The Hindu Business Line : Hopes belied

After the Sixth Pay Commission report was viewed with dismay by the armed forces, the government appointed a Committee comprising the Defence, Finance and Home Secretaries, to look into the anomalies in the recommendations of the Pay Commission and suggest remedial measures. Significantly, there is no member of the armed forces on this Committee.

The armed forces have long argued for a separate Pay Commission since a general-purpose one cannot possibly be expected to fully grasp the nature of services rendered: The hardships on the borders and in peace stations and the trauma of frequent separations from families. Leave alone such a committee, no government has deemed it appropriate to appoint a former Chief of Staff on any Pay Commission.

The government has failed to create sufficiently attractive conditions to excite the imagination of the youth for the armed forces as officers or to retain those serving at present so that they do not leave in droves for more lucrative assignments in the corporate sector. The Army has a shortage of over 11,000 officers.

A large number of vacancies at the National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune, and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, remain unfilled every year. This growing shortage has begun to affect the cutting edge junior leadership of the armed forces.

What is to be done?

A revamped short-service entry scheme which offers lateral induction into civilian jobs after five years of service in the armed forces is the best solution. Such a scheme would fill all the vacant positions and reduce the pension bill. A short “military service” stint made compulsory for all aspirants for the Central Services, including the IAS, the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), the Indian Police Service (IPS), other Allied Services, the Central Police and Para-military Forces (CPMFs) and other similar organisations would offer multiple benefits.

Soon after assuming office in 2004, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had mooted a proposal to select candidates for the IAS and the Allied Services after the 12th Standard, with a view to catch them young for a career in the bureaucracy. These young candidates could be trained at the NDA, which provides the finest all-round education at the under-graduate level in India.

It would be in the national interest for the budding central services officers to do some military service for about four to five years, during which they would be exposed to a disciplined way of life, gain hands-on experience of man-management, inculcate leadership qualities, imbibe values and ethics and learn to be officers and gentlemen.

All entry into the Central Services should be through the armed forces after training at the NDA and other services academies. After four to five years of commissioned service, the officers should be given three chances each to appear for the Union Public Service Commission examinations and interviews for lateral transfer into the IAS, IFS and the Allied Services.

Those who do not qualify could chose to continue in their respective service or opt to leave with a reasonably attractive golden handshake at five-year intervals. It is a proposal that can be quite easily implemented and an idea whose time has come.

Gurmeet Kanwal Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies New Delhi

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