Parity of remuneration of Army, Navy and Air Force with civilian counterparts
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
RAJYA SABHA
QUESTION NO 188
ANSWERED ON 18.12.2017
Parity of remuneration of Army, Navy and Air Force with civilian counterparts
188 Shri D. Raja
Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state :-
(a) whether it is a fact that the status and remuneration of the Army, Navy and Air Force personnel are not equal to their civilian counterparts; and
(b) if so, the details and measures proposed to be taken for an equal treatment in status as well as monetary benefits with the civilians?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DR. SUBHASH BHAMRE
(a) & (b): No, Sir. The status of Defence Service Personnel is equal to their Civilian counterparts as per the Table of Precedence. So far as remuneration is concerned, the basic principles for pay fixation in respect of Civilians and Defence Services under Seventh Pay Commission are same with a common fitment factor of 2.57. However, to compensate for the unique aspects of Defence Service, Military Service Pay (MSP) has been provided up to the level of Brigadier. The MSP has in fact been made admissible to Defence Forces personnel only in recognition of the special conditions of the service experienced by them which sets them apart from civilian employees. As a result, while the pay on initial induction of a civilian employee at the lowest pay level (in Level-1) is Rs.18,000/-, the pay on initial induction of a defence force personnel, who gets inducted at their lowest pay level which is Level-3, inclusive of MSP will be Rs.26,900/-. Similarly, while the pay for a civilian officer inducted in Level-10 would be Rs.56,100, the pay for a defence service officer inducted in Level-10, inclusive of MSP will be Rs.71,600/-.
In addition, compensation is granted by way of allowances for unique risk and hardship borne by Defence personnel. Further, benefits in cash and kind admissible to Defence Service personnel include (i) Free rations or Ration Money Allowance in lieu of free rations (ii) tax concessions available in Canteen Stores Depot (iii) Concession vouchers for travel in Railways and by Air.
The Government has provided benefits over and above the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission by increasing the Index of Rationalisation (IOR) at level 12A, 13 and 13A, providing additional three stages in level 12A and increasing the number of stages in the Defence Pay Matrix from 24 to 40.