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YSN/19284/G/ADM-1SQN. LDR. Y.S. Nijjar 19284 G AE(L)(Retd.)Commanders House, 139, Ganesh Nagar,Dakoha Road, Ramamandi, Jalandhar,Punjab-144023, Tel : +91-9988221335

Date: 15th

August 2011

Smt. Pratibha Patil Smt. Sonia GandhiPresident of India Chair person, UPA

Dr. Manmohan Singh Marshal of IAFHonble Prime Minister of India Arjun Singh, DFC

SUB : HOW MAJOR IS MADE MINOR (PART-II)

Her Excellency

1. I, introduce myself as Sqn Ldr Yashwinder SinghNijjar, 19284 G AE(L)(Retired) after serving in Indian Air Forcefrom 12 th January 1966 to 31 st July 2003 (total 37 years 06 monthsand 19 days). It would be only fair on my part, that beforerequesting you to consider my representation on the above subject,I would with gratitude, whole heartedly congratulate you in leadingthe Country.

2. This country has had many a dignified leaders in the past,but today you will surely agree with me that there are only fewparliamentarians who have their loyalties to the people of India,especially Defence personnel (Sir/Madam, you are among thosefew). A case which never happened in the pension history of IndianMilitary Service i.e Majors pension anomaly is put/ elaborated foryour kind consideration to act positively

3. The leadership of tiniest nation Singapore and the mightiest one USA geton the house top and blare away that they will give the best tangible and nontangible benefits to that section of society, who do the most difficult job for thenation. Then they go on to elaborate that, it is the Armed Forces which are doing

the most difficult job and they would therefore get the best tangible and nontangible benefits and they give it with pride. What happened to our Country? ,When the nation is confronted by the calamity, natural or manmade, the ArmedForces are brought and squeezed the hilt and after the job is done, they arehanged on the nearest pole, till they are dead i.e their genuine inspiration aresimply ignored.

4. Now question arises, can we match the greatest power of this earthtoday?. I dont think so unless Govt. and its members change their attitude

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towards the Armed Forces and do not advance the ridiculous arguments of that, they are unskilled workers and should get lower grade of pay and pensionthan our civilian counter parts and also they are/were knowing the Terms andcondition before joining service, to justify their hostile and petty conduct. Letme submit answer here itself that armed force personnel handle from rifle tomissiles, sophisticated electronics warfare equipments, submarines and aircraftsand still treated inferior for remuneration purpose

5. The above said attitude at the level of Govt./Cabinet Secretary/bureaucracy who has very conveniently over looked the Terms and condition of asoldier and treated them like any other govt. servant. The soldiers life is particularlyinfluenced by the service condition and can only be experienced and not explained.However, it is :-

a. Surrender of fundamental rightsb. Accept even death as profession Hazard (knowingly and willingly)c. Live under extremely adverse physical and mental conditiond. Ignoring even the hardships of their families at timese. Very limited avenue of promotionf. Early retirementg. Separation, disruption and 24X7 working hours

All these, they undergo to meet the requirements of their pyramidicalorganization.

6. Today, every aspect of Indian bureaucracy, including the oncepristine Armed Forces is in complete shambles due to personal greed, selfishnessand lack of leadership. On top of all, there is alarming political VACCUM at the topdue to total lack of direction and patriotism. Let me further submit here, It may beharsh but real fact that from top to bottom, we have BABUS ruling the roostshowing little personal initiative and zero power of discretion, who cling to jobs byeither being silent to the uproar around them or just giving response under the darkcloud of fear that translate into IF THEY ARE GIVEN AN INCH, A MILLION MORE WILLDEMAND IT. Hence, NONE gets what is legally due.

7. I along with 200 retired veterans (Major and their equivalent) are fighting forimprovement in our pension by approaching AFTs, doing rallys and evensurrendering our earned Medals. Govt. /Service HQs/MOD remain silent spectator.One would really be shocked by the extent of damage already done to the Majorand their equivalent.

8. Indian Military HIstory : (Pay and pension) and their subsequent downfall:

a. Military historically treated as distinct force. Their emoluments werekept separate from those of other after independence.

b. The 1 st CPC for Central govt. employees kept Armed Forces out of Terms and Reference.

c. Military pension continued to be higher than that of central govt.employees i.e Military pension was 75% of last pay drawn and othercentral govt. employees were getting 33%. Now everybody is getting 50%of last pay drawn(a tactful manipulation by bureaucracy)

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d. The truncated career was compensated by financial weight-age givento every rank.

e. Bureaucracy dominated govt. decided to bring the defence forcesalso under the preview of CPCs starting of 3 rd CPC.

f. 3 rd CPC, the financial weight-age was done away and was replacedby arbitrary weight-age of number of years.

Kind attention of all addresses

The 3 rd CPC in order to civilize the military pension related to last paydrawn as a percentage rather than relating to rank as heretofore. The cadre andpay structure, where in defence personnel moved much more slowly to reach higherrank/pay scale was totally overlooked. This resulted in military pension falling waybehind than their civilian counter parts, not understanding the weight-age in yearsgiven for truncated career. The downfall in pay and pension started from 3 rd CPCand still continues, service HQs must check this now itself. They should not dependon their GD (Admin) officer preparing Note sheet/ Minute sheet only and theyshould use other expertise to counter this manipulation by the bureaucracyotherwise keep facing the music as their brother officers Majors and their equivalentare running from pillar to post for the shoddy staff work done by VI th CPC andservice HQs remains silent spectator as if they are not knowing about this self created disaster. The whole cadre is suffering today not only because of influence/violence of bad people but it is because of silence of good people athigher echelon.

9. History is replete with examples where Majors played gallant part in allwars. I would not belittle the other officers rank but such was the structure of services that this rank had to occupy the pivotal position. Officers up to Capts.Rank could get away due to lack of experience but Major had to bear the brunt,both from top to bottom. The CO, Lt. Col/ in a regimental life and Wg Cdr. Of squadron stood on high pedestal-prudence dictated that , it was far better to endthe matters at Majors level or else one will face hell fire at the hands of CO. I amsure commander of Navy enjoyed similar touch me not rank.

10. A completely distorted pension structure of VI th CPC is appended below:

Brig. Col. Lt.Col. Major Captain Lt.

26150/- 26050/-

25700/- 14100/- 13800/- 13500/-

Difference inpension withimmediatehigher rank

100/- 350/- 11600/- 300/- 300/-

11. The most compelling anomaly in the distorted pension structureshown above is staggering, irrational and unjustified difference of Rs. 11600/-(basic pension) between two adjacent ranks of Major and Lt.Col against the pre

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revised scale of Rs. 950/- in V th CPC. It is worthwhile to mention here that there isno grade officer of any grade between these two officers i.e Major and Lt. Col. Toput Lt.Col. to pay band IV is a laudable and welcome decision and its negativeeffect to lower rank of Major has been ignored completely.

12. The replacement of old pre-revised scales in the new pay bands hasbeen clearly notified as old pay scale X 1.86. The minimum of corresponding tothe rank of Major was legally as well as logically to be taken as old minimum of scale of 11600/- + 1200/- (RP)=12800/- X 1.86 = 23810/- + 6600/-(GP) + 6000/-(MSP) = 36410/- and 50% of it = 18205/- Majors pension as per principle benchAFT Delhi and AFT Chandigarh rather than bunching of all three ranks (Lt.s,Capts, and Major) in the same minimum for pension purpose. It may beworthwhile to point out here that the concept of running pay band wasintroduced for the defence services in IV th CPC too but at that time the minimumguaranteed pay for each rank was taken as the base for pension and hencepension for all ranks was not based on minimum of the pay band itself. The saidself style interpretation on the part of bureaucracy , where law of ratio andproportion has completely been given go bye, thereby making a new pensionscale which has the ability of shocking an shaking the conscience of evenlayman and it has taken away the financial security and dignity of the officers.

13. It is further submitted that the entire workload and the responsibilitiesof pre 16 th December 2004 Major have been transferred / shifted to post 16 th

December 2004 Lt. Col. If that has happened that way, then, therefore thegolden principle of same post same pay-same experience-same delayed paynow called pension is to be made applicable to the pre 16 th December 2004Major and post 16 th December 2004 Lt Col. in order to provide natural justice tothe affected cadre.The pay is paid against post and there is no formula to treatthe two individuals differently. The issue appears to be clear and needs only tobe legitimized and legalized. Govt./Service HQs/MOD must consider the abovestatement.

14. How a magic figure of Lt.Col. pension of Rs. 25700/- is made :a. Ref V th CPC pay scale of Lt. Col.:- 13500 -400- 17100 ; Rank pay of

Lt. Col. =1600/-b. Higher side of Lt. Col. pay scale : 17100/-

Rank pay: 1600Total: 18700/-

c. Formula used by VI th CPC:- 18700X2+8000(GP)+6000(MSP) to fix Lt.Col pay37400+8000+6000= 51400 .

Hence pension 50% is in Rs 25700 /-

If same formula is used for Major and their equivalents within pay band III

a. Ref pay of Major V th CPC: 11600+325-14850Rank Pay: 1200/-

Higher side of Major Pay scale: 14850+1200(RP)= 16050/-

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Same formula should have been used by VI th CPC

Pay of the Major should have been: 16050X2+6600(GP)+6000(MSP)32100+6600+6000 = 44700/-

Hence Majors pension of 50%: Rs 22350 /-(accordingly GP will also beautomatically increased to 7600/-)

Note: Govt. must look forward to solve the said anomaly by applyingabove formula/point mentioned at Para 12 above under natural justice / inthe spirit of article 14 of our constitution and Supreme Court judgement insimilar cases. Majors and their equivalents are the senior most rank holders in pay band III, hence their pay/pension should be to higher side of pay band III and not in the beginning side as shown in above calculation.

15. Here I would seek no OROP but my restoration of pre2006 pension,with same improvement (in percentage term) over existing pension given by VI th

CPC to its similarly placed civilians and para military forces (which excludes AVS/CPC intervention of service HQs). Do this extrapolation and watch the result. I mustget Rs. 3000/- more (50% of MSP) than those civilian and para-military forces.16. A long retired Major of my seniority was equivalent to Director/comdt(SG) during V th CPC. They remained equal till December 2004, when a commissionso called AV Singh commission changed the terms and condition of servingpersonnel (Civilian, Para military, defence personnel) was drastically reduced to justhalf and all were promoted over night to respective higher ranks to obtainmaximum benefit from VI th CPC and already retired class was completelyoverlooked/ignored by everyone i.e CPC and service HQs. Hence Director / Comdt.(SG) were so manipulated that they became equal to Lt.Col instead of Major. It isfurther submitted that service HQs in any case has no mandate to propose areduction in the pension of already retired cadre, who earned their pension at amuch higher pay scale. A damage control exercise must be initiated byGovt./Service HQs/MOD in the spirit of natural justice and article 14 of ourconstitution.

17. The old Major problem is neither identified by our servicechiefs/Govt./Service HQs/MOD nor by retired veterans organization/6 th CPCmembers in its full depth. The reply from various ESM welfare organizations andother respective directorates is shocking, which is MATTER IS UNDERCONSIDERATION from last one year. It has no consolation to us in any case; untilour problem is rightly appreciated in right perspective with due care and somesubstantial output is seen happening on ground.

18. The long silence on the part of authorities i.e. Govt. /service HQs/MODto this gross injustice sends a terse message that we have LOST THE BATTLE.Perhaps our file/case is buried under the forgotten shelf. It is anybodys guess aboutthe exact position of file/case. Let me submit here. FIRSTLY, that there is no wordLOST THE BATTLE in the dictionary of Indian soldiers. The battle has to be fought

jointly by all retired Major veterans issue wise in courts/AFTs/Armed ForcesGrievances Commission because Law help those who are vigilant and not those whoare asleep. SECONDLY, we have a women president, a gursikh Prime Minister,

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Roman Catholic (now Hindu) congress president and a holder of never to be retiringrank Marshal of IAF Arjun Singh, DFC. Despite being of four very different religion /profession, But they share a common religion phenomenon i.e. COMPASSION. I amsure they will come to the rescue of Majors anomaly. Therefore your good officesare requested to do the needful in solving the subject anomaly by putting pressureon decision making body to guard the interest of Major and their equivalents.

19. The time is running out and shadows are lengthening on this life. If thisanomaly continue to persist, May I request my erstwhile comrades to give usbefitting funeral. Let the bugles be blown and the last post sounded and I take asolace by a single thought that when I face a GREAT MASTER, He is not going toask my religion, He is not going to count my pennies also, He will surely ask me justone question, HAVE YOU PLAYED THE GAME OF LIFE? yes I think I have. God BlessUs.

Warm Regards

Copy to:Chief of Army Staff Yours SincerelyArmy HQs, New Delhi-11

YS NijjarChief of Naval Staff Sqn Ldr.(retd.)Naval HQ, New Delhi-11

Chief of Air Staff Air HQ, New Delhi-11

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