Pay Commissions are periodically constituted to examine various issues such as pay and allowances, retirement benefits, conditions of service, promotion policies, etc. of the Central Government employees. There is no stipulation regarding any specific time period for constitution of a Pay Commission for Central Government employees. Till now five Central Pay Commissions have been constituted whose details are as below:-
First Pay Commission
- Date of Appointed : May, 1946
- Date of Submission of Report : May,1947
- Financial Impact (Rs. in Cr.) : NA
Second Pay Commission
- Date of Appointed : August, 1957
- Date of Submission of Report : August 1959
- Financial Impact (Rs. in Cr.) : 39.62
Third Pay Commission
- Date of Appointed : April, 1970
- Date of Submission of Report : March, 1973
- Financial Impact (Rs. in Cr.) : 144.60
Fourth Pay Commission
- Date of Appointed : June, 1983
- Date of Submission of Report : 3 Reports submitted in June, 1986; Dec. 1986 and May, 1987
- Financial Impact (Rs. in Cr.) : 1282
Fifth Pay Commission
- Date of Appointed : April, 1994
- Date of Submission of Report : January, 1997
- Financial Impact (Rs. in Cr.) : 17,000
Thus successive Central Pay Commissions were set up in the past at intervals of 10 to 13 years. The last Central Pay Commission was constituted in April, 1994.
Source : Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India
You are wrong with regard to Date of First Pay Commission- It is May 1946 NOT 1949 as mentioned!!
ReplyDeletePay Commission History vis a vis Armed Forces.
ReplyDeleteRead this article by Lt gen Harwant singh on Pay commissions
The Tribune 17 Feb 2007
Defence Forces and Pay Panels
Persistently wronged in the past
Lt-Gen Harwant Singh ( Retd )
The government has constituted the Sixth Pay Commission to review the
pay and allowances etc of central government employees. Many
economists have questioned the wisdom of constituting a pay commission
at this stage and phase of the country's economy. Be that as it may,
here we are concerned with the expectations and hopes of the defence
personnel who have been persistently wronged in the past.
The defence forces constitute nearly forty percent of the central
government employees; their officers, forming the largest officer
cadre amongst the central services. Consequently, better part of the
exertions of a pay commission ought to relate to their case. The Fifth
Pay
Commission's report runs into over 2100 pages, in three volumes, out
of which, just over 50 pages pertain to the case of defence forces.
The Commission assembled a staff of nearly 150 officers to assist it,
in working out the details of pay, allowances, etc of central
government employees, and prepare the report. It took officers from
Postal Service, BSF, Forest Service, etc for this task,but none from
the defence services. The Committee of secretaries constituted to
review the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, took an
officer from the police on the committee, but none from the defence
services. Besides much else, the Commission gave a brigadier more
pension than a major-general.
A brief review of the attitude of the previous pay commissions and the
government, towards the defence forces would be in order.
The Post War Committee, ostensibly to rationalize the pay structure of
the armed forces, linked it to that of the civil services as
determined, basing on the report of the First Pay Commission. On the
pretext of simplicity, 'all inclusive' pay was introduced; withdrawing
all allowances.
No such reduction was introduced in the case of other civil services.
This came to be known as New Pay Code, which was not applied to the
King's Commissioned Officers, ( KCIOs) Since they formed the top
echelons in the army then, their silence was bought in this manner.
Later some allowances had to be re-introduced. In the case of those
below officer rank, their pay
was dropped by one third. However, they were given a princely sum of
Rs 5 per month to compensate for hardships of military life, but there
was nosuch relief for officers.
Surprisingly, the case of defence services was not looked at by the
pay commission, but by a departmental committee of the MoD. Same
practice was followed in the case of the Second Pay Commission and
nothing came of it. The Third Pay Commission was, for the first time,
entrusted with the task of determining pay and allowances of defence
personnel. The
Commission wanted to hear the defence services case directly from the
armed forces. However, the MoD came up with the preposterous
contention that the,requirement of discipline in the armed forces does
not permit them to put up their case direct to the Pay Commission.?
Further the Pay Commission was not required to go into the issue of
service conditions of defence personnel but was to take these as
'given.' Equally unbelievable is the acceptance of this untenable and
absurd stance of the MoD by the defence forces on the one hand and by
the Commission on the other.
This methodology resulted in the creeping back of the 'all inclusive'
concept with the attendant disadvantages and washing away of the
corrections that had been brought in to soften the 'all inclusive'
character of the pay structure.
The Third Pay Commission, after examinations of the advantages and
disadvantages of military career, came up with the incredulous
conclusion that advantages outweigh advantages. Truncated careers,
extremely limited promotions, long separations from families,
limited family accommodation in peace stations, hard living conditions
in uncongenial and difficult areas, risk to life and limb and a
hundred other travails, which are associated with military life and
recognized the world over, were seen as great benefits of military
career. In every country of the world these travails are termed as 'X'
factor and fully compensated
through pay, perks, pensions and relief in income tax etc, but not in
India.
No other country in the world during the last hundred years has been
continuously in a state of war for nearly sixty years as the Indian
army.
Yet, in the views of the Third Pay Commission there was no
justification for introducing 'X' factor for the military.
To compensate for limited promotions in the defence forces and to
soften the blows of the earlier Pay Commissions, the service chiefs,
at best, were able to get 'running pay band' for officers from the
Fourth Pay Commission.
Further upto the rank of brigadiers, rank pay was added to the basic
pay. However, due to some mischief, an amount equal to the rank pay
was deducted from the basic pay. This continued over a span of 10
years, affecting nearly 50000 officers. While a high court has told
the government to 'pay-up' the amount thus deducted, the latter has
taken the case to the Supreme Court and that is where the matter rests
now. For the purpose of pension, defence
personnel, remained equated with civilian employees, consequently
condition of 33 years service to earn full pension stayed, placing the
former at a great disadvantage. First you retire 90 to 95 percent
after 17/25/28 years of service and then tell them, sorry you cannot
get full pension, as you did not complete 33 years of service. This is
Indian Government's version of
natural justice and fair play.
The Fifth Pay Commission took away the running pay band and further
lowered the status of service officers. It too did not accept the 'X'
factor. It sought views from the IDSA, an organ of the MoD, which made
a host of outlandish and irrelevant recommendations. Such as reduction
of strength of the army by 35 percent, disbandment of RR units etc,
and that at a time when army's commitments in the NE and J and K were
on the increase. Further the Service Chiefs were excluded from all the
disadvantages introduced in the pay and allowances of all ranks: not
without a purpose.
Successive pay commissions, aided and abetted by the government, have
made service in the military so unattractive that besides lingering
deficiency of nearly 13000 officers, lower standards of intake not
withstanding, there is near exodus from the service. Between 2001 and
2004, in all 2000 officers applied to leave the army. These included 2
lt-gens, 10 maj-gens, 84
brigadiers, and the rest colonels and below. In all 1472 were allowed
to leave.
The situation in the IAF is more distressing. How many from the IAS,
IPS and other central services have opted to leave! Can there be a
more convincing inequality between the civil services and service in
the military and its unattractiveness! There is disenchantment amongst
the officers and simmering discontent prevalent in the troops. India
has an unbroken record of military defeats stretching back to two
thousand years, sans the victory against East Pakistan in 1971. Still
we are so indifferent to issues of national security! No amount of
sophistication and state of the art weaponry can compensate for poor
leadership and demotivated troops in the military.
The Sixth Pay Commission must look at the service conditions of
defence personnel and the imperatives of the applicability of 'X'
factor in their case. 'Running pay band' must be reintroduced,
truncated careers should be compensated by grant of 75 percent of last
pay drawn as pension. NDA and IMA cadets should get pay and not
stipend and their stay with these academies should be counted towards
service, as is the practice everywhere. The Pay Commission needs to
study the practices followed in UK, USA and other democracies in
respect of pay and allowances of their defence forces and relate these
to India's armed forces. Within various services, equation should be
sought in the sum total of pay including allowances drawn in full
length of service and to that should be added the 'X' factor in the
case of the military. Government must refrain from taking advantage of
the good discipline of defence personnel. It must act in good faith
and exercise fair play.
Finally, what one gets in the military are peanuts. Peanuts will
attract monkeys and the only time they won a battle was against Lanka
( Sri Lanka ) under Sri Ram.
good analysis. its high time the government realises its folly. you cannot close your eyes to a situation and hope like hell that it passes away. some day or the other it will explode like a time bomb. it can be the announcement day of the sixth pay commission also. a soldier is at the mercy of his superiors. he is not allowed to raise his voice or go on strike like the babus do. he plays on his life so that you sleep in peace in your cosy bed. try spending one day in siachen glacier and you will realise how bad life can be. its very easy and simple to talk big on the streets. the day you experience bullets flying around you, you will realise what being a slodier means. i hope the sixth pay commission peeps into the heart of the soldier rather than stare at his pocket. jai hind
ReplyDeleteAn increase in pay is welcome. But more than that the system of rise in the pay and promotion needs rectification. Even those employee who work less gets the same pay and promotion. One who works hard should be should be properly rewarded.
ReplyDeleteonly 190 candidates joining the NDA against 300 plus is a wake up call for Govt. We can ofload R&D,railways, Road tpt,Air tpt,Construction,medical, teaching,Tax collection etc. to private agencies/multinationals but not the defence of the country.There is no choice but to get quality recruits from with in the country.It appears dificult to do the same with present pay structure.
ReplyDeleteno the defence of the country can also be outsourced to BLACKWATER CORPORATION OF USA, who are fighting the war in Iraq. They hire highly motivated men, who may be retired people or thugs or petty thives, but will kill anybody if the money is right.
ReplyDeleteJWO VK SHARMA
ReplyDeleteGovt should give the responsibility to decide their pay structure to defence forces and analyse it.believe me they will never ask for abnormally higher pay and allowances.Govt must dare atleast once and make that practical public to decide their honesty.
JWO VK SHARMA
ReplyDeleteGovt should give the responsibility to decide their pay structure to defence forces and analyse it.believe me they will never ask for abnormally higher pay and allowances.Govt must dare atleast once and make that practical public to decide their honesty.