Pay panel proposes new hardship matrix

The Seventh Pay Commission recommended an innovative ‘Risk and Hardship Matrix’ (RHA) for security and defence forces personnel but did not accept a demand from paramilitary personnel to grant them top grade Military Service Pay (MSP).

The recommendation came as it felt that there is a need for a unified and standard hierarchical structure considering that there is similarity in their nature of duties irrespective of the organisation. It asked the government to draft model recruitment rules for the firefighting staff of all Central government departments with similar designation and pay structure.

The commission said the proposed “nice-cell risk and hardship matrix” will have one extra cell at the top for Army troops deployed along the Siachen glacier. “No government employee faces more risk/hardship in his work than our defence officers and jawans posted in Siachen Glacier. Hence, no RHA can have a value higher than this allowance,” the report said.

It said the Risk and Hardship Matrix is a “new paradigm” intended to rationalise the “myriad allowances, their categories and sub-categories” that exist today. “It would make the administration of these allowances simple and provide a framework for the government for future inclusion of any new allowance, which can be placed in the appropriate cell depending upon the severity of the risk and hardship involved,” it said.

On paramilitary forces’ demand to have a Paramilitary Service Pay (PSP) on the lines of the MSP, the report said: “The Military Service Pay, which is a compensation for the various aspects of military service, will be admissible to the defence forces personnel only.”