Rank Pay

Rank Pay is a scheme implemented by the Rajiv Gandhi led Indian National Congress (I) Government in 1986, in the wake of 4th Central Pay Commission (4CPC), that reduced the basic-pay, or grade pay, of seven armed officers ranks of 2nd Lieutenant, Lieutenant, captain, majors, lt-colonel, colonels, and brigadiers, and their equivalent in the Air Force and the Navy by fixed amounts designated as 'rank-pay'. The reduction in the basic-pay, the established basis of determining rank equivalences between armed forces officers and civilian and police counterparts, altered long established historical grade-pay equivalences or parities between armed forces officers and police officer, which was an accepted principle since 1947 for determination of armed forces grade pay, and which was 'further cemented' in 1973, by the 3 Central Pay Commission (3CPC). The reduction in grade-pay apart from causing asymmetries in rank equivalence between the officers from the Indian Police Service and armed forces affected the basic pay, allowances, entitlements, promotion prospects, status, and pension of thousands of officers in the service in January 1986, and the decades after that. In 2012, reduction in armed forces grade-pay, which was a subject of litigation since 1994, was declared illegal by the Supreme Court of India, which in a landmark judgement ordered the government to pay arrears to the more than 20,000 affected officers of the armed forces.

The 'rank-pay' scheme apart from provoking contentious litigation, was one of the causes that fueled protracted protest by veterans over One Rank, One Pension (OROP); and, in the estimate of former chiefs of the armed forces, the degradation of armed forces ranks which rank-pay deductions from basic pay caused, affected armed forces morale and national security, about which they wrote letters to the Prime minister, including Narendra Modi. The legacy of reduction of grade-pay of armed forces lingers, and has variously affected the outcomes of the 5th, 6th and 7th Central Pay Commission.

Measures

Rank-Pay implemented in 1986, was initiated and conceived during the tenure of S K Bhatnagar, Defence Secretary (July 1984 – May 1988). It was implemented by the Government led by Rajeev Gandhi who was both Prime Minister, and Defence Minister (1985–1987), and R. N. Kao, the PM's, police, security and intelligence adviser. Rank-Pay measures include Implementation of a new pay system termed 'integrated running pay scale' ( Rs. 2300-100-3900-150-4200-EB-150-5100, covering a span of 28 years) for all ranks from Second Lieutenant till Brigadier( while retaining the existing system for civil services, including the Police); the new basic-pay for captains till brigadier is depressed to the extent it excludes the rank pay component, which has been deducted; (c) rank-pay( which varies from Rs 200 to 1200 depending on rank) is explained by the 4CPC as well as the MOD as 'additional element', and not some thing that was deducted from the basic-pay; (d) in the MOD, and police led security apparatus, functional relationships between armed forces officers and police officers are reconfigured on the basis of the existence of new armed forces 'basic-pays'( i.e., basic-pay minus rank pay); the new parities, are, however, not defined. The new reduced basic-pay distorts long established historical basic-pay parities between the armed forces officers, and defence civilians officers, and the police led security and intelligence bureaucracy.

Impact

The impact of the implementation of rank-pay on serving officers and veterans are diverse, lingering, and many of which are still unresolved. Rank-pay moderated basic-pay, the impact of which was neither properly examined or explained, affects armed forces organizational structure, functions, morale, and civil-military relations, especially military-police relations. Some of the major affects are of 'Rank pay', implementation are: It degrades armed forces ranks including the highly selective ranks of lieutenant colonels, colonels, and brigadier; Rank Pay deductions roils the Armed Forces, and distorts 'historical parities', and established pay based-status and protocol equations. 'Rank-pay', affects the over all morale of the young officers, as its impacts most directly officers in crucial first 20 years of service; Armed forces officers who had had an edge of two years over the police at the 13 year of service were 'demoted' and made equal in basic-pay to those with 4 years of service; Colonel of the army, Group captain of the airforce, and captains of the navy, who had, since the inception of the police rank of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) (as the second senior most rank in the police), had had a higher pay grade, were placed in lower grade than DIGs, which had been made into a time scale appointment to which every one was automatically entitled on completion of 14 years of service; armed officers, find it difficult to understand why the government has chosen to fix the basic pay of police officers and defence civilians, including auditors, with 13 years of service, at a higher level than of army, navy, and airforce officers with similar number of years of service; It promotes bureaucracy rivalries, and unsustainable false equations and parities; The new debased basic-pay for the armed forces with all its potential for distortions spawns resentment and protracted litigation, starting in 1996, which goes on desultorily