Recommendations of the Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee were submitted to defence minister Manohar Parrikar

The report also touches upon the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff

In order to enhance their combat capabilities, a key defence ministry panel has made several recommendations including increasing the retirement age of jawans by two years, doing away with manpower in non-combat arms and shutting down military farms.

The recommendations of the Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee were submitted to defence minister Manohar Parrikar almost three weeks ago.

The report also touches upon the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff – who would be the single point contact for the military with the government.

The main aim of the committee was to suggest means to cut down on useless expenditure and use the savings to acquire and enhance fighting capabilities of the army.

One of the most important recommendations of the committee was to increase the retirement age of jawans by two years, which will help the army save a significant amount on pensions and training of personnel.

Army jawans retire after serving a minimum of 17 years and depending upon their promotion while in service.

‘If the recommendations are accepted, jawans and junior commissioned officers till the rank of subedar major will get two more years of service,’ ministry sources told Mail Today.

‘This will reduce the cost of training new jawans along with the problem of providing them reemployment. Of the one million jawans in the army, almost 60,000 retire every year.

‘For two years, the forces can also save on recruiting new manpower,’ they said.

The Shekatkar committee has also suggested ‘optimising’ non-combat support arms in the army such as supply corps, ordnance and electrical and mechanical engineers who service cars and heavy vehicles.

‘Even in remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, one can get private agencies close to the border to service and repair army vehicles,’ the sources said.

Same applies for certain functions of the supply and ordnance corps like supplying rations and clothes to the forces.

Their roles can be limited to during war and other critical assignments.

The committee has also recommended abolishing military and dairy farms, where several thousand army personnel and a considerable number of officers are involved in mundane tasks like cattle rearing and growing vegetables.

The committee has also called for downsizing the remount veterinary corps, which looks after horses and mules for ceremonial as well as operations in the higher Himalayan regions of J&K and Arunachal Pradesh.

‘With helicopters and road networks allowing vehicles to reach the last points of border areas and mountains, there is no need to maintain such a large force of mules,’ the sources said.

The NCC is also on the radar of the Shekatkar committee as a large number of officers from the Army are sent there.

‘The committee feels that retiring personnel can be trained and sent there as re-employment. This will save the army the regular personnel for operational duties,’ the sources said.

Source : dailymail.co.uk

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New Delhi: The armed forces today said they have raised “anomalies” in the 7th Pay Commission with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and were satisfied with his response that the issue will be resolved at the earliest.

The statement by the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha comes just days after the three services issued letters to their formations, saying they have asked the government to hold “in abeyance” the implementation of the CPC in view of the “unresolved anomalies”.

The forces argue that the anomalies lower the status and pay parity of forces vis-a-vis their counterparts in the police and civilian administration.

Raha and Navy Admiral Sunil Lanba had also met with Parrikar on Monday over the issue.

The 7th Pay Commission anomalies in respect of the armed forces were discussed with the Defence Minister in detail by the Service Chiefs and the members of the Armed Forces Pay Commission Cell, a statement by Raha’s office said.

The Defence Ministry is “seized of all the issues and has assured to resolve them at the earliest. The Services are satisfied with the response,” it said.

The statement came amid reports that the forces were not happy with Parrikar’s reply.

PTI

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New Delhi: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday ordered the military chiefs to immediately enforce the recommendations of the 7th pay commission.

Last week, the three services , Army, Navy and the Air Force, had issued an open signal to servicemen informing them the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission is being kept in abeyance till anomalies are addressed.

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and Admiral Sunil Lanba, the Navy chief met Parrikar on Monday to reiterate the need to address the anomalies before the 7th Pay Commission could be rolled out for forces.

Sources said that Parrikar ordered the chiefs to immediately enforce the recommendations of the 7th pay commission and anomalies will be addressed shortly by the government.

Resentment has been brewing in the defence services over not allowing non-functional upgrade (NFU) in the services. NFU allows bureaucrats who have been passed over to get a higher pay as soon as their batch mates make it to the next rank.

The government has formed a national anomalies committee to look to into these type of issues.

Parrikar’s order to the forces comes at a time when a large section of the government feels that pay and allowances of military is better than most other government services.
The military gets pension from government exchequer when no other service gets pension from government exchequer because the civil employees covered under National Pension System (NPS), besides it, the military has been given One Rank One Pension (OROP), which is not available any civil service, sources said.

With inputs from agencies

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Ministry of Defence 

The Dhirendra Singh Committee submitted its Report to the Government in July, 2015. The Committee made 43 recommendations, out of which, 16 recommendations were regarding Make-in-India and 27 recommendations were regarding Defence Procurement Policy.

The Dhirendra Singh Committee recommendations have been examined by the Government and suitably factored into the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016, which focuses on a boost to the Make-in-India initiative of the Government of India, by promoting indigenous design, development and manufacturing of defence equipment, platforms and systems.

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar in a written reply to Shri Harivansh in Rajya Sabha today.

PIB

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Reliable sources conveyed Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told a high-level meeting at the MoD on March 22 that the stance of the ministry should be categorical on the issues of status, pay and allowances for the armed forces.

Parrikar Defends Armed Forces – Parrikar was in agreement with key issues raised by the three service chiefs – Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Admiral Robin Dhowan and General Dalbir Singh Suhag.

Tackling irksome issues as regards the 7th Central Pay Commission, the Ministry of Defence will convey to an empowered committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary that the status, pay and allowances of the armed forces be kept above all other “fighting” arms of the government.

Reliable sources conveyed Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told a high-level meeting at the MoD on March 22 that the stance of the ministry should be categorical on the issues of status, pay and allowances for the forces.

Parrikar was in agreement with key issues raised by the three service chiefs – Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Admiral Robin Dhowan and General Dalbir Singh Suhag.

MoD officials have been asked to prepare a formal note for the empowered committee of secretaries, led by the Cabinet Secretary, which is studying recommendations of the 7th central pay commission. The government is yet to announce what it has accepted or rejected. The forces cannot directly petition the empowered committee.

In all, the forces have flagged 37 issues of which eight have been termed as “key-issues”, which, if not sorted out, can have an adverse impact on the morale.

One of the issues was “wrong and misplaced” comparison with the Central armed police (paramilitary) forces—Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

The services have told the MoD that there can be no comparison with the paramilitary in terms of the mandate, duties, risks in service conditions and tasks assigned. The 7th CPC will upset laid-down seniorities and place armed forces’ allowances lower than those for paramilitary forces.

The three armed forces have petitioned Parrikar for the restoration of earlier status, which has been “disturbed” following recommendations of the 7th CPC.

The disability pension for the armed forces has been lowered, but it has been maintained at same levels for paramilitary forces. Parrikar has been informed that the pay panel has disturbed parity between Lt-Colonels and Commandants of the paramilitary forces.

The issue of allowances was discussed at the meeting and the much-quoted example of how Guwahati will be a “tougher” posting than serving on the forbidding Siachen Glacier, was brought out.

The 7th pay commission has suggested Rs 31,500 per month for officers and Rs 21,000 per month for jawans as allowance to compensate them for the “hardship” faced at Siachen. However, once the pay commission’s new salary slabs come into place, the tough area allowance (TRA), which is about 33 per cent of the basic salary, in civilian services works out to be in excess of Rs 55,000 for IPS and IAS officers and Rs 30,000 for others posted in areas such as Guwahati.

Source: Tribune India

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Mumbai: With confusion surrounding who among the retirees will get the benefits of One Rank One Pension, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today asked all those concerned to wait for the final order, which will “explain it properly”.

“You have to wait for the final order (on OROP) which will come. Why is there so much excitement till then the PM has made it amply clear that those who are being allowed to retire through proper procedure will not be (adversely) impacted. You need to wait for the exact wording,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an Engineers’ Conclave.

He also clarified that the concept of ‘Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) does not exist in the Armed Forces.

“In the Armed Forces even if you apply, you may not get voluntary retirement, unlike (in) civilian (service), where you can get it. In the Armed Forces, you can be refused. There are many people who because of health reasons apply and the Armed Forces also want them to retire and, if that happens before the minimum service requirement, then they don?t get pension.

“We will explain this properly, no one should unnecessarily create confusion on it,” Parrikar said.

Parrikar said many things needed to be considered before Rs 8000 crore is sanctioned for implementing OROP.

“A lot of things have to be considered before sanctioning Rs 8,000 crore…it is not a matter of Rs 8. There were a lot of issues involved with it, why blame someone? It is very easy to say that give it (money), but when one has to give the money, it is not easy,” he said.

He was asked whether differences between bureaucracy and the political leadership had delayed the announcement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had yesterday said those who had had to quit the defence forces prematurely would also be entitled to OROP benefits.

PTI

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Government Announces One Rank One Pension Scheme for Ex-Servicemen

The Government has announced the One Rank One Pension scheme for the Ex-Servicemen. This was announced by the Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar here today. The following is the statement of the Defence Minister:

“Government of India respects its Defence Forces and Ex-Servicemen for their valour, patriotism and sacrifices. The Government is proud of their devotion to duty and bravery. Our forces, besides vigilantly and gallantly defending the nation, have displayed exemplary standards of courage and bravery in natural calamities, law and order situations and other difficult circumstances.

The issue of “One Rank One Pension” (OROP) has been pending for nearly four decades. It is a matter of deep anguish that the various governments remained ambivalent on the issue of OROP. In February 2014, the then Government stated that OROP would be implemented in 2014-15, but did not specify what OROP would be, how it would be implemented or how much it would cost. An estimated Rs. 500 crore provided for OROP in the budget presented in February 2014 by the then government was not based on any thorough analysis. It is pertinent to mention that the then Minister of State for Defence in 2009 had, in reply to a question, informed Parliament that there are administrative, technical and financial difficulties in implementing OROP. It is for these reasons that the present government took some time to fulfil its promise.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has, on various occasions, reiterated the Government’s commitment to implement OROP for Ex-Servicemen under military pension. As stated above, the previous government has estimated that OROP would be implemented with a budget provision of a mere Rs. 500 crore. The reality, however, is that to implement OROP, the estimated cost to the exchequer would be Rs. 8,000 to 10,000 crore at present, and will increase further in future.

The Government held extensive consultations with experts and Ex-Servicemen. The main argument for OROP is that the Defence personnel retire early and thus are not able to get the benefits of serving till normal retirement age. Despite the huge fiscal burden, given its commitment to the welfare of Ex-Servicemen, the Government has taken a decision to implement the OROP.

In simple terms, OROP implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of their date of retirement. Future enhancements in the rates of pension would be automatically passed on to the past pensioners. This implies bridging the gap between the rate of pension of current and past pensioners at periodic intervals.

Under this definition, it has been decided that the gap between rate of pension of current pensioners and past pensioners will be bridged every 5 years.

Under the OROP Scheme:

The benefit will be given with effect from 1st July, 2014. The present government assumed office on 26th May, 2014 and therefore, it has been decided to make the scheme effective from a date immediately after.

Arrears will be paid in four half-yearly instalments. All widows, including war widows, will be paid arrears in one instalment.

To begin with, OROP would be fixed on the basis of calendar year 2013.

Pension will be re-fixed for all pensioners retiring in the same rank and with the same length of service as the average of minimum and maximum pension in 2013. Those drawing pensions above the average will be protected.

Personnel who voluntarily retire will not be covered under the OROP scheme.

In future, the pension would be re-fixed every 5 years.

It is estimated that the expenditure on arrears alone would be ten to twelve thousand crores of rupees. Apart from the fact that the previous government had provided for only Rs. 500 crore in the budget, it is noteworthy that the Koshiyari Committee had accepted the estimate of Rs. 235 crore as additional financial burden to implement OROP. The present government has accepted OROP in true spirit without being constrained by these inaccurate estimates.

OROP is a complex issue. A thorough examination of interests of retirees of different periods and different ranks is needed. The inter-service issues of the three Forces also require consideration. This is not an administrative matter alone. Therefore, it has also been decided that a One Member Judicial Committee would be constituted which will give its report in six months.

Prime Minister Shri Modi has fulfilled his commitment and approved OROP for Armed Forces personnel. Ministry of Defence will soon issue detailed Government Order.”

NAo/NM/RK

PIB

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Lucknow: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said there will be “good news” soon on the issue of One Rank One Pension, a long-standing demand of ex-servicemen who have been holding protests across the nation.

“It’s an inter-departmental issue. As far as the Defence Ministry is concerned, our work is almost over. This is taking time but I can say that there will be a good news soon,” he said.

Ex-servicemen have been protesting since last month to press for the implementation of One Rank, One Pension. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that his government is committed to the long-awaited One Rank, One Pension (OROP) policy for ex-servicemen.

Currently, the pension of retired personnel is based on the pay commission recommendations in force at the time of their retirement.

One Rank One Pension scheme is aimed at ensuring that all retired soldiers, who have the same rank and the length of service receive the same amount of pension, irrespective of their date of retirement.

Currently, all those soldiers who retired before 2006 receive less pension than their counterparts and even their juniors.

PTI

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One Rank One Pension: Meeting of Military veterans with Parrikar inconclusive, threaten to go on hunger strike

Read at Financial Express

PM Modi is committed to ‘one rank one pension’ scheme: Defence expert

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