Review panel will redress Armed Forces’ grievances, hopes Antony

Earlier, cutting across party lines, many MPs voiced concerns over the rate of attrition in the Armed Forces with many officers preferring private jobs to continuing in the defence services. On the issue of ‘one rank one pension’, Antony said that the demand had not been accepted by any of the Pay Commissions set up so far and he was hopeful that the committee looking into the anomalies would try to find a solution to this problem.

Stating that the UPA Government had always tried to take care of the Armed Forces, Antony said that 750 posts of Lieutenant Colonels had been upgraded to the post of Colonels and the Government was planning to operationalise the Armed Forces Tribunal within a few months.

“We have also changed the leave policy and now army personnel can get leave three times a year instead of the earlier two,” he said, adding that his ministry had secured various concessions for defence personnel from the Railways. Antony added that nearly two lakh living quarters were being constructed for the Armed Forces in four phases, the first of which will be completed by 2009.

On the issue of Chief of Defence Staff post, Antony said, “Unless there is some kind of consensus, the Government doesn’t want to proceed on that.”