Considerations At The Time Of Assessing VII CPC Issues

This was anticipated.

Discussions have begun to address issues related to VII CPC even as pending matters arising out of VI CPC continue to receive attention on a parallel plane.

It is indeed praiseworthy that future courses of action are now being planned and foresight coupled with experience are now in play for ensuring future outcomes meet the expectations of those in uniform as well as armed forces veterans.

However, the manner in which progress has come to a stand-still, be it in the Rank Pay litigation, OROP or the sundry representations on issues related to ESMs, is reminiscent of the state of oppressive lack of movement in "The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" 

                             "Day after day, day after day,
                              We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
                              As idle as a painted ship
                              Upon a painted ocean".

There is a very urgent need to quickly grasp and act upon the fact that crucial requirements are to prioritise ("First Things First"), learn to distinguish between individual issues ("OROP is different from Rank Pay") and to not be distracted from present issues by engagements entered upon by way of discussions that might or might not have a bearing on future outcomes.

To summarise:

• The Rank Pay litigation now awaits a hearing. A near-total lack of information on the current status of the subject contributes to a general perception of the issue being in a state of limbo.

• Even as OROP awaits finalisation by the Government, ESM bodies have not fully clarified as to where the matter of parities of even the current pensions, without OROP, stands. To clarify by an example, there is the issue of pensions of the 70s pre cadre-review retirees and pre AVS-I pensioners. The issue was discussed in greater detail in this blog post.

• In the case of OROP, the cut-off date and the mechanism, if any, for periodically upgrading pensions of previous retirees, remain unclear.

In order to ensure these substantive pending issues are not simply swept under the carpet as soon as the sound and fury of VII CPC are upon us,  it may be in the interest of all stake holders to obtain factual information of how things are at ground level.