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Sunil Jain
NEW DELHI, JULY 1: Six months after it was first done for all civilian government employees, the Ministry of Defence has finally notified a hike in pensions for ex-servicemen who retired before 1-1-96. Based on this, monthly pensions will immediately go up by around 12 per cent for officers of the rank of captains, and as high as 24 per cent for lieutenant generals.
Prior to last month's notification, the pensions of servicemen differed widely, depending on when they retired -- with salaries increasing each year, officers who retire later get much higher pensions than those who retired earlier. Under the new dispensation, even if a person retired before 1-1-96, he/she will get a pension equal to at least half the minimum pay in that post today.
To use an example, let's say the pay scale for a major currently runs from Rs 12,800 to Rs 15,000. So, a major who retired before 1-1-96 will now get a pension of at least Rs 6,400 (that's half of Rs 12,800). This pension would have been lower earlier, depending onthe salary structure in the year the major retired. For a major who retired in 1960, it could have been as low as Rs 2,500. In 1996, however, based on a One-Time-Increment, pensions were equalised, but with a cut-off date of 1986. Based on this, prior to last month's notification, the pension a major got was Rs 5,640.
A similar notification for bureaucrats was notified on December 17 last year, but the Ministry of Defence did not notify this for the armed forces.
According to ministry sources, the main reason for not notifying this was the armed forces' demand of one-rank-one-pension -- all retired servicemen of a particular rank should get the same pension, irrespective of when they retired. The armed forces were demanding that the 50 per cent notification not be issued, and instead the ministry notify the one-rank-one-pension scheme.
While the ministry has been pushing for it, this has been shot down by the Ministries of Finance as well as Personnel, since it would lead to corresponding demands by thecivilian bureau -- the total cost of giving the defence forces a one-rank-one-pension is estimated to be around Rs 300 crore.
It is understood that if the Government does not agree to a one-rank-one-pension, the defence forces may get another One-Time-Increase of the sort they got in 1994. The last OTI equated all ex-servicemen who retired till 1986, giving them the same pension for the same rank, irrespective of when they retired.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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