Southern Command Exercise ‘Drad Sankalp’ Under Way in Rajasthan - PIB

The Southern Command of the Army is undergoing a Command level exercise ‘Drad Sankalp’ in the deserts of Rajasthan, wherein capabilities of the Army in a Tri-Service environment are being practiced and validated on a Capability based approach ,while relying on the adoption of new age technologies, transformed war fighting and integrated theatre battle concepts. The exercise is also focusing on the aspect of jointsmanship between the three services and in developing the required synergy in order to achieve operational effectiveness.

 

The exercise has commenced with an aim to achieve perfection in basic battle drills & procedures with emphasis on exceptional standards of training and exploiting our doctrine through Manoeuvre Warfare and Directive Style of Command. The scope of the exercise includes decisive manoeuvres by mechanized forces on ground in harmony with utilization of the Third Dimension to ensure complete dominance of the battlefield.

 

This training exercise is also being used as a test bed to validate synergetic application of all forces in a tri services environment, enhancing Jointsmanship. Indian Army undertakes exercises at regular intervals at different levels to ensure that the forces are given a real war like situations and the equipment is kept in battle readiness state. The formations and units have been undergoing this exercise for over two months now and the final phase of the exercise along with the validation is underway.

 

Col Rohan Anand, SM

PRO (Army)

 

[PIB]

OROP : Premature Retirement Clasue

Premature retirement clause: Armed forces convey OROP concerns to Government The armed forces are worried about the organizational impact of the clause which directly affects serving military personnel.

 

The defence services’ main concern is about the accretion of what they term as “non-performing assets” — personnel who haven’t been promoted due to the steep hierarchical structure of the military.

 

The top hierarchy of the defence forces has conveyed to the government its concerns about the denial of OROP to military personnel seeking premature retirement from defence services now onwards. This clause is part of the government notification on OROP which conceded OROP to ex-servicemen who had taken premature retirement but denied it to those who seek premature retirement from now on.

 

The armed forces are worried about the organizational impact of the clause which directly affects serving military personnel. Top sources in service headquarters have confirmed to The Indian Express that top brass of at least two of the defence services have personally registered their concerns with senior levels of the government last month.

 

The defence services’ main concern is about the accretion of what they term as “non-performing assets”, military personnel who haven’t been promoted due to the steep hierarchical structure of the military. Disincentivised by denial of OROP, if these personnel do not seek premature retirement, they will continue to occupy the posts which would be otherwise tenanted by younger officials who have not been superseded.

 

The incremental effect of disproportionately large numbers of superseded officials with every passing year will be detrimental to the military.

 

On an average, nearly 12,000-14,000 soldiers and JCOs, and 450-500 officers seek premature retirement from the army every year. “Nearly half the officers get superseded by 40 years of age in the army. If they don’t opt for premature retirement, they will serve for another 14 years.

 

There are not enough ‘sheltered’ appointments to post them away from important operations posts. This is bound to affect the efficiency, discipline and morale of the army, especially demotivate those working at the cutting edge level” says Srinath Raghavan, a former military officer and Senior Fellow at Centre for Policy Research.

 

The issue of OROP for premature retirees first came up when defence minister in September announced the exclusion of military personnel who have sought premature retirement from the ambit of OROP being granted by the government. Faced with strong opposition from protesting ex-servicemen, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally announced in Faridabad that there was a misunderstanding and the issue of OROP for premature retirees will be resolved amicably.

 

In the government notification issued on 7th November, government agreed to grant OROP to all ex-servicemen, including those who had already taken premature retirement, but barred those who seek premature retirement from now on from getting OROP.

 

The defence minister has asked the veterans to end their ongoing protests and place their complaints before the one-member judicial commission announced by the government. “While the veterans can take their complaints over the notification to the judicial commission or courts, the service headquarters can’t do so.

 

These concerns have to be thus raised internally at the highest levels by the military leadership lest it affects the operational effectiveness of our armed forces,” a senior military official said.

 

The Army Headquarters officially refused to respond to the story as, it said, “the matter is under consideration by the government”. Defence services feel that the denial of OROP to military personnel going on premature retirement goes against the recommendations of the Ajai Vikram Singh Committee, which had recommended measures to reduce the age profile of officers. These recommendations were approved by the cabinet and implemented by the government. “After the AVSC report, the government itself issued a policy stating that up to 3.1 percent of military personnel can be granted premature retirement every year. By keeping them out of OROP, government is working against its own principle of a young and motivated military,” the senior military official argued. “Most modern armies work on the principle of “up or out”. Officials who don’t get promoted have to compulsorily retire after a fixed period in any rank, usually 4-5 years. That is how armies stay young, fresh and motivated. Making premature retirement attractive is the way in which India can work towards that goal. Denying OROP actually does the opposite,” Raghavan added

 

[Indian Military Veterans]

No proposal to discontinue Digital Life Certificate for pensioners

Personnel Ministry Press Release – No proposal to discontinue the Digital Life Certificate for the Pensioners

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions has issued a Press Release regarding “Digital Life Certificate for the Pensioners”

No proposal to discontinue Digital Life Certificate for pensioners

There is a report in a section of press that while inaugurating an Awareness Workshop on the online Pension Sanction and Payment Tracking System “BHAVISHYA”, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the practice of submitting Digital Life Certificate for continuation of pensions will soon be done away with.

Strongly rebutting the report, it is stated that Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh has never ever expressed any opinion on the issue at any platform and, therefore, the question of having made such a statement does not arise at all.

It is clarified that, as of now, the government has no proposal to discontinue the Digital Life Certification for the pensioners.

It is to be stated that “Jeevan Pramaan” – a facility for submission of digital of life certificates by pensioners has been launched in November 2014. This is a voluntary facility provided in addition to existing provisions available for submission of life certificates. Till date 9,62,910 Digital Life Certificates have been furnished by pensioners.

[ PIB ]

7CPC : Recommendations on Non-Practising Allowance (NPA)

7th Pay Commission Recommendations on Non-Practising Allowance (NPA)

7th CPC proposes for reduced NPA at the rate of 20% of Basic Pay as against NPA of 25% paid presently

 

Rate of NPA:

Non Practicing Allowance (NPA), at the rate of 25 percent of Basic Pay, is paid to medical doctors occupying posts for which minimum qualification of a medical degree is prescribed. There are demands to raise this allowance to 40 percent of Basic Pay.

 

Analysis and Recommendations

The VI CPC had included a detailed rationale for the grant of NPA in its recommendations. Most of the reasons are still valid and there is no need to reiterate them here. However, in line with our general approach of rationalizing the percentage based allowances by a factor of 0.8, we recommend that NPA should be paid at the rate of 20 percent of Basic Pay, subject to the condition that Basic Pay + NPA should not exceed the average of Apex Level and the level of Cabinet Secretary.

7th CPC’s remarks on taking NPA for the purpose of calculating HRA

Currently, in the case of those drawing either NPA or MSP or both, HRA is being paid as a percentage of Basic Pay+NPA or Basic Pay+MSP or Basic Pay+NPA+MSP respectively. HRA is a compensation for expenses in connection with the rent of the residential accommodation to be hired/leased by the employee and is graded based on the level of the employee, and therefore should be calculated as a percentage of Basic Pay only. Add-ons like NPA, MSP, etc. should not be included while working out HRA.

Whether NPA can be taken in to account while calculating Transfer Grant

Presently NPA and MSP are included as a part of Basic Pay while determining entitlement for grant of CTG. The Commission finds no justification for doing so, as the expenditure and inconvenience involved in relocation on transfer/retirement is similar for all employees. Hence, no other add-ons should be allowed in Basic Pay while calculating CTG.

 

 

 

Indian Army offers Lanka technical assistance

The Indian army today offered Sri Lanka technical assistance to upgrade the military requirements in the Sri Lanka army.

 

Indian Army Chief, General Dalbir Singh Suhag made the offer when he met his Sri Lankan counterpart, Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva at the army headquarters in Colombo today.

 

The army media unit said that during the discussion, both General Dalbir Singh and Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva recalled the historic relations that have existed between two nations for generations and memories during the 1987 deployment of the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka.

 

General Dalbir Singh served as a young Company Commander in the IPKF, one of the first units to be inducted at that time to fight against the LTTE.

 

Both military chiefs during the meet at the Commander’s office shared views on current issues in the region and stressed the need to resolve them in an amicable manner with exchange of vital information.

 

 

General Dalbir Singh highlighted the importance of modernizing the Sri Lanka army to suit international standards to be geared to meet with different types of emerging threats, including cyber attacks.

Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva in turn appreciated such assistance and requested the Indian Army to explore possibilities of new areas of training.

Talks also focused on ongoing training modules that are relevant to both organizations. The visiting Army Chief assured support for continuance of training programmes, spearheaded by the Sri Lanka army, and both of them mutually agreed to broaden those horizons in the near future. While expressing willingness to further foster friendly defence ties with Sri Lanka, General Dalbir Singh also offered his army’s technical assistance for upgrading of military requirements in the Sri Lanka army.

General Dalbir Singh Suhag also paid a courtesy call on the State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene at the Ministry premises, Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi and former army commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.

(Colombo Gazette)