Government Cut Army Disability Pensions // Kashmiri locals rescue an Army jawan from a truck after an accident
On September 30, the
day after India began celebrating the successful “surgical strikes”, the
Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued a letter that dramatically reduced pensions
for soldiers invalided out of the army after being crippled by battle
injuries or by injuries directly attributable to hazardous military service. It was just as well
that the commandos returned without significant casualties. If a young soldier
with severe injuries – what cold medical jargon terms “100% disability” – from
that operation had been invalided out from service, he would have found his
monthly pension slashed from Rs 45,200 to just Rs 27,200 – down by Rs 18,000 a
month.
The team leaders in
the “surgical strikes”, majors with ten years of service, have been hit even
harder – with pension for 100% disability slashed by over Rs 70,000 a month.
Junior commissioned officers, the spine of the army, are also badly affected.
Naib subedars with 26 years of service will find their 100% disability pensions
slashed by Rs 40,000 a month.
“Shocked is an
understatement to describe what we feel,” said a top serving general. “Instead
of joining us in celebrating the strikes, the MoD has stabbed us in the back.”
Two weeks later, as the BJP uses military images and the army’s intrepid
cross-LoC raid as vote-catchers in four impending state elections, news is
filtering through the army hierarchy that the slashing of disability pensions
includes not just battle disability pensions, but also pensions for medical
disabilities found to be attributable to, or aggravated by, military service.
These include training accidents, including parachuting, respiratory ailments
caused by long exposure to extreme altitudes, loss of digits/limbs due to
frostbite, etc.
This bombshell has
been lobbed onto the army through a draft gazette notification dated September
30, issued ironically by the “department of ex-servicemen welfare”. In this
document, posted on the defence ministry website, the reduced rates are listed
out in a paragraph titled: “Enhancement in rate of disability pension”. It scraps a decade-old system that the sixth
central pay commission (CPC) instituted in 2006. In that, disability pensions
arising from battle injuries, or disabilities attributable to/aggravated by
military service, were calculated on a “percentage basis”, related to the last
pay drawn.
Now, for unspecified
reasons, disability pensions will be calculated according to a far less
generous “slab system” that existed earlier. The seventh CPC has proposed, and
the government accepted, that the earlier system be reinstated. Adding insult
to financial injury, civilians will continue to be paid pensions according to
the earlier “percentage system”.
Until the September 30
notification, officers and soldiers who had suffered 100 per cent disability in
battle were entitled disability pension that matched their last pay drawn. In
addition, they would draw a “service component” of pension, which amounted to
50 per cent of their last pay drawn.
Under the new rules,
which come into effect retrospectively from January 1, 2016, the “service
component” remains unchanged, but a “slab system” has been introduced for
disability pension, which is significantly lower than the percentage system –
Rs 27,000 a month for officers, 17,000 for junior commissioned officers and Rs
12,000 for all other ranks.
A soldier with five
years of service earns Rs 30,400 a month; 100% disability pension would match
that figure. In its place, he will now be entitled to a flat rate of Rs 12,000
a month. A major with 10 years of service earns Rs 98,300 a month. In place of
that figure for 100% disability, he will get just Rs 27,000 a month. For
lower disability percentages, disability pension is calculated on a pro-rata
basis.
Besides battle
casualties, most service-related disabilities are those categorised as
“attributable to/aggravated by military service”. This too has been badly hit
for the army. According to the army headquarter’s calculations, the new “slab
system” would cause a loss of Rs 2,040 a month to a senior sepoy with 100%
disability, Rs 3,472 to a subedar and Rs 6,855 per month to a
lieutenant colonel.
The Kashmir Valley has
been under restrictions since the death of Hizbul Mujahideen
leader Burhan
Wani on July 8, 2016. This has led to a picture of the valley in which
locals are pit against the armed forces. An incident that gave
a completely different picture of Kashmiris' interaction with the Army went
viral on Sunday. A truck carrying army personnel met with an accident. One of
the army men was trapped inside. Locals from nearby areas were the first to
respond, joining the efforts to pull the jawaan out of the truck. The video shot
by passersby, captures the rescue. The Army tweeted its thanks to the local youth.
