6th Pay Commission report tabled

Sixth Pay Commission recommendation has been tabled to Union Government on 24th March 2008. The report suggests an average hike of 40% in salaries coupled with suggestion of reduced count of scales from 38 to 16. Recommendations seem to be pretty generous towards the armed forces where, in some cases, salaries would be increased by 100%. This could be a good move for Indian Armed Forces facing severe talent crunch at different levels. However, only time will tell; whether this improved salary structure would stop army officers grabbing plush corporate jobs. Commission has recommended the retrospective implementation from 1 January 2006; which would impose an arrear of Rs. 18,060 crore to the government with an additional annual impact of Rs. 8,000 crore.

In the wake of soaring inflation and booming economy, the recommendation was inevitable. Time and again it is said that Government jobs are less paid (compared to private jobs) and plays a vital role in corruption and in-efficiency among government employees. I am not against rationalization of salary structure but, at the same time, I feel that a responsibility quotient should also be attached at every scale. I don’t want to generalize, but, it’s true that starting from Baboos to Top Bureaucrats, many of them are making stupendous amount of money under the table without being accountable to anyone. Had the commission come out with a responsibility matrix and a pragmatic method to measure the efficiency of employees, it would have been a great help to country, administrative mechanism and to common people as well. Moreover, it has opened the doors for state employees too; to ask for the same raise. Haryana Government has already toed the line by announcing the implementation of Sixth Pay commission guidelines for state employees. Hence, the actual impact of recommendation will be much higher than what is calculated in the report.