The submission of the Sixth Pay Commission Report in India has evoked a mixed reaction among the Central Government Employees.While the report is munificent towards the Group A and Class I officers,it left larger sections of the Central Government employees like Class III and Class IV employees largely discontented and in fact they have been agitating against the Government to get their grievances redressed.
Despite of getting some significant benefits from the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, the Army personnel and the IPS officers, still have got some grievances and anomalies with regard to the recommendations made to them. In the case of the armed forces, the three service chiefs have met the defense minister A.K.Antony and apprised him of the anomalies in the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations for the defense forces.Among those who are unhappy are the soldiers who have been allocated a meager military service pay allowance of just Rs 1,000/- per month. Middle rung officers too are unhappy because they feel that they should have had a separate pay running band category instead of being clobbed with junior officers.
In the wake of the heavy pressure from various quarters of the Central Government employees, finally the Central Government has given in at least to one section.The Central Government is reported to have set up a ‘three-member high-powered committee’ to look into the grievances of the armed forces and those belonging to the Indian Police Service as reported by the agencies.
The three-member panel includes three secretaries to the Government of India. They are Union Finance Secretary, D.Subbarao, Union Defense Secretary Vijay Singh, and Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta..However, Mr.Subbarao when contacted refused to comment. As reported by the agencies, the three-member committee is expected to submit its report within two months.
The setting up of such a panel to look into the anomalies of a particular section of the central government employees will trigger a similar demand from other categories of central government employees too, particularly the Class III and IV employees who have been discontent and expressing their unhappiness with the pay panel’s recommendations.
It seems that the appointment of a committee to a particular section only, will intensify the struggle of the other sections of the Central Government employees who have already launched their agitations against the Central Government in a phased manner.