One Rank One Pension – Committee submitted report to Prime Minister

Ministry of Defence

27-August, 2012

Pay and Pension Matters of Personnel

The committee chaired by Cabinet Secretary is comprised of

• Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister;
• Defence Secretary; Secretary,
• Department of Expenditure; Secretary,
• Department of Ex- Servicemen`s Welfare and Secretary,
• Department of Personnel and Training.

Consequent to change in charge of the then Secretary, Department of Expenditure to Department of Revenue, Secretary, Department of Revenue has also been co-opted as a Member of the Committee.

Chief of Naval Staff & Chairman, Chiefs of the Staff Committee made a presentation to the Committee.

The Committee further interacted with all the Service Chiefs (Chief of Naval Staff & Chairman, Chiefs of the Staff Committee; Chief of Air Staff and Chief of Army Staff).

The recommendations of the Committee have been submitted to the Prime Minister.

Lack of details in PM’s speech on military pay and pension anomalies

For all those who are wondering why the Prime Minister only briefly touched the matter regarding implementation of the recommendations of the Committee of Secretaries examining pay and pension anomalies of the services and did not fully discuss the details in his Independence Day Speech, it would be worthwhile to inform that firstly the Committee could not submit the report by 08 August 2012 as envisaged by the order of the PMO and there still were some loose ends and some dissenting voices from the side of the Defence Ministry. And secondly, it has come to note that the implementation could not be officially announced because of the lack of a cabinet nod and hence the absence of the formal acceptance of the report by the govt. Mr Deshmukh’s untimely demise added to the delay.

On implementation, which should be in the very near future, the military community can expect bridging of the gap between pre and post 2006 retirees by further enhancement of weightages for pension, enhancement of pension of commissioned officer retirees on the principles of modified parity, dual family pension for widows, removal of bar of continuance of family pension on marriage of handicapped kin, introduction of common pay-scales for ranks below commissioned officers and non-functional upgradation (NFU) for commissioned officers. Civilian pensioners can also be expected to be benefited as a result of modification of pensionary modalities. 

Enhancement of Grade Pay for commissioned ranks and enhanced initial pay fixation for Lt Cols, Cols and Brigs may not be recommended by the committee and would in all probability be kept pending for further deliberations.

Still, there’s many-a-slip in the domain of officialdom, as we all know, hence reactions on the fresh provisions should be reserved till the time the recommendations are officially notified as accepted with full details. 

 

By Maj. Navdeep

What can be legitimately expected? : PM appointed Committee of Secretaries looking into Pay and Pension anomalies

 

It seems that the PM appointed Committee of Secretaries looking into the anomalies affecting serving and retired defence personnel is ready with its report.

What I’m placing on the blog in the following lines is broadly what is expected out of the committee’s recommendations.

However, please do be warned that the thought-process of the committee is only recommendatory in nature and is yet to be accepted by the PM, and also, that the final turn out could be different than what may be recommended.

The low-down below on the majority of issues is just what can be reasonably expected, however kindly be reserved about bouquets or brickbats as yet till the time the matter is officially announced.

One Rank One Pension for ranks other than commissioned officers: The concept of OROP as classically understood, may not be accepted. However the gap between pre and post 2006 pensioners would further be bridged. The last time this was done in March 2010 when the Committee of Secretaries had recommended the enhancement of pensions on 01 July 2009. The Govt would most probably implement further enhancement of pensionary weightages applicable to lower ranks to compensate them for their truncated careers thereby further reducing the gap. Not exactly OROP but would provide succour to lower ranks for sure. The weightages currently applicable are 10, 8, 6 and 5 years for Sepoys, Naiks, Havildars and JCOs respectively.

Widows’ Pensions: Family pensions would be enhanced in all probability. As reported on the blog earlier, pension of widows would now be calculated with reference to the notional top of the 5^th CPC scale within the new 6^th CPC scales rather than the bottom of the scales. It may be recalled that till the 5^th CPC, the pension of widows was calculated with respect to the top of the scale which was brought down to the bottom of the pay-band as a result of introduction of pay-bands by the 6^th CPC.

Enhanced Pension for Commissioned Officers: While the system of calculation of other ranks has always been different and more beneficial, the pension of Commissioned Officers has traditionally been linked with the system of calculation as followed for civilian employees. The Govt is however likely to increase the pensions of commissioned officers by calculating pension based not on the minimum of the pay band but by taking the basis of minimum of pay within the pay-band. This is totally in line with what had been decided by the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal in Sqn Ldr SS Matharu’s case, and by the Delhi Bench in Lt Cdr Avtar Singh and Sqn Ldr Vinod Jain’s case. This is also in line with the orders of the Full Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal rendered for civilian pensioners as a result of the long drawn struggle led by Mr V Natarajan, President, Pensioners’ Forum, Chennai. The said stipulation shall bring much needed succour especially to officers who retired from the rank of Major and Major General. If ultimately recommended and implemented, in all probability, the stipulation may also be extended to civilian pensioners thereby particularly resulting in relief to officers who retired from the Junior Administrative Grade (Deputy Secretary to Govt of India) and Senior Administrative Grade (Joint Secretary to Govt of India). While the maximum relief would be for these ranks and grades, this would result in enhancement to other grades also. 

Dual Family Pension and Pension for married handicapped kin: Currently, widows of pensioners who were in receipt of two service pensions for two separate spells of service are authorised one family pension only after the death of the employee/pensioner. This bar on the second family pension would be removed in all probability. Handicapped kin of govt employees are authorised to family pension for life but according to the interpretation of authorities, such pension was being refused to married handicapped children. This was held bad in law by the Chandigarh Bench of the AFT in the case of Vinod Kumar Vs UOI and also by the Chennai Bench and hence was not actually required to be placed before the committee having been already judicially adjudicated upon. This regressive bar is also bound to be removed. Both these stipulations are also expected to be extended to civilian pensioners.

Non Functional Upgradation: NFU for serving commissioned officers of the defence services is likely to be accepted. Though the signals are highly affirmative, nothing can be said till the time the same is done.

Enhancement of Grade Pay and other pay+status related anomalies: Enhancement of Grade Pay and the status of officers of the defence services degraded by successive pay commissions may not be resolved at the instant stage though full efforts are being made by all parties. The major stumbling block is the report by a GoM headed by Mr Pranab Mukherjee that had placed a Lt Col of the Army in between the Junior Administrative Grade (PB-3/GP 7600) and the Selection Grade (PB-4/GP 8700) based on incorrect inputs by the Finance Ministry. In the said report, officers of the Finance Ministry had also reportedly informed the GoM that officers in the Army were being promoted to the rank of Brig in 23 years of service and Maj Gen in 25 years. Both figures are grossly wrong and since there was no chance or occasion provided for military representatives to rebut these incorrect facts, the injustice got solidified. It may be recalled that even earlier, wrong pay scales of military officers had been mentioned on Page 73 of the 6th CPC report as published in 2008 on this blog, which anomaly was only to an extent rectified when Lt Cols were upgraded to Pay Band-4. Fixation of initial pay for Lt Cols, Cols and Brigs is also linked to this issue. HAG+ to all Lt Gens may not be accepted.

I would request readers again not to strongly react to the above and wait for all recommendations, and then the implementation, to be officially announced after which a detailed analysis can be carried out further. 

 

Source: Indianmilitary

Govt constitutes Committee to look into pay and pension related issues of defence services personnel and ex-servicemen

The Government has decided to constitute a Committee, under the chairpersonship of Cabinet Secretary, to look into pay and pension related issues of relevance to defence services personnel and ex-servicemen. The other members of the Committee will be:

(i) Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister

(ii) Defence Secretary

(iii) Secretary, D/o Expenditure

(iv) Secretary, D/o Ex-Servicemen’s Welfare

(v) Secretary, D/o Personnel and Training


The Committee’s ‘terms of reference’ will be to look into the following issues relating to:

(i) Defence services personnel:

• Common pay-scale for in-service JCOs/ORs

• Initial pay-fixation of Lt. Col/Colonel and Brigadier/equivalent

• Review and enhancement of grade pay

• Placing of all Lts General in HAG+ scale

• Grant of non-functional upgradation (NFU) to armed forces personnel


(ii) Ex-servicemen:

• One-rank one-pension

• Enhancement of family pension

• Dual family pension

• Family pension to mentally/physically challenged children of armed forces personnel on marriage

The Department of Expenditure will service the Committee. The Committee may co-opt any other member. The Committee will finalize its recommendations and submit its report to the Prime Minister by 8th August, 2012.

Ex.Sgt.M.Gopal Reddy,(Med.Asst.) Inspector of Central Excise, Audit, Hyd-I Comm’te died in the evening of 30-6-2012 in a tragic road accident

Ex.Sgt.M.Gopal Reddy(Med.Asst.) Inspector of Customs & Central Excise

Sri M.Gopal Reddy, 55 years old, Inspector of Central Excise, Audit, Hyderabad-I Commissionerate (UOT to CC Office) died around 3-30 pm of 30-6-2012 in a tragic road accident near Appa Junction, Shamshabad Airport Road, Hyderabad.


Shri M.Gopal Reddy was returning from his village along with father-in-law of his elder daughter and ten year old girl.Shri Gopal Reddy was himself driving the car and in a jiffy, due to loss of control, hit a stationary lorry from behind. The impact was so huge that the car rammed into the Lorry and the death was instant for all the three inmates of the Car with hair-raising and blood-letting injuries on their bodies.

Shri M.Gopal Reddy was an ex-service man and belongs to the 1994 batch of Hyderabad Zone Inspectors. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, elder daughter married and a scientist in DRDO, Hyderabad and younger daughter who is pursuing her M.Pharmacy in Hyderabad.

Shri M.Gopal Reddy always worked quietly and sincerely and won love, affection and accolades from the officers, colleagues and the trade for his efficiency and industrious work culture.

MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE. MAY GOD GIVE COURAGE AND CONFIDENCE TO HIS WIFE AND HIS TWO DAUGHTERS TO BEAR WITH THE UNTIMELY DEATH OF SHRI M.GOPAL REDDY.

Online Pension Calculation software for defence pensioners goes online

‘Suvigya’ was is a software developed after great research by the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) to provide exact calculation of pension for various categories of defence pensioners.

Since the canvas of defence pension is very vast with pension varying with each rank, year of release and trade/category, effectively compiling and effectuating the software was an enormous task for CGDA. To complicate matters, orders issued from time to time had resulted in confusing even the pension disbursing authorities in this regard.

The said system is now online and can be accessed through the following link:

http://cgda.nic.in/Suvigya

Pensioners / family pensioners have to enter basic details on the website for obtaining the correct amount of pension admissible to them under various orders issued from time to time.

There is however a disclaimer on the website that the amount calculated therein cannot be quoted as authority.

CLARIFICATION ON RENEWAL APPLICATION ON PRIME MINISTER’S SCHOLARSHIP

 As per the communication from Director Sainik Welfare, New Delhi on 16.3.2012, all the candidates selected for Prime Minister’s Scholarship are  to submit their renewal form along with Bonafied certificate directly to The Kendriya Sainik Board, New Delhi, on priority for payment 

AT LAST ANOMALY HAS BEEN REMOVED SERGEANTS PENSION IS STEPPED UP ON PAR WITH LACs

Rev Pen PBOR Retd Prior Jan 2006(1)

DEARNESS RELIEF TO PENSIONERS- ORDERS RELEASED

GOVT. HAS ISSUED ORDERS FOR RELEASE OF 65% DA FROM 1.1.2012 TO ALL PENSIONERS.

CLICK HERE FOR ORDERS

Union cabinet approved 7% Release of additional instalment of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief

The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to release an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. 1.1.2012 representing an increase of 7% over the existing rate of 58% of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise. The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both dearness allowance and dearness relief would be of the order of Rs.7474.53 crore per annum and Rs.8720.32 crore in the financial year 2012-13 (i.e. for a period of 14 months from January, 2012 to February, 2013).



Source: Cabinet Secretariat

Mobile Polyclinics for Ex-Servicemen

Providing Medicare to Ex-servicemen and their dependents is an ongoing process and the endeavor of the government is to continuously upgrade the quality of medicare services being provided. The Government has approved opening of additional 199 polyclinics including 17 mobile polyclinics besides the existing 227 polyclinics to improve accessibility of Ex-servicemen to medical facilities. Out of 199 polyclinics, 43 polyclinics have already been operationalised.

Opening of new polyclinics is based on the ESM population in a particular area. Mobile polyclinics are proposed for remote/hilly areas where the ESM population is less and scattered. Presently 342 districts have been covered with 426 ECHS polyclinics (270 operational & 156 proposed) including 17 mobile polyclinics. The newly sanctioned polyclinics will be operationalised across the country including Himachal Pradesh in a phased manner over a period of time.

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri MM Pallam Raju in a written reply to Shrimati Viplove Thakur in Rajya Sabha today.

SUCCESS STORY OF EX-SNCOs-DECCAN CHRONICLE DT. 6.3.2012

Taking destiny in his own hands: Vardhan and K. Jayanth Reddy

In 1999, K. Jayanth Reddy left the Indian Air Force with a paltry pension, a fraction of the meagre Rs 4000 or so that he was getting.
After going through the regular rigmarole of finding a job, Jayanth decided to take his destiny in his own hands. Today Jayanth has roped in at least 18 other ex-servicemen and employs almost 200 people in various ventures of his JVS Technologies. His business fetches him lakhs in profit every month.
Jayanth recalls his journey. “I was a radar fitter. I started with an agency for batteries in Ferozguda here. But it failed to take off. Then I got into waste management, supplying pellets generated from waste to Aditya Birla Group of Cement Plants in 2001. It then occurred to me that waste paint, that was being dumped over huge areas by a renowned automobile group, could also be converted into fuel for the cement plants and I asked them to let me do it. In fact, the enormous diggings brought equivalent profits for us. Equally significant was my idea to supply technical manpower to DRDL and then came the Mint, Hyderabad,” shares Jayanth.
His associate, retired airman M.M.M. Vardhan disclosed that supply of CNG and CNG tankers in Hyderabad, modernisation of railway logistics in Secunderabad, Bengaluru and other places were just a few more feathers in Jayanth’s cap. Jayanth, however, does not want to talk about his philanthropic work. Apart from donating liberally to old age homes, orphanages and wards of ex-servicemen, he has come up with a brilliant idea of “staying together in old age with my mates from the Forces”. Jayanth, thus, bought 25 acres of agricultural land in Gandipet along with 18 other airmen. “The community shall have all facilities, including a hospital for its residents and we shall all stay together, leading a retired life,” says Vardhan.

Sergeant M.Mahi Mitra Vardhan can be contacted on 08008333403

WELL DON JAYANTH & VARDHAN 

Diploma with 10 years = Degree in Engg.

Many have requested for the letter of Ministry of Education & Social Welfare dated 26.5.1977, where it has been recognised  the Diploma with 10 years of technical experience is equivalent to Degree in Engg. in appropriate field. The same is published here with for information of all concerned.

 

Mirage 2000 Aircraft Crash

One MIRAGE-2000 aircraft of IAF crashed near Bhind, Madhya Pradesh on 24 Feb 2012 at about 1210 hrs. The aircraft had got airborne from Gwalior airbase and was on a routine training-flying mission. The Pilot Air Marshal Anil Chopra and Wing Commander Ram Kumar ejected safely. There was no damage to civil property and no individual was injured/killed as a result of air crash. An inquiry has been ordered to investigate the reasons for the accident. 

                                 File photo 

Source: Press Information Bureau

Ex-Sgt. V.Rambabu is no more

Ex-Sgt. V.Rambabu who was successfully running a furniture shop by name Purnima Enterprises in Dilsukhnagar since 25 years has expired due to heart attack. It is understood that recently his daughter's marriage was fixed with Sri. Gopichand, Cini actor. As per the information available, on receiving a phone call that they have cancelled the marriage with his daughter, he collapsed. We extend our hearty condolances to the family of Sri. V.Rambabu. May his soul rest in peace.