TERRITORIALS: East India Railway Volunteers (Volunteer Force of ...

TERRITORIALS: East India Railway Volunteers (Volunteer Force of ...: Following excerpts have been taken from a book titled Among the Railway Folks written by Rudyard Kipling in 1888 (See chapter one, pp 3-...

Indian Republic Day

Happy Republic Day to all my friends........

Degraded Status of Indian Armed Forces: Whom to Blame?

This article has been written by Colonel Chandra Kant Roy (Retired) of the Territorial Army. The author very lucidly describes the degraded status of Indian Armed Force post Central Sixth Pay Commission of the Government of India. After reading this, one can easily draw references that Armed Forces are no longer the finest service one can look forward to; but rather a sub standard force that can only attract the sub standard material for recruitment.
"Sixth CPC : AGONY FOR DEF OFFRS CONTINUES; ISSUE OF NFU (NON FUNCTIONAL UPGRADATION) NEEDS URGENT ATTN
1. All Defence Offrs, please be informed that Offrs of other services with whom you interact on functional basis, like MES Civ Offrs, GREF Civ Offrs, Offrs of BSF, CRPF ,ITBP, Def Accts(IDAS), Test Audit(IA&AS), Ord Factory Bd etc, will now get the salary and grade pay of Joint Secretary/ Maj Gen (GP Rs 10000/-) in 19 yrs of service, and will draw the pay of Addl Secretary to Govt of India which is equal to a Lt Gen(GP Rs 12000/-) in 32 yrs of service by virtue of their service being Organised Gp A Service.
2. The above condition has been brought about consequent to acceptance of 6 CPC recom on NFU by GoI , wherein it recommended that whenever any IAS officer of the state or joint cadre is posted at the Centre to a particular grade carrying a specific grade pay in Pay Bands PB-3 or PB-4,the officers belonging to batches of Organised Group A services that are senior by two years or more and have not been promoted so far to that particular grade would be granted the same grade on a non functional basis from the date of posting of the IAS officers in that grade at the centre. Hence if an IAS officer becomes Joint Secretary in 17 years of service the offrs of Org Gp A Service(like the ones mentioned in Para 1) will start drawing the salary of Joint Secretary in maximum of 19 years of service and similarly that of Addl Secretary / Lt Gen in 30 and 32 yrs resp.
3. Why is it not applicable to Def Offrs : Because as per Govt of India Def Offrs are NOT part of Org Gp A Service and the above recom is applicable to only to the latter.
4. If Def Offrs are not part of Org Gp A service then what are they :They are just ‘Commissioned Officers’.
5. If all the above is correct then who all form part of Org Gp A Service and how Def Offrs call themselves Class 1 offrs ; Central Civil Services mainly include AIS (All India Services, namely, IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service) and Org Gp A service .There are a total of 58 services forming part of Org Gp A service. Please see the attachment. Def Offrs are not part of Civil Services but have been broadly kept at par with Gp A Offrs of Civil Services( erstwhile known as Class 1 offrs) by various Pay Commissions. The reference to same since independence is attached.
6. Background to recom of NFU for Org Gp A Service as per 6 CPC:
(a) The Sixth CPC observed that there is a conventional edge of two years between IAS and other AIS/ Central Group A services and stated that though the Fifth CPC had taken the view that the edge need not be disturbed, in practice, however, the gap of two years (for posting to various grades in the Centre in form of empanelment of IAS officers and promotion for other Group A officers), has increased in respect of many organised Group A services.
(b) The sixth CPC felt that this is not justified as Organised Group A services have to be given their due which justifiably should mean that the disparity, as far as appointment to various grades in Centre are concerned, should not exceed two years between IAS and organised Central Group A services. It recommended that the Government should, accordingly, consider batch-wise parity while empanelling and/or posting at Centre between respective batches of IAS and other organised Group A services with the gap being restricted to two years.
(c) Therefore whenever any IAS officer of the state or joint cadre is posted at the Centre to a particular grade carrying a specific grade pay in Pay Bands PB-3 or PB-4,the officers belonging to batches of Organised Group A services that are senior by two years or more and have not been promoted so far to that particular grade would be granted the same grade on a non functional basis from the date of posting of the IAS officers in that grade at the centre.
(d) The higher non-functional grade so given to the officers of organised Group A services will be personal to them and will not depend on the number of vacancies in that grade.
(e) These officers will continue in their existing posts and will get substantial posting in the higher grade that they are holding on non functional basis only after vacancies arise in that grade. This will not only ensure some sort of modified parity between IAS and other Central Group A services but will also alleviate the present grade of disparity existing between promotional avenues available to different organised Group A services.
(f) The Government accepted the recommendations of Sixth CPC and granted the NFU to Organized GP A Services .
7. Why should the def offrs get NFU :Because of the following
reasons :
(a) None of the Org Gp A service faces as much stagnation as the Armed Forces offrs because of its pyramidal structure. In fact, on the contrary, most of the Gp A service offrs, as it is, reach the level equal to Addl Secretary due to cylindrical structure of promotion of their service. Only issue for them is,’ in how many years’. In comparison, 97% def offrs retire at the levels below Joint Secretary / Maj Gen. Hence, if the logic of giving NFU to Org Gp A offrs is stagnation, then, no one deserves it more than the Armed Forces Offrs.
(b) Traditionally, since independence, there has been a broad parity between the Class 1 / Gp A offrs of Civil Services and the Defence Services Offrs which has been acknowledged by different Pay Commissions in their reports. In such a case ,the differential behaviour of 6 CPC not only disturbs the financial parity, it pushes down the def services in status as even direct recruit offrs of Gp B services attain a better pay and promotional avenue and manage to reach the level of Joint Secretary / Maj Gen before retiring . In fact, now Sub Inspectors of CRPF/BSF/ITBP too can beat Def Services Offrs when they too will retire with the salary of Addl Secretary / Lt Gen, if they get promoted as Asstt Comdt / DSP in 8 yrs. All this will only fuel frustration, disgruntlement and will have a demoralising effect on the Armed Forces Offrs.
(c) Since Def Offrs will have to work alongside some of the Organised Gp A Services mentioned, a disparity of this magnitude will lead to functional problems .In some stations, it is already being heard that Civ Offrs have started projecting themselves as senior to top military offr like Stn Cdr. In a specific case a Civ Chief Engineer of MES has started considering himself senior to a COS due to NFU and started saying so all around. Such problems will only increase in future. Moreover, this issue must not be allowed to linger till 7th CPC for resolution. If our top brass stands up united on this issue, the govt will have to accept it. Service HQs are aware of this issue and had sent a proposal to MoD, but it has been rejected. However , the issue needs a more forceful pleading duly backed by Service Offrs unanimously.
8. Benefits of NFU : It will not only benefit the offrs facing stagnation at the level of Lt Col, Col, and Brig, but will also benefit senior offrs like Maj Gen and Lt Gen who otherwise pick up their ranks in 29 yrs and 35 yrs resp, as they will too start drawing the pay of Maj Gen in 19 yrs of service and that of Lt Gen in 32 yrs of service.
9. What can you do : Don’t accept ‘ fait accompli’, Spread awareness, as knowledge is power. Apprise more and more offrs about this discrimination. Raise it in appropriate forums to escalate its level and let the top brass take it up as seriously as PB-4 issue with the govt for IT IS, AS SERIOUS AN ISSUE. It not only affects pay, it also affects status.

(Published by the team of Indian Analysis)

TERRITORIALS: Reserve & Auxiliary Air Force

TERRITORIALS: Reserve & Auxiliary Air Force: (Popularly known as the ‘Citizens’ Air Force’ or the ‘Weekend Flyers’) Three categories of Reserves to the Indian Air Force were set up ...

TERRITORIALS: The United States National Guard Facts

TERRITORIALS: The United States National Guard Facts: Did you know the following facts about the United States National Guard which is the part-time military component and accounts to more than ...

TERRITORIALS: Provisions of Indian Territorial Army Regarding Em...

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TERRITORIALS: How to Join the Territorial Army

TERRITORIALS: How to Join the Territorial Army: Captain Rajpal Singh, TA Officer/ Additional Director, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Becoming a Commissione...

Lt. Navdeep Singh Dies Fighting for Nation at J&K

A management graduate from the Army Institute of Management, Kolkata, Lt. Navdeep Singh rather preferred to join the army and serve the nation.

Unfortunately, not much is spoken in media about him.

Please click the link to read full story:

http://www.aimk.org/blog/2213/navdeep-singh.html

(Published by the team of INDIAN ANALYSIS)

TERRITORIALS: Part-Time Soldiering in Indian Context

TERRITORIALS: Part-Time Soldiering in Indian Context: The concept of part-time soldiering carries a great value in the present geo-political and geo-strategic atmosphere of our country wherein;...

Still a Question: Permanent Commission to Women Officers in Indian Army

Some very serious thoughts for employing lady officers in the Indian army. Two logic... Either we need them or we don't.... But if we do, it should only be with a sense of equality.....

Kindly click the link to read full story:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/14-women-move-SC-for-permanent-commission/articleshow/9573697.cms

(Published by the team of INDIAN ANALYSIS)

Happy Independence Day

Let us not forget our heritage.........

Chand Mubarak

Chand Mubarak to all my MUSLIM friends in India and abroad.......

Yeddyu Goes But Not Before Mocking at the Nation.... Reddy Brothers Still Defiant

Yeddyurappa finally goes..... But not before mocking at the entire nation?

Today the defiant Karnataka CM has finally resigned; but not surprisingly to the spirit of our political class, he was seen flashing victory signs after submitting the resignation? A day after the Supreme Court of India had issued orders suspending all mining activities in Bellary district of Karnataka, the Reddy brothers went step further and were shameless, when 49 trucks belonging to their company were seized by the police with precious iron ore which was on the verge of being smuggled out. Thanks to the vibrant media for nailing them.

Yeddyu wants to nominate his successor and also wants to remain the state BJP chief; on the other hand, the Reddy brothers are still unapologetic.

The entire episode reminds us of the British PM few days back, when he simply said "I am sorry". Can we expect something even closer to that in our country? Seems near impossible. What least can be expected out of our policy-makers is a common strategy to curb corruption in this country.

Kindly click the link to read full story:

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/yeddyurappa-resigns-as-karnataka-chief-minister-123294

(Published by the team of INDIAN ANALYSIS)

No to Anna or No to Democracy?

By denying ANNA the right to hold peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, policy-makers have once again reinforced their sole authority on the very foundation of our democratic values. It is them and only them, who can decide the fate of this country and no one has a right to speak? Once elected to power, no one can question them and citizens should better behave; or else, the treatment would be similar to that of RAMDEV'S.

This is what we have been made to understand according to recent developments....

Another deduction which comes out of this entire episode is the failure of our institutional mechanism. The POLICE in specific, which gives us an impression that they are not serving the citizens; rather their political masters.

........... A complete breakdown of the organisational ethics.

Kindly click the link to read full story:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lokpal-Bill-row-Delhi-Police-deny-Team-Anna-Hazare-permission-to-hold-fast/articleshow/9406808.cms

Source: Times of India

(Published by the team of INDIAN ANALYSIS)

TERRITORIALS: Widow of Territorial Army Officer Gets Military Pe...

TERRITORIALS: Widow of Territorial Army Officer Gets Military Pe...: "It is quite an irony that the Territorial Army still remains to be treated as a second grade institution by our own military establishments...."