Pension Can Be Reduced For All Defense Personnel; Retirement Age To Be Increased

The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) has proposed major tweaks in the retirement and pension policies for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The proposal is witnessing extreme abhorrence all over the internet.

The proposal note, dated October 29, proposes to increase the retirement ages of officer personnel of the Indian armed forces, in addition to cutting down pension amounts for those opting for Premature Release (PMR).

Currently, the proposal seeks the Government Sanction Letter (GSL), which shall be prepared by November 10.

Lets learn more about this.

New Retirement Ages Proposed for Defence Officers

The DMA, headed by Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has proposed two major tweaks in the existing pension and retirement policies.

The proposed rules will be applicable to all equivalent ranks across the three services.

Speaking of an increase in the retirement ages of officers, te note proposes,

• Increasing the retirement age of colonels, except Army Medical Corps and Military Nursing Service, to 57 years, which currently is 54.
• For brigadiers, this age is to be increased to 58 years from the current 56 years.
• For the rank of major generals, the retirement age is to increase to 59, from present 58.
• While, there has not been any change proposed for the lieutenant general rank, which is at 60 years.
• For Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and Other Ranks (ORs), the proposed age has been set at 57 years, while currently ORs retire after 17 years of service.

Pension Changes for Premature Retirement

This tweak has been strongly condemned and we will help you understand why.

While serving any of the Indian Armed forces, the Army, Navy or Air Force, an officer can seek for Premature Release (PMR) only after having served the pensionable age, that is 20 years of service.

In this case, the officer receives 50% of his/her last pay drawn, on the basic salary.

However, the new rules proposed by General Rawat, there have been slabs of pension amounts assigned to different sets of service years, to officers opting for PMR.

As per the new changes proposed,

• Officers serving for 20-25 and then taking a PMR, will now receive only 50% of the pension amount, rather than 50% on the last pay drawn.
• Those serving for 20-25 will be entitled to 60% of the pension amount, while
• Officers serving for 31-35 years will get 75% of the pension.
• Only those officers who serve the defence for over 35 years will be entitled to receive 100% of their pension, shall they take PMR.

This means, if an officer earns Rs 1 lakh per month right now and takes PMR, after serving for 20-25 years, should receive 50% of his/her last pay drawn as pension, which comes out to be Rs 50,000.

However, according to the new rule proposed, this officer will get a pension of only Rs 25,000.