Disability pension not reduced, but significantly increased: Centre

The disability pension is a type of pension disbursed to those who are temporarily/permanently unable to work due to disability.

If an Indian Armed Forces Personnel gets invalidated out of service, attributed to or aggravated by the military service, he is entitled to disability pension.

The pension consists of service and disability elements; the extent of disability is determined by computing the disability element.

If the disability of personnel (below officer rank) retained in service is less than 100% but not below 20%, the rates are reduced proportionately; for disability below 20%, no disability element is paid.

The Ministry of Defence regulates the findings of the medical board on the attributability or aggravation and the adjudication of disability pension claims due to disease or injury.

As India was celebrating the success of Indian Army's surgical strikes across the LoC, the Centre reportedly slashed disability allowances for army-personnel for injuries/diseases incurred during the service.

For commandos, the monthly disability pension was reduced from Rs.45,200 to Rs.27,200; for majors, the pension had been slashed by more than Rs.70,000 per month.

It was notified by a Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare gazette notification.

The Defence Ministry notified the Seventh Pay Commission's recommendations; disabled defence personnel was entitled to lower disability pension than those in civil departments.

A slab system for determining the allowance was also accepted.

In the system, for 100% disability, pension is fixed at Rs.27,000 for officers, Rs.17,000 for junior commissioned officers, and Rs.12,000 for other ranks; the allowance is reduced for lower disability level.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using the Indian Army's sacrifices to garner votes in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh and Punjab elections.

He added the post-surgical strikes episode was an insult to the Army.

He questioned Modi why the Army's One Rank One Pension scheme wasn't implemented and why the army personnel disability allowance has been reduced.

Rubbishing media reports, the Centre said the disability pension for Indian Armed Forces Personnel hadn't been reduced but rather "significantly increased".

It added the allowance had been hiked by 14-30% for Personnel Below Officer Ranks/Junior Commissioned Officers.

As per the Seventh Pay Commission's recommendations, the allowance increased from Rs.9,282 to Rs.12,000 for Sepoy, Rs.10,542 to Rs.12,000 for Havildar, and Rs.9,680 to Rs.12,000 for Naik.