Nearly a decade after India’s armed forces first refused to implement the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC), the grievances remain largely unchanged. What began in 2016 as a rare act of collective defiance by the service chiefs has turned into a long-running dispute over equity, status, and recognition.
In September that year, the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force issued simultaneous signals to their personnel announcing that the new pay scales would not be adopted. Their protest centred not on salaries, but on anomalies that left soldiers worse off than their civilian counterparts. The government’s refusal to address these concerns deepened a rift that has yet to heal.
A decade of unfinished business
The Seventh CPC was meant to modernise pay structures across the government. Instead, it reinforced a hierarchy that has left the military feeling sidelined. Four issues dominate the dispute: the denial of non-functional upgrades (NFUs), unequal disability allowances, low pay for Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs), and the absence of a common pay matrix for civil and military services.
While the All India Services — the IAS, IPS, and IFS — moved ahead with NFUs and higher allowances, the armed forces were excluded. The disparities are stark. An IAS officer in a hill posting such as Shillong can receive a Special Duty Allowance of more than ₹60,000. An army officer deployed in Siachen, the world’s highest and most hazardous post, receives roughly half that amount.
“The perception is not about money alone,” said a serving officer. “It’s about being told, year after year, that our hardships matter less.”
For many in uniform, the denial of NFU stings most deeply. The provision allows civilian officers to move up the pay ladder automatically once a batchmate reaches a higher rank, even if they are not promoted. In the armed forces, where promotion chances narrow sharply after mid-career, NFU could have softened the blow. Its absence, officers say, signals not just neglect but institutional downgrading.
A system without soldiers
Since 1973, when the Third CPC first brought the armed forces under its purview, not one pay commission has included a serving military representative. This omission has long fuelled resentment. The armed forces make up nearly a third of central government employees, yet their interests are discussed and decided entirely by civilian bureaucrats.
In 2009, the government promised a separate pay commission for the military, or at least a military member on the Seventh CPC. Neither materialised. The result is a process veterans describe as inherently biased — one that protects civil services while marginalising those in uniform.
The consequences are visible in morale and retention. Studies have warned of “unprecedented turmoil and dissatisfaction” within the officer corps. Some officers are declining advanced command courses, while others leave early for private or foreign assignments. The pattern, once dismissed as anecdotal, is now an institutional concern.
The Eighth CPC and a test of will
The upcoming Eighth CPC offers a chance to fix what previous commissions ignored. The government can restore parity by extending NFU benefits to the armed forces, rationalising disability allowances, improving pay for JCOs, and creating a common pay matrix that treats all public servants by one standard.
Failure to act would mean carrying old wounds into a new decade. India’s soldiers remain among the most trusted and disciplined public servants, deployed not only in combat but in rescue and relief operations across the country. Yet their loyalty has been met with uneven recognition.
The issue is no longer about pay alone. It is about fairness — about whether a nation that expects its armed forces to defend its sovereignty will also defend their dignity.