Don’t give short shrift to the resilient soldier

Military Commentator

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Human resource is the most important facet of any organisation. For the armed forces, it has added significance. It shows the resilience of the Indian Army soldiers, duly backed by the sailors and air warriors, that they stand eyeball to eyeball with the Chinese soldiers in eastern Ladakh, or, for that matter, all along its borders. Indian soldiers the world over are known as among the best professionals. Besides their performance under the UN flag, troops from the infantry who have participated in the famed Cambrian Patrol, an annual international military exercise over 65 km of rugged terrain which involves military manoeuvres and patrols, have always stood out and won the event several times.

The forces stand out by their integrity, morale, a high order of physical and mental strength, courage and valour. All this is possible by relentless training, arming and equipping the men, with a holistic thrust to administrative support. They have stood by the sanctity of the oath they take on joining the forces, be it the officers on commissioning or the recruits on becoming sepoys. The expectations of all joining the military stand out in the oath itself: true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, performance of duties honestly and faithfully, obeying commands of officers set above them, and, when required, to lay down their life for the nation. Oaths are taken in the presence of religious books.

Stress and strain are inherent in the nature of service, be it the extreme difficulties and dangers of battle, terrain and weather, long tenures of separation from family, early supersession, effects of changing ethics and morals of society, of which they are a part, and many such which do not make the armed forces an attractive career. The growing challenges of globalisation, revolution in military affairs, terrorism, information technology and artificial intelligence will further impact upon the soldiers.

Having spent so much time and money to train an individual to battle, it is imperative that everyone is retained in service for the optimal period. The thrust to professional and individual growth has to be continuous to have well-motivated and committed individuals and the armed forces as a whole. A soldier’s dedication to the army gives him limited opportunity to fulfill his social and family commitments. Even when he gets superannuated at an early age, many of his responsibilities are still to be addressed, he is much dependent on his pension, as the scope of a second career is limited and what is available is of a mundane nature.

With this backdrop, one needs to place in perspective certain changes/proposals initiated with regard to pay and allowances, pension, and other related minor perks. First is the aspect of a reduction in pension in view of the many judgments passed by the Supreme Court. Pension has been defined as a deferred salary which is in the nature of the employee’s vested property, earned by him by putting in the specified length of service. In a petition filed by an employee, a three-judge Bench, led by Justice SK Kaul, ruled, “Pension is succour for post-retirement period and it is not a bounty payable at will, but a social welfare measure as a post-retirement entitlement to maintain the dignity of the employee. Pensionary provisions must be given a liberal construction as a social welfare measure.”

In another judgment, the Nagpur Bench of the High Court of Bombay ruled that pension is a fundamental right, it cannot be deducted without authority of law: “Pension payable to employees upon superannuation is ‘property’ under Article 300-A, it constitutes a fundamental right to livelihood under Article 21 of Constitution of India.”

The creation of different categories for grant of pension within the serving and retired fraternity is not only counter to the concept of one rank one pension (OROP), but will also set about a non-homogenous organisation. The harm that this can do is obvious.

In a similar case taken up by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation against the implementation of Employee’s Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that “it created different classes of pensioners of a decent pension in their old age” and, thus, ruled against it.

In a case under the Industrial Disputes Act against Air India Limited on the implementation of the Dharmadhikari Committee Report, the apex court ruled that by doing so, Air India would change the conditions of service, which was a breach of the agreement and is not sustainable in law.

Besides this new proposal, the Ministry of Defence has for long repeatedly disputed the grant of disability pension to military personnel. These have also not stood the scrutiny of law. A Bench headed by Justices MY Eqbal and Amitava Roy ticked off the Defence Ministry in disputing the favourable judgment given by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court for the grant of disability pension to Manjeet Singh, a former soldier of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles. After this, Major Navdeep Singh, a lawyer and former president of the Armed Forces Tribunal, commented, “The law related to disability of soldiers is now well settled and the establishment must show respect towards the Defence Minister’s expressed opinion of reducing litigation and stop filing mindless appeals against disabled soldiers.”

The legal unsustainability apart, the fallouts of the proposal are rather grave. It will only create turbulence in the forces and, most importantly, adversely affect the morale of the forces, which is the major battle-winning factor. The adage that it ‘is not the weapon but the man behind the weapon’ still holds good and must not be forgotten.

To add to the contentious issues of lowering the status of armed forces, non-implementation of OROP and non-grant of non-functional upgradation, specially in the existing delicate situation along the border, makes no sense. Military personnel give the best part of their youth to serve and safeguard the integrity of the nation and to suddenly hang over them the Damoclean sword of a cut in pension is nothing short of a preposterous action.

Another minor and unrealistic action has been the deletion of numerous items from the inventory of the military canteens (CSD). Even as there is no ban on these items in the open market, why is it so for the military? If the aim is to achieve atmanirbharta, the better option is to ban the import of all these items and it will automatically stop supply to the military also.

The Army is an officer-led force, which ensures its efficacy. This is so glaring when one places in perspective the ratio of officers to other ranks. It is one of the highest the world over. But surprisingly, most of these proposals are officer-centric, where there already exists a huge deficiency, with most infantry battalions operating with just 50 per cent officers.

Such little thought of action will only increase this deficiency. It is an irony that while the corporate world continuously endeavours to find innovative means to recruit the best leaders, the armed forces follow a contrary line. It is the resilient soldier, sailor and airman who transform the army into a hard-hitting fighting machine. We can ill afford to give short shrift to this major battle-winning factor.