An earnest appeal to Maj Gen Satbir, leader of the ESM. He got the veterans the benefit of OROP (one rank one pension).
1. General sahib, no JCO/NCO/OR has any objection to commissioned officers getting higher basic pay/pension scales due to their higher responsibilities and wider span of work.
2. However, MSP (military service pay) and the following allowances need to be the same for all the ranks. In fact, the lower the rank, the higher should be these allowances. Is the harshest condition of Siachen less harsh for the Jawan in comparison with that of a commissioned officer? Does a bullet differentiate between a jawan and a commissioned officer. Then why the difference in the MSP and the various allowances! Is it the British Colonial mindset still prevailing in the Army top brass?
- Military Service pay
- Siachen Allowance
- Field Area/Hard Area Allowance
- CI Allowance
- High Altitude Allowance etc.
3. What is the justification for giving Rs 5200 as the MSP to the combatant Jawan/JCO and Rs 10800 to the non-combatant nurse?
4. The minimum retirement age of a commissioned officer is now 54 (57 in the IAF). In comparison, the Army Jawans are forcibly retired in the age group of 35-40. Even a civilian peon/policeman retires at 60. Jawans face humiliation after their retirement when they work as security guards doing 12 hours duty everyday at a salary of Rs8000-10000 p.m. Sadly many security agencies are owned by the commissioned officers themselves.
Why are Jawans retired in the prime of their youth? Why cannot they be transferred to the other services like the MES, GREF, APS, DRDO, DGQA, Public Sector Companies like BEL, HALetc., Fire & Safety Services, Ordnance factories etc.? This will have twin benefits; no early outflow of pension and availability of patriotic, disciplined and non-corrupt manpower for the country.
5. Our Service Chiefs have demanded NFU for the commissioned officers. Why not the NFU for the Jawans? Can't you give a NFU of Nb Subedar to every Jawan retiring with 17 years of service? Has any Service Chief proposed this? Why don't you take up this case as strongly as you fought for the inclusion of the Lt Cols in the payband 4? Let every Jawan get the pension of Nb Sub (payband 2) at least.
6. General sahib, there is a growing feeling amongst the JCOs/NCOs/ORs that you are working more for the benefits of the commissioned officers rather than the Jawans. So your credibility is reducing with every passing day.
7. Now the ball is in your court. Will you display moral courage and include the abovementioned points in your agenda of Jantar Mantar agitation which is being restarted on 02 Oct? Fighting for the undiluted OROP is OK but the issues are much bigger for the Jawans. The real benefit of OROP has come to the superannuated veterans and not the early retirees. In fact, the OROP concept itself is flawed. And now the 7th Pay Commission has given the near OROP to all the civilian employees. Thus OROP alone cannot do much justice to the downtrodden Jawan.
8. If you do not heed to the advice here, you are not likely to get the support of millions of the ESM and history will remember you as an officer-centric General who really did not do much for the Jawan. Your Fauji Janta Party (FJP) is likely to be a failure, if you do not fight for the Jawans.
