About four weeks ago, groups of retired servicemen comprising generals to sepoys gathered at a number of places all over the country from Bangalore to Chandigarh and Delhi and carried out silent marches to protest against the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission (CPC). This was followed by sit-in protests at a few places; totally peaceful and disciplined. When this had gone on for a few days our minister of state for defence, Pallam Raju, labeled it ‘undignified’. This was a strange remark from the political class.

No pay commission has evoked such extreme feelings as the current one. Though there are numerous representations by the service HQ and some retired chiefs, I shall only dwell upon some of the major ones. First was the meagre allocation of military service pay (MSP) to personnel below officer rank, which is just Rs 1,000 per month. For a long time the services have been asking for a separate compensation for them, because of their unique service conditions. The CPC had raised expectations but the amount was most disappointing for JCOs and other ranks. The biggest blunder, from the services’ view point, is that the soldiers who always had an edge over the para military forces have now been denied that.

The second aspect, particularly galling to the officer cadre, was that their status was lowered one rung below the existing position by granting pay grades not in consonance with their pay scale and length of service. The higher emoluments at the beginning are no balm for a reduced status. Further, the edge in emoluments is all but neutralised by the 15th year of service when an IAS officer enters Pay Band 4 as recommended by the CPC and the pay deficit for the service officer rises to Rs 8,000.

... contd.