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The sixth Pay Commission, in its report, has given little or no credence to internal security management as a critical national-level, state-level and local-level input of governance, allege senior serving officers of Indian Police Service.
In various presentations made to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, they have strongly expressed their resentment for injustice done vis-à-vis the Indian Administrative Service.
The police officers have told government, "It does not take more than common sense to perceive that the threats to internal security are perhaps more recurrent and damaging today than actual threats of aggression from external enemies".
The letter written by the IPS Association of Jharkhand to Dr Singh against the recommendations of sixth Pay Commission reveals the telling story of Indian government's shocking lack of concern for well-being of it's police forces.
About 18,914 policemen have died from 1989 to 2007, averaging nearly a thousand per year in a sample period of less than 20 years, while managing law and order in the country. This proves that cops are in the firing line in disturbed areas all over the country, including risk-prone areas like Jammu and Kashmir, some North-eastern regions and Naxal-affected areas.
Some of the disgruntled police officers wanted to return the medals on Ambedkar Jayanti on Monday. But, somehow they have been cajoled into waiting for the government's response.
The disquiet is simmering because many IPS officers find that IAS officers have got the bigger piece of the pie of the new pay scales. A senior police officer, while giving details of the 'injustices', said the anguish against the new recommendations is widespread, which may have bearings on the morale of the frontline of maintainers of the country's law and order.
A retired police officer said, "Some of our concerns are so logical that one fails to understand the rationale behind the unfair treatment meted out to us. Why is the IAS lobby conspiring against policemen getting some status?"
"The constable is at the lowest level of the police hierarchy. The role of the constable is very important, but their hopes to have a financially secure life are bellied," a serving senior police officer in New Delhi told rediff.com.
The importance of constables has been fully appreciated nor understood by the commission. Although the commission has marginally increased the scale of pay of a constable, it has still equated his pay scale with that of 'semi-skilled workers', or a Lower Division Clerk.
The Jharkhand chapter of the IPS Association has put in detail the importance of police constable. It says, "A police constable, under various sections of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Indian Penal Code, has the powers to stop and search persons or premises; to arrest anyone under reasonable suspicion of his having committed an offence; to interrogate; to use force to disperse and even use force to refrain a person from evading arrest, even to the extent of causing death, in certain circumstances. A police constable has the power to impact upon any person's life and liberty".
Policemen agitated by the Sixth Pay commission have pointed out that the minimum educational qualification for a Constable is Class 10, the same as upper division clerks.
"Apart from the negative powers of restraining people, a constable is also required to use immense amount of discretion, make quick and at times life life-saving decisions, act as a counsellor, work as a judge to appreciate facts during an enquiry, be a doctor to be able to provide first aid to victims, be a scientist to be able to appreciate forensic evidence, be a lawyer to be able to weigh evidence against law, and be a rescuer during disasters," says a senior police officer.
"The constable is required to be proficient in various soft skills like team building, communication and counselling, and also master the hard skills of weapon handling, swimming, firing, handling explosives, arresting offenders, officer survival, riot handling and conducting raids. He is a judge, interrogator, psychologist, doctor, scientist, lawyer, counselor, athlete, shooter, fighter and rescuer, all rolled in one. A constable is trained in all these knowledge and skill sets. What this means in effect is that these policemen at the level of interfacing with the community day in and day out have to take decisions and exercise discretion. In changing times it's wrong to think that IAS deserves an edge," he added.
A South African study on policing finds that among cutting edge services, if one service has to exercise maximum range of discretion, it is the police. The individual (unsupervised) police subordinate is perpetually called upon to make decisions and impact the lives of the ordinary citizen on behalf of the government.
Still, with old mindset the commission has recommended for the retention of the 'edge' that the IAS has over the other services, citing its own reasons.
In one of the presentations made to the Prime Minister, the issue is explained. It says, 'The earlier 'edge' consisted of two increments in the Senior Scale to Selection Grade, i.e. of two years of service. In the current recommendation, the grade pay of the IAS has been made higher than the grade pay of a similarly placed police officer, which in effect, makes the police officer lower in status to that of an IAS officer of the same grade. This has effectively increased the edge of two years to about 4-5 years. While the commission has recommended 'retaining' the edge, it has actually increased it'.
The commission has given no reason as to why it has upgraded the same pay scale for the revenue services, while it has downgraded the same pay scale for the police service.
Policemen argue against the premise behind giving an edge to IAS over other services.
"If similar pay conditions exist in all services, a candidate who qualifies in the UPSC examination, shall opt for a service according to his aptitude; and not for a service which is 'superior', but for which he has no aptitude. Consequently, more people joining a service shall 'deliver'. How an officer ultimately performs in service depends more on his aptitude than his exam-writing capabilities and the 'interviewer's mood'. Consequently, there shall be lesser number of people 'trapped' in the various services, for which they never had any aptitude," a police officer argued.
They further argue, "The 'edge' in any case is built in the IAS because of the number of posts available to its members at the rank of JS, to Secretary GOI. The minimum tenure required to reach a grade is only enabling. Ultimately, whether one gets promoted after completing that minimum service shall actually depend upon vacancies existing at that level. Here, no service can beat the IAS because they have more placements".
Policemen argue that the IAS has the 'built-in' edge over others because, "Promotions to higher grade in any case shall be much later in IPS and Central services as compared to IAS because of the mismatch in the availability of senior posts between IAS and the rest. The IAS, as such, has no requirement of a 'built-in' edge in service conditions. They can afford to be magnanimous and still have that edge".
One of the most glaring anomalies is regarding promotion to loint secretary levels.
"An IAS officer is being empanelled and posted as Joint Secretary in a Ministry after 19 years of service (this is likely to come down in the future as they are becoming eligible to be empanelled as Joint Secretary in the GOI after completion of 14 years). An IPS officer is being empanelled as Joint Secretary after 25 years of service. This is a major disincentive for an IPS officer who has completed 19 years of service to work in any of the ministries or departments of Government of India, as it is quite possible that he would be working under an IAS officer who may be up to 5 years junior to him in service. This situation will worsen once the IAS officers start becoming Joint Secretary at the end of 14 years of service. This would effectively mean that no self-respecting IPS officer would chose to go to serve in any Ministry as he would have to work under an IAS officer many years his/her junior".
While concluding his arguments, a senior serving IPS officer told rediff.com, "Majority of the IPS officers want the sixth Pay Commission recommendation to be scrapped".
Full text of the IPS Association's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh