ARTICLE ON FUTURE OF INDIAN COAST GUARD

The following article is written by former DGCG and was published in Deccan Herald on 09 Feb, the writer himself is ex-Naval officer,the article it self is a good fodder for thinking brains.
Will the Coast Guard sink?
By Prabhakaran Paleri
[ The Navy was seemingly unwilling to accept the Coast Guard from the very beginning.]
Has the Navy finally torpedoed the Coast Guard? The Coast Guard is confused about the hasty changes it feels in the offing before the current government demits office. It knows that the Navy had a long cherished dream to make the Coast Guard an auxiliary to it. After 32 years and many futile attempts by the Navy, it feels, it is likely to happen with the introduction of the 'Coastal Command', an antiquated concept, under the Navy. The government fails to appreciate that the Coast Guard has an organisational structure that is much wider and legally valid than the proposed Coastal Command. And that it will do better to expand and equip the Coast Guard for its charter to enforce law and provide service in the maritime zones as per the Coast Guard Act. Instead, by placing the Coast Guard under the Navy at its beck and call, it is not only the Act, but also the Constitution that gets violated. Unfortunate The hastened decision will permanently seal the zeal of the Coast Guard and its future effectiveness as a nonmilitary maritime armed force of modern India . The Indian Coast Guard was a fine service, well accepted by the international community. But unfortunately its problems with the Navy were inveterate that its founders failed to appreciate ab initio. The Coast Guard has been going through a kind of naval blockade and interruption since its inception as if there was a slogan 'to guard against the Coast Guard'. The Navy was seemingly unwilling to accept the idea of the Coast Guard from the very beginning. That may perhaps lie in the reason that it could not chart an altered course for a 'new found Navy' shedding its role of a Coast Guard. Or perhaps India was not matured enough to accept the Coast Guard as a useful maritime armed force. It has been so with many other countries, which created coast guards with the navies around in coast guard roles. While the world changed, the naval mindset in many such countries remained fossilised within the coast guard mould. Added to that was lack of maritime awareness. India was expected to be different. It remains a puzzle why the Indian Navy failed to appreciate it. Even the ministry of defence, unlike in the past, reportedly succumbed to the pressures of the Navy with no opposition from the Coast Guard. That is because the Coast Guard has no say. The Black Wednesday in amchi Mumbai proved to be an opportunity for the Navy to expand rather than to introspect. Dependence The founders of the Coast Guard would have never imagined the Coast Guard would meet with such a fate. They placed it under the ministry of defence in good faith expecting the Navy to nurture it to grow. Instead, the Navy exploited the paltry resources of the Coast Guard including personnel vacancies for itself exercising absolute authority over it. The Navy indirectly steered the Coast Guard through the directors general appointed by it. The Coast Guard not only became a dogged body dependent on the Navy but also its laundry bag when things went wrong. The latest is the Mumbai mayhem. More will follow. India , as a responsible maritime state, created the Coast Guard for enforcing 'rule of law' and providing service at sea under international treaties. The Coast Guard is an international service with a human face. The nodal ministry for many of its activities is external affairs. It is now going to be restricted for operations. Was placing it under the ministry of defence alongside the Navy a bad idea? Did the Coast Guard become an unwanted sibling in the family? An Admiral even tried to merge it with the Navy as Indian Naval Coastal Service without reverence to its legal base. The ministry, however, opposed it. It is not that the government is unaware. Still there wasn't even a dedicated joint secretary to voice for the Coast Guard in the ministry. The saga of the Indian Coast Guard is about to end. And along with it India 's international image among the maritime community. Long live the Coast Guard. (The writer is a former director general of Coast Guard) BLOG'S VIEW It is up to various readers to comment on the issue, few may think that Coast Guard is doing well under Naval officer as DGCG while opinion of others may be different, well considering the development of Indian Coast Guard since last 32 years, there is hardly any reasons for complaint. However the actual test of water will start now when both the services are standing on equal strata and may vie for the same pie-Marine power

CHEERS FOR LTCOLS

New pay scale for Lt. Colonels

They have been placed in pay band-4 with a grade pay of Rs. 8,000

Government has issued orders placing officers of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and their equivalents in the other two Services in the pay band-4 with a grade pay of Rs. 8,000 and identified “non-combat” deputations that will not draw this benefit.

The government indicated in January its decision to address the issue of anomalies in the pay structure and orders to this effect were received by the Services on Monday, sources in the Defence Ministry said.

Lt. Colonels will now be upgraded to the pay bracket of Rs. 37,400-67,000 (PB-4) with a grade pay of Rs. 8,000 from the earlier scale of Rs. 15,600-39,100 (PB-3) with a grade pay of Rs. 7,600.

Tenure postings

The new pay band will be applicable to tenure postings done by officers of these ranks with departments such as the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the Director-General (Quality Assurance), National Cadet Corps, the Assam Rifles, the National Security Guards and the Border Roads Organisation.

The armed forces were not clear over the decision after it became known that the new pay band will be only for those in combat role.

Last month, tri-services Principal Personnel Officers Committee Chairman Vice-Admiral D.K. Dewan wrote a letter to the Ministry, making a case for inclusion of all officers of the rank in the pay band, including those on deputation to other wings such as paramilitary forces.

The sources said that with this order, some 18,000 officers would stand to benefit and those who remain to draw pay band-3 would be officers on deputation to organisations such as the Railways and the National Highways Authority of India, where the nature of duty was not in line with normal combat profile.