFMS/ GOC Corps  (HAG +)				240000	37000	277000
Army Commander (Apex)				250000	37000	287000
Chief				270000	37000	307000

Allowances. It is important that DA be applicable on allowances and Field service and separation allowances be exempt of Income Tax. Some of the allowances specific to the Armed Forces are listed below. Other allowances, as applicable to civilians ought to be available to military as well.

·                     Transport Allowance.          In kind at scale of 30 liters of fuel per car and 15 liters of fuel for two wheelers for all ranks.

·                     Transfer Allowance.    Besides the cost of carriage of household goods it should include cost of changing schools and other incidental expenses.

·                     Entitled Rations.     As hither-to-fore.

·                     Technical Allowances.     May be given with a proviso that these be stopped on the officer reaching the rank of brigadier.

                ·                       Leave Travel Concessions

o         Three free warrants per year for the soldiers posted in field area.

o         No limit on number of concession vouchers, either for officers or the men.

o         Definition of family to include dependant parents.

o         Use of private car/taxi and private airlines be permitted on LTC with proviso that maximum permissible claim not to exceed cost of entitled class air/rail fare.

o         LTC be permitted at separate stations for self and family.

·                     Compensatory Allowances.

Ser No.	Compensatory Allowance	Allowance (% of Military Pay)
1.	CILQ/ HRA (Tier-1)	30%
2.	CILQ/ HRA (Tier-2)	25%
3.	CILQ/ HRA (Tier-3)	20%
4.	Separation Allowance	50%

·                     Operational Allowances.

Ser No.	Type of Area and Operations	Allowance (% of Military Pay)
1.	Operationally Active Super High Altitude	100%
2.	Operationally Active High Altitude	80%
3.	Super High Altitude	75%
4.	Operationally Active Highly Uncongenial Field	70%
5.	High altitude	60%
6.	Highly Uncongenial Field Area	50%
5.	Operationally Active Field Area	50%
8.	Field Area	35%

          Note: `Operationally Active includes `Counter Insurgency’.

·                Special Allowances

Ser No.	Type of Special Allowance	Allowance (% of Military Pay)
1.	Instructor Allowance	35%
2.	Special Forces Allowance	35%
3.	Flying / Parachute Allowance	25%
4.	Non-practice Allowance/ Technical PAy	20%

Pay Encashment. Be permitted for a maximum of 300 days with-in first seven years for officers when serving as SSCO and for JCOs and OR in entire service with proviso that maximum encashment permissible will be not more than 15 days per year.

Pension. the pension at 75% of last pay drawn when retired on completion of colour service.