As Military Awaits 8Th CPC Outcomes, Shadow Of Decade-Old Anomalies Looms Large

On September 9, 2016, the chiefs of Indian Army, Navy and Air Force sent separate 'signals' to their personnel. They announced that the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) would not be implemented in their services. The reason for the meeting were anomalies that the government had refused to address.

The letters were a rare public expression of institutional dissent. They also echoed events eight years earlier, when the 6th CPC triggered a similar standoff. Then, as now, service chiefs put a pause on implementing new pay scales until basic disparities were resolved. In both cases, the message was the same: the armed forces did not object to higher salaries, but to the growing gap between them and their civilian counterparts.

A decade of unresolved anomalies

Nearly ten years have passed since the Seventh CPC report was submitted, and the anomalies remain. Four core demands have been repeated: the introduction of non-functional upgrades (NFUs) for military personnel, an equitable disability allowance, higher pay for Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs), and a common pay matrix for civil and military services.

The government accepted most of the commission's recommendations in July 2016. For the military, none of its concerns were addressed. Instead, soldiers watched as the All India Services-the IAS, IPS and IFS-moved ahead.

One of the most striking disparities was in allowances. An IAS officer posted to Shillong or Aizawl could draw a Special Duty Allowance of more than ₹60,000. At the same time, an army officer at Siachen, the world's highest and most hazardous battlefield, was limited to ₹31,500.“In most cases, a civilian official slipping in his bathroom will get more disability pension and job security than a battle casualty of the army,” one officer remarked bitterly.

Pay, prestige and pyramids

The frustrations extend beyond allowances. The armed forces follow an unforgiving pyramidal structure. Only 30 per cent of officers will ever reach the rank of Colonel; fewer than one per cent will become Major General. Most retire at 54, six years earlier than civil servants. For IAS or IPS officers, by contrast, steady promotion to senior ranks is virtually guaranteed.

NFU was designed to correct this problem for civilian cadres. It allows officers to move up the pay scale once one member of their batch does, even if they are not promoted in rank. For soldiers, who face far more restricted promotion opportunities, NFU could have been a partial remedy. Yet it has been withheld from them across successive commissions.

The absence is not only financial. In the view of many officers, it signals deliberate downgrading. Status matters deeply in the military; the perception of being ranked below civilian services corrodes morale in ways that cannot be measured on a salary slip.

A commission without soldiers

The sense of exclusion is sharpened by the way pay commissions are constituted. Since the Third CPC in 1973 brought the armed forces under its purview, not a single commission has included a serving military representative. This despite the fact that the armed forces account for nearly a third of central government employees.

In 2009, the government acknowledged the problem, first promising a separate pay commission for the military and later a military member on the Seventh CPC. Neither step was carried out. The result, as veterans point out, is a process designed and dominated by bureaucrats, in which their own services are well protected and the military is consistently marginalised.

As one study put it years ago, the armed forces today are witnessing“unprecedented turmoil and dissatisfaction.” Discontent with pay commissions was only one manifestation of that unrest, but it has proven especially enduring. Many of the brightest officers have opted against higher command training, while others seek early retirement. Such trends, once dismissed as grumbling, now raise questions about the sustainability of India's officer corps.

The stakes for the Eighth CPC

The Eighth CPC, whose report is now awaited, is therefore more than another administrative exercise. For the government, it is an opportunity to resolve issues that have been festering for decades: to grant the armed forces NFU, to restore equitable disability allowances, to ensure JCOs are not left behind, and to adopt a common pay matrix that prevents further drift.

Failure to do so risks perpetuating the pattern of grievance. India's soldiers remain among the most respected professionals in the country. They are called upon in war, in peacekeeping, and in disaster relief at home. Yet their faith in the state is being tested not on the battlefield but on matters of basic equity.

The discontent is not about money alone. It is about recognition, status, and fairness. For a country that aspires to major power status, leaving such issues unresolved within its armed forces is more than a bureaucratic oversight. It is a liability.

(Ashu Mann is an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies. He was awarded the Vice Chief of the Army Staff Commendation card on Army Day 2025. He is pursuing a PhD from Amity University, Noida, in Defence and Strategic Studies. His research focuses include the India-China territorial dispute, great power rivalry, and Chinese foreign policy.)

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