Comparisons are odious & should not be made unless there is common denominator. Therefore equating service officers with others having civil interface is based on wrong premises as evident from long que for premature retirement only amongst defence officers & total absence on the other side. While most of the service personnel have to work post retirement to keep the wolf away-there is seldom even naib- tahsildars that any such have such need. Has this reality of modern India engaged the attention of the Pay Commission? This Why so has to considered as Factor Y into any new pay dispensation.
Should the salary of a pilot flying ancient single engine MiG -21 from desert airfields in the hot afternoons have some semblance with that of a commercial pilot cruising latest multi -engine Airbus with co-pilot, state of the art autopilot & latest navigational aids? Similarly the pay of captain of an old aircraft carrier with unfaithful Harriers now not onboard must have some correspondence with the Captain of maritime ship who earn upward of a few lacs a month. And what should be the salary of an Air Commodore commanding n airbase base with one fighter squadrons & two transport squadrons doing day & night flying –carrying out air supply missions to far flung border outposts on the roof of Himalaya- besides supporting civil air traffic-in addition to defending the air space over an entire region? By that count where should the Corps Commander of J&K fit in? There is no use equating a brigadier with a DIG or the Chief of Air Staff to the Cabinet Secretary. Comparing a fighter pilot with commercial pilot, an engineer in the armed forces with another manger in say L&T would seem more logical than equating a Lt Gen with a Secretary to the GOI? |
On April 13, 1984, 20 Indian soldiers from 4 Kumaon jumped out of helicopters hovering dangerously at over 15,000 feet and, their hands and feet numb with the cold, trudged up to the Bilafond La, a pass on the Saltoro Ridge west of Siachen Glacier. They were followed four days later by 20 more from Ladakh Scouts, whose orders were to climb up to Sia La, also on Saltoro. Despite adverse weather conditions and rudimentary mountain gear, both the teams miraculously occupied the passes. The Pakistanis reacted soon thereafter and raced to block any further advance by Indian forces.
Thus began the two-decade-old fight for the control of the Siachen Glacier and the unpopulated frozen wilderness around it up to the Karakoram Pass. At heights between 18,000 and 20,000 feet, the Saltoro Ridge is the highest battlefield in the world. |
