Pay panel let down soldiers: Gen Vij

Former Army Chief tells PM even anomalies committee can’t resolve discrepancies; seeks setting up of GoM
NEW DELHI, APRIL 27: After the three service chiefs got together to point out anomalies in the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations to the Defence Ministry, a former army chief has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the forces are hurt and deserve a better deal.

In a rare gesture, General N C Vij, who also heads the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and holds the status of a cabinet minister, has written an impassionate letter to the prime minister, pointing out the discrepancies and urged him to constitute a Group of Ministers (GOM) to look into the matter.
The letter starts off with his impression of a recent interaction with jawans at a regimental function in Amritsar: “I was surprised to note the intense disappointment and despondency in all the jawans, officers and their families as they spoke vociferously about how let down they felt with the Sixth Pay Commission report (PCR).”
He says in the letter that he felt “morally duty bound” to bring the fact to the notice of the prime minister in a “personal capacity.”
He writes that even the Anomalies Commission set up to review the pay panel report would not solve the problems of the armed forces. “This Committee, which does not even have representatives of the Armed Forces as their members, will never be able to achieve a deep understanding or be sensitive enough to their problems,” the General wrote, adding that the problems of the armed forces are on the account of “core concepts” and not merely technicalities.
“The problems of the Services can be solved, only with the involvement of the leadership of the country. Therefore, a ‘Group of Ministers’ alone will be able to address these issues,” the letter says.
Bringing the dipping strength of officer in the army to the PM’s notice, Vij has written that most officers’ academies are functioning below strength and the forces cannot sustain a continuation of poor intake of officers and the current wave of resignation requests.
“Already, the Indian Military Academy and OTA, Chennai, are reporting a drop in intake by over 70 per cent. In the case of the jawans, this recruitment trend will continue yet for a few more years, but their level of motivation will drop. The country cannot afford either of these situations,” the General says.