From: harwant singh
To: CS Kamboj ; TRUNCATED.
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 6:30 PM
Subject: Open letter
Dear all, noted below is an open letter to Mr PK Bansal, Hon'ble Minister of State in Finanace Ministry, published in HT ( Chandigarh edition on 15 May, 2009 ).
(Lt Gen Harwant Singh, Former DCOAS)
......
My dear Mr Bansal,
you would recall my meeting you as part of a retired defence services delegation. You not only gave us a very patient hearing but appeared equally sympathetic to the cause of ex-servicemen. We pointed out the injustice done to defence services by successive Central Pay Commissions(CPCs) by repeatedly lowering their pay and status. However during that meeting our focus was on the the 6th CPC which has compounded the issue and introduced a dozen or so more anomolies adding further to the woes of defence personnel.
Subsequently in response to strong protests from the defence services headquarters, the government appointed a committee of secretaries to go into these anomolies. In the 6th CPC, the villain of the piece was the IAS officer on this commission. Now when this committee of secretaries was constituted to address the anomolies, the same IAS officer also formed part of this commiittee. Thus it became a case where the prosecuter also formed part of the jury! As an eminent lawyer it would certainly strike you as odd and contrary to all cannons of justice. As part of the government, we expected you to oppose this arrangement. Predictably instead of addressing the earlier anomolies introduced by 6th CPC, this new committee introduced some more of its own. Conspiracy and mischief in this scheme of things became palpably apparent.
In this meeting with you we pointed out the extend to which defence personnel had been disadvantaged, giving specific instances and here repeating these may be in order. 85 percent of defence personnel retire at the ages between 35 to 45 years, with more than 93 percent out of these retiring at the age of 35/36 years. So they never get upto the top end of their pay bracket. Consequently their pension works out to much less than that of their civil counter parts. A comparrison of total amount drawn in terms of pay and pension by a soldier and pay by his counter part in the civil by the time both reach the age of 60 years is Rs 33.3 lakhs more for the civil servant and this figure at age 70 is Rs 42.670 lakhs. At age 75 it is Rs 47.310 lakhs. In the case of a Havaldar, his equavalent in the civil at age 60 would get Rs 20.261 lakhs more and this figure is Rs 26.639 lakhs at age 70 and at 75 it is Rs 29.828 lakhs.In the case of a subedar these figures at ages 60, 70 and 75 years are Rs 13.979 lakhs, Rs 18.911 lakhs and Rs 21.277 lakhs repectively for the civil servant. A soldier retiring at age 35 years will live through atleast five CPCs and suffer their dispensations for retirees, whereas his counter part in the civil will not only continue to benefit from successive CPCs while still in service for an additional 25 years, but on retirement will be effected by just one CPC. Therefore, even if One Rank One Pension is granted, defence personnel will continue to suffer these gross disadvantages.
Similar figures are available for officers. The disparities are due to early retirement, delayed and extremely limited promotions in higher ranks. All these features are service imperatives. The earlier retirees have been further disadvantaged. A soldier who retired prior to 1.1.1996 will get 82 percent less pension than a soldier who retired after 1.1.2006. For a havaldar who retired prior to 1.1.96 his pension is less than a soldier who retired after 1.1. 06. Similar situation prevails in the case of officers. Only the one with severly impaired vision and or deep seated bias can miss the incongruity in this working
Now the above disparities are independent of other factors which apply to defence services only. About 15 percent of soldiers get the opportunity to live with their families for a period of 2 years in their entire service. In the case of others ( including officers ) only 40 to 50 percent of their service, they live with their families. Then there are other travails of service such as harsh living conditions in uncongenial and high altitude areas which results in approximately 5000 of them being annually boarded out on medical grounds. During the last 10 years army has lost approximately 8500 troops and 564 officers in counter-insurgency operations in the North East and j and k. During the last sixty years army has faught four wars and been continuously committed in counter insurgency operations.
Some argue that, military personnel signed for such a service and conditions there-in, so they damn well live with the consequences. But here the issue is of their repeated downgradation and not service conditions. In the case of bonded labour too there is some manner of agreement between the employer and the labour and yet such an arrangement is unacceptable in the Indian law. You would be quite familiar with Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which has something to say on this issue and to which the supreme court too, has drawn governments attention is the case of SPS Vains vs MoD etc relating to the case where bigadiers have been given more pension than maj-gens.
We expected you to take up our just cause in Parliament and with the government of which you are now an important part. There have been no media reports of your raising this issue in the parliament and the government has continued to deal an unfair hand to the defence services. Perhaps you did your best but there are other more powerful forces in the government working against India's military.
In the military loyalty is highly valued and considered intrinsic to ones character. We do not consider that it is contigent on reciprocity.
I have been in the United states for some time and would not be in Chandigarh to cast my vote, but our good wishes are with you.
( Lt-Gen ( Retd) Harwant Singh)
Mr PK Bansal
Hon'ble Minister of State.
