WILL ‘OROP’
BE THE LAST
STRAW…?
Will OROP(
One Rank One Pension ) be
the last straw in the crumbling Civil-
Military relationship? That is the Question ? For how long will the Military face humiliation at the
hands of the clever bureaucracy and the inert politicians?
Ever since the Independence the working equation between
the military and the bureaucracy has been contentious . Over the years the
military has been ceding ground to the civilian bureaucracy and they have been
tightening the grip. And there are instances and examples many.
The first
instance was of General Thimayya, the Chief
of Army staff who was a distinguished officer and had Commanded a
Brigade in World War II, he was the Chief of the Army staff from 1957 to 1961 .
The Defence Minister was Krishna Menon who had tendency to bypass the Chief and
give orders directly to the other Army Commanders, he also introduced promotion
of senior officers on merit rather than on the principle of seniority. This led to strain in their relationship and
General Thimayya tendered his resignation , however Pandit Nehru
persuaded him to take back his
resignation to which he agreed and the matter was resolved at that time.
However Nehru criticised General Thimayya in the Parliament which undermined
his position thereafter and his recommendations were also not implemented. The debacle of 1962 Indo – China war brought to
the front the differing opinions of civil and military and the Army Chief General Thapar tendered his
resignation on health grounds and the Defence minister had to resign on moral
grounds and criticism in Parliament. The appointment of General Kaul as the
corps commander was also criticised as he had no experience of operations. The
written orders “to throw out the Chinese” were given by a ‘joint secretary’
level officer Sarin , who ironically rose in civil service !
The next major incident which rocked the
Nation was the dismissal of the Naval
Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat by the NDA Government in Dec 1998. The
Defence Minister was George Fernandez , there were serious difference of
opinion between The chief and Government on the matters of appointment of
senior officers, apparently. Admiral
Bhagwat was removed but nothing happened to the Defence Secretary Ajit Kumar
who was merely transferred out.The media and the intellectuals supported
Admiral Bhagwat who was considered honest to the bone and was apparently
resisting the International Arms Lobby.
The decision of the Government led to the withdrawal of support by AIADMK and
no confidence motion which led to the fall of the NDA Government. It was so
ironic that a disciplined soldier was dismissed by a person who was leader of
the infamous ‘Baroda Dynamite Case’ allegedly involving plans to capture arms and ammunition
and carry out blasts during Emergency.
The ‘Major
Dhanpalan Case’ has also made history recently. He challenged in Kerala High Court
in 1996 the decision of the 4th
Pay commission award wherein the rank pay was introduced
for officers in order to make service more attractive, however the basic
pay was fixed after deducting the rank pay thus nullifying the edge which the armed forces officers had
over their civilian counterparts . His historic win led to the protracted
litigation between the Armed forces Officers and the MOD and finally ended with the Supreme Court judgement in favour of the Armed forces which
too was delayed owing to the play with words when implementing and required
intervention of the three chiefs and
then corrected. In other words the civilian bureaucracy left no opportunity to
frustrate the true entitlement of the officers the case deserves to be a PHD study in ‘Civil –Military
relationship’!
The
resignation of Admiral D K Joshi was also mired in controversy . Why was he
allowed to tender his resignation when the entire Defence procurement system
was to be blamed for the delay in spares for the aging submarines and
replacement of the ageing submarine fleet ? Among the foremost thing which his
resignation brought out was the fixation of responsibility between the Armed
forces and the MOD. The media questioned the Government for not asking for the
resignation of the Defence Minister and saluted the moral courage of the Naval
Chief.
Many
anomalies with respect to the 6th Pay Commission are still lingering
and one of them is the NFU ( Non functional upgradation) . This was implemented in the
civil services /police /coast guard who are
enjoying the financial benefits, it has also upset the civil- military protocol. When the Armed
forces took up the matter they were told ‘cleverly’ that since they were not
All India service it did not apply to them. Finally the Supreme Court directed
the MOD to implement wef 2011. However the same has been appealed and is
awaiting the final disposal
Another issue
which is of serious dimension is the denial of the disability pension to
service personnel who are discharged
with certain disability ;despite they winning the case in AFT ( Armed forces
tribunal )in number of cases. It has become routine with the MOD to appeal
against the decision in High Court and then Supreme Court. This year in Feb in
a landmark Judgement in favour of the service personnel combining numerous
appeals the Supreme Court stated that any disability acquired whilst in service
shall be attributed to service and the
individual compensated accordingly.
Finally it is
the OROP which is at the cross roads. After fighting for it for more than 30
years on many fronts the Congress
Government announced it prior to the May 2014 elections. It was greeted with
cheer and expectations. During the election campaign BJP promised
implementation of OROP. However it is more than one year now and the
implementation is not in sight. It is my assessment that OROP should have been implemented within three
months of BJP assuming power. It seems that ‘craftiness’ of the bureaucracy as seen in Dhanpalan and NFU
cases is at play. I believe that ‘delay is denial’, if a fair share is to be
accorded then it be given in time ; delay creates heartburns and reduces its
impact. Why such an important decision is pending for execution is a mystery.
The leadership at the helm is known for quick decisions. The decision to move ‘nano’
from Bengal to Gujrat , it is understood was taken through a SMS to TATAS! The
quickness of direct purchase of 36 Raphael aircraft from France , the clearance
of lakhs of crores worth defence projects shows that if the Government wants to
decide it can. Or is it favourably
inclined to a certain sector only? Its
reluctance toward MGNREGA and speediness for promulgation of land ordinance show
their ideology !Many messages and write-ups are appearing in the media. Ajay
Shukla the defence analyst it is learnt, has stated that OROP is now being
linked to the 7th pay commission, therefore there will be more
delay. However two editorials are worthy of note and show the character and commitment
of each. ‘The Hindu’ in its editorial of 01st June appeals for early
implementation and offers an undiluted opinion on the matter. It is titled ‘A
promise to redeem’ and sums up by saying that “ it is high time the government
came out with a clear road map and a firm date for its implementation and then
adhere to it. This country owes its defence forces as much”. The Times
of India comes out to support with a rider to cut the flab and restructure the
Armed forces. In its editorial of 01st June titled ‘Meet this
Demand’ and sub title ‘ But One rank one pension must be accompanied
by cutting Armed forces flab’. It
apparently supports the cause but
sums up in the last paragraph “ slashing non operational flab, such as doing
away with the orderly system for officers and curtailing the practice of
deploying soldiers for escort duties is imperative”. It indicates that the
lobby to dilute the recommendations is at work and is influencing the media. Not favourable
signs! One also wonders as to why the TOI has raised the issue of cutting the
flab now when the proposal has been delayed and is in the news and not when it was announced a year
back!
It is indeed
sad that the Armed forces had to approach the Supreme Court to get Dhanpalan
case, NFU and OROP . Most of the cases in the past involved officers and
limited personnel however OROP envelopes and concerns all: Veterans, retired
and even serving ( soldiers/sailors /airmen ). The issue is not civil-military
as may be made out; it is essentially a ‘military-civilian bureaucracy’ issue .
In the past whenever the armed forces have been ‘short changed’ there has been
support from the people; be it the dismissal of Admiral Bhagwat or resignation
of Admiral Joshi .Students, middle class , common man and even media have
expressed sympathy and also anger at the unfairness. It shows that the Nation
is behind them. The Armed forces belong to the people of India and therefore it
is my firm belief that the people, the press, the wise men of letters will
ensure justice. As far as the relationship with the bureaucracy is concerned,
well! Some relationships are doomed to fail, this is one of them. The only way
it can survive is by recasting the protocol/business rules between the military and civilian bureaucracy. It is
one of the terms of reference of the 7th pay commission.
Armed forces
being part of the executive should interact directly with the legislature and
do not need the ‘buffer’ of the civilian
bureaucracy to be kept under control.
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