General Bipin Rawat’s proposals to increase retirement age and slash pension benefits for armed forces face criticism

THE fastest growing component of India’s defence budget is the defence pension bill and not expenses on the procurement of military hardware. Although the initial increase in India’s defence pension bill was because of changes in the colour service of a vast majority of personnel below officer rank resulting in almost every retiree becoming eligible for a pension, implementation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission in 2008 more than doubled the pension budget in a period of two years. Automatic age extension will result in the armed forces becoming like any other government organisation.” Premature retirement Under the DMA’s proposal, officers seeking PMR after 20 to 25 years of service will receive only 50 per cent of the stipulated pension; those retiring after 26 to 30 years of service will get 60 per cent of pension; those retiring after 31 to 35 years of service will get 75 per cent of the entitled pension, and only those officers retiring after completing 35 years of full coloured service will receive the full pension. This would reduce the age profile of the Army and the paramilitary forces and reduce pension costs and other entitlements such as married quarters and educational facilities.” The KRC had suggested that the manpower requirement of the Army could be met through the paramilitary forces which would “undertake recruitment on the basis of certain common national military standards and then send those selected for training and absorption in the Army for a period of colour service before reverting to their parent para-military formations”. It noted that “there are problems relating to aspects of retirement age and command profiles in the armed forces” and argued for a reduced number of years of colour service.