There is news in the air that the PMO has cleared the file on granting time-bound promotions to Indian Army Officers to the rank of Colonel on completing 18 years of service (providing that the officer is eligible and has passed the requisite promotion exams. A lot of Debate has been generated by this news with arguments galore in favour and against.
The question to be asked is : Will this move benefit the organisation? Benefits to the individuals concerned are just incidental.
Let us examine the problem from a purely economic (Work for money) angle:-
1. The difference in pay between a Lt Colonel and Colonel is only to the extent of grade pay (Rs 700/-) and the DA accrued on that. Which means that we pay the a Colonel(Selection Grade) and a Lt Col (with equivalent length of service) more or less the same.
2. The highly rank- conscious Army tends to treat officers passed over for promotion with condescension and superciliousness which has a spiralling effect on the officers' morale and zest for work.(Most of these officers are quite competent and capable people with a lot of experience) who have been superceded because of the inability of the organisation to accomodate them rather than due to their own deficiencies). In fact an officer who displays any enthusiasm for work even after supercession is often put down and snubbed(even by his juniors). He is only expected to lie quiet and be tolerated by the organisation rather than be a useful member of it. A SECOND CLASS CITIZEN who is mocked if he works and just about tolerated if he doesn't.
3. So now what we have ended up is a situation where the organisation doesn't expect (or permit) a person to work but pays him almost the same as it pays another person who is expected to devote all his time and energy to his work. DOES IT MAKE ECONOMIC SENSE? Would any corporate organisation do this?
4. A better model than telling a person that he is no longer required to give off his best (and is justified in being and behaving de-motivated)at just 15 - 16 years of service would be to push up the age of supercession to 20-21 years.
5. This is best done by ensuring every one gets a colonel's rank at 18 years. So the officer is still going strong and motivated till 20-21 years or whenever SB-2 is scheduled. It won't cost the govt very much but would ensure that the talents of a sizeable proportion of officers is NOT put to waste too early.
6. OF COURSE THE ONE-UPMANSHIP IN THE ARMY MUST GO AND THE "WHAT ABOUT US WHO HAVE GIVEN OUR SWEAT (AND SOMETIMES CONSCIENCES) TO BECOME SELECTION_GRADE COLONELS??" GROUP MUST BE TOLD TO LUMP IT.
