The seventh pay commission whose provisions are going to be implemented from October 1 after a long wait has not satisfied Army personnel especially veterans who feel that the status of the defence forces “has taken a big dip” especially in comparison to paramilitary forces and bureaucrats. The commission’s recommendations which were initially rejected by all three chiefs of the tri-services have only been accepted after the ministry of defence (MoD) gave its assurance of sorting out the various anomalies.

Sources said that defence minister Manohar Parrikar spoke to the service chiefs following which they decided to heed his advice on implementation of the pay commission. The commission’s implementation had been halted on September 9 when the three chiefs had written to the MoD about the apparent anomalies.

Among the major anomalies pointed out by the services are non functional upgrade (NFU), NFU pay fixation, military service pay (MSP), and common pay matrix for civilian and military services and allowances. Grant of NFU, a long standing demand of the forces, is for officers who are denied promotions due to the lack of vacancies in the steeply-pyramidal structure of the armed forces so that they do not lose out on pay grades, as their batch mates are promoted. “IFS and IPS officers, as also those from organized Group A civil services, now get NFU after the 6th pay commission like IAS officers. But the armed forces have been kept out of it,” said a senior serving officer. “This adversely impacts the morale of serving military officers. It also creates command, control and functional problems because even organizations that work closely with the military like DRDO, Border Roads Organisation, Military Engineer Services and the like get NFU,” he added.

Another demand is the placement of all Lt-Generals in the HAG+ (higher administrative grade) pay-scale like directors-general of police. “As of now, only 33% of Lt-Gens are in the HAG+ scale. The status of all Lt-Gens with that of DGPs must be restored,” the officer added.

Source : TOI

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Headquarters Eastern Command launched a 24×7 veteran helpline ‘VEcare 1904’ at Fort William today, which was inaugurated by Gen Shankar Roy Chowdhury (Retired), former Chief of the Army Staff, amidst a large number of serving and retired soldiers. Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, GOC-in-C Eastern Command, said the facility was in continuation of the Chief of the Army Staff’s focus on ‘Welfare of Ex-servicemen and Veer Naris’. Post launch of Directorate of Indian Army Veterans in January this year at New Delhi, the VEcare service is a new initiative for veterans and serving personnel of all three services. It would be particularly of immense help to individuals in distress and requiring immediate medical help. The facility will soon be extended to other stations of Eastern Command.

VEcare service can be availed from landline or mobile by simply dialing 1904. To a registered mobile user, it will provide automated voice guidance for medical emergency assistance including immediate dispatch of an ambulance, queries related to medical facilities and appointments at ECHS/ Command Hospital, CSD related value addition services and facilitate connectivity to Army telephone numbers. The Army Commander further stated that, an endeavour was underway to populate the data of all the veterans whereafter the software driven initiative would be fully exploited. The helpline facility is being seen as a major initiative towards veterans’ welfare.

Col Rohan Anand, SM
PRO (Army)

PIB

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