Re-employed Army officers await revised pay, arrears
By Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 8 — Officers re-employed in the armed forces are a distressed lot. Two years after the Fifth Pay Commission submitted its recommendations to the government, their pay fixation as per the revised scales remains a far cry.

While this has put them at a financial disadvantage, it has also affected their other allowances and entitlements which are calculated on the basis of the salary drawn by officers. Revised pay scales for regular officers, on the other hand, were implemented about a year ago. In addition, they have already received their arrears of salaries.

''We are still drawing salaries based upon the Fourth Pay Commission,'' a re-employed officer here said. ''The salaries of regular officers have been revised with effect from January, 1996, as per the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations, but our case is still pending before the government,'' he added.

This means, a re-employed officer said, that while officers of the rank of colonel and equivalent are drawing about Rs 19,000 per month, a re-employed officer of the same rank is still getting about Rs 12,000 — a difference of about Rs 7,000.

Officers who retire after the stipulated period of engagement can seek re-employment in the services for a fixed period. Though re-employed officers are appointed against vacancies meant for one rank lower than the rank they hold, they are entitled to the last drawn pay as regular officers. Re-employed officers can serve up to the age of 56 years and a majority of them are in the ranks of lieutenant-colonel and colonel.

Non-pay fixation, besides amounting to significant arrears, has also resulted in such officers not getting due additional financial benefits and allowances being enjoyed by regular officers. ''A major sore point is concerning TA/DA. A colonel or equivalent, when travelling on official work is entitled first class air conditioned travel by rail or travel by air. Since TA/DA at old rates is still applicable, he is forced to travel by second class AC or ordinary first class rail to compensate for lower TA/DA rates. Similar is the case with lieutenant-colonels, who are unable to draw TA/DA as admissible to regular officers of equivalent rank,'' an affected officer said.

Also, such officers continue to draw rank pay as stipulated under the old system recommended by the Fourth Pay Commission, whereas others are drawing the rank pay as revised by the Fifth Pay Commission. ''For example, a re-employed lieutenant-colonel posted against a major's appointment is still getting the rank pay which was being drawn by majors before the implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission,'' the officer added.

While the services have implemented an across-the-board extension of two years' service, the same is not applicable to re-employed officers. They would continue to superannuate till the age of 56 years. The result is that with re-employed officers going home after completing their stipulated period of engagement and no regular officer retiring, there is a further shortfall of officers. ''The Army has a vacancy for 3,000 re-employed officers,'' an officer revealed. ''Over 1,200 such posts are vacant. This gap is now increasing and had a requisite policy decision been implemented, this situation could have been avoided,'' he added.

In the face of manpower crunch, re-employed officers in all three services help fill a varied number of staff posts meant to be held by officers of the rank of major and lieutenant-colonel, thereby making up for some crucial gaps in the hierarchy as well as putting their career-long experience to good use.

Other issues re-employed officers want to be redressed are certain service conditions like leave and accommodation. Re-employed officers say that while regular officers are entitled to two months' annual leave, they are authorised only a month's annual leave. Further, unlike regular officers, they cannot avail themselves of leave encashment.

Re-employed officers, who are in the rank of colonel or lieutenant-colonel, are not authorised accommodation for that scale. As per the service provisions, there is a common accommodation bracket for officers of the rank of major to brigadier. Even though re-employed officers are appointed against vacancies meant for majors, they are authorised to hold captain's accommodation. This, they say, is problematic, given their family size and earlier status.

Sources say that while some of the issues have been taken up by the Ministry of Defence for consideration, several remain to be processed by Army Headquarters, despite representations by affected officers.

Chandigarhians richer than their Punjabi brothers
By Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 8 — If the figures are any indication, the per capita income in the Union Territory of Chandigarh has been growing rapidly. Quoted at Rs 23,947 in 1993-94 (at the current prices), it grew by 6.8 per cent and rose to 25,576 in 1994-95 and recorded another jump of 10.15 per cent to reach Rs 28,171. Between 1995-96, it witnessed a further increase by 15.96 per cent to reach Rs 32,591 during 1996-97.

Compared to Chandigarh, the per capita income in neighbouring Punjab was just a little over Rs 19,000 during 1996-97. This shows that the people in Chandigarh are richer than their Punjab counterparts.

These figures have been brought out by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics of the Chandigarh Administration. This is for the first time that the directorate has worked out per capita income. It prepared the estimates of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and the Net State Domestic product (NSDP) for the years 1993-94 to 1996-97 on the revised series (base year 1993-94) at current prices for the first time since the inception of the Union Territory of Chandigarh on November 1,1966.

The GSDP for 1996-97 had been estimated at about Rs 2,74,084 lakh as against Rs 2,29,408 for 1995-96.

The growth in GSDP during 1996-97 over 1995-96 comes out to be 19.47 per cent. This is mainly due to increase in the growth rate of agriculture, forestry and fishing which is about 13.3 per cent compared to 6.84 per cent in the previous year.

There has been no growth in the GSDP in the mining and quarrying sector. In the manufacturing sector, the growth of GSDP was tremendous. Compared to the 9.11 per cent increase during 1995-96 over the previous year, it went up by 22.61 per cent in 1996-97.

Interestingly, in electricity (power), gas and water supply, the GSDP witnessed some decline. Against 38.79 per cent increase in 1995-96 over the previous year, it fell to 33.61 per cent in 1996-97.

The construction sector, however, witnessed a sharp increase. The GSDP went up by 18.11 per cent in 1996-97 compared to 5.24 per cent in 1995-96. The largest growth was witnessed in the trade, hotel, restaurant, transport and communication, the increase in the GSDP was 44.35 per cent against 3.22 per cent in the same sector during 1995-96 over the previous year.

The GSDP in case of service sector comprising finance, insurance and real estate nose-dived to witness only 0.72 per cent increase over 1995-96 compared to 30.45 per cent rise the sector had witnessed compared to 1994-95.

Under the community social and personal services, the GSDP grew by 23.32 per cent against 11.19 per cent in the previous year.

The per capita GSDP, which was Rs 25,234 in 1993-94 has grown to Rs 34,930 in 1996-97.

On the other hand, the Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) in 1996-97 has been estimated at Rs 2,58,448 lakh against Rs 2,15,511 lakh in 1995-96 and Rs 1,70,741 lakh in 1993-94. The NSDP grew by 19.92 per cent in 1996-97 over 1995-96 due to increase in growth rate of trade, hotel, restaurants, transport, communication, community, social and personal services.

In financing, insurance, real estate, business services, the NSDP grew by 0.66 per cent as compared to 30.16 per cent in the last fiscal year due to the spurt in the NSDP from Rs 55,277 lakh for the financial year 1994-95 to Rs 71949 lakh during 1995-96.

Under power, gas and water supply, the NSDP grew by 40.78 per cent during 1996-97 compared to 50 per cent in 1995-96.

Developing reading habits
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 8 — In a commendable development, a school for slum children run in Sector 24 has developed an informal curricula to retain the student strength since it started earlier this year.

A majority of the children who had never visited a school earlier come regularly with their books to attend classes in the afternoon. Zulfiqar Ali Khan, a pass-out of the Panjab University Department of Indian Theatre left his service options in the film industry and other commercial avenues to take up the cause of children ''who dream the same as normal children but see death of their dreams because of financial and family conditions".

Balwinder Singh, a teenager polishes shoes at a small stall in Sector 2. He closes the ''rehri'' in the afternoon to attend his classes ''because I gain self-respect". The director spots him as a potential artiste as he dances and sings ''beautifully'' when joking off-stage.

A child who feels lost at home ''because I have 12 brothers and sisters" gains confidence at school. A majority of the children at the school are merely one of the count of six, seven or eight at home. The school tries to give directions for future pursuits.

The school is managed by just two teachers who are paid enough just for subsistence. The theatre classes being central the others have the students trying to get comfortable with the vocubalary and general reading habits.

The latest presentation of the project has been staging if a play ''Desh Bhagat Ki Tallash'' at Tagore Theatre. The script was developed during rehearsals and one could see intense involvement of students. Vijay Machal, Toshi and Ravi deserve special credit for their effort in the show. The effort has been named "Aasha" and is managed by the Indian Theatre Age Group and the Yuvsatta.

The school has been created in run down rooms of a closed government school in Kumhar Colony. With just two rooms, classes can be held only in the afternoon. The open space near the classes has another class run by women for training in stitching. Also in the ground one comes across a group of men enjoying their game of cards.

In the absence of any financial assistance, the school has with its own efforts started managing funds. Citizens have been requested to give their "newspaper waste" to provide for funds for the school. The group has also initiated a programme of adopting a child for education and merely pay Rs 100 per month for his education.

Taking funds from the government for the project is a long and tedious process. Funds to recruit more teachers was the need of the hour, Zulfiqar added.