A proposal by the department of military affairs, headed by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat, recommending an increase in the retirement age of officers and a reduction in pension for those opting for premature retirement has caused resentment in the armed forces and among veterans.

Sources in the defence ministry said the department of military affairs (DMA) had proposed increasing the age of retirement of colonels from 54 to 57 years, for brigadiers from 56 to 58 and for major generals from 58 to 59. No change has been proposed for lieutenant generals, who retire at 60.

The proposals, if accepted by the government, will be applicable to all equivalent ranks across the tri-services. The proposal dated October 9 was leaked and circulated extensively on social media on Wednesday.

Sources in the army said the main cause of resentment was the proposed changes to pension entitlement for those seeking premature release (PMR).

Now, an officer can seek PMR after having served 20 years and is entitled to a pension amount that is half of his or her last-drawn salary.

As per the proposal, an officer with 20-25 years of service will get 50 per cent of the “entitled pension”. An officer serving for 26-30 years is to get 60 per cent of the entitled pension, those completing 30-35 years of service will get 75 per cent and only those who serve above 35 years will be entitled to the full pension, which is 50 per cent of the last pay drawn.

It was not clear if the plan would apply to officers who are currently in service.

The retirement of junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and other ranks (ORs) in the services (logistics, technical and medical branch) has been proposed to be 57 years. At present, JCOs and ORs retire after 17 years of service.

Sources said the DMA had noted that a large number of specialists and super specialists who are trained for highly skilled jobs in the services leave to work in other sectors.

“Such loss of highly skilled manpower results in a void in the services’ skill matrix and is counter-productive to the armed forces,” said an official, quoting from the letter seeking to review the pension entitlements.

“The proposed reduction in the pension plan is being opposed by officers and veterans,” said an army official.

Defending the plan, a defence ministry official said the idea was “to increase the retirement age to ensure productivity and also cut costs by reducing the pension outgo”.

Military veteran Birender Dhanoa said in a tweet: “Plenty of angst among serving & retired mil personnel over proposed changes to retirement ages & pension qualification criteria by Secy DMA, as mentioned in a photo of a letter from the CDS’s secretariat. Question that troubles me is how and why was a photo of this proposal taken?”