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Tag Archives: Status
The Ghost of Grade Pay shows up at Shimla. Holiday time!
A Wing Commander went to Grand Hotel, Mall road, Shimla.
The receptionist said, “Are you from CDS/NDA?”
The retired Wing Commander Sahib said, “Yes, I am a retired Wing Commander. Can I get the room?”
The receptionist said, “Yes Sir, you can get the ordinary room for Rs 400 per day. You can also get the VIP room in Mayo Block if your grade pay is Rs 8700 or more.”
Wing Commander sahib’s face went pale as he recalled he had payband 4 but Govt. Of India Babus had deliberately depressed the grade pay to Rs 8000. On the civil side, the payband 4 starts with grade pay of Rs 8700. As already explained in an earlier post, the Wing Commanders and equivalents deserve grade pay of Rs 8800.
Wing Commander Sahib who had put in 30 years of service could not get VIP room and felt small. What’s the use of commanding the elite fighter aircraft squadrons? A commanding officer of Seema Suraksha Bal has been given higher grade pay than the Wing Commander who commands elite squadrons like the Sukhoi, Mirage etc. That’s the reward you get; insult and lowering of status.
Officers of other central services with just 15 years of service are enjoying the grade pay of Rs 8700 whereas still 75 % of the officers in the defence service are having grade pay of Rs 8000 even after 25 years of service.
Old Lt Cols who commanded the battalions and fought the wars for the nation are being slighted by the babus and the rulers of the country. Sadly and surprisingly, The serving top leadership is silent on these issues. They say,” No issues with Govt.”
A worthwhile solution to the problem of status & pay disparity!
Penmil said…
Sir,
A happy Diwali to all bloggers!
Thanks for an interesting post, on burning issues.
<>
This brings out a need (at the Service HQ) to continuously balance pay progression as well as rank up gradation. Failure to keep the balance will either result in lower pays, as it happened at 4th CPC, or rank vs. length of service mismatch, as it happened during AVS Reforms.
Instead of rigidly linking pay with the rank, if the Services de-link rank progression from pay progression (without introducing a disaster like the 4th CPC Rank Pay),the situation will be more comfortable.
An officer is to be promoted to a higher rank as per the needs of the organization and not for higher pay whereas the pay progression as well as the pay scales should follow the prevalent civil pattern.
That is, one should get promotion twice at each stage. First, a promotion in pay when the equivalent Civil Services get it (so that a balance with the Civil, is maintained all the while). Next the officer is to be promoted to a higher rank only when the Service needs him to take up higher responsibilities.
Thus the Services, while dealing with the civilians, can talk of equivalent pay, but while dealing, internally within the Service(s), consider only the rank.
Similar arrangements (of delinking pay and appointment) are there in the civil and might have been there in the past too.
November 12, 2012 4:35 PM
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1503293844377013031&postID=5815582027248896206
Pittance of Rs 2300 Cr for the Ex-servicemen. Rs 42000 Cr for the State Electricity Boards
Ex-servicemen’s just demand
Government gets close to the goal
by Inder Malhotra
OF late the media, especially newspapers and social networks, have been full of articles on the armed forces and their “discontents”. Since the authors of most of these are retired generals, air marshals and, occasionally, admirals, they refer more to the complaints and disgruntlements of highest military officers rather than of Other Ranks. Yet rare is any writing on the subject that hasn’t lamented the government’s heartless and overlong failure to attend to the just demand of ex-servicemen for equal rank, equal pension, or OROP, for short.
Over this period one has had to witness not just virulent agitation on the issue but also such heartrending scenes as the nation’s defenders marching to Rashtrapati Bhavan to return their gallantry medals to the Supreme Commander, the President.
Thank God, this ordeal is now over. The government has at long last done justice to two and a half million ex-servicemen whose number increases by 70,000 every year. The key point is that these men retire an early age and have to exist on meager pensions while other retirees of the same rank get higher or lower pensions depending on their dates of retirement.
A good proportion of the retirees could have been absorbed in the paramilitary forces, to great advantage both to them and the country. But this has not been possible, despite the best attempts of several defence ministers and others, because the monster of corruption has taken over the recruitment to not only the police forces in various states but also the Centre’s paramilitary organisations. Even the sleaziest of recruiters find it hard to ask retiring Army men for bribes, and so they are ineligible.
Lest the Army should start assuming superior airs on this score, let me hasten to add that on the admission of the best and the brightest within its own higher ranks, corruption in recruitment has contaminated the Army, too. As for other form of graft and malfeasance in the uniformed world, the evidence is littered across the country’s law courts or is stacked on the desks of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
On the merits of the government’s decision on OROP, there are two views. Some say that having gone thus far, the government could have gone a little farther and met the demand for one-rank-one-pension in full. They argue that this would not have added very much to the present package of Rs 2,300 crore which is a pittance compared with Rs 42,000 crore the government has generously offered the State Electricity Boards than which it is difficult to think of institutions more inefficient and corrupt. Having bankrupted themselves, they have run into debts amounting to the staggering figure of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore.
The debt recasting, even if it is achieved — the states have yet to agree to bear half the burden — would not solve the problem. For, no chief minister would stop the overuse and misuse of free power guaranteed to the farmers. Moreover, nobody would dare say boo to the crooks with clout that are stealing a huge quantity of power with impunity. It is, of course, written off as part of “distribution and transmission losses”!
Even so, there is a perfectly valid counter-argument to justify what the government has done. It has, it seems, gone as far as it could have or should have. After all, the amount of pension depends not only on the rank but also the last pay drawn. The salaries of the two men of the same rank and superannuating on the same day often differ because of the length of service in the last rank reached.
The Cabinet on Monday could have decided also on several issues concerning the pay, perks and pensions of lt-colonels, colonels, brigadiers and even lt-generals that have also been pending. But evidently, the committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary that examined the entire issue has not been able to complete its recommendations on these points.
What the government has got out of the way is very important, no doubt, but it was essentially a sideshow. The real problem, on which the armed forces’ resentment is perfectly legitimate, is the composition of the successive Pay Commissions appointed to fix the salaries and concomitant allowances of both the civilians and the military.
In other democracies there always is a separate pay commission for the armed forces. If this country is determined to deviate from this sound practice, why does it always make an IAS officer the commission’s secretary and usually excludes from it any representative of the three services? It is no secret that at the root of the bad blood in civilian-military relations is the services’ intense dislike of the IAS bureaucracy that, they feel, lords over them.
Other discontents of the services are a subject too large and would have to be discussed separately. But on one point, I am afraid the Army top brass is unnecessarily touchy is its place on the Warrant of Precedent. Some industrious scholar has discovered that, in the American pecking order, the position of the chairman, joint chiefs of staff is much lower than that of the three service chiefs here on the WoP. There is no heartburning there on this score.
Here, it seems, two-thirds of a century after the departure of the British amidst farewell trumpets, wearers of khaki are harking back to the era when, next only to the Viceroy, the Commander-in-Chief (India) was the second most important man. This is just not possible in a democracy where the wholesome principle of civilian control over the military (which need not mean civil service control) is well established.
Who sits where around the President’s banquet table is immaterial. What matters is that, in the US, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, together with the Defence Secretary, the Secretary of State, National Security Adviser, and the head of the CIA, is among the President’s main advisers and a member of the National Command. This country remains allergic to the concept of a Chief of Defence Staff for several reasons, including regrettably, stiff resistance within the armed forces, and the departing conduct of the previous Army Chief, General (retired) V. K. Singh.
Higher Grade Pay of Rs 8800 for Wing Commanders of the IAF!
Wing Commanders are the backbone of the IAF since it is this rank that commands the elite Sukhoi or other fighter squadrons or performs equivalent functions. The Wing Commanders have been placed in the payband-4 with grade pay of Rs 8000.
Strangely the Commandants who are Police Battalion COs (CPOs i.e. CRPF, BSF etc.) have been given higher grade pay of Rs 8700 i.e. more than the grade pay of Wing Commanders. This is not understood and appears illogical because of the following reasons:-
- Is commanding a Squadron of the Mirage/ Sukhoi fighter planes (or others) anyway less than commanding the police troops?
- Historically the pay of Wing Commander has been more than that of the Commandant.
| Wing Cdr | Police Commandant | |
| 4th Pay Commission | 4700-5900 | 4500-5700 |
| 5th Pay Commission | 15100-18700 | 14300-18300 |
- According to Warrant of Precedence, a Lt Col lies just one step below the DIG (Sl no. 38 & 37). DIG lies 4 steps below a Colonel (Sl no. 37 & 33)
A DIG has been granted a grade pay of Rs 8900. Hence a Wing Commander should be given a grade pay higher than Rs 8700 but equal/slightly less than Rs 8900.
Hence based on sound logic, facts & figures, a grade pay of Rs 8900 or 8800 should be given to the Wing Commanders of the IAF.
Status/Warrant of Precedence of Air Force, Army & Naval Officers
Most of the Air Force Officers both serving or retired are not aware about their status vis-a-vis equivalent civilians & this is also not taught during the training. The ignorance of this important aspect often results in undermining of the dignity of the Air Force Officers in the society.
How many of the commissioned officers of the Air Force know that according to Warrant of Precedence, a Wing Commander is senior to a DC/Collector/Deputy Commissioner (Sl no. 38 & 40) & a Group Captain is senior to a DIG (Sl no. 33 & 37)?
The Warrant of Precedence or the WoP gives the relative status/seniority of the various posts in the Union of India. This important aspect needs to be covered during the ab initio training of cadets/commissioned officers. Also an Air Force Order (AFO) can be issued by the Air HQ.
WoP for Maj Gen & above
Issued by the President’s Secretariat on 26 Jul1979
WoP for ranks below Maj Gen
issued vide
Govt of India, Ministry of Home Affairs Letter No 12 / 11 / 66-Pub II dated 26 Dec 1966 vide which directions were passed to all States and UTs that for ranks below the last article (Major General), the old Warrant of Precedence (1937) would be followed.
Govt of India, Ministry of Home Affairs Letter No 12 / 1 / 2007 – Public dated 14 Aug 2007 vide which it has been stated that the above mentioned MHA Letter dated 26 Dec 1966 is still in force and has not been withdrawn, and that no fresh instructions have been issued.
Letter No F – 12 / 1 / 2007 – Public dated 24 Jul 2007 vide para 2 of which it has been specifically stated that there is no other document / order / instruction which determines the seniority / equivalence of Defence Officers vis-à-vis Civil Officers and that there is no equivalence table of Police officers vis-à-vis Defence Officers
COMBINED WARRANT OF PRECEDENCE
1 President
2 Vice President
3 Prime Minister
4 Governors
5 Former Presidents
5A Deputy Prime Minister
6 Chief Justice of India / Speaker of Lok Sabha
7 Cabinet Ministers of the Union / CMs within their States / Former PMs
7A Holders of Bharat Ratna Decoration
8 Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and High
Commissioners of Commonwealth Countries / CMs outside their States /
Governors outside their States
9 Supreme Court Judges
9A Chief Election Commissioner / Comptroller & Auditor General of India
10 Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha / Deputy CMs of States / Deputy
Speaker Lok Sabha / Members Planning Commission / Ministers of State
of the Union
11 Attorney General of India / Cabinet Secretary / Lieutenant
Governors within their Uts
12 Chiefs of Army, Air and Naval Staff
13 Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary accredited to India
14 Chairmen and Speakers of State Legislatures within their States /
Chief Justices of High Courts within their jurisdictions
15 Cabinet Ministers of States within their States / CMs of UTs
within their UTs / Deputy Union Ministers
16 Officiating Chiefs of Army, Air and Naval Staff of the rank of Lt Gen or equivalent.
17 Chairman CAT / Chairman Minorities Commission / Chairman SC & ST
Commission / Chairman UPSC / Chief Justices outside their jurisdiction / Puisne Judges of High Court outside their jurisdictions
18 Cabinet Ministers of States outside their States / Ministers of
State in States within their States / Chairmen and Speakers of State
Legislatures outside their States
19 Chief Commissioners of UTs not having a Council of Ministers
within their UTs / Deputy Ministers in States within their States
20 Deputy Chairmen and Deputy Speakers of State Legislatures outside
their States / Minister of State in States outside their States /
Puisne Judges of High Courts outside their jurisdictions.
21 Members of Parliament
22 Deputy Ministers in State outside their States
23 Army Commanders (GsOC-in-C) / VCOAS and equivalent in other services / Chief Secretaries to States within their States / Members
of Minority Commission / Secretaries to Govt of India / Secretary to
President / Secretary to PM / Secretary Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha /
Solicitor General
24 Officers of the rank of Lieutenant General or equivalent
25 Additional Secretaries to Govt of India / Addl Solicitor General /
Advocate Generals of States / Chairman Tariff Commission / Chief
Secretaries outside their States / Director CBI / DG BSF / DG CRPF /
Director IB / Lt Governors outside their UTs / Members UPSC / PSOs of
Armed Forces of the rank of Major General and equivalent
26 Officers of the rank of Major General and equivalent / Joint
Secretary to Govt of India
27 Vice Chancellors of Universities
28 Commissioners of Divisions within their respective charges
29 Brigade Commanders within their respective Charges
30 Brigadiers / Inspector General of Forests / Inspectors General of
Police
31 Commissioners of Divisions outside their charges
32 Secretaries to State Governments
33 Colonels / Accountants General / Chief Conservator of Forests /
Chief Engineers / Inspectors General of Prisons / Members of ICS (now
known as IAS) and Indian Political Service (now Indian Foreign
Service) with 23 years ` standing
34 Controller Military Accounts and Pensions (now CDA)
35 Commissioners of Income Tax / Deputy Commissioners within their
districts
36 District and Session Judges within their charges
37 DIG of Police
38 Lieutenant Colonels / Conservators of Forests / IAS and Foreign
Service officers with 18 years standing / Superintending Engineers
39 Excise Commissioners / Registrar of Co-operative Societies
40 Deputy Commissioners of Districts / District and Sessions Judges /
Superintendents of Police of Districts within their charges (also now
known with variable nomenclature as DCP / SSP in certain States)
41 DIG of Prisons / Officers of other Class-I Services and Provincial
Services with 20 years standing
42 Majors / IAS and Foreign Service officers with 12 years service /
SPs and DCPs with 15 to 20 years service
43 Asst Commissioners of Income Tax / Officers of Class-I and
Provincial Services with 10 years standing
44 Divisional Engineers / Divisional Forest Officers / Executive
Engineers
A Squadron Leader’s Son, a Union Govt. Minister sets an example to inspire the youth of the country
airforcechat salutes Sachin Pilot.
Pilot’s action of joining the IAF (Indian Armed Forces) as a regular TA commissioned officer will inspire the youth of the country to choose the Defence Services as their career. This will also enhance the prestige & status of the defence officers in the society.
An inspiration for the youth of the country
Lieutenant Sachin Pilot salutes Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh as his mother Rama Pilot looks on in New Delhi on Thursday. Tribune photo: Mukesh Aggarwal
Sachin Pilot commissioned in Territorial Army
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 6
Sachin Pilot was today commissioned in the Territorial Army as a Lieutenant. He became the first serving Union minister to be commissioned as a regular officer in the Territorial Army.
At a ceremony held here in South Block, Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh and Sachin Pilot’s mother Rama Pilot pipped ranks of Lieutenant, formally commissioning him as officer in the 124 TA Battalion of the Sikh Regiment.
LOWERING OF STATUS OF SERGEANTS AT CSD CANTEENS
In one of the CSD canteens, Sergeants have been clubbed with LDCs to stand in a queue. The grade pay of the Sergeant is Rs 2800 and that of the LDC is Rs 1900.
UDCs have been clubbed with JWO & above. The grade pay of the UDC is Rs 2400 the same as that of a Corporal. The grade pay of a JWO is Rs 4200.
A Sergeant is a Senior Non-commissioned Officer superior in status to an LDC or the UDC. It is not understood as to why a UDC who is lower in status than a Sergeant has been permitted to stand in a queue meant for warranted ranks whereas the same privilege has been denied to the Sergeants.
Why are the Air Force authorities lowering the status of their own Air Warriors?
An Ex-Sergeant who is a Chief Manager in a bank complained that he has stopped going to the CSD canteen since he is made to stand in the queue of the ORs.
Why can not the CSD authorities permit the soldiers/sailors/airmen who are now serving in the civil life on posts equivalent to commissioned officers to stand in the queues meant for commissioned officers?
Why are the Armed Forces suppressing their own uniformed personnel? Should they not be proud of their soldiers, sailors and airmen who are guarding this nation or are doing so well in the civil life!
Comment
Bidyut Chatterjee September 2, 2012
It is sad that we cannot look after our own men in uniform. This is just the reason the Babus are taking us for a ride.
ddineni September 3, 2012
CSD is already corrupt and their brains are corrupt.
Sergeants’ Grade Pay & Status!
Sergeant Major Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in South Africa during the Boar War
Sergeant rank is the backbone of the Indian Air Force. Requisite justice has not been done to them in the matters of pay and pension. After the 6th CPC, the Sergeants have been given grade pay of Rs 2800.
Civilians drawing pay in the 5th CPC S-9 scale of 5000-150-8000 have been given grade pay of 4200 after the 6th CPC.
Civilians drawing pay in the 5th CPC S-8 scale of 4500-125-7000 have been given grade pay of 2800 after the 6th CPC.
Sergeants of Group ‘X’ were in the pay scale of Rs.4670-85-5945 which was upgraded to 5000-100-6500 for those Sergeants who qualified a special technical test on par with diploma in engineering.
Few comments from the indianmilitary.info are reproduced below:-
Anonymous said…
The MOD had approved the Machine Operator(Offset) (in 4500-7000 scale) GP @Rs. 4200/- and The Asst Master in Military Schools (in 5500-9000scale) GP @Rs.4600/- w.e.f. 1.1.2006. But the Air Force Group X -Sgt (Engg.degree/diploma) with a BP of Rs.5000/- and Edn Inst.(Sgt GpX) ( PG Degree/B.Ed.qualification) with a BP of 4965/- are still in the GP of Rs.2800/- and similarly, the fate of Navy Personnel Art.III-I, who is equivalent to a JCO rank is in the GP of 3400/- w.e.f. 1.1.2006.
As far Group pay is concerned to tech personnel. This has been given to all the ranks (PBORs) in technical trade. Why exclusively only Sgt is believed to have been componsated by this Gp Pay. This is not at all correct comparison The fact is Sgt of technical gp has been placed below at 2800 Rs. Just the paycommision wanted to raitionalise the payscales of ranks of PBOR. Civilian in the pay scale of 5000 (Vth CPC) has been granted 4200/- GP but Sgt 2800/-. But done is done.
X-Sgt KS Balaji said…
Sir, my regards and thanks for this wonderful platform. Presently after VI CPC all Central govt jobs with diploma qualifiction have a grade pay of Rs. 4200/.(PB-2). But, for the defence services why it is fixed at Rs. 2800/ for Sergeant in PB-1. Alas!.What is your opinion on this? Is there any justification given from defence services in accepting it?
Hence the grade pay of Sergeant of ‘X’ group who meets the requirements of diploma in engineering should be more than Rs 2800.
Following MOD letter is reproduced here.
No.1(26)/97/D(Pay/Services)
Government of India
Ministry of Defence
New Delhi, the 10th November, 2000
To
The Chief of the Air Staff
New Delhi
Subject : Removal of anomalies arisen from the implementation of the revised pay scales consequent to the 5th CPC recommendation – Pay scales of PBORs.
Sir,
I am directed to refer to the SAFI 1/S/98 dated 12th December, 1997 and this Ministry’s letters No.1(3)/97/D(Pay/services) dated 21st November, 1997 and (26)/97/D (Pay/ Services), dated 3rd October, 2000 on the above subject and to state that one of the recommendations of the HLC relates to the revision of pay scales of Sgt, in the Air Force.
The present pay scale of Sgt of Group ‘X’ in the Air Force is Rs.4670-85-5945. The HLC had recommended enhancement of the scale to Rs. 5000-100-6500 to restore relativity with civil diploma holders. The said recommendation of the HLC has since been considered by the Government in the light of the recommendations of the Committee, specifically constituted on the above subject, and it has been decided that while the existing pay scale of Sgt of X Group in the Air Force would remain at Rs.4670-85-5945, those Sgts, of X category who qualify a technical examination at par with diploma in engineering to be designed and conducted by Air HQ will be
given the upgraded scale of Rs.5000-100-6500.
2. It has also been decided that the special dispensation to Sgts, of Group ‘X’ of Air Force who successfully qualify the prescribed technical examination, referred to above, to be conducted by Air HQ would be given financial benefit from 10.10.1997 as a one-time measure.
3. This issues with the concurrence of Defence (Finance) vide their UO No.1708/AG/PD dated 8.11.2000.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/xxxxxxx
(RK Grover)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India.
Appendix A to Special AFI Page 12 of 64
http://indianairforce.nic.in/RTI/compendum3.pdf
Status & Grade Pay of Air Warriors/Airmen, Soldiers & Sailors as compared to equivalent Civilians
Airmen, Soldiers and Sailors are the backbone of India’s Defence. Their status should never be undermined. Every sailor, soldier or an airman must be aware of his status as compared to a civilian so as to maintain his and uniform’s dignity.
Unfortunately the training centres of the Air Force, Army and the Navy do not touch upon this subject. Most of the soldiers/airmen/sailors are ignorant about their status in the society.
Warrant Ranks, JCOs & equivalent ranks of the Navy are akin to Class- II/Group-B services. Warrant like commission is given by the President himself. In that sense, all warrant officers/JCOs are superior to the Group B gazetted civilian ranks.
Even a Corporal is an officer. He is an NCO or a Non-commissioned officer.
Sergeants are SNCOs or Non-commissioned officers.
Hence all ranks except the AC/LAC are Officers. Thus we have Commissioned Officers, Junior Commissioned Officers, Warrant Officers, Senior Non-commissioned Officers, Non-commissioned officers etc.
Govt. of India & the President of India have given higher status to the defence personnel. But because of ignorance, many defence personnel including commissioned officers are not aware of this provision.
It is the duty of the commissioned officers to respect the air warriors under them if they want to command effectively and earn respect from the hearts of the air warriors.
| GRADE PAY TABLE | |||
| Air Force Rank | Grade pay | Equivalent Civil Posts | Equivalent Army/Navy Rank |
| – |
1900 |
LDC, Asst Storekeeper, Cook, Painter, Carpenter | – |
| AC/LAC |
2000 |
Constable | Sepoy, Seaman |
| Corporal |
2400 |
Head Constable, UDC, Tax Asst, Storekeeper, Draftsman, Compiler, Stenographer grade III, | Naik, Leading Seaman |
| Sergeant |
2800 |
ASI, Auditors, Accountants | Havaldar, Petty Officer |
| JWO |
4200 |
Sub-Inspector, PRT, Assistant, Divisional Accountant, AAO, Barrack/Stores Supervisor | Naib Subedar, Chief Petty Officer |
| Warrant Officer |
4600 |
Inspector of Police/Income tax/Excise, TGT, Asst Enforcement Officer | Subedar, Master Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class |
| MWO |
4800 |
ACP(Gp B), PGT, Section Officer | Sub Major/MCPO 1st class |
Comment:
akgupta August 23, 2012
Sir! Sergeant in technical trade was having basic pay 5000 – 6500 (diploma pay scale) in 5th pay commision and so it should be in grade pay of 4200 but it is with grade pay of 2800 only.
airforcechat 
6th pay commission had degraded the seargent rank (Technical) ultimately authorities are forcing us to get dicharge from IAF.
Why does each pay commission degrade Airmen step by step? U can check the old recod of earlier pay commission. Reason I dont know but we are being forced to leave the airforce and rejoin only goup ‘C’ & ‘D’ in civil organisation because Ex-servicemen quota/reservation/age relaxation is only for group C & D post after having 20 year bonded service in IAF.
That means we will die out from group C only where as one junior LDC in civil retires at 100% group B or A.