Patrolling of Troops at Siachen Glacier
The acute pyramidal structure is best highlighted at Table III, wherein 90.32 per cent of officers are of the rank of lieutenant colonel and below. All higher ranks thereafter keep reducing drastically as one goes up the so called ‘ladder of success’. The lot of PBOR is similar, as can also be seen in the same Table. Although comparisons are said to be odious, the fact remains that when compared to most all India services, the numbers and percentages of defence forces personnel are ridiculously low at the senior ranks. This is also graphically illustrated at Table III.
The military must not be equated with any other category, as their conditions of service are unique and secondly, if at all an equation is mandatory, then it must be in accordance with the length of service and no other criteria.
Recent trends like stress; reduced life expectancy; suicides, desertions and soldiers running amok; fragging and indiscipline; weakening of the moral fibre and vastly increased numbers applying for pre-mature discharge are highly disquietening and the portents are fairly dismal, unless corrective steps are taken at the earliest. Many uninformed persons cite minuscule advantages of service in the defence forces, like canteen facilities, railway concessions while going on leave, rations, enhanced leave, in-house welfare measures, amenities, etc, to argue that the defence forces are well looked after.
However, can these even in one’s wildest imagination, substitute for threat to life and limbs, truncated careers, long periods of separation from families, frequent transfers & dislocations, bleak career prospects, curtailment of fundamental rights, unlimited working hours, stringent physical requirements, exposure to hazardous situations and even a reserve liability of 2 to 5 years after retirement. It can thus be seen that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages.
It is understood that the projections of the defence forces to the Sixth Pay Commission are in two broad areas. Firstly, the defence forces have bid for approximately a five fold increase in emoluments from the pay and allowances they were sanctioned after the fifth pay commission award. It is an extremely conservative projection, as it is unlikely to meet the aspirations of those wanting to adopt the military as a career. Anyway, as the pay commission is mandated to ensure some kind of parity between the various categories of employees, the defence forces will probably get similar pay and allowances as the others. This may be five, six or even ten times what was sanctioned at the end of the fifth pay commission recommendations, depending on the projections of the other categories of central government employees and the analysis of the commission.
In earlier pay commissions, the defence forces were always the losers as their pay and allowances were decided after first artificially equating them with ranks in the police and the administrative services. Such equations resulted in equating a colonel having 18-20 years service with a superintendent of police or a deputy commissioner of a district, both of whom had less than eight years service, if that. The services must not fall in this bureaucratic trap again. Firstly, the military must not be equated with any other category, as their conditions of service are unique and secondly, if at all an equation is mandatory, then it must be in accordance with the length of service and no other criteria.
What is important for all ranks of the defence forces, however, is the second major re-commendation, viz. the one related to military service pay. This must be sanctioned over and above the other increase and this must be substantial.
The two aspects discussed above, relating to the governments insistence on ‘relativities’ and the dire need to compensate the defence forces for their low quality of life, their bleak career prospects and the constant and ever-present danger to their life and limbs are the most important issues, which need the attention of both the government and the sixth pay commission.
From a total cadre of 46,615 officers, only 4239 make it to the rank of colonel, i.e., a mere 10 per cent. For the next rank, only 20 per cent are selected. Thereafter too, the attrition rate is extremely high.
The pay commission needs to look beyond emoluments too, especially suggesting measures for ameliorating the massive shortage of officers in the army; the inadequacy of the defence budget, which continues to hover at the lowly level of 2.0 to 2.5 per cent of the GDP, which is barely enough to meet revenue expenditure, with little left for modernization of forces; the dire need for enhanced levels of jointmanship, including the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS); lateral induction of defence personnel to para military and central police organizations (CPO’s); an assured second career for all ranks, as they retire at such young ages; enhanced pensionary benefits to compensate for early retirements and measures for reducing the extremely steep pyramid-like structure of the officers cadre, which results in weeding out of highly talented officers of the three services, for want of sufficient vacancies and avenues for promotion.
The time for platitudes, assurances and homilies is now over. The pay commission and the government need to seriously address the inadequate compensation being paid to the soldiers and officers of the defence forces. Military service pay is an essential component of this compensation. It must be paid and it must be paid generously. The nation cannot hope to have a first class military, if it is paid shabbily and compensated inadequately.
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इस लेख में जेसीओ एंड ओ आर की जगह पी बी ओ आर लिखना अदालत की तोहीन है । पी बी ओ आर शब्द जेसीओ रैंक की अवहेलना और कोर्ट के आदेश की अवमानना है। मैं इन लेफ्टिनेंट जनरल साहब कि इस अज्ञानता के लिए निंदा करता हूं।
where are table 1 and table 3 the article is referring to?
Great Article. discussion , I learned a lot from the insight , Does anyone know where my company would be able to access a template SC Credentials Update Form document to use ?
You, the officer cadre only represent your problems in front of Govt. Anybody who thinks rationally can understand that MSP should be equal to all ranks. But officers ,by leveraging the hardships of ordinary soldiers, wants to bargain more and more from the govt. They want equal pay as an IAS officer. Anybody who knows about the responsibilities of both cadres knows that the demand is totally absurd and therefore should not be accepted by the govt .
It is a fact that the officer is still behave like the separate identity as it was the pre independence era of British officers. When they open the discussion they project only the problems pertain to them and completely forget their other ranks. They never want to accept Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) as junior officers and still consider an personnels below officer rank(PBOR) Why this sharp detachment. JCOs do the officers duty during the absence of the officers in the unit area. They take the complete command and control of the unit while the officers are out to their residential are normally far away from the barracks. The officer need to fight for the Jawaans first and then fight for their own benefits. Never forget the pyramid is built on ORs. A weak base may collapse if it is not properly kept and maintained so that they can serve the country without any tension in their mind. Never compare a soldier with civilians. apple remain as apple and orange as orange and comparing apple with orange is not a good idea. If the officer project their problem please project the problem of you subordinate first. Officers problem will be solved automatically.
Now u stop…
Let’s MNS and officers to gaurd the borders…..
Tab is desh ko bhi pata chal jayega…
this time i was thinking that stupid type calculation of MSP will be resolve in this pay commission as it isfull of hardship and harrased life for PBORs more compare to officers but no it seems things are being pick up from surface not from reality. even nursing staff is getting more MSP than a soldier what kind of joke is going on man, i m not able to understand. MSP should be all for every militery man no matter officer or soldier. how can a soldier and officer can be differentiate in this regard. if government dont have enough money to give everybody then dont give 10000 or 12000 . but please dont divide or create diparity more in soldiers, if u have 2000 then keep it 2000 but keep it same for everybody.
Fact remains that nobody wants to write about the real problems.The real problem with defense forces is that the officers themselves are acting selfishly.
1.There is no problem related to salary,promotion etc for officers cadre but it will always be projected as if they are getting nothing.
2.Officers cadre should not be a part of OROP as they are guaranteed job till retirement.When you retire earlier its your choice.
3.There is never a dearth of talented people who wants to join def. forces,it is falsely projected.Reality is that there are more officers than is required.
4.It is difficult to understand what is the use of short service commission.
Will it ever be explained
1.Why a soldier is used as a personal servant of commissioned officer?
2.Why a soldier is not getting equal MSP despite the fact that it was meant for PBORs only?
3.Why a soldier is not getting time based promotions as an officer gets?
4.Why a soldiers salary is not increased in the same proportion as that of officers cadre?
5.Why a soldier is stopped from acquiring higher education on the name of service exigency?
6.Why a soldiers pension proportion is reduced in subsequent pay panels as it is a soldier who is discharged when his services are no longer required(An officer is never discharged in this manner at the age of say 34 yrs or afterwards)?
An officer in defense force is practically living like a king.The apathy of a soldier is being used by the officers cadre in various forums for their advantage and betterment.All this despite the so called OLQs present in them.Anyone who is offended may please go through the code of ethics(for ex: Air Warriors Code) and introspect.
commission offrs think only abt them they never represent airmen sailorsand jawans .why are they not asking 4 equil msp 4 men and offrs where as da risk involve is same . why they want to stop men going into higher civil job bcoz they they don’t want 2 see a men sitting at higher post.never they shouldn’t b allowed 2 represent in pay commission
APPEAL TO ANY & ALL INDIANS:
COMMISSIONED OFFICER MUST NEVER BE ALLOWED TO REPRESENT PRE-PAY COMMISSION SURVEY TEAM 7TH CENTRAL PAY COMMMISSION ONWARDS FOR SAILORS / JAWANS / AIRMEN.
COMMISSIONED OFFICER MUST BE THE LAST PERSON ON THIS EARTH WHO CAN SAY TRUTH IN FAVOUR OF SAILORS / JAWANS / AIRMEN 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 %
ANY COMMISSIONED OFFICER EX OR SERVING IN THIS COUNTRY – IF DISAGREE WITH MY ABOVE STATEMENT, THEN, HE CAN ARRANGE A PUBLIC DEBATE ON NATIONAL / PRIVATE TV CHANNEL AND INVITE ME
COMMENT BY – RANK – CHIEF ARTIFICER – EX- INDIAN NAVY
Shame on such officers for harboring such thoughts. Just because they became officer, the PBOR should be non-represented – This cannot be tolerated. Our Jawans deserve the best. I saw on youtube that mostly US personnel deployed to Middle-east theater also for only 6 mths – 1 year not like out jawans who soldier on for 3-4 years in Siachen. This has to do with political will. As per another article on this forum by Dr. Amarjit Singh, Pakistan should be invaded and taken over permanently for long-lasting peace of Indian subcontinent, no matter how much the collateral. USA should be made party to this before hand to dismantle its nukes first. Or else, it will keep bleeding India forever. Then, that money should be used to build a bigger India without so much battle and war. Only restraining activities of China will be remaining then. think over it.
U r right 10000000000000000000000000000000000% dear in armed forces officers life like heaven & pbors like hell mostly pbors wants to leave the force immediate but due to existing policy of services they r not able to do. But how about officer not more than 5% wants to leave the armed force. Why all officer now that well. There no rule for officer all for pbor.