The Defence Ministry has issued new entitlement rules (ER) for grant of disability pensions to military personnel, tightening some of the provisions and introducing a new ‘impairment relief’ (IR) in lieu of the ‘disability element’ to cover lifestyle diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
The development comes after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) asked the Ministry early this year to carry out an analysis of the disability among soldiers based on its report, which said that almost 40% of officers and 18% of personnel below officer rank (PBOR) who retire every year were drawing disability pensions.
The ‘Casualty Pension and Disability Compensation Awards to Armed Forces Personnel’ stipulates the conditions for the award of death/disability compensation to military personnel with effect from September 21, 2023. The new rules drew flak from several veterans and veterans’ organisations who alleged tweaking of the terms to cut down on disability pensions.
“ER, 2023 incorporates recommendations of a Study Group, which comprised members from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare and MoD (Finance), mandated to update the ER by incorporating all relevant policy changes brought about since ER, 2008 was issued,” the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) of the armed forces said in a post on social media. “No changes have been made either in the nature or the extent of death/disability compensation that is awarded to entitled personnel. This will have a prospective effect and takes care of the genuine interest of all our soldiers, veterans and widows,” it added.
The new IR is defined as a monthly disability compensation, calculated as a defined percentage of the last reckonable emoluments, awarded to armed forces personnel who are retired or discharged from service voluntarily or otherwise with a disability sustained under circumstances accepted as Category B or C and assessed not less than 20%. “Impairment Relief shall herein replace the term ‘disability element’ as far as disability compensation to armed forces personnel who are retired or discharged from service. This is not a pension and shall cease to exist upon the demise of the recipient,” the rules stated.
The All India Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association, a Chandigarh- based veterans organisation, issued a statement against the “regressive changes” made in the award of disability and death benefits admissible to disabled soldiers and widows of defence services.
Similarly, several veterans pointed out discrepancies in the new rules on social media platform X.
Colonel Amit Kumar (retd) said that under the new rules, the widow of a soldier dying of sudden cardiac arrest or due to stroke caused by hypertension while patrolling in counter-insurgency duties in Srinagar would not be entitled to special family pension, and the soldier, if survives, would not get disability pension.
“Earlier, all such disabilities were listed as affected by ‘stress and strain of military service’. Only cases in High Altitude Area would now get the benefit. There was no such condition since 1939 and there is no such condition for Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) even today,” he said on X.
Similar would be the case of a soldier suffering from cancer whose disability gets aggravated due to stress and strain of military service, he said, adding, “The complete list of cancers aggravated by service has been eliminated.”
The disability percentage for hypertension induced by stress and strain of military service has been reduced from 30% to a mere 5% to take it below the minimum required figure of 20% for disability benefits, Col. Kumar said. “The Supreme Court has ruled that the place of posting (peace, field, etc.) has no implication on disability and death benefits, the new rules totally eliminate most common disabilities and deaths occurring all over India and restrict them to High Altitude Areas, that too, if the service in high altitude is more than three months,” he added.
After examining the disability pensions disbursed to personnel discharged from service between 2015-16 and 2019-20, the CAG in its report tabled in Parliament in March said, “The percentage of personnel retiring with disability to the total retirees ranged between 36% and 40% in case of officers, and between 15% and 18% in case of PBORs.”
The report further stated that 22% and 13% of the disability pensions granted to officers and PBORs, respectively, were exclusively on the grounds of lifestyle diseases. “The Ministry may ensure that complete database with all relevant information is maintained to carry out an analysis of the main reasons of disability, including lifestyle diseases among the defence forces, for possible corrective action,” it had stated.
In the past, a Director-General of Armed Forces Medical Services in a letter to Defence Secretary had expressed alarm at the “alarming trend” evolving in the services with regard to claims for disability pension by senior officers of the rank of Lieutenant-General and Major-General, and their equivalent.
