BJP welcomes soldier-friendly measures announced by the governments

Jammu, July 28: In a major relief announced for the soldiers, the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Government of India (GOI) has resolved two long pending issues concerning the soldiers of the nation’s Defence Forces stated Brig Anil Gupta, State Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party and an eminent veteran. Elaborating the decisions of the Government, Brig Gupta said that while the first one deals with in-service career progression of the soldiers, the other pertains to restoration of the status of Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs). “BJP is thankful to Smt. N Sitharaman, the Raksha Mantri for conceding to the long pending requests of the Armed Forces having impact on their morale. The decision will enable faster promotions of the soldiers and restore the gazetted officer status to JCOs, which had been denied by the previous governments. Narendra Modi government needs to be complimented for another set of soldier-friendly measures which follow resolution of almost a dozen anomalies that arose after the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission Report and were cause of resentment among the soldiers,” emphasised Brig Gupta.

As per the latest directions issued by MOD, modified assured career progression (MACP) scheme for jawans will be applicable from January 1, 2006 and not September 1, 2008. Under the MACP, a Sepoy gets promoted as Naik after eight years of service, as Havildar after 16 years and as Naib Subedar after 24 years of service. Since, the new order has retrospective effect, it would make the promotion of those jawans faster who were eligible as on that day. It would also benefit the eligible pensioners, said Brig Gupta.

“Defence Forces have a well- established three tier hierarchal command and control system in form of Officers, JCOs and Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs). However, over a period of time, this well- established system was compromised by the mandarins of South Block by coining a new term Personnel below Officer Rank (PBOR), wherein all ranks other than the officers were clubbed in this category and denying the JCOs, their gazetted status. This not only affected their status but also their allowances. Despite repeated representations by the Army, which is affected the most, the previous governments refused to concede to their genuine demand. The MOD has now withdrawn its letter that did not permit “gazetted officer” status to JCOs. It would benefit almost 64,000 JCOs in the three services of the Defence Forces,” explained Brig Gupta.

In another major soldier friendly major affecting the veterans and soldiers of Jammu & Kashmir, the State Administration Council has sanctioned the creation of four new offices of ZilaSainik Welfare Officer (ZSWO). These would be setup at Akhnoor, RS Pura, Reasi and Kupwara. “At present the ex-servicemen of these areas are dependent on ZSWO Jammu, Udhampur and Baramulla respectively and have to travel a considerable distances to visit their ZSWO for resolution of various problems. The new arrangement will provide them these services much closer to their places of residence and they would be able to avail easily the benefits of numerous veteran welfare schemes launched by the GOI,” said Brig Gupta. BJP is thankful to the honourable Governor and his team for this grand gesture towards the welfare of ex-servicemen.