Your Lordship,
Knowing full well that you have submitted the 7CPC Report and therefore you can make no changes to it, I still feel constrained to write to you since I am disappointed with the treatment of Armed Forces by the report. At the outset I would like to clarify that it is not about money that I write. I am surprised how the Armed Forces of the country have been treated as third rate citizens with even the police and Forest Services being placed above them. The reason I am told is that these services including the IAS work much more and much harder than the armed forces. Surprising that :-
· The IAS cannot complete bridges for the Commonwealth Games, so the Army has to be called in.

· The DC with his police forces cannot handle law and order, so army has to be called in.

· A child falls in a borewell and the armed forces are needed to take him out.

· On International Yoga Day due to bad weather the Armed forces have to be called in even to layout mats, because the
IAS was unable to get it done.

· Any natural calamity and the armed forces are the first to be called in.

· Rescuing pilgrims from various yatras and the armed forces have to be called in.

· Officers and men have been sharing their rations with the needy at every stage – the same free ration that you
have recommended to be stopped/curtailed.armed forces.

· Difficult area allowance for IAS officers is almost double of that for the armed forces officers. So an armed
forces officer in Saichen gets half of what an IAS officer gets in Ladakh or may be even Guwahati.

The British were no fools and that’s why at one stage they could rule the world. And we want to reduce privileges set by them as colonial. These privileges were not given free . These were given because by virtue of the Armed Forces Act, the armed forces had to forgo three fundamental rights, which incidentally is applicableeven today. After the 1857 war of Independence the British realized the folly of over relying on the Civil Services and therefore replaced a large number of important posts with the more disciplined armed forces. Are we heading towards a similar folly again today by our over reliance on the IAS?
Like I have mentioned above I am not looking for any remedial measures from you. I have no doubts that the disciplined armed forces will accept whatever is given as the best that could be done for them. I for one will also have no problem with it, in my twilight years. My purpose of writing is to only share my views with an important fellow citizen of the country. I am sure you and your team would have your reasons for what you did. My effort is only to highlight what I feel could have been avoided.
With Regards.
Major General (retd)M P Singh, AVSM
sandhu_01@hotmail.com