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Saturday, September 27, 2008

Have Faith - II : Message from Chief of Naval Staff and Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee

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In order to end speculative reports on the 6th CPC issue, the Chief of Naval Staff has issued the following message (unclassified) which can also be viewed here on the official naval site :-

1(.) IN RECENT TIMES THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL SPECULATIVE MEDIA REPORTS AND DISINFORMATION ON THE FINAL OUTCOME OF THE SIXTH PAY COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS. THE SERVICE HEADQUARTERS HAVE MAINTAINED CONTINUOUS INTERACTION WITH ALL AUTHORITIES CONCERNED AND OUR CONCERNS HAVE BEEN HIGHLIGHTED AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS TIME AND AGAIN.

2(.) WHILST SOME OF OUR CONCERNS HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED WE HAVE BEEN CONSTRAINED TO DELAY PAYMENT OF ARREARS AND NEW PAY SCALES TO OFFICERS AND MEN IN VIEW OF SOME SERIOUS DISPARITIES THAT HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED WHICH DISTURB THE EXTANT PARITIES BETWEEN DEFENCE OFFICERS AND THOSE FROM OTHER CENTRAL SERVICES AS ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT PENSIONARY BENEFITS OF PBOR.

3(.) WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF RESOLVING ALL PENDING ISSUES AND THIS MAY TAKE A LITTLE LONGER THAN WE HAD EARLIER EXPECTED.

4(.) LET ME ASSURE EACH ONE OF YOU THAT I WILL SPARE NO EFFORT TO BRING OUR GENUINE CONCERNS TO THE NOTICE OF OUR COUNTRY'S LEADERSHIP WITH THE FINAL AIM OF GIVING OUR PERSONNEL THEIR RIGHTFUL DUE.

5(.) IN THE MEANWHILE I AM CERTAIN THAT ONE AND ALL WILL DISPLAY MATURITY AND PATIENCE AND NOT BE SWAYED BY HEARSAY OR SPECULATIVE REPORTS FROM ANY QUARTER.

6(.) SHANO VARUNA AND JAI HIND.

The above reiterates what I have been maintaining all along. See this post and also this.

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37 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have full faith in the system. We will wait for the final outcome on this issue. We are greatly motivated by the active participation of the leadership in taking up the issues with the government from time to time. The military establishment in the country can no longer be taken for granted. We are sure the government would take all corrective actions and restore the status and honour to the defence personnel.

Anonymous said...

A committee of Ministers formred to look into all matters of concern for the defence forces. decision taken post telephonic discussions with PM in USA.

Members - Def Minister, External affair minister, and FM.

All issues to be resolved latest by end Oct 2008.

All three service Hq to issue orders for implementation of 6 th Pay commission recommendations on Monday.

source NDTV news 24 X 7

Anonymous said...

There is no doubt that Chiefs have saved Armed forces from a potential catastrophe. As a result, probably they have saved India as well from a possible leap into troubled times. Showing exemplary leadership, Chiefs have gone about the task in a manner that is preached by them; by following Chain Of Command, thus situating this time honored tradition in correct perspective.

That said, it must be understood that time for next step of evolution in armed forces is well nigh. Chiefs must grab this "Babu sent opportunity" to use their vindicated standing in rectifying organizational structure to bring it in tune with civil services. If we do not do it now, we can be rest assured that time and again attempts will be made by ill willing babooze to put spokes in our functioning.

The way out lies in starting from top. All scientific organisations have scientists as their respective secretaries. There is no reason why a defence secretary should not be a professional. In similar tones, we must follow manning plans laid down for DRDO organisations and MES as well as other affiliated services that partake a large part of defence budget, by manning these organisations. This might help in producing new avenues for implementation of AVSC part II as well.

In essence, this is the right time to start thinking about organisational changes by keeping the ultimate motto of bringing in bright youth willingly into a profession that is threatening to become stagnant as well as is in the process of being turned into a completely police level profession (By that, it is not meant to denigrate police forces). Babooze must not be allowed to have their way. Instead of AVSC, Forces ought to use in-house talent for bringing in changes that make this profession to be longed for once again.

Anonymous said...

On the lighter side.

Navdeep, my apologies in advance for using this post for commenting something that is not related to the post.


The Ant and the Grasshopper

An Old Story:

* The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

* The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs, dances, plays the summer away.

* Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

New Indian Version:

* The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

* The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs dances plays the summer away.

* Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

* NDTV, Zee TV, Aaj Tak, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

* The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

* Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.

* Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter .

* Mayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities.

* Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

* The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .

* Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'All India Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

* CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.

* Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

* Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

* Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions in Government Services.

* The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV, Zee TV, Aaj Tak, BBC, CNN.

* Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.

* Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.

* CPM calls it the'Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '.

* Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.


Many years later...

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley, 100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ,

..AND

As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers, India is still a developing country...!! ! :) :) :)

Anonymous said...

The pride & self respect of both the serving and Ex - servicemen are restored by the unprecedented action by our Chiefs of Staff. PM's directive, if fully made use of, would definitely uplift the sagging morale of the Armed Forces as well as its glory to the old standards. How this opportunity would be best used towards a permanent solution, would in fact be a greater challenge to the Chiefs.

Anonymous said...

Fin Min says "Hike to armed forces financially not viable!!!" Mr. Chids, who are you trying to fool around with. When you dole out 80,000 crore package to vot bank it is viable. The generous hikes to IAS and paramilitary is going to cost 1000 crore, it viable, but when Brave soldiers ask for their worth (200 crores) it is not viable. The teacher who taught you Maths must be PROUD of you!!!. You are doing Much more damage to the Military than pakistan could never dream off. At this critical time if they attemp another Misadventure in Kashmir, then send your greedy Babus there.

Anonymous said...

Issuing of notification to accept the proposals in the present is not correct.IF YOU THINK YOU CAN BELIEVE THESE POLITICIANS,THINK AGAIN.THE FM CHIDAMBARAM BABU WILL THROW SPANNERS..DO NOT BE TOO HAPPY...WE SHOULD HAVE GONE ALL THE WAY AN DNOT ISSUED THE NOYIFICATION ON PAY HIKE................BE ON YOUR TOES GUYS.......THESE BABUS WILL TRY THEIR BEST TO SCUTTLE THIS TOO.......

Col P K Chatterjee

Anonymous said...

Chiefs
I salute you
A Soldier

Anonymous said...

It is heartening to note the government is planning to set a committee of ministers (EAM, DM & FM) to look into the grievances of armed forces. It is also understood that there is pressure on the Chiefs to implement 6 CPC and issue orders to that effect on Monday.

I sincerely urge upon the Chiefs not to give into the designs of the bureaucracy. It does not matter much if the implementation gets delayed by a month or two. Let the issues be resolved first. Setting up of a committee of ministers is a welcome step. However, there is no reason why we should hurry up in implementing the same. It is understood that, a number of others departments have also not implemented the same till now for different reasons.

Let us wait for the outcome of the committee of the ministers.

Anonymous said...

Please do not implement pay scales without the anomolies are rectified. Armed Forces have already lost out on a number of accounts. Do not give into the pressure. Implementing the pay commission before the issues are resolved is not at all in the interest of the personnel in uniform. A humble request to the Chiefs.

Anonymous said...

If we have taken a stand then we should not backtrack . Everyone (in uniform ) understands that even if it is delayed , but military should get its due. I just hope there is no compromise on any issue , otherwise in times to come military will remain and controlled by babus and politicians and not by men in uniform .WE MUST THINK ABOUT BEFORE ISSUING NOTIFICATION ON MONDAY . LET THINGS NOT GET DILUTED . and who knows GOVT WILL SERVIVE TILLEND OF OCTOBER . JUST DO NOT BEND

bill said...

Pl for God's sake can't you see that it is a TRAP cunningly laid on advise of wily babus.Otherwise why this pre condition of notification by Monday!!more so when we are accepting old pay for oct!!& have never asked for resolving the issues by Sep end.The Chiefs should tell the govt,politely,that since All Ranks are OK with old pay for sep there is no need/hurry on notification.Also since affects over 20 million ESMs there concurrance is also required.Besides serving pers would also need to be cunsulted to keep the whole issue transparent.NOTIFICATION MUST NOT BE ISSUED AT ANY COST.
The Committee should have at least 2 knowledgeble seior ESMs as members/advisers backed by a support team from sevices(otherwise Babus working for the commettee will manipulate & hijack results).Chiefs must NEGOCIATE just the way these politicians do.

Anonymous said...

I think we need to understand that decision has already been taken to accept the Chief's recommendations.How ever as a face saving measure the committe has been formed to make it look that the demand was accepted after a careful scrutiny by GOM.

Anonymous said...

Chiefs should not veild to the pressure. The precedence of delayed implimentation is available which should once again be resorted too. After V Pay commission the recommendations were implimented after almost 5 month once all the obsevations were resolved.
We all in services would like to stand by ours Chiefs and give them all our support in these testing times

Anonymous said...

Reading from comments, it is clear how much distrust and angst armed forces have for our babooze. Personally, I think issuing notification is not a retrograde step. What needs to be understood here is that Govt is already under a lot of pressure due to "Black Diwali" ( I am sure this has become a searchable function on Google) coverage by media. To offset this alone Govt must have asked to issue notification so that media hound gets off its back. The amount of negative vibes it is creating in international arena must be understood.

To play the game of babooze, forces should issue notification with a catch. This catch can be in the form of an asterisk (Conditions apply) in front of Lt Col pay, Grade pay and Lt Gen pay. Conditions must spell out that final results will be notified depending upon outcome of GoM committee findings.

To all ranks who are thinking of this as a trap, I have this to say. It might as well be a trap, but you have reached the top most level of leadership of country. You have to pay heed to what this leadership has to say or do. Beyond this, recourse of a parliamentary debate may still be open. But, in this instance, we have to play the game of give and take. Like Maj Navdeep says, have faith and wait for the outcome before untying your horses.

Anonymous said...

Suggestion to implement it in the present form should not be accepted. It is surprising to know that the committee has been given one month to submit the recommendation. Govt. seems to play down the matter by giving so long to study something as clear as Sun which rises in east. I am surprised to see that no comment by opposition parties which comes out with criticism even on silly issues. Left was never for the armed forces. What happened to BJP? There are few ex service politicians, even they are not seen!

Anonymous said...

Guys it's over,we have blinked!Nothing ever comes out of a committee.Lets lump it!

bill said...

@col VTV
Beg to disagree.Anyway now that a committee of GOMs to "Review" has been formed we must EXPLOIT this oppertunity to resolve all relevent pending issues.We should also articulate/engineer to have their recommendations tabled & ratified in the Parliament in oct.
To work out these issues(our demands)an inhouse committee,also incorporating ESM members,backed by an expert working group should be set up imdt. The committee must consider every single issue in detail.Addl imp ones could be MSP arrears from 1.1.06,OROP etc Even pending annomalies of 4 & 5 CPC!!

Anonymous said...

this is a game to get forces to implement new scales n stop the imbrogilo...to kill the fervour n split the unity of the defence forces.That the issues can be discussed n resolved in a hr seems herculean so they buy time till oct endwhy do they need three politicians to ponder over an affair which is clear n evident even to the layman . If the chief's issue new notification on monday..all core issues will fade frm media glare n die their own death in another month's time

bill said...

@annony at 3.02pm
Dont mislead about Baboos (they are the govt in india) being under media pressure blah blah!!!Also in any case over 70-80 % of us spend diwali away from our families yr after yr.So another "Black Diwali" is not going to make much differerce.Notifications will be issued once everything is finalised AFTER the GoM recommendatios are accepted.My experience says that committees are only made to diflect issues.

Anonymous said...

Please do not accept notification. we all can get along with the old pay till the time the core issues r not resolved.Its not that big an issue for which GoM is required.What is required is yes from PM which again is been put on the GoM. the out come is already known. any commitee is made to delay the timely things n keep them in background later. So acceptance of issue of notification will be a big blunder n we will loose the battle. so we should hold on to our stand n not scumb to pressures of this nature.Finally its our chiefs to decide every thing depends on him.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how the pay commission made such serious mistakes especially in the case of not giving the Pay Band 4 to Lieutenant Colonels and downgrading them below their civilian counterparts. Lieutenant Colonels [and their Air Force and Navy counterparts] play a pivotal leadership role and are the main leaders of men and all efforts must be made to retain them with attractive salary and perks as there will be a big shortage if there is an exodus in this rank.
This whole thing could have been avoided if the pay commission had been just and fair to the services. I hope that at least now the system lives up to the expectations and faith of the armed forces as expressed by the Navy Chief in his message. I am sure the mature PM will show statesmanship like the Defence Minister has shown and do full justice and keep the morale high.

Anonymous said...

I am with everyone who is against the notification on Monday- BTW I think this is another rumour. We will wait for next Diwali - Inshah Allah to get what is dutifully ours - IZZAT O IQBAL.

We owe it to the younger generation to stop them from having Black Diwalis throughout their Service Careers and to the awam of our country to have a fighting fit military.

Nothing ever came out of a Committee. I will repose faith in a foot soldier but not on a Babu.

Anonymous said...

I think we need to give even the devil its due.
May be it is a trap. But then this time they will be trapping themselves. the issue has grown to such proportions. For once we all have stood united. Our cChiefs has fought valiantly from the front. This is the time we have to support whatever decision they take. I am sure they will have our interest uppermost in their mind when they deal with this GOM.

Anonymous said...

A WORD OF CAUTION BEFORE WE GET IN CELEBRATION MOOD.
1.The committee constituted to look into the matter has the villain of SCPC drama as member.
2.The Bengali accented English of Dada will not match Harvardised convincing power of PC.
3.Our RM is too docile to take on both of them.
If this entire Exercise is just for face saving,then let them do another round of drama.If this boils down to getting into nuts and bolts then Armed Forces must insist for representation,otherwise Baboos will again play tricks and take these old men for a ride.
GIVE THIS A THOUGHT.

Anonymous said...

We salute you chiefs.
It certainly does not matter if, we get arrears or new pay scales this diwali. We can and will have a bright diwali with the old pay scales too.We know to smile in worst of conditions.Forces and their families has gone through worse phases of 'NO DIWALI'with families for years together."Pls dont get under pressure ". We are with you and will be always.

we will have a new year gift (time does not matter). Pls take this fight to its logical end.

Anonymous said...

dear all concerned

i personally as so many others do not have any faith on the chiefs that they will bring good result.after all we have experienced before when the nursing officers had a stay order regarding the change of the uniform the so called higherups inclined with the judiciary by paying huge amount to buy the judgement to change the uniform from olive green to biege dress .after all these chiefs had bought the judgement to humiliate and discourage the nursing ladies.now they have achieved what??? hatred from them and decrease the morale of the ladies.so this time also we do not trust the chiefs .it will take no time to the chiefs to have good drink and food along with baboooz and surrender to their conditions and sign and agree to the committee.
first of all the chiefs should learn to respect all in uniforms whether men or women whether the soldier or chief(according to their designation) .the uniform for the ladies have changed thrice on the will of the men dominated army chiefs .why? these girls are pigeons in the goldan cage.so this disparity has to be solved then only the trust will be there among the concerned .jaihind.

Anonymous said...

who is she , widen ur horizon.We r in this state coz of people like u(annony at 04:40)

Anonymous said...

Here is a news from IANS.

Anomalies in defence pay scales will be rectified: Antony
27 Sep, 2008, 1329 hrs IST, IANS

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Anomalies in pay scales for defence personnel in the Sixth Pay Commission will be sorted out soon, and the armed forces "will celebrate Diwali" by collecting their new salaries, Defence Minister AK Antony promised here on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters here, Antony rubbished news reports that the Indian armed forces personnel would observe the forthcoming festival of lights on Oct 28 as 'Black Diwali' over the newly announced pay scales.

"Who told you such things? Such a thing is not going to happen. When the Pay Commission came out with new pay scales, I agree there were some anomalies for the armed forces personnel. But don't worry. We will sort out all such issues and they will celebrate Diwali by collecting their new pay scales," Antony said.

digvijay said...

this anonymous who has interpreted that notification to be issued on Monday is out right his own interpretation , i have heard the news that matter will be sorted out on arrival of the pm , that is 1/2 of Oct by the committee .The point about issuing the notification has not been mentioned anywhere

Anonymous said...

How can one have faith when you see that in the broad day light the status of the armed forces personnel is degraded. How did one dare do that?

The faith further gets shattered when you see that a committee has been set up and has been given one month time to give its findings. The issues raised by the armed forces are straight forward ones and should not take much time for any one to take decision. Since the decisions are not being taken instead committee is being formed is in itself a reason to worry about.

I request the Chiefs not to give into the presure tactics of the bureaucracy and issue notification in hurry. We all are willing to wait for the successful resolution of the issues. When we waiting for so many years, we will as well wait for a few months more. Let us implement the pay revision only after we resolve the issues.

Let the bureaucrats not take the military for granted.

Do not hurry up. We may have to repent later as implementation is one way ticket. There can be no contingency plan in this regard. Please wait.

Anonymous said...

friends, i agree with soldier @1943, implementation is a one way ticket. be smart and dont accept the revised pay till the anomalies are sorted out. we are not beggars. we can survive on vcpc scales for some more time. the ploy is to delay the decisions and then the elections would be there and govt can defend itself saying that the issue is being looked into.
my advice is dont get fooled. history is replete with such deceptions and we should not fall frey to it again.

Anonymous said...

ever greedy and cribbing lot do not worry you will certainly get fewthousand more for your such a long crib

Anonymous said...

@ anony 1028,
we doct have to justify for what is rightfully ours.
@ everyone - mark my words, if we accept this revised pay, we would be doomed for a long time, our juniors would never forgive us. it seems eerily prophetic...
the time has come for us to show some resolve

Anonymous said...

From

The Men in Arms

To

The CsOS


Savdhan !,

General Salute !

Salami Sashtra

Yours Faithfully, Always

Anonymous said...

I am aghast at the reports in the Indian Express and some other media that The honorable RM, Shri Antony had to do some plain speaking to the three Chiefs. It was implied that he threatened them of the consequences (means sacking) if the arbitrary decision taken by the Committee of Secretaries ( Seen /perused The Cabinet Secretary, Mr Chadrasekhar) approved by the Cabinet, was not implemented.

In NDTV interview / talk, Virrappa Moilly, the honorable Chairman of Administrative Reforms Commission stated that that to put Lt Col below their civilian Counterpart, was not a Political Decision but that of the Committee of Secretaries. What an evasion. The decision signed by Cabinet is not a political decision? Is he meaning not signed by Madam Ji...???

Considering this, firstly, the honorable RM should have done some "plain speaking" to those who had deliberately mislead and sabotaged the sense of fair play, equity and propriety in the Committee of Secretary's report including to the financial advisor, if that was the case.

Cabinet secretary and all memeber of Comittee of Secretary including Finance Advisor should have been immediately sacked if the Political leadership, like Antony or Moilly are trying to say that they were made charlies by the IAS.How many heads have rolled there so far??

Then What "Plain Speaking" is Mr Antony doing?? Or Is it Mr Chandrasekhar who is trying to do some "Plain peaking" by paying to the Indian Express??

Are the political leadership trying to say, their their Political Direction have been sabotaged by IAS / IPS lobby ? Then God save this Country.

And why is Gen Kapoor chickening out?? To what avail??? He wants his place in history this way or that way??

They must be morally upright like good leaders and gentlemen or Join IAS band wagon.

The frauds perpetuated by IAS / IPS has been fully exposed. Well, the demand of the Armed Forces to have their representation in CPC fully stands vindicated. Till the time IAS control over MOD exists, The Indian Armed Forces do not need enemies from outside also stands fully proved.

IAS has made a mockery of integration of MOD. That was also a big political decison. They have sabotaged all Political decisions wrt to MOD taken before or after independence.

MOD perhaps is the most profitable place to be in for them. IPS are giving them company with false sense of Ego.

God only save The Armed Forces of India till these IAS leeches are around.

Anonymous said...

The writer is a former banker who was with the SBI Group and DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd.

Here is a very dispassionate view by a rank outsider. I' m sure many of us didn't think on these lines of reasoning earlier. Makes good reading and sense even !

We need a permanent solution to this tussle over emoluments so that the armed forces need only confront the enemies of the nation, says T.R.Ramaswami.
In the continuing debate on pay scales for the armed forces, there has to be a serious and transparent effort to ensure that the country is not faced with an unnecessary
civil-military confrontation. That effort will have to come from the netas, who are the real and true bosses of the armed forces and not the civil bureaucracy. A solution may lie in what follows. This country requires the best armed
forces, the best police and the best civil service. In fact
that is what the British ensured.. By best one means that a person chooses which service he wants as per his desires/capabilities and not based on the vast differential
in prospects in the various services. How much differential
is there? Take Maharashtra, one of the most parsimonious with police ranks thus still retaining some merit - the 1981 IPS batch have become 3-star generals, the 1987 are 2-star and the 1994 1-star.. In the army the corresponding years
are 1972, 1975, 1979. – ie a
differential of 10-15 years. While the differential is more with the IAS, the variance with the IPS is all the more glaring because both are uniformed services and the grades are "visible" on the shoulders.
First some general aspects. Only the armed forces are a real profession – ie where you rise to the top only by joining at the bottom. We have had professors of economics become Finance Secretaries or even Governors of RBI. We have any number of MBBSs, engineers, MBAs, in the police force though what their qualifications lend to their jobs is a moot point. You can join at any level in the civil service, except Cabinet Secretary. A civil servant can move from Animal Husbandry to Civil Aviation to Fertilisers to Steel to yes, unfortunately, even to Defence.. But the army never asks for Brigade Commanders or a Commandant of the Army War College or even Director General Military Intelligence, even
from RAW or IB. Army officers can and have moved into organizations like IB and RAW but it is never the other way round. MBBS and Law graduates are only in the Medical or JAG Corps and do nothing beyond their narrow areas. Every Army
Chief - in any army - has
risen from being a commander of a platoon to company to battalion to brigade to division to corps to army.

Next, one must note the rigidity and steep pyramid of the army's rank structure. In the civil services any post is fungible with any grade based on political expediency and the desires of the service. For example I know of one case where one department downgraded one post in another state and up-graded one in Mumbai just to enable someone continue in Mumbai after promotion! You can't fool around like this in the armed forces. A very good Brigadier cannot be made a Major-General and continue as brigade commander.
There has to be a clear vacancy for a Major General and even then there may be others better than him. Further the top five ranks in the army comprise only 10% of the officer strength. Contrast this with the civil services where entire batches become Joint Secretaries.
Even the meaning of the word "merit" is vastly different in the army and the civil services. Some years back an officer of the Maharashtra cadre claimed that he
should be the Chief Secretary as he was first in the merit list. Which merit list? At the time of entry more than 35 years before! The fact is that this is how merit is decided in the IAS and IPS. Every time a batch gets promoted the inter-se merit is still retained as at the time of entry. In other words if you are first in a batch at the time of entry, then as long as you get promoted, you continue to remain first! This is like someone in the army claiming that
he should become chief because he got the Sword of Honour at the IMA. Even a Param Vir Chakra does not count for promotion, assuming that you are still alive. In the armed
forces, merit is a continuous process - each time a batch
is promoted the merit list is redrawn according to your performance in all the previous assignments with additional weightage given not only to the last one but also to your suitability for the next one. Thus if you are a Brigade Commander and found fit to become a Major General, you may not get a division because others have been found
better to head a division. That effectively puts an end to your promotion to Lt. General. The compensation package must therefore address all the above issues. In each service, anyone must get the same total compensation by the time he reaches the 'mode rank' of his service. "Mode" is a statistical
> term – the value where the maximum number of variables
> fall. In the IAS normally everyone reaches Director and in
> the IPS it is DIG. In the army, given the aforementioned rank and grade rigidities and pyramidical structure, the mode rank cannot exceed Colonel. Thus a Colonel's gross career earnings (not salary scales alone) must be at par with that of a Director. But remember that a Colonel retires at 54, but every babu from peon to Secretary at 60 regardless of performance. Further, it takes 16-18 years to
become a Colonel whereas in that time an IAS officer reaches the next higher grade of Joint Secretary, which is considered equal to a Major General. These aspects and others - like postings in non-family stations - must be
> addressed while fixing the overall pay scales of Colonel and below. Thereafter a Brigadier will be made equal to a Joint Secretary, a Major-General to an Additional Secretary and a Lt. General to a Secretary. The Army Commanders deserve a new rank - Colonel General - and should be above a Secretary but below Cabinet Secretary. The equalization takes place at the level of Cabinet Secretary and Army Chief. If this isfinancially a problem I have another solution. Without increasing the armed forces' scales, reduce the scales of the IAS and IPS till they too have 20% shortage. Done? Even India 's corruption index will go down.
If the above is accepted in principle, there is a good case
to review the number of posts above Colonel. Senior ranks in the armed forces have become devalued with more and more posts being created. But the same pruning exercise is
necessary in the IAS and more so in the IPS, where Directors General in some states are re-writing police manuals – one is doing Volume I and another Volume II! Further the civil services have such facilities as "compulsory wait" – basically a picnic at taxpayers cost. And if you are not promoted or posted where you don't want to go they seem able to take off on leave with much ease. In the army you will be court-martialled. Also find out how many are on study leave. The country cannot afford this.
Let not someone say that the IAS and IPS exams are tougher and hence the quality of the officers better. An exam at the age of 24 has to be tougher than one at the age of 16. The taxpaying citizen is not interested in your essay/note writing capabilities or whether you know Cleopatra's grandfather. As a citizen I always see the army being called to hold the pants of the civil services and the police and
never the other way round. That's enough proof as to who is really more capable. Also recall the insensitive statements made by the IG Meerut in the Aarushi case and the Home Secretary after the blasts. Further, when the IAS and
IPS hopefuls are sleeping, eating and studying, their school mates, who have joined the army, stand vigil on the borders to make it possible for them to do so.
Remember that the armed forces can only fight for above the table pay. They can never compete with the civil services and definitely not with the police for the under the table variety.
Finally, there is one supreme national necessity. The political class – not the bureaucracy - which represents the real civil supremacy better become more savvy on matters
relating to the armed forces. Till then they are at the mercy of the civil service, who frequently play their own little war games. At ministerial level there are some very specialized departments – Finance, Railways, Security (Home), Foreign and Defence, where split second decisions are necessary. It is always possible to find netas savvy in finance, foreign relations and railways. Security has been
addressed in getting a former IPS officer as NSA at the level of a MoS. Is it time that a professional is also brought into the Defence Ministry as MoS? The sooner the
better. In fact this will be better than a CoDS because the armed forces will have someone not constrained by the Army Act or Article 33 of the Constitution. Of course the loudest howls will come from the babus. The netas must realize that a divide and rule policy cannot work where the country's security is concerned. Recall 1962?
Our army, already engaged in activities not core to their
functions, including rescuing babies from borewells (!), should not have to engage in civil wars over their pay scales.

The writer is a former banker who was with the SBI Group and DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd.