Analysing concerns of forces on pay panel report: Parrikar

Manohar Parrikar says ministry is already working on it and will come up with something by next week

The defence ministry is analysing the concerns of the armed forces on the 7th Pay Commission report, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Wednesday.

"We are already on the job. By next week, we will be able to see what can be done," he told reporters after laying wreath at Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate on Vijay Diwas.

Officers feel the current pay commission recommendation is less rewarding for armed forces officers.

Among the concerns of the forces regarding the report is the way pensions are calculated on the basis of number of years served in a particular rank.

While the rank of major general is equivalent to joint secretary, sources from the forces said that an IAS officer becomes joint secretary sooner than an armed forces' personnel reaches that rank, and the %age of those who reach that rank in the forces is also lower.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address at the Combined Commanders' Conference onboard INS Vikramaditya on Tuesday, admitted that fewer officers got promoted in the forces.

Another grudge is the risk-hardship matrix.

While a soldier posted in Siachen Glacier gets an allowance of Rs 31,500 per month, a civilian bureaucrat draws 30% of his salary as "hardship allowance".

Parrikar was flanked by three service chiefs — Army Chief General Dalbir Singh, Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, and Navy Chief Admiral R.K. Dhowan in paying respect to the martyrs on Vijay Diwas on Wednesday morning.

Vijay Diwas marks India's military victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh.