Indian military veterans to protest for higher pay

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India's military veterans said Monday they planned to stage nationwide protests to push for higher pay and perks for enlisted soldiers and retired defence personnel.

Retired generals said the demonstrations would be held in more than 300 cities on Tuesday.

"All military veterans' organisations and veterans have united to protest against the injustice meted out to the defence services" by the latest pay hikes, said retired general Satbir Singh, who is spearheading the protest.

Lower-rung commanders and soldiers are upset because civil servants and three-star generals got pay hikes of up to 40 percent in the 10-yearly salary revision for India's government workers, while they received a 15 percent increase.

More than 120 army, navy and air force middle-rung officers asked for early retirement after the government's Pay Commission submitted its report on the salary revision in late March.

Top-ranking veterans will kick off Tuesday's rallies with a day-long fast at a World War II monument in New Delhi, Singh said, since enlisted soldiers were prohibited from joining demonstrations or hunger strikes.

The military pay hikes were generous by Western standards but did not match generous private sector salaries and excellent benefits. The resignations have come at a bad time for the army, which is already facing a shortage of about 11,000 trained officers.

Spurred by the growing discontent, military chiefs are prodding New Delhi to increase pay up to 60 percent for soldiers and junior officers, officials said.

India's million-plus military accounts for 56.4 billion rupees (1.4 billion dollars) of the government's annual wage bill of 125 billion rupees.

The country's military establishment is run by a powerful bureaucracy, which takes its orders directly from the political leadership.