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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

A Salute to the leadership of Central Armed Police Forces under the Ministry of Home Affairs

This subject was also discussed on this blog last year.

Unlike the times of yore, there has been a welcome change in the way the facilities and benefits of the men and women of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) are being administered.

Despite the fact that the appointments of Director General of all CAPFs and CPOs are not held by cadre officers but by members of the Indian Police Service, almost all officers heading these forces have firmly taken a stand for their personnel with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the said Ministry has also responded positively to their requests, needs and requirements. Troopers, Subordinate officers, Cadre gazetted officers and IPS officers posted in CAPFs are also much aware of their rights and benefits and make it a point to constructively highlight the same in one voice without any infighting or peer jealousy.

The latest issue resolved by the Home Minister of India, Sh Rajnath Singh, is the grant of ex-gratia compensation to military veterans contractually employed with the CRPF at par with regular CRPF employees. Families of such contractual ex-servicemen were not being allowed the benefit of ex-gratia @ Rs 15 lakhs in the event of unfortunate demise during operations. However, the MHA has agreed to grant such regular benefit to the families of 2 veterans who were recently killed in action. Of course, on the basis of parity, the action is expected to be extended to all similar deaths in action.

Even the Dynamic Assured Career Progression Scheme, which has remained elusive for Military Doctors despite a Supreme Court decision in their favour has already been extended to uniformed combatised doctors of the CAPFs and the same was also smoothly given retrospective effect on directions of the Karnataka High Court.

On the litigation front, minimal court decisions rendered by Courts in favour of CAPF personnel and their families are challenged by the legal departments of these forces or the MHA. Most judgements are respectfully adhered to and there are no appeals based on administrative egotism. The complete approach is positive and there is cohesion of thoughts.

With the MHA and the force leadership firmly standing behind their men and women in uniform, the day is not far when as a career option, the CAPFs would become more attractive for youth than the defence services. Already personnel recruited in CAPFs have the benefit of retiring at the age of 57 years whereas their military counterparts start retiring at the age of 34 and above depending upon the rank attained. With more and more facilities and benefits being extended to CAPFs and with a supportive Ministry, these forces are definitely experiencing achhe din.

I compliment the Heads of the CAPFs, the MHA and also the Home Minister for bringing a complete turnaround in how personnel and welfare policies of CAPFs and CPOs are being managed. Despite the poor working conditions in many areas, members of these forces are now proud of their respective organisations, a situation much different than say 20 years ago.

13 comments:

Brigadier Mahalingam said...

My compliments to MHA and the heads of CAPFs. Well done. Hope the MOD learns from them.

Anonymous said...

Hope Miltary leadership will see this post and learn a few things from their counterparts in CAPF instead of bickering among themselves (Army, Navy AF) like idiots.

Unknown said...

Hope the Ministry of P, PG & Pensions/ Min of Defence, their Pension -Welfare Depts also learn from these ethical practices and also respect the judicial verdicts. Egotism and Compulsive Litigation advebturism must be stopped. VN

BB said...

The disconnect between the Politico-Babu controlled MoD and the Armed Forces is complete. Biman

WG.CDR.V.SUNDARESAN(RETD) said...

why not make AFs also a part and parcel of HOM?
We all would be too happy and too eager to serve the country in whatever way. Otherwise, let the HM be also the RM.
v.sundaresan

Anonymous said...

I think for a good change in army, evem army should be given under the command of IPS officers...(Pun intended)

Lt Col Rajkaran Singh said...

1. I fully agree that the momentum of the CAPFs improvement in organising better ground facilities for their men in all ranks(ALL Ranks does include offr lot too which generally people forget) and also in their quality of life both in peace and field areas is really commendable and worth taking a lesson for all of us. They started copping us and have left us behind in many fields.
2. The earlier we start appreciating the positive approach behind all these moves and we come out of the mental setup brought in us by the erstwhile British Army better it shall be for the organisation in the long run.
3. It's in the interest of the Organisation & the Nation that we look for welfare in real terms for everybody in the Armed Forces.This can be only possible by change in Attitude that only I am working hard and neither my predecessor nor my successor will be able to do that much.
4. Being third generation in the Army I am witness to so many changes in the functioning of the ELITE FORCE both good and bad. It,s high time to change our self and be a bit more demanding.
All The Best!
Lt Col Rajkaran Singh

dattatreyahg said...

Defence Services are trained & indoctrinated for war and war-like situations,and they have done very well. But higher level Personnel Functions (beyond routine functions related to TDs/Attachments,transfers,ACRs and promotions,Pay&Allowances ) are extremely Complex matters and Defence personnel do not have the requisite competence to deal with such complex matters in a proactive manner.Presumption that they have such competence is the root cause of many of our problems.

MS said...

Its not HM, its also those services who fought together and improved their career prospects and policies unlike our services who can't evn stand together. We are too busy in categorising caste-creed, how will we raise up. We only think about self not community

rajat said...

There are only two kind of people in this world one are bad and one are good, but the world is getting bad not because the bad guys are increasing in number but because of the number of good guys who are not speaking out and resigning to the fact that nothing can be done.

Same is the case in the fauj, there are two types of fauji's, those who only work for there next rank and those who genuinely want the services to improve. This ratio was 70:30 but the sad part is in the fauj the guys who genuinely want to do good is reducing and those who are only working for there next rank is increasing the current ratio lies at 80:20.

The more we run after ranks the more we alienate from the core issues.

Anonymous said...

NOW....is time for doctors in AFMS to quit fauj and join CAPFs.....

Anonymous said...

the biggest enemies of solders , sailors and airmen are their own senior ranks and unless these viceroys reform for keeping their own selfish perks and pelf , the armed forces will continue to slide down the ranks . What stops these flag ranks from letting a young officer go after 2to3 yrs of service or 10 to 12 yrs of service . THEY themselves sit on the boards of injured officers and men and what stops them from showing compassion when a sick or injured is begging for a few hundred more of disabilty pension . What stops them from promoting all soLders by time to atleast subedar or officers to maj gen rank . Only command billets can be filled by selection . As long as they show double standards and want status quo and have massive egos and jealousy THINGS CANNOT IMPROVE. who leaks the unwritten or spoken reputation of officers to babus when same ranks are coming up for promotions . Whilst they show the regulations to the middle and junor ranks, who supplies canteen liquor to mod BaBus for personnel gains and cultivates the press and mod babus for promotions . THE ROT AND SCUM IS IN SERVICE HQ . WITH THEIR TUNNELLED AND FUNNELLED VISIONS THEY HAVE PETTY THINKING AND UNDERSTANDING OF PERKS . WHO MAKES BRIGS AND COLS STAND AS WAITERS IN CIVIL MILTARY MEETS HELD ANNUALLY . THE IAS AND IPS OFFICERS ARE MORE WORLDLY WISE AND THEIR PRIORITIES ARE MAKING MONEY AND NOT FINGER OTHERS AND JUNIORS . THEY COLLECTIVELY LOOK AFTER THEIR SUBORDINATES , COLLEGUES AND THEMSELVES . AS LONG AS THE FLAG RANKS WANT TO BEHAVE LIKE VICEROYS THEY WILL ONLY BE SIDELINED AND BROUGHT DOWN THE TABLE . THE ARMED FORCES LEADERSHIP IS ITSELF TO BLAME FOR MANY OF THE ILLS WHICH EFFECT THE CONDITIONS OF THOSE WORKING INIT ONLY THE MIDDLE RANK OFFICERS AND BELOW AND SUBEDAR AND BELOW SUFFER . THE POLICE AND PARAMILTARY ORGANISATIONS ARE TODAY FILLED WITH SEASONED HIGHLY EDUCATED IPS AND CIVILSERVICE OFFICERS . THE 12TH PASS NDA /IMA MONKEYS WILL REMAIN AND FIGHT LIKE MONKEYS . A FEW COMMENTS OF A FORMER MINISTER OF STATE FOR DEFENCE WITH A ENG / IAS BCKGROUND WILL LEAVE MANY SERVICE OFFICERS HANGING THEIR HEADS IN SHAME .

Anonymous said...

DACP in some modified/diluted version expected shortly. (old doc)