Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Sixth Pay Commission

While all the discussions on the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations have centred on how they will help to curb corruption, the article “A raw deal for men in uniform” (April 9) has focussed on a much more relevant and crucial subject. True, the IAS cadre works under a lot of pressure but to equate it with, and give it preference to, services that work under more rigorous conditions, including risk to life, is unwarranted and insulting to the other services.

The observation by a police officer that he didn’t join the government to get rich but he thinks his job merits respect sums up the sentiment. It is important for the government to implement the principle — more onerous the duty, higher the pay.

S. Sudhir Kumar,

Hyderabad

The article has rightly highlighted the undue advantage the IAS gets in the name of ‘an edge’ over the IPS. While the edge may not necessarily be an incentive for candidates to join the IAS, it will surely be a disincentive to the high-ranking candidates who join the IPS despite qualifying for the IAS.

Maneesha Verma,

Thiruvananthapuram

It is our armed forces personnel who risk their lives to protect us and our national honour. They must be actually paid much more than the babus.

Members of the Pay Commission should have visited Siachen to see the conditions under which the army personnel work. It would have had a salutary effect on them and they would have recommended better pay scales for the men in uniform.

Satbir Singh Bedi,

New Delhi

Among the all-India services, the IAS has always taken the cake leaving its sister services far behind. Since independence, the position of the armed forces has been continually eroded and it has come to a stage where they are treated without adequate recognition by the bureaucracy.

Those who sacrifice their lives for the nation deserve better than trailing behind the administrative service. The government should take note of their just demands.

Capt. O.B. Nair,

Kochi

I agree that the Sixth CPC should have been more generous towards the security forces. At the same time, it is improper to question the career-parity accorded to the Indian Foreign Service with the IAS. Foreign service has its own rigours and is of immense importance to a country. Staying away from one’s parent country, adjusting to varied (sometimes cumbersome and tough) work environment, conducting difficult parleys, and making complex decisions are, by no means, easy.

Tarun Sharma,

Ghaziabad

It is time the raw deal given to the security forces was corrected. Also, the myth about the IAS, a hangover effect of the British Raj, needs to be removed and importance given to those services which the country and time require.

Mrutyunjay Behera,

New Delhi

The armed forces personnel, by virtue of being governed by the Armed Forces Act, have restricted rights and liberties. Also, their service conditions are hazardous and life-threatening. A reducing sliding-scale starting from 35 per cent of basic pay for troops to 15 per cent for brigadiers and above may be commensurate with the risks faced by them.

Celene Susan,

Dabolim

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