Dearness Allowance (DA) is an additional allowance, calculated based on currency inflation and inflation rate, paid to government and public sector employees and pensioners, in India. DA is a part of the monthly payout to employees along with basic salary, as an additional amount. Dearness allowance is a percentage of basic salary, paid to hedge the impact of inflation.
Amidst all the bad news regarding the effects of Corona virus, there was some good news for government employees i.e. a four percent increase in DA announced by the central government, which corresponds to a raise from 17 percent to 21 percent on 13 March 2020. This decision would have come into effect from January 1, 2020. This order was received with great enthusiasm among the employees under the Central Government including soldiers/officers of the Indian Army and paramilitary troops expressed great happiness about this.
But this moment of happiness did not last long, when on April 20th the Central Government decided to cancel the disbursement of DA to retired and serving Central Government employees in view of the crisis arising out of COVID-19. This was very disappointing for central employees including armed forces. For government all employees are equal, but there is a difference in the amount of risk faced by other civil employees as compared with front line soldiers guarding our boarders on day to day basis.
With this decision, the Airmen, soldiers, sailors and retired fighters of our defense services and their families who take pensions will be deeply impacted. The freezing of dearness allowance will affect about 1,500,000 serving men and women – 1,265,000 in the Army, 83,500 in the Navy and 155,000 in the Air Force, figure will be much higher if para military forces are included. Whereas all the defense personnel have already contributed one day’s salary to the PM-CARES fund, without any orders, suo motu, as responsibility towards the nation.
In the current scenario, where large number of civil staff has been ordered to stay at home with the restriction of coming to the workplace, on the other side our armed forces from the Siachen to the southern naval base in Indian ocean, from the deserted Thar to the dense forests of Nagaland is relentlessly working in same manner as before. Today they are not only fighting with the additional risk of saving themselves and their comrades from a deadly virus, but also constantly fighting with the terrorists and the intruders, and defeating their every evil intention.
Today our armed forces is facing a double trouble. In this situation, even if they want, they cannot follow all precautionary steps and protocol measures to avoid corona infection in their daily routine, like cooking food for whole troop at the same place in mess is an non-avoidable compulsion. For border patrolling and other movements it is not possible to move with extra vehicles and maintain physical distancing or to keep the weapons or wireless sets sanitise at all times or to sit in a bunker at a distance from a buddy or fellow officer; and even if they did so it would serve as an invitation to much bigger and serious danger. Recently a few Covid positive cases were found in paramilitary forces. To add to this, we have lost a large number of our brave soldiers in many terrorist incidents and counter insurgency operations recently, that took place at different places in country. From Jammu and Kashmir to naxalite affected states we are constantly getting news of ambush and attacks on search operations & convoys of armed forces. Just a few days back, we lost officers of higher ranks like Colonel and Major fighting the terrorists along with Jawans.
This suspension of dearness allowance on salaries and pensions will give them a hit of about Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 in a year even for entry-level soldiers, sailors or airmen. For the officer or a soldier who has been in service for more than 10 years, the amount is about 70 thousand to 1 lakh per annum, which is sizeable. There is a disappointment amongst our disciplined army personnel and officers, but they cannot be shaken by this decision. Their motto “Obey every order” and “Country before family” doesn’t allow their conscience to utter a single word against it.
Well-known economist and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issues said that it is not necessary to stop the allowances of the armed forces. He has also asked the present government to consider the withdrawal of this order. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has also shown his anguish to the government’s order and requested the central government to withdraw this decision.
For a moment, consider the game of cards, where the ace of trump is the are game changer, one can very well relate to the crucial role played by Indian armed forces as saviors of mankind in times of severe distress or unrest particularly during natural calamities. Also not to forget, Indian Army was entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring good health of our citizens, who were rescued and brought back home from Iran and other countries, due to worsening of Covid-19 pandemic across the Globe by establishing Covid treatment centers at unidentified army locations near Jaisalmer and Jodhpur in Rajasthan.
At present, India has survived to a great extent from the devastation of this global epidemic and is in good condition. Although, during this time new heroes of humanity have emerged but never can be understate the role of our brave soldiers, who are our all time heroes. They must not be taken for granted at any point of time. No amount of justification is enough to cut down salaries of armed force who fight with all odds day in and day out. Instead, other investments like central vista could be put on hold for saving money.
Today, in this difficult time, all of us and government must stand together in support of our Army men and avoid any further hardships for them like payroll cut. The present central government must withdraw the order of pay cut for army and paramilitary forces. A country is as strong or as safe as the handful of its men who lay their life in protecting it.