NEW PROPOSALS BY CDS

It is reported in press that the Chief of Defense Staff, General Bipin Rawat has proposed some changes which affect the serving officers and their terms of commission into the armed forces.  

First the age of retirement of the serving officers and men from that of the Colonel and equivalent ranks have been revised upwards by three years, effectively taking the retirement age to 57 instead of 54 as of now.  Likewise the retirement age of Brigadier or equivalent ranks is also proposed to be 58, Major General or equivalent ranks is revised to 59 with Lt. General or equivalent rank remaining 60 same as of now. The age of retirement of JCO and other ranks are also increased to 57 instead of the present 54.  

The armed forces also have a statutory period of service which is governed by a contract between the individual and the armed forces, entered into at the time of the individual joining the academy for his training and education.  The normal duration of pensionable service which is contracted with the individual in case of permanent commission of officers, at present is 20 as in the case of civil service.  Therefore, there were lots of people who were denied promotion to higher ranks after the initial 20 years of service or thereafter, left the armed forces to join private sector or public sector units.  

The exodus of these officers and men left a vacuum at the middle level and consequently there was an opportunity to many more young officers to move up the ranks quickly keeping the age of the fighting forces relatively young. This was done purposely so that the age of fighting forces will always be at a moderate age without compromising on the readiness of the armed forces and the reflex intuitions of the men fighting the war.  The average age of CO and their subordinate officers and men were relatively in a similar age bracket thereby ensuring a comradery developed and maintained.  Most of the officers and men who found that their further career in the armed forces is blocked on account of various issues like medical, ACR etc., were happy to leave with a confidence that their retirement benefits will be sufficient to take care of them in their retired life whether they take up any employment afterwards or not.

The recommendations of the A V Singh committee which was accepted by the government as early as 2004, introduced a faster promotion track for officers in the rank of Majors and Lt. Colonels and their equivalent ranks in the other two forces.  This was seen as one of the requirements on the assessment of military preparedness made post the Kargil war. With the commanding officers getting promoted faster, they are much younger to their former colleagues in the same post.  This has brought the commanding officers and the officers and men they command to almost the same age bracket. The fighting arm of the military, thus, has been brought to a fairly young age mix. 

But what the CDS has proposed is to cut the retirement benefits of those people who are leaving the forces pre-maturely, though they might have completed the mandatory period of service, will not only hamper the morale of the forces, it will also make the age of most of the CO much higher than that of their fellow officers and men. Not only that, with the officers slated to retire at a higher age, the period of waiting for promotion of the junior officers will be stretched which will leave them dejected. But the recommendations of the CDS, if accepted, will defeat the very purpose of the A V Singh committee recommendations which was already accepted and implemented in the military. 

The parity of the defense officers and their civilian counterparts in administration was one of the thorny issues that was burning with no solution until the same was attended to and the circular issued by the MOD was rescinded by the Minister of Defense.  Now the parity of the defense officers and their civilian counterpart which was in existence before the circular was issued in 2018 has been restored.  The civil administration has all along been at loggerheads with their defense counterparts over their superiority.  

There was another report in the press that in China demographic distribution is not favorable in that the country will be left with not enough young population in about a decade which for any country will be a worrisome development.  In that background, the moves suggested by the CDS, when the country is looking at a long drawn out standoff or a limited theater war both in land and sea with China may wrought much damage to the morale of the fighting forces. The government will do well to not accept the changes proposed by the CDS though, it will be like saving a lot of money in terms of pension, it will do a lot of good in terms of the forces in a high spirit and morale.   Moreover, the young officers and men who retire at the end of the contracted service or at the current retirement age will be available to the government as reserve forces for the next five years as per the service rules.  If the age of retirement is revised upwards, the men as reserve force will be not available at all after a decade, that will be a big blow to the preparedness of the armed forces in future engagements. 

There are still a few issues that have to be sorted out in terms of promotion of officers of Major and Lt. Colonels or their equivalent in other two arms of army.  There may be a few issues in respect of promotions in all three arms of the military. All these have to be ironed out and the recommendations of the A V Singh committee in respect of promotion till the level of Colonel in army or equivalent in other two arms of the military, to be made time scale with shorter duration from the level of Lt. Colonel to Colonel instead of a long 13 years for time scale promotion wait as against just 2 years for selection promotion.  The period of waiting for TS promotion may be brought down to around 7 years.  Further promotion to the rank of Brigadier or equivalent in other arms may be made selection based strictly on availability of vacancies and other criteria for selection.  This move will keep the commanding officer and the officers and men he commands in the same age bracket. The minister of defense and his team looking into the grievances of the serving officers and men in all the three arms of the military will do well to take the above into consideration for implementation.