Defending those who defend India

The 6th Pay Commission, led by Justice Srikrishna, was appointed to review and revise the salaries of close to 4 million civilian central government employees and about 1.5 million members of the defence forces.
Whereas the government's decision to revise the salaries of government employees to ensure parity of standard of living in a regime of rising inflation and some kind of benchmarking to the market is commendable, it is unfortunate that it has done a great injustice to the members of the armed forces, the men and women who have promised to lay down their lives in the defence of India. It is perhaps another sign of the lack of vision both among our political masters and among the mandarins who would have assisted Justice Srikrishna, that in the same scale of service, a member of the defence forces, putting his or her life and limb on the line to defend the country, would get paid less than a Civilian Babu fattenening himself in some government department.

The whole issue was exacerbated because the Armed Forces were not given any representation in the 6th Pay Commission. It just shows the shameful manner in which a myopic, complacent and arrogant administration has treated its most powerful wing - which thankfully, has not given in to the temptation of seizing power from the Civilian Administration, a phenomenon fairly common in our neighbour, Pakistan. However, when the 6th Pay Commission recommendations came out, the top brass of the Armed Forces thankfully took a stand against the glaring anomalies and refused to implement the report's recommendations till these were resolved. They are not beggars; they are people who have promised to lay down their lives defending us, and are often called upon to do exactly that; if we treat them shabbily, it hits their morale and would weaken India's whole defence mechanism. One of these glaring anomalies: Lt-Colonel rank officers have been relatively lowered by retaining them in Pay Band-3 (Rs 15,600-39,100), while the civilians and paramilitary officers at the same level have been raised to level PB-4 (Rs 37,400-67,000).
Some nitwits in the print media have been calling this a mutiny of sorts. However, it is far from the truth. This was a very restrained, very just demand by the Armed forces. And the reason was not just money---it was, as Gen Deepak Kapoor, the Chief of Army Staff, rightly described it--- a question of honor. At a time when the Indian Army is some 13,000 short of offficers because young people, with 'Officer-like qualities' are going in for other career options, this could not have been more poorly timed.
The government thankfully, saw sense. A Committee of senior Ministers including the external affairs minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, the Defence Minister Mr. AK Antony and Mr P Chidambaram, the Finance Minister, was formed to look into the grievances / anomalies. Hopefully, this august committee will do justice and help to stave off a bigger crisis in the Armed Forces, which are already cronically short of officers at the critical, operational levels.
In the end, soldiers and their families agree to make the 'supreme sacifice' not because they are paid x sum of money at the end of the month (it never really is enough to miss growing old with the man / woman you love and seeing your children grow up and go to college; or miss the thousand other little experiences that bring joy to our lives). It is because they think that it is honourable and glorious to do so. The least we can do, as a nation, is not to dishonour them.