The new Entitlement Rules (ER) for award of disability pension announced recently are meant to protect the “genuine interests” of armed forces personnel and prevent the “exploitation” of its provisions from “misuse”, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan said on Friday. It does not, in any manner, alter the emoluments of war widows, family pensioners or veterans, he stressed.
Veterans and several Ex-Servicemen Organisations (ESM) have expressed concerns over THE dilution of the rules.
“The Disability Element has been renamed as Impairment Relief in respect of only those personnel who are not invalidated out due to their nature of disabilities and continue to serve till their term of engagement. The change in name to Impairment Relief does not affect the nature of entitlement or quantum of emoluments,” General Chauhan said addressing a press conference in South Block. “The revised policy will not put armed forces personnel at disadvantage compared to their civilian counterparts.”
There are some misapprehensions in certain quarters of Ex-servicemen on the revision of ‘Entitlement Rules on grant of Disability Pension to personnel of Armed Forces and also the Guide to Medical Officers’ (GMO) and hence the aim is to give you a correct perspective on the revised ER, he said. The new ER will help retain a high degree of operational efficiency and motivation in all ranks of the armed forces, the CDS said. The provisions of the revised ER will be applicable to those personnel who retire after September 21, 2023 and has no retrospective application.
On disability element and impairment relief, Genera; Chauhan said there was a need to distinguish between those who can’t be retained in service to those who can be gainfully employed.
He said that most of the concerns of the ex-servicemen were addressed on October 3 by a panel of officers headed by the Adjutant General (AG). We are paying more for disability, the CDS said: for instance, in the case of frostbite earlier, the 10% has now become 20% and similarly for amputation also it has gone up.
The new ER are based on the recommendations of a study involving the three services, Armed Forces Medical Services, Ex-Servicemen Welfare (ESW) and MoD (Finance). “The aim of the study was to protect the genuine interests of personnel who acquire a disability during service while preventing the exploitation of its liberal provisions from misuse,” General Chauhan said, stating that the Guide to Medical Officers has been vetted by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
There is no change in the entitlement for any category of personnel being granted compensation for death or disability.
There is no change in the rates of any death and disability compensation and no recoveries are planned based on ER and GMO, 2023, the Defence Ministry said in a long statement on the subject. The aspect of compensation being given to cadets, a long pending demand, is being analysed by a study group, officials said.
Responding to questions, Genera; Chauhan said there was a lot of incentive to claim disability in the earlier rules and said so many people cannot be claiming disability. He was referring to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which found that almost 40% of officers and 18% of Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBOR) who retire every year are drawing disability pensions.
The new ER look at what is attributable to military service and aggravated by military service, the CDS said. “The rules have been amended to run the armed forces in an efficient manner and not to bring savings for the government.”
On a concern by veterans that lifestyle diseases have been pegged at 5% which does not criteria for the disability element which starts at 20%, the CDS said 5% is the starting point. If it aggravates further, they will be granted disability which is mentioned in the GMO, he noted. The rules have become slightly clear and probably misuse becomes less, the CDS added.
