Please read the article *********************** Petitioning Shri Narendra Modi Do justice to the CAPF personnel Ravikumar Ponoth Bangalore CAPF personnel perpetually go through unimaginably tough conditions of physical threats and mental trauma caused due to both internal and external enemies of the State, terrain conditions, hostile weather and perpetual separation from families without respite or relief throughout their service, all of which are doubly tougher than that of the defence service personnel. Yet, they have not been considered for grant of One Rank One Pension and Non-functional Upgradation as has been sanctioned to the defence services and all organised civil servicesrespectively. If contribution and sacrifice towards upholding the integrity of the State, toughness of service conditions and inadequacy of compensation are the points of consideration for sanctioning such benefits, the CAPF personnel abundantly deserve to be placed one notch above the defence services or any other civil service. Yet, their case has been completely ignored by the government in according due recognition and granting justified compensation. The detailed reasons are:- The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been raised as Armed Forces of the Union in accordance with the 7th schedule of the Constitution of India as one group along with the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as the respective Force Acts, and entrusted with National Security functions to deal with both internal and external threats to the State. During peace time, the entire stretch of Indo- PaK and Indo-Bangladesh IB is secured by the BSF and not the Army. The Army remains well in the interior areas in the comfort of the well- established cantonments and gets deployed along the western borders only for a few weeks in a year during Operational alerts. As for the Line of Control (LC) and the Line of Actual control(LAC) also, the BSF supplements the strength of the Army along the LC and the ITBP along the LAC. As regards the Indo- BD borders, there is no deployment of the Army at all during peace time and during war also the BSF is expected to play a significant role with all Units employed on operations. Similar is the case with Indo- Nepal Borders which is guarded by the SSB. Deployment pattern of the Army and the CAPFs along the IB, LAC and LC is characterised by the following marked differences:- a) The Army considers all deployments along the IB, LAC and LC as field deployments and have evolved an institutionalised procedure of rotating units between field and Peace stations, whereas in the case of the CAPF units, the movement is among normal, hard and extremely hard locations. Even while deployed in “Normal” areas, the rank and file have to be at the BOPs , FDLs and hence away from their families. Thus a CAPF man has to reconcile with a life of perpetual separation from his family, of course with the rare exceptions of postings to Headquarters and Training Institutions which is available only to a lucky handful. Unfortunately, a posting to reserve unit does not bring about the expected succour as almost all the reserve units remain committed on combating some or other internal strife, as is the case today. b) The CAPF personnel being governed by the Civil Service Rules draw lesser quantum of pay and allowances vis-a- vis their Army counterparts such as Rank Pay and Military Service Pay etc. Thus the fundamental principle of equal pay for equal work is grossly violated in respect of CAPF personnel while they have been entrusted with duties akin to that of the Army. Even while co- deployed with the Army in the High Altitude terrain on the LC or the LAC, the discrimination continues. c) Deployment pattern of the Army and the border guarding CAPFs during an expected hot war scenario is weighted heavily against the CAPFs, as the CAPFs would be placed under the operational control of the Army and hence expected to function as per the Army’s operational plans. With few exceptions, all BOPs existing along the active sectors are expected to continue holding ground well ahead of the Army’s main defences which are along the DCBs in plain areas, act as Early Warning elements for the army formation commander to discern the intentions of the enemy after the enemy attack has been unleashed. In other words, they are literally and without exception expected to live up to the motto “Duty Unto Death”. The peace time deployment of the CAPFs along the Borders is generally far away from civilisation and in highly inhospitable conditions of terrain, climate and hazards of health. Further, they confront the armed trans-border criminals, dacoits and infiltrators on a day to day (read night to night) basis, thus remaining awake and engaged when the Country sleeps. At the best, the CAPF personnel can expect to get six hours of sleep in a cycle of 24 hours and that too for his entire period of service. Enjoying Saturday, Sunday and other holidays, as being considered as a matter of inviolable right by his civilian counterparts, who also live with their families in the warmth of civilised life, do not form part of the CAPF itinerary who, by virtue of the call of duty, cannot differentiate between a week day and holiday while combating the enemies of the state along the borders. Yet, it is a matter of extreme pity that the CAPF personnel are equated with the civil services in the matter of pay and allowances and that too in a selective manner to their disadvantage in even denying the benefits of Non- functional Up-gradation (NFU) as granted to Central Civil Services. The CRPF which is primarily responsible for Internal security of the country along with other CAPFs have discharged/discharges a host of hazardous “peace” time functions such as fighting insurgency in the north East, Punjab, J&K, the on-going Anti-Naxal operations and other Internal Security operations, all of which entails/entailed the highest degree of risk to life as evidenced by the number of casualties suffered by the Force personnel. More often than not, their deployment and employment are dictated by the State Govt functionaries who are total strangers to hostile operational environments, which renders the same unimaginably hazardous to life. These additional deployments are generally made possible either by thinning out troops from the Borders or by employing reserve Units, thus considerably adding to the work pressure and stress levels on all ranks as well as their family members. The extra demand of manpower also results in undeclared curtailment of leave also which renders the CAPF personnel unable to attend even to the most important of their social and family commitments. Such constraints and restrictions on one’s personal freedom are unheard of in the lives of civil service personnel. Yet the CAPF personnel are granted pay and allowances at par with the civil service personnel! Retired CAPF personnel (including Ex- emergency commissioned Officers) have actively participated in all external aggressions on our Country commencing from the 1965 Indo-pak war. The crucial role played by the BSF in the 1971 war which led to the creation of Bangladesh has been acclaimed in no uncertain terms by the then PM Smt Indira Gandhi as well as the Govt of Bangladesh. CAPF were thereafter fully involved during the Kargil war and Operation Parakram in which the BSF BOPs continued to hold ground and successfully withstood the brunt of enemy action along the IB while they fought shoulder to shoulder with the Army in the FDLs along the LC. The large number of Military and Police Gallantry awards conferred on both serving and martyred CAPF personnel is ample testimony to their sacrifices in upholding the Integrity of the country. Yet, due to the simple reason that the CAPFs are reporting to the Home Ministry, they have not been considered for OROP ! An Army man retires with a substantially higher pension than a CAPF man by virtue of his rank pay. Ex-Service Defence personnel and their kith and kin have been extended various concessions and reservations by the States besides institutionalised medical attention and exemption from VAT and other State levies. Therefore, the financial status of an Ex- Defence personnel is far superior to that of an Ex-CAPF personnel. Yet it is unfortunate that the Govt does not consider it necessary to grant any relief to the EX- CAPF personnel in the form of OROP. Although the retired CAPF personnel have been accorded the status of EX-Servicemen by the Govt in Nov 2012, no benefits accruing therefrom have been extended to them. While the GOI can attribute this lack of sympathy on the respective State Govts, the least that could have been done to recognise the yeoman services of the CAPF men was to grant OROP to them which would have partially offset the enormity of neglect that they have been enduring so far. The Armed Forces of the Union were exempted from the New Pension Scheme (NPS), perhaps, in consideration of the invaluable and icomparable nature of their duties as well as to maintain the motivation of the youth to join them. It is indeed inconceivably pitiable that, the CAPFs which are also Armed Forces of the Union, and are discharging National Security Functions which are many times tougher and riskier than that of the Army, were not granted the well deserved benfit of being kept outside the purview of the New Pension Scheme. Hon Prime Minister and Home Minister are humbly requested to consider this genuine demand of the CAPF personnel immediately after assuming office and get the orders issued for grant of OROP, NFU and exemption from the NPS to them in order to keep up the morale and motivation of this hitherto fore neglected guardians of India’s sovereignty.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 06:05:01 +0000
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